SHIFT mag [n°15] - Europe in the vanguard by SHIFT mag

N°15

Autumn 2010

The Story

Europe in the vanguard The age of discovery is not over yet...

Shifting with

Alexandra Popp Germany rocks to a touch of Popp

FREE  Take it, read it, spread it

16 N°15

Autumn 2010

The Story

Europe in the vanguard

Europe in the vanguard The age of discovery is not over yet... Cover illustration by Luc Schuiten

The age of discovery is not over yet...

Shifting with

Alexandra Popp Germany rocks to a touch of Popp

FREE  Take it, read it, spread it

Content 04 SHIFT Map

Where to find and read the SHIFT Mag in and around Brussels 06 Warm Up

Wikileaks: journalism for today’s world

14 Europe & the world Looking at the EU

Where did all the love go? Shifting with

Alexandra Popp: Germany rocks to a touch of Popp

07 Carte Blanche

Brussels Calling 08 The Bill

21.06.2010 – 21.09.2010: remember, erase and rewind… or not. 10 The Diary

Autumn 2010 12 The Controversy EU press corps © Seniosphere

No news is bad news

28 30

The Story

Europe in the vanguard

The age of discovery is not over yet... 18 Architect of awareness

“Imagine a city that uses its know-how for the benefit of the people” Interview with Luc Schuiten 20 Eye power

Looking toward the future 21 Sunday drivers’ dream

“Spirit of Berlin”, spirit of the future 22 Trendy crop

Biotech is back in fashion this autumn Time machine

Getting old without wrinkling

Food for thought From steel time to meal time

Ever considered majoring in food?

25 Knowledge multiplier

When TED talks 26 Open issue

Gene doping: no sports killer

28 29

New kid on the block iCub – The robot that talks back Breath of fresh air The Arts

Music on the move A visa for World Music Unlikely love “Benny and Shrimp” by Katarina Mazetti

32 Snapshots

(Sea)side by (sea)side 35 And now…?

150 places in and around Brussels where you can find and read SHIFTMag for free

1000 Actor’s Studio Ancienne Belgique Belga Queen Beursschouwburg (Beurskafee) BOZAR - Ticket Booth Brussels Marriott Hotel Café Central Chalet Robinson Chilli's Food Cinéma Arenberg Cinéma Nova Copenhagen Tavern Croatian National Tourist Office Cyprus Tourist Office Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Tourist Office Hémisphères Hilton Brussels Hotel Hotel Amigo Hotel Metropole House of Sweden Le Cercle des Voyageurs Le Châtelain - All Suite Hotel Le Grain de Sable Les Halles Saint-Gery Le Pain quotidien - Dansaert

Le Pain Quotidien – Sablon Le Passage de Milan Le Roi des Belges Librairie Tropisme Mappa Mundo Marivaux Hotel Martin’s Central Park Michael Collins Pub Brussels Museum Brasserie National Tourist Board of Andorra NH Hotel Grand Sablon Passage Fitness Passa Porta Bookshop Piola Libri Portugal Tourist Office Recyclart Royal Library of Belgium Russia Tourist Office Spanish National Tourist Office Sterling Books Théâtre des Martyrs Théâtre de Poche The Dominican Hotel Brussels The Green Kitchen Turkey Tourist Office USE-IT Tourist Office for Young People Waterstones

1030

Cultural Centre of Schaerbeek Les Halles de Schaerbeek Tourist Ofﬁce of Malta Brussels

1040

Atelier 210 Crown Plaza Brussels Europa Denmark Tourist Office La Terrasse Le Mess Le Pain quotidien - Mérode Poland Tourist Office Slovenia Tourist Office The European Bookshop White Night Youth Hostel "Jacques Brel"

1050

Aspria Avenue Louise Atelier de la Truffe noire Austrian National Tourist Ofﬁce Banco Bar Billeterie Flagey Brussels Hotel Café Panisse Ciabatta Mania

Cinéma Arenberg

Photography: Cinéma Arenberg

Grand Place of Brussels

Galerie de la Reine 26 Galerij van de Konigin

Brussels-Central station

1000 Brussels – Belgium Phone: +32-2-512-80-63

Royal Park of Brussels

www.arenberg.be

Cinema Vendôme Coco Eat & Drink Conrad Brussels Hotel Cosi Czech Republic Tourist Office Ecco EXKI – University Fabian O’Farrell’s Fat Boys French Government Tourist Office Greek National Tourism Organization Hotel Bristol Stephanie Hotel Sofitel Brussels Le Louise Hungarian Tourist Office Illy Natural Caffè Italian Government Tourist Board La Médiathèque ULB Le Belga Le Fruit défendu Le Pain Quotidien - Lepoutre Le Pain Quotidien – Louise Le Pain Quotidien – Ixelles Cimetery Le Tavernier Le WAFF Lithuania Tourist Office Netherlands Board of Tourism Oxfam Bookshop Quartier Léopold Ralph’s Bar Rennaissance Brussels Hotel Rouge Tomate Brussels Slovak Tourist Office

Sushi Factory - Louise Switzerland Tourist Ofﬁce Théâtre Varia The White Hotel Tourism Ireland Brussels Ofﬁce Warwick Barsey Hotel Brussels White Night

1060

Au Pays Des Merveilles Brasserie Verschueren Centre Culturel Jacques Frank Café Maison du Peuple La librairie de Rome Midi Station SA Passage Fitness Louise

1140

Centre Culturel d’Evere Courtyard Brussels

1150

European Fitness Club Fitnastic Hotel Eurostars Montgomery Le Coach Le Jardin de Nicolas Le Pain quotidien – Stockel Le Vignoble de Margot Sportcity Wasabi Sushi Lounge

More information on our distribution points is available at www.shiftmag.eu Want to be added to our list of stockists - then send us an e-mail at distribution@shiftmag.eu

1160

Estonia Tourist Ofﬁce

1170

Espace Delvaux Théâtre du Méridien

1180

Bulgaria Tourist Ofﬁce Le Pain quotidien - Fort Jaco Le Pain Quotidien - Parvis Saint-Pierre L’imprimerie Royal Léopold Club Royal Wellington THC

1200

Adventure Valley À Livre Ouvert Cook & Book (English Library) European Culture Centre German National Tourist Board La Woluwe Sport Centre Royal La Rasante Sodehotel La Woluwe

1210

Café Bota

1410

Martin’s Grand Hotel Waterloo

WarmUp

DrawingBoard BY JOÃO SILVA

Catalan bullfighters’ retraining

Wikileaks: journalism for today’s world In the aftermath of the Wikileaks publication of some 92 000 classified documents, attention has not focused so much on civilian casualties or collusion between Pakistan’s military intelligence service and the Taliban but rather on whether or not it was right to go public. While the revelations themselves only confirmed what we already knew or suspected, they did fundamentally alter journalist practices. Journalists without Borders regretted the “incredible irresponsibility” of publishing the names of civilian informants. At a time when we talk as much of the need for transparency as of the importance of respecting personal integrity, the Wikileaks debate highlights this delicate balance. Today it’s more difficult than ever to find out who leaked what and why. Recently an African-American US civil servant Shirley Sherrod was wrongly sacked following a heavily edited online video showing her being racist. Obama explained that she was fired partly because of this “media culture where something goes up on YouTube or a blog and everybody scrambles”. It is distortion of this kind Wikileaks seeks to prevent. Journalism would be more scientific – all facts would be verifiable and there would be access to raw material. In this, the ‘Afghan War Diary’ constitutes a major breakthrough for a new form of ’data journalism’. It's not either old or new journalism, it’s both. Bear in mind that before publication, the Wikileaks material was analysed by journalist from the New York Times, Der Spiegel and the Guardian. Considering recent censorship in Iran, we prefer too much freedom of press to too little.

In last July the parliament of Catalonia voted to ban bullfighting. Catalonia is the first region of mainland Spain to do so. But Catalan bullfighters have more than one string to their bow...

FREDRIK NORDIN, EDITOR

Through the lens

In the footsteps of the greats 14 August: Marina Bay, Singapore. 3 600 young athletes aged between 14 and 18 from all over the world gather for the first-ever Youth Olympic Games (YOG). Out of a total of 623 medals, competitors from the 27 EU countries scooped 157 (43 old, 44 silver, 70 bronze). Hungary, France, Italy and Germany did particularly well. The Chinese topped the medals table with a haul of 30 gold medals.

