magazine
winter 2014/2015
MONS 2015 EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE
The Hainaut capital in the spotlight: meet the artists and discover the programme
Bram Goots
CONTENTS
04 Big picture
Arne Quinze’s installation The Passenger
06 News
Headlines from across the region
08 Business
Felicia Crawshaw
Culture and business meet in the three-day Culturallia forum
10
10 Innovation
Digital technology is a big part of Mons 2015
14
14 File
The wait is over: highlights of Mons’s year as European Capital of Culture
18 Portrait
MONS 2015 EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE
The Hainaut capital in the spotlight: meet the artists and discover the programme
20 Heritage
Behind the scenes at the Mundaneum
22 Culture
Editorial
Arousing the imagination: that’s the real challenge at the core of Mons 2015. When Mons is crowned European Capital of Culture on January 24, it will kick off the largest cultural extravaganza ever seen in Wallonia. The packed calendar of arts and events now calls on the enthusiasm and participation of the public – with the slogan ‘In 2015, I’m from Mons too. And you?’ In its ascent from the economic doldrums, the city has repositioned itself as a centre for creative industries. Conceived in 1985, the idea of culture capitals is to foster European citizenship by promoting cultural richness and diversity. It’s been fully capitalised on by Mons: the city has a new vision that exploits its strong identity and community spirit. It is with renewed confidence and vision that Mons rings in 2015. www.mons2015.eu
Six diverse artists embody the spirit of Mons 2015
AC Ferreiri/Atomium 2014
magazine
winter 2014/2015
AWEX/WBI and Ackroyd Publications Pascale Delcomminette – AWEX/WBI Marie-Catherine Duchêne AWEX, Place Sainctelette 2 1080 Brussels, Belgium Tel: 00.32(0)2.421.85.76 Fax: 00.32(0)2.421.83.93 email: mc.duchene@awex.be
Marie-Françoise PLISSART
Editor Sarah Crew Deputy editor Sally Tipper Reporters Andy Furniere, Alan Hope Georgio Valentino Art director Patricia Brossel Managing director Hans De Loore
Yves Vasseur, Mons 2015 general commissioner
30
25 Architecture
Exploring a city in metamorphosis
28 Panorama
The much-loved Mons tradition of Doudou explained
30 Agenda
Winter highlights around the region
Street reView © X tnt Bram Goots
2
wallonia and brussels magazine Winter 2014/2015
wallonia and brussels magazine winter 2014/2015
3
WORK
big picture
The Passenger
4
wallonia and brussels magazine Winter 2014/2015
A
n intricate and monumental structure of fluorescent timber sticks rises above Rue du Nimy, one of the oldest commercial routes leading into Mons’s medieval GrandPlace. The public art installation is the most striking symbol of the European Capital of Culture’s extensive arts programme kicking off on January 24. It’s the latest in a sequence of treelike constructions by world-renowned Flemish artist Arne Quinze. His mission is to incite dialogue, and the winding,
overhead structure is already sparking a debate among residents and visitors. Quinze says he was influenced by British painter JMW Turner in creating a nature scene of both violence and fragility. The 85m-long sculpture connects Art Nouveau literary centre Maison Losseau with the SainteElisabeth church. Adorning the street
for the next five years, The Passenger is one conversation piece that will linger long after the Mons 2015 party.
wallonia and brussels magazine Winter 2014/2015
5
WORK
NEWS
Restaurant accolades handed out
The Bastogne War Museum stages its first exhibition to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. It tells the story of five soldiers from the Texas A&M University, through family documents, testimonies and film. The opening coincides with a weekend of commemorations in December for the Ardennes Offensive, the final large-scale battle of World War Two.
Corbis
From Texas to Bastogne
Bon-Bon in Brussels, run by chef Christophe Hardiquest, has been raised to the top of Belgium’s culinary scene, with a score of 19.5 out of 20 in the latest edition of the Gault & Millau guide to restaurants in Belgium and Luxembourg. The guide also named Fabrizzio Chirico, of Le délice du jour in Gerpinnes, as young chef of the year in Wallonia. Damien Bouchery of Restaurant Bouchery in Uccle won the title for Brussels. Meanwhile, four restaurants in Wallonia have picked up Michelin stars. The guide has handed out a first star to l’Héliport Brasserie and Château de Colonster in Liège, Philippe Meyers in Braine l’Alleud and Aux petits oignons in Jodoigne. Three restaurants in Brussels were awarded a star: Le pigeon noir in Uccle, Le monde est petit in Etterbeek and Da Mimmo in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert.
It’s been called the country’s first start-up bar, and it could be the new shape of flexible office working: OFFBar (half office, half bar) at Axisparc in MontSaint-Guibert. The idea is simple but revolutionary, said Axisparc managing director Henri Fischgrund: a place to work that doesn’t seem like an office. “OFFBar is a comfortable space with cushions and cocooning zones, and the intention is to attract entrepreneurs. It’s a place to get together and everything is aimed at encouraging start-ups to exchange ideas.”
www.bastognewarmuseum.be
Brothers build nail-free apartments
Dignitaries commemorate victims of World War One in Marcinelle
Building a wooden structure comprising 16 apartments and 50 other accommodations would be a daunting task, but to do it without using a single screw or nail would appear to be impossible. Not, however, if you’re familiar with the traditional Japanese technique known as Suteki, like the 50 Japanese engineers who travelled recently to Froyennes near Tournai to inspect the work of brothers Marcel and François Marlier. “The pre-cut wooden chevrons slot into one another, while steel joints bring the whole thing together,” François explained. “They fit perfectly into the columns and beams which are also pre-cut, and that helps cut construction times. A two-storey house, for example, can be built in just three days.” The building they constructed is three storeys high and covers a floor space of 8,000 square metres – larger than anything so far attempted using the technique in Japan, which explains the professional interest. The brothers, sons of the creator of the children’s character Martine, intend to rent the accommodations out at a “moderate” rent, while imposing strict rules on tenants limiting the use of energy and other resources.
Unique biomedical science degrees awarded The University of Namur has awarded its first degrees in biomedical science, a masters course begun two years ago, to six new graduates. The course is different from that offered at other universities, explained course director Jean-Pierre Gillet. “We offer two options: one concentrated on pre-clinical research and one on clinical research. That allows us to respond to one shortcoming: biologists often graduate with a degree but with no training in these areas of research. A master’s in medical science is another string to the bows of these future doctors.” The university, and the course in particular, benefits from its partnership with pharmaceutical company GSK, one of the country’s largest scientific employers. “The aim is to reduce the gap between coursework and the professional world, and for students to arrive at the point of finding a job with less distance left to travel,” Gillet said.
6
wallonia and brussels magazine WINTER 2014/2015
The new face of co-working
Walloon scientists follow comet landing
Vintage hotel opens in Brussels arcade A new hotel has opened in the Galerie du Roi in Brussels. Hôtel des Galeries was designed by interior architects Fleur Delesalle and Camille Flammarion and has 23 rooms over three floors and a mezzanine. Some rooms offer a view of the nearby cathedral, while others overlook the Galerie itself.
http://hoteldesgaleries.be
The world held its breath in November as the space probe Rosetta dropped the landing craft Philae on to a moving comet, and nowhere more so than at Thales Alenia Space in Mont-sur-Marchienne. The descent of the lander – the size of a washing machine, millions of kilometres away and carrying equipment that was cutting-edge when Rosetta left Earth more than a decade ago – involved 6,000 hours of preparatory work for the Thales engineers, who provided the transmitter that allowed Philae to send information back to mission control at the European Space Agency in Darmstadt, Germany. Philae landed in the wrong place and its batteries soon ran out, but not before it sent back audio reports and detected traces of carbon among the elements in the comet’s structure.
