The black album

Volume 04 — Issue 01

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

Neighbourhood Shades of grey Life Mining Belgium’s DNA Style All blacks Music Behaving badly Culture Nocturnal knights + The Car Special

The black album

The Word & Jack Purcell

Smile if you’re a player

The shoe with the smile. It says everything about you. It makes you the man of the club, the one members turn heads for. It gives you the firstmover advantage, putting you in pole position, one step ahead of the game. Self-confident and assured. Creative and curious. Authentic, really.

The perfect embodiment of a modern-day Jack.

The shoe, by virtue, makes of you the kind of person likely to be at the right place, at the right time, recounting the right stories, wearing the right suit and sporting the right shoes – Jack Purcells. A smile yes, but with a legacy. A legacy to put a smile on other’s faces. No wonder, then, that Jack himself was known as ‘The Smiler’.

Playing one’s own game is the only path to success

Jack Purcell the man was a self-taught individual of great personal achievement. He won the Ontario Badminton championship five years in a row, was declared Canadian national champion in 1929 and 1930, and went on to be crowned World Badminton champion in 1932.

It was that same year that he developed an athletic shoe together with tire-man B.F. Goodrich, one which would forever blur the lines separating sports and fashion. Indeed, it wasn’t long before fashion-forward renegades adopted the sports shoe as everyday wear.

When Johnny met Helen

Set against a backdrop of varsity blues and college-day romance, Jack Purcell’s Spring 2011 collection playfully delves into the brand’s classics to construct an updated, relevant-toour-times silhouette. Continuing in its quest to bring finesse to the everyday, the season sees the return of its in-house lovebirds: Johnny and Helen. He’s a little more sculpted and modern than before, upholding the brand’s values to perfection – the stitching has a purpose, the colour washes a heritage. She’s a little newer to the game, embodying Jack Purcell’s more feminine side. A stitch-for-stitch reissue, she’s softer. Sassier even.

Just the way Helen, Jack’s wife whom the collection was named after, carried herself…

converse.be/jackpurcell

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Publisher and editor-in-chief Nicholas Lewis Editor Randa Wazen Design facetofacedesign + pleaseletmedesign Writers Renasha Khan Nicholas Lewis Jill Mathieu Jack Moyersoen Philippe Pourhashemi Randa Wazen Photography/Illustration Toon Aerts Ulrike Biets Sarah Eechaut Felix de Liedekerke Veerle Frissen Milena Galli Merel ‘t Hart Sarah Michielsen Jack Moyersoen Yassin Serghini Hans Vercauter Virassamy Ward Zwart Intern Antoine Ghuisoland (graphic design)

The editor's letter

I’m always amazed at the amount of anecdotes we come across whilst researching a given edition. For instance, did you know that Black Sabbath guitarist Steve Blush reputedly painted his entire flat black?

Or that Belgian joker-band The Weathermen’s hit song Poison was track number nine on their Black Album? Black albums. I sure seemed to have a lot of them in my iTunes library.

So, why did we decide to make do with issues, and start a new era in The Word’s short-lived existence by opting for colour albums? For starters, the idea just stuck. A couple of us were sitting by a pool in the South of France this summer, bouncing ideas off each other as to how we could keep you folks on your toes, and albums seemed a Word way of doing so. Secondly, music fanatics that we are, the underlying references of doing albums rather than issues wasn’t lost on the team.

Lastly, the second the idea was thrown in the mix, our minds were buzzing with ideas. Then and there, the concept for the next three years was sealed. Colour albums, then.

With a change in concept also came a realisation that one of the team’s foremost centres of interest was grossly (shockingly even) neglected: music. What ever were we thinking?! Anyway, we got the team around the table, and started imagining what a Word-worthy music section would look, sound and feel like. And, for a first crack at it, we’re all pretty chuffed at how it turned out. We met with man-of-the-moment Matthew Dear just before his showcase at Botanique. Dug deep into Belgium’s musical heritage, resurrecting Nacht und Nebel and The Weathermen back from the dead. We interviewed Scotsman Drums of Death whose album Generation Hexed has been infecting the office stereo of late (I should really take the blame for that one).

So lots of changes, not to mention the pimping up of the magazine on the graphic design side of things, our entry into the tablet world with the launch of our iPad application come February (yes, it’s slightly been delayed but we would not be in publishing if we knew how to keep to our deadlines now would we?) and our intimate get togethers celebrating the launch of each new album.

For subscriptions (5 issues)

Transfer ¤ 21 (Belgium), ¤ 30 (Europe) or ¤ 45 (Worldwide) to account n° 363-0257432-34 IBAN BE 68 3630 2574 3234 BIC BBRUBEBB stating your full name, email and postal addresses in the communication box.

All in all, 2011 will be The Word’s. Trust.

Nicholas Lewis

The Word is published five times a year by JamPublishing, 107 Rue Général Henry Straat 1040 Brussels Belgium. Reproduction, in whole or in part, without prior permission is strictly prohibited. All information correct up to the time of going to press. The publishers cannot be held liable for any changes in this respect after this date.

© Hans Vercauter

Visit us thewordmagazine.be Like us facebook.com/TheWordMagazine Follow us @TheWordMgz Download us thewordmagazine.be/ipad

On this cover The ghost hunter

www.essentiel.be

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The contents

Neighbourhood

Style

The Car Special

22

46

72

Dirk Braeckman

A darker shade of love

Meet Francis

26

50

78

Julien Claessens

The empire strikes black

Bending over backseats

Life

Music

Culture

28

60

82

The man in black

Matthew Dear

Night hawks

30

62

84

Belgian miners

The joker has landed

Midnight marauders

34

66

90

Black sheep

Lords of chaos

Who you gonna call?

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The contributors

It’s a Word’s world Hans Vercauter photographer

Sébastien Bonin photographer

Philippe Pourhashemi writer

Ward Zwart illustrator

Pages 90 — 95

Pages 50 — 59

Pages 21, 43, 46 — 49

Pages 82, 83

About Hans is a filmmaker, which is what defines his photography.

Comparing taking pictures to an athlete working out, photography is what keeps him sharp and alert, film being a slow and timeconsuming medium.

About A man of few words, Sébastien pursued his studies at La Cambre, where he discovered what would almost succeed in making him a happy man: photography.

About Born in Tehran, Philippe grew up in Paris before heading off to Scotland to study Foreign Languages. Now living in Brussels, he’s a fashion writer who regularly contributes to publications such as Blend in Amsterdam, Metal in Barcelona, Oyster in Sydney, Contributor in Stockholm, So Chic in Paris as well as the blog A shaded view on fashion.

About When he’s not drawing portraits with cheap pencils or publishing his own zines and booklets, Ward secretly dreams of pandas dressed up in moose costumes.

Task Black magic being an obvious one for this edition, Hans tagged along with three ghost hunters near the Belgo-Dutch border.

Quote “A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.” camerasaysno.com

Task A Word contributor since day one, Sébastien shot this edition’s monochrome fashion spread, heralding a new era in the magazine’s fashion focus.

Quote “Noir c’est noir, Il n’y a plus d’espoir. Oui gris c'est gris Et c’est fini, oh, oh, oh, oh. Ça me rend fou j’ai cru à ton amour.

Et je perds tout, je suis dans le noir. J’ai du mal à croire. Au gris de l’ennui. Et je te crie, oh, oh, oh, oh’ Lyrics from Noir c’est Noir,

by Johnny Hallyday, the tune Sébastien relentlessly hummed on set. sebastienbonin.com

Task For this edition, Philippe profiled two somber fashion imprints and dived head first into the minds of black obsessives.

Quote “I got completely immersed in black, from fashion and music to film and art. There are so many iconic moments and images that come to mind when thinking about it. Black has an incredible richness and appeal.”

Task The Antwerp/Ghent-based illustrator sketched the black album’s ultimate mascots: an opossum and an owl.

Quote “These nocturnal animals hunt at night and spend the day sheltered in a cool spot.” wardzwart.blogspot.com

Art you can’t resist

axis Tour & T sels Brus rary art o p m e t € Con to 5000 0 5 m o r f

www.affordableartfair.be

25-­28 Feb 2011

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The blackboard Exhibitions Arts Music Shows Parties

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01. The Weathermen’s ‘The Black Album according to’ vinyl press. Read about Belgium’s two-piece electronic pranksters on page 61 of our new music section. / 02. Black Devils cigarettes.

We really were after Black Death ones, which we all used to smoke back in the day, but they’ve unfortunately been discontinued. / 03. ‘Crash’ by J.G Ballard (1973), really was the backbone to our Car Special, which you’ll find starting page 70. / 04. Charles Mingus’ ‘The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady’ (recorded in New York on 20 th January 1963), with its haunting melodies and psychopathic bass line, got The Black Album’s mood just about right. / 05. Norbert Ghuisoland (1878 – 1939) was a prolific studio photographer. His work is on show at Botanique (Brussels) from 17th February until 24th April. He also happens to be the great-grandfather of our current intern Antoine. / 06. Grether’s blackcurrant pastilles, handmade in Switzerland, are the closest you’ll get to parent-sanctioned sweets. / 07. Frank Black’s debut album as a solo artist (released in 1993 on London’s 4AD), was the first he recorded after quitting The Pixies. / 08. We received this bottle of Eristoff Black a couple of days before getting started on The Black Album. Timely. / 09. Directed by three Belgian cineastes, the documentary Of The Dead explores the rituals surrounding death around the world with brutally graphic honesty. / 10. ‘Lords of Chaos’ by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind. Jill told us about this book on Norway’s black metal scene during the brainstorm. We only got through the first couple of chapters at the time of going to press, although that was enough to give us an idea of how deep the movement ran through its protagonists’ veins: inter-band murders, church burnings and desecration of cemeteries. / 11. ‘Final 24: his final hours’ are a series of absurdly reconstructed pseudo-documentaries which claim to shed light on the last 24 hours of certain icons of the 21st century: Jim Morrison, Marvin Gaye, River Phoenix and the likes. / All photography Yassin Serghini.

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Neighbourhood

Belgium ( 01  14 ) Breaking the grid

Combining photorealism with abstrac-

Not Vital: hanging and waiting

Alex Brown

 Until 17th February  Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels  alminerech.com * The fair you can’t miss Truc Troc @ Bozar (Brussels), from 4th to 6th February – In case you missed out on the six previous editions, the concept is simple: hundreds of artists display their work for the viewers to acquire. The catch? No money is involved, just good old-fashioned bargaining. The perfect chance to swap that vintage Les Paul or a voucher for yearlong domestic chores for a Luc Tuymans.

 tructroc.be

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tion, Alex Brown’s paintings look like everyday scenes as seen through a kaleidoscope.

Using a grid, sometimes tweaking it, the image is atomised almost beyond recognition into a multilayered, intricately gridded field of spots, triangles, ovals or cubes. Brown takes the information away from his subjects and extracts the essence out of a face or a landscape as he adds paint to his canvases. The kind to fill you with a strange unease, and one that could be compared to the chill provoked by a blurred-out face in a gritty crime newspaper. Gets us every time.

01. © Courtesy Almine Rech Gallery

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 Until 19 th February  Twig Gallery, Brussels  twiggallery.com 04.

Pixel perfect

Similarly to many artists of his genera-

tion, Antoine Aguilar’s work bears a strong scientific element. Incorporating textures and art history, he deconstructs reality by pixellising it, using last century’s good oldfashioned cathode ray tubes. His approach offers the viewer a new cosmogony and a cartography of the unreal, whereby anyone can project anything. Each of his pieces and installations carry a strong hypnotic power, which could be explained by the Parisian artist’s obsession with television, one of his main sources of inspiration.

© A.L.I.C.E. Gallery

Made in China

The Swiss artist Not Vital – yes, that’s his real name – is presenting his latest sculptures for an exhibition exploring the themes of sensuality and sensitivity of materials; abstraction and mutation; travel and sense of place; animal and nature. Most of the pieces were crafted in Beijing, where he has recently relocated following his ever-growing fascination for Chinese language, culture and forms, and the extraordinary skill of Chinese craftsmanship. The work marks an important break from Vital’s usual palette of muted, monochrome shades of black, gray and white, perhaps inspired by the more vibrant colours and culture of Africa.

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© Courtesy Twig Gallery

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Antoine Aguilar

 From 15th January to 5th March  Galerie Baronian Francey, Brussels  baronianfrancey.com

To infinity and beyond

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A.L.I.C.E. gallery is currently hosting the

Todd James: infinity lessons

 Until 29th January  A.L.I.C.E. Gallery, Brussels  alicebxl.com

* The party you can’t miss Poupi Whoopy release @ Ra (Antwerp), on 14th January and Metro Valdi (Brussels), on 15th January – Catch the double whammy celebrating the 4th issue of the country’s most cherished pin-up book, with performances by Hedo Luxe, Satan's Sacrifice, Bambimix, Alice Springs and DJ sets by Rick Shiver, as well as Word family members Jean Biche and Blanche & Bietnik.

 poupiwhoopy.com

© Rebecca Fanuele

colourful gouaches of street-art icon Todd James.

The self-taught American artist first stepped onto the scene by spray-painting the New York City subways under the moniker REAS. His cartoonish works have since travelled to all the corners of the globe and were displayed in established institutions such as Colette in Paris, the Liverpool Tate Museum and the Venice Biennale. For this exhibition, he’s focused on what’s been on his mind lately: Somali pirates, military themes, sexy people in sexy places, things that are happening now but seem as though they have been going on and on since the beginning of time and will be to infinity.

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The diary

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The sky is no limit

© Michael Najjar

After an intense six-month physical

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preparation, Michael Najjar embarked on a three-week trek in the Andes that culminated at Mount Aconcagua, the second highest mountain in the world, reaching nearly 7,000 meters. What may appear to be mere landscape photographs resulting from this trip are in fact a visualisation of the leading stock market indices over the past 30 years. Questioning the virtuality of our global economic and financial system, Najjar christened each print of the High Altitude series after a commodity (such as the pictured Nikkei), the jagged outlines of the Argentinean mountainscape cleverly sublimating the charts of the stock exchange.

Michael Najjar: high altitude

 From 4th February to 25th April  Young Gallery, Brussels  younggalleryphoto.com 06.

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Cold war kid

Dubbed by many as the “Transylvanian

rising star”, Adrian Ghenie’s paintings are truly worthy of the hype surrounding them.

Fascinated by European history – and mildly obsessed by the Cold War as well as the atom bomb – the Romanian-born and Berlinbased painter combines his own personal memories with facts emerging from history books, archives and film, conferring a strong narrative to his pieces. S.m.a.k. is currently showing a selection of paintings made prior to 2009 as well as his more recent work, mostly comprising of surrealist inspired collages.

The heart of the show is his imposing Dada Room, an almost life-sized model of the First International Dada Fair. An absolute must-see.

Adrian Ghenie

 Until 27th March  S.M.A.K., Ghent  smak.be

Loco for Luc

© Courtesy Zeno X Gallery

The new year is definitely proving to follow

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up on the major attention Belgian painter Luc Tuymans has been getting lately. His latest work will be revealed to the public later this month at Antwerp’s Zeno X gallery, just as his full-scale retrospective’s 16-month tour of the US comes to an end, finding a new home at Brussels’ Bozar as of 10th February. Regarded by many as one of the finest contemporary painters of his time, a visit to both is compulsory to anyone who claims an interest in the arts.

* The concert to catch La Nature by Brussels Philharmonic @ Bozar (Brussels), on 29th January – Bask in the wonders of nature with music

by Mendelssohn, Canteloube, Webern and Debussy. A delightful reminder that spring is just around the corner.

 brusselsphilharmonic.be Luc Tuymans

© Courtesy Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp

 From 28th January to 12th March  Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp  zeno-x.com * The fair you can’t miss

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Affordable Art Fair @ Tour & Taxis (Brussels), from 25th to 28th February – Modern art was made by the people for the people. That’s a concept the folks from the Affordable Art Fair seem to have grasped. Do check out the third edition of their fair, whose title really says it all.

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Ghastly masquerade

The festivities surrounding the 150 th

anniversary of James Ensor’s birth continue with yet another major retrospective at the S.M.A.K. and Museum of Fine Art in Ghent.

