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september 21, 2016 \ newsweekly - € 0,75 \ read more at www.flanderstoday.eu current affairs \ p2

What lies beneath

Bruges’ long-awaited beer pipeline has opened, pumping De Halve Maan brews under the streets to the bottler three kilometres away \6

politics \ p4

business \ p6

innovation \ p7

tastes of iraq

When an Iraqi expat visited Brussels and found none of his native food, he decided to cook it himself, like he had done in Baghdad \ 10

education \ p9

art & living \ p10

this little piggy

A Ghent organisation is making farmers out of city-slickers to teach residents lessons in sustainability and consumption \ 11

Leuven as the capital of Utopia

thomas more’s vision looms over flemish brabant’s largest city, 500 years on

ian mundell more articles by Ian \ flanderstoday.eu

On the quincentenary of the publication of Thomas More’s influential book Utopia, Leuven searches for the meanings behind the words with a mulit-disciplinary festival.

euven may not be perfect, but for the next few months nowhere is closer to Utopia. The city is marking 500 years since Thomas More’s book Utopia first appeared in print with a festival that combines exhibitions, performances, guided walks and many other events. “We want to make Leuven the capital of Utopia for four months,” says Lien De Keukelaere, co-ordinator of the festival. “Utopia is not just a story about 1516 or about Thomas More, it’s a universal story. And that’s the link we want to make with the festival. We want to bring Utopia to the audience of today, and connect 1516 with 2016.” More (pictured left in a portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger) began writing Utopia during an extended visit to Flanders in 1515. He arrived in May as part of a delegation sent to re-open the wool trade between England and the Low Countries, which had stalled after a failed engagement between Mary Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII, and Charles, the Duke of Burgundy and effectively the ruler of the Low Countries. Although More would later become a high official in Henry VIII’s government, he was not yet part of the court. Instead he worked as a lawyer, regularly helping London merchants negotiate with partners overseas. It seems likely he owed his place on the 1515 delegation to the wool merchants. He also belonged to a loose group of humanist scholars in northern Europe, who studied Greek and Latin literature and corresponded on philosophical questions. The foremost among them was Desiderius Erasmus, who wrote his celebrated essay In Praise of Folly while staying at More’s house in London. When the trade talks in Bruges stalled in July, More was at liberty to visit his humanist connections in Flanders. He stayed with Jeroen van Busleyden in Mechelen and took up a recommendation of Erasmus to meet Peter Gillis, town clerk of Antwerp. He may also have visited Leuven, but evidence is thin on the ground. This factual background is where Utopia begins. In the text, More mentions his reasons for being in Flanders, the pause in the trade talks and meeting Gillis in Antwerp. Then, outside the cathedral, Gillis introduces More to the explorer Raphael Hythloday – a fictional character whose last name means “dispenser of nonsense” in Greek. In the first part of the book the three men discuss the shortcomings of European society, such as the connection between poverty and theft, and the way monarchs use the threat of war to increase taxes. They also talk about the hazards of being in the service of a king, an irony given More’s later, fatal, experience in the service of Henry VIII. Then Hythloday tells the others about a perfect society on the island of Utopia, which he visited on a voyage to the Americas. Here there is common ownership of property, food and health care for all, and freedom of worship. Farming is a common duty, but working hours are restricted, continued on page 5

\ CUrrent AFFAIrs

Genyn breaks record for gold

Major restoration to begin at Bokrijk

belgium ends paralympic games in rio with 11 medals and two record-breaking events

everal more Flemish athletes won gold last week at the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, bringing Belgium’s total number of gold medals to five. Wheelchair racer Peter Genyn not only won his classifications in the 100m, he broke the Paralympic record with a time of 21.15. Genyn (pictured) was the favourite in the T51 classification; the 39-yearold from Kalmthout was 2015 world champion in the 100 and 400m. The athlete, who was part of Belgium’s wheelchair rugby team in the 2004 and 2012 Paralympics, has tetraplegia, meaning he has partial to full loss of motor skills in all four limbs. Although the stress of the race got to him, he said, “it all went perfectly. I didn’t miss any strokes. Belgium has a fantastic delegation here in Rio. The athletes are really there for each other.” Earlier in the week, another athlete broke a Paralympic record when

16-year-old Laurens Devos of Malle, Antwerp province, became the youngest athlete to win gold in men’s table tennis. Belgium came home from the games with 11 medals: five golds were won in table tennis, wheelchair racing

and horse riding; three silvers were won in cycling, wheelchair racing and horse riding, and three bronze medals were earned in hand-bike racing, wheelchair racing and wheelchair tennis. \ Lisa Bradshaw, Alan Hope

The government of Flanders has approved a proposal by minister-president Geert Bourgeois for multi-year financing of restoration work at the Bokrijk open-air museum in Limburg. The government will provide €14.5 million over a five-year period starting next year. The land in Genk on which the museum stands was purchased by the province in 1938 from the Belgian farmers’ union and consisted of a mix of fields, woods, marshland, lakes and heath as well as former abbey farm buildings. Eventually the idea emerged to create an outdoor museum along Scandinavian lines, where the buildings themselves were exhibits preserved in their original state. Most of the buildings now at Bokrijk were brought in from other sites in Flanders, dismantled beam by beam and rebuilt on the museum site. Bokrijk opened in 1957, with buildings from mainly the 17th century to the end of the 19th – although the oldest building dates to 1507. The buildings include farmhouses, barns, a windmill, a school-house, blacksmith’s forge, church and inn. Some of Bokrijk’s core exhibits are in need of extensive repair, explained Bourgeois, whose portfolio also includes heritage.

Because of the scope of the project and its complexity, a multi-year plan is required. The government’s funding will cover some 80% of the restoration budget, with the province of Limburg picking up the bill for the rest. Restoration will begin immediately on 11 buildings, including wind and water mills and the church in the Kempen section of the museum. “We are delighted with this agreement,” said Igor Philtjens, provincial deputy in charge of heritage and tourism and president of the non-profit that manages the museum. “Thanks to this structural approach to Flemish government financing, we will be able to safeguard our heritage for future generations.” The museum will remain open during the works. \ Alan Hope

Higher chance of leukaemia in children living near Dessel nuclear storage site, research suggests

Introduce psychological assessment for doctors, says federation of GPs

Children living within a 15-kilometre radius of the Belgoprocess nuclear storage site in Dessel, Antwerp province, are two to three times more likely to get leukaemia than their peers living elsewhere in Belgium. The figures come from research carried out at the request of federal health minister Maggie De Block. Dessel is located next to Mol, home of the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre. Belgoprocess treats and stores nuclear waste, as well as dismantling nuclear installations. After a German study showed a significant increase in cancer among young children near nuclear sites, a Belgian study was conducted. The epidemiological study was carried out by a multidisciplinary research group that included scientists from the Federal

The Flemish federation of GPs, Domus Medica, has asked for the introduction of an annual psychological assessment of doctors. The suggestion follows the suicide of a doctor earlier this month. Five doctors per year commit suicide on average in Flanders. “But this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Ghent University professor of general medicine Dirk Avonts. “This statistic doesn’t reveal anything about the psychological problems faced by GPs, which can also lead to suicide.” Avonts proposed a medical check-up similar to the screening of pilots, in which not only the sight and hearing are tested but also mental health. The assessment should be obligatory, he said. “Studies show that doctors are not inclined to get

Agency for Nuclear Control (Fanc) and the Free University of Brussels (VUB). The study, published in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention, also indicates a connection between how close to the site the children live and the prevailing wind direction. Lodewijk Van Bladel, radiation expert at Fanc and co-author of the study, pointed out that the research only deals with a handful of children. “The number of residents in Dessel and Mol is so small that the number of leukaemia cases is also small,” he said. “You quickly have a doubling and tripling of the cases, so it’s important to engage in followup research with a larger group.” Van Bladel also emphasised that no causal connection has been proven and that the team is “open to all hypotheses”. Further research is underway. \ Andy Furniere

help at an early stage if there are problems,” he said. Belgian doctors’ union BVAS does not agree with the proposal, according to chair Marc Moens, who pointed out that steps have been taken to ensure that doctors can discuss problems with colleagues. The union is, he said, setting up more concrete initiatives, first at the local level. “An obligatory check-up will create more stress among people who already have a difficult time,” said Moens. “How are you going to organise an assessment of about 42,000 doctors in Belgium?” Federal public health minister Maggie De Block, meanwhile, is working on a national emergency number for doctors with psychological concerns. / AF

97%

less carbon dioxide emissions in Brussels-City between 2008 and 2014. The reduction affected all sectors of the economy, with the most notable reduction – 33% – in the consumption of energy

more spent per day on housework by women than by men, according to a study by Belgium’s Institute for Equality Between Woman and Men

of farmers would not advise someone else to take up the job, according to a poll by agricultural federation Fedagrim. 53% hope their children follow another path

inhabitants per square kilometre in the Brussels-Capital Region in 2014, making it the third most densely populated region in the EU, after East London (10,780) and West London (10,283)

€

1 7, 5 0

demanded in damages by a school in Mechelen from a student who made two bomb threats last November, soon after the Paris terror attacks, leading to the school being evacuated

september 21, 2016

WeeK in brief Police in the Brussels area arrested two people in connection with an investigation into terrorist activity last week. The arrests took place after house searches in Haren and Schaarbeek as well as Liège. The men arrested were preparing an imminent attack, police said. A large number of refugees could head to the border of Belgium when the Calais refugee camp in France is dismantled, according to the chief of the Westkust police zone. Nico Paelinck has asked for more information from French authorities, who are due to take down the camp soon. Most of the refugees are intent on travelling to the UK, with Zeebrugge becoming an increasingly popular route. Water prices in Brussels will in future be decided by an independent regulator, following the takeover of the smaller provider Hydrobru by Vivaqua. Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur is also chair of Vivaqua, which now has a monopoly on water provision in the Capital Region. The price of water in Brussels is unchanged since 2012, but price rises are imminent, he said, to pay for urgent repairs to the sewer system.

face of flanders a nearby scrapyard. The fire started by spontaneous combustion in a pile of scrap metal and resulted in heavy smoke that could cause irritation but was not deemed dangerous enough for evacuation. Federal secretary for privacy Philippe De Backer has called for new powers for the Privacy Commission, after staff members at a rest home in Puurs posted uncomplimentary photographs of residents with dementia on Facebook. The incident led to six members of staff being sacked immediately. De Backer wants the commission to be able to issue fines and other sanctions in the event of serious breaches of privacy law. A Brussels landmark, the stall selling cooked snails near the Beurs, will disappear at the end of December to allow for the start of works on the pedestrian zone. After the works are complete, the square will feature five new kiosks, two of them for food – but not the mobile stall, according to trade councillor Marion Lemesre.

