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Flanders today

january 6, 2010

Erkenningsnummer P708816

Music vs malaria......................... 3

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I N D E P E N D E N T N E W S W ee k l y news

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business

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arts

Hasselt and Maastricht Universities are teaming up to provide a brand-new law programme with an emphasis on European law, while Hasselt U starts its renovation of the city’s old prison building

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living

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agenda

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interview

Tongeren’s Gallo-Roman Museum stages an exhibition dedicated to the legendary Ambiorix and the Eburones, the Celtic (or possibly Germanic) tribe responsible for Caesar’s greatest defeat in Gaul © Paul Ellis/Belga

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The real Ambiorix.................. 8

Brain child.............. 6

Music for Life, the annual fundraising initiative by Studio Brussels, raised more than €3 million to fight Malaria worldwide. The popular public event found three DJs living in a glass house in the centre of Ghent for a week

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Beyond Copenhagen Climate change agreements may have failed, but development of offshore wind power is one of Belgium’s goals during its EU presidency

W Emma Portier Davis

As the climate talks in Copenhagen got underway, ministers from Belgium, France, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and Britain launched an initiative to connect offshore wind farms that dot Europe’s coastlines, creating a super grid. This would include Belgium’s Thornton Bank wind farm, 30 kilometres off the coast of Zeebrugge. Belgian representatives, who have pushed the issue forward, said the initiative will be one of the country’s top priorities when its government takes on the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union in the second

half of this year, a move which has been welcomed by environmentalists. “This is a clear political statement at a high level and a commitment to get on with it in 2010 as a top priority,” said Greenpeace energy specialist Jan Van de Putte, whose team has been actively campaigning to develop windpower technology as an alternative to nuclear or so-called “clean coal” (where the carbon dioxide emissions are captured and stored).

New laws for 2010 Smoking ban gets off to shaky start Alan Hope

The most publicised new law to enter into force in 2010 is the extension of the smoking ban in cafés and restaurants, which now includes all premises where food is served. Previously the ban only affected restaurants in which at least 30% of the income came from food. Under the new legislation, all food is covered apart from nuts, crisps and dried sausages served in bars. However, many bar owners have already decided to take food off the menu rather than lose their smoking customers. Other owners plan to serve lunch smoke free while allowing smoking in the afternoon and evening – although this may bring them to

the attention of the 100 health inspectors who have been sent out across the country to check on implementation of the new law. In the first three months, federal health ministry inspectors will only issue warnings, but after that fines will be applicable. The new law looked shaky in its first days when it was pointed out that the statute as published contained a sentence in French, which made it inapplicable in Flanders. But this last-ditch attempt by smokers to torpedo the legislation was unsuccessful. A complete ban in all cafes is expected in 2012. The new law does nothing to remedy a problem identified by the courts in 2009, when the previous law was ruled to be in breach of the principle of equality under the law. In an appeal brought by a bar owner who refused

to ban smokers from his premises, the court said the division of cafes according to sales of food was unlawful. The new law continues to apply the same distinction. Supporters of a total ban, including the League against Cancer, point out that the measure is intended to tackle the health risks of second-hand smoke, which go farther than the nuisance caused to diners. The league has promised to take legal action if its call for a total ban by 2012 is not met. The chances are very high that the first court case brought, whether by pro- or anti-smokers, will see the new law declared unlawful because the distinction between cafes is still present.

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continued on page 5 © Patrick de Spiegelaere/BELGA

ind power has long been heralded as one of the greenest ways for Europeans to keep the lights on. Simply by harnessing this natural resource, millions of homes across the continent could be powered without the use of a single piece of coal and its noxious, climate-altering emissions. Luckily then, amid last December’s gloomy, failed UN talks to reach a global deal on fighting climate change, there was a glimmer of hope on the environmental horizon as nine European nations, led by Belgium, signed an agreement to develop offshore wind power.

Don’t forget ....

News

News ��2 - 3 News in brief Fifth Column: peaceful year? Police seek tips in double-murder case

Feature �� 5 Wind power a priority in Belgium

Focus �� 6 Hasselt and Maastricht universities collaborate on new campus

Business................................... 7 New laws for the New Year Record bankruptcies in 2009

News in brief Extra security measures introduced at Brussels Airport after a thwarted attack on a flight from Schiphol to Detroit on Christmas Day were extended for an indefinite period. The EU Commission is expected to take a decision on airport security this month, which will cover the whole of the EU. The additional measures include: hand luggage restricted to one piece; check-in at least three hours before departure for US destinations; extra searches at checkpoints. The measures can cause delays on all routes.

Arts �� 8 - 9 Everything you ever wanted to know about Ambiorix The history of foundlings in Moving Archives Culture news

Active �� 11 Antwerp’s Sportpaleis goes from strength to strength

Agenda �� 13-15 Kaaitheater plans major premieres Three pages of arts and events

Back page �� 16 Face of Flanders: Lou Tseng-Tsiang Talking Dutch: our language expert looks at the greenness of paper Bite: Where to go for kitchenware The Last Word: what they’re saying in Flanders

Quiz 2009! Thank you to everyone who took part in our year-end quiz, printed in the 16 December issue of Flanders Today. Congratulations to Jabbeke resident Hilde Pirlet-Desmet, who won the quiz. Hilde wins a Bongo gift box worth €50. Answers to quiz: 1 cats and dogs • 2 Flanders from the Air • 3 the dialect • 4 Line Van Wambeke • 5 lack of priests • 6 Aalst • 7 restaurants at the coast • 8 De oude Kaasmakerij • 9 pre-school children • 10 Both A&C • 11 Belgians themselves • 12 Fine Arts Museum Ghent • 13 20,000 • 14 House of the Sleeping Beauties • 15 students • 16 Rock Werchter • 17 chocolate • 18 Jimmy Kets • 19 sugar glider • 20 Robbrecht & Daem

FLANDERS TODAY Independent Newsweekly Editor: Derek Blyth

NV Vlaamse Uitgeversmaatschappij

Deputy editor: Lisa Bradshaw

Gossetlaan 30, 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden

News editor: Alan Hope

Editorial address: Gossetlaan 30

Agenda: Sarah Crew, Robyn Boyle

1702 Groot-Bijgaarden Tel.: 02.373.99.09 _ Fax: 02.375.98.22

Prepress: Corelio P&P Contributors: Rebecca Benoot, Robyn Boyle, Courtney Davis, Emma Portier Davis, Stéphanie Duval, Anna Jenkinson, Sharon Light, Katrien Lindemans, Alistair MacLean, Marc Maes, Ian Mundell, Anja Otte, Saffina Rana, Christophe Verbiest Project manager: Pascale Zoetaert Publisher: VUM

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Faux Gras, a foie gras substitute produced by the animal rights group Gaia, sold out its entire stock of 30,000 pots over the Christmas period (see Flanders Today, 2 December). The product, based on a recipe that includes champagne and truffles, raised 40 cents a pot for Gaia.

A Guinean man who twice breached security at Brussels Airport and entered a parked plane had “no ill intentions”, according to an airport spokesman. The man initially climbed a perimeter fence, but was detained by security staff on the tarmac. After being questioned, he was allowed to go free and made his way back to the tarmac, where he gained entry to a Jetair plane. He was later detained in a psychiatric institution. “We have 30 kilometres of fencing,” said airport spokesman Jan Van der Cruysse. “We don’t have any landmines or guntowers to keep an eye on everything. We’re a civilian airport. But his presence was spotted quickly enough by our services.” Despite the incident, experts said Brussels remains better protected than many other international airports. Meanwhile, a man who made five hoax bomb threats to the airport has been arrested.

A court in Bruges has sentenced a man to 10 months suspended after he was found to have shot himself. The man blamed the injury on an ex-girlfriend who wanted money from him, but the public prosecutor described him as a “pathological liar”. The gun used in the shooting, for which he had no permit, was impounded by police.

E-mail: editorial@flanderstoday.eu Subscriptions: France Lycops Tel: 02.373.83.59 E-mail: subscriptions@flanderstoday.eu Advertising: Evelyne Fregonese Tel: 02.373.83.57 E-mail: advertising@flanderstoday.eu Verantwoordelijke uitgever: Derek Blyth

january 6, 2010

Flemish public transport authority De Lijn will introduce payments by SMS throughout its entire network from 1 February. Currently being tested in Ghent and Antwerp, the method will initially be available only to Proximus clients. The service costs €1.30 for a one-hour ticket, plus 15 cents for the SMS,

CONTENTS

Art director: Michel Didier

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y

Get the news from Flanders online in English and French at www.flanderstoday.eu

Slimste mens bares all It’s a measure of the success of Flemish quiz programme De slimste mens ter wereld (The Smartest Person in the World) that it manages to fill the column inches of newspapers across the spectrum, even when the quiz itself seems stuck in a rut, with two contestants dominating proceedings to such an extent that it sometimes resembles Real Madrid and Manchester United competing against a league of boys’ teams. The latest off-camera story to grab the headlines for DSM (as we call it) concerned a cheeky photo of a colleague of ours here at Flanders Today’s parent company Corelio. Jelle Van Riet is a literary journalist and columnist for De Standaard, but most of those who know her at all know her as the newlywed wife of Flemish crooner Helmut Lotti. Helmut recently gave up wearing a hairpiece, while his wife was uncovered by DSM more comprehensively when they showed a tasteful nude photo of her taken for a book of poetry. It later transpired that the producers of DSM had used the photo without the permission of the photographer, the publisher of the book or the subject. The incident allowed jury member Guy Mortier to make a perfectly judged joke about Lotti’s toupee. Van Riet declined to comment. The producers’ excuses were, frankly, lame, but it hardly mattered: they had achieved their aim of making headlines. Meanwhile, in the competition proper, the leading player at this stage is political journalist and presenter of Villa Politica, Linda De Win, with a stunning record of 10 wins in a row. De Win and pop singer Bent Van Looy have successfully dispatched the last seven candidates. As Flanders Today went to press just before the first episode of 2010, undercover journalist Luc Alloo was getting ready to try his luck against the unbeatable duo. ➟ ➟ www.deslimstemens.be

which is still cheaper than the new tariff, which also comes into effect on 1 February, of €2.00 when the ticket is bought on the bus or tram. Discussions with phone operators Base and Mobistar are ongoing, De Lijn said.

Stijn Tant, a student in commercial sciences, last week made municipal history when he became the youngest alderman on the council of Wevelgem. Tant, 21, who has sat on the council for three years, will handle the portfolios of youth affairs, employment, social economy, environment and green policy, but he has no intention of giving up his studies.

Patients suffering emergency dental problems on holidays or at the weekend can now call one central number for help from 19 local representations of the Flemish Dentists’ Union (VVT). The number 0903-39969 is only available at weekends and from 9.00 to 18.00 on holidays, and costs €1.50 per minute.

The word of the year 2009 in Dutch is ontvrienden, according to Dutch dictionary publisher Van Daele (see Flanders Today, 16 December). The word means “to remove someone from one’s list of friends on a social network site”. The English version “to unfriend” was voted word of the year in December by the New Oxford American Dictionary.