What differs from the previous events dedicated to the Belgian master of the grotesque – held all over the globe, from Paris to New York – is his accurate insertion in today’s art scene. Associated with the works of artists such as Francis Alÿs, Bruce Nauman, Cindy Sherman or Raymond Pettibon, Ensor’s oeuvre is taken out of its historical context as we are reminded of his influence and just how much of a pioneer he was.

 affordableartfair.be

© James Ensor

Hareng Saur: Ensor and contemporary art

 Until 27th February  S.M.A.K., Ghent  smak.be

Neighbourhood

Sarah De Vos: shades of grey

 Until 12th February  Expo Tweebronnen, Leuven  sarahdevos.be * The party to go to Sowieso Speciaal @ Tavernier (Brussels), on 22nd January – Any record label having passed the ‘one year of existence’ rite of passage deserves a birthday bash, and you better believe the folks at On-Point Records – Belgium’s foremost purveyor of music with a soul – aren’t going to miss the opportunity.

On the decks, Jazz Neversleeps and Alex Deforce, with JtotheC on vocals.

Free entry.

 on-point.be

Water works

Yes, water is fluid and has somewhat of a sense of urgency to it, but it also can be static, motionless and frozen. Avoiding any of the usual clichés normally associated with an exhibition titled as such, Fifty One Gallery brings together the works of several photographers to reveal, explore and document the physical and metaphysical propoerties of water. So, you have Masao Yamamoto’s still waterscapes, Christopher Thomas’s tenuous prints depicting the everyday battle between water and man-made structure and, rather more daringly, street photographer Deanna Templeton’s portraits of anonymous naked bodies. All in all, expect world-class photography with a central theme running through it.

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© Sarah De Vos

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Water

 From 28th January to 26th March  Fifty One fine art gallery, Antwerp  gallery51.com 12.

© Wiels, Brussels

With some of her paintings entitled ‘Tuning is not a crime’, ‘I want U’ and, our favourite, ‘Facebook’, Belgian artist Sarah De Vos’ work is very much of the 21st century – part humour, part social observation. Bordering on the selfreferential, she captures scenes of her everyday, depicting them with a refreshing nonchalance, one which belies their inherent intensity. So it comes as a little surprise that, for this first exhibition of hers in her hometown of Leuven, she’s chosen a slightly more intriguing and abstract approach, overpowering her already blurry paintings with coats of resin. Think of Elizabeth Peyton-Jones without the celebrity element.

The black hole

You’d imagine an exhibition titled The Voids to be of the über-minimalist kind. Think again. For its second show, the Galerie VidalCuglietta has invited Brusselsbased Canadian artist Zin Taylor to fill their recently opened spaces with his installations and prints. Four brass-display cases feature more than a hundred objects made of plaster, wood, plastic, and clay that have been fashioned into a collection of terms: ‘Forms’, ‘Knives’, ‘Hands’, ‘Spectacles’ and ‘Instruments’. Add to that a series of eight wood-block prints and an empty room is definitely not what will await you.

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© Simon Chaput Courtesy Fifty One fine art gallery

Greyscale

Zin Taylor: the Voids 10.

Words could not begin to explain

Taking as starting point language as a form of narrative, Norwegian artists Lina Viste Gronli combines sculpture and collage techniques to reinterpret the alphabet and other writings as we know them. A times distant, her body of work reveals a sense of displacement, one which she has (astutely) used to defy a certain conventional wisdom in the art world. Drawing from popular culture, she turns pre-conceived ideals on their head, forcing the viewer into a world where Grace Jones is simplified into a mantelpiece made out of copper. Marking the end of her nine-month residency at Wiels, don’t miss the opportunity to see how her work has evolved.

Lina Viste Gronli: the alphabet and other writings

 Until 30th January  Wiels, Brussels  wiels.org

 Until 26th February  VidalCugletta gallery, Brussels  vidalcuglietta.com * Last days to see Clément Montagne & Joël Blanter @ Cinema Nova (Brussels), until 23rd January – Polaroid fetishists out there will be happy to know that French photographer Clément Montagne has invited Joël Blanter – whose shots tenderly reveal the absurdities and violence of modern life – to show his latest batch of diptychs alongside his own prints, that shed an intimate light on scenes of everyday life.

 nova-cinema.org

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© Galerie Vidal Cuglietta, Brussels

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The diary

United Kingdom ( 15  20 ) A chair fit for a king

Even if you’re no design fiend, chances are you’re already familiar with Maarten Van Severen’s work. Or at least his most famous creation: the .03 chair. An undisputed icon of 20th century design, it found its way into libraries, museums, private residences, restaurants, and churches all over the globe. The origins of the .03 are showcased for the first time, and the exhibition also offers the viewer extensive design sketches, prototypes, photographs and audiovisual materials that pay tribute to the late designer’s quest for what would become his ultimate chair.

.03 Maarten Van Severen: the history of an icon

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From dancers to dictators, pearly kings and paupers, Emil Otto Hoppé has photographed them all. His early work traversed the celebrity world of the early 1900s, including George Bernard Shaw, Nijnksy, Mussolini and King George V and offered a greater insight into the humanity of these colossal figures.

Reassembled for the first time alongside his documentary studies, this is a magnificent look at one of the most eminent photographers of the 20th century. The documentaries show ordinary life in post World War I Britain, depicting east end life and showing an intriguing look at social mobility, class and typology.

The striking modernity of these images is phenomenal.

 Until 27th February  Design Museum, Ghent  designmuseumgent.be

Hoppé Portraits: society, studio and street

 From 17th February to 30 th May  National Portrait Gallery, London  npg.org.uk

* The festival to catch

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Mad men

Classic movie stills, literary illustrations

and ancient postcards are usually things of beauty, cherished and often sold for extortionate prices in ‘vintage stores’. They embody glamour and nostalgia but John Stezaker sees past that. Splicing and merging these images, he reveals a subversive and transient nature of aesthetics on human perception. Over 90 works spanning his different series, this is the first major exhibition of this intelligent and surprising artist. Collages have never looked so good…

© Günter Brus

Winterjazz @ Marni & Flagey (Brussels), from 19th to 30th January – With about a dozen concerts programmed, among which singers Robin McKelle and Mélanie de Biasio, big bands, films and improvs, Winterjazz provides the perfect fix for the capital’s jazz lovers who just can’t wait for the spring marathon.

Picture this

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©The Maarten Van Severen Foundation - Photo: Fien Muller

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 winterjazz.be

John Stezaker

 From 29 th January to 18th March  Whitechapel Gallery, London  whitechapelgallery.org

And all I see is black everywhere

Last but not least, if black is your thing then the BAM in Mons might be worth a visit.

Their current exhibition exploits black as a main theme, the works displayed crossing over various disciplines such as fine arts (Dubuffet, Serra, Broodthaers, Boltanski), photography (Sugimoto, Braeckman), film (Diaz Morales, Tambellini), cartoons (Blutch, Tardi, David B.), fashion (Martin Margiela, Yamamoto) and design (Marcel Wanders, Tom Dixon). Even though the exhibition sometimes lacks in substance, the gathered works don’t fail to demonstrate the universal appeal of this non-colour.

© Hoppé Estate Collection

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Manières Noires

 Until 13th February  BAM, Mons  bam.mons.be

* The show you can't miss Haroon Mirza @ Lisson Gallery (London), from 17th February to 19th March – Sculptural installations made from furniture, video footage and everyday appliances are combined to create an audio-visual experience by an artist shortlisted for the 2010 Northern Art Prize.

© John Stezaker

 lissongallery.com

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Neighbourhood

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Drawing America

Cindy Sherman

Norman Rockwell’s America

 Until 19 th February  Sprüth Magers, London  spruethmagers.com * The show you can’t miss High society @ Wellcome Collection (London), until 27th February – From as early as 2000 B.C., people have been getting high on all sorts of hallucinogenic substances, making an exhibition spanning the history of societies’ obsession with drugfuelled reverie long overdue.

 wellcomecollection.org.uk

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 Until 23rd March  Dulwich Picture Gallery, London  dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk 20.

Magnificent multimedia

Multi-sensory doesn’t even start to

describe the mind-boggling use Philippe Pareno makes of sound and vision to create a powerful look at perception and consciousness. The artist aims for the exhibition to become a piece of art in its own right, like a scripted space where the audience is carried through a series of elapsing events, seen as a collected whole ‘object’ and not a collection of works. This is no ordinary visit to a show as you’re bombarded with films and images, while sound from outside fills the gallery and forces a heightening of consciousness, surroundings and overall awareness. Definitely one to twist your melons.

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Art begets art

Inspired by her countless visits to the

National Portrait Gallery throughout her youth, Bridget Riley cites the Old Masters as a huge influence on her own style as she learnt the use of colour and line. One of the most original painters of our time, this exhibition features her most recent work, including two paintings directly applied on the walls of the exhibition space itself. Overwhelmingly powerful in its seeming simplicity, Riley’s work has been an inspiration itself to a generation of artists that came after her. This show emphatically reminds us of the importance of art in an age of budget cuts that threaten our cultural landscape.

Bridget Riley: paintings and related work

 Until 22nd May  National Gallery, London  nationalgallery.org.uk

© 2010 Saturday Evening Post covers by SEPS, Curtis Publishing

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© Cindy Sherman

‘Rockwellesque’, coined in reference to your artistic work is no mean feat, especially when it’s commonly used in critical derision.

At times sickly sweet and sentimental, Norman Rockwell shaped the American public’s aspirations and notions of worth with his drawings.

No other illustrator can lay claim to such social influence. Best known for his prolific career at the Saturday Evening Post, created between 1916 and 1963, this exhibition comprehensively presents us with a critically reassessed look at his other illustrations for ads, magazines and literature.

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Getting an adjective, in this case

© Bridget Riley

Wonder woman

American photographer and film director Cindy Sherman has made a name for herself through her conceptual portraits, which raise challenging and poignant questions about the role and representation of women in society and the media. Behind the glossy images of the artist’s hilarious and lurid costumes lays a darker humour and intent that seeps through.

Onlookers are left to question the stereotypes she presents us with, cutting through to show a deeper human element behind the initial comic effect of makeup and costume. Who would have ever imagined feminist thought could be so funny?

Philippe Pareno

 Until 13th February  Serpentine Gallery, London  serpentinegallery.org * Last days to see La Soiree @ Southbank Big Top (London), until 27th February – A scintillating cabaret showcasing the weirdest treats. Be transported to a bygone era of glamour in the exquisite pop up spiegeltent with a night of jaw-dropping acrobatics, circus acts and brilliant showmanship. Guaranteed to be a memorable night out.

 la-soiree.com

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© Philippe Parreno

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The diary

Holland ( 21  22 ) Dark forces

Gaël Turine: voodoo

 Until 13th March  Kunst Hal, Amsterdam  kunsthal.nl * The show you can’t miss

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( 23  24 )

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Comic icon

With Tron: Legacy-frenzy upon us, the timing seems quite fitting to take a look back at Jean Giraud’s work – otherwise known as Gir or Moebius. The French cartoonist created Blueberry in the 60s and has contributed to countless iconic comics from the 80s, such as the Silver Surfer and 1982’s Tron. This exhibition explores the theme of metamorphosis, constant throughout his work, famous for revealing worlds and dimensions that are not exactly as stable as they may seem. If that wasn’t enough, catch ‘La Planète encore’, the first 3-D animated film directed by the artist and shown exclusively at the Fondation Cartier, along with the stories from the original comic boards.

© Gael Turine

Black magic and voodoo are notions we like to think are a little removed from our post-modern, consumer lives. Yet look a little closer, and you’ll find it’s a real and present force in West African and Diaspora communities all over Europe. Belgian photographer Gaël Turine presents us with images focusing on the rituals, ceremonies and traditions, which tie the voodoo culture in Haiti, Benin and the US. An extraordinary ethnographic and artistic portrayal of religion in beautiful black and white images, emphasising the darkness that surrounds our perceptions of this very vital component of so many people of West African heritage.

22.

© The Heirs of W. Eugene Smith courtesy Black Star

21.

France

Moebius transe-forme

 Until 13th march  Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris  fondation.cartier.com * Last days to see

23.

Digital? Anologue! @ Huis Marseille Museum of Photography (Amsterdam), until 27th February – With the resurging popularity of analogue photography amongst fashionable young things, Huis Marseille pays tribute to the master printer Peter Svenson of AapLab. A celebration of photography as art. © Mœbius

 huismarseille.nl

24.

Serge Spitzer @ Palais de Tokyo (Paris), until 16th January – A chance to see the incredible installation ‘Re / Search: Bread and Butter With The Ever Present Question of How to define the Difference Between a baguette and croissant’ which is a recreation of an underground telegraph transport system first installed in 1866.

Truly mesmerising.

 palaisdetokyo.com

22.

Bowing to the master

The 1950s were the heyday of photojournalism and few did it as well, or with such social awareness, as W. Eugene Smith. His black and white photo-reportages were made famous by periodicals like American Life, and Foam will pay tribute to his work, showing what is considered to be the first ever photostory as we know it: The Country Doctor (1948), alongside other great series. A chance to see an innovator and master of black and white photography who infused humanism and background in his pictures, informing the audience while entertaining them.

24.

© Guy Marineau

W. Eugene Smith: more real than reality

 Until 16th March  Foam, Amsterdam  foam.nl

Nineties nostalgia

Just as the nineties have officially been declared vintage, Les Arts Décoratifs pay tribute to the decade that was not only about grunge, crop tops, lycra and bandanas. The 150 presented creations, chosen amongst the decade’s most iconic collections, offer a clear insight into the essence and trends that carved the look of the nineties. With designers like Margiela, Branquinho, Van Noten, Galliano, Westwood, McQueen, André, Miyake, and Yamamoto, the Belgian, British, urban and minimalist trends are all featured, alongside haute-couture and independent designers.

Les années 1990-2000: histoire idéale de la mode contemporaine vol. II

 Until 8th May  Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris  lesartsdecoratifs.fr

7541 – Basalt

1650 – Schaduw

7719 – Pinstripe Grey

7700 – Magma

9981 – Kosmos

7900 – Stiletto Black

7900 – Blackboard Black

7900 – Zwart

Moondust

7410 – Dolfijn Grijs

7311 – Versailles Grijs

7200 – Duifwit

The Word & Levis presents

The black album’s colour chart — A collaborative study in differents shades of black

18

The diary

The pick of gigs to come Fuxx Fixxtion @ Magasin 4 on 14th January

iLiKETRAiNS + Cecilia::Eyes @ Botanique on 15th January

Glasser @ Botanique on 27th January

Pennywise @ Vooruit on 28th January

Murder + True Bypass @ L’ Ancienne Belgique on 28th January

The Cult + Masters of Reality @ L’ Ancienne Belgique on 1st February

Japanther, a punk-pop

“We spent our inherit-

Glasser’s ethereal, intrigu-

Cult Californian punk

Danish band Murder

Eponymous British hard

two-piece from Brooklyn

ance well, we drank the

ing and angelic sound

rockers Pennywise pretty

revolve around vocalist

rockers The Cult’s latest

hailed as The Death Set

finest wine”, sings lead

has drawn comparisons

much spearheaded the 90s

Jacob Bellens' heart-

songs (some of which can

meets The Ramones,

vocalist David Martins

with everyone from Björk

surf punk revival alongside

wrenching and hypnotic

be heard on their MyS-

headline this indie/ex-

on iLiKETRAiNS’ latest

to Bat for Lashes. Her

NOFX, the Offspring,

voice. Think the Kings of

pace) were produced by

perimental/rock night put

album, He Who Saw The

conceptual approach

Rancid and others. Repeat-

Convenience with a lot of

legendary producer Chris

on by the same promoters

Deep. Financed through

to composing – heavily

edly refusing to join any

northern ‘noir’. Supported

Goss (also known for his

who recently brought

donations made to the

layered electronic sounds

major labels, the band went

by the excellent True

work with, amongst others,

Caribou and Foals to

Pledge website, this second

paired together with

on to become one of the

Bypass (Chantal Acda of

Queens of the Stone Age

Brussels. Other acts on the

LP is a step up from the

accoustic instrumentals –

most successful independ-

Sleeping Dog and Craig

and Soulwax) whose own

bill include Andrew Hung

debut Elegies to Lessons

mesmerises, and is nothing

ent punk acts, selling well

Ward, ex-dEUS), expect a

band Masters of Reality

of Fuck Buttons and Bel-

Learnt and sees the band

short of stunning.

over 3 million records.

night of accoustic softness

(original members of the

gium’s The Guilty Brother

gaining in depth and

Bow down.

and exquisitness.