Ambassadors from France, Germany and the UK gathered in Marcinelle with Walloon minister-president and Charleroi mayor Paul Magnette to pay homage to the dead of World War One. The dignitaries laid wreaths on the graves of the fallen, as well as at the Jewish monument in the town’s cemetery. “The ceremony at Marcinelle provides us with the opportunity to reflect on the sacrifice of all of those who lost their lives during World War One,” said British ambassador Alison Rose. “It is important for us to stand side by side with our Belgian, French and German friends and colleagues to honour their memory and deepen the strong bonds that unite us.”
Friends launch lime and hemp insulation line A new company in Novilles-les-Bois in Namur province has released a product never before seen in Belgium: insulating blocks made of lime and hemp, which are sourced locally and are 100% recyclable. IsoHemp was set up by friends Olivier Beghin and Jean-Baptiste de Mahieu, alumni of the Université Catholique de Louvain. “Our friends and family, as well as our professors, looked at us askance,” said Beghin, the managing director. “This idea, which was hatched inside the walls of the university, was only just a plan, but now here we are a year and a half later, and the manufacturing plant for the IsoHemp blocks is beginning production.” The factory employs seven people and expects turnover of €500,000. It produces 1,000 blocks a day at present, a number expected to rise to 2,500 before long. The market for insulating materials in Belgium is estimated to be worth €600 million.
www.isohemp.be wallonia and brussels magazine WINTER 2014/2015
7
WORK
BUSINESS
who can least afford it and resulting intellectual ‘property’ is claimed mostly by middlemen like publishers. It’s a market in which free labour slips through the cracks between business and pleasure and an anecdotally visible few – the stars – become disproportionately wealthy while the majority struggle and starve out of the spotlight. In recent years, however, government and business have recognised the importance of culture and the precarious status of its producers. Regional and national initiatives in Belgium as elsewhere now actively promote grassroots culture. Indeed, this brand of development has become a bit of an industry in itself, lucrative enough to make a profit.
Between business and pleasure Culturallia forum recognises the importance of culture to the economy By Georgio Valentino
T
he European Capital of Culture celebrates past, present and, most important, future. Hence the theme of Mons 2015: Where technology meets culture. It’s no surprise, then, that the programme spotlights economic development as well as artistic enrichment. The project was, after all, founded on the idea that artistic enrichment is crucial to economic development. This principle finds its expression in the flagship economic event of Mons 2015: Culturallia, an international business-tobusiness forum entirely devoted to cul-
8
wallonia and brussels magazine WINTER 2014/2015
ture, technology and communications industries. The relationship between culture and business is, of course, tortured. The modern artist famously scorns the market, and with good reason. For all its rigour, economics has been unable to suss out any consistent value formula for the work of art. It is only ever worth what some fool will pay for it. So the artist is at the mercy of an arbitrary market where inputs never equal outputs, where risk is borne by those
Enter Culturallia, a unique business forum whose purpose is to kickstart growth in the cultural sector by connecting businesses small and large. Participants are content creators, software programmers, platform developers, management specialists, marketers and analysts. We’re talking media, telecommunications, design, fashion, gaming, music, cinema, architecture, tourism and much more. They come to Culturallia to exchange ideas and forge relationships. The event is actually new skin for an old ceremony. It is the 20th anniversary edition of Futurallia, an annual international event with strong regional ties. The Walloon Partnership Group – encompassing development agencies Hainaut Développement, SPI, CCI LB and BEP – serves as vice-president of the Futurallia Association and Wallonia has figured prominently in the event, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in Louvain-la-Neuve. Other Futurallia conferences have been held in France, Poland, Canada, Qatar and the United States.
its members. After a reception and an introductory round-table in which all are invited to share their experiences in the culture industry, executives split up for two days of pre-arranged meetings.
The crucial difference between B2B and speed dating is that monogamy is neither expected nor welcome This special edition is put on in partnership with the Mons 2015 Foundation, the City of Mons and the Walloon Agency for Export and Foreign Investment (AWEX) and focuses squarely on creative and cultural industries, including ICT. Although the conference itself spans but three days in October 2015, Culturallia’s roots run deep. The project was announced at the 2012 edition of Futurallia, hosted in Lille. Since then the organisers of Culturallia have been enlisting partners from Futurallia’s longestablished business community and from the culture and tech industries at large. With enrolment open to all and sundry, Culturallia is on its way to meeting its target of 500 Belgian and international companies. Members create a profile on the network’s online platform and from there browse the field of potential business partners. Culturallia facilitates meetings and gives members access to a series of related events throughout the year. The October conference is the culmination of all this networking. Like the previous 19 Futurallia fora, it’s all about face-to-face interaction between
The business-to-business model is a bit like speed dating. Culturallia matches participants based on shared interests and future goals. During the session representatives sit face to face, introduce themselves and discuss possible collaborations in short form (details to be sorted later). The crucial difference between B2B and speed dating is that monogamy is neither expected nor welcome. Members are encouraged to hook up with multiple partners, to fully explore their corporate identities and to pursue many fruitful collaborations with other open-minded businesses from home and abroad. In the evenings the Culturallia network reconvenes as a body for gala and cultural events, in which the twin culture capitals, Mons and Pilsen, take centre stage. Culturallia plans its own cultural programme and sightseeing itinerary for first-time visitors. Mons 2015 is also in full swing throughout October. Participants have their choice of exhibitions, theatre, film, concerts and other performances. Culturallia takes place at Lotto Mons Expo and the soon-to-be-inaugurated conference centre MICX, situated next to the similarly yet-to-be-inaugurated train station. This architectural efflorescence is more evidence of the importance of creativity and culture in the context of economic development. The new Calatrava-designed rail hub has all the contemporary verve of Liège’s famous station. MICX (or Mons International Congress Xperience, to use its full name) is equally modern and was conceived by New York architect Daniel Libeskind. www.culturallia2015.com wallonia and brussels magazine WINTER 2014/2015
9
WORK
INNOVATION
A culture of technology Culture is at the centre of Mons 2015, but the city is also a major ICT hub By Andy Furniere
Café Europa
Mons is solidifying its reputation as a region that attracts ICT investments
A
fter years of preparations, Mons can finally showcase itself as a European Capital of Culture. Apart from its cultural heritage, the city in Hainaut will emphasise its identity as a contemporary centre of digital innovation. The existence of two very different worlds in Mons is summarised in its motto as cultural capital: “Where technology meets culture.” Mons has made particular efforts to renovate its picturesque old town, but it has also been developing a modern hub of companies and organisations that have a leading role in the ICT 10
wallonia and brussels magazine WINTER 2014/2015
sector. As such, Mons’s economy has succeeded in evolving from industry to a knowledge economy over the past decade. The Initialis science park close to the railway station, where a large number of high-tech companies can be found, is also known as the Digital Innovation Valley – its name inspired by Silicon Valley in California. The new station, which is to be designed by the renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, should function as the link between the old and new areas of the city. Calatrava previously designed Liège’s station.