The city authorities of Knokke plan to tackle the noise nuisance caused by nightclubs by building the clubs underground. “People don’t want to see dance clubs any more,” said the youth alderman

News

Night Fever

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y january 6, 2010

fifth column

New Elisabethzaal will be “jewel in a box” Antwerp’s largest classical concert hall to undergo massive renovations

780

children disappeared last year in Flanders from school registers, their parents apparently having moved, leaving no trace, probably due to debt

530,000,000

passengers carried in 2009 by public transport authority De Lijn, 4.3% more than in 2008

96.1 million

text messages sent over the New Year period, 18m more than last year. Market leader Proximus accounted for 41m, Mobistar 33m and Base 22m. Traffic was not affected by the record numbers, operators said

€8,000,000

cost of housing some 1,200 asylum seekers in hotels due to lack of adequate alternative accommodation, according to government agency Fedasil

15%

increase in the number of trucks losing their loads on the roads in 2009, representing a total of about 10,000 cases, according to motoring organisation Touring. Main cargoes involved were wooden beams, palettes and planks

Plans for the new Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp include a balcony and rehearsal space for De Filharmonie

Police appeal in hunt for double killer Police have appealed for witnesses to help them solve the mystery of a double murder that took place in Loksbergen, Limburg province, in the early morning hours of 2 January. Kevin Paulus, 22, and his girlfriend, Shana Appeltans, 18, left family and friends at a New Year’s party at about 1.45 to drive less than a kilometre to the Appeltans family home. At about 2.15, emergency services were called with reports of a burning car on the nearby E314. Fire-

men tackling the blaze found two bodies inside the vehicle, one in the trunk and one on the rear seat. The bodies were of the young couple; both had been shot in the abdomen and were probably dead before the fire was started. The reason remains a mystery. The tow were described as “unremarkable”: Paulus worked for a packaging company and was due to start a new job as a warehouseman for a car manufacturer; Appeltans was studying

to be a teacher at college in Diepenbeek. The couple had been together for four years, leading investigators to rule out a relationship angle to the killings. Police believe they were shot somewhere in Loksbergen and the white Opel Corsa driven to the service road where it was set on fire to wipe out evidence. Any information is received in confidence at the free police tip line 0800.91.119. 

Music for Life raises €3.65 million This year’s Music for Life appeal by radio broadcaster Studio Brussel raised a total of €3.65 million for the fight against malaria in the developing world. A party in the Ghent Vooruit complex brought an end to a week-long radio action in which three StuBru DJs – Sofie Lemaire, Siska Schoeters and Sam De Bruyn – broadcast 24 hours a day from a glass house set up on the Woodrow Wilsonplein in Ghent. The money was raised by listeners who paid to have requests played by the trio. In addition, various official bodies Helmut Lotti (right) picks up DJs Sofie Lemaire, Siska Schoeters and Sam De Bruyn on their release from made donations: €50,000 from the glass house after a week of charity broadcasting the city of Ghent and €16,000 raised by city staff; €300,000 from the Flemish region and €1m from the federal government. Flemish singer Helmut Lotti donated his pink Saab convertible, which was auctioned for €22,500. A special edition of the VRT quiz show Blokken raised €19,500, while an artwork by Dutch conceptual artist Jam Smit, with contributions from sports stars Kim Clijsters, Tia Hellebaut and Eddy Merckx, was sold for €15,400. The Red Cross, which put the money towards the purchase of mosquito nets, benefitted from the charity action, as did the tax authorities, who took €10,000 in VAT on the €150,000 sales of Stories for Life, a collection of short stories written for the occasion by well-known Flemish authors. One of the authors, Dimitri Verhulst, called the tax-grab “sad”. He added: “But it’s never too late. They could still decide to hand back the €10,000. It’s just a suggestion.” 

THE WEEK IN FIGURES

suitable for the venue’s resident orchestra, De Filharmonie. Simpson will call on the assistance of Kirkegaard Associates, acoustical experts based in Chicago and Boulder in the United States. Simpson’s other plans involve the construction of a promenade to link the hall to the Astridplein in front of the theatre. Reception rooms and conference spaces will be made more open-plan, with a new circulation space for audiences and conference delegates on the zoo side of the building. The hall itself promises “noble architecture with top acoustics,” according to Filharmonie conductor Philippe Herreweghe. The new hall will have a balcony, and the orchestra will be given office and rehearsal space. Work will begin in 2011 and should be completed by the end of 2012. While the reconstruction is under way, De Filharmonie will tour overseas and make more use of deSingel, while its existing office space in the Eilandje district will be sold off. 

Alan Hope

The Elisabethzaal in central Antwerp, the city’s main venue for classical music, is to be given a major €57.2 million renovation to coincide with the venue’s 50th anniversary. Flanders’ minister president Kris Peeters, announcing plans for the renovation just before Christmas, promised that the new theatre would provide a union of “entertainment, culture and science”. The architect, Manchester-based Ian Simpson, will have to work within the existing structure, which belongs to the neighbouring Antwerp Zoo. The winner of an international competition for the project, Simpson admits that the task is challenging: “The public is received in an uninspired, anonymous and even disorienting manner. There has to be a better way,” he said, adding that “the shape of the hall is completely wrong.” In addition, the hall’s technical installations are sorely in need of modernisation, and the acoustic is no longer

Anja Otte

A peaceful year? In 2010, the voters of this country get a break as there are no elections planned. To people from less complicated nations, this fact may not seem worth mentioning. But in recent Belgian politics, a year without elections is quite exceptional. We have national elections every four years, regional elections every five years (held on the same day as the European elections) and local elections every six years. In practice this means that we elected the Flemish Parliament in 2009, will elect the federal parliament in 2011 and in 2012 there will be local elections. No wonder everyone looks forward to the break! Some politicians, socialists and liberals mainly, favour so-called concurring elections, whereby both the region and federal parliaments are elected on the same day. The main advantage would be that this would stop the everlasting electoral fever that plagues many politicians, on both sides of the language divide, making it almost impossible to make tough decisions. Christian Democrats and Flemish nationalists oppose this idea of concurring elections. They believe that with separate elections the voters will gradually gain a better understanding of the federal and regional governments and parliaments – both in terms of what they are and what they do. But, no matter how much media coverage each election gets, most citizens remain confused. The politicians themselves are part of the problem, as some of them are constantly hopping from one level to the other, taking part in every single election, even if they have no intention of taking up their seat in the respective parliament. So, will a year without elections be a year of increased stability? Chances are slim, as the federal government wants to solve the prickly issue of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, the bilingual constituency that the Flemish feel should be split. The federal government wants a solution by June, when Belgium takes on the European presidency, to avoid a bitter dispute between language groups at that time. Just to make sure, former prime minister Jean-Luc Dehaene (CD&V), one of the most respected Belgian politicians in history, has been asked to take on this task. If he cannot solve this, then no-one can, is the popular belief. And if he cannot do this, then there is another thing that awaits us in 2010 – the end of the Leterme federal government and new elections after all.

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Feature

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y january 6, 2010

Beyond Copenhagen Belgium will collaborate with other European countries to connect their windfarms in a power grid ➟

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This all sounds perfect but, as critics of wind turbines are all too ready to point out, wind power can be as unreliable as the weather on which it depends; stationary turbines on still days are hardly an advert for throwing all our eggs in that basket when it comes to solving the climate problem. Then there’s the aesthetic argument. To some, wind turbines are a graceful representation of clean, green energy. To others, they are quite literally a blot on the landscape – and a noisy one at that. Enter an angry mob of “Not-in-my-backyard” protestors (dubbed Nimbies). Developing offshore wind, where rotating turbines are planted off the coastline, solves the aesthetic problem (unless, of course, you’re an avid sailor). Crucially, connecting wind farms across the North Sea and the Irish Sea also solves the reliability issue. When there’s a mild day off the 60-kilometre Flemish coastline, for instance, there will doubtless be a blustery enough day off the coast of one of the other countries in the grid to generate a surplus that can be used for this shortfall. For Belgium in particular, this is the answer. Wind is one of the few renewable energy sources worth exploiting but, as the country is one of the most densely populated in Western Europe, there is little scope for onshore wind. “Offshore wind is the only possibility for Belgium. It’s not hot here, we don’t have a lot of mountains, and we don’t have a lot of space,” says Marie-Isabelle Gomez, spokeswoman for federal climate minister Paul Magnette. “The sea is the only possibility,” Developing a grid is also of utmost importance. “For Belgium, it’s a key element. We only have 60 kilometres of coastline, so we need cooperation on the grid to develop renewables,” says Van de Putte. And if all that wasn’t reason enough, Belgium, like all other EU member states, is obliged under European Community law to source 20% of its energy from renewables such as wind or solar by 2020. “The building of a ‘super grid’ in the North Sea is vital for fully exploiting Europe’s biggest energy source – offshore wind,” says Justin Wilkes, policy director of the European Wind Energy Association. “More than 100 gigawatts of offshore wind projects are at various stages of planning, which could provide more than 10% of the EU’s electricity.”

What now? To kick-start the process, government officials will hold a series of meetings during the next few months to work out just how to develop this offshore grid, working in tandem with the European Commission, the EU executive which has in parallel been pushing the technology. By the middle of this year, each member state is required by law to present the commission with its plans for renewable energy. This should clarify the ambitions of each of the nine signatories to the offshore wind agreement. Once the Belgian government takes up the presidency in July, these officials will hopefully have gotten a head start on a series of issues that must be resolved before any meaningful development can take place. “The technical and economic analysis is not yet done, and different people have different views on the offshore grid. For 2010, we will be having policy discussions to see where the real show-stoppers are,” says an EU official, who does not want to be named. Crucially, the EU will have to plough ahead with its project to develop a single European market for energy, allowing

Moving offshore

They are hard to see from the shoreline, but the six windmills on Belgium’s Thornton Bank, 30 kilometres offshore, are the largest wind turbines in the world. Nearly 200 metres high (double the height of the Atomium), they are also placed further out to sea than any other wind farm

electricity to flow freely across the power grids. “Electricity market integration is the key element. An offshore grid can then send power in different directions,” said the official.

Connecting with the neighbours Among the many details to consider in such a trans-border project are questions of responsibility – that is who constructs and maintains each part – and questions of compatibility. Then they’ll have to decide where the money will come from. “That is indeed the question,” says the EU official. There are, however, several possibilities. Already, under the European stimulus package to get us through the financial crisis, the EU awarded funds to a series of energy projects, including €10 million for the Thornton Bank wind farm and €165 million for the North Sea grid. This wind farm, owned by Flemish company C-Power, is already in operation and plans ultimately to generate close to 1,000 gigawatts – enough energy to power 600,000 homes – and to link up with other wind farms in the North Sea. Along with other bits of EU funding and national measures – the UK, for example, has been throwing money at renewable energy in its bid to lead the way on “lowcarbon” energy, notably because it’s an island and needs connections to mainland Europe – this should be enough stimulus to encourage companies to invest. Even without funds, it makes sense. According to the European Wind Energy Association, a grid that allows for cross-border trading in power could lead to savings in operational costs of €1 to 2 billion per year. An excellent example to look to is the 600-kilometre-long power line between Norway and the Netherlands. It cost

€600 million to build but, according to Greenpeace, is already allowing €800,000 a day in cross-border trade. But regulators will have to be clear, warns Van de Putte. “The commission has to publish a blueprint, and it will need to be sufficiently concrete for political and industrial planning. The financing is not a big challenge, but it’s a challenge to find the mechanisms – a political challenge.” He added that, while Belgium is set to increase dramatically its offshore wind output over the next few years, “to grow further and give confidence, we need certainty for investors that business will go on. Key to that is cooperation on the grid.”