Palm Desert scene) is

Experience.

direction.

 Play Koln (Live Music Hall) on 26th January  Play Amsterdam (Melkweg) on 27th January

 Play Eindhoven (Effenaar) on 20th January  Play Utrecht (Ekko) on 22nd January

started.

 Play Eindhoven (Effenaar) on 20th January  Play Utrecht (Ekko) on 22nd January

 Plays Amsterdam (Paradiso) on 29 th January  Plays Koln (Blue Shell) on 10th February  Plays London (XOYO) on 22nd February

enlisted to get the crowd

 Play Amsterdam (Paradiso) on 5th February

Joan as Police Woman @ Botanique on 15th February

The National @ Forest National on 15th February

Iron and Wine @ L’ Ancienne Belgique on 16th February

PJ Harvey @ Cirque Royal on 18th February

Skunk Anansie @ Lotto Arena Antwerp on 23rd February

Hurts @ L’ Ancienne Belgique on 1st March

Known for her violin

Flag wavers of that very

The breezy, drowsy and

At times intense, at times

There used to be a time,

Given the hype and praise

playing on Antony and the

American brand of roots

troubadeering sounds of

self-effacing, PJ Harvey

our time, when no teenage

bestowed upon the band,

Johnsons records, Joan as

rock ‘n roll, The National’s

Iron and Wine (singer-

– British doyenne of the

rock playlist was complete

it is astonishing that Man-

Police Woman also oper-

big stadium sound is toned

songwriter Sam Beam’s

dark and emotive – wears

without a Skunk Anansie

cunian pop duo Hurts only

ates in her own world, an

down a notch by singer

band) have slowly been

many hats, from blues

track – most probably,

released their debut in

intimate, soft-spoken and

Matt Berninger’s baritone

conquering the office

songstress and rock god-

All I Want. Headed by

September 2010. Talented

delicate one. With her new

voice. Signed to 4AD (also

sound system of late, his

dess to electronica folk-

iconic bald-headed Skin,

composers with a very

album, The Deep Field,

home to Deerhunter and

hypnotic vocals never fail-

stress. For her new album,

the Britrock band whent

contemporary commercial

Joan reveals her cosmic

Gang Gang Dance), their

ing to send a chill down our

Let England Shake, she

through the usual break-

nous, Hurts confirm their

side, with compositions

latest album High Violet

spines. Their latest album

calls upon long-time studio

up/reunion bout, coming

homecity’s reputation as a

laced with galactic symbol-

carries on the dirt-road

Kiss Each Other Clean,

collaborator Flood as

out of it in 2009 with their

breeding ground for some

ism and autobiographical

tradition of Midwestern

comes out on London-

well as Bad Seeds member

latest album Wonderlustre.

of the most phenomenal

meaning.

rock.

based label 4AD.

Mick Harvey.

pop acts around.

 Plays Ghent (Handelsbeur) on 17th February

 Play Utrecht (Cross-Linx Festival) on 17th February  Play Rotterdam (Cross-Linx Festival) on 20th February

 Play Amsterdam (Paradiso) on 15th February  Play Paris (Alhambra) on 17th February  Play London (Roundhouse) on 8th March

 Plays Paris (l’Olympia) on 24th February  Plays London (Troxy) on 27th February

 Play London (HMV Forum) on 3rd February  Play Paris (Le Trianon) on 10th February

See page 96 for live venue contact information.

Brussels.

Palais des Beaux-Arts NORTH TO EAST Thursday. 10.02.2011. 20:00 Jean Sibelius.

Karelia Suite opus 11 Edvard Grieg.

Concerto for piano Pjotr Tchaikovsky.

Symphony n° 2 Conductor.

Radoslaw Szulc Soloist.

Severin von Eckardstein. piano 1st Prize Queen Elisabethcompetition 2003

reservation & tickets www.symfonieorkest.be

100% SYMPHONIC Monday. 28.02.2011. 20:00 Seikyo Kim. conductor

Order your programme leaflet for our concerts in Brussels at tickets@symfonieorkest.be

Mendelssohn . Hindemith . Brahms

Severin von Eckardstein Š Shane Shu & Michel Cupido

20

The papers Arts Fashion Photography Industry Innovation

The black papers Some culture, some style and some good old-fashioned scaremongering.

Writers Nicholas Lewis, Jill Mathieu, Philippe Pourhashemi & Randa Wazen

Noir : entertaining a dark passion for sustainable fashion Sustainable designer lines might flourish all over the fashion sphere, yet it would seem that only a few brands can be credited for making it happen. Noir, a Copenhagen-based fashion group, was smart enough to get rid of all the hippie dippie connotations the fad carries by injecting some major sex appeal into sustainability. “The company was created in 2005 by Peter Ingwersen, who designed the collections at that time and had a visionary streak,” explains Niels Egelund, Noir's CEO.

“He wanted to create a luxury brand with an ethical message. Peter's claim to fame was making corporate social responsibility sexy.”

The aesthetics of Noir are feminine, elegant and slightly subversive. Black is a leitmotiv, using fair-trade and organic materials, such as leather, silk and cotton. Inspired by the Victorian era and Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock, the Spring/Summer ’11 collection – called “Black Powder” – offers sensual and sophisticated looks, using glossy leather, semi-sheer high-necks and starched cotton.

Despite Ingwersen having left the company he founded, his legacy lives on and new projects have been launched, such as Illuminati II, a branded fabric collaboration between Noir and Ugandan organic cotton producers, supplying high-end houses with Illuminati II fairtraded materials. Still, the economic climate proved to be a challenge for Egelund: “After the credit crunch, some of our clients faced budget cuts and opted for the Pradas and Guccis of this world instead. However, there are more and more intelligent consumers who don't want to be buying things all the time.

They see fashion as a meaningful process and that's a really good thing.” (PP)

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© Noir

Neighbourhood

noir.dk Visit thewordmagazine.be/radar/noir for a visual rundown of Noir’s latest look book.

© Noir Basic

Black beauty

Working exclusively with French tanneries and the best skins available, Noir Basic's exquisite outerwear pieces reconcile craftsmanship with the world of streetwear. Inspired by American culture and the refinement of Parisian ateliers, Anthony Lellouche, Romain Bernardini and Marc Leblond set up the brand in 2008, appealing to leather aficionados around the globe with their sleek designs. “We come from very different backgrounds, such as professional poker and alternative cultures, but knew we had a lot in common,” notes Leblond, the creative director. “We're very much inspired by the US and our collections span every

decade of the 20th century, except maybe the 70s. We like details that demand a second take.”

Using printed silk linings from Lyon, cotton denim from Okayama and 925 sterling silver zippers, the clothes are luxurious and timeless, from reworked bomber and biker shapes to suede Varsity jackets and butter soft lambskin hoodies. Rappers such as Lil Wayne and Booba are drawn to the brand and Leblond works closely with Cash Money Records in LA. Noir Basic will unveil its first womenswear line in March and is gradually expanding its international distribution. “Oki-ni.com stocks us and the Japanese were amongst the

first to buy our brand. Asia really understands what we do.” Establishing a direct reference to black was an obvious choice for Leblond.

“Black is my favourite colour and its eclecticism appeals to us. It also stands for the darkness of Paris, Charles Baudelaire's poetry and spleen.

I've got an extensive collection of black t-shirts, which I've stopped counting. Vampires look great in black, too.” (PP) noirbasic.com Visit thewordmagazine.be/radar/blackbeauty for Noir Basic’s latest silouhettes.

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The papers

ˆ “ At times he does not touch his camera for months and has a habit of putting fresh images aside ”

© Dirk Braeckman

ˇ

V.R. - P.A. - 96, 1996, 80 x 120 cm, gelatin silver print mounted on aluminium, edition of 3

Dirk Braeckman’s different shades of grey If general consensus agrees on the word “dark” to define the overall tone that prevails in Dirk Braeckman’s photographs, then perhaps “anarchist” is one that would best define his approach towards the medium, with which he entertains a self-confessed love/hate relationship. Renowned for his large-scale gelatin silver prints, whose rich textures bear close to no contrast, Braeckman never works in series, does not stage any action or setting, refuses to direct his subjects and proclaims a blatant disregard for the classic conventions of photography. Freedom and spontaneity are the key concepts to understanding his work, expressed in motion with his weapon of choice, a pocketsize point and shoot Contax T2. Which is not to say that he doesn’t abide by his own set of rules, as unconventional as they may sound. At times he does not touch his camera for months and has a habit of putting fresh images aside, usually waiting for at least one year before printing an image to gain some distance.

This self-imposed restraint has naturally led to a very modest body of work over the past

20 years, one that is nonetheless celebrated at home and abroad, meeting both critical and commercial success.

“I have to feel it while doing it,” is the leitmotiv that drives his experiments in the dark room, his “sacred sanctuary” where no other soul is allowed. Celebrating accidents – as in the case of an old negative found on the floor (pictured right) – Braeckman recycles and samples images by re-photographing old Polaroid’s, paintings, posters, or his computer screen. He developed what would become his signature style during his second year at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, smudging the chemical liquids with brushes and sponges. “I needed that physicality, to appropriate the medium.” The raw strokes of his early material have evolved and given way to cleaner surfaces and the strong autobiographical element – fairly obvious in his early selfportraits – is subtly hinted at by the haunting flash reflections that confirm his presence.

Reluctant to influence the viewer’s perception or interpretation, the titles are composed of cryptic initials and he avoids eye contact

with his subjects, as “a gaze is too anecdotic”.

Desolate spaces and interior close-ups became increasingly predominant, shadowing the presence of humans, “which is probably very disrespectful,” he jokingly concedes. Yet the human dimension persists, one way or another.

“Something just happened, might be taking place, or is bound to occur. To be honest, the story is not so relevant. What is of importance is the image.” In a funny way, the absence of clear direction is one that succeeded in guaranteeing the universal appeal of his pictures.

In an age of overexposure and access, Dirk ferociously guards his production, shielding his work from the public with a password protected website. “It’s a way of saying that I respect my work.” The same way he chooses not to sell any of his prints from the 80s and 90s. Though his pictures are referred to as black and white, “different shades of grey” would be far more fitting. “I tried to explore different routes, yet always find my ideas work best in black and white. Colour certainly does not retain the same quality or atmosphere.”

The obscure mood that runs throughout his oeuvre would lead one to rightfully imagine him as a gloomy pessimist, if not for its underlying dash of humour. (RW) braeckman.be

Neighbourhood

B.C.-D.L.-98, 1998, 120 x 180 cm, gelatin silver-print mounted on aluminium, edition of 3

T.A.-A.N.-96, 1996, 120 x 180 cm, gelatin silver-print mounted on aluminium, edition of 3

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24

The papers

ˆ “The era in which an orange travels around the world a few times before ending up on our table will come to an end.”

© Virassamy

ˇ

The end of the world as we know it Considering it takes seven gallons of oil to build a single tyre, electric cars suddenly seem like a risible solution to the oil shortage menace. “We will never run completely out of oil,” tempers Michael Ruppert, a former LAPD officer turned investigative journalist and the controversial author of Collapse, a book about peak oil. “There will always be oil in the ground, but once it costs more money or energy to dig up one barrel than that same barrel can generate, digging simply becomes useless.” The peak oil theory believes that oil production follows a bell curve: once you've reached the peak, it’s all downhill from there.

Production declines and new wells become increasingly hard to find. The theory, initially formulated by geologist M. King Hubbert, is now hailed by many converts, who are depicted as doom preaching pessimists by the nonbelievers. Michael Economides, a petroleum engineer at the University of Houston, calls peak oil predictions “the figments of the

imaginations of born-again pessimist geologists," hereby disputing multiple production reports pointing towards plummeting figures, from Russia to Saudi Arabia.

Whether the production follows this curve or another, one thing is certain: petrol is not a form of renewable energy, and having to drill deeper and deeper into the crust of the earth to find new oil pockets has proven to be equally expensive and disastrous, as demonstrated by the recent spill in the Gulf of Mexico. So what do we do now? We will have to give up the idea of our world as a “global village” and settle for the “village”, period. “The era in which an orange travels around the world a few times before ending up on our table will come to an end,” says Sara Van Dyck from Bond Beter Leefmilieu, a Flemish federation of environmental organisations. Obviously, the journeys undergone by the trucks and planes we rely on to bring us this tasty orange will become so expensive that the status of this fruit will shift from underrated daily vitamin fix to rare exotic delicacy.

Why not turn to sustainable energy to fuel those engines? “We could, but we do not have the resources to replace the 800 million internal combustion machines that exist on this earth.

Another problem with solar and wind power is that its only applicable locally, because a lot of energy is lost during transport,” Ruppert

explains. His advice: “start growing your own food. And buy gold and silver, as the monetary system, which is highly dependent on oil production, is bound to collapse too. Getting to know your neighbours would also be a good idea. You'll need them.” Désirée Röver, a Dutch investigative journalist, believes that “without oil, we will have no choice but to start working together on a local basis, trading knowledge and materials.” We’re already getting crafty on Etsy and the likes; the only thing that will change is that this DIY trend – that could be dismissed as a fad – will evolve into a useful lifestyle. In a world without oil, growing your own veggies will be more than just hip. It will become a necessity.

Our everyday lives are bound to take a drastic turn, as we can wave bye-bye to underestimated essentials such as shampoo, newspapers, aspirin tablets, or even lubricants. Could this be the end of the world then? Not quite, although it is the end of the world as we know it. Fortunately, we still have at least 50 years ahead of us to invest in bicycles with wooden tyres, learn how to make our own spaghetti, and brush up on those long forgotten boy-scout skills. (JM) peakoil.com Collapse (2009) by Michael Ruppert Chelsea Green Publishing

Š Virassamy

Neighbourhood

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26

The papers

Photographer Julien Claessens’ haunting portraits to Brussels at the age of 20 to pursue photography at La Cambre, having studied two years of art history in Auvergne. “I was fortunate enough to be part of a good couple of years at La Cambre,” he says between two drags on a cigarette. “My teacher at the time, Christian Carez, used to call them ‘les cinq glorieuses’ (the glorious five).” With an accomplished commercial career shooting, amongst others, Chanel’s fine jewellery collection and Nina Ricci’s look books, he now mostly splits his time between Paris and New York (“the capital and the second capital,” as he refers to them).

Astonishingly, and maybe because of his commercial success, the ‘artist’ tag leaves him perplexed, as he’s never considered himself to be one. Rather, he’s a photographer, one unsure whether photography is art. His is, pure and simple. (NL) julienclaessens.com

© Julien Claessens

The first thing that strikes you when looking at Frenchman Julien Claessens’ portraits is the intensity that inhabits his subjects’ demeanour.

They are intriguing and disturbingly confident. Unsettling even. A troubling feeling made all the more powerful by the way in which Claessens captures his sitters. Often just upperbody shots, his barely-lit interiors and paireddown backgrounds bring a gentle sensibility to his subjects. Through his lens, you view what could otherwise be described as a tenuous situation in a softer light. A more humanising one.

Think of Arbus’ attraction to the peculiar and the somber realism of Braeckman (who was a judge at his end of year show). Refined yet raw.

“Some are staged, others are more evolving.

Some are friends, others complete strangers,” Claessens says nonchalently of his portraits, when we meet in his flat. Having just moved back to Brussels from Paris, we discuss how he’d describe his style and where his artistic allegiances lie. “Northern, definitely,” he replies without hesitating, refering to his Belgian roots (his father is Belgian). He moved

Visit thewordmagazine.be/wonders/julienclaessens for more of Julien’s portraits.