Another famous architect, Daniel Libeskind, designed the innovative Mons International Congress Xperience (MICX), a modern centre for meetings, congresses and events equipped with the latest technology. Mons has also been solidifying its reputation as a region that attracts investment from ICT giants such as Microsoft, Google and IBM. The Microsoft Innovation Centre, which opened in 2009 at Initialist, encourages entrepreneurship and provides new software companies with business, financial and technological support,
as well as focusing on e-health applications. Technology multinational Hewlett-Packard is one high-profile partner taking part in the project. Encouraging both economic growth and technological innovation is the aim of not-for-profit organisation FuturoCité. This Mons-based company, previously named the Euro Green IT Centre, has focused on realising Smarter Cities projects since January 2013. It provides knowhow about mobility, security, energy, buildings and citizens’ wellbeing. The centre’s original project was initiated in January 2010 by the Walloon Region and major
ICT companies like IBM and Cisco. Among the sponsors were Microsoft and mobile phone network Mobistar. In 2007, Google invested €250 million in a new data centre in Saint Ghislain, west of Mons. The facility, which has been fully operational since September 2010, now serves Google users across Europe and around the world. This was the first Google data centre to run entirely without refrigeration, instead using an advanced evaporative cooling system that uses water from a nearby industrial canal; it helps to
keep the computers running at their highest efficiency and thereby reduces overall energy use. In April 2013, Google announced plans to invest an extra €300 million. It’s through these investments that the centre has become one of the most modern and efficient in the world. However, Mons doesn’t only house the global powerhouses of the ICT world: smaller enterprises also thrive here. One of them is I-Movix, a worldwide leader in extreme slow motion for broadcast and an active player in the sporting events market. The camera wallonia and brussels magazine Winter 2014/2015
11
INNOVATION
to Acapela’s website, “over a thousand companies around the world have already adopted Acapela high-quality voices to voice-empower their products and services, in very different markets”. In terms of research, Mons houses the prestigious Institute for New Media Art Technology (Numediart), established by the University of Mons in 2007. According to its website, it has achieved international praise in “the field of sound, image, video, gestures and biosignals processing for applications where human-computer interaction aims to prompt emotion”.
Bram Goots
Numediart provides educational training and research in the field of digital art technology and contributes to the development of new activities in the creative industries sector. There are roughly 70 researchers currently working at Numediart, from 10 departments of five University of Mons faculties: applied sciences, science, architecture, psychology and education and economy.
Mons Street reView
manufacturer provided technology for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil to TV Globo – a huge network of more than 100 Brazilian TV stations. The I-Movix cameras are able to register up to 2,600 images a second in high definition and are said to use the best slow-motion technology in the world. Another Initialis resident is Acapela, an enterprise that for 30 years has specialised in text-to-speech solutions and is now able to translate content into voices in up to 30 languages. According 12
wallonia and brussels magazine WINTER 2014/2015
Training researchers is the core task of TechnocITé, the competence centre for the Walloon region in ICT and digital media. Since 1999, TechnocITé has positioned itself as a pioneering knowledge, education and research centre for the ICT and creative industry sectors. The centre organises conferences, seminars and specialised training courses for digital media (image and sound creation) and management, web technologies, image publishing, application development and ICT networks. This technological identity of Mons will have a big impact on the activities and projects held during its stint as Capital of Culture. Take, for example, the Mons Street reView project (pictured on p12), which looks at the presence of Google in Mons. It’s named after Google’s Street View application, which lets internet users see ground-level
images of streets, property, businesses and tourist attractions. The French X/tnt Collective used the same technology to create a surprising 10km virtual tour around the city. All along the route, viewers can discover surreal scenes involving the inhabitants of Mons. The recording days attracted the interest of many European media organisations, which enthusiastically reported on the innovative art project. From the end of January to the end of March, visitors will be able to explore the gothic style and the history of the collegiate church of Sainte-Waudru – a tourist highlight – in a new way, through the Hypergothique Transparent project. The city’s university has developed a fun, accessible multimedia tour in the form of a tablet computer game, which uncovers the church’s riches. With the tablet, visitors can go on a quest to find the church architect’s manuscript, during which they will find detailed 3D representations, augmented reality features and animations. Google provided financial and material support to the project. For two weeks in March, the VIA arts festival will provide visitors with a vision
of a new, innovative way of making cinema with its focus on the New Film. One of the programme highlights is Children of Nowhere, the second part of the ambitious film Ghost Road by Verviers-born director Fabrice Murgia. It is described by the director as “a mix of theatre, travel report, music and video”.
choreographer Michèle Noiret used the work of the Walloon author Conrad Detrez to describe the identity of French-speaking Belgians. The result is a surprising choreographic fictional thriller which exists in a parallel world between theatre, dance and film. The VIA festival will also offer visitors an exhibition, 3D films and a family weekend with interactive shows. For the project Vice Versa – From Digital to Culture, part of the Transdigital Biennale of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Sound and Electronic Cultures (Transcultures), 10 pioneers of media arts are invited to Mons. In November, over the course of a week, the experienced artists will develop a new work with a young, upcoming artist. The results of this co-operation will be presented in a digital exhibition, with a symposium on the project held at the reopened Mundaneum centre.
Smaller ICT enterprises also thrive here Two other Walloon artists will present their prestigious projects that analyse the identity of the Walloon region and its inhabitants. In Amnésia, director Jean-Michel Van den Eeyden’s team tracks the socio-economic history of the region by combining theatre and mapping art. In Radioscopie,
Café Europa
WORK
From June, visitors to the Mundaneum are invited to the ambitious exhibition Mapping Knowledge: Understanding the World through Data, as the grand reopening after a long renovation will be marked with celebrations. The exhibition will take visitors on an interactive tour to the core of the universe of information: from the pioneers of data visualisation to the contemporary artists who offer a new vision of the complexity of the world. Earlier in the year, from March, the Mundaneum will also function as the setting for Café Europa. This will be the ideal place to reflect on the many technological projects at Mons and the digital revolution at large. Café Europa is a combination of a 21st-century cafe, a training centre, a ‘fabrication laboratory’ and a video wall of screens connected to 10 European cities. It will invite its visitors to create their own ideas following technological trends such as the virtual ways in which ideas are shared and the digital opportunities that can redefine our social ties. wallonia and brussels magazine Winter 2014/2015
13
FILE
MONS 2015
The Four Seasons
A
s Mons picks up the baton as European Capital of Culture it is orchestrating a world-class programme of arts and entertainment. The city and outlying region are hosting a total of 1,000 events during the year, making it the largest arts celebration in Wallonia.
Unveiled: the cultural programme of Mons 2015 is a year-long exploration By Sarah Crew
The challenge for organisers has been to ensure public participation while staging big-crowd events that will draw an international audience. Mons 2015 director Yves Vasseur is pushing the boundaries of what constitutes culture. “As well as the wonders of heritage and creation, you’ll also experience unexpected events and activities in the public space, new types of civic partnership and innovative digital opportunities.” Street theatre and urban art are set to invade citadel-like Mons. After years of cranes and building sites, the city is ready to party. While the opening festivities on January 24 have as their theme illumination, the year has been divided into four seasons, each packed with a diverse menu of exhibitions, theatre, music, performance and public events. The programme has been constructed around a couple of flagship exhibitions, “to attract people from further away”, says Vasseur. His message to visitors is simply, “Mons deserves 2015. It needed waking up. Now discover a city that you don’t know.”