Green jobs

As well as making sense financially, constructing an offshore grid is another step on the way to Europe reinventing itself as a green economy. As it struggles to raise itself out of the depths of the financial crisis, it justifies its expenditure on energy, claiming it will create green jobs. The European Commission said in December that funding of €565 million awarded to offshore wind projects would push the economy and employment now and “supports innovative energy technologies that may create further jobs and growth in the future”. Cynics might also add that were it not for the impending energy security crisis and the EU’s desperate desire to wean itself off Russian oil and gas, there would not be such an impetus behind these “green” projects. Nonetheless, offshore wind fans conclude that it meets all these needs. “A new multi-billion euro European industry is emerging,” states Wilkes. “One that will create thousands of jobs, provide affordable electricity, boost Europe’s energy security and help fight climate change.”  ➟➟ www.ec.europa.eu/energy

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Focus

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y january 6, 2010

Marriage made in Limburg Hasselt and Maastricht Universities give birth to a brand new brainchild Melissa Maki

asselt University is small and relatively young when compared to other Flemish institutions of higher education. But it is rapidly distinguishing itself with unique programmes of study, collaborations and now an ambitious campus expansion plan that includes the renovation of a 19th-century prison building. Because of its reliance on the coal industry in the first half of the century, the province of Limburg had tended to lag behind the rest of Flanders in economic stability and innovation. Finally, the region has designated education and technology as key new areas for development. Hasselt U was originally founded as Limburgs Universitair Centrum in 1971 in Diepenbeck, a small town outside Hasselt. The university’s focus was initially on undergraduate education in medicine and the sciences. In 2001, it added an applied economics curriculum and began to grant doctoral degrees in these three areas of study. Since then, the school has been expanding in some very unique ways. Since its inception, Hasselt U has been working to level the playing field for young Limburgers, who are 30% less likely than their counterparts in Flanders to choose university education over regional colleges, according to Luc De Schepper, the university’s rector. De Schepper notes that in areas of education organised by Hasselt U, this under-participation has been steadily decreasing.

“The minister of education asked us not to just copy the faculty of law as you find it in Leuven, Brussels, Ghent and Antwerp” Hasselt U has also worked to establish relationships with students beyond its immediate locale. It boasts the highest rate of international student enrolment among Flemish universities, at nine percent. And the university has been cultivating both national and international collaborations. In 2001, Hasselt University and neighbouring Maastricht University in the Netherlands (also in a province called Limburg) began a distinctive cross-border partnership – the first of its kind in Belgium. The result is the transnational University Limburg (tUL) with specialisations in IT and biomedical sciences education. tUL was established through a formal treaty between the Netherlands and Flanders. It is essentially a separate university, though it does not have its own campus – classes are conducted both in Maastricht and Diepenbeck.

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New construction

tUL relies on its two parent schools for administrative support, such as student registration and financial aid, but staff and students can access the resources of both universities, which can be very beneficial, for instance, when expensive technology is required for research. Last year, tUL teamed up with the Catholic University of Leuven to form an innovative new law programme. “The education minister allowed us to start a new education in law, but he asked us to do something really new, not to just copy the faculty of law as you find it in Leuven, Brussels, Ghent and Antwerp,” says De Schepper. The rector likes to refer to this new curriculum as a “reverse programme in law.” Typically, students learn Belgian and Flemish law in their first three to four years and then go on to study European law during their Master’s. But, as De Schepper points out, “The majority of our laws are a translation of European law.” The new programme, then, will take a reverse course: students will study European law first and New construction later move on to Flemish and Belgian law. While this progression may seem logical, De Schepper says it’s a challenge for faculty to make such a change. But pooling the three universiPrison entrance ties’ respective expertise could be advantageous in terms of making the project work and Gevangenis, or Old Prison, was recently purcreating well-rounded students. Maastricht Uni- chased by the university. Fittingly, the old buildversity’s law teachers are already well-known for ing in on the city’s ring road will be renovated to their command of European law, for example. provide space for the new law programme. Another distinguishing feature of the new cur- The outer structure of the prison, which was built riculum is its teaching philosophy. Courses will 170 years ago, will remain intact, but the interior mainly be conducted in small groups of about will undergo a complete overhaul. Its large, cen20 students, a technique that De Schepper says tral area will be renovated to include auditoria is quite uncommon among other Flemish law for groups of up to 300 students. The prison’s programmes. two wings, which are currently divided into cells, will become small classrooms. “Of course, those If you build it, they will come rooms are really too small,” notes De Schepper, So far, this new way of approaching law school “so a lot of the prison cells will be demolished.” has been quite successful in attracting students. In addition, Hasselt U has plans for two brandEnrolment has been nearly double the rate that new buildings, one beside the old prison and officials expected. In the first year, 140 students one behind it. Construction has already started on the latter, which will provide urgently needed were anticipated and 270 enrolled. Hasselt U’s Diepenbeck campus – where the space for small-group work and law faculty oflaw programme is currently based – couldn’t fices as early as the end of 2010. The rectoraccommodate both this influx of students and ate and other central administrative services will the need for small group space. As Flanders eventually be located in the building adjacent to Today reported back in May, Hasselt’s Oude the old prison. Both the revamped prison and

The core: the university will retain the 19thcentury prison’s architecture

administrative building should be completed by the end of 2012. This university expansion to the centre of Hasselt is possible thanks to €30 million in funding from Limburg Sterk Merk, a foundation that supports economic development projects in the province of Limburg. A separate but related development project by Flemish public transport company De Lijn and the city of Maastricht will greatly enhance the collaboration between the two universities. Plans are in the works for a high-speed, light-rail connection due to be completed in 2012, which will effectively cut travel time between the two cities in half. Since students rely heavily on public transport, the light-rail will undoubtedly open up new educational possibilities, but everyone will benefit as the line will also be open to the public. 

➟➟ www.tul.edu

Business

 €139.5 million

New laws for 2010 ➟

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he catering industry is also affected by new legislation requiring all new cafes and restaurants to be equipped with “black-box” cash registers, which record not only all transactions for tax purposes but also the hours worked by personnel, for tax and social security reasons. The black boxes will be extended to all other establishments in 2013. Meanwhile, VAT on restaurant meals has been cut from 21% to 12%, but customers are unlikely to notice any difference, as the industry has made it clear it will use the additional revenue to create jobs and help combat the black economy. Only a few businesses, such as restaurants in Ikea hypermarkets and the Bistrot ’t Ketelke in Ghent, have promised to pass all of the saving on to clients. 

More new laws you should know Letterboxes All letterboxes must conform to existing regulations on height and width (minimum 23 x 3 centimetres) or deliveries will not be made, the Post Office has warned. Post increase A normal postage stamp goes up by 10 cents to 69 cents if bought in quantities of less than 10. Quantities over 10 remain 59 cents. Solar panels The premium for installing solar panels goes down from €450 per 100 kW hours to €350. Public sales Public sales of property by auction will now be completed in one sitting, instead of the current process, which spreads sales out over two days. The change will do away with the archaic system of paying a premium to the highest bidder on the first day if that bid was topped on the second day, which was almost always the case since serious buyers stayed away until the second day. Auto testing The cost of an MOT test goes up to €31 for petrol cars and €38 for diesel vehicles. Company cars The tax deduction for company cars is no longer dependent on the so-called fiscal horsepower, but the vehicle’s CO2 emissions. Rubbish sorting Residents of Brussels region are now obliged to sort their household rubbish or face a fine ranging from €62.50 to €625. The price of white rubbish bags goes up by around 10 cents, but the price of yellow bags for paper and blue bags for plastic, metal and drink cartons (PMD) has been cut to encourage sorting. Media tax A tax is now applied to USB sticks, MP3 players, set-top boxes and external computer hard drives to cover the losses of the music industry to downloading. A similar tax is being applied to blank cassettes, video cassettes and CDs, which have become less popular as media for copying. The tax levied will go to the performing rights organisation Sabam; critics claim the tax makes no allowance for legitimate uses of the media. Equine identity Horses and donkeys now have to be equipped with an identity chip embedded in the ear if they are to be traded or entered in competitions. Horses will also be issued with passports.

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y january 6, 2010

paid by the federal government for a Brussels office block it sold in 2005 to property developers Immobel for €22.5 million

Record number of companies go bust The 2009 year end saw 9,515 Belgian companies go bankrupt, an increase of nearly 12% on 2008 and an absolute record, according to research bureau Graydon. Only eight of the companies concerned had more than 100 employees, reinforcing the view that bankruptcy in the current economy affects mostly smaller businesses. The business failures registered in 2009 involved the loss of more than 23,800 jobs. While the number of bankruptcies was up 12%, job losses incurred rose by 18%. Other notable figures for 2009: • Nationwide, one company went broke for every 92 in business • In Flanders, one company went broke for every 127 active, while in Brussels, the figure is one in 64 • In catering, the figure was one in 32, in transport one in 42 and in construction one in 65 • Nearly 38% of companies that failed had been active for less than five years Graydon also forecast that the wave of bankruptcies would continue in 2010, principally affecting younger and smaller businesses, which are less capable of weathering the storm. Rising credit costs and an increase in late paying of invoices will also contribute to an expected total of 10,500 bankruptcies for the year, the company said. If this happens, it will represent a new record.  ➟➟ www.graydon.be

Burj Dubai opens with a flavour of Limburg Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building, opened its doors this week against a background of financial crisis in the Emirates, and with just a touch of Belgian influence. The Dubai tower (pictured) may not be the tallest building for long, as competition heats up to overtake its many records (tallest free-standing structure, most floors, highest elevator, etc). But, for the time being, its 818 metres and 160 floors dwarf all competition. The tower contains an Armani Hotel, apartments and offices and cost a total of $1.8 billion (€1.25bn). Brusselsbased Besix was one of the three contractors, together with Arabtec and Samsung C&T. For the opening, lighting company Luminex, based in Hechtel-Eksel in Limburg, were in charge of the sound and light show. “The opening party in Dubai is obviously a very fine reference to put on our company CV,” said managing director Bart Swinnen.

Brussels Airlines, the Belgian carrier owned by Germany's Lufthansa, is considering launching an airline in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The project, dubbed Korongo, follows earlier attempts to develop a reliable service in Congo to feed the successful Brussels-Kinshasa route.

Autos • Volvo Ghent The Ghent-based assembling affiliate of Swedish car manufacturer Volvo is confident that it will retain its production lines following a recent visit by executives from the Chinese Geely car group. Geely is in the final stages of acquiring Volvo from the US Ford company. Volvo Ghent, which produced some 180,000 cars in 2008, is the group's second-largest assembling unit. Mechelen-based bio-technology company Galapagos has signed a research agreement with pharmaceutical giant GSK to develop medicines against arthritis. The deal, if successful, is worth up to €200 million.

Cosmetics • Sinelco Hair products specialist Sinelco, located in Ronse (West Flanders), has been sold to the Texas-based Sally Beauty Holdings for some €22.5 million.

Education • Maastricht The University of Maastricht will launch a post-graduate programme next year in Brussels focusing on European studies, law, public health and public affairs.

Energy • Electrabel

ted by government subsidies – was so great that suppliers could not keep up, and the year ended with waiting lists of disappointed customers who will now see their subsidy drop from €450 per 1,000 kWh to only €350. However, the federation of suppliers, BelPV, has estimated that economies of scale in the industry will see a 20% cut in prices in the course of 2010. In addition, the time it takes a solar panel installation to recoup its own cost will go down from 6.8 years to 4.8 years, BelPV said. 

Electrabel, Belgium’s leading energy group, is considering an investment of €483 million to build a 400-megawatt, gas-fired power plant in Poland. Meanwhile, the company has agreed to sell a co-generation plant in the Netherlands to Nuon.