Klein had his Blue. One could argue Kapoor owns red. And we’re willing to stick our necks out and predict that it won’t be too long until the artistic intelligentsia refers to ‘De Wilde’s Black’ as the darkest shade ever created, one that is 144 times “blacker than black”. ‘Hostage’ was imagined by Frederik De Wilde – a nerdy Belgian post-media artist blurring the boundaries between art, technology and science – and engineered with the help of the Rice University in Texas, reputed for spearheading the development of nanotechnology since the mid-eighties.

Created in three simple steps, a pure silicium wafer is popped into a machine called ‘Sputter’, along with metals like gold, copper or iron. The device beams electrons onto the matter, which is then placed in a chemical vapour deposition room and heated, allowing ethylene as well as other gases to run through it at a certain speed.

Suddenly the catalyst moment occurs and carbon nanotubes stem out of nowhere. This is where De Wilde pushes Klein’s approach one step further. “We both explore the idea of a void space. For him it was blue, the sky being the limit. For me, it’s outer space. He used raw pigments. I’m growing these nanotubes from the

© Michael De Lausnoy

Painted black

Prototype Nano Black on White, 2010

infinite.” Why is the result so black? Carbon is one of the darkest existing materials, but controlling the wavelengths of light is the catch. “We see by means of reflection,” explains Frederik.

“The material produced captures every single photon and doesn’t reflect light at all, from any of its angles. The nanotubes are comparable to a forest of black trees. Each photon turns into a ping-pong ball that bounces indefinitely between the tubes and never escapes the surface,

thus held hostage.” The result, although still very humble in scale, is of a mesmerising intensity, and it’s just the beginning. Frederik’s next challenge is to find ways to fill the surface of the material, allowing it to become a sheet that could be cut, folded, and used for clothing and complex shapes. Yes, 144 times blacker than black is definitely the new black. (RW) frederik-de-wilde.com

Neighbourhood

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28

The institution People Fashion Talent

Didier Vervaeren photographed in Brussels

The man in black Brussels’ most recognisable fashion figure could easily be dubbed “Belgium’s answer to Karl Lagerfeld”. Didier Vervaeren’s slim, tall and black build, topped by a black cap and shades (worn day, night, outside and inside) can be spotted in the front row of the city’s hippest fashion shows, gallery openings, and exclusive parties.

But behind this apparently frivolous and eccentric lifestyle is a hard-working and very knowledgeable self-made man, whose highly influential position in Belgium’s fashion sphere is far from usurped.

Words and photography Jack Moyersoen

As his French tainted accent suggests, Didier’s story starts in 1968 in Liège, far from the catwalk thrills. The elder son of two collegedropout teenagers, he grew up with an instinctive belief in self-sufficiency and an unusual sense of responsibility from a very young age.

“I had very liberal parents who never forbade me anything. I therefore soon realised that I had to establish my own limits,” he recalls. Raised mostly by his mother, he grew up right above his dad’s garage with his sister and two brothers. Their father, passionate about cars, made a living by spray-painting custom colours on cars.

By the time he was nine, Didier could already feel that his sexual orientation would somehow be different than his father’s.

Extremely sensitive with a precocious sense of style, he was drawn to fashion and sewing dresses for his younger sisters when he was 13.

“Everybody around me could feel that I was not like the other boys, but it’s never been a real problem. Except maybe for my grandfather…” he smiles. “I remember how he would insist that I engage in ‘manly” activities such as fishing, which I despised. He would then hand me slimy worms and make me pierce them with fishhooks.

I still shudder thinking of the squirt of fluids that sprinkled my face once, as I transfixed the bait,” he shivers, eyes closed with disgust.

As a teen, he fully embraced the 80s new wave universe, listening to Depeche Mode, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and

dressing up entirely in black like Robert Smith. Impervious to the mockery that some of his school mates displayed with regards to his manners and style, Didier naturally hooked up with people who shared the same sensibility and disdain towards bourgeois values. “I’m always impressed when I see that someone really took time and found pleasure in dressing up in a way that makes sense to him or her.

I remember being fascinated by the punks that hanged around my neighbourhood. I would observe all the detailed work that would go into the sculpting of their hair, and how they would accessorise their clothes with chains and precise rips,” he confides. “Today with Internet and all these gigantic clothing chain stores, you

Life

29

can easily find pretty much anything. But at the time you really had to dig deep to compose your look. To find our kind of stuff, we used to take the train to Maastricht where they had all these shops that were directly supplied from London.”

ˆ I’m always impressed when I see that someone really took time and found pleasure in dressing up in a way that makes sense to him or her. I remember being fascinated by the punks that hanged around my neighbourhood. ˇ To this day, the British capital remains Didier’s true Mecca of fashion. “There’s a really natural anti-conformist vibe there.

I believe it is emphasised by how intricately fashion and music seem to be linked. That’s what has made the strength of Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen.” If he can appreciate the natural elegance and effortless chic emanating from Parisians, he does qualify the French capital as a “city of bourgeois and bobos” with a relish of anarchic disdain. However, he does confess that each time he’s riding the Thalys back to Brussels, he gets the same gloomy feeling he experienced as a student when he visited Czechoslovakia. “It’s true, even though its getting better, Brussels does not have a strong fashion identity and culture like they have in Paris, London, or Milan. But I’d rather be a big fish in a small pond here, than a nobody there.”

After high school, Didier studied scenography for four years at the Fine Arts Academy of Liège. To pay for the tuition fee and his own flat, he secured himself a part-time job during weekends. And not the kind you would imagine to suit his creative streak: teller at the Cora supermarket of Rocourt in Liège. He scanned thousands of household products under the local clients’ scornful eyes, wearing an ill-fitting Coralabelled blue shirt and an ugly looking tie. Yet, he ended up keeping that job for over 10 years, as a safety net in case everything else failed.

Following his graduation, Didier decided to leave his hometown to pursue studies at La Cambre in Brussels, where he studied fashion design for five more years. “This unusually long curriculum actually gave me an edge and expanded my views on fashion,” he explains. He ended up graduating summa cum laude and with the jury’s congratulations. Today, 12 years since first passing through its doors, he is back at La Cambre, the place he calls “home”, but this time as a teacher in accessories design. “It’s a nice new challenge because that job is totally independent

Black, from head to toe

from any commercial or marketing pressure for results and efficiency. It’s also interesting to be around younger people, especially in a creative field such as fashion, where trends move so fast.”

In 1994, while still a student at La Cambre, Didier won the prestigious Hyères festival competition, with Thierry Rondenet and Hervé Yvrenogeau (of venerable style boutique Own).

One year later, it is again at Hyères that he met the winner of that year’s edition, Xavier Delcour. Their fusional personal and professional partnership would last 12 years. Xavier focused on the creative work and Didier operated as the brand manager, dealing with sales and designing parts of the collection. “It was a very intense period with no boundaries between our private life and our work, but at the same time very rewarding. Though it did leave us both kind of drained in the end.” In 2006, he joined Delvaux as Creative Director to reinvigorate the established label’s old-fashioned image with a dash of rebellion. He occupied that prestigious position three years, and learned

a lot along the way. “I really enjoyed working with a house that carries such a heritage, yet still manages to maintain a great family atmosphere.

The structure also helped me to separate work from the rest. I’ve since learned to spare more time for my good friends and open myself to other people,” he confides.

Today, in addition to the classes he teaches at La Cambre, the restless character has been appointed as the new Creative Director of Modo Brussels, a subsidised non-profit organisation that aims to promote the capital’s fashion to the public, the media and fashion industry professionals. As for the future, Didier is not short of ideas: “I’ve always felt that I would somehow end up in politics. But somehow I don’t relate to any current political movement. So maybe I will have to create a new party with all the colours, that is, black, and in which we would defend ideas and not ideals.”

Sounds like a role that Brussels’ very versatile and talented man in black would have no difficulties in undertaking.

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The Word on Industry People Heritage

Belgian miners The last coal mine in Beringen closed its doors in 1989, once the golden age of coal production was long gone. The remaining slag heaps and mining buildings are still visible for all to see around the city, situated in the province of Limburg.

Its terrains, the best kept mining site of Europe, now host the Flemish Mining Museum.

Prisoners of World War II were used as a workforce. Later on, guest workers from Spain, Greece, Morocco and Turkey came to the region for the heavy underground work. The statement that everyone in the mine is ‘black’ expresses the brotherhood among the miners. These former pitmen – both the native and the foreign coalers – remain the proud witnesses of this industrial past and still live in the mine’s vicinity.

Over two decades, they've grown accustomed to daylight but all share the same dark past.

Photography Sarah Eechaut

Life

Sadrettin Koรงak 1940, Turkey

Worked as a machinist in the mine shafts for 22 years.

Father of sp.a politician Sellahatin Koรงak, who also worked in the same mine from age 16 to 20.

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The Word on

Rudi Budie 1964, Lommel, Belgium

Worked down in the mine for 10 years. Lives on the mining site with a gang of timid cats where he now operates as a house keeper for the Flemish Mining Museum.

Ibrahim Sahin 1960, Turkey

Ibou (as he is affectionaly known) was one of the last foreign workers to come to Belgium and had been digging black gold for four years until the mine’s closure in 1989.

Life

Rudi Reekmans 1955, Hasselt, Belgium

Worked for 23 years in the pit.

Ended his career as head supervisor, acting nowadays as spokesperson for the former miners community.

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The other Word on People Heritage

Black sheep You can either follow in the footsteps of your family and comply to their every expectation like the good little sheep that you are or break from the herd and risk forever after being the clan's black sheep.

Photography Toon Aerts Writer Randa Wazen

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Life

ˆ “ I’ve come to terms with the fact that my life is a constant failure” ˇ

Jan Bucquoy 65, Artist, author and filmmaker

Beyond being considered his family’s black sheep, Jan Bucquoy’s life of continuous scandal has made him the black sheep of society as a whole. An anarchist, master at agit-prop, perhaps pariah even, his controversial ideas and concepts have led him to be jailed on several occasions and declared persona non grata in most places, such as the Croisette of the Cannes film festival. Amongst his lengthy list of unforgivable deeds, the most notable read as follow: burning an authentic Magritte painting in 1990, beheading a bust of King Baudouin on the Grand Place / Grote Markt in 1992, sketching a

pornographic version of Tintin, staging several failed “coups d’état”, and of course, creating the museum of underpants, founded on the democratic basis that “we’re all equal in our underwear.” This breezy troublemaker recounts these various episodes with pride, adding that we may laugh about it now, but 30 years ago, people were so offended by his pornographic portraits of the royal family that they wanted him killed. All his parents ever wanted for him was to become a diplomat. Jan had other plans. Yet even in the art world, he’s considered an outcast. Deemed too radical and scandalous, if not tasteless, his artistic expressions have led him to be constantly relegated to the underground, vilified by the national press and demonised by authorities.

His art is never included in reviews or major exhibitions. Galleries do not pick up on his work, which is sadly only known by a tiny fraction of the public. “Contemporary art is all about the case. Exhibited in the Dolle Mol, my pieces are worthless. Put them in a fancy Parisian gallery and their value will increase tenfold. I’ve come to terms with the fact that my life is a constant failure. One has to be really stupid to do what I do. My actions haven’t done me any good, yet I keep on doing it. On the bright side, politicians and authorities have stopped seizing my work and now acknowledge it to be art. That’s my one victory.” dollemol.be

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The other Word on

ˆ “ My extended family loathes me. Beyond being a black sheep, they see me as the lost one.” ˇ

Juan d’Oultremont 56, Multi-disciplinary artist, writer, actor, radio animator and teacher

“Like most artists, I guess I chose this path because I wanted to be different, especially growing up in a very codified and conservative environment,” explains the bespectacled enfant terrible of the Belgian contemporary art scene. “My great-grandfather died a hero during World War I and his was the only coloured photograph in my fourth grade history book. His last words were ‘You’re going to see how a d’Oultremont dies’. I grew up terrified that all the people bearing that name had to die that way. I wanted to be a hero too but not by

dying that way. I didn’t want to die at all for that matter!” When Juan started going to the SaintLuc art school in Brussels, he initially enrolled in interior decoration, seeing as it was the only field his family could possibly accept. Even though he switched sections after a week, he carried on with the charade, leaving home with a giant folder and an architect T ruler. “My father is a charming man but is incapable of understanding what I do. When we speak to each other I feel like I’m 15 again. I have to explain everything, rebel like a kid. My extended family loathes me. Beyond being a black sheep, they see me as the lost one. A while back I was invited to speak on a show about pornography. You can be sure that all the d’Oultremont’s were cursing

me because I had ‘soiled their name’.” Much as it may displease his own, Juan’s subversive and tongue in cheek style led him to gain a wide audience, be it in the media, the literary or theatrical sphere, and even at the Brussels-based Erg art school, where he teaches. “Even though it’s still widely misunderstood, art has suddenly become a practice that holds a cultural prestige.

Fifteen years ago, a fair like Art Brussels attracted 5.000 visitors in two days. Now it’s escalated to 50.000 visitors. If I’m a black sheep fair enough, but trust me I don’t fall asleep thinking about how I would have loved to be something else. It’s quite the opposite.” juandoultremont.org

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Life

ˆ “ I found that these people were by no means any better than what they call commoners.” ˇ

Catherine de Limburg-Stirum 53, Painter

Picture the following: a countess dropping out of high school to pursue a life as a painter, joining a Buddhist community, having three children from different fathers and giving one up for adoption. Très shocking, right? A descendant of Belgium’s second oldest family, Catherine grew up in her father’s family estate in Huldenberg, in what she described as a “very clannish atmosphere”. “All our uncles and aunts lived there until their marriages. I left when I was 23 and settled for a bohemian life in Brussels.” She then moved into a Buddhist community for six years and

married the father of her daughter one month before her birth, had another child from him, and got expelled by the community, moving back to the family estate. Needless to say, her marriages, children and love affairs didn’t go down very well and giving up on Catholicism was the final draw. “My mother was extremely worried that I would not baptise my children, so I reluctantly did it.” Personal faith and career path aside, what sets Catherine apart is her free spirit and open-mindedness. “I was told that nobility existed to set an example to be followed, yet I found that these people were by no means any better than what they call commoners.” Firmly convinced that everyone is interesting, regardless of any background,

title, origins, or religious views, Catherine managed to build a social circle that has no limits. For her relatives and fellow blue-blooded peers, it’s a very disconcerting thought and she is still widely considered a rebel, to the point where certain members of her family refuse to invite her. “If my freedom disturbs and scares them so much. So be it. It’s really not the end of the world.” catherinedelimburgstirum.tumblr.com

The business

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Industry

Beyond the veil Death is the one single certainty in life, and one that nobody can escape. And where nurses, local institutions and family members used to handle the necessary arrangements, we now face a globalised multi-faceted industry in constant evolution, with a turnover estimated to be ¤350 million per year in Belgium alone. Fact of the matter is, death has become big business, one with four distinct and compulsory rites of passage.

Photography Merel ‘t Hart

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Writer Randa Wazen

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A shell for eternity

What is one to do when the family business one has been running for the past century is failing? Make the best of the existing infrastructure and branch out. That’s what the Baeten’s opted for when facing the demise of their family’s woodworks factory – created in 1881, specialising in furniture and grandfather clocks. About 10 years ago, and following a drastic decline in sales, they considered different options, settling for coffins, a product that would never run out of demand.

The production of coffins in Belgium was

initially handled by the town administrations and independent manufacturers but has since become industrialised with three main factories now running the show: Demaco, Funico and Baeten’s Aninco. Employing 35 full-time workers, Aninco produces 100 coffins a day in its 11,000 square meter Limburg-based factory and supplies undertakers throughout the country and in parts of Holland. Offering about 60 to 70 different models in a variety of up to 10 colours, the options are almost endless.

Your typical solid wood coffin takes about two hours for production, weighs between 40 and 50 kilograms, and is made of either oak, ayous or tulipwood. Design-wise, traditional

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coffins are still very popular, although there is a newfound interest in the minimal design and straight lines. As for prices, they vary between 500 euros for the basic models and 5,000 euros for some specific high-end caskets, imported from Italy. A cheaper and lighter alternative (20kg), made of Medium-Density Fibreboard is usually favoured for cremations, the thinking being that if it is bound to be burned, why spend massive amounts on it? Although, as Jeroen notes, it’s almost absurd considering that whether the coffin is buried or cremated, no one will really get to notice or enjoy the difference.