The special investigations unit of the Belgian tax authorities will work with payments service Worldline to track people who carry out payments and cash withdrawals using bank cards linked to overseas accounts that are not declared. Worldline can identify foreign bank cards when they are used in ATMs and payment terminals in Belgium but are not considered to be covered by the laws on banking privacy.

Ashraf Sekkaki, the man who dramatically escaped from Bruges prison in a helicopter in 2009, has been running a drugs network in Belgium from his cell in Morocco, where he is now serving out an 11-year sentence, police said. According to investigators, Sekkaki contacted a man from Antwerp to order a shipment of drugs for a gang of which two of his brothers were members. The man was later arrested in possession of 100,000 ecstasy tablets and 1.2kg of cocaine, worth a total of €600,000.

Residents of Evergem and Wondelgem in the area of the port of Ghent were advised to remain indoors and keep doors and windows closed last week following a fire in

Willem Debeuckelaere, the chair of the data protection agency, has called for tougher policing of rules on data collected from visitors to websites for children. The

offside the cycle of life Four in 10 people in Flanders know nothing about the most basic traffic rules for cyclists, according to a survey carried out by transport organisation VAB and cycling federation Fietsersbond. In an online test with 16 questions, the most common mistake concerned cycling lanes – strips of a different colour for cyclists but not subject to the same rules as a fully-fledged cycle path – which 81% of people got wrong. Other mistakes concerned the continuous cycle path, overtaking in a narrow street, riding double and cyclist crossing spots. New traffic signs showing where cyclists can turn right on a red light and ride against traffic in a one-way street were also commonly misunderstood. Mobility Week runs until 26 September, and cyclists are high on the agenda. Some 150 municipalities have signed up for a cycling census, and local and regional authorities will be gathering information on cycling behaviour. The uninspiring test results will provide ammunition for driving schools, which have previously stated that adult cyclists should have to follow lessons on regula-

call follows the publication of a new book that revealed that visitor data is regularly provided to advertisers and companies that sell web behaviour data to third parties. Belgian law already makes it illegal to collect data without the user’s permission, Debeuckelaere said. The planned new Brussels metro station Grondwet/Constitution could have its name changed to honour the recently deceased jazz legend Toots Thielemans, under a proposal from Brussels mobility minister Pascal Smet. The new station on Stalingradlaan and the inner ring will replace Lemonnier and was originally named after a square in the area, close to the Marollen district where Thielemans was born and raised. The federal quota for doctors from Flemish and French-speaking communities will remain at 60-40 until 2022, health minister Maggie De Block has decided. A planning committee had earlier recommended reducing the Flemish quota to 56.5%, a proposal that led to protest, as Flemish universities apply an entrance exam to potential medical students, something the French-speaking universities do not. In practice, 2022 will see 792 Flemish medical students graduate as doctors, and 528 French-speaking students. A group of 13 organisations has started a petition to protest against the shrinking amount of green space on the Tour & Taxis site in the canal area in Brussels. The group claims only six hectares remain of the nine promised in the original planning documents, while even that total includes paved areas, a car park and an existing park, while the nine hectares was supposed to be new park. The petition has already been signed by 272 people. \ tinyurl.com/parktourtaxi

vab.be/fietstest

inge vrancken After a reshuffle at the top of the news division of Flemish public broadcaster VRT, Inge Vrancken now takes over as editor-in-chief of the flagship Het Journaal. It must seem a long way from where she started, on the children’s channel Ketnet. Vrancken, 44, was born in Hasselt, the daughter of a sales rep and a fashion store owner. She studied communications management in Antwerp, and her first job in the media was with ROB-TV, the regional channel for Leuven, where she was a reporter and later an editor. She joined Ketnet in 1999, eventually working on the children’s news programme Karrewiet – a more weighty responsibility than it might sound. The programme is popular among school-age children, mainly because it appears to take both them and the issues seriously. Vrancken later moved over to the evening news, which she will now lead, focussing on Middle East politics and women’s issues. “Het Journaal will carry on doing

what it does very well: driven journalistic work and objective and balanced reporting, with attention for the bigger picture and the background against which events take place,” she told deredactie.be. “People want to understand what’s happening in the world,” she said, “and our reporting has an important role to play in that. That’s a major responsibility. We will continue to give the Flemish people a clear picture of world events, to help them understand what’s going on in the country and the wider world.” Vrancken takes over the Het Journaal chief editor position from Björn Soenens and now is part of what VRT calls its “college of editors”.Thecollegealsoincludes Griet De Craen in charge of radio news and current affairs, Liesbet Vrieleman as director-general of information and sport, former De Tijd reporter Steven Samyn on current affairs programmes and former De Morgen journalist Brecht Decaestecker in charge of digital news. \ Alan Hope

flanders today, a weekly english-language newspaper, is an initiative of the flemish region and is financially supported by the flemish authorities. The logo and the name Flanders Today belong to the Flemish Region (Benelux Beeldmerk nr 815.088). The editorial team of Flanders Today has full editorial autonomy regarding the content of the newspaper and is responsible for all content, as stipulated in the agreement between Corelio Publishing and the Flemish authorities.

tions before taking to the road – just as drivers have to. VAB is not in favour: “We want more attention paid to cycle traffic rules, including by motorists,” said VAB spokesperson Joni Junes. The test remains online and is indeed harder than you might think. Offside scored 56%, or just under the average, with most mistakes relating to priority. \ AH

editor Lisa Bradshaw deputy editor Sally Tipper contributing editor Alan Hope sub editor Bartosz Brzezi´nski agenda Robyn Boyle, Georgio Valentino art director Paul Van Dooren prepress Mediahuis AdPro contributors Rebecca Benoot, Derek Blyth, Leo Cendrowicz, Paula Dear, Andy Furniere, Lee Gillette, Diana Goodwin, Clodagh Kinsella, Catherine Kosters, Toon Lambrechts, Ian Mundell, Anja Otte, Tom Peeters, Arthur Rubinstein, Senne Starckx, Christophe Verbiest, Denzil Walton general manager Hans De Loore publisher Mediahuis NV

editorial address Gossetlaan 30 - 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden tel 02 467 23 06 editorial@flanderstoday.eu subscriptions tel 03 560 17 49 subscriptions@flanderstoday.eu or order online at www.flanderstoday.eu advertising 02 467 24 37 advertising@flanderstoday.eu verantwoordelijke uitgever Hans De Loore

\ pOlItICs

5th colUMn the incident

The biggest incident that was never recorded took place in the federal parliament last week. Socialist Meryame Kitir had just finished addressing the parliament about recent job losses when turmoil broke out. Kitir is a relatively young MP of Moroccan descent and a former factory worker at the now closed Ford site in Genk. She became SP.A’s speaker rather unexpectedly, amid doubts that she had the right skills for the job. Kristof Calvo of Groen was the first to tell the press what happened as Kitir returned to her seat. Luk Van Biesen (Open VLD), Calvo said, had sneered at Kitir, saying that she “should go back to Morocco”. The truth of the matter is hard to determine, as the words were spoken too quietly for the parliamentary services to record. However, several MPs confirmed that those were Van Biesen’s words. The information was reinforced by comments from within Van Biesen’s own party. “I am ashamed, “wrote Mechelen mayor Bart Somers on Twitter. Van Biesen is a liberal backbencher who specialises in tax policy. His colleagues were not just shocked at what he supposedly said, they were also amazed that this MP, whom they describe as mildmannered, was the one to say it. The politician at first denied that he had made a racist comment. Instead, he stated, he had commented on Kitir’s speech about the closure of the Caterpillar site, the American manufacturer of construction equipment. If the workers are as skilled as Kitir presented them, they should have no problem finding a new job. They could even return to Turkey or Morocco, was Van Biesen’s version of the incident. Essentially, he said, his statements were about labour migration. At the same time, he apologised, leaving observers puzzled: Why apologise for something you have not said? Open VLD party president Gwendolyn Rutten refused to accept Van Biesen’s apology. This subject is not closed, she said firmly. The next day, Van Biesen and Kitir addressed the press side by side, after they had met in private, denouncing racism. Kitir was praised for the grace with which she reacted: exposing racism but accepting apologies. Van Biesen ate humble pie, narrowly escaping being expelled from his party. \ Anja Otte

Finance minister welcomes Moody’s AA2 credit rating

american agency gives flanders better rating than federal government alan hope more articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

lemish finance and budget minister Bart Tommelein has welcomed the decision by the American credit agency Moody’s to give Flanders an AA2 rating. “This shows that Flanders’ financial position is healthy,” he said. Flanders holds its existing position, one step higher than the rating of the federal government, which remains at AA3. According to Moody’s, the Flemish economy is strong and diversified, especially in light of recent taxation changes known as the tax shift. The region is also strong on budgetary discipline, said Tommelein (pictured). However, the rating can only be maintained, he

said, if Flanders continues to follow its budgetary targets, without allowing existing debts to continue. Planned reforms also have to be carried through to break through the current low-growth financial environment, Moody’s said. “I am pleased that Moody’s has confirmed the Flemish budget is still on course,” Tommelein said in a statement. “But we still have to maintain the necessary budget discipline and bring in a balanced budget. And we have to work on reforms. Only then can we maintain a good financial rating over the long term.” © Jonas roosens/belGA

Molenbeek disappointed over region’s permits in canal area

All Flemish government documents now available to public online

A decision by the Brussels-Capital Region government to prolong environmental permits for seven used car import-export businesses located along the Brussels canal is likely to wreck plans for creating a new waterside neighbourhood, the municipality of Molenbeek has complained. The Heyvaert quarter is known as a central location in the used car trade. Some 120,000 cars pass through the area every year, most of them on their way to Africa via Zeebrugge – and not all of them with legal documentation. Molenbeek city council’s plan, which had the backing of the region, is to allow the dealers’ permits to expire, which would lead to an exodus from the neighbourhood. The car dealers would then be replaced by homes, a school and a covered city garden.