Gas • Fluxys The gas network operating company Fluxys has acquired a 10% stake in Interconnector UK, the company that runs the gas pipeline between Zeebrugge and Bacton, England.

Investment • GIMV

Service cheques The number of service cheques – used to pay for cleaning, ironing and other domestic tasks – will be limited to 500 per year per household. Disabled and single-parent families retain the right to 2,000 a year. Bank account taxes Belgian banks that pay interest to account-holders resident in other EU countries now have to declare payment to the tax authorities of the country of residence. Many Dutch residents have already withdrawn large sums of cash from Belgian banks as a result of the new rules, with reports of tax patrols stationed at border crossings equipped with sniffer-dogs trained to detect banknotes being smuggled back into the Netherlands.

Airlines • Brussels Airlines

Biotech • Galapagos

Solar panels voted Product of 2009 Solar panels have been named Product of 2009 by the readers of De Standaard newspaper. The panels beat four other contenders for the title, including Zumba, a form of fitness exercise; baby elephant Kai-Mook, whose gestation and birth was the subject of an unprecedented marketing campaign by the Leuvenbased Boondoggle agency; SMS parking; and Twitter. Previous winners have included the iPod, the portable GPS and Barack Obama. Solar panels, which earned 34% of the votes, were popular in 2009 in practice as well as in theory. The demand for solar power – boos-

THE WEEK IN BUSINESS

Flanders venture capital fund GIMV will invest €8 million to acquire a 20% stake in XDC, a Liège-based company that converts traditional cinemas to digital. XDC is expected to equip some 8,000 cinemas in 22 European countries over the next few years.

IT • Portus The Canadian Descartes Systems is buying the Flanders-based IT solutions developer Portus for some €30 million.

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Arts

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y january 6, 2010

Et tu, Ambiorix? The first-ever exhibition dedicated to the “Belgian” hero who defeated Caesar’s army Lisa Bradshaw

n Tongeren, Ambiorix rules. The first century BC leader of the tribe called the Eburones, renowned for its staggering defeat of ICaesar’s army, is believed to have lived in and around this area in

what is now southern Limburg. The small city – Belgium’s oldest – shouts its ancient origins from the rooftops: there is the Ambi hotel, the Eburons Restaurant and the Julianus Shopping Centre (where “the customer is emperor!”). A statue of Ambiorix by French sculptor Jules Bertin has been gracing Tongeren’s Grote Markt since 1866. Shirtless, his mass of muscles bulge forth as he gazes into the distance, his countenance both fierce and noble. Back at the Julianus, there is a permanent exhibition about the statue. Like Brussels’ much tinier mascot, Manneken Pis, Ambiorix is sometimes dressed in special costumes by the townspeople, and one can buy a souvenir Ambiorix statuette. It might seem strange, then, that the city’s more than 50-yearold Gallo-Roman Museum has never staged an exhibition dedicated to Ambiorix. But the museum, with a permanent collection that spans pre-history through to the Germanic Iron Age, is based on archaeology, not tourism, and there has been little archaeological evidence to prove the existence of Ambiorix and the Eburones. But now there is.

Ambiorix convinced the Roman legion’s commanders that several local tribes were banding together to attack them and that the Eburones would allow them safe passage through their territory. The commanders took him up on the offer, and, while the legion marched through a valley, the Eburones (assisted by members of other tribes) attacked them from both sides, killing nearly all of the 8,000 Roman soldiers. It was the greatest defeat Caesar’s legions ever knew in Gaul, and Ambiorix and the Eburones were catapulted into history. It was in 54 BC, and, over the next two years, Caesar made it his mission to wipe out the Eburones. He reported that he did so, but archaeological evidence suggests the tribe still existed 10 years later. And the best part? He never got Ambiorix. Eight hundred years to contact In the last decade, proof has been found of the existence of the Eburones in the form of coins used by the tribe. Ambiorix probably paid his soldiers in coins, and the largest cache of them has been found in the region around Tongeren. The Gallo-Roman Museum, in fact, somewhat uses the legendary story of the fearless leader on which to hang 800 years of Celtic culture. Although it ends with the Eburone coins and a nice little film dramatising the events leading up to the battle, the real focus is on the archaeological finds in the area known as Gaul from 800 to 50 BC. But even if those finds don’t have much to do with the Eburones, they are impressive and certainly offer a timeline of history. Much of the more than 600 objects from 40 collections around the world was found in Belgium – around Tongeren, the only Roman city in the country, but also from a rich archaeological area on the Kemmel hill near Ypres. Burial mounds in particular often offer the best-preserved artefacts, and the exhibition starts off with superb specimens from graves of the wealthy from as far back as 800 BC. One of these, a burial mound found near Oss, the Netherlands, contains the ashes of a man now known as the King of Oss. Along with personal artefacts, his sword is here, but it has been curled into a spiral. “In some graves, they put these curved swords,” explains Guido Creemers, the museum’s curator. “Of course, they had to make it fit in the urn, but I don’t think this was the main reason. They were probably afraid of the ghosts of these people coming back and using the swords.” The most visually intriguing of burial artefacts are the gold torques the rich wore around their necks. Restored to its original gleam, gold is beautifully preserved over the centuries because it doesn’t corrode. Further along is a pot from about the fifth century BC, which a farmer dug up on his property in the southern part of the Nether-

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An idea of how Ambiorix probably looked; the curled sword of the “King of Oss” (below)

lands in the 1940s. “His wife put it in their farmyard with flowers in it,” says Creemers. “It stood there for many years until an archaeologist happened to pass by and see it.” The exhibition makes a few things clear about the period’s Celtic culture. The presence of Greek pottery proves there was considerable contact and trade with the southern regions. And Celtic tribes copied Greek designs – but tweaked them, making them their own. There is also a sense of the progression of townships, where tribes manufactured or processed different goods, like salt, coins and glass. “They might have been busy building cities,” says Creemers. “That’s a process that was interrupted by Caesar, so we’ll never know.” A highlight of the show is an 800-year old copy of Reports on the War in Gaul, Caesar’s year-by-year accounts of the Gallic campaigns. There are four books in existence – all hand copied in French monasteries – but this one borrowed from Amsterdam University Library is the most complete. 

Ambiorix: King of the Eburones Until 13 June Gallo-Roman Museum Kielenstraat 15, Tongeren Audio tours available in Dutch, English, French and German ➟ ➟ www.ambiorix.com

The mighty Belgae

Heroism and nationalism, as explained by an ancient history curator In the exhibition Ambiorix: King of the Eburones, you’ll find a number of fascinating finds from burial sites in what is now Belgium, France and the Netherlands. One of these was the first excavation of Guido Creemers, the curator of Tongeren’s Gallo-Roman Museum. Flanders Today: A few years ago, Ambiorix was on the short list for the Greatest Belgian of all time. Isn’t it a bit strange to call someone a Belgian who lived 1,800 years before Belgium was founded? Guido Creemers: In 1830, when Belgium gained independence, a kind of nationalism arose, like in other countries, and they had a need for national heroes. Ambiorix is an important hero because he defeated the Roman legions of Julius Caesar, but also we have strong reasons to believe that his camp, Atuotica, was right in this region. Is it true that the only written history of Ambiorix and the Eburones comes from Caesar himself? Yes. Caesar wrote several books about the Gallic wars. He went into great detail about the situation in this region, and much of this we’ve been able to corroborate through archaeology. A great deal of what he wrote was accurate. He described three big groups of Celts who lived in Central Europe: the Aquitani, the “real” Celts – or the Gauls – and the Belgae, who lived in northern France. He wrote: “Of all these people, the Belgae are the most brave.” Essentially, he found them more rough, more violent than the others. To which tribe do the Eburones belong? Caesar in fact defined them as a Germanic tribe that had crossed the Rhine and lived with Celtic tribes in Gaul. We do think that there was a small group of German people who came to this region. It’s possible that these were the Eburones, but, archeologically speaking, we can’t prove anything. ➟ ➟ www gallo-romeinsmuseum.be

Ambiorix vs Caesar The story is indeed one that rouses the imagination. The Eburones were one of many tribes living in the region the Romans called Gaul (including what is now Belgium, part of the Netherlands and much of France). In the first century BC, the Eburones, like other tribes, fought against Julius Caesar’s encroaching armies. But the Eburones distinguished themselves.

Arts

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y january 6, 2010

Lost and found

culture news Public broadcaster Canvas has launched a new Sunday evening cultural magazine called Cobra TV, hosted by popular late-night presenter Frieda Van Wijck. The programme is the latest in a long line of attempts by Canvas to provide a popular and relevant magazine programme covering culture “in the broadest sense of the word”. The first edition last week looked at an exhibition in Paris, a shop featuring erotic art in Brussels and an interview with Flemish actress Els Dottermans.

A sensitive exhibition fraught with problems finally becomes a reality in Bruges

The Vlaams Radio Orkest, known internationally as the Brussels Philharmonic, has reached an agreement with Brussels Airlines to provide a music channel for passengers consisting entirely of live recordings of its performances. The airline previously provided a channel of modern Belgian music, but its classical channel was not specifically Belgian. About half a million air travellers are expected to listen to VRO music every year.

Anna Jenkinson

“E

verything was a gamble,” says Lieve Van Stappen. Would anyone talk to her about such a sensitive subject as foundlings? Would the commissioned artwork “Buggy” be technically possible? Would she have her bronze sculpture “Whispering” completed in time? And, at one stage, would there actually be a contract for her to sign? The seeds of the exhibition Moving Archives: Foundlings were planted two years ago when Van Stappen visited the archives of the Public Centre for Social Welfare (OCMW) in Bruges. From these historical records dating back to the 12th century (and with help from staff in understanding some of the Middle Dutch texts), the Flemish artist was inspired by the stories of foundlings and abandoned children that she discovered. These centuries-old archives reminded her of more recent stories she had read in newspapers, so she started an exploration about foundlings in contemporary society. Her research took her to convents where she talked to nuns and heard tales similar to those depicted in the film The Magdalene Sisters, brought her into contact with organisations that support abandoned children and acquainted her with today’s options for mothers who are forced to abandon their babies. One such option is a “baby hatch”, as set up by Moeders voor Moeders (Mothers for Mothers) in Antwerp, which is a safe place where a mother can anonymously leave her newborn and any information she wants the baby to have. “We don’t think the hatch is the best solution to an unwanted birth, but we think it should be as accessible as possible,” the Antwerp group explains in a video playing at the Moving Archives exhibition at the Memling Museum in Bruges. The video screen becomes a kind of hatch for foundlings as it forms the central block in a wall of stacked register boxes temporarily moved from the Bruges archives. Next to this is what Van Stappen considers the highlight: a video of Chris Atkins. Abandoned as a baby in Hong Kong and adopted by a family in the UK, Atkins is now a trustee at Norcap, a UK organisation that supports adults affected by adoption. “I never thought I’d have an interview with a foundling,” Van Stappen tells me. “She gives insights in ways you wouldn’t know. She offers hope.” Van Stappen’s research also took her to the London Foundling Museum, which tells the story of the city’s first home for abandoned children and the involvement of the painter Hogarth and the composer Handel. “I don’t think it is a coincidence or an accident that artists – many of them childless – have taken care of abandoned children. Every piece of art is in fact essentially a foundling,” writes Van Stappen, who has no children herself, in the accompanying catalogue. The London museum contributed images and documents, some of which are put alongside quotes from people who Van Stappen interviewed. “Your name and life are all that I could give you, but both were taken away from me.” These are the words of Renée de BodeGrollée who a few decades ago was made to give up her child as she had it out of wedlock. Another unidentified female interviewee says: “I told very few people... It’s like ‘coming out’. I don’t know if it was because I was adopted. I think it was because I’d been found.” The panels form the start of a “procession” that cuts through the centre of the mediaeval attic space of the museum, a building where the poor, the ill and foundlings were cared for by nuns and monks. In front of the placards is Van Stappen’s bronze sculpture – finished just before the opening – of a naked, pregnant woman with a baby whispering in her ear. The baby could be the child she’s expecting or the child she has lost. What is important to the artist, who refers to the sculpture as “a monument to foundlings and their mothers”, is that the child will forever remain an inherent part of the woman. In the room next door – originally the nuns’ dormitory – are three video installations by Van Stappen, who has worked as an artist ever since completing her studies at Sint-Lucas art school in Ghent. A big pond reflecting seagulls circling around, a February sky with the