About 20 000 spectators attended the colourful YOG Opening Ceremony run by 7 000 people.

CARTE BLANCHE

Brussels Calling They total thirty. They got together for an artistic paper chase across the capital. From 11-12 September, the top modern art galleries in Brussels opened their doors for a wonderful simultaneous viewing opportunity. The event: Brussels Art Days. An occasion to focus on this Haute Culture destination. “This has been one of the most striking differences with Paris, recalls Elaine Lévy. Here, it’s not a war. Everyone knows each other, gets on well, catches up with each other in meetings. We do everything quite differently so that we’re not competing directly with each other”. This young gallery manager discovered the capital seven years ago. “I felt things were happening here. People are much more curious, especially regarding the younger artists. And word-of-mouth works really well”. Five years after creating her brand there, she is more than comfortable with her choice. Capital of a country of collectors and frequented by foreign buyers, Brussels attracts increasing numbers of artists and galleries. Recognised names included. The famous New York gallery manager Barbara Gladstone and her Parisian counterpart Almine Rech have recently set up shop there.

DESTINATION HAUTE CULTURE The movement has accelerated in recent years, reflecting a change in European geography in terms of modern art. London and Paris are naturally still the hot spots. A compulsory stepping stone for collectors and artists. But rents there are becoming more expensive, and the competition tougher. Berlin, an alternative breeding ground for plastic artists and gallery managers in search of recognition, has been experiencing a golden

era. But the German capital suffers from a lack of local collectors: “Berlin is undeniably a city of exhibition organisers. But it is too out of the way to be a regular stopover for buyers” explains Elaine Lévy. With its crossroads location and the avant-gardist reputation of its country, the Belgian capital offers a dream anchor point for gallery owners and artists. The spaces are big and affordable, the city far from being saturated with galleries. And the icing on the cake, the meeting of minds reigns...

NICE CHOICE! Inspired by the success of the New York, Berlin and Antwerp “gallery nights”, Elaine Lévy and Frédéric de Simpel wasted no time in bringing together for Brussels Art Days some thirty major Brussels institutions (B. Gladstone, A. Rech, N. Obadia, etc.) and a very young gallery from Vilnius (Tulips&Roses) which is already making a name for itself. With the availability of a shuttle system, everyone was free to meander around the joint exhibitions and solo shows (Sol LeWitt at A. Rech, Gianno Motti at Dependance, Sixeart at A.L.I.C.E, etc.). And to close things off, Saturday evening saw the Komplot collective organise a somewhat ‘iconoclastic’ gala evening for us.

JUDITH OLIVER, ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Let’sMotiv Created 11 years ago in Toulouse, Let’sMotiv is a free and independent monthly cultural magazine now present in 5 regions of France (Toulouse, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, LilleNord de France) as well as Brussels and Portugal. Each issue reveals the artistic and cultural happenings

in its region. It offers an insider’s selection of outings, books and music. Let’sMotiv is especially demanding in terms of content and form, takes culture in its widest sense and triggers curiosity among its readers. It encourages the unusual and anticipates urban trends.

n°07 / septembre 2010 / GRATUIT

 Check it out: www.letsmotiv.com  @ Brussels Art Days www.brusselsartdays.com Bruxelles Cultures et tendances urbaines

TheBill

Somebody must have been telling lies about Joseph K...

Taxi driver

Iveta Radicova is sworn in as Slovakia's ﬁrst female prime minister. The 53 year old liberal is now head of a centreright coalition.

26.07

Estonia gets European Commission green light to join the euro zone in 2011.

20.07

13.07 08.07

Swedish Crown Princess Victoria marries Prince Daniel, a former ﬁtness trainer she met in a gym. It was the biggest European royal wedding since the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.

19.06

One season within one minute

In a new hotels.com poll, London taxicabs were ranked best in the world, according to Reuters. In the poll of 1,900 travelers around the world, London was victorious in categories including friendliness, cleanliness, driving standards and knowledge of the area (even if they were also voted the most expensive). Yellow cabs come second, followed by Tokyo, Berlin and Bangkok, together they make up the world's top five. Madrid took sixth place, followed by Copenhagen, Dublin, Frankfurt and Paris. Drivers in Paris and New York share the distinction of being the world’s rudest cabbies. Roman cabbies received the dubious distinction of being the worst drivers! (Source: The Economist)

A box of documents belonging to Franz Kafka was found in Tel Aviv in the flat of Max Brod, the writer’s friend and literary executor. Before dying Kafka asked him to burn his papers but instead Brod saw to it that masterpieces like The Trial and The Castle finally saw daylight. Most of Kafka’s work is incomplete and this is why the discovery may be of such great value. The manuscripts had been kept for 40 years by Brod’s secretary Esther Hoffe who until her death at the age of 101 refused to release them. (Source: Haaretz)

The European Council announces the ofﬁcial birth of the European External Action Service (EEAS).

EU diplomats agree to a fresh package of sanctions against Iran going well beyond those imposed by the UN Security Council in early June.

21.06.2010 – 21.09.2010: remember, erase and rewind... or not.

Vintage cargo

TheWord

First there was the discovery of what is thought to be the world oldest drinkable Champagne in a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea. Diving instructor Christian Ekström said the champagne, believed to be about 200 years old, “was very sweet, with a tobacco taste and oak”. But for those who prefer ale over bubbly there is hope: soon after finishing lifting up the champagne reserve, divers found in the same shipwreck a collection of what is probably the oldest beer in world. (Source: Reuters)

“I've never been called a 'big commander' before”

The British Prime Minister, reacting to the news that Taliban insurgents were planning to target "the big commander" on his most recent visit to Afghanistan. The incident has prompted a review of security arrangements. (Source: Telegraph)

“The Internet is completely over”

Prince has shut down his official website and does not plan to license his new album, 20Ten, to download stores or subscription services. (Source: The Mirror)

And what about Italian?

“Living in general is dangerous”

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, when asked if his firing darts from a crossbow at a gray whale in a rubber boat in choppy waters to collect skin samples was safe. (Source: Time)

Olive oil, vegetables, wine and pasta might their find place among the Pyramids, the Venetian Lagoon and the Victoria falls as the UNESCO considers adding the Mediterranean diet to its World Heritage list. “This is a big success for our country, our dietary traditions and our culture”, said the Italian agriculture minister, Giancarlo Galan. The decisive vote will be held at a meeting in Nairobi in November. (Source: The Guardian)

"Let's take out the second pilot. Let the bloody computer ﬂy it." Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary (Business Week) gives yet another provocative example of how to make the Irish low-cost airline even more profitable.

“Analytical intelligence, absolutely. Emotional intelligence, zero”

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in his new memoir, A Journey, has written about the strengths and weaknesses of his successor and bitter rival, Gordon Brown. (Source: The Guardian)

100 million tons

First contact with the 33 Chilean miners trapped for 17 days 2 300 feet (700 meters) below ground after a tunnel collapse. A hole has been drilled to send down food, water and equipment to communicate with friends and family, but the actual rescue may take until November.

speech marks the formal end of combat operations which causes more than 4 700 Iraq Coalition Military Fatalities.

20-22.09

01.09

22.08

EU membership talks with Iceland begin. Fisheries, agriculture, environment and ﬁnancial services are some of the thorniest issues on the table.

Channel. She completed the swim in 17 hours and 31 minutes.

27.07

10.08

Every year, between 118 and 138 million “I'd rather have my ass kicked by a roomful of people tons of bio-waste (food and garden waste than go out to this dinner" from households and industry) are produced General McChrystal , former commander of NATO’s International Security in the EU. Most of it went to landfill or was Assistance Force and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan expresses his reluctance before incinerated. The amount of bio-waste going going to a dinner with “some French minister”. (Source: Rolling Stone Magazine) to landfills has declined in the past 10 years because of EU rules requiring that bio-waste “We never saw ourselves in a platform war with is diverted away from landfill sites. But Microsoft, and maybe that's why we lost” landfill/burying still accounts for about 40% Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, when asked if there's a platform war going on. of all EU bio-waste, with big differences (Source: The Huffington Post) between countries, for example Poland and Lithuania still bury around 90%. Some 47% of bio-waste is incinerated in Sweden and 55% in Denmark. Austria and Germany have the highest composting rates. Sue Oldham, 64, has Barack Obama told the nation it (Source: European become the oldest woman was time to “turn the page” on the to ever swim the English seven-plus-year war in Iraq. The Parliament)

UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals in New York

TheDiary

The holidays are over, but keep your backpack around – you never know where culture will bring you. BY FABIAN COHEN AND FLORENCE ORTMANS

POLAND

Cross-Culture Festival Warsaw

26 September – 2 October 2010 www.estrada.com.pl/46 The Warsaw Cross-Culture Festival is a presentation of the most interesting phenomena within the ﬁeld of world culture and music. It brings together musicians from around the world for a week-long series of concerts celebrating musical diversity. The Festival wants to be like Warsaw itself and like today's world – more and more open and sensitive to cultural and artistic variety, interested in the others and interesting for the others.