All official documents produced by the government of Flanders – from approved proposals to enacted laws – can now be consulted online by anyone. The service, said minister-president Geert Bourgeois, could be especially useful to journalists, academics and international politicians. The decision follows an agreement made by the government in January as part of a general principle of open government adopted by the previous administration. The guiding principle is that all government acts be transparent and open to the public unless specifically excluded for reasons of security. Final decisions have long been

In recent days, however, seven dealers have received extensions of their permits for four or five years. The dealers represent 14% of the total of garage space in the quarter, enough for more than 400 cars. Molenbeek refused to extend the permits, and the dealers appealed to the region. The region accepted the appeal, arguing that it could only refuse on environmental grounds, not because of urban planning. “Without the departure of the car trade, it’s not possible to breathe new life into the area,” Molenbeek councillor Olivier Mahy told Bruzz. “There are some projects in the pipeline that are in buildings still owned by the dealers. We need the goodwill of the region now, not in five years. That’s an eternity for the people of the neighbourhood.” \ AH

Iranian delegation visits Flanders’ education ministry A delegation of politicians and educators from Iran visited Flanders’ education department earlier this month to familiarise themselves with the region’s system of higher education. The delegation was led by professor Hossein Salar Amoli, acting minister for international affairs and head of both the Centre for International Scientific Co-operation and the country’s ministry of science, research and technology. The secretary-general of the Flemish education department, Micheline Scheys, welcomed the delegation. She emphasised that Flanders recognised and appreciated the importance of the historical agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme that it signed last year with the US, Russia, China, France,

the UK and Germany. Scheys also highlighted opportunities to strengthen bilateral collaboration between Iran and Flanders. The two sides discussed the Flemish higher education system and areas in which they could co-operate. In a statement, the government said that it was convinced that gradually breaking down Iran’s international isolation could contribute to empowering the country’s moderate political forces. This would be particularly achievable if it goes hand in hand with the economic growth expected as a result of the lifting of international sanctions. Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois will lead an economic mission to Iran next month. \ Andy

Furniere

available for consultation on vlaanderen.be. The change involves the availability of all relevant documents relating to decisions in the legislative process, from the day they come before the council of ministers. Once a proposal is accepted, the government explained, the papers leading up to the decision will also be linked, making the entire process open for review. “By making government documents entirely public, the Flemish government is striving toward more openness and transparency, by giving more of a view of how it comes to its policy decisions,” a spokesperson for Bourgeois said. \ AH

Artists protest against dwindling project subsidies for culture A group of artists held a protest outside the offices of Flemish culture minister Sven Gatz in central Brussels last week, calling for a “substantial increase” in project subsidies for culture. Gatz received a delegation representing the protestors, who left with a promise of an extra €1.16 million for the year 2017. Gatz (pictured) is responsible for two sets of culture subsidies: structural, which cover day-to-day costs associated with annual budgets, and projects, which cover specific productions or tours, for example. In July, Gatz announced his latest round of decisions on structural subsidies for the coming five years, which did not include a number of previously funded organisations, such as Hasselt concert venue Muziekodroom and the renowned Watou arts festival. Cultural organisations have until later this month to submit an application for project financing, but the protestors are concerned

about the dwindling figures for funding. “There has been a downward trend in the projects subsidised since 2013,” a spokesperson told Bruzz. “In 2013, there was €8.9 million approved. This year, the amount forecast is €5.9 million across all disciplines. The sum is not at all in line with the growing and blooming arts landscape in Flanders.” Gatz later said the meeting had been “open and constructive”. “Together with the major arts institutions and the sector as a whole, I want to look at how we can better support up-and-coming artists,” he said. \ AH

\ COVer stOry

september 21, 2016

The capital of Utopia

with a series of events, leuven looks at visions of a better future continued from page 1

with the spare time intended for study. More is thought to have written this second section while in Flanders, completing the first when he returned to England later that year. He then circulated the manuscript to his friends. On one level, Utopia is a private joke, an “instructive and entertaining” little book written in Latin for a select group of fellow humanists who would get its political allusions and its Greek puns. But it was taken seriously by those who read it, and, thanks to Erasmus – then based in Leuven – it was printed in the city in December 1516. “It contains a lot of the humanist thinking at the beginning of the 16th century, put into one book,” says Jan Van der Stock, professor of medieval art at KU Leuven. “It has an emphasis on education, which is very important. It’s no co-incidence that it was printed in Leuven, a university city, at that point in time.” The first edition ran to around 300 copies, but it was soon reprinted and translated, spreading all over Europe. As time passed, Utopia inspired a whole sub-genre of speculative fiction and became a synonym for ideal, if impossible, situations. While Leuven’s Utopia Festival includes an exhibition about the humanists and the history of the book, its scope is much wider. “When you read the book, the question is not can we represent Utopia and can we eventually live in Utopia, but how are we searching for Utopia?” explains Van der Stock. “Then it’s easy to translate this into a city-wide project, because everyone is looking for his or her utopia, on different levels, from the individual to the whole of humanity.” This is the path followed by In Search of Utopia, the exhibition of 15th- and 16th-century art that Van der Stock has curated at M Museum. It begins with the book, including a first edition and the portrait of Erasmus by Quinten Metsys, once owned by More. Then it opens up to consider the dreams and fantasies people have about ideal places, and their opposites in visions of war and hell. After that it considers ideas about unknown lands, the speculations that surround undiscovered or newly discovered places. Finally there is the utopian desire to order society and control of the universe. “There are magnificent works of art illustrating this ambition to measure time, to have the universe in your hand and to understand what it is all about,” says Van der Stock. Hence the image that has been chosen for the exhibition poster, a

the best of leUven’s Utopia Music for Peace

The Frascati Symphonic open the festival with Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” and Karl Jenkins’ “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace”. 23-25 September, Kapel Heilig Hartinstituut, Naamsesteenweg 355, Heverlee

Yto Barrada

A critical view of contemporary society from French-Moroccan artist Yto Barrada. 30 September to 17 January, M Museum, Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 28

Strandbeesten

Theo Jansen’s strandbeesten, or beach beasts, are kinetic sculptures that use the power of the wind to move like animals. 1 October, Kasteelpark Arenberg, Kardinaal Mercierlaan 94

Back to Utopia

Johan Leysen plays an investigative journalist seeking out utopian and dystopian communities in this creative documentary by Fabio Wuytack. 19-29 October, Cinema Zed, Naamsestraat 96

In Search of Utopia

Art from the 15th and 16th centuries that reflects the pursuit of knowledge and ideas about ideal and unknown worlds. 20 October to 17 January, M Museum, Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 28

Utopia & More: The Low Countriesandtheutopian tradition

the armillary sphere in the portrait “A young princess” by Jan Gossaert is upside down, a sly m museum reference to more’s desire to turn the world on its head

portrait by Jan Gossaert of a young princess holding a device that represents the motion of the planets. This sphere is upside down, a sly reference (in this context) to More’s desire to turn the world on its head.

from More’s time up to the present day. Events include talks by authors and art historians, debates, poetry slams and a TEDx Utopia. There is also a large programme of activities for children. “Kids are

Everyone is looking for his or her utopia, on different levels, from the individual to the whole of humanity Other exhibitions in the festival show how contemporary artists and architects are dealing with utopian themes. Then there are theatre and dance performances that delve deeper into modern thinking on Utopia, and music

the future, so we will encourage them to build their own utopias,” explains De Keukelaere. Meanwhile, selected restaurants

24 september to 17 january

in the city will be interpreting 16th-century recipes. “There were no tomatoes or potatoes, so the diet was quite different from what we know today,” she says. “But there were a lot of meat and fish stews, and a lot of sauces. So we are working around that, but in a contemporary interpretation.” Throughout the festival, there will be walking tours around Leuven, for groups and individuals. One programme looks at how notions of the ideal city might play out in the Leuven of today, while another other harks back to More’s time, presenting the city through the eyes of an English student who has come to study at the university at the beginning of the 16th century.

Across leuven

utopialeuven.be

An exhibition exploring Utopia’s humanist context and the books that took its ideas forward. 20 October to 17 January, KU Leuven library,MonseigneurLadeuzeplein 21

EUtopia: possibility of an island

Belgian architects and artists explore the relationship between borders and identity, surveillance and privacy, plus the seductive power of collectivism. 20 October to 17 January, M Museum, Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 28

Musical Hell

Polyphonic vocal music from Thomas More’s time, together with a reading from Utopia. 30 November, 30CC/Predikherenkerk

Songs for Utopia

Classic protest songs performed by top names from the Flemish pop world. 19 January, Het Depot, Martelarenplein 12

\ bUsIness

WeeK in bUsiness Distribution Decathlon The French sport gear and outdoor chain is building a 40,000 square-metre distribution centre in Willebroek to service its Belgian and Dutch stores. The new facility, to open next March, will also centralise the group’s fast-growing online activities for those markets.

Construction besix

The Brussels-based building group has won a €133 million contract to build a bridge over the Roskilde Fjord in Denmark in partnership with Italian and Spanish construction companies.

Cinema UGC

The French film distributor and cinema operator is taking over four Utopolis multiplexes in Flanders from the Ghent-based Kinepolis for €40 million. The move was requested by competition authorities in the wake of Kinepolis’ acquisition of Utopolis’ activities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and France.

Fashion Xandres

Xandres, a family-owned fashion label since 1927, has been acquired by France’s Damartex. Based in Destelbergen, East Flanders, the line is available in 150 outlets across Belgium, in multi-brand boutiques as well as its own shops.

Insurance p&V

The country’s seventh largest insurance company is cutting up to 300 jobs, one in six of the present workforce, over the next four years. The company said that the bulk of the redundancies will be through not replacing members of staff who leave or retire.

Air Vlm

Thebankruptshort-haulairline operating out of Antwerp Airport may fly again next year following the receiver’s decision to accept an offer from SHS Aviation, a Chinese-Dutch partnership. The new owners would re-launch operations with six Fokker 50 aircraft and some 50 staff.

Catering ellis Gourmet burger

The hamburger chain, with 10 outlets in Flanders and four in the Netherlands, will open its first restaurant in France (Paris) in late September. The company plans to eventually open another 25 outlets in Belgium.