white lines of airplanes crossing the screen and a white dress swirling in the sea close to the shore, battered by waves. Each video took months of work but, when she started out, she wasn’t sure where or how she would use them. With a contract for the exhibition finally presented in June, she knew exactly where the videos with their themes of loss and untold stories would fit in. Nearby, the translucent white frame and pale blue wheels of a baby buggy look deceptively simple. “I begged on my knees” for this to be made, Van Stappen says with her broad smile. In fact, the craftsman had to make two in the hope that one would survive the technically complex production process. There’s also a work inspired by a youth group’s discovery of a child’s body in a black plastic bag during a cleanup of the river Lieve in East Flanders and a projection of the attic’s rosary window onto the floor with a tiny coffin in the centre. Van Stappen hopes that visitors will leave something next to the coffin so that a makeshift memorial to all foundlings is created during the exhibition’s nine months. 

Moving Archives: Foundlings Until 29 August Memling Museum ◊ Mariastraat 38, Bruges ➟ ➟ www. museabrugge.be

The fashion museum in Hasselt last year welcomed 33,121 visitors, its highest attendance since opening in 1988 and an enormous increase on the 19,500 visitors in 2008. The museum attributes the success to its exhibition In Her Shoes on the history of 20th-century footwear. Plans for the coming year include a retrospective of the career of Hasselt-born supermodel Hannelore Knuts, which she will curate herself. Five poets have been nominated for this year’s Herman De Coninck prize for the best poetry collection of 2008: Paul Bogaert, Eva Cox, Charles Ducal, Leonard Nolens and Roel Richelieu Van Londersele. The prize is worth €6,000. The five-member jury, chaired by radio presenter Friedl’ Lesage will also select the winner of the €1,000 prize for a poetry debut. From 15 January visitors to the Boek.be website can vote for their choice of the best poem of the year from a short list of five. All winners will be announced on 28 January at the Arenberg theatre in Antwerp. An estimated 200 works of art in the Antwerp Museum of Contemporary Art (M HKA) have suffered water damage after a leak flooded a cellar to a depth of about six centimetres. One work, by Flemish artist Guy Mees, is considered beyond repair. According to museum director Bart De Baere, cost of the damage is about €500,000.

Artist and exhibition curator Lieve Van Stappen and her sculpture “Whispering” (above)

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Living

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y january 6, 2010

Rising from the ashes Surviving war-time bombings and finding the right table tennis for Tina Turner, Antwerp’s Sportpaleis has earned its comeback Marc Maes

n the eve of a major renovation project, Jan Vereecke, co-manager of Antwerp’s Sportpaleis, is looking back on how they took the indoor stadium from an ailing 77-year-old dinosaur to a stateof-the-art, multi-purpose event hall that last year made it to number two on Billboard’s top-grossing indoor venues list. The Sportpaleis was built in the early 1930s in the northeast of Antwerp, next to what is now the Ring road. It quickly gained its reputation, both in Belgium and abroad, as a velodrome for cycling competitions that also staged trade fairs and concerts. During the Second World War, the building was hit by more than 220 grenades and rockets, leading to high-cost repairs. The De Winter family, who owned the building, opted to rebuild with the idea of a broader scale of events and introduced ice skating shows and indoor sports like the Harlem Globetrotters, boxing and horse jumping. Ironically, it was when the venue was at the top of its concert game in the 1970s – with legendary performances by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Pink Floyd, Supertramp and The Rolling Stones – that “the first signs of decline appeared,” says Vereecke. “The owners failed to keep up with the evolution, and, with declining public interest in skating and indoor cycling, the building remained empty most of the time.” In 1982, events company City 7, backed by the investor group NV Sportpaleis, acquired the venue for €500,000 from the De Winter family and programmed new events like the Diamond Awards music festival and the prestigious European Community Championship (ECC) tennis tournament, both attracting huge crowds and injecting life into the country’s largest event hall. But behind the scenes, all was not well. “Concert promoters and external event organisers were facing exorbitant rental rates and moved elsewhere,” remembers Vereecke. When, in 1996, nv Sportpaleis filed for bankruptcy, it was discovered that they had been overselling the legal capacity of the venue “for many years,” says Vereecke. “Instead of the 11,000 allowed audience, some events drew over 18,000.” Under the receiver’s management, the “Jannen” (Jan Vereecke and Jan Van Esbroeck), who were already staging their Night of the Proms in Sportpaleis, took over management of the venue. “The first thing we did was to upgrade the safety of the building by excavating a 40-metre -wide tunnel as an emergency exit under the stands, a one million euro investment that could be recuperated because the Sportpaleis was a going concern,” says Vereecke. “I’m happy to say we’ve never used it.” In 1997, the Province of Antwerp bought the Sportpaleis, with the management handled by NV Antwerp Sportpaleis, a consortium of shareholders, including Vereecke and Van Esbroeck’s PSE-Belgium, an event production and merchandising company. Since then, the front of the building has been expanded and a new hospitality area built.

Building the Sportpaleis cycle track in 1932

Wooing Billboard The Sportpaleis has grown from 27 events in 1996 to more than 100 in 2008, with a total attendance of 1.3 million people. That’s the second largest annual audience number in the world, after New York’s Madison Square Garden. This has much to do with the diversity of events, from Walking with Dinosaurs and Night of the Proms to Eric Clapton and Marilyn Manson. Throw in a large capacity and a management that now continually innovates, and the Sportpaleis has become a “must stop” for many international tours. “We have adapted the venue’s infrastructure,” says Vereecke, who explains that one of the deciding factors in determining which venues to book for some big shows is, believe it or not, “the loading facilities”. Sportpaleis has equipped one of the grandstands with a hydraulic elevator and added a truck gate at the front of the venue. “A revolutionary construction, allowing up to five trucks at a time in the central arena, which drastically reduces loading time,” he explains. “In 2001, the venue posted U2’s world tour load-out record.”

Speaking of rock stars… “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but, in most cases, the audience gets to see more of Elton John or Rammstein than we do!” laughs Vereecke, in response to my probing for gossip on the big stars who come through the Sportpaleis every year. “We provide box office takings to the artist’s management and arrange police escort when necessary, but it’s the promoter who takes on the more practical side: catering, hotels, loading crews.” But the Sportpaleis is often called on to assist with special requests. “With Tina Turner, we were asked to provide a specific type of table tennis equipment for her crew: a new table, paddles and balls,” says Vereecke. “Think about your own experiences: you book a nice hotel in a holiday resort; they promise table tennis, but, in most cases, the table is broken, the net is missing…we kept the customer satisfied.” Because Sportpaleis combines top-selling local productions like Clouseau and Milk Inc, prices for international artists like Tina Turner remain competitive. “Both the Netherlands and Germany charge more for the same shows,” says Vereecke. “Ticket rates here are under pressure because of [the ticket prices of] local productions;

promoters know what the audience is prepared to pay. Dutch event-goers who live near the border come to the Sportpaleis rather than pay more in their own country. The Sportpaleis is also a welcome help for local sports and cultural associations who get a substantial income by tending the venue’s bars during events.

New kid on the block: Lotto Arena When the plans for the Lotto Arena were drawn up, Vereecke and Esbroeck were ready. “Starting from scratch allowed us to make a true multi-functional building,” he says. The 8,000-seat venue just opened in 2007 and is already an integral and substantial part of the cultural landscape in Flanders. Last month, the Lotto Arena – located right next to the Sportpaleis – hosted Els De Schepper, the first time a stand-up comedian has ever been booked in such a large venue in Belgium. In its nearly three years, the Lotto Arena has seen four million visitors pass through its doors. “And now we want to rebuild the Sportpaleis with all the assets of the Lotto Arena,” says Vereecke. “Together with the Province of Antwerp we’re preparing an ambitious plan for a major facelift of the Sportpaleis.” The management team has already applied for a building licence for the construction of a new roof, to start next year, and there are plans to replace the fixed cycle track with something more mobile.  ➟➟ www.sportpaleis.be

Coming up Apassionata • 8-10 January ◊ Lotto Arena Horses and humans put on a show of beauty and acrobatics Depeche Mode • 23 January ◊ Sportpaleis The nearly 30-year-old new wave band supports its new album Disney on Ice • 3-7 February ◊ Lotto Arena Disney princesses glide through fairy tales and massive castles

Inside the Sportpaleis: a sold-out Night of the Proms with 11,000 people

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Agenda

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y

january 6, 2010

get your tickets now! Aalst De Werf Molenstraat 51; 053.73.28.12, www.ccdewerf.be JAN 8 20.00 Sioen - Calling Up Soweto

Antwerp Arenbergschouwburg Arenbergstraat 28; 070.222.192, www.arenbergschouwburg.be JAN 13 20.15 Aranis & BASta! JAN 14 20.15 Boenox CC Berchem Driekoningenstraat 126; 03.286.88.20, www.ccberchem.be JAN 8 20.30 Nuff Said with Brazzaville, plus stand-up comedy De Roma Turnhoutsebaan 327; 03.292.97.40, www.deroma.be JAN 10 & 14 20.30 Trixie Whitley

World Premieres at Kaaitheater Sharon Light

When I sat down with Guy Gypens, artistic director of the Kaaitheater, late last summer to discuss the upcoming theatre season, he told me about the remarkable amount of new work by major Flemish artists that would premiere this season. He wasn’t kidding, and this month sees two of the most anticipated: world premieres by Alain Platel and Kris Verdonck. Verdonck’s most recent performance at the Kaaitheater was a re-run of his well-regarded End as a selection in Het Theaterfestival (it was also included in 2008’s Kunstenfestivaldesarts). Although a meditation on an end-of-world scenario, Verdonck has hardly reached the end of an ever-growing catalogue. His premiere this month, Actor #1, extends his fascination with the man/machine relationship. The performance is set in three separate rooms at Kaaistudios; the audience is led between them by a guide. “Mass”, the first installation, features a landscape of mist. “Huminid” is the nearest to a human performance with actor Johan Leysen. The final installation, “Dancer #3”, features a

robot repeatedly attempting and failing to stand up, but apparently maintaining a cheerful demeanour as, one imagines, only a robot could. Verdonck is in the midst of establishing his own company, the name of which will be announced at a party following the final performance of Actor #1 (before the production departs on a tour). Tickets for that performance are already sold out. Platel, on the other hand, is working with the well-established Les Ballets C de la B, the company he set up more than 25 years ago in Ghent. Their provocative work became part of the “Flemish Wave”, a group of avant-garde artists that tore apart boundaries in artistic expression in the 1980s. The company provided a platform for a variety of choreographers and, by the mid-1990s, performed to international acclaim. Platel’s recent works – VSPRS and pitié! – delved into religious themes and featured elaborate sets, costumes and lighting. But this month’s world premiere, Out of Context, promises a minimalist style, with a focus on the nine

dancers’ disconcerting movements: hysterical, sudden and ecstatic. Out of Context (pictured) is dedicated to Pina Bausch, the influential German neo-expressionist choreographer who died suddenly this past summer. Her methods had a great impact on Platel’s work, and this work follows in that vein, growing from the dialogue between dancers and choreographer. After its premiere in Brussels next week, the performance takes off on a 50-city tour, including several venues in Flanders.