BELGIUM

HUNGARY

Budapest Autumn Festival Budapest

8-17 October 2010 bof.hu/2010/bof.php

The Budapest Autumn Festival is one of Europe’s leading festivals of the contemporary arts. Its aim is to present important creative artists and achievements in all branches of the arts, in the present and over the past decade. It also aims to reinforce Budapest’s cultural standing in Europe, by inviting internationally renowned productions of new art and presenting its own or joint productions able to arouse international attention.

Indépendance! Congolese tell their stories of 50 years of independence Brussels

UNITED KINGDOM

www.africamuseum.be

28 May – 3 October 2010

30 June 1960, the Congo declares its independence. Fifty years later, the Africa Museum is organizing an exhibition that will place events just prior, during and after independence into their proper historical, political and geographical context. The main actors, the Congolese themselves, will take centre stage. In this way the exhibition will present the period’s myriad of individual experiences, historical interpretations, and political events that reverberate to this day.

Exposed offers a fascinating look at pictures made on the sly, without the explicit permission of the people depicted. With photographs from the late nineteenth century to the present day, the pictures present a shocking, illuminating and witty perspective on iconic and taboo subjects. Exposed also focuses on surveillance, including works by both amateur and press photographers, and images produced using automatic technology such as CCTV.

11 June 2010 – 9 January 2011

Exposed – Voyeurism, Surveillance & the Camera London www.tate.org.uk/modern

GREECE

Athens Photo Festival Athens

October – November 2010 hcp.gr The Athens Photo Festival puts Athens at the centre of the international photography stage. The aim of the festival is to broaden the existing platform for presenting Greece’s annual photographic output and making contacts with artists from various countries. The festival's programme covers a wide range of solo and group exhibitions, as well as a number of other parallel events throughout the city.

GERMANY

59 th Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival Mannheim and Heidelberg

11-21 November 2010 www.iffmh.de

The Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival is the sixth oldest international ﬁ lm festival in the world (after Venice, Cannes, Berlin, Locarno and Karlovy Vary). It is devoted to the discovery of new talents, and shows only ﬁ lms which have never been played at other big festivals before.

andmore... MALTA

Malta International Airshow Luqa

25-26 September 2010 www.maltairshow.com

AUSTRIA

Long Night of the Museums Vienna

2 October 2010

langenacht2.orf.at

GERMANY

International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film

18-24 October 2010 Leipzig

www.dok-leipzig.de

FRANCE

Salon du Chocolat Paris

28 October – 1 November 2010 www.salonduchocolat.fr

ROMANIA FRANCE FIAC Paris

21-24 October 2010 www.ﬁac.com

ITALY

51st Festival dei Popoli Florence

13-20 November 2010

www.festivaldeipopoli.org The Festival dei Popoli offers a broad panorama of documentary cinema, exploring people and their countries, portraits of men and women and stories from all over the globe. By encouraging debate and confrontation, analysis and dialogue, the festival allows for public interaction with experts in the ﬁeld, including ﬁ lmmakers and key personalities in showbiz. Increasingly popular, the festival is now also held in New York City and Beijing.

This famous contemporary art fair showcases the best in modern and contemporary art and is one of the leading launch pads for upand-coming artists. In 2009 more than 200 galleries showcased contemporary art works by 3 500 artists. In 2010 FIAC will again be presented within the Grand Palais, the Jardins des Tuileries and in the Cour Carrée at the Louvre Museum. Artworks ranging from electronic arts through to painting, sculpture, installations, soundworks and conceptual art will be showcased alongside large-scale outdoor projects.

Romanian National Theatre Festival Bucharest

30 October – 7 November 2010 www.fnt.ro

NORWAY

World Music Festival Oslo

2-7 November 2010

www.rikskonsertene.no/ osloworldmusicfestival

FINLAND

International Tampere Jazz Happening

4-7 November 2010 Tampere

www.tampere.ﬁ /jazz

SWEDEN

THE NETHERLANDS

28 August 2010 – 16 January 2011

17-28 November 2010

China's Terracotta Army Stockholm www.ostasiatiska.se

For the ﬁ rst time outside of China the sculptures will be displayed underground, in a setting similar to the environment in which they once were found. The setting is ideal, utilising the subterranean Secret Rock Galleries, the former naval base of the Swedish Navy which is usually not open to the public.

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam www.idfa.nl/nl.aspx

LATVIA

Festival of Light Riga

18-21 November 2010 www.staroriga.lv/09/jaunumi

THE CONTROVERSY

EU press corps

No news is bad news

Downward ambitions and the superpower of public relations on one side, economic downturn and the competition of new media on the other side, the love affair between the EU and the press is in a bad way. Beyond reasons, the consequences are serious for European democracy.

BY LAURE ENGLEBERT IHECS

European Council: inside the press room.

While communication about the EU may never have been a strong point for its institutions, information about European affairs is certainly suffering from another disease. Brussels as a press corps has been shrinking dramatically in recent years. An increasing number of media outlets have either downsized or closed their correspondence offices in Brussels. The International Press Association (IPA) is worried: the figure of EU correspondents dropped to 847 journalists – according to the latest figures published in February 2010 – against 1006 in 2009. There were 1300 in 2005. The reasons are manifold.

NOTHING TO REPORT While re-election of José Manuel Barroso at the head of the Commission saw almost 200 correspondents head home, underachievement combined with ambitionless views of the future over the following months – decreased number of law proposals, an EU 2020 strategy without any real substance, etc. – have contributed to the current European executive disgrace.

UNDER CLOSE SURVEILLANCE This collapse can also be attributed to the fact that the EU institutions have substantially modified their communication strategy by, among other things, setting up press services such as EbS and Europa TV which compete with correspondents’ daily work since they create the illusion that European affairs might

EU correspondents dropped to 847 journalists in 2010 against 1006 in 2009. There were 1300 in 2005. as well be covered from a distance. To promote their activities, the EU institutions generate pre-packaged news releases rather than provide the media raw stuff. This leads some editors to view their correspondents as superfluous. Never mind about news reporting. Moreover, the Commission is determined to retain control of information. The monitoring of comments made by the spokesperson’s service has intensified. The Commission wants to make news by itself. And sometimes Commissioners themselves don’t

help, as they contact newspaper offices directly without going through correspondents. The information process is therefore short-circuited.

SKIN OR SCRIMP In addition, journalists based in Brussels often have to comply with double taxation, which is barely sustainable. IPA advocated “the idea of a special statute for media correspondents accredited to the European institutions” that should provide “satisfactory solutions for the long standing issues of double taxation and social security in Belgium.” Jean Quatremer, French correspondent in Brussels, pointed out that after 5 years, expatriates are automatically part of the Belgian social security system, but taxation in Belgium is so high (around 50% of gross salary) that many journalists remain officially linked to their home country in order not to lose their rights, although this often implies double taxation. This situation was aggravated by the financial crisis which further increased the pressure on media outlets. As if that wasn’t enough, the changing media landscape has brought its stone the burden of the written press. Newspaper readership is decreasing, which creates a loss of income that is difficult to compensate for through advertising on the website. Grim days in prospect for European journalism. Indeed we might as well cover European affairs from a national office, but this would be underrating the insights that Brussels based reporters have acquired throughout the years and the trust relationship their proximity with EU officials has allowed them to build. Valuable sources are also to be found amidst the international network of journalists working in Belgium. Since they do not compete for the same audience, journalists from different nationalities often work together by sharing valuable information. European journalism is not a luxury; it is a need and a right. An increasing number of our laws derive from EU legislation. Peculiar as it may seem, there is no public outcry – some media relayed the information to what seemed a totally indifferent audience. European integration has been brought one step further with the Lisbon Treaty, but public awareness of its impact is still often on stand by.