The Dazzling
Vincent muteau
January 24-March 31
14
wallonia and brussels magazine winter 2014/2015
In mid-winter there is a need for shining light. The opening ceremony illuminates the city with 18,000 silver ponchos handed out to convert crowds into a magic, mobile mirror ball. Candles and fireworks will set the city alight and launch the long-awaited event. In the
Home and Away, Pilsen
Highlight
Mons Superstar exhibition (Anciens Abbatoirs, January 24-April 12) discover the men and women who have shaped the city and region. The show may be a learning experience, but the interactive approach transforms it into a treasure hunt. Another trail, The Phrase, features poetry in the streets. Wander through the compact city and read sentences in capital letters painted on walls, stirring the imagination and recalling Mons’s literary past. The Maison Folie is naturally the setting for Ailleurs en folie/Home and Away, in which cities around the world are showcased. A revolving series of artist curators each present their city: Montreal, Milan, Beijing, London, Casablanca, Melbourne, Tokyo and fellow 2015 culture capital Pilsen, in the Czech Republic. The event kicks off with Lille, the birthplace of the Maison Folie when the French city held the title in 2004. The curator is Roubaix artist Fanny Bouyagui (January 28-February 1).
Van Gogh in the Borinage. The Birth of an Artist January 25-May 17 Beaux-Arts Mons (BAM) This fabulous contemporary exhibition space, off the Grand-Place, was renovated in 2013. In a retrospective of Van Gogh’s formative work in the region’s coalmining hinterland of the Borinage, works are loaned by three major museums. The celebrated Dutch Impressionist worked as a pastor in Hainaut’s coal basin from 1878 to 1880. It turned out to be a significant period in his life as it was here that he made the life-changing decision to become an artist. In spring, visitors can also visit his renovated home in the nearby village of Cuesmes. Vincente Minnelli’s movie, Lust for Life, starring Kirk Douglas, was partially filmed in the region in 1965. Specially restored, a world premiere screening will be accompanied by a documentary on the shooting of the film and it is hoped son Michael Douglas will attend. In honour of the artist’s sojourn in the area, a sunflower motif runs through the programme of Mons 2015.
wallonia and brussels magazine winter 2014/2015
15
MONS 2015
The Blazing Summer
The Renaissance
It’s holiday time and the programme caters for families and children with circus, games and outdoor activities in Mons and the many partner cities. A field of golden sunflowers fills the Grand-Place in Suncity (July 17-26), while the old slaughterhouses Anciens Abattoirs host the exhibition La Chine Ardente – Contemporary monumental sculptures (July 4-October 4). Some 20 avant-garde Chinese artists explore the 3D relationship between sculpture and its materials. Le Festin and Dimanche toqué are a festival and feast spread across the Mons-Borinage region (September 1-6). Deploying local artists, they propose a tempting menu of multidisciplinary performances and regional gastronomy with the finale, an urban Sunday barbecue.
The arrival of autumn heralds a celebration of the city’s Golden Age when Mons-born polyphony composer Orlando di Lasso and architect and sculptor Jacques Du Broeucq were stars of the Renaissance. There are week-long events celebrating di Lasso (October 4-11), and Du Broeucq, who was also artist to Emperor Charles V (October 10-18). Home and Away ends its season in Pilsen, the city that shares the honour of European Capital of Culture in 2015 (November 12-15). For the closing party of Mons 2015 on December 12, Fabrice Bollen and Daphné Cornez return to wrap up the event with a big thank-you to everyone involved and a reminder that Mons 2015 is one giant fiesta!
SHU Shanyi
June 28-September 25
La Chine Ardente, Phénix by XU Bing
April 1-June 27
Highlight
It’s time to spring clean. A new broom brings with it a swathe of urban art installations. The message is: you’ve discovered the city – now use it! Art in the City includes an installation in which a column of books cascade from a window, while City at Play sees a horde of performers provoke chaos in the city. The seasonal highlight is the unveiling of a cluster of new museums, including one at the Unesco-recognised flint mines in Spiennes and one at the city’s belfry, along with the art library Artothèque. The Home and Away series welcomes an eccentric London to Maison Folie. Walk into a working men’s club complete with dartboard, net curtains and Formica tables and witness performance art piece Working Mon’s Club.
Newly opened is the Mons Memorial Museum, which commemorates the region’s frequently overlooked yet significant contribution to both world wars. The city escaped the ravages of World War One as it was well behind the front line in German territory. Yet it played a strategic role at both ends of the war, as it was where the British Expeditionary Forces first encountered the Germans and where the first British soldier was killed. The outnumbered BEF defended the Nimy canal – winning two Victoria Crosses in the process – but were forced to retreat into France. It was here that weary soldiers believed a cloud formation guided them to safety and thus was born the legend of the Angels of Mons. The museum is at the centre of a memorial region that incorporates the Saint-Symphorien military cemetery, where Commonwealth and German soldiers lie.
Highlight Festival au carré June 28-July 11, Carré des Arts It may be an annual encampment, but for Mons 2015 this summer festival promises an exceptional line-up, with Wajdi Mouawad presenting his monumental Seven Tragedies of Sophocles, a world premiere of Wim Vandekeybus’s latest music and performance project, Marco Martinelli’s 150-strong choir and music by Arno. There are workshops on the five senses for all ages, poetry, circus, gastronomic cabaret and after-parties at the Alhambra.
Isabelle Françaix
The Great Reveal
September 26-January 24
Olrlando di Lasso, Johan Sadeler
Alicia Martin
Dominique Libert
Highlight
Art in the City
16
wallonia and brussels magazine winter 2014/2015
Marco Martinelli’s choir
Verlaine, Cell N° 2. Poetic Turbulences October 17-January 24 BAM French poet Paul Verlaine spent two years in Mons prison after firing two shots at his lover, fellow enfant terrible of French poetry Arthur Rimbaud, in a drunken jealous rage. Verlaine wrote some of his major works during this period (1873-75), including Romances sans paroles. The exhibition also covers his relationship with Belgium’s literary and artistic world. It includes almost 200 documents, many on show for the first time.
HUGO © Musea BRUGGE
FILE
Saint George and the Dragon (Lukas-Art in Flanders)
Mons 2015 on tour With 22 partner institutions and 18 partner cities in northern France and the rest of Belgium, there are plenty of opportunities to join in the Mons 2015 party.