➟ ➟ www.kaaitheater.be

more performance this week Foi by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui ➟ Bourla, Antwerp Julius Caesar by Peter Verhelst ➟ NT Gent, Ghent Zoo Story by Ama Productions ➟ De Schaduw, Ardooie

Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood 23 May, 20.00 Sportpaleis, Antwerp

Blind Faith, the band they formed together in 1969, didn’t last long, but the friendship between these two rock giants did, and now they are on stage together for the first time in 30 years. Expect Blind Faith songs mixed in with solos from two of the world’s greatest songwriters and guitarists.

Kelly’s Irish Pub Keyserlei 27; www.kellys.be JAN 8 21.00 Brian C Trix Noordersingel 28; 03.670.09.00, www.trixonline.be JAN 8 19.00 Stratovarius, power metal JAN 9 19.30 The Hope Conspiracy + Rise and Fall + Blind to Faith

Brussels Ancienne Belgique Anspachlaan 110; 02.548.24.24, www.abconcerts.be JAN 12 20.00 Corneille JAN 13 20.00 Ian Brown Fuse Blaesstraat 208; 02.511.97.89, www.fuse.be JAN 9 23.00 Toys for Boys Label Night: Sierra Sam live, Murcus Vector, Tom Dazing Le Botanique Koningsstraat 236; 02.226.12.57 JAN 14 20.00 Band of Skulls Piola Libri Franklinstraat 66-68; 02.736.93.91, www.piolalibri.be JAN 14 19.00 Apéro Showcase: Naif in concert, funk/electro (free) The Cotton Club - Grand Casino Duquesnoystraat 14; 02.289.68.66, www.gcb.be JAN 9 21.30 Marie de Condé JAN 16 21.30 No Angry Young Man

Dendermonde Belgica Kerkstraat 24; 05.220.26.40, www.ccbelgica.be JAN 9 20.00 Yevgueni

Ghent Charlatan Vlasmarkt 6; 09.224.24.57, www.charlatan.be JAN 7 22.00 Landfill JAN 8 23.00 Red D + Turbo Davy JAN 9 23.00 Black Frank JAN 10 22.00 Zalige Zondag: Tiger Lili JAN 14 22.00 Drive Like Maria + Del Piero & Carlito + Red D + The Nicholsons Kinky Star Vlasmarkt 9; 09.223.48.45, www.kinkystar.com JAN 10 21.00 Lem JAN 12 21.00 The Jack London Show Vooruit St Pietersnieuwstraat 23; 0900.26.060, www.vooruit.be JAN 14 20.00 Liz Green + Choir of Young Believers

➟➟ www.sportpaleis.be Hasselt Cultuurcentrum Kunstlaan 5; 011.22.99.33, www.ccha.be JAN 7 20.00 Sioen - Calling Up Soweto Muziekodroom Bootstraat 9; 011.23.13.13, www.muziekodroom.be JAN 14 20.30 The Electrophonics

Koksijde CC Casino Casinoplein 11; 058.53.29.86 www.casinokoksijde.be JAN 14 20.00 Sioen - Calling Up Soweto

Mechelen CC Stadsschouwburg Keizerstraat 3; 015.29.40.00, www.cultuurcentrummechelen.be JAN 9 20.15 Sioen - Calling up Soweto.

Roeselare CC De Spil Spilleboutdreef 1; 051.26.57.00, www.despil.be JAN 14-15 20.00 Axelle Red

Turnhout De Warande Warandestraat 42; 014.41. 69.91, www.warande.be JAN 14 20.15 Joost Zweegers

Alsemberg Cultureel CentrumDe Meent Gemeenveldstraat 34; 0359.16.00, www.demeent.be JAN 11 20.15 Will Vinson + Lage Lund Group

Antwerp Buster Kaasrui 1; 03.232.51.53, www.busterpodium.be JAN 8 22.00 Pc3o

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Agenda

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y january 6, 2010

JAN 9 22.00 Bloomfish JAN 14 21.00 Buster Blues Jam

Ghent

De Hopper Leopold De Waelstraat 2; 03.248.49.33, www.cafehopper.be JAN 10 16.00 Marc Sperber Project (free) JAN 11 21.00 The Circle (free) De Roma Turnhoutsebaan 327; 03.292.97.40, www.deroma.be JAN 7 20.30 Toots Thielemans Quartet

Dilbeek Westrand Cultuurcentrum Kamerijklaan; 02.466.20.30, www.westrand.be JAN 8 20.30 Sax Machine N9 Villa Molenstraat 165; 09.377.93.94, www.n9.be JAN 9 21.00 Blackie & The Oohoos

Ghent De Centrale Kraankindersstraat 2; 09.265.98.28, www.decentrale.be JAN 10 20.00 Frederik Leroux + Nicolas Kummert duo

Vilvoorde CC Het Bolwerk Bolwerkstraat 17; 02.255.46.90, www.hetbolwerk.be JAN 8 20.30 J Barrage + High Strung

Amuz Kammenstraat 81; 03.248.28.28, www.amuz.be JAN 10 15.00 Susan Hamilton, soprano; Patrick Denecker, recorder: 16th-century English consort music

De Bijloke Jozef Kluyskensstraat 2, 09.233.68.78, www.debijloke.be JAN 8 20.00 Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin: Graupner Telemann Bach JAN 9 20.00 Flanders Symphony Orchestra conducted by Etienne Siebens, with Jean-Phillipe CollardNeven: Mozart, Stravinsky JAN 10 11.00 Ex Tempore conducted by Florian Heyerick, harpsichord: church cantatas by Christoph Graupner

De Roma Turnhoutsebaan 327; 03.292.97.40, www.deroma.be JAN 7 12.30 Keith Lewis, tenor: songs by Barber and Bernstein (opera lunch)

Vlaamse Opera Schouwburgstraat 3; 070.22.02.02, www.vlaamseopera.be JAN 8 12.30 Keith Lewis tenor: songs by Barber and Bernstein (opera lunch)

Antwerp

deSingel Desguinlei 25; 03.248.28.28, www.desingel.be Concerts at 20.00: JAN 8 Freiburger Barockorchester and Collegium Vocale Gent conducted by Masaaki Suzuki: Bach’s Cantatas BWV 194 & 198 JAN 9 Anna Vinnitskaya, piano: Ravel, Schumann JAN 13 Bl!ndman presents the world première of a work by Belgian composer Luc Brewaeys, followed by arrangements by Sleichim, conducted by Eric Sleichim JAN 14 Altenberg Trio Wien: lecture/recital around Dvorak’s Dumky Trio (in English) Vlaamse Opera Frankrijklei 1; 070.22.02.02, www.vlaamseopera.be JAN 7 12.30 Keith Lewis, tenor: songs by Barber and Bernstein (opera lunch)

Brussels Bozar Ravensteinstraat 23; 02.507.82.00, www.bozar.be JAN 9 20.00 Tunisian evening with Sofia Sadek and Nour Chiba. 22.30 Haleh & Marc Van Eyck Sazz’n Jazz Koningsstraat 241; 0475.78.23.78, www.sazznjazz.be JAN 8 20.30 Grup Cemre, Anatolian folk JAN 9 20.30 Sazz n Jazz Quartet, pop/rock/Turkish

Ghent De Centrale Kraankindersstraat 2; 09.265.98.28, www.decentrale.be JAN 8 20.30 Abid Bahri Ensemble (Morocco)

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Hasselt and Maastricht Universities are teaming up to provide a brand-new law programme with an emphasis on European law, while Hasselt U starts its renovation of the city’s old prison building

Beyond Copenhagen Climate change agreements may have failed, but development of offshore wind power is one of Belgium’s goals during its EU presidency

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New laws for 2010 Smoking ban gets off to shaky start ALAN HOPE

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Bruges Concertgebouw ‘t Zand 34; 070.22.33.02, www.concertgebouw.be JAN 8-10 Domein Luc Brewaeys: concerts talks and screenings on the work of the contemporary Flemish composer JAN 8 20.00 World première of Luc Brewaeys’ composition for Bl!ndman, plus arrangements by Eric Sleichim JAN 9 20.00 Ictus/Brewaeys and spectralsensitivity JAN 10 14.00 Diapason/Documentary about Luc Brewaeys. 15.00 Johan Huysin talks to Luc Brewaeys and Annelies Van Parys. 16.00 The Roertgen Connection/Les Méandres de la mémoire JAN 14 20.00 Andrew Tortise tenor; Richard Egarr harpsichord and piano: five centuries of British song from John Dowland to Peter Maxwell Davies

Brussels Kaaitheater Sainctelettesquare 20; 02.201.59.59, www.kaaitheater.be JAN 13-17 Les Ballets C de la B in Out of Context, choreographed by Alain Platel CC Kruispunt Kouter 29; 09.265.92.01, www.cckruispunt.be JAN 9 20.00 Mujeres de hoy flamenco

Leuven

Antwerp Vlaamse Opera Frankrijklei 1; 070.22.02.02, www.vlaamseopera.be JAN 9-17 15.00/20.00 Candide operetta by Leonard Bernstein, directed by Nigel Lowery, with the Flemish Opera Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yannis Pouspourikas, with singers Michael Spyres Jane Archibald and Graham Valentine (in the original English with Dutch surtitles)

Ghent Vlaamse Opera Schouwburgstraat 3; 070.22.02.02, www.vlaamseopera.be JAN 9-17 15.00/20.000 Candide operetta by Leonard Bernstein, directed by Nigel Lowery, with the Flemish Opera Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yannis Pouspourikas, with singers Michael Spyres Jane Archibald and Graham Valentine

Antwerp Bourla Komedieplaats 18; 03.224.88.44, www. toneelhuis.be JAN 7-9 20.00 Het Toneelhuis in Foi, choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Capilla Flamenca JAN 12-15 20.00 Het Toneelhuis in Ashes, choreographed by Koen Augustijnen

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DON’T MISS

Vlaamse Opera Frankrijklei 1; 070.22.02.02, www.vlaamseopera.be JAN 12-FEB 13 Royal Ballet of Flanders in Grands Egards, with music performed by deFilharmonie, conducted by Benjamin Pope

Diksmuide

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deSingel Desguinlei 25; 03.248.28.28, www.desingel.be JAN 8-9 20.00 Zimmermann & de Perrot and Le Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger in Chouf Ouchouf

30CC Schouwburg Bondgenotenlaan 21; 016.32.03.20, www.30CC.be JAN 13-14 20.00 Rosas in The Song, choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

Roeselare CC De Spil Spilleboutdreef 1; 051.26.57.00, www.despil.be JAN 9 20.00 Rosas in The Song, choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