Turning back to the East Even if the trend is general, this exodus is mostly affecting journalists from the new EU member states. EU correspondents from these countries are becoming a rare species. The Czech Republic and Lithuania have no longer permanent newspaper correspondent in Brussels. EU

correspondents from other countries such as Bulgaria, Poland or Romania are recalled but no replaced. Ina Strazdina symbolizes this creeping collapse. She is the last Latvian EU correspondent since her three colleagues have packed their bags after drastic pay cut (two-thirds) in 2008.

She decided to continue his work, even if she has to do three jobs to make ends meet. Apart from EU press services, almost all the news is reaching Latvia from Brussels thanks to her tenacity. Latvia has expressed his gratitude by naming her its “European Person of the Year” in 2009.

EUROPE & THE WORLD

Looking at the EU

Where did all the love go? A beneﬁcial and peaceful power, a society model envied the world over, this is how Europe sees itself. A former colonial power turned heterogeneous fortress withdrawing and entrenching itself behind the United States, this is how it is seen from the outside. BY ROBERTO FOA HARVARD UNIVERSITY Shortly after September 11, a frequent refrain among the American commentariat was: “why do they hate us?” Americans had always seen themselves as a benevolent power, and found themselves confused by the sight of jubilant crowds in Gaza or Lebanon, celebrating the destruction of lower Manhattan. Juxtaposing these with dated images of protesters burning US flags in Seoul or Paris, the viewer could be left with an impression of rising ‘anti-Americanism’ in a world that veered between envy and ingratitude.

EUROPE’S BAD RAP GOES GLOBAL These days, however, it is Europeans as much as Americans who can ask themselves why they attract so little respect in the world. Whereas once a Chinese white paper declared Europe ‘the world’s rising superpower’, in recent weeks a chorus of international commentators has begun to deride Europe’s pretensions to international leadership. Kishore Mahbubani, the Dean of Singapore’s Lee Kwan Yew School of International Affairs, charges that Europe no longer understands ‘how irrelevant it is becoming to the rest of the world’, while Richard Haass, the President of the US Council on Foreign Relations, has publicly declared ‘goodbye to Europe as a high-ranking power’. And these are hardly voices from the wilderness or the lunatic fringe. Mahbubani is Dean of one

of Asia’s rising policy institutes, and Haass is a longstanding nonpartisan diplomat. So why are European countries riding this wave of derision? After all, Europeans, more so than Americans, have the right to see their continent as a fundamentally benign influence. Europe is a peaceful juggernaut, a bumbling assortment of nation-states whose foreign engagements seem limited to disbursing development aid and hosting long if slightly meandering conferences. We have our internal problems, but not such as to merit the contempt of elites in New Delhi, Beijing or Cairo. Yet long gone seems the time, just 6 months ago, when Al-Jazeera could run a documentary entitled ‘Europe: a fast-track superpower’.

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH Instead, then, a more inconvenient truth should be suggested. Countries across the world have long resented Western meddling and moralising, and have found the confidence to talk down a Europe whose global influence is no longer taken for granted. As an example of our limited soft power, consider that when people around the world are asked, what ‘Europe’ means for them, few are those who mention social democracy, or human rights, or even ‘the good life’. Overwhelmingly, the most common response is a memory of European colonial rule, and an abiding sense of our satisfied self-superiority. While Europeans

When people around the world are asked, what ‘Europe’ means for them, few are those who mention social democracy, or human rights, or even ‘the good life’ So, why has the cheering so quickly turned to sneering? It can’t be dismissed as mere envy: outsiders are not simply jealous of European wages, holidays and pensions. There is also a priori no connection with despair at Europe’s torturous process of internal decision-making, despite how often these make the headlines in a post-Lisbon Europe.

mark history by 1918, 1945, and 1989, the rest of the world still remembers 1842, 1857, and 1884, and always will. Many opportunities have come and gone to draw a line under the past, yet many see Europe as a closed fortress offering few opportunities for integration or innovation.

WHAT CAN BE DONE? Can Europe move on from this past? The answer is yes, but if Europe is to become the multilateralist leader that we desire it to be, urgent rebranding is required. The first step would be to project a more inclusive image, of a continent open to new people and new ideas: in America, the election of a Kenyan’s son to the presidency may have done little to erase the inequalities of the US inner city, but in a single stroke, it has allowed the country to reinvent and renew itself as a global nation. Europe has successful migrants, but it is a sad fact that there was more ethnic diversity in Stalin’s politburo than in today’s European Commission. Second, we can try to tell a consistent story to the outside world. Our preferred narrative is a very Christian tale of fall and redemption, a story about a continent ravaged by centuries of war and conquest that, from the rubble of 1945, decided to make peace with itself and divest its colonial ambitions. If only we could tell this story credibly, the European Union might grow into the multilateral leader to which it aspires. But every time we must face the outside world, the mask just keeps on slipping; the old national rivalries and machinations are there to see, ugly and protruding around the edges. When the moment comes to reform the UN Security Council or voting rights in the Bretton Woods institutions, we dig in our heels and bury our heads in the sand: I honestly do not think the Germans realise how ridiculous they look demanding another European Security Council seat when there is not yet space for India.

discourse. What the wretched of the earth want is not our money, but our respect. We pay out aid unrelentingly, but barely consider whether the money is spent effectively, or the distortions we introduce into local politics, and this demonstrates an even greater contempt than to give nothing at all. We have yet to learn the lesson of China’s diplomatic success in Africa, which is that developing nations are less interested in process than achieving results.

Next, we would also do well to break with the belief that respect will be earned through doling out ever larger sums of foreign aid, especially when such sums are tied to an unending moralising

Finally, Europe must stop hiding behind the United States, and begin taking responsibility for its own decisions. Yet this cannot happen as long as Europe is run by a centre-right gerontocracy that seems

“Europe must stop hiding behind the United States”, Roberto Foa says. José Manuel Barroso and Barack Obama at the G8 Summit in Hunstville, Canada (June 2010).

more comfortable clinging to the Atlantic past, than in adjusting to our multipolar present. Our leaders spend their days determined to preserve token participation in NATO, obsessing over President Obama’s will-he-won’t-he participation in the joint EU-US summit, and scrabbling over their de jure powers in the Bretton Woods institutions, when they need to realise that the rules of the game are changing, and the old networks are rapidly losing their influence. Ironically, the Americans seem to understand this better than ourselves these days.  This

article was first published in Merchant of Venice – Roberto Foa’s blog blogs.euobserver.com/foa/

As beautiful as a European “Tall, beautiful and blond”, “very peaceful and romantic” people, who live in “a single country”, “act responsibly”, and from whom “China has a lot to learn”: Europeans as viewed by Chinese children. This portrait, flattering to say the least, is the result of a project run by the Spanish production company PDA with children from a school in Peking (aged 7 to 12), as

part of the initiative “One metre from the ground. Children imagine Europe”. There is a Chinese proverb that says: “If heaven drops a date, open your mouth”. (Source: La Vanguardia)  @ PDA www.pda-films.com

1 Duisb

urg

SHIFTING WITH

Alexandra

Popp

Germany rocks to a touch of Popp

Awarded best player and goal scorer at the last FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, this 19-year old is already a source of hope for Germany, host of the 2011 Women’s World Cup.

Winning a World Cup in your homeland, being awarded best goal scorer and best player of the tournament, could you expect a happier ending? A good omen for next year... I am very proud that I won the World Cup title with such a good team, and I think that both awards reflect the overall achievement of the team, because without the constant achievement of the team I would not have received those awards. Of course it would be nice to repeat the same experience next year, but now I need to continue working on my development, to actually get into the World Cup squad. This is my goal, and if I achieve it, I would like to help the team to go as far as possible. In fact, I owe 10 goals to the team. During the World Cup, I just needed to kick the ball... I sprinted at the right time. We are happy that with this wonderful World Cup we can draw attention to women’s soccer and convince a lot of people that women’s soccer can be attractive too. Can we consider men’s and women’s football as two separate sports? Of course they are different sports, because men’s football is more popular, but I think that women’s soccer is on the right track. Currently it is still quite difficult to attract media attention, but during the U-20 Women’s World Cup we could see that interest had already increased: about 400 000 people attended. It is a new record for a young women’s competition. I think that in the coming years this will change. The Women’s World Cup will contribute to that as well.