European Crossroads, Biennale de la Danse (September 15-October 15) Charleroi Danses
Grand-Hornu
La Louvière
Futur archaïque (January 25-April 19) explores the relationship between the past and the future in designer objects. Jasper Morrison (May 10-September 13) is the first retrospective of the British designer. Centre for innovation and design
François Schuiten: Lumières sur les Cités (October 2-January 10) Centre pour la gravure et l’image imprimée
www.grand-hornu-images.be
Homo Faber, Poétiques et mécaniques du Travail (May 1-September 30) Eco-musée Bois-du-Luc
www.charleroi-danses.be
www.centredelagravure.be
The Man, the Dragon and the Death (October 18-January 17). While George and the Dragon are popular symbols in Mons, particularly during the annual Ducasse folklore celebration, the aim of this exhibition is to show how the legend is interpreted in other European countries. Accompanying it are commissioned contemporary works by Luc Tuymans and David Claerbout. MAC’s
On Fire, Arts et symboles du feu (May 9-September 13) Keramis
www.mac-s.be
www.keramis.be
Charleroi
Mariemont
Les Mondes Invérsés: Contemporary Art and Popular Culture (September 26-January 31) B.P.S.22
M’ombilic du rêve: Kubin, Rops, Simon, Klinger (February 28-May 31) Musée Royal de Mariemont
www.ecomuseeboisduluc.be Festival 5 sur 5 (September 4-October 10) La Louvière and Mons
www.festival5sur5.be
www.musee-mariemont.be
www.bps.hainaut.be Seneffe Stephan Vanfleteren: Charleroi + IN_ OUT (May 23-December 6) Musée de la Photographie
Moi, toi et le jardin (April 25-November 11) Goldsmiths Museum
www.museephoto.be
www.chateaudeseneffe.be
www.mons2015.eu wallonia and brussels magazine winter 2014/2015
17
PORTRAIT
Yves Vasseur
What does the European Capital of Culture mean for Mons’s economy? Ten years ago you could never imagine that Mons would become a European Capital of Culture. It was in a very bad situation socio-economically, and there was no real political input to change the mood of the city until Elio Di Rupo became mayor in 2000 and decided to change his city. After the closure of coalmines in the region, we had the highest level of unemployment and there was little future for youngsters. After studying in the city, there were few work possibilities for them in the area. It was an innovative move to attract new technologies. Since the arrival of the Google data centre, many small start-ups have come to the region. There are now 100 new enterprises with more than 1,000 employees, many 18
wallonia and brussels magazine WINTER 2014/2015
Véronique Vercheval
As general commissioner of the Mons 2015 Foundation, Yves Vasseur has been the driving force behind the ambitious project since its creation some 10 years ago. With retirement beckoning in 2016, Vasseur’s legacy extends beyond Mons’s year as European Capital of Culture to the cultural landscape of the wider region. Born close to the French border, southwest of Mons, Vasseur studied communication and theatre before reporting on the arts as a cultural journalist at francophone TV station RTBF. He has a parallel career as an author, writing plays and books on the arts and artists. His multifaceted approach to culture has seen him become a significant figure in the Mons and cross-border arts scene, while previous administrative roles have included co-ordinating the Centre Dramatique Hennuyer and directing the multidisciplinary Manège.
of them in the audiovisual and hi-tech industries. The aim of Mons 2015 is to develop tourism and culture as well as the economy. Will Mons 2015 have an influence beyond the city? The allure of Mons2015 will have an impact on the wider region, yes. The programme involves the principal communes in Hainaut and there are also partnerships with other cities in Wallonia, as well as in Flanders and northern France. While the population of Mons is 100,000, there are 800,000 people living within 30km of the city and a million in the whole region. Naturally, the programme is largely staged in major museums and this will most likely attract visitors who come for the day.
We are very optimistic about the post-2015 legacy
What are the big events that are likely to attract visitors from further afield? People may not know Mons but they will want to visit for major exhibitions such as Van Gogh in the Borinage, the Birth of an Artist, which includes exclusive drawings, some from Japan. They have rarely been shown before because of their sensitivity to light. There are also letters, written by Van Gogh in 1879 from his home in Cuesmes, just outside the city, about his desire to become an artist. There will be events about the filming in the area of the 1956 Hollywood movie Lust for Life, which starred Kirk Douglas. There’s even a question of Michael Douglas attending. Other flagship exhibitions are those devoted to the French poet Paul Verlaine, who was imprisoned in Mons in the 1870s, and Saint George and the Dragon, the popular symbol of Mons. It will explore the myth while recounting the story of art and renaissance. How have you made the programme accessible to everyone? We have put in place a tariff policy that enables everyone to participate in the events. Numerous reductions are on offer for students, unemployed people and locals. A Pass benefits families in particular by reducing full-fare tickets by half. We have also made facilities more accessible, including wheelchairs, sign language and guided tours for the visually impaired. Mobility in and around Mons has been improved by creating a large free car park outside the city with a free bus to the centre
every eight minutes. A shuttle bus also links Mons with Brussels-South airport in Charleroi. What will be the legacy of Mons 2015? We are very optimistic about the post2015 legacy. We will leave a series of infrastructures that are the right dimension for the city, and their future use and finance are already in place. The look of the city will have profoundly changed and will be much more attractive and dynamic. The cultural buzz generated over the year,
and its economic repercussions, will permanently revitalise the city. There are currently 200,000 visitors a year; during 2015 we expect 2 million, and after 2015 we hope the figure will be around 500,000. And once it’s over, what are your plans for retirement? I certainly don’t fear getting bored in 2016! Travel, reading and my family await me, and maybe I’ll return to writing. Finally, I’m looking forward to cultural projects in Mons after my departure.
Gregory Mathelot
LIFE
The start of the procession during the annual Doudou celebrations wallonia and brussels magazine Winter 2014/2015
19
LIFE
Heritage
Mundaneum 2.0 We look at the history, and now the future, of the world’s first networked library By Georgio Valentino
A
long time ago in a country not so far away, Belgian visionaries Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine conceived the Mundaneum. The world’s first networked library enjoyed a brief, blissful honeymoon period in inter-war Brussels. Before long, however, the project suffered bureaucratic setbacks and a disastrous wartime occupation.
economic and political consequences are only now being felt. In its infancy, it was global only in theory; in practice it was an exclusive electronic playground for the more comfortable classes in the world’s more developed countries. In recent years, however, it has fulfilled its eponymous promise and become a truly worldwide web.
horizontally integrated conglomerates. Grassroots organisations are legion, but multinationals are king.
World War One transformed the cult of technological progress into a cult of death.
So the web has an ambiguous track record, which has techno-optimists and techno-sceptics alike asking whither the path of information technology will lead. Some look to the past for context;
Otlet was a bibliophile who dreamed that, with enough elbow grease, all the world’s books could be processed, catalogued and indexed by, among other searchable criteria, key words. La Fontaine was a Nobel Prize-winning peacenik who shared his partner’s idealism and added his own considerable political and social networking skills. In 1895 Otlet and La Fontaine established the Office international de bibliographie in what is today the Autoworld museum in Brussels. Eventually, with the support of the Belgian government, the Mundaneum was established in the same space. The OIB, with its labyrinth of cabinets containing millions of index cards, was the nerve centre of Otlet’s universalist project; the Mundaneum, a living museum dedicated to world culture, was its beating heart.
Like the original, the new Mundaneum is always evolving 20
wallonia and brussels magazine Winter 2014/2015
The Mundaneum was rebooted a halfcentury later in the form of a museum in Mons and is finally recognised as an analogue precursor to that most fundamental of digital tools: the search engine. Today’s Mundaneum is a hybrid space at the intersection of history, culture, technology and civic participation. And all this just in time for Mons 2015. The World Wide Web is already about 25 years old, depending on how you reckon birthdays, but its wide-ranging social,
In the process, it has facilitated political revolution (and repression), corporate malfeasance (and whistleblowing), social networking (and alienation) and, in perhaps its most virtuoso performance, the simultaneous decentralisation and consolidation of the media and their audiences. Today, everyone is a blogger or citizen journalist (or at the very least an occasional cultural commentator on friends’ newsfeeds), yet the overwhelming majority of media outlets are owned by a handful of sprawling,
they locate the roots of contemporary IT in Gutenberg’s printing press, Diderot’s Encyclopédie, Babbage’s primitive calculating machines and the theories of his contemporary and inspiration (and Lord Byron’s estranged daughter) Ada Lovelace. It is easy to overlook Otlet and La Fontaine in such illustrious company, but their Mundaneum was perhaps the most prescient analogue model of the web-based search engine. The two met at the height of the Belle Epoque, before
The devastation of war gave the project further impetus. Indeed, the inter-war period was all about international cooperation and cultural rapprochement; the Mundaneum threatened to become a victim of its own success. Its ‘servers’ – those cumbersome filing cabinets – overflowed with data, compelling Otlet to pioneer yet more streamlining technologies. Finally, by the time he published his 1934 Traité de documentation, he was imagining a paperless form of data, or what we could call digital data. Global developments proved more
implacable. The Great Depression hit. The Belgian government withdrew its support. Information was a luxury the world could no longer afford, or perhaps no longer even wanted. To the east, the Nazis weren’t cataloguing books; they were burning them. By the time the Germans marched into Brussels for a second time, the Mundaneum was already on lifesupport. The occupiers predictably pulled the plug, requisitioning the space for an exhibition of Nazi propaganda art and destroying Otlet’s life work as an afterthought. Otlet lived just long enough to witness the liberation of Brussels, but the Mundaneum wouldn’t be rehabilitated until some 50 years after his death. The advent of the worldwide web led to a resurgence of interest in the Mundaneum project, culminating in the establishment of the Mons museum. This institution is a celebration of Otlet and La Fontaine’s historical work, as well as a space for contemporary knowledge workers to exchange ideas. Like the original, the new Mundaneum is always evolving. It has recently begun a partnership with its digital descendent, Google, and concluded crucial architectural renovations. So now Mundaneum 2.0 is ready to come back online, just in time for Mons 2015, in the context of which it presents the exhibition Mapping Knowledge and the multimedia performance La Cité Miroir.