Bruges’ beer pipeline opens

underground pipeline takes brugse Zot three kilometres to bottler teri schultz more articles by teri \ flanderstoday.eu

halvemaan.be

he long-awaited “beer pipeline” opened in Bruges last Friday, carrying the beers Brugse Zot and Straffe Hendrik under the Unescoprotected streets to the nearby bottling plant. The pipeline takes the beer from the centuries-old De Halve Maan, one of only two remaining breweries in the centre of the city, direct to the bottler three kilometres away, without the need for truck transport. When five years ago, sixth-generation brewmaster Xavier Vanneste started wondering aloud about pumping his brew underground, people thought he’d been oversampling his own wares. “Lots of people told us it’s a joke, it’s just a dream,” Vanneste said. The 26-year-old had trouble finding engineers who would take him seriously enough to draft a plan

bruges mayor renaat landuyt (left) and De Halve maan owner Xavier Vanneste say goodbye to the last tanker truck last week

the number of tankers that could squeeze down the narrow cobblestone streets to collect the beer. Bruges mayor Renaat Landuyt

We did a lot of tests and tastings. The beer had to be perfect for an underground beer pipeline. But he was undeterred. He knew that with the rapidly growing demand for his Brugse Zot, it was just a matter of time before the city authorities put a limit on

admits he was among those who doubted Vanneste’s concept was even possible. “I thought he was really the ‘Brugse Zot’,” Landuyt laughed, “asking to build a pipeline underground, under histori-

cal buildings, under an historical city.” But Landuyt says it only took one meeting with Vanneste to be convinced it could work. Then there was the family, whose brewing tradition was being put at risk in that plastic pipe. Veronique Maes, Vanneste’s mother, from whom he inherited the brewery, worried about the quality of the beer. “We did a lot of tests and tastings,” she said. “It had to be perfect.” Maes is now completely confident there is no difference between what goes into the pipe at picturesque Walplein and what comes out some three kilometres away.

Pete Bates of Riviera Travel has been bringing British tourists to Bruges for two decades, and De Halve Maan is always a stop on his walking tour. As trucks had to park directly in front of the brewery for as long as it took for for the beer to be pumped in, he would often encounter one. “You’d be trying to tell them about how the brewery’s been here since the 1500s, about the architecture, and then there’s a big truck standing here.” With such limited space for operations, there were plenty of technical difficulties, explained Alain De Pre of Denys Research Consultants, which designed the pipeline. But what there wasn’t, he said, was the usual animosity from residents disturbed by the project. “They took selfies with it,” he laughed. Vanneste launched a crowdfunding effort so residents could sponsor a piece of the pipe, raising €340,000 of the €4 million price tag. Top investors can stop by De Halve Maan to receive a beer every day for life. Mayor Landuyt says he’s hoping other industries will pick up the idea to help rid his city of more multi-tonne trucks. “It’s an invitation to the world to get creative,” he said. “We invite people to come forward with further creative ideas to improve Bruges.”

€1 billion investment to make Knokke jewel of northern Europe’s coast

Hundreds of jobs to go at Douwe Egberts, MS Mode and Halliburton

In the coming four years, investors will spend €1 billion to develop Knokke into a conference centre city, according to Leopold Lippens, mayor of the coastal town. “There is a shortage of quality hotels at the coast,” he told the magazine Trends. “Where could you be better situated than in Knokke?” One of the main projects will be repurposing the city’s casino (pictured). Much of it will be broken apart, but the protected Magritte Hall will remain intact. The gaming room will move downstairs, and parking for 1,000 cars will be added. A hotel with 350-450 rooms will take up the upper floors. Money can now be borrowed at an interest rate of 1%, Lippens said, making the cost of such a conversion – he estimated €160 million – cheaper than ever before. The €1 billion figure includes Knokke’s share of the works on the A11 link with Zeebrugge, largely financed by the Flemish region. That, together with the construc-

Some 545 potential job losses were announced last week alone, most of them in and around the Vlaamse rand, or periphery of Brussels. Douwe Egberts coffee factory in Grimbergen is looking at cutting some 275 jobs; the Belgian subsidiary of Dutch retail chain MS Mode announced 220 job losses; and 50 jobs are expected to go at the local division of American multinational Halliburton in Drogenbos. The Douwe Egberts factory (pictured), which produces the company’s Senseo coffee pads, will close, depriving the area of its distinctive smell of roasted coffee. About 190 office staff will remain. The company claims the site is no longer viable. The redundancies at MS Mode will cut across all the company’s outlets in Belgium. The company has filed for bankruptcy, and details will follow once an administrator has been appointed and made an initial evaluation. The branch of Halliburton in

tion of a hospital, accounts for half the total. The rest he sees as an investment in returning Knokke to its former glory. “In the old days Knokke was seen as a fashionable resort and unique tourist destination,” he told the magazine. “Now we compete with resorts across the world, thanks to super-cheap flights.” If the hotel project does not attract investors, Lippens is ready to finance it himself, either alone or in his capacity as mayor. “That would mean that rich clients would come here and spend money,” he said. “It works in Biarritz. The north of Europe has no resorts of any significance. Knokke could become one.” \ Alan Hope

Drogenbos produces drill bits for oil wells. Unions claim they were given assurances a few months ago that the plant would not be affected during the company’s worldwide restructuring. “We never expected this,” a unions spokesperson said. The latest announcements come on top of announcements of job losses at insurers P&V and Axa, as well as the closure of the Caterpillar factory in Wallonia. Federal employment minister Kris Peeters described it as “terrible news”. The government now needs to make a priority of job creation and employment support, he said. \ AH

\ InnOVAtIOn

september 21, 2016

Conversation starter

WeeK in innovation

new coaching centre spreads social media gospel among smes senne starckx more articles by senne \ flanderstoday.eu

socialmediacoachingcenter.be

n Flanders, the companies that benefit most from the opportunities offered by social media – in advertising, marketing and communication – tend to be large corporations or multinationals. In other words, it’s big business that’s reaping the rewards of digitalisation. The average Flemish small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) gathers only 4-5% of its turnover from digital activities, which is well below the European average of 8%. When we compare ourselves with neighbouring countries and the rest of Western Europe, the picture becomes even starker. Germany, France and the Netherlands are way ahead of us, while in Ireland more than 30% of revenue in small business is directly related to the web. It seems then that SMEs in Flanders are stuck in an earlier phase of the internet era. Yes, most businesses have a website. And yes, many of them send out newsletters and mailings every week or month, but this unidirectional information flow doesn’t work in a world where customers rule and want to voice their opinion. Connectivity is nice, but interactivity is better. To prevent Flanders’ SMEs missing the digitisation train, the University Colleges Leuven-Limburg (UCLL) launched a new initiative this year to help CEOs become more social media savvy. The Social Media Coaching Center SMCC) is based on the college’s campuses in Diepenbeek and Leuven. “The question a CEO should ask themselves is not whether their company should be active on social

media, but what’s the right way to do it,” says Robrecht Van Goolen of UCLL’s management and technology department. “They can rely on our expertise for an answer to that.” CEOs can sign up at the SMCC for an intensive training course – for themselves or for their company’s social media officer. In the semester-long course, a lecturer from UCLL guides the participants through what at first looks like a morass, but after a couple of training sessions seems nothing more than a new challenge to overcome – something at which entrepreneurs and the self-employed should be adept. Whether it’s marketing or advertising, it all starts with communication. One of the key elements in SMCC’s training course is the difference between social media and conventional 20th-century media or communication channels. “Social media platforms have dramatically changed the way we communicate,” says Van Goolen.

“We use three keywords to denote that change: open, broad and immediate.” Indeed, in contrast with the oldfashioned printed brochure or the less aged newsletter, social media have transformed communication from a monologue into a dialogue. “And the more dialogue you allow, the more open communication you get,” says Van Goolen. When social media users choose to follow your company on social media, he continues, “they’re actually indicating that they want more communication and more dialogue from you. You can fulfil this by reacting to their messages, incorporating emotions in the information that your company shares and by asking your followers for their opinion on your products and services.” Social media know no boundaries and so are inherently mass communication channels. “We like to speak of broad communication,” says Van Goolen. “As a CEO, you should realise that your

q&a

tinyurl.com/yeaststudy

Geneticist Kevin Verstrepen of VIB and the University of Leuven analysed the origins of 150 variants of yeast mainly used to produce beer and wine, determining how brewers unconsciously domesticated yeasts throughout the ages Why are yeasts so important in beer and wine production? Yeasts are micro-organisms that can convert sugars into alcohol, carbon dioxide and aroma compounds – thus giving specific flavours and aromas to beer and wine. With the help of the VIB bioinformatics team at Ghent University, we determined the origins of about 150 yeasts. Most of these were developed in Belgium, but we also analysed yeasts from other European countries and the US. Did early beer brewers realise what yeasts were doing? We discovered that brewers as far back as the 16th century were domesticating yeasts, so before

customers are constantly ‘monitoring’ your company and your activities, and they can share their experiences and opinions with literally everyone online. So transparency and honesty are crucial in your social media strategy.” The last keyword probably covers the biggest difference between social and traditional media: there’s no longer a delay between an event and the reaction to it. Companies shouldn’t try to behave like an online news channel, but it definitely helps if they spread interesting news, Van Goolen believes. “By acting as a news source you can encourage your customers to be committed to your company,” he says. “Share stories that are somehow related to your business or sector and try to evoke positive emotions, because these will stick with your company.” So does it work? Earlier this year, 25 Flemish SMEs enrolled in the first semester of the course, which costs €1,100 per person. One of the participants was Patricia De Filette, who runs a clothing boutique in Lubbeek, just outside Leuven. “In recent years we have succeeded in developing a loyal, solid clientele,” she says. “Now we want to continue our growth by efficiently informing clients about our new collections and promotions.” She knew the best way to do that was via social media. But where to start? “We didn’t have a clue,” she admits. “Thanks to the training at SMCC, we have been able to improve our reputation and raise the commitment of our target group.”

domestication, probably because they are only used to ferment grape juice once a year and for the rest of the year survive in and around the winery – where they can interbreed with wild yeasts. You could say that beer yeasts are like dogs, “tamed” and adapted to their relationship with humans, while wine yeast have the wilder character of cats.

the actual discovery of what micro-organisms were, which occurred a century later. People have been making beer for about 8,000 years, but the craft became more commercial and professional in the 16th century. What do you mean by “domesticating” yeasts? The brewers kept a small part of a previous brew that had fermented well to mix it with a new batch, which made the fermentation process quicker and more consistent. Without realising it, they were selecting and transferring yeast cultures from one batch to the next, allowing the microbes to continuously adapt to the man-

made environments. This domestication process is very similar to what humans did with livestock, crops and pets like cats and dogs. Is there a difference between beer and wine yeasts? Wine yeasts show fewer signs of

How can these insights be put to use? We can use the information to create better yeast variants, further improving the flavour and aroma of beers and wine. The results of our previous yeast research is actually already applied by brewers to enhance their products, but these new findings will further boost our collaborative efforts. \ Interview by Andy Furniere

Antwerp in top 30 for sustainability The international study bureau Arcadis has published its second annual ranking of the top 100 most sustainable cities in the world. Antwerp didn’t feature on last year’s Sustainable Cities Index but this year debuts in 29th place. Brussels is 40th on the list, tumbling from 13th place last year. The cities are evaluated on the basis of 32 social, ecological and economic criteria, including the quality of education, affordability of products and services and environment. Antwerp’s score is mainly based on social factors like equality of income, the balance between work and free time and health care. Arcadis noted, however, a high emission of greenhouse gases, increasing congestion and lack of green space in the city.