INTERVIEW BY LAURENT VAN BRUSSEL Women’s football seems to be sheltered from the controversies and failures (video refereeing, violence, etc.) in men’s football. What’s your opinion? There are of course wrong decisions from referees and insults, but people are not so aware of it because women’s soccer does not attract wide media interest. But I think that women play a bit more fair play football. The status of professional player doesn’t exist for women’s football in Europe. What does this imply? I think that it is currently possible for women to earn a living from football, but without being extravagant. For most of us, sport is not the best way to make a fortune. In the United States, the reality is completely different, but even though I would love to have a career in football, I’m not ready to leave my country. What’s more, I’m currently in a one-year traineeship in physiotherapy. I think that it is really important to have a plan B, because the football might stop tomorrow. Can you imagine a club spending 94 million euro for a female football player? If I’m not mistaken, the highest transfer value in women’s football is close to 150 000 euro…So, no, I cannot imagine something like that at the moment. Where did your passion for football spring from? I was practically born on a football field. My dad played soccer, and my big brother played as well, every Sunday I was playing on a sports field. In my family, football is not “a man’s sport”.

@

FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup www.fifa.com/u20womensworldcup @

FIFA Women’s World Cup www.fifa.com/womensworldcup @

FCR 01 Duisburg www.fcr-01.de

The Nelson Mandela Trophy

Viva! The “other” World Cup Every four years the entire planet rocks to the rhythm of the FIFA World Cup. Or so we like to think. A few weeks before Spain’s supreme title, the world’s smaller regions and mini-nations competed for their own cup, the Nelson Mandela Trophy, on the island of Gozo in Malta, host venue for the 2010 VIVA World Cup. This alternative football tournament organised by the New Federation Board brings together non-FIFA affiliated teams such as Lapland, Kurdistan, Occitania, Provence, Monaco, Sápmi and Padania. 2010 marked the fourth staging of this intriguing venture, originally dreamt up in 2003 in the Brussels bar “À la mort subite”. And for the third time in four tournaments Padania wins the title so that the northern region of Italy can easily be considered as the “Brazil of alternative football”. Have you ever dreamed about a football match between Vatican City and Tibet? In 2012 for the next edition in Kurdistan your wish should well be granted.  @ New Federation Board www.nf-board.com

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Europe in the vanguard – The age of discovery is not over yet...

Architect of awareness

“Imagine a city that uses its know-how for the benefit of the people” Luc Schuiten is an architect like no other. Alongside his work of designing homes, he has spent some 30 years creating, using the concept of “archiborescence”, architecture that reconciles man with nature. Time to meet the visionary. INTERVIEW BY DAVID MARQUIE What is the origin of your work? It’s something I’ve always carried around inside me. Ever since my childhood, I’ve been introduced to the world of architecture by my father, at the same time inheriting my mother’s taste for nature. The first trigger occurred about thirty years ago. As a wedding present for a couple I’m friends with, I thought of drawing a house. I started out with an Art Nouveau design, but it wasn’t quite enough. Art Nouveau is inspired by the shapes of nature. Couldn’t it be more accurate, more concise? So I began to incorporate trees, translucent walls, etc. Since then, I’ve continued developing this thought, this system, and compiling information. I’ve loved pushing the boundaries as far as possible.

How would you define this concept? Is it architecture? Is it art? A political manifesto? I don’t like labels. I try not to let my work fall into one or other category. It’s a general concept encompassing architecture, movement, technique, etc. It draws on existing influences in our environment. But this approach is nothing new. The word optimism crops up often on your website. Is it important for you to create positive images? I’m not really into optimism. It’s favourably looked upon, but offers as little interest as pessimism. I simply try to show what few people show, the path I want to head down, a world where people want to live in total harmony with nature. We are living organisms, maybe the place we live in could also be a living organism, an intertwined ecosystem , a bit like those we find in a primeval forest or coral reef.

Imagine a city that uses its know-how for the benefit of the people. You talk about eco-modernity when defining your concept. Is this eco-modernity, paradoxically, not a return to our beginnings? For me it’s not a return to our beginnings, but rather heading towards something new. We are great at many things, but often use them to our detriment. We need to get away from this in order to use our knowledge to create something positive.

“We are great at many things, but often use them to our detriment” We are merely a tiny part of a much more complex whole. We need to learn to work with it using true intelligence. Increasingly, the cities that town planners offer us and the environments they

provide us with to live in, look more like construction games, made up of industrial pieces. In these places, do people find what they need to grow as humans? Shouldn’t the process be reviewed?

These communities consume what they produce, and some have gone so far as to create their own currency. It’s not autarchy; they are creating a model that allows them to meet their own needs.

Do you get positive reactions from public authorities?

Would you describe yourself as Utopian?

Worldwide, we’re beginning to move ever so slowly. Raising awareness will be a long process, however certain more informed politicians are already working on these fundamental questions and are committed to the long-term plan.

If Utopia is a project that has not yet been carried out, then yes, I recognise myself in this term and stand by it. That said, my vision is more modest than that of the great Utopians. My project is about looking for our roots, our beginnings, what we are. It’s recapturing together a balance that is increasingly under threat.

In the current environmental debate, there is often talk of changing our behaviour. Can architecture contribute to this change? Certainly. But not in this order. The people, the inhabitants, must be the first to decide that the change can take place. In the United Kingdom, ‘transition towns’, for example, are looking to free themselves from this dependence on large global movements.

@

Vegetal City vegetalcity.net @

Archiborescence www.archiborescence.net/ archiborescence

Luc Schuiten will exhibit his ‘Vision of another mobility’ (Vision d’une autre mobilité) at the Museum of Modern Art and Contemporary Art (MAMAC) in Liège, as part of the Biennial International Design event, 1-24 October 2010. His two most recent works, Archiborescence and Vegetal City can be found together in the box set Un autre possible (Mardaga publications).

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Europe in the vanguard – The age of discovery is not over yet...

Eye power

Looking toward the future BY JULIANE GAU

Opening a car or your house with the blink of an eye? What sounds like science ﬁction might become reality. Celia Sanchez-Ramos Roda, professor and researcher at the Universidad Complutense (Madrid), has developed a new method and system for ocular biometric identiﬁcation.

Rewarded with the Grand Prix at the 38th International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva the invention makes it possible to compare the internal topography of the cornea with photographs of it saved previously in a database – more than 1 000 points are compared to identify a person in less than a second, with no side-effects. Together with finger scans, voice prints and facial scans, ocular scans are nearly fraud-resistant, making biometrics a secure authentication method to validate access to high-level security facilities, for instance.

PHOTOGRAPHING THE INSIDE OF THE EYE With the ever faster pace of technical development, biometrics is evolving on the same level, although debates on privacy issues are ongoing in some countries. Current ocular biometric identification methods include scanning the retina with infra-red radiation, or photographing the iris of the eye. Sanchez-Ramos Roda’s new method aims to make identification easier and cheaper, and, she says, “not open to manipulation, because the inside of the organ is recorded”. If the cornea is subject to modification, due to surgery for instance, a new image needs to be saved to ensure correct identification. “The invention could be used to identify passengers at the airport, in private clubs or in schools, to ensure that only authorised people can enter; or it could be used in administrations as an electronic signature,” explains the Spanish researcher. Discovering this method was something of a happy accident, she admits: “Within a team, we were studying the retina in relation to a problem concerning the pupil, whereby people close their eyes while applying medicine for instance – in the process we discovered the current invention”.

GETTING BACK UP AGAIN AFTER A FAILURE

What is it that drives an individual to become a researcher? “Motivation is very important,” according to the 51 year old academic. “I am someone who likes to learn and my strength is to finish what I started”. Working with young people, she is aware of the failures that can lie in wait within research that is so close to life: “The young should be aware that it is possible to fail, but that the most important thing is to get back up again afterwards. You can fall down once, twice or even three times – but you have to get back up: that is life”. One recommendation the experienced researcher would give to new generations: “Stop thinking ‘I cannot do that’ – the most important thing is keep on trying to do it”. @

International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva www.inventions-geneva.ch

Sunday drivers’ dream

“Spirit of Berlin”, spirit of the future

“Spirit of Berlin” is an autonomous car project of the Artiﬁcial Intelligence Group, directed by Prof. Raul Rojas, at Freie Universitaet Berlin.