www.mundaneum.org wallonia and brussels magazine Winter 2014/2015
21
LIFE
Culture
Star turn Six artistic personalities mix their magic at Mons 2015 By Georgio Valentino
Wajdi Mouawad Wajdi Mouawad was among the first Mons 2015 partners to be announced. The award-winning LebaneseCanadian playwright and director has also journeyed the farthest to be here. Born in war-torn Beirut, Mouawad was raised in France and Quebec, and his contemporary stage productions are lauded across the French-speaking world. Mouawad’s twin contributions to Mons 2015 have been years in the making. The 22
wallonia and brussels magazine Winter 2014/2015
first – the world premiere of his ambitious, unabridged adaptation of the Seven Tragedies of Sophocles – is the culmination of a project that began in 2009. The second, related work, 20 Years Old in 2015, insists on the importance of the Athenian playwright (author of Oedipus Rex) for political thought versus mere psychological contemplation. Mouawad recruited 50 teenagers from Mons, Namur, Montreal, Nantes and Réunion to participate in a five-year immersive course in Hellenic philosophy, particularly its civic implications. These young people are now ready to share the wisdom of the ancients. Festival au Carré June 28-July 11
Frédéric Flamand Contemporary Belgian choreographer Frédéric Flamand comes home – or close to it – for Mons 2015. The legendary Liégeois artist was a seminal figure in the burgeoning contemporary dance scene of the 1970s. He first founded Plan K, a multi-disciplinary arts centre occupying a disused Brussels
factory. Then he took over the Royal Ballet of Wallonia and rechristened it Charleroi/Danses. After decades of pioneering work in his native country, Flamand accepted directorships at the Ballet National de Marseille and the International Dance Festival of Cannes. Now he returns to Wallonia to lead 100 performers in the ambitious mixed-media production La Cité Miroir. Produced with Dutch designer Maria Blaisse, the Théâtre de Liège and Charleroi/Danses, the work uses video and contemporary dance to explore the encyclopedic project of Mons’s own archival space, Mundaneum. Lotto Mons Expo November 24-27
JP Lespagnard’s Till We Drop
Fanny Bouyagui Set the controls for the heart of the sunflower. Mons 2015 is organised conceptually by season, and French sculptor Fanny Bouyagui, director of the collective Art Point M, has claimed summer for her own. Inspired by the Van Gogh exhibition at the Musée des Beauxarts (BAM), Bouyagui has conceived the ultimate summertime installation
ART POINT m
H
undreds of artists are set to participate in the year-long culture extravaganza that is Mons 2015. But among these, six international luminaries have been selected to embody the spirit of the celebration. These artistic partners come from near and far, from different national traditions and different artistic disciplines, and they will take their fellow artists and us spectators in different directions throughout the year. They have one thing in common: a spirit of openness and adventure. Their work isn’t peripheral to the Mons 2015 programme; it’s more of a driving force.
Marc Pinilla with Suarez
Sun City by Fanny Bouyagui
Carl Norac wallonia and brussels magazine Winter 2014/2015
23
LIFE
Culture
starring the French Impressionist’s favourite subject: sunflowers. Mons’s Grand-Place will be planted with no fewer than 8,000 of them. This horticultural feat has required two years of research at the Province of Hainaut’s plant academy. Then there’s the human element. Hundreds of lawn chairs are available for idle lounging and cocktailsipping in this paradise, while music is performed by musicians in kiosks and delivered to sun(flower)-worshippers via headphone. Bouyagui also presides over the inaugural episode of Maison Folie’s Home and Away series, each one riffing on a different country or city. This French fairy-tale house of mirrors gives the artist another opportunity to exercise her flair for installation and performance art. Maison Folie January 24 Grand-Place June 28-September 25
Jean-Paul Lespagnard With a true fashion designer’s flair for self-promotion, Belgian couturier JP Lespagnard comes to the 2015 Capital of Culture with his latest line of garments, called Till We Drop. The eponymous Mons exhibition evokes the sybaritic lifestyle of the jet set; the
Cité Miroir by Frédéric Flamand and Maria Blaisse
24
wallonia and brussels magazine Winter 2014/2015
theme is freedom and transgression (presumably for those who can afford them). If this sounds like standard fare in the fashion world, Lespagnard’s methods are anything but orthodox. His creative process often involves bizarre materials like plexiglass, wood and adhesives used by the US space programme. Lespagnard is also helping to recreate the atmosphere of Lombardy in Wallonia. In another instalment of Maison Folie’s Home and Away, a team of artists and artisans celebrates Milan in all its elegance. The northern Italian city is, of course, famous for its pasta, its gelato and its fashion industry. Maison Folie July 18-August 23
Carl Norac Author and poet Carl Norac is one of only two native Montois selected as artistes complices. Norac is beloved by generations of Europeans for his children’s books, many of them available in translation across the Continent. His 1996 classic I Love You So Much has been translated into more than 20 languages (so far). Norac will be as much a fixture in Mons in 2015 as he is any other year. The local hero can be seen everywhere – in the shops, at the post office, on the corner. Where
you find him, he’ll wax eloquent about life in general and Mons in particular. In addition to his usual ubiquity, he will preside over the book club at the Manège theatre, edit the quarterly literary magazine L’Impertinente, and present a special programme at the Festival of Illustrated Books in Jemappes in October.
Marc Pinilla Marc Pinilla is another local-boy-donegood. The Montois singer formed Suarez with mates in his home town in 2008. The group’s youthful, energetic brand of pop/rock won them a national following and afforded frontman Pinilla the opportunity to coach contestants on the hit francophone television programme The Voice Belgique. This homecoming is his chance to give back to the city. So Pinilla partners with Technocité to put on workshops for aspiring music industry professionals in June, sharing his wisdom as a songwriter and his technical savvy as a musician and sound engineer. Pinilla also presents a zany new musical stage show with media personality Olivier Monssens. The two performers open Pandora’s Box and fire up the Belgian hit factory. www.mons2015.eu/en/ artistic-partners
Wajdi Mouawad
libeskind
Mons International Congress Xperience by Daniel Libeskind
The rebirth of Mons From medieval bastion to a city for the future, Mons is undergoing a metamorphosis By Sarah Crew
W
The year as European Capital of Culture has been a once-in-a-generation opportunity to regenerate the city
hen the Christmas decorations are dismantled in Mons’s Grand-Place, the descending darkness is but a brief lull before the fireworks on January 24 shine a light on a city in the final stages of a renaissance. They are calling it a Golden Age. Local politicians, artistic directors and architects are finally seeing the fruition of a concerted campaign to rebrand Mons and its surroundings as an economic and cultural beacon. The year as European Capital of Culture has been a once-in-a-generation opportunity to regenerate the city.