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Funeral parlour

In a world defined by its uncertainties (the only constants being death and taxes), accountants and undertakers reign supreme. “Hired to face death for us” – to quote Six Feet Under, the TV show that widely popularised this obscure profession – undertakers will tackle all those subtle tasks, from contacting the administration, printing the announcements, housing and embalming a corpse to providing a hearse (the only legal way to transport a dead body), making the necessary arrangements for an eventual repatriation and scheduling and organising the funeral. This sector started appearing under the form of small-scale businesses in the late 30s, flourishing into an industry that now counts between 650 and 700 funeral homes throughout the country. Most independent outfits are now threatened by wider group acquisitions and Johan Dexters, who presides the Belgian federation of undertakers (Funebra), predicts that in less than a decade, all the small businesses will have disappeared.

In 2005, the Sophia group sold all its Belgian acquisitions to Dela, a Dutch insurance group, which now owns 80 funeral homes and four crematoria, leaving it with a 12 percent share of the Belgian market. This obviously constitutes a danger in terms of prices, which vary according to parlours and regions, known to be lower in Wallonia than Flanders. Certain entities offer packaged formulas; others work with customised rates. A new trend that has emerged concerns people who are isolated or have lost contact with their families, and wish to preorganise their funeral.

We all try to avoid the thought of death, yet those working in the sector are reminded of it every single passing second. In the undertakers’ case, the quality of the family will obviously impact the way they react to this situation. “It’s a job like another,” says Johan, who organises about 220 funeral services per year at his Peeraer-Dexters home, a third of which occur between the months of January and March. “It all depends on the client. It’s hard to feel any compassion for a family that is constantly fighting about inheritance and what not.

My work just becomes very mechanical, going through motions. If the family shares true pain, then it inevitably rubs off on you. It’s true that we’re always working in a context of grief but to be honest, we also laugh a lot. I’ve discovered that joy and pain are closely linked. People try to reminisce the good times, it’s the only way to cope with the tension and sadness.” There is no obligation to go through funeral homes.

That said, dealing with the loss of a loved one is hard enough to handle, making the average 3,500 euros cost of a funeral far from a luxury.

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The assembled coffins are suspended, ready to be spray painted Outlines of lids are traced on the wooden planks A worker checks if the varnish has dried The ceremony room of the Peeraer-Dexters funeral home The waiting room Detail of a bed for the deceased The deceased 06.

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The business

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Ashes to ashes

While most European countries started building their crematoria in the 19th century, Belgium had to wait until 1904 for its first facility in Uccle/ Ukkel. The church was influential at the time and fiercely opposed to this method. Towards 1963 a first step was made by not objecting to cremation and it wasn’t until 1971 that the country passed its first legislation, finally accepting cremation as a valid alternative to burial. In 2001, a law states that relatives are allowed to have the possession of the remains and bring the urn back home. If that is not the wish, the remains can be placed in a columbarium (a public cinerary urn storage space), buried in a traditional tomb, or scattered in a specific zone of the crematorium estate.

Scattering cremated ashes in the wild is currently illegal, yet it is the type of offence that is very hard to control. In 1986, about 20 percent

of the deceased in Belgium were cremated. That figure has since ascended to 50 percent. It’s at its lowest in Wallonia (27 percent) and highest in Brussels (65 percent), with Flanders enjoying a middle ground (53 percent). There are currently 12 crematoria in Belgium, with new projects on the way, such as the recently operational Sint-Niklaas facility and the upcoming one in Holsbeek. To Xavier Godard, director of the Uccle/Ukkel crematorium, one can’t justify cremation’s surge of popularity by financial motives only, as he maintains that this method is not systematically cheaper.

“There are many reasons, one of which was that a cremation ceremony didn’t have to pass by the church and could be performed in a simple and secular way. The burst of modern families, whose members are often spread across the world, is also an important factor. It becomes difficult choosing one single place where the deceased would remain. Another reason might

be that the deceased would not want to burden its relatives with the maintenance of their tomb.

There are also spiritual and personal preferences, many people wanting to be purified by fire.” The next step might be resomation, a new method that dissolves bodies in a chemical caustic solution, reducing costs and impact on the environment. The process has been approved in six states of the US, with Belgium making headlines this past summer, when talk of legalising the controversial method surfaced.

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A waiting room Transportation trolleys stored in the crematorium’s parking lot The biggest of the three ceremony rooms of the Uccle/Ukkel crematorium Large bones have to be extracted from the remains and are processed in the cremulator (left) The metal pieces extracted from the remains are kept aside and recycled. Proceeds go to charity

Life

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Six feet under

With the rise of cremation, cemeteries are less in demand. If that shift in trend conveniently minimises the growing issue caused by the lack of burial space, the disappearance of funerary art and monuments – for which people used to pay considerable amounts for and have become a part of our cultural heritage – should be mourned. Now that we have been granted the possibility to bring back the remains of our cherished ones home, it’s almost as though we are reverting to the ancient traditions of in-house mausoleums, or a family graveyard in the garden. With monument production on the decline, specialised marble smiths have become a dying breed, with those still around having branched out in the manufacturing of cremation urns.

Many cities face serious space shortages and one can’t help but wonder what will happen when all the cemeteries are full. So far this scenario hasn’t yet occurred in Belgium, where they are state run, meaning ours is one of the few European countries where you can still be buried for free – for a maximum period of 10 years. Beyond that, you either had to renew the “lease” by paying for it, or, as used to be the case, the “expelled” coffins were placed in mass graves. These days they are reburied six meters under the ground. Spaces are not the only elements being recycled. Monuments that are deemed valuable and which are not claimed by the relatives become state property and the counsel has the right to sell them to other families. As for those who chose to “buy” a space, it will be allocated for a certain time but, here again, there is no guarantee that the tomb will remain there for eternity. The Laeken cemetery is one of the oldest in Belgium and famed for the beauty of its monuments, which earned it the nickname of “the little Père Lachaise”.

Other notable graveyards include the 18-acre park of Schoonselhof or the beautiful and intimate setting of Lasne’s cemetery.

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View of the Laeken cemetery People used to visit and maintain their loved ones tombs regularly, a custom that has faded Several high profile Belgians, such as royals and artists, rest in the Laeken cemetery Down the alley

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The showstoppers

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Fashion Beauty Innovation Consume Food

The black market For a “non-colour,” black has surely seeped its way into every aspect of our lives, from fashion and food to beauty and bathrooms.

Photography Benoît Banisse Art direction and styling facetofacedesign

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Royal rolls

Toilet paper doesn’t usually get us talking, but that all changed on a recent night out.

After having downed one long drink too many, we staggered into the club’s restroom, bleary eyed and tipsy. We were greeted with the usual water closet fixtures and fittings (black tiles, black floors, black seats, the lot) but what really got us grinning was the matching toilet paper. That’s right people, black toilet paper. The initial novelty of our discovery having faded, we pondered what a brilliant idea this actually was. Why, we wondered, did toilet paper always come in the customary white sheets? Surely, it made more sense to censure skid marks by drowning them in a thick layering of black cushioning.

Anyway, it does now. And, you know what they say: once you go black you can’t go back.

Renova Black gift pack (¤7,51) Available from Rob (Brussels), ISPC (Ghent) and their online store wellbeingworld.com

Style

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The black panther

The great thing about a recession (if there ever was one) is having less money to splurge and going back to basics. Whether purist or novice, nothing beats the strength of classics, especially when it comes to trainers. Get rid of all the fancy extras and you'll end up with a cool shoe that will take you places. The folks at Puma seem to have got the memo when they decided to reissue the Suede classics – based on their 1978 creation – adding extra leather to give it a modern twist. Mixing the old with the new has never made more sense. (PP) Puma Suede Mid classics (¤99,95) Available from Johnny Velvet (Brussels), Lux (Antwerp) and Zimba (Ghent) puma.com

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Sex smells

When Tom Ford introduced Black Orchid – the first fragrance under his own name – in 2006, he created an instant classic without even knowing it. Ford wanted a glamorous and distinctive scent, breaking away from the minimalism of the 90s and its clinical aesthetic. Encased in its sleek, Art Deco inspired bottle, Black Orchid is bold, heady and sensual, combining notes of sultry woods, blackcurrant and vanilla with sandalwood and truffles. Inspired by the beauty and elegance of the rare flower, the Texan designer dreamed up an elusive perfume, both mysterious and noticeable. Simply put, it’s sex in a bottle. (PP) Black Orchid eau de parfum by Tom Ford 100 ml bottle (¤120) Available from all good perfumeries tomford.com

The showstoppers

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Where there’s smoke

Blame it on Louise Brooks, Morticia Adams or Cleopatra, but sorting out the perfect smokey eye has been most women’s – and some men’s for that matter (Jared Leto, can you hear us?) – lifelong beauty challenge.

In steps Guerlain’s loose kohl in its Indian inspired case. With its pitch-black intensity and astonishingly long lasting effects (up to six hours), it’s perfect for the waterline innerlid, the tricky bit being mastering the wand without gouging your eye out and controlling the fallout. Paired with Chanel’s eyeliner duo: a glittery shadow powder on one side and a cake liner – to be smudged dry or used wet for a retro liquid effect – on the other, you’re good to go. Otherwise doomed to wander the earth with what could be mistaken for a decade-long heroin habit or worse, looking like a pre-pubescent emo (no offense, Jared).

Guerlain Terracotta loose powder kohl liner (¤32,94) and La Ligne de Chanel (¤38,14) Both available from all good perfumeries guerlain.com chanel.com

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I’ll have mine black

Why should anyone settle for boring white rice and mushrooms, sad tan coloured pasta, sesame seeds, potatoes and beans, or the same old red radishes? Perhaps there’s something off-putting about black food, although it often retains a higher nutritious value than its lighter hued counterparts. And if you’re anything like us, with cooking skills that happen to be mediocre, to say the least – these black delights are sure to provide the “wow factor”, where your burnt roast might have failed at impressing guests.

Castagno Bruno pasta “integrale di Kamut con spirulina” and beluga lentils, available from Natural Corner.

Dried mushrooms, black beans, and sesame seeds, all by the brand Golden Lilu and available from Kam Yuen Superstore.

Radish, potatoes, Riso Bello Venere black rice, and truffles available from Rob. Blackberries available from most supermarkets.

Visit thewordmagazine.be/dribbles/theblackmarket for full purchase links.

See page 96 for full stockist information.

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The way People Talent Fashion

A darker shade of love Seductive. Iconic. Dangerous. Powerful.

These are some of the words that come to mind when thinking about black. The ubiquitous non-colour – which many like to use and perceive as a real one – has an aura of its own, as well as a strong visual impact within many cultures. Black provokes extreme reactions, which may often lead to obsessive behaviour and complete devotion. There exists a certain black brotherhood out there which simply couldn't imagine living without it. In the fashion world, black is more than just a colour. It is a true classic, standing for elegance, purity, longevity and integrity. It is also the colour designers sell the most, even though black comes in a variety of shades, textures and nuances. It is sleek, versatile, sharp and, ultimately, daring.

Writer Philippe Pourhashemi

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© Miguel Villalobos

© Nobuyoshi Araki

Style

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The Mode Museum in Antwerp – better known as MoMu – dedicated a whole show to black last spring, gaining rave reviews and reasserting its power in fashion. Kaat Debo, MoMu's director, was waiting for the right opportunity to do an exhibition on black and found out through research that it had historical links with Antwerp, going back as far as the 16th century.

“Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, the city became a European centre for dyeing fabrics black. It was a costly, difficult and time-consuming process, but Antwerp had the expertise to do it well. Obviously, it was difficult finding clothes from that period, so we used paintings instead, which was new for us. We chose traditional, Flemish style portraits, where black was predominant. At that time, it was already associated with individuals and families who had money, power and social prestige.”

It is fascinating to see how ambiguous and paradoxical black remains, constantly acquiring new layers of meaning and evolving with each era. It can have a subversive voice, fade into the background, speak for the avantgarde or embody minimalism. “Black can have so many different connotations,” notes

Many observers see Pernet as the ‘ Queen of Black ’ and she has worn the colour exclusively for more than 25 years. ˇ Debo. “It is a pious colour, used in different religions, but it also stands for the 20 th century's underground scenes and many forms of subculture, such as beatniks or punks. It's the colour of resistance and rebellion. I think Japanese designers in the 80s, such as Rei Kawakubo (founder of Comme des Garçons) and Yohji Yamamoto, gave black a new direction, which was more conceptual, abstract and intellectual.”

Regardless of historical context and sociological interpretations, black is often associated with passion, mystery and intensity.

Meet Diane Pernet (pictured above), fashion journalist, film curator, former designer and revered icon, whose blog, A Shaded View on Fashion, is a reference within the industry.

Many observers see Pernet as the “Queen of Black” and she has worn the colour exclusively for more than 25 years. Her earliest memories of black come from cinema, growing up in

Philadelphia and watching films that influenced her. “The strongest impression I had was Anna Magnani in a black slip in The Rose Tattoo. I just thought it was so sexy. She as playing this strong, emotional woman and I was really drawn to European directors then, such as Luis Buñuel or Pier Paolo Pasolini.

My family was catholic and I enjoyed going to church, often wearing a black mantilla. Priests and nuns have always attracted me.”

When Pernet moved to New York and set up her own label, she changed her look each season, wearing colour and prints for the first couple of years. However, she soon realised that black was the only way to go. “I didn't really wear black as a kid,” she recalls. “When I started designing, I wore my own pieces, but started finding prints and colours really distracting. The real reason I wore black was because I wanted to distance myself from my designs.

It felt like a blank canvas and things functioned better that way.” Pernet's love for black never wavered and became her signature style, wearing long skirts, a veil, sunglasses and tailored shirts. Her pale skin and red lips offered contrast, turning her into a René Gruau print.

The way

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Her appearance shocked conservative Parisians when she moved to the City of Light in the early 90s. “Even though my husband passed away quite young, wearing black was never about mourning for me. I wish people could get over it,” she says laughing. “When I arrived here, I got insulted on the street frequently.

I remember this woman walking up to me in an art gallery, telling me I shouldn't dress this way and that I was obviously begging for attention. It was mad.” Pernet comes across as a free spirit who never really cared what other people thought. She decided to stick to her black guns instead. “I was a designer for 13 years and wore only black for an entire decade, the exception being my bathrobe. Black gives me energy, even though people say it absorbs it. I feel really strong in black and I feel like me. I think it's the most elegant colour. It's always right.”

The timelessness of black not only appeals to Pernet, but to many other women with creative jobs. There's a strong connection between black, confidence and female power. Just think of Rita Hayworth singing “Put the Blame on Mame” in Gilda, wearing a tight, black satin bustier gown and slowly taking her long, shiny

Women like Isabelle stick to black because it never betrays them.

It also forms an armour against the outside world, creating a sense of comfort and protection black lovers often seem to go back to. ˇ

gloves off. Black seems to transcend generations and nationalities too, evoking desire, eroticism and seduction for some, restraint and conservatism for others. Isabelle Lenfant (pictured above), a jewellery designer based in Brussels, loves black unconditionally, which she sees as a true friend and extension of herself, “I never tire of black and it's always been part of my world. It feels like there's every colour in it and I sort of fell into it. Once you've worn black, it's hard to choose anything else. Look at the little black dress, it's such a classic in every wardrobe.” In her own collections, Lenfant likes to oxidise silver, giving it a dark sheen, which creates a unique and distinctive patina.

Sitting in her stylish living room, one cannot

help but notice the omnipresence of black, from the leather sofas and little lamps to the candle holders and coffee tables. “I have a lot of black objects at home. Even my bikinis for the beach are black!” she says jokingly, “I like its graphic aspect and started wearing it when I studied at La Cambre. It felt so normal.” Lenfant likes her pieces to be unique and personal. She only works with precious metals and aims at creating items that will stand the test of time, telling her story, but allowing others to construct their own, too, “My work is private, but I like to share stories with people. This is what my jewellery is about and maybe the reason why I'm here. I have my own codes and each creation represents a different chapter of my life.