Buying a train ticket by mobile phone is common today, but choosing your destination by smartphone and an autonomous taxi bringing you home is their vision for 2035. BY JULIANE GAU Creating artificial intelligence is the daily job of scientists at the Free University (FU) of Berlin. The “Spirit of Berlin” is an autonomous car which can also be driven with an iPhone or the eyes, helping to translate vision into the real life of future generations. Like playing with a giant model car, a turn to the right using the iPhone sees the white car with the green logo “Spirit of Berlin” turn right. A look to the left, the car turns left. Cutting edge technology hidden in this everyday car model testifies to the research results from Professor Raúl Rojas, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at FU, and his team. The iPhone drive was presented in autumn 2009, the eyeDriver software in April 2010: the latter collects and converts eye movements of the driver into control signals for the steering wheel. “The car is

autonomous – it just needs a human being when a conscious decision is required,” explains Rojas. The driver’s eyes shortly distracted by a young lady on the street? The car won’t follow her, but remain on track. How did the idea arise? “In 2007, the DARPA* launched a competition for races of autonomous cars – within ten months, we developed the prototype of “Spirit of Berlin”, translating the technology of 10kg soccer robots, existing since 1998 at FU, into a vehicle,” says Rojas. “We did not win the first prize, but we reached the semifinals, not bad due to the fact that US participants researched for two years with a bigger budget,” he adds, quite proudly. Since then, researchers have continuously developed the car. FU will release a new application for autonomous cars in October 2010.

Braving the unknown “Autonomous cars could be part of traffic, technology existing today would allow that,” explains Till Zoppke, research fellow at the FU institute for informatics. Infrastructure and people’s minds still seem to adapt to future visions. “Addressing the concerns of people is still important” confirms his colleague Patrick Vogel, responsible for commercial aspects. “Fear of the unknown and security concerns” are the main issues for people according to Vogel. These are issues that Carl Benz might have heard as well, when he received a patent for a car with a combustion engine in January 1886 – the precursor of cars used today. *DARPA = research and development ofﬁce for US Department of Defense @

FU Berlin robotics.mi.fu-berlin.de

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Europe in the vanguard – The age of discovery is not over yet...

Trendy crop

Biotech is back in fashion this autumn UK designer grows an entire wardrobe from bacteria. BY ESTELLE JACQUES “Imagine if you could grow clothing” is the vision behind BioCouture, a project initiated by an inventive brain: UK designer and fashion researcher Suzanne Lee, with the help of a biotech start-up pioneering the development of products from new high-tech sustainable composites. Science and creativity: two opposite worlds, coming together for a speculative look at eco-textiles. Producing the clothing pushes the envelope here. The setting is not a workshop, but a laboratory. Fibres are grown from a microbial mixture (green tea, yeast and bacteria), which eventually produces thin, wet sheets of bacterial cellulose. These humid leaves are then modelled into clothing. Once dried, it is felted – instead of stitched –, and sometimes tainted using fruit or vegetable dyes (curcuma, indigo or beetroot, for instance). The outcome is resolutely post-modern and 100 percent natural. “Our ultimate goal is to literally grow a dress in a vat of liquid,” claims the research team.

WHEN FASHION GOES SMART AND GREEN…

©Biocouture

The BioCouture project is a visionary exploration of how fashion, science and emerging technology can complement each other in order to address ecological and sustainability issues around fashion. It is not the first time that fashion has been flirting with biotech. The 2006 World Congress on Industrial and Biotechnology

and Bioprocessing hosted an unusual fashion show, with the involvement of some top designers such as Oscar de la Renta, Stephen Burrows and Elisa Jimenez. This is a manifestation of a change of attitude in the fashion industry. The idea of fashion is evolving. Designers are not happy with the simply beautiful. They want to create fashion that is “smart” and “green”, and respond to customers’ concerns. Eco-friendly and sustainable fashion is inspiring more and more of them. One trend today uses organic, biodegradable or sustainable synthetic fabrics such as Ingeo©, a man-made fibre made from renewable resources (plants), as opposed to oil. Another trend is recycled fashion. London’s Science Museum recently opened “Trash Fashion”, a new permanent exhibit which investigates how the latest design and technology can help to create wear without waste and what each of us can do to reduce the impact of throwaway fashion. In this garment industry, biotechnology is quietly appearing on the clothing rails. Who would have thought fashion could be the topic of laboratory experiments? The test now will be to see if these bacterial jackets make it all the way to our closets. @

BioCouture www.biocouture.co.uk

Time machine

Getting old without wrinkling Created by Seniosphere, a French strategic consultancy specialised in seniors, Seniosimulation reproduces ageing in order to better understand the needs of seniors.

HOW MOBI SIMULATES OLD AGE Poor hearing An anti-noise headset muffles sound

Vertebrae immobilised A rubber belt around the waist makes twisting and bending difficult

Poor vision Opaque goggles blur vision

Restricted movement Straps prevent arms being raised

Reduced mobility Microbeads added into the socks make walking painful Restricted ﬂexibility Prostheses simulating the effect of osteoarthritis partially block knees, ankles, hips, elbows, wrists and neck

Weaker grip Large gloves make hand and finger movements clumsy

BY ESTELLE JACQUES Seniosimulation is a set of tools aimed at reproducing the physical sensations of ageing by incorporating limitations. The main goals of this innovation are to stimulate new products and services aimed at seniors; adapt points of sale and public places to ageing people’s needs and limitations; increase awareness about seniors and improve training on how to look after them. The market for baby-boomers is booming. In the coming decades, the population aged over 65 will rise sharply throughout the EU, by some 58 million (77 %). According to Eurostat the number of people over 80 will triple by 2060. Therefore, unsurprisingly, sectors such

as supermarkets, the automotive industry and banks, have been very eager to identify the needs of their customers through Seniosimulation.

THE THIRD AGE SUIT: SAMO The major component of these tools is SAMO, a simulation suit which consists of about 10 items reproducing an ageing sensation for different body parts: increased weight, joint troubles, and impaired vision and hearing. Contrary to the first generation of ageing suits, the intensity of sensations can be modulated for each item, thus imitating different stages, from 60 up to 80 years-old.

“We deal with managers between 28 and 45 years-old and they often do not understand ageing unless they actually feel it”, Seniosphere partner Christelle Ghekière observed. The bottom-line is, in a society that promotes youth as the highest value, it is sometimes difficult for industries to accept the need to adapt their products for this new old(er) market. What’s the next step? Could we imagine one day getting into the mind of an elderly person and experiencing the cognitive effects of brain ageing? @

Seniosphere www.marketing-seniors.com

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Europe in the vanguard – The age of discovery is not over yet...

Food for thought

From steel time to meal time

Twenty years ago the small Swedish mining village Grythyttan in Bergslagen was in a deep economic and social crisis. Today it has become a dynamic centre for food, restaurants, tourism, technology and design, much thanks to the ﬁnancial support of EU Structural Funds. BY FREDRIK NORDIN One of the architects behind this transformation is the restaurateur Carl Jan Granqvist, who in the 1970s turned Grythyttan’s 17th century inn into a high class gastronomic destination. Granqvist, now a well-known TV personality, encouraged the creation of the Campus for Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Meal Science in association with the Örebro University. The campus is located in the Nordic House of Culinary Art, Sweden’s contribution to the 1992 world exhibition in Seville. This was the starting point of a municipal strategy based on local food production and ecological awareness which targets the longterm development of the food trade and restaurant business. Grythyttan is today home to several food companies, including a producer of cloudberry wine and one of Sweden’s few whisky distilleries, established by a former graduate at the Campus.

When comparing Grythyttan to Stockholm, where Granqvist spends half his time, he pointed out in an interview to Dagens Nyheter “you can influence the evolution of a local society in a completely different way to a major city”. Granqvist is unlikely to stop here, however. His hope now is to use €30 million from EU regional funding to create Aptitum, a European innovation centre for meal authenticity. @

Örebro University www.oru.se @

Grythyttan Inn www.grythyttan.com

Ever considered majoring in food?