€2 million for thin-film solar cells

A European Research Council Starting Grant of €2 million has been awarded to Bart Vermang, a researcher at Imomec, the imec lab at Hasselt University. Vermang received the grant to apply silicon solar cell processing techniques to the design of thin-film solar cells, improving their efficiency, cost and stability. One of the main applications of thin-film solar cells is the generation of energy through building elements themselves, such as window panes and roof and wall elements. The cells combine flexibility with efficiency, but they still have stability and reliability issues. Vermang wants to revolutionise the design of the cells by implementing nanostructures to allow the cell’s active layers to capture more light.

self-driving cars tested in Flanders

The first mass test of self-driving cars on roads and motorways in Flanders took place last week. The test was organised by insurance broker Aon, as part of a campaign to raise awareness about self-driving cars. The so-called platoon test involved cars provided by eight manufacturers on a route from Diegem to Bornem via the Brussels Ring. The cars do not yet actually drive on their own; a driver is still required to have their hands on the wheel. The cars do, however, offer a powerful set of driving assistance options, such as scanning the surroundings, detecting obstacles, staying within the lanes and adjusting the speed according to conditions.

\ eDUCAtIOn

september 21, 2016

The people’s science

WeeK in edUcation

open lab in ghent lets amateurs experiment with do-it-yourself biology andy furniere more articles by Andy \ flanderstoday.eu

reagentlab.org

ou don’t need to be a seasoned researcher to carry out experiments at ReaGent. This non-profit laboratory is open to anyone with an interest in biosciences like microbiology and biotechnology. The do-it-yourself biology lab opened in March in the basement of the Ghent fabrication laboratory Timelab, with which ReaGent co-operates. The initiative is the brainchild of three Flemish friends: Niek D’Hondt, Vincent Mortier and Winnie Poncelet. “We have a background in biosciences and wanted to bring the discipline closer to the public,” explains Poncelet. “People learn a lot about complicated biological processes in school, but too little about their wide array of possible applications, which are often relatively simple to work with.” When the three friends read about the international do-it-yourself biology movement, they visited DIY labs in nearby regions and decided to set up their own workspace. While the basement lab looks quite chaotic, it contains many high-tech devices, donated by companies, universities and research centres. One of the experiments involves creating a leather-like textile without the use of animal hide. The material is obtained from kombucha,

There is a sort of rock’n’roll atmosphere here that is inspiring a fermented drink made with tea, sugar, bacteria and yeast. When dried, the microbial culture found in the drink can be moulded and dyed like conventional leather. Fashion designers have been experimenting with this sustainable technique for a number of years, but, for now, it presents too many limitations to be commercially viable. “We want to encourage everyone to contribute to the development of the technique, not just academics and professionals,” explains Poncelet. “You don’t need special expertise to work with the materials; like with cooking, you just need to carry out a number of simple steps correctly.” While most of the members of ReaGent have some background in biosciences, the non-profit hopes to promote projects from other disciplines and sectors. Filip Bullens, creative direc-

A report on the pilot project to build some 20 passive schools in Flanders has shown encouraging results. The government’s education ministry launched the project six years ago. According to the report, the costs involved in building a passive school – meaning that it generates its own energy with technology like heat pumps and solar panels – were in one case as low as 1% and on average 12% more than the costs of building a normal school. Recouping the costs, said the report, would be achievable in five to seven years. The government has a target date of 2021 for every school in Flanders to be actively working on becoming energy neutral.

education council critical of reforms

tor of communication and design bureau Cojak, is convinced that the lab has potential. “The lab’s accessibility and the pairing of science with creativity are big assets,” says Bullens, who is experimenting with sustainable material based on recycled cardboard and fungi to make chairs and tables. “There is a sort of rock’n’roll atmosphere here that is inspiring.” Bullens’ partner in life and work, Kristel Peters, is also working with the lab to create no-waste shoes using fungi. Her project is supported by Ghent University College’s school of arts. While the current projects don’t have a clear commercial goal, the more market-oriented initiatives are also welcome, says Poncelet. “For start-up organisations, for example, our lab can help in bridging the gap between the idea and the prototype, because we are accessible and offer affordable services.” Members pay an annual fee of €40. While the lab is normally open only on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons, members can get more flexible access for specific projects. To spread its message, ReaGent organises workshops for both adults and youngsters. “We want to develop a kind of ‘biological literacy’, getting people more familiar with the concrete applications in the field,” explains Poncelet. “So they become more aware of the value of innovations

that make life more sustainable, for example.” The lab also sets up workshops with the Ghentbased Domestic Bugs to teach people how to cultivate mealworms and other insects and use them as ingredients in meals. For youngsters, ReaGent organises more playful workshops. Children learn to use their smartphones like microscopes or apply molecular techniques to solve a fictional murder case. The lab also provides online manuals for people to set up their own simple workshops at home, such as on discovering the DNA in a banana. By the end of the year, ReaGent plans to launch a more ambitious educational project across Flanders. As part of Ekoli, volunteers will visit schools to give workshops, with a focus on reaching disadvantaged youth, including refugee children and youngsters from challenging socio-economic backgrounds. “They need the most help,” says Poncelet, “but usually have the least access to such activities.” The Ekoli project is part of Flanders’ Stem Academy network, which brings together all extracurricular Stem activities and is co-ordinated by the science centre Technopolis in Mechelen. The Stem action plan is the Flemish government’s programme to encourage students to enrol in studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Belgium has third-best education system, says OECD tinyurl.com/oecdeducationreport

Education in Belgium ranks third-best among the 35 OECD countries, well above the EU and world averages, with the highest level of preschool participation, good teachers and a broad and flexible higher education system. The ranking is based on a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Belgium is one of only six countries in the EU to meet the benchmark level performance on at least seven out of 10 targets set by the OECD and measured in the report “Education at a glance 2016”. Australia and Canada tied at the top of the list, followed by the Netherlands and

passive schools save costs and energy

Belgium. The benchmarks and targets, which include literacy and numeracy goals and equal access to higher education, are part of the OECD’s sustainable development goals towards “inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all”. An accompanying country report on Belgium, however, highlighted the gender imbalances that remain among teaching staff and noted that only 26% of bachelor’s graduates in the field of science, mathematics and computing were women, compared with the OECD average of 40%. \ Emma Davis

TheFlemishEducationCouncil (Vlor) has published a critical report on the government’s plans to reform the education system. The council disagrees with the decision that five-year-olds must be present for 250 half-days – up from 220 – in pre-school, as a condition to move up to primary education. According to Vlor, this is at odds with efforts to limit the number of children having to repeat a year. The measures for primary education are evaluated as “fragmented and thus counterproductive”. For example, Vlor doesn’t think it’s a good idea to make it possible to learn English and German from the first year, as not all schools will be able to provide this option.

100,000 students train for obsolete careers Thousands of Flemish students graduating in the coming years are unlikely to find a job related to their degree as many will become largely automated, says a report by De Morgen based on a study by consultancy firm Deloitte. Deloitte studied the impact of robotisation and automatisation in various sectors. They say the education system is not adapting sufficiently to these changes, so many young people are now being trained for jobs that will soon be carried out by robots and computers. The consultancy calculated that about 103,500 diplomas in Flanders won’t lead to a related job, in sectors like economy, agriculture, journalism and leisure.

\ lIVInG

WeeK in activities my type of walk Do you love typefaces and fonts? A graphic designer takes you on a walk through the Marollen district of Brussels in search of letterforms, on street signs, walls and storefronts. This is the last tour of the year, and it’s in English. Reserve via info@ recyclart.be. 22 September 19.30-20.30, Bar Recyclart, Ursulinenstraat 23, Brussels; free \ mytypeofwalk.finness.be

Fleur Amour Admire stunning floral arrangements and installations by top designers in the grounds of a castle. Highlights include a contest for the best flower-adorned hat and a floral fashion show. 23-26 September, Alden Biesen Castle, Kasteelstraat 6, Bilzen; €20 \ fleuramour.be

Get to know the turkish Community During this guided tour, you’ll learn about the 8,000 Turks living in Antwerp, how and why they came here, and their culture and traditions. The walk ends in a mosque, where the guide will talk about Islam and traditions such as Ramadan. (In Dutch) 24 September 15.00-17.30, De Coninckplein, Antwerp; €10 \ antwerpenaverechts.be

Gleaning workshop Gleaning is collecting leftover crops from the field after the harvest is done. In this workshop, you’ll pick carrots, onions and pumpkins that would otherwise go to waste, and then there’s a picnic in the middle of the fields. In the afternoon, take a tour of the organic farm. 25 September 10.00-14.00, Livinushof, Molenkreekstraat 3, Sint-Laureins (East Flanders); €25 \ tinyurl.com/gleaning-workshop

Day of the ponds De Wijers is an area of Limburg with more than 1,000 ponds, creating a unique ecological system. Every year, dozens of free activities let you explore and learn about the landscape, flora and fauna. Take a guided walk with a nature guide, join a culinary workshop, dive with the fishes, row a boat, ride in a horsedrawn cart. Activities for children, too. 25 September, across Limburg; free \ dagvandewijers.be

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Walking the world

event to raise money for refugee welcome service startpunt paula dear more articles by paula \ flanderstoday.eu

refugeewalk.be

undreds of people across Flanders will honour the struggles many refugees endure to reach safety by taking part in a 40k walk next month. Walk the World will go through the Hoge Kempen National Park in Limburg province on 2 October. It aims to raise €81,250 to help fund a support service for asylum seekers and refugees arriving in the country. Startpunt, a service provided by Flemish Refugee Action, offers daily soup, bread, tea, essential information and a friendly welcome to new arrivals, 25,000 of whom it assisted last year. Located close to the office where people come to register their asylum request in the north of Brussels, the service receives no government subsidies and operates with the aid of some 150 volunteers and donations. startpunt in brussels is often an asylum-seeker’s first contact outside the Immigration Office