At the heart of the project is the city with its medieval heritage and military past. It’s a walkable city of cobblestone streets that lead to the medieval GrandPlace and its grand town hall. From here, alleys wind up to the focal point, the belfry, offering a bird’s-eye view of the city, its gothic collegiate church of Sainte-Waudru and surrounding countryside. While the city’s 12th-century ramparts were largely dismantled for a ring road in the 1970s, the centre is dominated by 17th- and 18th-century stone and brick buildings that give Mons its bygone charm and higgledy-piggledy wallonia and brussels magazine Winter 2014/2015
25
Architecture
As well as developing exciting heritage sites, there has been an emphasis on contemporary architecture
Isabelle Françaix
LIFE
Arsonic
convent as final work transforms it into the Artothèque, a conservation and restoration centre for the region’s museums and heritage that will be partly accessible to the public.
Yesmine Sliman Lawton
roofline. Interspersed are the remains of 19th-century barracks, mess halls, stables and riding rings, testament to its former military might. In the middle ground, cranes are a familiar sight as work on two iconic buildings is finalised. While the low spiral-structured Mons International Congress Xperience (MICX) by New York architect Daniel Libeskind is to be inaugurated in the spring, the soaring Santiago Calatrava-designed train station will not be unveiled until at least 2017. A footbridge from the station links the city to the congress centre and a four-star hotel, as well as the nearby commercial centre and Initialis science park, a creative valley of burgeoning high-tech companies. Underpinning the renaissance are major heritage renovations by local architects. The injection of funds by regional governments and the EU has been a one-off opportunity to improve the urban fabric and create culture-fed streams of revenue. Former military 26
wallonia and brussels magazine WINTER 2014/2015
Anciens Abattoirs
installations and empty industrial, religious and academic buildings have been transformed into cultural centres, with some receiving a complete makeover. Mons’s cultural portfolio boasts five inaugurations. Dedicated to the Unesco-recognised Ducasse ritual, the Musée du Doudou opens in spring in Jardin du Mayeur behind the Grand-Place, exploring the city’s cherished legend of Saint George and the Dragon. Mons’s belfry, the only baroque example in Europe, will house an interpretation centre about the history of its remarkable construction. A panoramic lift provides access to the top of the 87m spire, which overlooks the elegant Roosevelt Square and the 17th-century Ursulines convent. Scaffolding currently shields the
With its stunning facade of brick, steel and glass, Mons Memorial Museum is soon to open in Machine-à-Eau, an 1870 pumphouse. Transformed 15 years ago into a performance space, the latest refurbishment places it at the centre of a new Memorial Region, extending to sites such as the SaintSymphorien Military Cemetery 4km from the city. As Mons was the site of the first and last action by British forces in World War One, battlefield tourism is growing as Belgium marks significant military anniversaries. The neolithic flint mines of Spiennes, 6km southwest of Mons, are one of the oldest and largest archaeological sites in Europe. Unesco-recognised in 2000, the mines are finally getting their own museum in the new Silex centre, which enables visitors to partly descend the mine. In the city, there are also two new concert halls: Arsonic, a former fire station, will cater to contemporary music, while Alhambra, an entertainment venue since 1920, is to stage rock, pop, electro and jazz.
Preserving the magnificent facade of the original military riding stable, Manège de Sury is under renovation in Rue des Droits d’Homme. Scheduled to host exhibitions during 2015, it will thereafter become a co-working space and business centre. Also awaiting inauguration is the Maison Losseau in Rue du Nimy. The listed 18th-century building next to the old law courts was once home to Mons lawyer Léon Losseau. He signed off the extensive Art Nouveau renovation at the beginning of the 20th century that included all the comforts of the age as well as a stylised facade and stainedglass windows. For Mons 2015, it will become a literary centre with garden café. A first for Mons is a one-stop shop for local designers. The Maison du Design is set to open in a newly renovated officers’ mess heritage building in Rue des Soeurs. It aims to help creative selfstarters establish their businesses while providing exhibition space.
In the same southern stretch of the city stands Carré des Arts, once an early 19th-century army barracks. The quadrangular building houses Mons’s music conservatory, visual arts academy, local TV station and the administrative headquarters of crossborder cultural agency Le Manège. Its large courtyard is the backdrop to the Festival au Carré each summer. Le Manège has already reawakened the region’s cultural scene. Within the city, it includes a contemporary theatre and multidisciplinary space, also called Le Manège. Again, it had a previous life as a military riding ring, but it has been enlarged and partially encased in a glass box designed by Pierre Hebbelinck architects. It lies at the heart of the cultural kilometre, an area that combines museums, cultural centres and an upmarket residential project. One fan of the city’s new look is local-born
creative Yesmine Sliman Lawton, who studied interior design in the city and is responsible for Mons 2015 design projects. After working in Brussels and Sydney she returned to her home town to establish her own design company, OKIDOKI. The transformation instigated by the cultural capital title is one reason she and her family have re-settled in the city. “As well as developing exciting heritage sites, there has been an emphasis on contemporary architecture,” she says. Lawton has been inspired to invest in the city’s heritage and is renovating a dilapidated but handsome townhouse, a stone’s throw from the Grand-Place. She plans on moving her business to an upper floor, reserving the ground level for a pop-up store or cafe. The optimism surrounding this ancient city and its year in the spotlight is infectious. Long after the curtain closes on Mons 2015, its legacy will endure in a city that is resolutely turned towards the future.
Among the significant cultural sites founded since the beginning of the 21st century are Maison Folie, a community project that focuses on expression and exhibitions. Once a school, it is now a flexible structure whose large folding doors serve as shimmering facade, stage curtain and projection screen. The award-winning transformation was by Matador architects, which has offices in nearby Nimy and Brussels. The same company was responsible for the conversion of the 19th century slaughterhouse into Anciens Abattoirs in Rue de la Trouille. The cloistered complex is the regional home of the World Crafts Council and its industrial interior displays contemporary art.
Alhambra wallonia and brussels magazine Winter 2014/2015
27
Create
PANORAMA
S
Middle Ages. For 2015 – the year of the European Capital of Culture - it falls on May 31. Thousands will witness the timehonoured tradition cherished by the local population. It is highly ritualised, from the ceremony in the collegiate church of Sainte-Waudru (below) and the descent of the saint’s relics, to the procession of the golden carriage Car
d’Or, to the final frenzied slaying of the dragon in the Grand-Place to the rhythmic chant of ‘Doudou’. The city is heaving and the party spirit overflowing. This is one weekend in the year when locals are proud to call themselves Montois. In 2015 they will share their festive tradition with the world. www.mons.be
Gregory Mathelot
Rite of passage
aint George is one of the patron saints of Mons. The annual folklore festival Ducasse, known locally as Doudou, is impressive enough to have earned a place on Unesco’s register of intangible world treasures. Famed across Belgium, the battle between Saint George and the dragon is a riotous and colourful attraction dating from the
28
wallonia and brussels magazine WINTER 2014/2015
wallonia and brussels magazine WINTER 2014/2015
29
CREATE
AGENDA
CHRISTMAS Christmas Village
EXHIBITIONS Musée de la Photographie
Brussels doesn’t have a monopoly on winter markets. Many cities across Wallonia host their own, especially in Liège province. Liège and its eastern cantons Malmedy, Eupen and St Vith borrowed the concept early from their neighbours in Germany. Indeed, the Christmas Village in Liège claims to be the biggest and oldest in Belgium, and is at the heart of a thriving seasonal scene that also includes an ice sculpture festival and a Santa Claus-themed mini-golf course.