Jewels are so charged emotionally and they always have a strong narrative element. They get passed on from generation to generation, which I find so beautiful.” Women like Isabelle stick to black because it never betrays them.

It also forms an armour against the outside world, creating a sense of comfort and protection black lovers often seem to go back to: “You cannot lie wearing black and that makes me feel safe. What you see is what you get. There's a

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truth about it that appeals to me. Black grounds me. And it's real. When you oxidise silver, the colour changes gradually as it touches your skin. Darker spots tends to fade away and silver accents start shining through. It's such an organic and amazing process.”

Devotion to their craft is something that unites black worshippers. They're consumed by what they do and strongly believe in their own self. Such individuals have strength, ambition and enough drive to go forward.

When Hannah Marshall (pictured above), an English fashion designer, presented her first show in 2009, she already had a strong sense of her aesthetics and what she was about. “For my first off-schedule show in London last year, I used mostly black and guess it quickly became my trademark. My pieces are sculptural and architectural, but I want them to be sensual, too. People associate my clothes with a dark energy and they can be quite androgynous. I'm always inspired by women who are powerful, strong and charismatic. For my last spring summer show, which was part of the official schedule, I was inspired by the singular beauty of Grace Jones and David Bowie in his

She seems to embody the magnetic and mysterious virtues of black, loving contradictions in her designs and exploring the paradoxical nature of women. ˇ

Berlin period.” There's something statuesque and striking about Marshall herself. With her pale skin, soft, seductive voice, shiny long hair and layered black outfit, she could be Patricia Arquette's little sister in Lost Highway. She seems to embody the magnetic and mysterious virtues of black, loving contradictions in her designs and exploring the paradoxical nature of women. “I like covering up the body, but revealing it at the same time. There's a black silk jacket in my last collection, which is tailored in the front, but totally sheer in the back.

I find that super sexy and enjoy playing with these kinds of contrasts in my work.”

Even though she wears black all the time, Marshall introduced paler tones in her latest collection, surprising many of her devoted fans. “I guess people didn't expect me to go for pastel colours and some were probably

shocked, but not in a bad way,” she insists.

“I still wanted a sense of structure, but some lightness, too.” Marshall was born in Essex and decided it was not necessary to move to London to grow her business. “ I stuck to my guns and realised I didn't have to live there to work as a designer. I guess it was difficult at first, being a graduate from a college outside London and getting my voice heard, but I was head-hunted

by NESTA, which promotes innovation in the UK. I remember having to do all these presentations and being completely out of my own comfort zone. I was just 21 at that time.” Now in her late 20s, she gets recognition and praise from international press, as well as influential buyers. Her clothes are stocked in some of the world’s finest stores, such as Opening Ceremony in New York, Harrods in London and Ra in Antwerp. And, let's face it folks, this is far from being about girl power. Black is what unites this talent.

Diane Pernet ashadedviewonfashion.com Isabelle Lenfant i-l.be Hannah Marshall hannahmarshall.com

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The fashion Word Fashion Consume Photography

The empire strikes black With its accentuated twists, exaggerated turns, punctuated moments and reinvigorated shapes, this season’s loosely structured silhouettes reinterpret and reinvent a new kind of black.

Hell-bent on form and fit to function.

Photography Sébastien Bonin

Fashion Simon-Pierre Toussaint

Style

Vintage Coat A.M. Beretta ( from Pièce Unique)

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Hooded leather top Raf Simons Archive, Wool and leather mini-skirt Paule Ka, Felt and lambskin hat Hermès, Leather scarf and belt Olivia Hainaut, Leather sailor bracelet Natalia Brilli, Leather fingerless mitt Mais il est où le soleil?, Boots J.M.Weston

Leather keffiyeh Natalia Brilli, High waist bra Eres, Wedge heels Cos, Cape Yves saint Laurent Archive ( from Pièce Unique )

Veil Dearest, Silver necklace Yves saint Laurent Archive ( from Pièce Unique), Long creased skirt Thierry Mugler Archive ( from Pièce Unique), Calfskin boots Hermès

Top Natan, Short smoking blazer Sandrina Fasoli, High waist pants Paule Ka, Derby hat Henrik Vibskov, Calfskin boots Hermès

Silver necklace Yves saint Laurent Archive ( from Pièce Unique), Trousers Gucci

Black neoprene mini jacket Paule Ka, Viscose long dress Hermès, Brogue shoes COS, Hat Vintage

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The fashion Word

Black velvet rocker Chanel Archive ( from Pièce Unique) Lace dress Olivia Hainaut, Boots Vintage

Style

Photographer SÊbastien Bonin Photographer’s assistant Ludovic Hanton

Fashion Simon-Pierre Toussaint Retouching Jonathan Steelandt

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Hair and make-up Sigrid Volders

Visit thewordmagazine.be/office/

for Chanel and Bumble & Bumble

for a behind the scenes short.

Model Helen Feskens

See page 96 for full stockist information

empirestrikesblackvideo

@Dominique Models

Wool and silk cape Dearest, T-shirt Raf Simons Archive, Long skirt Jean-Paul Knott, Shoes COS

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The columns Consume Talent Nostalgia Heritage We love New release

02.

The beat goes on

03.

Scanning the black market

Matthew Dear’s Black City, the Texan-born, New York-based DJ/producer’s latest album, mixes piercing electronic beats with Dear’s signature vocals – something similar to a slightly more subdued Prince. Black City. Our wildest fantasies had imagined it as a fictional metropolis where imaginary, black-clad robotic inhabitants all marched in unison to Dear’s hypnotic sound. Something of a Piper of Hamelin for the dance-pop generation if you will. As it turns out, it is nothing of the sort. “I think it’s the way the label marketed it,” clarifies Dear, who admits that while the mood in Black City is definitely tinted by his own experience of life in New York, that’s as far as it goes. “I’m not prone to being dark,” he shrugs. “But I understand if my music is perceived that way. Synthesizers have a very non-human feel and can sound quite sinister. I’m a realist. There’s a lot of gloom out there. I strive to embrace the happy moments.” Besides his prolific production output – he often produces under the monikers Audion, False and Jabberjaw – Dear also is co-founder of Ghostly International (home to Gold Panda and Michna amongst others) and Spectral Sound (Birds & Soul, Bodycode).

Beyond the fact that his music simply is too good to be true, it is the sheer versatility of Dear’s offering on Black City that is mesmerising. Indeed, one song could make you want to shoot up (I Can’t Feel), another could make you cry (Gem), another could make you bum-rush the dance floor (Soil to Seed) whilst another could actually make you consider getting back with that heartbreak you’ve been trying to erase from your mind (Slowdance). (NL) matthewdear.com ghostly.com

© Yassin Serghini

© Ulrike Biets

01.

The (not so) dark knight

It sometimes takes a less than inspiring cover to stumble upon a long forgotten gem. Case in point with Villa’s recent Beats of Love (featuring New Young Pony Club’s Lou Hayter on vocals), a rather weak cover of Belgian new wave band Nacht Und Nebel’s 1984 track of the same name. Insistent, naïve and melancholic, the original was very simply a jewel of a tune, and one that managed to sell a mindboggling 150,000 copies throughout Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. The track and eponymous album would mark the heyday of the three-piece, fronted by charismatic band leader Patrick Marina Nebel.

Wonderfully dark yet uplifting, at times verging on the insane (Movoco Synthaca, Zafari), Beats of Love offered a collection of new wave wonders. Laguna of Love’s throbbing bass-line and crisp cymbals are Joy Division-worthy, had Ian Curtis weighed an extra 90 kilos and been on steroids. Part grotesque clown, part psychotic ringmaster, Nebel had an intensity and presence that was (sadly) quite literally larger than life. The overweight entertainer’s unhealthy lifestyle, topped by a heavy addiction to pills and alcohol led to a premature fatal heart failure in 1986, aged only 28, and the band’s end. Live fast, die young, and leave a stunning legacy. (RW)

Cult status in the music world is a hard thing to acquire and even harder to maintain in today’s culture of disposable mp3 downloads, widespread digitalisation and indistinguishable chart acts. But there are some things iTunes can’t replace. London’s BM Soho, formerly Black Market Records, has perpetuated as an oracle for dance music lovers across the UK and beyond. Award winning, it caters to the worlds finest DJs and music industry hacks with its cutting edge and vast range of records spanning soulful, funky house, minimal, electro and dubstep. The store’s co-owner Goldie (no, not that one) cites the shop’s success to the enthusiasm of its customers and expert staff. A case in point: BM Soho’s staff is mostly made up of some of the best names on the international club scene, further strengthening its position as a central hub of activity for DJs and producers for the last two decades. If it’s worth listening to, or better skank to, then they’ll have it. Widely recognised for its hand in the emergence of early drum and bass, jungle, dubstep and UK garage scenes, BM Soho’s influence is still being felt with the current popularity of UK funky. In short we’ve got these guys to thank for many, many good times. (RK)

Music

© Yassin Serghini

04.

Music to your ears

The role of headphones in today’s constant media consumption culture is one infused with its fair bit of irony. We spend in the hundreds of euros on playing devices (iPods, smartphones, shiny new Mac desktops) and eagerly click away on that ‘buy’ icon in the iTunes Store (it used to be the local record store but, hey, you know how that story ended) yet become stingy little fuckers when it comes to headphones, arguably as crucial a component to your solo listening sessions as, say, the record’s liner notes (or, nowadays, the artist’s Wiki page). Fact is, when it comes to headphones, we’re content with what we’re given. A pair of intrusive tiny little earpieces dangling off some white cable with little more than a nine months chance of survival. And that’s where Marshall’s Major headphones come into play, a neat piece of headgear that comes attached with just the right amount of rock notoriety. Slick, sturdy and sexy, the leather-clad headset embraces your ears instead of butchering them. The sound is rich, crisp and deep. The bass resonates to perfection, echoes last an eternity. And the vocals, ah the vocals. Let’s just say I felt like John in Being John Malkovitch. For just a minute there, I was convinced White Car (the no-wave, disco two-piece from Chicago I was testing the headphones with) were in my head, using my brain cells as synths and ear drums as mics. No really, I swear. (NL)

05.

The Black Album according to The Weathermen

“The mid-eighties electronic landscape was quite limited: you either faced the gloom, latex and gas masks of the industrial scene or had to endure the cheese of bubblegum electro-pop,” remembers musician Jean-Marc Lederman.

This jaded discontent led him to create The Weathermen in 1985, an unlikely BelgoAmerican two-piece that began as a complete joke. With their preposterous aliases, sarcastic lyrics (“Put on a George Bush mask, go disguised as trash, to kill the party”) and ludicrous motocross stage outfits, Jimmy-Joe Snark III (Lederman) and Chuck B (Bruce Geduldig, of Tuxedomoon fame) introduced a much-welcomed breath of fresh air in a scene that took itself far too seriously. Filled with surreal stories and insane fictional characters, their career path definitely reads more like a well-rounded Coen brothers script than your average VH1 Behind the Music. Riding on the wave of their catchy hit Poison, which was heavily rotated on MTV, their Black Album would be their finest recording. “In 1987, two artists had the entire world at their feet,” Jean-Marc recounts. “Prince, with his mysterious Black Album, and then someone who desperately wanted to be Prince: Terence Trent d’Arby, who released Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby.

Coming up with The Black Album According to The Weathermen was a no-brainer.” The band’s ensuing releases never quite equalled its success and after a 12-year hiatus, The Weathermen called it a day in 2006. “There’s no nostalgia. We said what we had to say and released good records.” The Chemical Brothers cite them as a strong influence, but that’s nothing compared to two of their tracks finding their way onto Baywatch – “the achievement of the ultimate fantasy: Pamela Anderson running in slow motion to a tune you wrote”. (RW)

Marshall’s Major headphones, (¤100) Available from Johnny Velvet (Brussels)

theweathermen.net

and Essentiel (Antwerp)

Visit thewordmagazine.ne/radar/theweathermen for a video

marshallheadphones.com

edit of some infamous Weathermen moments.

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06.

Band on the line

With Thomas Raschke’s The Band, what you see is not what you get, at least, not at first glance. To begin with, this isn’t an actual band, per se, though you can catch the artist strumming on his handmade bass guitar from time to time. Instead, what you get are the black lines, outlines and curves of a full bandset; drums, speakers, guitar and amps modeled on Raschke’s very own Marshall amplifiers. Call it an ‘illusion of plasticity’ if you will. For 20 years this artist has worked with steel wire, his signature medium, to produce artworks that trick the eye and leave onlookers bemused as to what they are actually looking at. As you walk around the piece it comes alive, culminating with the German artist’s passion for music and creative diligence, constantly pushing the boundaries of physical reality, form and visceral perception.

Inspired by the nascent simulations on the screens of computer numerical control machines he worked with when he was 18, and later by the graphics of Moebius’s mindbending set and costume designs in Tron (1982), Raschke challenged himself to beat the machines at their own game. When he wasn’t training as a goldsmith in his hometown of Schwäbisch Gmünd or studying sculpture in Stuttgart in the early 80s, Raschke was also playing bass guitar in a new wave group and then a punk band. Music has accompanied his entire career and is significant, even in the constant buzz of the radio in his workshop and the meticulousness of the work confirms his devotion to good vibrations. This is where Thomas Raschke is no ordinary goldsmith turned conceptual artist. (RK)

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The Word with New release Talent We love

The joker has landed Certain artists sometimes seem to drop a bomb on you out of nowhere. You kind of had heard their name somewhere before, but couldnt quite place it. You know they aren’t exactly newcomers to the game, but they aren’t old-timers neither.

It’s that certain breed of ‘on-the-cusp-of-breaking-through’ artists. Some seem to be eternally relegated to the category, whilst others just pass through. Drums of Death, with his amazing debut album Generation Hexed, is merely passing through, his eyes firmly set on bigger pastures.

With over 10 years of production experience, time was ripe for Scotsman Colin Bailey to come out from the darkness and do his own thing.

And what a ‘thing’ Generation Hexed turned out to be.

Interview Nicholas Lewis

Music

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Having initially hoped to meet with him in London, last minute confirmations, overpriced train tickets and overall bad luck meant we finally had to resort to an email interview.

Not ideal, we know…

Where are you whilst you're writing this, and what were you doing before we interrupted you?

Hello, I was playing a guitar I just bought and drinking coffee.

Where were you hiding all this time?

Seems like you've popped out of nowhere with one killer of an album…

Thanks, I've been writing and planning… travelling around and behaving badly.

The album was released end of September.

What have you been up to since?

I've done some remixes (Fenech Soler and Kele from Bloc Party) and loads of shows.

I then took some time off in Berlin.

Given the mainly positive response it’s received, are you now booked for DJ sets up to end of 2012 or something?

Since day one we've tried to only play the most interesting parties and shows. I've been lucky so I say yes to what I really want to do. That's the nice way of saying I'm difficult to please, but my agents are cool.

Your album Generation Hexed has had everything from 1/10 reviews to 10/10 reviews. How do you explain this ‘you either love it or hate it’ reception? There seems to be no in-betweeners…

Right! My favourite reviews were where people hated on one song that another review hailed as total genius. It helped me not worry about people's reactions. I think some people thought I was cocky or being too clever because I was known for quite intense rave music but the album is more melodic than that. It's better to strive to grow and be more than what we are.

There's pretty much not one music genre that isn't somehow drawn upon in Generation Hexed. How would you describe your sound?

I don't know. Ha! Sorry, that's not helpful for an interview, right?! The album is melodic yet hard, a little funky and clear influences of my punk rock beginnings. The album is really the story of the last 18 months of shows and touring. It's all made at home, so it feels raw in places. I suppose it's a bedroom electronica album with grand ideas.

What do you listen to, generally and at the moment?

Right now a lot of early electronic music and afrobeat. I'm also going through Strictly Rhythm's back catalogue, their history of house music holds so many awesome tracks. Marcus Lamkin aka Shit Robot just sent me his album which is really great. I'm also loving the UK label Night Slugs, those guys are putting out some serious stuff right now. So funky.

What is the first LP you can remember buying? What was the last one?