Since I’ve been through it myself, I know how much they need our help Startpunt was launched in 2009 when people living near the office saw that asylum seekers had to leave the building at noon when the staff there took their lunch break, explains Eef Heylighen of Flemish Refugee Action. “They decided to shelter the asylum seekers at noon. Ever since then we have taken in between 60 and 100 per day.” Among the volunteers who give

up their lunch break to help are government workers, students and pensioners. About 20% of the team are asylum seekers or refugees who have decided to give something back. Mohamed, from Damascus in Syria, has volunteered there since he received his Belgian papers. “I received such a warm welcome at Startpunt that I decided to become a volunteer,” the 27-year-old says. “I provide information to asylum seekers who have just arrived. Since I’ve been through it myself, I know how much they need our help.” “Startpunt is very important for asylum seekers,” adds Heylighen. “On their first day in Belgium, we explain to them what’s going to happen over the next few days and

in their asylum procedure. We tell them they have the right to a lawyer and other information that’s important for them. Then they can rest after a hectic day and a hard route on their way to a safe country.” In June the Startpunt soup kitchen received a visit from UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon, who heard many of the refugee volunteers’ personal stories and later described it as a “heart-breaking situation”. Refugees often cover vast distances on foot to get to a safe destination, and there have never been so many people fleeing conflict as there are today, according to Flemish Refugee Action. “The images of refugees, moving on foot for weeks on end along European borders and roads are imprinted on our memo-

ries,” the organisation says in a statement. “The Refugee Walk challenges participants to follow in the footsteps of people fleeing war and persecution.” As well as being a fundraising effort, the day has been organised to help bring people from many parts of the world together. Refugees will share their stories during the hike, while both local and refugee musicians play music, and Flemish, Syrian and Congolese cooks provide food to share. Some 300 people have so far registered for the hike, which leaves from Genk’s town hall at 9.00. Registration is open to both individuals and teams, and it’s possible to join an existing team, sponsor a participant or make a direct donation.

bite brussels’ first iraqi restaurant: ‘no one else could make our food’ Iraqi-born Athir Ghalib and his family were visiting Brussels when they decided to seek out some home-style cuisine. There was only one problem: There wasn’t any. Brussels, it seems, was not home to a single Iraqi restaurant. And so Ghalib decided to set up the very first – to run his own restaurant, just as his family have done for years in their native Baghdad. “Iraqi food is unique because our country is such an old civilisation,” explains Ghalib’s friend and assistant, Alsaqqar Salam. “All the chefs here are Iraqi. No one else could make our food.” After leaving Iraq during the crisis that followed the 2003 war, Ghalib made Sweden his home for nine years, before coming to Brussels in 2015. Within months he was serving up homeland specialities at Masgouf Baghdad, a few steps from De Brouckèreplein in the city centre. Brussels in September doesn’t come close to a Baghdad heatwave. But on an unusually sizzling day, Ghalib (pictured) perspires as he demonstrates the clay oven he uses for cooking flatbreads, or khoboze.

Whenitcomestoancientmethodsofbakingbread, they wanted to compromise as little as possible, to retain the old flavours, Ghalib explains. “It must have a clay surface,” he says, pointing to the inner walls of the oven, to which the rounded, flattened dough sticks while cooking. Khoboze is served alongside many of the dishes offered, which range from familiar-sounding kebabs, shwarma and charcoal-grilled meats and fish, to Mousel kubbah – a Mosul speciality of a thin meat “pie” stuffed with lamb, almonds and

raisins then deep fried or boiled. Lamb features heavily – slow-cooked shoulder, or qozy, is served with rich tomato-based sauces involving beans, aubergines or okra, while the teshreeb comes with bread, potatoes and onion all chopped up into a broth. If you’re brave enough to welcome a whole sheep’s head to your table, ask for the special Sunday dish of pacha. “We can serve the pacha chopped up instead – even some Iraqis don’t like it, but it’s an ancient and typical food,” says waiter Ali. “All kinds of people have been coming here. They sometimes ask questions, because they only know Iraq from the news. It’s sad that people just think about the war; they don’t know our culture, our habits,” adds Salam, gesturing to photos on the walls of Iraq’s ancient cities and sites. “We hope that people will come to understand more about the culture of Iraq. It’s a great, ancient civilisation, and the food reflects that.” \ Paula Dear Zwaluwenstraat 9, Brussels

september 21, 2016

The dream is the work

dickinson house brings writers from around the globe to rural east flanders lisa bradshaw Follow lisa on twitter \ @lmbsie

dickinsonhouse.be

lovely house in rural East Flanders hosted an open garden day recently, and neighbours and cyclists wandered in to see what was on offer. It’s not that this is a farm selling produce or a nursery selling flowers. But it was a good opportunity to introduce to passers-by what it was selling: space and time to write. A writers’ residency isn’t a common concept in Flanders, so it takes Éireann Lorsung a bit of time to explain to visitors what she does. She invites writers from anywhere in the world to come and stay, providing a change of scenery and various forms of inspiration to get their work done. She offers them three meals a day and a bright, cheery room in a big house with large windows looking out onto the garden on every side. Next to a patch of wildflowers graze a couple of Shetland ponies, while a family of sheep offer noisy greetings. The Dickinson House in Olsene, a district of Zulte, is perfectly positioned to offer the quiet contemplation one would imagine novelists and poets demand. But that’s only part of it, says Lorsung, which is why she makes sure all three rooms in the house are booked if anyone is to come at all. “The only requirement is that you come to dinner at 19.00,” says Lorsung, a 35-year-old American expat. “In the evenings, I sometimes propose that we all sit together and do writing exercises. Or just work on our own things in the same space. That means I get to be with them as a writer, too, and not just as a facilitator.”

Hand-made quilts await residents of Dickinson House; Éireann lorsung

Lorsung has published two volumes of poetry and is working on a novel with the help of a grant from the US government’s National Endowment for the Arts. After earning a Master’s in Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota, she travelled to France to teach English. On a visit to a friend in Nottingham in the UK, she met a university professor who helped her secure a place to research a PhD in critical theory. Her time in Nottingham would determine the course of her life. She founded the Nottingham Poetry Series because she missed, she says, “the kind of literary culture – like a community – that I

had been part of in the US”. Offering readings and workshops, it eventually culminated in a conference that saw 40 poets come from all over the UK and Europe. At the same time, she had met a young man, also a student in Nottingham, whose family home was in Olsene. They originally moved to Ghent from Nottingham, but all the while, Lorsung knew she had to get back to the business of a writing community. Lo and behold, her partner’s mother decided to move out of the country home and offered it to them to open Dickinson House – named after, naturally, Emily Dickinson.

They started two years ago and have hosted 44 writers, mostly from the US but also from Canada, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Greece. Lorsung says that writers mostly make their way to her through word of mouth. Dickinson House offers fee-based residencies of two weeks or one month as well as a few fellowships every year. Everyone has to apply to stay whether paying a fee or not. “I prioritise people who haven’t published much yet,” Lorsung explains, “who haven’t done a ton of residences, haven’t won a lot of awards. I want to work with people who haven’t already had a lot of people working for them.”

Dickinson House is rather one-ofa-kind in Flanders. Although Flemish literature fund Het Beschrijf runs a residency programme, the authors are generally quite well known. It is also backed by institutional funding, while Dickinson House is not. “We are not a foundation or an organisation,” she says. “We’re just two people with a house much too big for two people. I think it’s important to realise that it’s possible to do this kind of thing on your own. We don’t have to wait for an institution to come along and say you can have a job here.” So what makes a writer get on a plane and make their way to rural Flanders? “So many people who come here are depleted. Their energy is gone; their faith is gone. They’re tired,” says Lorsung. “In your everyday life, it’s hard to have the kind of discipline writing requires. The most important thing for them to learn is to forgive themselves and let go and look at things and be curious about them in this new place where they are.” Having their every need taken care of and being in the presence of others with the same work in fact does inspire them; the residents, Lorsung says, tend to work very hard. When they do wander about, they like to cycle the country lanes. “The strawberry vending machine is a big attraction,” she laughs. And the gardens and animals provide a panorama for the daydreams. “I don’t separate the dream from the work,” she says. “You learn that you write what you can write, and the rest of it is filling yourself back up.”

Pig in the city: Ghent makes farmers out of urbanites hetspilvarken.be

It’s quite a task for a simple pig: process food waste, promote social cohesion and initiate a local transition to a more sustainable lifestyle. But Nathalie Snauwaert, city farmer and artist, is convinced that these little piggies are up to it. Snauwaert is one of the people behind Het Spilvarken, a project that gets Ghent locals raising their own pigs. “The pigs in the project will always be housed in a community, be it a co-housing project, a work space or a residency centre,” says Snauwaert. “So the participants become farmers, taking care of the daily needs of the pigs and collecting food waste to feed them.” There are currently three Spilvarken locations, all in the Gentbrugge district. “Some of

these new farmers were sceptical at first, especially with regards to the smell,” says Snauwaert. “But once it’s underway, every-

body accepts them like new neighbours.” The aim of Het Spilvarken is not only to reduce food waste and

bring people in contact with the practise of raising farm animals, but also to produce ecologically sound meat. Sometimes, though, the bond between farmers and pigs becomes personal, saving the pigs from the butcher. “It’s a tricky question, to eat the city pigs or not,” Snauwaert admits. “But no matter the answer, it will make people think about their personal meat consumption and the environmental impact of it.” The Spilvarken project has its origins in the 2014 Niets is Verloren (Nothing Lost) festival. In the run-up to the festival, the citizens of Ghent were invited to brainstorm around a more sustainable future for the city. “One of the participants, a chef, floated the idea of using pigs to process food

waste,” recalls Snauwaert. “The idea of Spilvarken was born.” “Varken” means “pig”, and the prefix “spil” translates as “spindle”. It refers to the role the pigs play in the transition of a neighbourhood or community to a more sustainable way of living. “As citizens, there is no reason for us to wait for the authorities to change things we can do ourselves,” Snauwaert insists. “The Spilvarken project is about concrete results, but it is an experiment as well. We examine the influence of taking care of pigs on social cohesion and on meat consumption. The results will be made available to the public, so our project can serve as a model for others.” \ Toon Lambrechts

\ 11

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\ Arts

september 21, 2016

Artist, meet patron

WeeK in arts & cUltUre

brussels’ accessible art fair returns to capital for 10th anniversary liz newmark more articles by liz \ flanderstoday.eu

accessibleartfair.com/brussels

his month, the Accessible Art Fair (AAF), which aims to make art accessible to and affordable for everyone, celebrates its 10th year, showcasing 75 artists in the Jewish Museum in Brussels’ Zavel district. “We want to make quality emerging and mid-career artists accessible to the public and to make the public accessible to the artists,” explains AAF’s founder, curator Stephanie Manasseh. The formula remains the same: allowing hand-picked artists to sell directly to collectors for prices as low as €100, bypassing the gallery, the art world’s traditional middleman. The event, also held previously in Antwerp, Bratislava and Tel Aviv, will make its debut in New York in November. The AAF has seen substantial changes since its beginnings in 2007, Manasseh says. “It’s grown in size, the quality has improved, it’s well known in the art world, and it’s now an integral part of the Brussels art scene.” In the next 10 years, she expects to see more interest from the general public, more people buying art for the first time and more international artists. Manasseh, a Canadian, set up AAF in Brussels after selling her mother’s artwork at small private events in Belgium. She is proud that the Jewish Museum, which is to be demolished and rebuilt next year, wanted to host the event. “Brussels has been through a lot recently,” she says. “When the museum approached me, I thought there was no better place to stage such a positive event.” She is also pleased the AAF is working with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp, selecting four final-year masters students to present their work. “Partnering with such an important insti-