In San Sebastian, the construction of the Basque Culinary Centre is in full swing. Reminiscent of a pile of plates, this remarkable building will host Spain’s ﬁrst Faculty of Gastronomic Sciences as well as a Research and Innovation Centre. BY FREDRIK NORDIN In March 2009 a group of Basque chefs teamed up with Mondragon University to found the Basque Culinary Centre (BCulinary). The idea behind the initiative was to create an international reference point for cooking which would attract students from all around the globe. There is reason to be confident – nine of the world’s most prestigious chefs are involved in the project, including Denmark’s

René Redzepi, whose restaurant Noma was recently voted the world’s best. “This isn't just a cooking school. It's an interdisciplinary school, with cooking at its heart”, director Joxe Mari Aizega told Time. Undergraduates of the four-year Haute Cuisine course will be taught to see food in its wider context, covering areas such as culture, art, restaurant management, science and technology. The faculty welcomes its first

students as of autumn 2011 and teaching will be given in both English and Spanish. Masters and Postgraduate degrees as well as shorter cooking courses will also be offered. @

Basque Culinary Center www.bculinary.com @

University of Gastronomic Science, Piémont, Italy www.unisg.it

Knowledge multiplier

When TED talks

For 25 years, TED, a non-proﬁt organisation has been “rocking” the way knowledge is spreading. BY DAVID MARQUIE “Do schools kill creativity?”, “ Why are we happy?” or “What we can learn from spaghetti sauce?”... these are, to name but a very few, some of the titles of popular TED conferences. TED (for Technology, Entertainment and Design), is a multichannel platform for spreading ideas. Forget Davos or the Nobel Prize ceremony, nowadays TED is the place where people are imagining the world of tomorrow. “We are looking for important, innovative, credible and solid ideas which offers a new perspective, a solution to a problem (big or small), a different approach”, explains Bruno Giussani, the European Director of TED in charge of the TED Global Annual Conference Program. Jaw-dropping, edifying, stimulating or moving, TED presentations have all something in common – they smash preconceived ideas. But if they were its raison d’être back when Richard Wurman created the concept in California in 1984, conferences are not

today TED’s only activity. Since the acquisition of TED by Chris Anderson in 2002, who transformed it in a non profit organisation, the event has grown to become a global platform including a website (TED.com), social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc., an annual prize (TEDPrize), a series of local events (under the label TEDx) and even a Fellowship. This new way of sharing knowledge could help the way Europe considers innovation. Giussani: “For Peter Aspden, Financial Time’s arts writer, since Descartes and “cogito, ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am), the main dimension of intellectual and political discourse is depth. The deeper you you dig, the better you are. By doing this, we may have forgotten another dimension, width – sharing and spreading ideas.” Are times changing?  TEDGlobal

2011 will take place from 11-15 July in Oxford. Further details at: conferences.ted.com/TEDGlobal2011

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Europe in the vanguard – The age of discovery is not over yet...

Open issue

Gene doping: no sports killer In recent years, the sports world has become worried about the use of gene-transfer technology. Be that as it may, soon, it is likely that athletes will exploit this technology in pursuit of victory. BY ANDY MIAH UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND For some, “gene doping” represents the Holy Grail of performance enhancement, while others believe it means the end of sports, as we know them. I claim that gene doping may not only be necessary for sports, but that it may also be beneficial.

the sports world and critics are quick to

Policies concerning gene doping should

claim that its propagation would create

not rely solely on the interests and in-

an inhuman, mutant race, which may

frastructures of sports organisations. In

overtake the rest of humanity. However,

particular, the monitoring committees on

this is a misrepresentation of how gene

genetic technology that nations develop

transfer would alter humans – and sports

must be taken on board by the world of

The shadow of the genetically modified athletes is ringing alarm bells throughout

- both therapeutically and non-therapeu-

sport. A simple model based on prohibi-

tically, should it ever be legalised.

tion and testing for gene modification

Gene doping is overtaking medicinal doping. World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) ﬁrst doping cases should take place by London 2012 Olympic Games. While laboratories work on ﬁrst detection tests – beyond sports – the debate on human enhancement is only just opening.

will not be enough, assuming that detection of this technique is possible at all.

adhere to a global policy on the ethics of such use.

In any case, to describe genetically modiﬁed athletes as mutants or inhuman is morally suspect, for it invokes the same kind of prejudice that we deplore in relation to other biological characteristics, particularly race, gender and disability

morally suspect, for it invokes the same kind of prejudice that we deplore in relation to other biological characteristics, particularly race, gender and disability. After all, many, if not most, top athletes are “naturally” genetically gifted. To refer to these people as mutants would surely invite widespread criticism. Moreover, sports fans require their athletes to transcend human limits and we need a safer set of technologies to enable this. Gene doping may provide such means, if given adequate testing.

Ethics committees must be made aware of the special circumstances of sports, which limit the effectiveness of broader social pol-

Additionally, policies governing gene transfer in sports must be recognised as subservient to broader bioethical and

icies on genetic modification. Again, regulation ought not to rely on one single global authority. As has been made clear from the ethical debates on stem-cell research, a global policy cannot easily be adopted or enforced, nor should it be.

Those who fear that gene doping heralds the “end of sports” should, instead, recognise this moment as an opportunity to ask critical and difficult questions about the effectiveness and validity of anti-doping tests. Does society really care about performance enhancement in sport?

Above all, it is not acceptable for the world of sport to impose a moral view about the role of genetic enhancement on countries, by requiring them to

bio-legal interests that recognise the changing role of genetics in society. The rhetoric surrounding “gene doping” relies heavily on its moral status as a form of cheating. Yet, this status relies on existing anti-doping rules. If we don’t ban gene transfer in the first place, then on one level, it is not cheating. In any case, to describe genetically modified athletes as mutants or inhuman is

@

Andy Miah website www.andymiah.net

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Europe in the vanguard – The age of discovery is not over yet...

New kid on the block

iCub – The robot that talks back No, it’s not the latest gadget dreamed up by Steve Jobs. The iCub is a humanoid baby robot, cub standing for ‘Cognitive Universal Body’. BY FRIEDERIKE ENDRESS It doesn’t wash the dishes or mow the lawn yet – but it might get there eventually: just like a child, the robot is learning how to move around and how to communicate and interact with the world. And it’s this ability to learn that makes the iCub so special. The robot embodies the simple idea that human cognition is based on the way we perceive and interact with the world through our body and senses. The iCub is designed like a three and a half year old kid; it can crawl and sit up and is equipped with visual, auditory and sensory functionalities. How does the learning process work in practice? Different teams of researchers are performing tests in their particular fields of expertise – psychology, computer science, neurophysiology or

The iCub at the Genoa science festival in 2009.

robotics. A team of researchers at the University of Plymouth for instance is teaching the robot the meaning of words through making it perform simple tasks illustrating basic actions such as ‘give’ and ‘take’. At the end of the process, the robot should be able to generate simple sentences. The work with the iCub is a two-way process. Researchers hope to gain new insights into how we learn and what role our senses and the structure of our body play in the process. At the same time, the knowledge about this interaction will help to cover new ground in robotics and artificial intelligence. This first-of-its-kind project is funded by the European Commission as part of the RobotCub Consortium. This international group of laboratories involving ten European research centres works at understanding and replicating the human cognitive system. Humanoid robots helping around the house – or ruling the world – will remain a science-fiction scenario for now. But an automaton that can ‘listen’, ‘feel’ and ‘respond’ is already a reality – and ‘he’ is getting better at it every day. @

RobotCub Consortium www.robotcub.org

Energy kites: a 100 000 homes of wind BY MARK HUMPHREYS There is more to wind than well... just wind, wind energy is being talked about as the next big energy saviour. Ken Caldeira, a scientist at Stanford University's Carnegie Institute, estimates that the total energy stored in wind could provide us with up to 100 times more energy than we actually need. Wind turbines already produce energy but they are limited to about 80 metres in height, for our energy requirements high altitude wind is the key – nothing is ever easy!

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Breath of fresh air

One company, Multiple solutions!

How do we catch this high altitude wind you might ask – with an energy kite. Prototypes are currently flying up to 800 to 1 000 metres. Among the world leaders in research into kite wind-energy is the Laddermill project at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, led by former astronaut, Wubbo Ockels. They are currently working on a ‘multi-kite’ set up which they believe could generate 100 megawatts, powering 100 000 homes. There is growing interest. Google recently invested $10 million into US kite company, Makani, as part of their ‘Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal’ programme. Belgo-Dutch grouping, Festo, have come up with the ‘Cyberkite’; while an Italian company, KiteGen, proposes lying 12 sets of lines with four 500-sq metre kites on each, generating one gigawatt of power, equivalent to a standard coal-fired power station. Not only is it clean it is cheap, Ockels estimates that kites could generate power at less than 5 euro cents per kilowatt-hour, comparable to coal power and less than half the cost of electricity from wind turbines, and it is clean – now that is something to think about!