International Love Film Festival Danni Willems
www.villagedenoel.be
River Jazz Festival
Christmas at the Museum Don’t leave Liège without experiencing Christmas past at the Musée de la Vie Wallonne. The immersive programme plunges you into the Wallonia of yesteryear with historical reenactments, fairy tale readings, Christmas carols and local crafts and cuisine. Young ones can enjoy performances by the famous Liège puppet theatre and learn about the tradition through a series of workshops. Actually, these traditional marionettes will delight the child in all of us. WHAT? Noël au Musée WHEN? December 15-January 5 WHERE? Musée de la Vie Wallonne, Liège
www.viewallonne.be
FESTIVALS Whisky Live There’s Scotch, Canadian rye, Kentucky mash and now Belgian Owl. Yes, Belgium is earning a reputation for world-class whisky, thanks to a handful of enterprising producers. The new festival Whisky Live celebrates local and international brands. Visitors can taste a wide range of whiskies and rums and learn how such stiff spirits are made.
30
Three of Brussels’ premiere jazz venues join forces to put on the inaugural edition of the River Jazz Festival. Théâtre Marni, Jazz Station and Espace Senghor may be spread out but they are linked by their commitment to jazz. And it seems they are also connected by the erstwhile course of the now dried-and-forgotten Maelbeek stream, hence the festival’s name. River Jazz’s opening concert, at Marni, sees pop/rock singer Dani Klein (of the acclaimed Brussels group Vaya Con Dios) taking a turn for the jazz with contrabassist Sal la Rocca.
As the name suggests, this Walloon film festival celebrates romance on the silver screen. It’s no passing infatuation either. The Festival International du Film d’Amour (FIFA) celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2014. The 31st edition, taking place in the context of Mons 2015, is just as special. Dozens of love films from all over the world are screened across the city, often in the presence of the filmmakers themselves. A handful of lucky artists will really feel the love when they walk away with FIFA’s top honours.
André Ceuterick (right) at last year’s closing ceremony
Oh l’Amour International Love Film Festival (FIFA) managing director André Ceuterick on the festival’s own story
www.fifa-mons.be
Orange Dreams: Plastic Is Fantastic
www.theatremarni.com
International Festival of Liège
Be Film Festival The Be Film Festival has celebrated Belgian cinema for a full decade. In the process it has supported a host of breakout filmmakers including Bouli Lanners. This 10th anniversary edition continues a rich tradition, presenting the best local productions of the year – including the Dardenne brothers’ Deux jours, une nuit – and giving a sneak peak of the gems to come in 2015.
WHAT? Whisky Live WHEN? February 6-8 WHERE? Centre Culturel de Spa
WHAT? International Festival of Liège WHEN? January 30-February 21 WHERE? Across Liège
WHAT? Be Film Festival WHEN? December 26-30 WHERE? Bozar and Cinematek, Brussels
www.whisky-live.be
www.festivaldeliege.be
www.befilmfestival.be
wallonia and brussels magazine winter 2014/2015
www.museephoto.be
WHAT? International Love Film Festival WHEN? February 20-27 WHERE? Across Mons
WHAT? River Jazz WHEN? January 9-24 WHERE? Théâtre Marni, Jazz Station & Espace Senghor, Brussels
This transdisciplinary arts biennale brings cutting-edge – and politically conscious – theatre, dance and music to Liège. The theme of this edition is migration, specifically the flow of refugees through the now-infamous Italian island of Lampedusa. Contemporary Italian playwright Ascanio Celestini bridges north and south in his meditations on the subject, while Belgo-Tunisian Ali and Hedi Thabet present the stage production En Attendant les Barbares, which premiered recently at Lampedusa’s Sabir Festival. Other performers come from France, Spain, Poland, South Africa and Latin America.
WHAT? Photo exhibitions WHEN? Until May 17 WHERE? Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi
M Calka Atomium 2014
WHAT? Village de Noël WHEN? Until December 30 WHERE? Liège city centre
December sees the opening of three new exhibitions. Women Are Beautiful celebrates 20th-century American artist Gary Winogrand’s eponymous book. Published in 1975, this collection of candid snapshots of women in New York City helped legitimise street photography as an art form. In Les Amazones du PKK, contemporary photographer Colin Delfosse turns the documentary lens toward the female militants of the Worker’s Party of Kurdistan (PKK). Finally Les Arméniens – Images d´un Destin, 1906-1939 presents rare photographic evidence of the Armenian holocaust.
Brussels’ iconic retro-futurist landmark the Atomium takes you back to the future all over again. The exhibition Orange Dreams presents design objects from the golden age of plastic, roughly between 1960 and 1973. Before we knew the dangers of non-biodegradable materials, it was expected that plastic would revolutionise daily life. These everyday objects are drawn from the permanent collection of the Plasticarium, a little-known Belgian archive of – what else? – plastic. WHAT? Orange Dreams WHEN? Until May 25 WHERE? Atomium, Brussels
www.atomium.be
“The festival is called the International Love Film Festival, but a ‘love film’ can be so much more than the usual boy-meets-girl story. Valentine’s Day is just a point of departure for us. The focus of FIFA has expanded since its beginnings 30 years ago to include love in all its expressions. Indeed, our favourites are precisely those filmmakers who offer a unique perspective on this fundamental emotion. These tend also to produce the least commercially oriented films. They depend on festivals like ours for exposure. We screen around 75 international features and half as many shorts, many of them Belgian premieres. Our relationship with the community is important. Wallonia, with its picturesque landscapes and its strategic location at the crossroads of Western Europe, is an attractive region to filmmakers. What’s more, the region is proactive in its support of local productions. Our home city Mons is now, with the Czech city of Pilsen, in the spotlight as European Capital of Culture for 2015. For our part, we are celebrating Czech cinema with a special programme. Our other contribution to Mons 2015 is a tribute to the late Greek actor and politician Melina Mercouri, who first proposed the Culture Capitals initiative in the 1980s. For over a quarter of a century, FIFA has been building up a unique cultural identity by highlighting rare and thought-provoking works. Apart from giving opportunities to new generations of actors and directors, the festival has also become a reference for established artists, a meeting place for the public and a privileged crossroads for many cinema professionals from around the world. The tributes, the ‘crushes’ on notable cinema personalities, the exhibitions, the educational workshops and the multicultural galas give the festival a unique personality.” WWW.FIFA-MONS.BE
wallonia and brussels magazine winter 2014/2015
31
The world is my stage, #Wallonia is my home Franco Dragone
Franco Dragone dazzles the planet with his amazing shows. Along with thousands of other Walloon entrepreneurs, artists, actors, writers, designers and creators spreading their Belgian creativity and innovation capacity all over the world. Wallonia is in the World.