The government of Flanders will provide €4.8 million for the renovation of Ghent’s Gravensteen Castle. The new version of the 12th-century stronghold has already been named Time Castle. “Today’s visitors demand a new dynamic kind of storytelling,” said tourism city councillor Annelies Storms. “There will be an audio tour for each target audience, including children and seniors, but also for those who like a horror story or those who only have time for the main points.” About 300,000 people visit the castle every year. The changes also include a new reception hall, toilet facilities, lockers, an auditorium, a lift and an eatery. The renovation will be complete in 2021, but the new audio guides will be available by 2018. \ gravensteen.stad.gent

science museum dinosaurs on street View

Find Jason mcGroarty’s “totem Fox”, Alexandr Grigorev’s “Flying” and bendt eyckermans’s “Fix” at the Accessible Art Fair

tution shows just how dedicated we are to artists and the arts,” she says. “We are also thrilled to have so many artists from abroad, from as far afield as Japan, Israel, the US and Morocco.” Manasseh insists the AAF does not prioritise any particular group or age of artists, saying that organisers select them based on their work and merit. This year the selection committee’s top seven includes Russian illustrator Alexandr Grigorev, ColombianAustralian painter Maria Jimena Herrera and Bendt Eyckermans of Antwerp who creates oils on linen and paper. Other local artists on the bill include Kim De Molenaer, Marco Schmidt and Alberto Saleh, all photographers based in Antwerp, and Christian de Wulf of Mechelen, whose thick layers of acrylic paint create three-dimensional effects

on canvas. Brussels is a hotbed for contemporary art – Art on Paper and Gallery Weekend were held in the capital this month and Design September is currently taking place, but Manasseh doesn’t see them as rivals: “Brussels is a real arts hub, and I’m glad to be part of this excellent group of events.” The AAF is also set to become a fixture in New York, sponsored by the Belgian-American Chamber of Commerce and Brussels Airlines. “So far the feedback for New York has been tremendous,” Manasseh says, noting that she hopes to add other US cities and possibly London to the AAF stable. Online art news and auction site artnet.com recently signed on as

22-25 september

the event’s prime media partner. “It’s my mission to keep the project interesting, to ensure we are talked about. This has solidified our place in the art world.” For the fifth time, in conjunction with German luxury goods manufacturer Montblanc, the fair will present the Montblanc Likes Art award, where visitors choose their favourite participating artists. The artist with most votes on the AAF Brussels and Montblanc fan pages will be announced next month. And the fair is also doing its bit for a good cause, with part of the proceeds of the 23 September latenight opening going to the Brussels-based charity Dokters van de Wereld.

be it sequels of popular series or merchandising. In the main location, McCarthy shows 10 works related to Snow White. Among them are three sili-

cone heads in sparkling yellow, blue and red, and a symbiosis in black marble of Snow White and Bambi. Seeing is believing. Though the most confronting work is a jungle of artificial plants, called “WS, White Snow Walt Paul, The Grove”. Through the shrubbery you can see a man having sex with Snow White. Or is he raping her? The title suggests he’s a mix of Walt Disney and McCarthy. At the gallery’s second location, the artist uses western icons like John Wayne (who here looks a lot like James Joyce) and Charles Bronson to create a series of haunting sculptures. A set of scrawled drawings

until 22 october

The dinosaur skeletons at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels can now be seen on Google Maps. Google has developed its Street View function to allow access to a number of interior locations, now extended to include 60 partners worldwide, including natural history museums in Brussels, Berlin, Chicago and Barcelona. The Brussels museum, with its exhibition of Iguanodon skeletons, is listed as one of the service’s Top Picks. The Iguanodon fossils were unearthed in the late 19th century in Bernissart, Wallonia. The intact state of the remains attracted the attention of palaeontologists the world over. \ tinyurl.com/natsciencegoogle

Jewish museum

Minimenstraat 21, Brussels

The dark side of childhood in new show by Paul McCarthy In 2007, Ghent’s contemporary art museum, SMAK, held one of its most drastic exhibitions ever. Walls were demolished and the floor plan rearranged to make space for megainstallations and sculptures by Paul McCarthy. He’s one of America’s most radical artists, altering popular images and icons to expose the country’s repressed fears. This autumn, McCarthy presents White Snow & Coach Stage Stage Coach, Spinoffs. Not in a museum, this time, but in both spaces of the Xavier Hufkens art gallery in Brussels. McCarthy generally starts a new artwork with a performance. This leads to various spinoffs, like sculptures or films. The term “spinoff ” also refers to what the entertainment industry loves to create,

Gravensteen Castle to be renovated

Xavierhufkens.com

seem to form a storyboard for one of McCarthy’s typically violent and sexually loaded films. In this context, the only film in the show is a surprising choice: a 45-minute, slow travelling shot through a ( film?) setting that ends on a white screen. As its title, “CSSC Wavelength Weigh Station”, suggests, it’s a take on the seminal 1967 avant-garde film Wavelength. As out of place as it might seem, it’s mesmerising and a welcome pause in an exhibition that might be calm by McCarthy’s standards but is nonetheless still boisterous and loud. And at times exhilarating. \ Christophe Verbiest

Xavier Hufkens

Sint-Jorisstraat 6 & 107, Brussels

D’Ardennen sweeps ensor Awards Director Robin Pront’s grisly thriller D’Ardennen has won eight Ensor awards, more than twice as many as any other film nominated for Flemish cinema’s annual awards. D’Ardennen’s wins include Best Film, Best Script, Best Actor (Kevin Janssens), Best Supporting Actor (Jan Bijvoet) and Best Director of Photography (Robrecht Heyvaert). The film tells the story of working-class Dave (Perceval), who is trying to pull his life together but who is hampered by his erratic brother, Kenneth (Janssens), fresh out of prison. Gang film Black, meanwhile, won three Ensors, including Best Director (Adil El Arbi and Billal Fallah), Best Editing (same) and a welldeserved Best Actress award for Martha Canga Antonio. \ dardennen-film.be

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\ Arts

Globalisation to go, please antwerp theatre troupe de roovers reveal dynamics of undocumented lives tom peeters more articles by tom \ flanderstoday.eu

deroovers.be

Antwerp theatre collective De Roovers look at loneliness, injustice and exploitation with their own take on the hugely successful satire by the German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig.

ith 48 scenes and nearly 20 characters, De gouden draak (The Golden Dragon) is not the easiest course on the theatre menu. Performed by the Antwerp collective De Roovers, its hybrid form exposes a few unsettling truths. The first that comes to mind: We are living in a fast-paced society that turns its back on its undocumented inhabitants. In the play, undocumented immigrants work in the kitchen of an Asian restaurant on the ground floor of a big housing block. We meet their neighbours – including flight attendants Inga and Eva, who share an apartment, a lonely old man and a couple in the midst of a break-up – all too busy with their personal lives and careers to notice what’s happening next door. This tale of urban solitude by the popular contemporary German playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig, lacks a Hollywood ending. At first glance, the golden dragon that’s part of the restaurant’s tapestry appears to encourage the customers to enter. But the symbol ultimately becomes a coffin, a bloody reminder of lives wasted through ignorance. Last month, De Roovers staged De gouden draak during Zomer van Antwerpen with the cast of the four original Roovers and a guest appearance by the actor Vincent Van Sande. A large unused piece of land hidden by a large wall in the city’s Jewish district became the stage. The backdrop of decaying apartment buildings gave the audience an intimate perspective on an unfamiliar world, while the sounds from the nearby Central

Five cast members, 20 characters and 48 scenes: De gouden draak is not the simplest course on the theatre menu

train station kept them connected to everyday reality. For the indoor performances, actor Nico Sturm will take Van Sande’s place, and the team will have to settle for a set to represent urban solitude. Luckily, there’s Schimmelpfenning’s text. “His play is so smartly written, it almost directs itself,” says Robbie Cleiren, one of the four founding members of De Roovers. Unlike other playwrights, Cleiren continues, “Schimmelpfennig does not want his audience to identify too much with the characters. Instead, he urges the performers to play the roles of both narrators and actors.” That the actors never truly adopt their roles is pretty obvious once they’re on stage. Take Cleiren: One minute he is helping his poor Asian colleague (who isn’t actually Asian or dressed like a cook) to remove a bad tooth, and the

next he is playing one of the flight attendants who finds the same tooth in her chicken soup. Eventually, Cleiren puts on a red dress for yet another role. “At first, it may appear that these trivial stories have nothing to do with each other,” he says. “But Schimmelpfennig connects them through the kitchen and the food in a symbolic representation of our globalised world. Here, he proves a worthy heir to Bertolt Brecht.” The play’s style puts firm focus on the uncertain destiny of undocumented workers but is also illustrative of today’s reality. One morning the headlines remind you of 30 more refugees who have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, but tomorrow is another day, and the troubling news fades from your memory. Schimmelpfennig, Cleiren says, isn’t trying to document how things are. “He uses his play as a

mirror, asking us to reflect on how we relate to all of this. Do we want to think about it? Do we feel any empathy, compassion, maybe even guilt, when confronted with this urban loneliness and injustice?” The play is made up of seven storylines, each infused with elements and situations intended to make the audience reflect on those questions. This adds an element of playfulness into the performance, so that it feels a bit like a game. “If you don’t want to ask yourself these heavy questions, fair enough,” says Cleiren. “You can consider the play as a puzzle and try to connect the dots.” Naturally, it is much more interesting to let the stories slowly slip

23 september to 24 november

into your conscience. One of them is a retelling of the fable about the ant and the grasshopper. “The ant is an exponent of our western meritocracy, where work is the highest good, while the grasshopper would rather play music,” explains Cleiren. “Their conversation is innocent at first, but slowly it turns into a wry story of exploitation, in which the ant abuses the grasshopper. After all, if you want something, you have to work for it.” The same work ethic is behind the repeated drilling of the numbers on the menu by the restaurant staff. The continuous repeating of ingredients may sound hilarious, but, even with the drama in the kitchen, the orders don’t stop coming in, and the exotic dishes do get served. De gouden draak is the first of three plays about displacement by De Roovers this season. “Even if we play repertory theatre and rely on texts from the past, we want to say something about the world we live in today,” explains Cleiren. “Borders become illusive; people travel around and live wherever they want. All of this influences our economy and raises questions. We consider it our task as a theatre collective to at least help raise these questions and maybe even start looking for answers.” And if you think the current wave of refugees is a new phenomenon, he says, think again. “When we were working on this play, we came upon an old text in the British Library. The author asked what should be done about the Catholic refugees: ‘Receive or push back into the sea?’ People always have sought refuge in an attempt to lead a safer life, and theatremakers and players have always been looking for ways to relate to that.”