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 @TU

Delft home.tudelft.nl/en  @Festo

www.festo.com  @KiteGen

www.kitegen.com/en

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THE ARTS

Music on the move

A visa for World Music

Or when European countries decide to offer true freedom of movement to foreign artists, a cultural and also economic need. Interview with Christine Zemba, President of the Zone Franche network. INTERVIEW BY LAURENT VAN BRUSSEL What are the main “headaches” in organising a European tour for a foreign group? The administrative procedures for visa applications are heavy, long and costly, yet possible to get through. Problems arise in the fairly large number of special cases. The need to produce extra supporting documents, especially for consulates, adds to the complexity of procedures. Some are irrelevant for local realities: in Algeria, an “artist card” is needed even though nobody knows what this is, in Africa a bank account, which nobody bothers with, etc. The absence of consulates in certain countries (especially in Africa) often means that all artists in a group have to go to a neighbouring country to apply for visas and even go to get their passports, stamped with a visa or not – this investment does not necessarily guarantee it will be granted.

Making an appointment to lodge the application is generally done via a private service provider and via the internet only. It is therefore impossible to actually talk to someone who can give personal advice and deal with special cases. Are all artists in the same boat? Definitely not. If we were to create a scale of “difficulty obtaining a visa”, the North American artists would have more chance than their South American counterparts, themselves followed by their African counterparts. The Schengen Area seems to have helped matters, but not enough. What can we expect from European and national legislators? There is a clear lack of consistency across Europe. The Community code on visas, introduced in 2009, represents a response to this. It requires that

visa refusals be justified. As far as applying this is concerned, the ball is now in the court of the different Member States. The EU is a signatory of the Unesco Convention on diversity of cultural expression, which notably requires it to make moving around easier for artists. It’s high time these great ideas were put into practice. Is lumping the movement of artists together with illegal immigration justified? How can we do away with these commonly held ideas? There is no doubt that this lumping together exists and often isn’t justified. Talking about defending cultural diversity is sometimes not enough to get things moving. Another strong argument is the economic impact linked to the movement of artists: numerous festivals, tour organisers and producers see their professional work linked to these problems. We can also address these questions by reversing the logic: why would artists choose to stay in Europe illegally if they know they can go there when invited to perform? Zone Franche www.zonefranche.com

@

In 2008 the Congolese band Konono N°1 (Kinshasa – DR Congo) had to cancel eleven dates of its European tour, Germany having refused to deliver any visa.

Unlikely love

“Benny and Shrimp” by Katarina Mazetti BY MARIEFRANCE LOCUS Two graves. One bench. Her. Drab, bioconsumer, enjoying solitude and keen on “one-liners” and the youth section of the library she works at. Him. Twenty dairy cows, hundreds of embroidery works left behind by his mother whose gravestone is as kitsch as it is vulgar. He calls her Shrimp, with her felt hat and faded clothes. She can’t stand the smell of his old farm or the colours of her bedroom, and even less the idea of frying sizzling bacon in a pan. But how could Desiree, who arouses about as much interest among handsome men as choosing wallpaper

designs, tucked away in her white, sterile world, fall in love with annoying Benny, the guy from the grave alongside? The only thing these two really have in common is death; her husband, his mother. Despite this, from these seeds of antagonism flourish passion and love. But the question begs: can such an unlikely pair stick it out through life and death? While the style is often in your face, Katarina Mazetti subtly examines the near impossibility of overcoming difference.

THE AUTHOR Born in Stockholm, Katarina Mazetti grew up near a port in southern Sweden. After completing her Master in literature and English, she worked as a teacher, then radio producer, journalist and literary critic. Translated into more than 15 languages, Benny and Shrimp finds its roots in her personal experience as a farmer’s wife.

“C’est la fôte à Bruxelles”: illustrating Europe with a smile Close to 250 press illustrations by cartoonists from across Europe are adorning the walls of the Wallonia-Brussels Centre in Paris from 1 July to 6 October this year. The goal of this exhibition: to illustrate the journey of the European Union with a smile. Brussels has long been a Mecca for press cartoonists. And the Belgians sure know how to keep an air of detachment and a sense of humour with regard to their own history: “Europe looks a lot like Belgium: complicated, hard to explain, but a guarantee for democracy.” This exhibition tries to go beyond slogans and simplistic visions, and instead show the European Union as being the

result of passionate ideological confrontations and constant compromise between statesmen and stateswomen. The event is being organised against the backdrop of Belgium’s presidency of the European Union, in collaboration with Belgian newspaper Le Soir, French weekly Le Courrier International and the association Cartooning for Peace.  @ C’est la fôte à Bruxelles Wallonia-Brussels Centre 127-129 rue Saint-Martin 75004 Paris www.cwb.fr

SNAPSHOTS

(Sea)side by (sea)side She, Maria Alexandra Vettese – ‘MAV’ as she introduces herself – lives in Portland, Maine. She, Stephanie Congdon Barnes, lives in Portland, Oregon. They are two friends living 3 191 miles apart. BY LAURENT VAN BRUSSEL

A YEAR OF MORNINGS 3191, A Year of Mornings began on 1 January 2007, ending on 31 December 2007.

Winter – 29 January

Spring – 18 May

A YEAR OF EVENINGS 3191, A Year of Evenings began on 15 January 2008, ending on 15 January 2009.

Winter – 15 January

Winter – 16 January

Winter – 07 March

Summer – 20 August

All started on a day in January with two pictures posted on a blog. The almost daily photo conversations between the two women lasted about two years; at first in the morning, then in the evening. This unique experience from the US will certainly inspire friends from Belgrade, Brest and all other namesake towns across Europe.

Spring – 30 April

Autumn – 24 October THEY ARE STEPHANIE AND MAV Stephanie from Portland, Oregon, is a mother of two, a creator of little things, a sometimes interior designer, an outdoor explorer, a snapshot-taker and a kitchen mess-maker. MAV (Maria Alexandra Vettese) of Portland, Maine, works in art direction, styling and letterpress printing.

They met each other online in 2005. They quickly developed a friendship based on a shared love of art and craft, simple things and well-lived domestic lives. On 1 January 2007, they began a year-long project together of posting diptychs—a photo from each of their mornings—at their blog, without discussing their ideas beforehand. They enjoyed this morning experience so much that Winter – 17 December

Summer – 21 June

they followed that project with a year of evenings using the same format. Their project has since materialised into two books.

KEEP IN TOUCH http://3191ayearofmornings.com http://3191.visualblogging.com

Andnow...? © SHIFTMag • 2010 Avenue de Tervueren 270 1150 Brussels – Belgium www.shiftmag.eu Publisher: Juan ARCAS • juan.arcas@shiftmag.eu Editor in chief: Laurent VAN BRUSSEL • T. +32 2 235 56 19 • laurent.vanbrussel@shiftmag.eu Deputy Editor: David MARQUIE • T. +32 2 235 56 41 • david.marquie@tipik.eu Editors: Friederike ENDRESS, Juliane GAU, Mark HUMPHREYS, Estelle JACQUES, Marie-France LOCUS, Yuri MALU, Fredrik NORDIN, Florence ORTMANS Proofreading: Kevin BIRDSEYE, David BYWELL Contributors to this issue: Laure ENGLEBERT, Roberto FOA, Bruno GIUSSANI, Andy MYAH, Judith OLIVER, Luc SCHUITEN, Christine SEMBA

Winter 2010 Issue

Faraway Europe When referring to Europe, many people – including Europeans themselves – often talk about the “Old Continent”. Yet with its far-flung territories, its overseas citizens, its expats and its former colonies, Europe stretches a lot further. In our next issue we invite you on a journey through this other Europe and ask a nagging question: is it a love-hate relationship, or does out-of-sight mean out-of-mind? After travelling thousands of miles in pursuit of the other Europe all across the globe, the temptation is huge – and who are we to resist? – to go further and explore Europe’s new frontier: space. Released on 21 December

TILL THEN:

Illustrators: Frédéric HAYOT, João SILVA Webmaster: Loïc VERSTAVEL Production & coordination: Brieuc HUBIN • brieuc.hubin@tipik.eu Benoit GOOSSENS • benoit.goossens@tipik.eu Administration: editors@tipik.eu Advertising: advertising@shiftmag.eu Subscription & Distribution: distribution@shiftmag.eu Design & Graphics: Tipik Studio Printed by: Manufast-ABP, Brussels Free quarterly publication (cannot be sold). Reproduction in any form is prohibited without prior consent. The views expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent those of SHIFT Mag.

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ISSN: 2032-8273 Cannot be sold – Please do not throw in public areas

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