I think the first one was Michael Jackson's "Bad", the last was a Serge Gainsbourg album.

How do you construct a song? Where and when does it start, and stop?

Once I have an idea, I make a demo and I send it to my manager. By the time he listens to it, I've changed the track twice and it sounds completely different. I know when a piece of music is finished, I just feel it. If it's not good when its done, it gets disposed of, maybe I take a tiny segment I like and start something new with that. "All These Plans" from the album started this way, I used the "Oooh" chorus sound I made for a different track but threw the rest away and kept only

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The Word with

this sound. Having good feedback is important as I can get lost in the tiny elements of a song, forgetting the bigger picture. I get lost in the sonics. My manager and friends pull me back out… haha.

Can you tell us a little about the village you come from? What was your childhood like? How much does it inform your music?

It's a beautiful place by the sea in Scotland. It's very busy in the summer with tourism but growing up there you always felt so cut-off from the rest of the world. I could go into this a lot more but let’s just say that as a child I use to have fantasies of tidal waves, storms and earthquakes tearing the land under the town asunder and allowing me to run off to live my life as I saw fit. I was a dreamer child, head in the clouds as they say, I used to draw over every one of my school books. I’d say the town did not directly influence my music but it shaped me as an outsider and made me very stubborn.

Is there a musical tradition in your family?

None at all.

Your punk/metal background is wellknown, and clearly shines-through in your music. Can you talk to us a little about that period in your life? What bands were you listening to at the time?

It started with certain earache bands like Entombed and Carcass then someone played me Black Flag and Fugazi which really sealed it for me. My tastes broadened and I really got into post-punk – The Fall, Bauhaus, Joy Division and PiL. From that I was into Krautrock like Neu, Harmonia and Can and started listening to old rock’n’roll and rockabilly. I was buying records mail-order and from the only record store in town every week, I was addicted to all this exotic music and I dreamed of leaving my town.

Greco-Roman (the Berlin-based label which released Drums of Death’s debut) seems to be the perfect home for your eclectic work. Can you talk to us about how that connection came about?

After I came back from NYC where the Drop The Lime and the Trouble & Bass guys had brought me out to DJ a little for them, I made a mixtape of beats and weird noises that found its way into the hands of Joe (Joe Goddard of Hot Chip) and Alex (Alexander Waldron, cofounder of the label) from Greco. I played a party for them in Manchester that was really fun and has now gone down in legend for some crazy stuff that happened.

A little obvious one: what is up with the make-up? How long does it take you to apply it?

What's with you NOT wearing paint?? Well…

It's pretty simple, I used to make music with strings and live instruments and such things so when it came to deciding to make dark and powerful music I wanted to do something that would stand-out and contrast with all the other artists. I knew how I wanted to perform the live shows so I needed a guise to match the energy of the performer. I'm not a performance artist… Nothing about the way I move is an act… I just jump onstage with a laptop, samplers and a mic and tear up the club the best I can.

Having never seen you live, I've had to resort to shitty YouTube videos to get a sense of your live acts. They come across as phenomenally energetic. How do you feel

when on-stage? What do you want the audience to take away from your live shows?

A Drums of Death show is sweat, noise, basslines, love songs and techno…haha. I try to merge a physical show where you feel really involved with what's going on onstage with percussive, noisy and soulful rave music.

You've worked quite a lot with Peaches.

How did that connection come about?

She just came up to me at my first show in Berlin and we got talking. She’s hands down the most professional and hard-working person I've met. I really want to write more for her, making the "I Feel Cream" track was cool but trying to find time to do this is difficult.

Music

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Drums of Death’s rapid-responses

Stage or studio ?

Analog or digital ?

Black or white ?

Fast or slow ?

Short or long ?

Right or wrong ?

Under or over ?

Sad or happy ?

Rap or hip hop ?

Loud or quiet ?

Up or down ?

Driver or passenger ?

Crack or pop ?

Drink or smoke ?

Live or die ?

Generation Hexed featured Gonzales playing piano on the last track (Voodoo Lovers).

How was it working with him?

We met in Paris, he said he'd love to play for me so I just sent him the track via email and he did it pretty quick. I had been warned he was real slow with emails but it was simple and straightforward. I wrote the piano part originally but upon hearing his recording it felt brand new, like hearing it fresh for the first time.

piece of it and create something really hard and weird. I try to make them all funky and different to the originals, I’ll usually keep the vocals in too.

Your remixes are also starting to garner quite a following. Just out of interest, how much would one set me back?

Ha. It really depends… I’ve done some for free, some for a lot of money. I did the Hot Chip one for free but Joe remixed me back. Joe is also co-manager of the label.

You've recently revealed plans of a project with Mumdance. Can you tell us a little more about it?

Mums of Death! Yeah, I've known Jack aka Mumdance for a little time now and we bonded over lost summers spent playing computer games. We’re the kids of the 16bit age and still love the crazy music from those games.

Big influence on us. We’ve finished our first EP which will be available from Beatport and such places as you're reading this. It's all original music inspired from games like Golden Axe and Shadow of The Beast… I've started calling it 16bit Soca or Mega Drive carnival music.

More technically, how do you go about remixing a song?

Sometimes I want to re-write the song completely, other times I just want to take a tiny

What does the future hold? Gigs? More collaborations?

The next single from Generation Hexed will drop in February, followed by a lot of

Stage Digital Black Slow Short Right Over Happy Hip hop Loud Up Passenger Pop Drink Live

touring after that. Each progressive single will show more melody to what I do. I will definitely be writing more music and there's some cool collaborations coming. I’ve sung on a track by Detboi, an old school house track that's really funky, this will come out in 2011. There will be some Mums of Death shows… It’ll be a DJ assault team thing with elements of my live show mixed with Jack's and his MCs. There'll be dancers and crazy shit.

What will you do straight after having answered these questions?

Drink more coffee. Play some piano.

myspace.com/drumsofdeath4eva myspace.com/grecoromanmusic

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The time-out with Talent Heritage

Lords of chaos Amenra’s sludge/postcore sound is often described as ‘darker than black’ and the band itself as Belgium's best-kept underground secret.

The ‘Church of Ra’ not only refers to their recently released DVD, shot in the cellars of a monastery, it has also become synonymous with their ever-growing loyal fan base. The Kortrijkbased band made history when a power shortage cancelled their performance at Ieperfest in 2004. Not likely to let that halt them, Amenra improvised a surreal set in a nearby forest instead.

Eager to revive that haunting episode, we caught up with the band for a shoot in a castle domain’s forest, surrounded only by the night, a beamer, and the freezing cold.

Photography Sarah Eechaut

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ˆ Their performances take place as if in another dimension. There is a price to be paid for this sonic and artistic gift and Amenra have demonstrated time and time again that they are willing to pay it with their blood. ˇ Scott Kelly frontman of legendary experimental metal band Neurosis, on Amenra.

Bjorn Lebon drums

Maarten Kinet bass

Colin H. van Eeckhout vocals

Mathieu Vandekerckhove guitars

Lennart Bossu guitars

myspace.com/amenra

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The Car Special

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© Felix de Liedekerke

The Car Special

Martin Durt’s collection

Toy boys Regardless of their age, boys throughout the world seem irremediably drawn by cars and trucks. Every man feels the attraction, and apparently monkeys do too. A 2002 scientific study proved that, just like their human counterparts, male Vervet Monkeys were naturally more inclined to play with wheeled toys while females were compelled to nurture dolls. This gender-specific innate affinity is so powerful that it defies any cultural and sociological cognitive behaviour. Quite a puzzling feat when you consider cars only began penetrating our conscience and invading our environment less than a century ago.

The truth is, the car seems to capture man’s imagination like no other artefact ever managed throughout history. The symbol of mobility and independence par excellence, a marvel of engineering, vehicles are also tributes to man’s limitless ingenuity to convert its instinctive aspirations to freedom, while indulging in his natural laziness. With a simple push on the right

pedal, you know you could travel – and potentially conquer – the world if you really set your heart on it. And best of all, there’s a fit for everyone. Available in any shape, colour and price, a car can be ordered, customised and pimped to anyone’s unique taste and wallet.

But as widespread as they are, cars remain expensive. And to most, mass acquisition would prove too costly a passion. Fortunately, enthusiasts on a tight budget have an affordable alternative: die-cast toy cars. Cheap, their cost ranges between 1 and 70 euros depending on the scale and finishing, so it’s fairly easy to constitute an impressive collection in a short time span. It can also turn out to be a juicy investment. A rare vintage Hot Wheels Red Line was purchased some years ago for no less than $85,000. Models and colours also come by the millions. Simply put, every car ever built or imagined has its miniature equivalent.

In Belgium, three brands hold the lion’s share of this prosperous business: Matchbox, Hot Wheels, and Majorette. Each brand operates more or less in its own niche. For instance, whilst Matchbox and Majorette (both owned

by Mattel) mostly replicate the standard massproduced models, Hot Wheels is mainly known for its models of custom hot rods and muscle cars. Scale-wise, the smaller models (“regular size”) are often classified as 1:64 scale. Aimed at children, these are the ones available in toyshops (Inter Toys, Euro Jouet) and supermarkets. Adult collectors, on the other hand, generally favour the 1:43 scale because of the finer amount of details these larger sizes allow. More expensive and fragile, these models are incidentally primarily marketed as collectibles and found in dedicated boutiques or sold with specialised magazines. Vintage models can also be snatched at “swapping” fairs and flea markets such as the one in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert/SintLambrechts-Woluwe, held every third Sunday of the month. But Philippe Sambre, President of the Matchbox & Hot Wheels Club, warns us: “No matter what your age is, collecting model cars can become an addictive hobby.”

An obsession that can eventually lead your loved one to utter the ultimatum all collectors dread the most: “It’s your collection or me!”

(Jack Moyersoen)

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The car papers Heritage Classic Photography Play

There’s the gangster character. Drives with a slight tilt towards the window, right arm on the steering wheel, left elbow pressed atop the door handle, back slightly hunched. Otherwise known as ‘the gangsta lean’, this forward-leaning posture belies a tendency for an aggressive driving behaviour. A tendency only made worse by the thumping bass coming out of the stereo. Ludacris probably.

You also have the ‘I mean business’ position – tall, confident and oozing with smugness. Right elbow on the arm rest (because that’s the kind of cars these types drive), right hand eternally toying with the Blackberry, left arm stretched to full length upon the steering wheel, with a wholesome right-leaning tilt. The kind who look ready to ink a deal right there on the stop. The kind to refer to their car as ‘my office’.

Then you have the precarious driver. Eyes firmly on the road (through six centimetre thick glasses), seat pressed up against the dashboard, both hands gripped to the steering wheel, right foot permenantly glued to the break. Driving ain’t a pleasure for our terrified driver friend. It gets him from point A to point B and that’s about it.

The fact of the matter is, on the road, the pose you strike says just as much about you as the car you drive and the bumper stickers

© Virassamy

The way you make me lean

you rock. Think of it as an untold regulatory code for the uninitiated. ‘Chin on the steering wheel, one eyebrow held up’ really means ‘stay clear, about to crash out’. And, our favourite,

‘ski mask on, shotgun in right hand, steering wheel in left hand and bag of loot on the passenger seat’ really means ‘move bitch, get out the way’. (NL)

Kampala

Knokke

Barcelona

Saint-Tropez

A match made in heaven Cars and girls. Now there’s an image that works. Observing this mysterious connection at car fairs (nothing sells a ride like a hot babe), magazines, or boy toy paradises such as Monaco and Saint-Tropez, Ghent-based photographer Eugeen Herman has devoted an upcoming book to the subject. Adding a twist and a dash of tragic poetry to this overexposed cliché, his cars are not shiny new ones, but, rather, abandoned vehicles that have a history.

As for the girls, no Claudia-like supermodels or overzealous retouching, only women working in the sex industry. “Prostitutes, erotic models, lap dancers… They all have stories to tell, sometimes just with a look in their eyes,” explains Herman. “Some people use girls like one could use a car, others pay more attention to a car than to a girl.” (RW) Cars and Girls will by published by Ludion end of April eugeenherman.com

The Car Special

Havana

Cairo

Koh Samui

Sharm el Sheikh

Nice

Brussels

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The love People

Meet Francis

— Ever since I can remember, Francis has been a firm fixture of the neighbourhood’s.

Whenever I walked past his house, the garage doors always used to be wide open, inviting on-lookers to a peep. In the back, you’d see Francis busy working on his car – an Audi A6, station wagon.

Photography Yassin Serghini Writer Nicholas Lewis

The Car Special

“I always loved Audis, but couldn’t afford them before,” says the lovable Francis, a boyish twinkle still sparkling in his eye upon the mere thought of now being the (very proud) owner of one. With over 20 years in the automotive sector working as a painter, colourist and instructor (“There isn’t a car I haven’t painted”), he was ideally placed to lay his hands on an A6 just before retiring. He even managed to bag some 18” rims at bargain price.

Quick to point out that his isn’t a tuned model, he explains what makes his Audi turn heads: “Every inch of this car is painted in the same colour. Usually, people paint the bodies in one same colour but leave the bumpers or other less visible parts in black. I painted them all in the same colour, down to the antenna.”

Add to that the weekly inside-out scrub, the twice-yearly polish as well as the required official Audi maintenance (“they recommend

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bringing the car in every 30,000kms but I do it every 15,000kms”), and lets just say there’s not a lot of room left for any other passions in the household, except for his wife Marianne’s Egyptian figurine collection. But that’ll be for another time though.

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The farewell Architecture Heritage Nostalgia Photography

Excuse me while I kiss the ( Brussels ) sky : the dying days of Parking 58 With rumours buzzing about of its impending demolition, we wanted to immortalise Brussels’ Parking 58 one last time.

A stunning piece of architectural and engineering ingenuity when it was first erected in 1957, it also came to symbolise everything that was wrong with the ‘Bruxelisation’ the city went through, having been built on the site of its former cultural centre “Les Halles de Bruxelles”. Standing 10 stories tall, Parking 58’s top deck is known to offer breathtaking, 360 degree views of the city you are unlikely to get anywhere else. Snaking up its ramp, you get a sense that this parking isn’t quite like any other. Although it boasts a staggering 603 individual parking slots, dead space was intentionally built into the building’s floor plan, so as to enhance its inner widths.

Each platform seems to have a character of its own, with the tenth floor (also used by the local supermarket customers during the day) a radically different architectural landscape than, say, the fifth floor (a private parking for well-off locals).

With our eyes firmly set on some of its most distinguishing structural features, its sharp angles and astonishing details set the perfect backdrop to photograph these updated 4X4 models.

Photography Sarah Michielsen

Retouching Erwan Sterckx

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The Car Special

The seventh floor

BMW’s X5 XDrive30d (74,310 euros ), photographed on Parking 58’s seventh floor.

The iron and steel rails, which creep up the entire parking, provided the perfect setting for the X5’s structured chassis. bmw.be

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The farewell

The ninth floor

Volvo’s XC60 DRIVe (45,780 euros), photographed on Parking 58’s ninth floor.

The floor’s low ceiling and clinical nature proved to be the perfect surrounding for the XC60’s compact composure. volvo.be

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The Car Special

The ninth floor

Mercedes’ ML 350 CDI (73,182.02 euros ), photographed in the rear section of Parking 58’s ninth floor. The breathtaking views afforded from the floor’s corners, as well as its steel reinforced windows, were the ideal spot in which to position the ML 350’s elegant lines and self-effacing grandness. mercedes-benz.be

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The situation Play Consume

Bending over backseats What do men or women do when looking for onenight stand shelters ? She could take him back to her parents’ place although, let’s face it, that ain’t really going to get her laid ( unless, of course, he’s been downing shots of Tequila all night, in which case she might want to reconsider ). He could take her to the hotel but, let’s be honest, he ain’t got that kind of financial muscle quite yet. He could even, if he were that desperate, take her back to a friend’s place but who wants to run the risk of crossing swords hey ? Last option on the list: the car. And, trust us, with this kind of car, they’ll both be willing to take pretty much any requests.