Across brussels and Flanders (in Dutch)

More perforMances this Month (not) my paradise

In the successful A Reason to Talk, young Flemish dramatist Sachli Gholamalizad reflected on her mother’s migration. She now focuses on her grandfather. With the help of relatives and the people who used to visit a nightclub owned by her granddad, she discovers how a piece of land by the Caspian Sea has divided her family. (In Dutch with English surtitles) 20-24 September, KVS, Brussels \ kvs.be

the town hall affair

hello useless: for w and friends

Leading American experimental theatre company The Wooster Group tells the story of journalist Jill Johnston, a lesbian community spokesperson who famously walked off the stage during a 1971 New York debate on feminism that was led by author, critic and male chauvinist Norman Mailer. The play (pictured) is based on the 1970s documentary Town Bloody Hall. (In Dutch with English surtitles) 21-24 September, deSingel, Antwerp

After half a decade as a member of the Münchner Kammerspiele, dancer/actor Benny Claessens has returned to Belgium. His first new piece, created for NTGent, was this wordless solo “about standing still and taking the time to see things clearly again”. You can enjoy it for free during the opening week of the new season at Stuk. 28-29 September, Stuk, Leuven \ stuk.be

\ desingel.be

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\ AGenDA

september 21, 2016

Together in electric dreams

Bozar Electronic Arts Festival 22-24 september

bozar, brussels boZar.be

ozar Electronic Arts Festival has come a long way in a short time. Now in its fifth edition, the digital arts and music extravaganza was originally conceived as a straightforward facsimile of the seminal Detroit Electronic Music Festival. It even bore the name Brussels Electronic Music Festival. But, while the Detroit event drifted into dishearteningly charted waters by adopting a mainstream club orientation and rechristening itself Movement, its Brussels counterpart grew ever more adventurous. It took the new name Bozar Electronic Arts Festival to reflect its expanding scope. Every year it has embraced more visual art, video and installation. The common denominator here isn’t a danceable beat but a commitment to exploring the possibilities of the digital world. Of course there’s music. The programme is

packed with over two dozen sets by DJs and live acts from around the world. Returning champion Tim Hecker headlines. The acclaimed Canadian musician and theorist impressed audiences with an intimate set here in 2014. This year he performs in Bozar’s magnificent Henry Le Boeuf Hall with smoke and lights by German scenographer MFO. Beyond beats, however, BEAF’s twin visual arts

exhibitions bear witness to the festival’s comprehensive approach to digital media. The Starts (Science, Technology and Arts) Prize selection features 14 cutting-edge works curated by the European Commission. As the acronym suggests, this project seeks to bridge the divide between specialised knowledge and popular arts. The other exhibition takes a magnifying glass to the local art world. Tendencies: Belgian Art in the Digital Age #1 taps six artists to survey the contemporary landscape and play with the themes of the day. One of them, Ghent-based media artist Dries Depoorter, takes current concern about internet privacy as his starting point and weaves a tapestry of transatlantic webcams called “Seattle Crime Cams” (pictured). Both exhibitions remain on show until 2 October. \ Georgio Valentino

visUal arts

mothers’ grief

koen broucke: how long have you been in scotland? Concertgebouw, bruges symfonieorkest.be

The Flanders Symphony Orchestra opens its season on a sombre note with a programme that explores the heartache of those who lost loved ones in the First World War. Most of the selections were composed by eyewitnesses to the carnage. Among them are French pianist Maurice Ravel, whose sixpart suite Le Tombeau de Couperin commemorates six fallen friends. The evening also features a spoken-word performance by actor Chris Lomme and video projections by Klaas Verpoest. After Bruges, the orchestra is set to reprise the programme in Antwerp (25 September) and Ghent (1 October). \ Georgio Valentino

Flemish artist and historian Koen Broucke paints bold, contemporary canvases inspired by past events. After several exhibitions documenting historical sites close to home, Broucke decamped to Scotland, earning a fellowship at the Glasgow School of Art and spending much of the past year exploring battlefields. This exhi-

\ comicscenter.net

MUsic festival Across Flanders Autumn Falls: Seventh edition of the folk and world music festival featuring a collection of up-and-coming talent alongside established names, with concerts by more than 40 indie artists spread over 20 of Flanders’ music venues. 23 September to 23 December, across Flanders

Ghent light Cube Art Gallery, ronse light-cube.be

bition takes you from Culloden, where Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army of rebel Highlanders was decimated by British government forces in 1746, to Scapa Flow, where the Kaiser’s navy was scuttled in the aftermath of the First World War. The gallery hosts a talk with the artist on 2 October. \ GV

Garden of Music: Open-air concert by Brazilian singerguitarist Aleh Santos and drummer Leo Barbosa, followed by Big Whoop, an eclectic group of funk-loving Gentenaars. 25 September 16.00-22.00, De Tuin van Heden, Meierij 178 \ tuinvanheden.gent

fair brussels Brussels Art Square: Series of open-door events in and around Grote Zavel, the heart of Brussels’ historic art and antiques district, with shows in 60 art galleries and auction houses, this year featuring a selected group of dealers from guest country Italy. 23-25 September 14.00-20.00, Grote Zavel

event

Antwerp

brussels museums nocturnes

o’verture Ostend’s cultural institutions join forces for an epic season-opening weekender that includes performances, exhibitions, a culture market and open houses. De Grote Post hosts concerts by Yuko and Roland Van Campenhout as well as the premiere of Mélanie Lomoff en Romeu Runa’s contemporary dance performance Our Darkness. Vrijstaat Oinvitesvisitorstoitsongoingopenair exhibition Private Tag, in which 15 contemporary artists leave their mark on the disused coastal fortifications at Raversyde. Special events are planned on-site throughout the weekend. In Beeld: Dolores Bouckaert, meanwhile, showcases new and previous works by the Ghent native (pictured). \ GV

Cover Art: A glimpse into the creative and production processes involved in making the perfect comic book cover, one that catches the reader’s attention and ultimately sells the book. Until 28 May, Comics Art Museum, Zavelstraat 20

\ brusselsartsquare.com

festival 23-25 september

until 9 october

brussels

\ autumnfalls.be

classical 23 september, 20.00

visUal arts

Across Ostend visitoostende.be

until 8 december Every Thursday throughout the autumn, a rotating roster of at least five museums in Brussels extend their hours until 22.00 and organise special events related to their collections. Dozens of institutions are participating in this 16th edition of the popular annual event. This year’s newcomers include the Millennium Iconoclast

Across brussels brusselsmuseumsnocturnes.be

Museum of Art (Mima), which opened its doors to international acclaim earlier this year, and the Adam Art and Design Museum. The latter hosts its Nocturne this week along with the René Magritte Museum, the Koekelberg Basilica’s Modern Religious Art Museum and more. \ GV

Roller Skating Jam: Dress up in your best glittery tops, bell-bottoms and old school roller skates and dance to disco-, soul- and funk classics all night long. 24 September 20.30-1.00, De Roma, Turnhoutsebaan 286 \ deroma.be

oUtdoor brussels Brussels EcoTrail: Annual outdoor event features five routes each for cyclists, walkers, runners and trail runners to choose from, including a kids’ trail with treasure hunt, with proceeds going to ecological and humanitarian organisation. 24 September, Atomium, Marathonlaan 1 \ ecotrailbrussels.com

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\ bACkpAGe

september 21, 2016

Talking Dutch regrets, i’ve had a few, like that dragon tattoo derek blyth more articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu

e all make mistakes. But some stick with you for the rest of your life, like that dragon tattoo you got 20 years ago after a long night out. That’s the message the government is trying to get out to Belgians who are flirting with the idea of a tattoo. Elk jaar laten ongeveer 500.000 Belgen een tattoo zetten –Every year, about 500,000 Belgians get a tattoo, reported De Morgen recently. Ongeveer twintig procent daarvan krijgt ooit spijt van die beslissing – About 20% of them regret the decision at some point. That’s a lot of unwanted body art. Daarom lanceert de FOD Volksgezondheid een campagne – So the federal department of health has launched a campaign die mensen wil overtuigen om hun keuze voor een tatoeage goed te overwegen – to persuade people to think carefully about their whether to get a tattoo. Het doel is niet om tatoeages te verbieden – The aim is not to ban tattoos, maar we willen alle info verschaffen om een verstandige keuze te maken – but we want to provide all the necessary information to help people make an intelligent choice, said a health department spokesperson. So why do people regret their tattoos? asked Het Laatste Nieuws. Freddy Vereecke from Kruishoutem explained to the paper what caused him to have second thoughts. ‘Freddy Loves Pascaline’ moest eraf – ‘Freddy Loves Pascaline’ had to go, want met Pascaline was het ook af – because it’s all over with Pascaline, he said. De panterkop en het hoofd van de eenhoorn gingen ook

van de armen – The panther head and the rhinoceros head are also being removed from his arms, want Freddy begon een eigen zaak als aannemer – because Freddy was starting his own company as a contractor en wou er in T-shirt toch niet te afschrikwekkend uitzien – and he didn’t want to look too scary in his T-shirt. Maar die zeilboot op zijn rechterbiceps die hij zo mooi vindt – But as for the sailing ship on his right biceps that he finds really beautiful, die bleef gewoon staan – that was going to stay. Then there’s the story of Anita, who shared her regrets with Het Nieuwsblad. ‘Nicky’, staat te lezen op de bovenarm van Anita uit Deurne – ‘Nicky’ can be read on the upper arm of Anita from Deurne. Zo romantisch was het – It was really romantic, toen het koppeltje net achttien was – when the couple were just 18. Maar de tattoo bleek duurzamer dan de liefde – But the tattoo turned out to be more enduring that their love. Mijn huidige vriend vindt het ook niet supertof – And my current boyfriend doesn’t find it so great, either, said Anita. Echt, zet nooit de naam van je partner op je lijf – Don’t ever put your partner’s name on your body, she warned. Je weet nooit hoe het afloopt – You never know how it’s going to work out. So think twice before you get that dragon tattoo.

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