Aalst De Werf Molenstraat 51; 053.73.28.12, www.ccdewerf.be JAN 9 20.00 Het Zesde Bedrijf in Haralds Feestje / Liebling theatre (in Dutch) JAN 10 14.00/17.00 Compagnie Circ’ombelico in Dwarrel, acrobatic theatre (in Dutch) JAN 14 20.00 Compagnie Barbarie in Too Far East is West (in Dutch)

Antwerp Het Paleis Theaterplein 1; 03.202.83.11, www.hetpaleis.be Until MAR 19 Sunjata, de leeuwenkoning van Mali (ages six and up; in Dutch)

Ardooie Cultuurkapel De Schaduw Wezestraat 32; 0479.80.94.82, www.deschaduw.net JAN 8-9 20.30 AMA Productions in Zoo Story by Edward Albee, directed by Eric Meirhaeghe (in Dutch)

Bruges De Werf Werfstraat 108; 050.33.05.29, www.dewerf.be JAN 13 20.30 Toneelgroep Ceremonia in Ma dr e (in Dutch)

Brussels De Markten Oude Graanmarkt 5; 02.512.34.25, www.demarkten.be JAN 8-9 20.30 TG Vagevuur in De Naamlozen (The Nameless) by Filip Vanluchene (in Dutch) KVS Box Arduinkaai 9; 02.210.11.12, www.kvs.be JAN 7-9 20.30 Die Siel van die Mier by David Van Reybrouck, with Josse De Pauw, Jan Kuijken and George Van Dam (in Dutch with French surtitles)

David Grossman 14 January, 20.15 Flagey, Brussels Israeli author and peace activist David Grossman, whose own son was killed in a military action in Lebanon three years ago, makes a rare appearance in Belgium. Using his fiction as a starting point, particularly his latest novel, just translated into Dutch, VRT journalist Annelies Beck interviews him onstage in English about literature, power, war and freedom. ➟➟ www.flagey.be Kaaitheater Sainctelettesquare 20; 02.201.59.59, www.kaaitheater.be JAN 7-9 20.30 Bakchai, adapted from Euripides’ The Bacchae, directed by Jan Decorte (world première, in Dutch)

Eeklo CC De Herbakker Pastoor De Nevestraat 10; 09.218.27.27, www.ccdeherbakker.be JAN 8 20.30 Nigel Williams in Geloof mij!, stand-up comedy (in Dutch) JAN 13 20.30 Toneelgroep Ceremonia in Ma dr e (in Dutch)

Ghent Bij’ De Vieze Gasten Reinaertstraat 125; 09.237.04.07, www.deviezegasten.org JAN 13 15.00 4HOOG in De Brief (in Dutch; ages 6 and up) De Bijloke Jozef Kluyskensstraat 2, 09.233.68.78, www.lod.be JAN 14-23 20.00 LOD in Autopsie Van Een Gebroken Hart (Autopsy of a Broken Heart), written and directed by An De Donder & Dominique Pauwels (in Dutch) NTGent Schouwburg Sint-Baafsplein 17; 09.225.01.01, www.ntgent.be JAN 9-14 20.30 Els Dottermans in Was will das Weib? music theatre (in Dutch)

Hamme CC Jan Tervaert Kaaiplein 34; 052.48.09.48, www.jantervaert.be JAN 8 20.15 Kommil Foo in Wolf, music theatre (in Dutch)

Kortrijk Theater Antigone Overleiestraat 47; 056.240.887, www.antigone.be JAN 7-8 20.15 Compagnie Barbarie in Undertwasser WasserWasser (in Dutch)

Leuven

30CC - Schouwburg Bondgenotenlaan 21; 016.32.03.20, www.30CC.be JAN 7 20.30 Dood Paard in Reigen

Agenda Ad Lib by Arthur Schnitzle (in Dutch) Stuk Naamsestraat 96; 016.32.03.20, www.stuk.be JAN 13-14 20.30 De Roovers and Bloet in Bakchai, adapted from Euripides’ The Bacchae, directed by Jan Decorte (in Dutch)

Lokeren CC Lokeren Kerkplein 5; 09/340.50.56, www.lokeren.be/cultuur JAN 12-13 20.15 Cie Cecilia in Altijd Prijs (Always a Winner), written and directed by Arne Sierens (in Dutch)

Sint-Niklaas Stadsschouwburg R. Van Britsomstraat 21; 03.766.39.39, www.ccsint-niklaas.be JAN 12 20.00 Het Zesde Bedrijf in Haralds Feestje / Liebling theatre (in Dutch)

Turnhout De Warande Warandestraat 42; 014.41. 69.91, www.warande.be JAN 11 20.15 Kopergietery in Het verdragen van Versailles (The Treaties of Versailles) (in Dutch)

Antwerp Fashion museum (MoMu) Nationalestraat 28; 03.470.27.70, www.momu.be Until FEB 21 Delvaux: 180 Years of Belgian Luxury, history of the Belgian leather goods manufacturer Royal Museum of Fine Arts Leopold De Waelplaats; 03.238.78.09, www.kmska.be Until JAN 17 In the Footsteps of Bartók: Lajos Vajda and Hungarian Surrealism Sfinks Café Heuvelstraat 63a, Boechout; 03.455.69.44, www.sfinks.be Until MAR 11 Arbeiders onder druk (Workers under pressure), photographs by Tineke D’haese and Eric de Mildt, in cooperation with Oxfam-Solidariteit Sterckshof Silver Museum Hooftvunderlei 160; 03.360.52.52, www.zilvermuseum.be Until JAN 10 Coral and Bells: A Collection of Rattles, silver and gold rattles and jingle bells decorated with precious stones, shown alongside miniatures and children’s portraits

Bruges Bruggemuseum-Gruuthuse Dijver 17; www.uitvindingvanbrugge.be Until APR 25 De uitvinding van Brugge: De stad van Delacenserie (The Discovery of Bruges: The City of Delacenserie), the 19th-century architectural facelift of Bruges, thanks to local architect Louis Delacenserie Stadshallen Markt 7; 050.44.82.82, www.brugge.be Until JAN 17 That’s all Folks! The endless clash between Reason and Destiny, works by various artists that raise questions about the human condition and fate

Brussels art)&(marges Hoogstraat 312-314; 02.511.34.20,www.arthis.org

F L A N D E R S T O D A Y january 6, 2010

Until FEB 21 Surprising Dialogues, selection of outsider art from the new museum, shown alongside works from fine arts museums in Belgium Atomium Atomium Square; 02.475.47.72, www.atomium.be Until APR 25 Ludic Modernism in Belgium 1955-1963, photographs, posters, models, films and furniture recall the popular architectural style, also known in Belgium as Spirou or the ’58 style Autoworld Jubelpark 1, www.autoworld.be Until JAN 17 Bugatti 100 Expo, classic cars from Belgian and international collections, shown alongside posters, paintings, catalogues, models, sculptures and other works Beursschouwburg August Ortsstraat 20-28; 02.550.03.50, www.beursschouwburg.be Until FEB 26 I Wasn’t Born Yesterday, Deary: A Trip in the Eye of Guy Maddin, photographs by Michéle Matyn of the Canadian town of Winnipeg, home to cult film director Guy Maddin Brussels Info Place (BIP) Koningsplein; 02.563.63.99, www.biponline.be Until JAN 29 Christophe Licoppe: Brussels by Night, photographs Brussels Park Paleizenplein (www.btcctb.org) Until FEB 17 Building a Fair World, outdoor photography exhibition organised by the Belgian development agency BTC/CTB to mark its 10th anniversary Dexia Gallery Kruidtuinlaan 44; 02.222.57.37, www.dexia.be JAN 16 & FEB 20 James Ensor, selection of works rarely shown to the public Jewish Museum of Belgium Minimenstraat 21; 02.512.19.63 Until FEB 21 Arno Stern Retrospective, some 50 works from Belgian and international collections Museum van Elsene Jean Van Volsemstraat 71; 02.515.64.22, www.museumvanelsene.be Until JAN 10 La Photographie n’est pas l’art (Photography is Not Art), avant-garde photographs from the collection of Sylvio Perlstein Natural Science Museum Vautierstraat 29; 02.627.42.38, www.naturalsciences.be Until AUG 29 Whales and Dolphins Royal Museum of the Armed Forces Jubelpark 3; 02.737.78.33, www.legermuseum.be Until FEB 28 Aanvalleuh!, works by Belgian comic strip artists Until APR 11 Dieren in de oorlog (Animals in the War), archive photos and films of animals affected by the First World War Royal Museum of Art and History Jubelpark 10; 02.741.72.11, www.kmkg-mrah.be Until APR 18 Isabelle de Borchgrave’s I Medici: A Renaissance in Paper, life-size paper replicas of historic costumes Until DEC 27 World Press Photo JAN 13-MAR 14 Vier Doornikse wandtapijten uit Pastrana (Four Tournai Tapestries from Pastrana), historically important tapestries, originating from the Walloon city of Tournai and restored in

Spain (marking the EU Spanish presidency) Long-term New gallery with precious stone sculpture, precision instruments and metalwork. Le Monde en vues d’optique, travel scenes from optical boxes in the Lefébure collection Long-term Opening of GalloRoman and Merovingian galleries, collections of jewellery and funerary objects from the time of the Roman occupation of Belgium (first to fourth centuries) and the ensuing Merovingian period Royal Museum of Fine Arts Regentschapsstraat 3; 02.508.32.11, www.fine-arts-museum.be Until JAN 31 Delvaux and the Ancient World, some 60 paintings and drawings by the Belgian artist Until JAN 31 The Art of Gaming, works from the collection of the National Lottery on the occasion of its 75th anniversary Tour & Taxis Havenlaan 86C; 02.549.60.49, www.tour-taxis.com Until MAR 28 It’s Our Earth 2! From Kyoto to Copenhagen, interactive exhibition exploring the effects of climate change on the natural world Until MAR 28 John Fitzgerald Kennedy: The American Dream, photographs, audio-visual documents and objects relating to the assassinated US president (www.jfk-expo.be) WIELS Van Volxemlaan 354; 02.340.00.50, www.wiels.org Until JAN 24 Speedy Wash #6 : installations by Anna Rispoli and Teresa Sdralevich

Geel Gasthuismuseum Gasthuisstraat 1; 014.59.14.43, www.gasthuismuseumgeel.net Until MAR 31 God of Doctoor?, collection illustrating the history of healing in Geel

Ghent Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (SMAK) Citadelpark; 09.221.17.03, www.smak.be Until JAN 10 Michel François, Plans d’évasion, retrospective Until JAN 31 Stefaan Dheedene, installations Until JAN 31 Jasper Rigole, audiovisual installations Until JAN 31 Faux Jumeaux (False Twins), changing exhibition curated by Michel François Until FEB 7 Ben Benaouisse – Jan Fabre revisited, performance art Until MAR 14 GAGARIN The Artists in their Own Words, a collection of texts by participating artists Museum of Fine Arts Fernand Scribedreef 1 – Citadelpark; 09.240.07.00, www. mskgent.be Until FEB 7 Max Beckmann, prints and paintings from the collection of the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal Until FEB 7 Fernand Léger’s Le Grand Déjeuner, masterpiece painting on loan from the Museum of Modern Art in New York

Groot-Bijgaarden Kasteel Is. Van Beverenstraat 5; 02.427.03.33, www.grandbigard.be Until JAN 17 De Wonderljke Kerst van Tsaar Nicolas II (The Wonderful Christmas of Tsar Nicolas II), documents, photos, films, a dress collection and religious statues from around 1900 Tsarist Russia