Photography Veerle Frissen

Model Tine Allegaert

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The Car Special

Lexus RX450H AWD (造73.280) lexus.be

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The shelf Arts Classic Photography

The black books Turn the lights off, and this month’s pick of books suddenly looks more menacing than their authors had intended them to be. You won’t hear us complaining though, as it probably means we’ll get to hold on to them a little longer…

Photography Yassin Serghini

Culture

Drawings – Work comes out of work (2008)

by Richard Serra Kunsthaus-Bregenz

Known for his steel sculptures, Richard Serra’s 2007 retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art cemented his contribution to the world of contemporary art. His career has spanned 40 years and lesser known but just as formidable is his large body of drawings. The exhibition ‘Drawings – Work Comes Out of Work’ displays six series of his dramatic use of black paintstick, a wax-like grease crayon, in all his work. Dense layers of pigmented waxy material cling to the surface, absorbing light and weighing the work down with density and physicality not often seen in pieces of this nature. Large format illustrations and photographic insights into the artist working in his studio add to the penetrating portrait art historian James Lawrence included in this substantive book, celebrating an understated facet of this conceptual artist.

 From left to right

Black material: volume 01 (00), Drawings (Kunsthaus-Bregenz), The valley of the shadow (Gestalten), Catalogue déraisonné (Steidl), Contraband (Steidl)

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Black material: volume 01 (2010)

by Robert Knoke 00

Catalogue déraisonné (2010)

by Jean Pigozzi Steidl

Robert Knoke’s Black material: volume 01 acts more like a “who’s who” of this decade’s cool cats than your average monograph.

Fortunate enough to have sat opposite those at the vanguard of contemporary creative practice, the German artist captured their essence with his monochrome and expressionist style, blending markers, grease pencils, ball pens, gloss paint and glitter.

Along with reproductions of his large scale drawings, close-ups and views from installations, the book also offers an intimate peek at his atelier and candid shots of his subjects, that range from established icons (Patti Smith, Marc Jacobs, Jean-Baptiste Mondino), avant-garde designers (Rick Owens, Bernard Wilhelm, Terence Koh), to hipster darlings (Leigh Lezark, The Kills) and underground heroes (Bruce Labruce, Thomas Hirschhorn).

Jean Pigozzi, self-described international businessman, traveller and collector, takes his camera with him wherever he goes. And wherever he goes is usually somewhere glamorous and celebrity-infested. Everyone from Mick Jagger, Tim Burton and Jack Nicholson to Dash Snow, Gilbert & Georges and Roy Lichtenstein make appearances in this heady, good-looking and sometimes frankly hilarious insight into the underbellies of celebrity culture. Gigantic art dealer Larry Gagosian, for instance, is shown to be quite the joker, pulling faces whenever possible. Oh, and there’s also a photograph of Steve Job’s (surprisingly hairy) feet sporting Birkenstocks.

The valley of the shadow (2010)

by Miron Zownir Gestalten

Taryn Simon’s Contraband is a mesmerising visual account of four days spent photographing items intercepted at New York’s JFK airport. Boasting 1,075 photographs, everything from counterfeit American Express travellers cheques, overproof Jamaican rum, purses made from endangered species to pirated Disney DVDs, prohibited sausage and undeclared gold dust is minutely archived. With each and every item seized captured on a white background and playfully set directed, Simon’s approach somehow manages to demystify and categorise an otherwise bewildering array of contraband. Topping our list of intrigues was the unhealthy amounts of erectile dysfunction medication that seems to come through American borders.

We deliberately avoid numerous sights of our everyday life. A self-confessed ‘phenomenographer’, Miron Zownir has spent the past 20 years capturing those painful realities we try so hard to ignore or revealing the depths of lifestyles deemed so deviant we cannot fathom their existence. Haunted by childhood memories of post-war landscapes, crippled veterans and mutilated widows, Zownir journeyed across Berlin, Eastern Europe and New York, exposing the true face of society, be it hidden in the dens of counter-cultures or in the broad daylight of our streets. His coarse photographs, carrying an inevitably strong shock factor, could easily be dismissed as sensationalist and gratuitously provocative, if it weren’t for their brutal honesty and balanced subjectivity.

Contraband (2010)

by Taryn Simon Steidl

Visit thewordmagazine.be/dribbles/theblackbooks for more photographs of the books as well as Amazon purchase links.

With special thanks to Kokuban, Rue Villain XIIII, 53-54 1000 Brussels.

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The pencil Arts

Night hawks

Once night falls, a whole different breed of animals surface.

Obscurity doesn’t mean a thing to these nocturnal creatures.

Day is night to them, and night is day.

Illustrations Ward Zwart

Culture

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The view Photography

Midnight marauders Lights out. Doors locked. Not a soul in sight. The world standing still in a moment of suspended calm. More than ever, nighttime is definitely the right time.

Photography Merel ‘t Hart

Flanders Expo, 1 Maaltekouter 9051 Ghent – captured on 5th December around midnight

Culture

Meir, 2000 Antwerp – captured on 21st November around 11pm

Ikea Zaventem, 19 Weiveldlaan 1930 Zaventem – captured on 24 th November around 5am

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The view

Culture

The Royal Park’s playground, 1000 Brussels – captured on 20 th November around 5.30pm

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The view

Belliard tunnel, Brussels – captured on 27 th November around 4.30am

Culture

Rue Belliardstraat, Brussels – captured on 27 th November around 5am

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The portfolio Photography Nostalgia Classic

Who you gonna call?

Some spend their entire lives escaping ghosts whilst other chase them.

Photography Hans Vercauter

Culture

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“It happens that they start talking through me and that’s when it gets very emotional for the family,” explains Eric Naevaert, one of Belgium’s most famous mediums.

He claims to be able to communicate with the dead and is also capable of cleansing houses from bad karmas and ghosts. ericnaeyaert.be

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The portfolio

What used to be the former Executive Board house of the town’s mirror factory has been empty for more than half a century and is now referred to as “the haunted house of Sas Van Gent”.

Culture

Joost Knop goes by the title of “The Ghosthunter”. He has

orbs. His discovery was picked up by Dutch and Belgian

always been receptive to paranormal forces but became

television and changed his life. Joost now runs the popular

a true believer 14 years ago. As he was taking pictures of

website theghosthunter.nl and constantly thrawls the old

the Sas Van Gent ruin, he experienced a strange feeling;

continent on the lookout for new ghosts.

the temperature suddenly dropped and something was throwing small rocks towards his camera. He realised shortly after that his negatives were covered with so-called

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The portfolio

Paul Dobberman was exposed to black magic from a very

for the past 15 years. Together with his girlfriend Greetje,

young age as his mother practiced witchcraft. “Life is

they have visited all the important ghost sites in Europe.

short. You have to do the things you’re really good at. For

Their discoveries can be found on spookjagers.nl

me it’s ghost hunting,” says Paul, who has been doing this

The essential tools of the ghost hunter’s equipment: a digital video camera, two voice recorders, two digital cameras, an EMF meter (used to measure electromagnetic fields), an infrared temperature meter and an infrared light.

Culture

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Is he ever afraid? “No. These pentagrams tattooed on both my arms will protect me if things ever get really bad.�

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The stockists Consume We love

00

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Gucci Brussels

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Botanique

Rue Royale 236 Koningstraat 1210 Brussels +32 (0) 2 218 37 32 botanique.be Chanel Brussels

Boulevard de Waterloolaan 63 1000 Brussels + 32 (0) 2 511 20 59 Chanel Antwerp (at SN3)

Frankkrijklei, 46-48 + 32 (0) 3 231 08 20 2000 Antwerp Chanel.be Cirque Royal

Rue de l’Enseignement 81 Onderrichtsstraat 1000 Brussels +32 (0) 2 218 20 15 cirque-royal.org

COS Antwerp

Hopland 31 2000 Antwerp cosstores.com

+32 (0) 2 642 29 70 Henrik Vibskov

+32 (0) 2 551 17 67 henrikvibskov.com Hermès Brusels

Boulevard de Waterloolaan 50 1000 Brussels +32 (0) 2 511 20 62 Hermès Antwerp

Schuttershofstraat 19 2000 Antwerp +32 (0) 3 227 09 43 Hermes.com ISPC Ghent

Ottergemsesteenweg Zuid 720 9000 Ghent +32 (0) 9 241 51 11 Ispc-int.com Jean Paul Knott

Rue Lebeaustraat 19 1000 Brussels +32 (0) 2 513 02 06 jeanpaulknott.com

+32 (0) 2 611 14 75 dearestwebsite.com

Rue de l’hôpital 1 Gasthuisstraat 1000 Brussels +32 (0) 2 513 23 12

Eres

Rue Jean Stasstraat15 1060 Brussels +32 (0) 2 539 19 68 eresparis.com Forest National

Avenue Victor Rousseaulaan 208 1090 Brussels +32 (0) 900 69 500 forestnational.be Gestalten

gestalten.com

Lotto Arena

Schijnpoortweg 119 2170 Antwerp +32 (0) 3 400 40 40 sportpaleis.be Lombardenvest 2 2000 Antwerp +32 (0) 3 232 9872 nataliabrilli.fr

Paule Ka

Boulevard de Waterloolaan 48 1000 Brussels +32 (0) 2 347 28 85 pauleka.com Pièce Unique

Rue Franz Merjaystraat 167-169 1050 Brussels +32 (0) 2 347 48 96 Raf Simons

+33 (0) 1 73 54 19 50 rafsimons.com

Lux Streetfashion

Kipdorpvest 36 2000 Antwerp +32 (0) 3 225 24 09

Magasin 4

Avenue du Port 51b Havenlaan 1000 Brussels +32 (0) 2 223 34 74 magasin4.be Mais il est où le soleil?

Brussels

Rue Simonisstraat 55 1050 Brussels +32 (0) 2 244 93 28

Mais il est où le soleil?

Antwerp

Vlaamsekaai 74 2000 Antwerp +32 (0) 3 238 33 60 ousoleil.com

Rob

Boulevard de la Woluwelaan 28 1150 Brussels +32 (0) 2 771 20 60 rob-brussels.be Sandrina Fasoli Brussels

Hunting and collecting Rue des Chartreux 17 Kartuizersstraat 1000 Brussels

Sandrina Fasoli Antwerp

Graanmarkt 13 2000 Antwerp sandrinafasoli.com Steidl

steidlville.com Thierry Mugler

+33 (0) 1 55 62 25 38 thierrymugler.com

Natan Johnny Velvet

Dearest

kunsthaus-bregenz.at

Louis (for Natalia Brilli) Guerlain

COS Brussels

Rue Neuve 66 Nieuwstraat 1000 Brussels

Kunsthaus - Bregenz

Avenue Louizalaan 158 1050 Brussel +32 (0) 2 647 10 01 natan.be

Vooruit

Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 23 9000 Ghent +32 (0) 9 267 28 28 vooruit.be

Natan XIII (for Natalia Brilli) J.M. Weston Brussels

Avenue Louise 52 Louizalaan 1000 Brussels

Rue Antoine Dansaertstraat, 101 1000 Brussel +32 (0) 2 514 15 17

Yves Saint Laurent

Natural Corner

Zimba

+33 (0) 1 56 62 64 00 ysl.com

J.M. Weston Antwerp

Schuttershofstraat 18 2000 Antwerp jmweston.com

Rue de l'Escalier 1 Trapstraat 1000 Brussels +32 (0) 2 513 30 13

Kam yuen superstore

Rue de la Vierge Noire 2 Zwarte Lievevrouwstraat 1000 Brussels +32 (0) 2 512 58 33

Olivia Hainaut

Rue du page 19 Edelknaapstraat 1050 Brussels +32 (0) 475 47 44 89 oliviahainaut.com

Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 58 9000 Gent +32 (0) 9 330 85 21 zimbashop.be

The blog 2 Distribution points 3 Subscriptions & back issues 1

volume 02 — issue 01 Volume 03 — Issue 01

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

Belgium Living at Mum’s Lifestyle Asleep on the Job Fashion Wasted Days Design Sleep Keepers Culture Motel Coma + The Car Special

1 — issue 02 0 volume 01

Neighbourhood Legal drugs Life It’s apocalypse ! Style Fashion revolutionary Design After disaster Culture Unseen Terence Donovan + The Car Special

volume 02 — issue 02

Ç ;G::

Volume 03 — Issue 02

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

fashion Paper or plastic

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

design Materialize it

Belgium Behind the Curtains Lifestyle Feeding Power Fashion Manicured Mysteries Design Moving Horizons Culture Cinematic Mystery + The Fashion Special

culture Plane Simple

01 — issue 03 volume 01

Ç ;G::

Neighbourhood Ska steady Life We love dirt Style New skin generation Design Rise of the robots Culture Burnt and fragile + The Fashion Special

volume 02 — issue 03 Volume 03 — Issue 03 Do not throw on the public domain.

lifestyle Walking-the-walk

Do not throw on the public domain.

belgium You say potato

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

belgium Pitch Perfect

lifestyle First Encounters

fashion In or Out

design Fair Trade

Belgium Thick Skinned Lifestyle Scar Studded Fashion Vast Airs Design The Land of the New Culture Godly Structures + The Travel Special

culture Banking on Art

Neighbourhood Patent pending Life Formula for fame Style Insanely talented Design What inspires? Culture Sci fi comix + The Music Special

volume 01 — issue 05

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

An Original Screenplay by The Word Magazine Belgium Me, Myself & I Lifestyle Lonesome Cowboys Fashion Mole Men Design When Right Met Left Culture Micro Mad + The Design Special

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

— the green revolution issue — belgium Snack Life

lifestyle Midnight Burning

fashion Gastro Weaponry

design Dirty Dishes

culture Mood Food

THE BIG ISSUE

Do not throw on the public domain.

Do not throw on the public domain.

volume 01 — issue 04

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

Do not throw on the public domain.

Volume 03 — Issue 04

“THE CINEMATIC ISSUE ”

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

Neighbourhood Out of bounds Life Boxed in Style Can you dig it ?

Design The raw cut Culture Murder on the tarmac + The Design Special

Volume 03 — Issue 05

volume 02 — issue 05 Do not throw on the public domain.

Do not throw on the public domain.

Do not throw on the public domain.

volume 02 — issue 04

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

— the secret society — lifestyle Baggage Check

fashion Macadam Boulevard

design Handle with Care

culture Bubble Superstar

I S S U E

Do not throw on the public domain.

volume 01 — issue 06

Do not throw on the public domain.

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

Belgium Pocket Moves Lifestyle Tokyo Entourage Fashion Yamamoto & Daughter Design My Robot Fridge Culture Rope Burns + The Beauty Special

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

N I P P O N

Neighbourhood Soviet stories Life The face of Russia Style Under surveillance Design More is more is more Culture Comrades at sea + The Food Special

T H E volume 02 — issue 06

Neighbourhood Life + Global Style

Do not throw on the public domain.

belgium Gate Crashing

— the delectable foodie issue — design War Games

Belgium Big Consoles Lifestyle Techno Techno Techno Fashion Mason’s Apprentice Design Studio Job Are Older Than Jesus Culture Boy Guards + The Bling Special

culture Made-to-Order

November – December 2010

VOLUME 3

Do not throw on the public domain.

— the ultimate getaway —

ЋE ЯUSSIД Л ISSЦE

Do not throw on the public domain.

Do not throw on the public domain.

5

Do not throw on the public domain.

fashion Tainted Love

Do not throw on the public domain.

lifestyle Sole Brothers

The Russian Issue

belgium In-House

— the essential luxuries issue —

thewordmagazine.be

Before we leave you…

Play The team

We’re seeing Red for our March-April edition.

Not the aggressive nor boiling-over type of Red but, rather, the intense Red. The passionate Red. The ‘taking-a-stance’ Red. Call it the power album, the boastful album, the testosterone album.

Heck, call it the arrogant album.

We’ll draft a manifesto, get serious about our ideals.

We’ll invade the streets and make ourselves heard.

We’ll plant a flag and conquer the world.

Call it our very own Little Red Book, with flashes of flesh and causes for celebration.

No rolling-out of the Red carpet though, but a more subdued, discreet and under-the-radar revolution.

C

M

The Word’s Red Album ( + the fashion special )

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

© Antoan Lizène

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Out on 11th March 2011

Dining in style

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