Hasselt Cultuurcentrum Kunstlaan 5; 011.22.99.33, www.ccha.be Until JAN 10 Helikon: Intens en divers (Intense and Diverse), works by the 1960s Limberg artist cooperative

cafe spotlight

Rebecca Benoot

Kortrijk Broelmuseum Broelkaai 6; 09.269.60.04, www.broelmuseum.be www.imal.org/TheGate Until FEB 14 Fantastic Illusions, exhibition exploring how Belgian and Chinese artists build illusory spaces, including The Gate, an installation by Yannick Antoine and Yves Bernard

Leuven STUK Naamsestraat 96; 016.32.03.20, www.stuk.be Until JAN 24 Matt Mullican, drawings, sculpture, architectural installations and performances Machelen-Zulte Het Roger Raveelmuseum Gildestraat 2-8; 09.381.60.00, www.rogerraveelmuseum.be Until FEB 21 Espace: Raveel en Nederland, paintings

Europalia China: Festival celebrating Chinese art and culture, ancient to contemporary, with more than 450 events Until JAN 30 across the country www.europalia.eu

Antwerp Christmas Tree Burning: Celebratory bonfire of Christmas trees, plus free entertainment and concerts, food and drink JAN 9 17.00 at Frederik Van Eedenplein www.antwerpen.be Mid-Life Party: dance party for those over 35, sponsored by Midlifeparty and 4-EverYoung JAN 14 at La Riva, Londenstraat 52 03.225.01.02, www.midlifeparty.be New Year’s Drink: All are welcome to celebrate the New Year with free drinks, snacks and entertainment JAN 10 11.00 on the Grote Markt www.antwerpen.be

Brussels Apassionata - Charm of Freedom: Theatrical equestrian show JAN 8-10 15.00/19.00/20.00 at Lotto Arena, Schijnpoortweg 119 0900.26.060, www.sportpaleis.be European Motor Show: Car fair with focus on green technology JAN 14-24 at Brussels Expo, Heysel 02.474.89.81, www.salonauto.be Pôze III/Africa Town: Photography workshops and competition as part of the Africa Festival and Summer of Photography 2010. Amateur and professional photographers invited to send in their snaps of African life, in the broadest sense. Free disposable cameras and workshops in Dutch, French and English JAN 7-MAY 29 at Bozar www.bozar.be

De Metafoor Parijsstraat 34, Leuven In the heart of Leuven’s swanky Parijsstraat, you find a charming place called De Metafoor where a big glass door leads the way to a massive front room with a beautiful mosaic floor and delicate iron chandeliers. The interior is spacious, to say the least: four rooms, one with a fireplace. But the decor is surprisingly simple: small wooden tables and leather sofas by the majestic windows. It is the perfect location for some discreet people watching, either from behind closed doors or from the cosy terrace out front. Add a coffee and the morning paper (various titles are available), and you’ve got the ideal location to start off your day. In the company of old Parisian photos, a wide variety of Ironbeer ads and some very old maps of Belgium, you’ll find more than 50 kinds of beer, including the city’s own Stella Artois. Divided into a non-smokers and a smokers section, it is one of the few cafés in Leuven that combines good old-fashioned fumes with respect for Belgian health legislation. During the week, De Metafoor is mostly populated by students engaging in pseudo-intellectual banter, but when Saturday comes around, people of all ages kick back at the bar for a cold beer and a friendly chat. There are also many board games available ranging from Risk to Clue, darts and an old, noisy pinball machine in the back. De Metafoor is the ultimate old-fashioned café exprience.

Ghent New Year’s Drink: All residents of Ghent are invited for free drinks and entertainment in celebration of the New Year JAN 10 11.00 at Sint-Baafsplein 09.269.46.00, www.gent.be

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F L A N D E R S T O D A Y january 6, 2010

FACE OF FLANDERS

Martin Banks

TALKING DUTCH

Alistair MacLean

Sharon Light

bite

Buying the ware

A former prime minister of Taiwan married a Belgian, became a priest, settled in Flanders and is buried in the back garden of a 900-year-old monastery in Bruges. The Benedictine monastery of SintAndries, the final resting place of Lou Tseng-Tsiang, is hosting an exhibition on his life as part of Europalia China. Born on mainland China in 1871, Tseng-Tsiang’s father was a lay preacher for a protestant mission in Shanghai. After entering the Chinese foreign ministry, the young Tseng-Tsiang was posted to St Petersburg, where he met and fell in love with a Belgian woman, Berthe Bovy. They married in the Russian city in 1899, and TsengTsiang briefly served the Qing regime as Chinese delegate to Belgium. But he never forgot what he saw as the imperial government's betrayal of his “second father”, Xu Jingcheng, under whom he'd served in St Petersburg and who was beheaded in Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion. Following the establishment of the Republic of China (or Taiwan) in 1912, Tseng-Tsiang joined the party of Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-Sen, who was instrumental in overthrowing the Qing dynasty. His subsequent political career included several spells as foreign minister and, briefly, prime minister of Taiwan. Tseng-Tsiang went on to lead the Republic of China's delegation at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. From 1922, he served as an envoy to the League of Nations in Geneva and converted to Catholicism. After the death of his wife in 1927, he settled in Bruges where he became a monk at Sint-Andries, adopting the name Dom Pierre-Celestine. He was ordained a priest in 1935 and lectured in the Far East during the Second World War. In 1946, Pope Pius XII appointed him titular abbot at SintPieters Abbey in Ghent.

Lou Tseng-Tsiang

In his final years, he hoped to return to China as a missionary to fulfil the instructions Xu Jingcheng had given him at the start of his career. “Europe's strength is found not in her armaments, nor in her knowledge, but in her religion. Observe the Christian faith. When you have grasped its heart and strength, take them and give them to China.” His plans, however, were postponed due to the Chinese civil war, and he died in Belgium exactly 50 years ago, on 15 January 1949, at age 77. Says a spokesman for the Taiwan representation in Brussels: “He led a remarkable life, at the heart of which is a touching love story between two people who came from very different backgrounds,” Dom Lou: Imperial Diplomat and Monk is on view until 17 January at Sint-Andries Abbey, Zevenkerken 4, Bruges ➟ ➟ www.sint-andriesabdij.org

excuse not to pick something up on every visit. But sometimes you want to treat yourself to something a little more colourful or a little more high end. Some kitchen stores offer a sexy collection – until you get home and realise that the adorable teapot you just spent a small fortune on lacks skills in the “pouring” department. My newest discovery in the formplus-function category is Le Piano. Their tiny shop in Brussels is complemented by a friendly website (in three languages) featuring the types of items you’ll be showing off to the next person who walks into your kitchen. This is truly different territory, with plenty of high-quality plastic and no shortage of high-tech materials like silicone. The designs are sleek and modern, and the new twists on classic products are creative and colourful. The brands are primarily European, and, although the prices are nothing to sneeze at, items are reasonably priced for what you’re getting. For certain items, Le Piano’s selection may be limited, but rest assured that what they do have will serve you well. It will look good in your kitchen or on your table – and you’ll look good using it.

In Belgium, one busy shopping season – the holidays – is followed by another – the January sales. And there is one shopping area that never goes out of season: kitchenware. For some women, it’s footwear; for others, purses. In my world, the danger lies in an easy-to-clean garlic press, a solid plastic spatula or – be still my heart! – a fine Japanese chef’s knife. I can hardly walk past a kitchen store with being tempted through the doorway. Once inside, poor excuses abound for my inevitable purchases, such as “I’m researching an article” or “It’s Tuesday”. When it comes to basics, the Dutch-based Dille & Kamille – with stores across Flanders – is a must. Their kitchenware is functional and simple. The focus is on “natural” products, meaning lots of metal, wood, glass and ceramic. You’ll see some bamboo, but plastic is nowhere to be found. The designs are classic and fit nicely into any kitchen; the most exciting patterns appear on their subdued aprons and potholders. In addition to kitchenware, you’ll find a limited selection of quality foods, like teas, spices and pastas to put your new kitchenware straight to work. Prices are affordable, so, ➟ ➟ www.dille-kamille.be compounded with the diversity on offer, you’ll have no ➟ ➟ www.lepiano.be

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boeman

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Today is Twelfth Night. Time to undress the tree and clear away all those Christmas cards that you have on cupboards and shelves. Or perhaps you don’t. Not that I’m suggesting no one sends you cards, but rather you may have been sent e-cards, often more fun if ephemeral. e-cards cost practically nothing and they save the forests, don’t they? We, as ever, live in a world of certainties. In times gone by, it was a fact that the earth was flat and that kings had a divine right to rule. Plus ça change, as they say. I was in a meeting recently in which a colleague said that she hadn’t printed certain documents to help save the rainforest. Admittedly, the print-off would have run to several hundred pages, but it would have been handier with paper in hand. I had to bite my tongue and nod with the rest: another threatened teak saved. That’s the trouble with a fact. Just because you repeat it again and again doesn’t necessarily make it true. The Paper Chain Forum of Belgium pikt het niet langer om als boeman voor het milieu afgeschilderd te worden – won’t put up any more with being painted as the bogeyman of the environment. The forum represents Belgian companies involved in the production of paper, from forest to recycling. What has put the forum’s nose out of joint are claims by firms

that sending out e-communications instead of paper folders or bills saves tens of thousands of trees. Such misleading claims ignore the fact that paper is made from houtpulp – wood pulp and oud papier – old paper. And the houtpulp comes from trees cut to make space for stronger trees: om een bos goed te beheren is zoiets onontbeerlijk – this is essential to manage a forest well. Then there are the cuttings from trunks for furniture and planks. As for oud papier, it makes up at least 58% of new paper products. The conclusion is clear: minder papier redt geen enkele boom – less paper doesn’t save a single tree. Which makes claims such as this one rather silly: elk jaar worden 6.275 bomen opgeofferd aan de productie van onze papieren facturen – each year 6,275 trees are sacrificed for the production of our paper invoices. But what about the rainforests? Hout uit tropische oerbossen wordt niet gebruikt voor pulp – Wood from tropical primaeval forests is not used for pulp, which might surprise my colleague. Ah, but what about the CO2 I hear you cry. Well, apparently, paper stores more CO2 than its production gives off. After we take down the tree and pile the cards, giving them one last look, will we rush to gaze again at our e‑cards? I doubt it. ➟➟ www.paperchainforum.org

No ban

“I find the nning of the headscarf isnba a good idea. It hurts people. ’t the way you push peopThatin’s to a corner. Muslims dole t understand why the headscn’ banned. A ban isarfno has to be basis for keeping a dialogue going."

Thierry Limpens, forme Avicenna Islamic schoolr director of the in Molenbeek

Road rage

“Everyone go on sk iing lidays, but thes e minute therho e’s five centimetre snow here, the complaints scoof me flooding in. We can’t be ev erywhere at once.“

The head of Leuven’s roa ice responding to the rec d-gritting servent snowbound roads chaos

Not for tunin g

“I never once though t about resigning.“

Evelyne Huytebroek, Ec minister in Brussels, wholo environment while a water treatmen o did nothing raw sewage into Flemi t plant pumped sh rivers

Not Flemish

“I understand that a lot of people found it “unFlemi sh “. If Madonna, Lady Gaga a bit of skin, noboordyBeyonceéshow has a problem with it. here does it, it’sBuat if someone scandal.“ Bo

b Savenberg, manage Natalia, on controversy r of pop diva daring New Year's Eve surrounding her stage wear