volume 02 — issue 02
Neighbourhood Life + Global Style
Do not throw on the public domain.
Belgium Behind the Curtains Lifestyle Feeding Power Fashion Manicured Mysteries Design Moving Horizons Culture Cinematic Mystery + The Fashion Special
“ THE CINEMATIC ISSUE ” An Original Screenplay by The Word Magazine
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A NEW FRAGRANCE FOR MEN FROM
EDITOR’S LETTER
THE FIRSTS
The Word Magazine Is Nicholas Lewis
Coincidences play a strange yet necessary role in this magazine’s life. Take its Cinematic Issue for instance.
Advertising Benoît Berben
Belgium’s Film Museum re-opened as the Cinematek a month before this issue’s release. It was the 25th anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s passing, and Motown’s 50 th birthday, and here we were interviewing none other than the man who had met – and fi lmed – Gaye during his two-year long stay at the country’s seaside. And to top it all of, the 81st Annual Academy Awards – or Oscars – were about to be announced (with a quasi-guaranteed pinch of Masala).
Editor-at-large Hettie Judah Design Delphine Dupont + pleaseletmedesign
And yet, we found there was much more than coincidences that bound us to our chosen editorial direction. Cinema somehow flows through our team’s collective veins. Some of us have parents who work in the cinema industry. Some of us have grown up surrounded by stage props in-the-making. Some of us do voiceovers for French cartoons. Some of us have kissed our fi rst girlfriend towards the end of Jurassic Parc. Others at the office got their fi rst rejection-slap whilst watching that same movie. Some of us share offices with production companies and post-production specialists. Some of our photographers actually also are video artists in their own right. Others, rather astonishingly, dream of spending their days on cold and noisy fi lm sets.
Fashion Eléonore Vanden Eynde Photography/Illustration Jean-Baptiste Biche Ulrike Biets Erwin Borms Sarah Eechaut Sarah Michielsen Opération Panda Yassin Serghini Gina van Hoof Oréli
But a lot of us, me included, like nothing more than to bring out the collection of personal movie favourites late on a Sunday afternoon and press play. DVD nights they now call them. Take this issue as one of those pleasurable late afternoon screenings. It is cozy and intimate. It is interesting and, in some cases, required knowledge. It is lighthearted and fun. But, above all, it is about what you, what we, like. What we truly enjoy. Not particularly what is new, hot nor the talk-of-town. But what is re-windable and re-watchable.
Writers Hettie Judah (HJ) Nicholas Lewis (NL) Karen Van Godtsenhoven (KVG) Jacques Moyersoen (JM) Randa Wazen (RW)
The best way to get a glimpse of what I’m talking about? Have a look at the team’s pick of Top 10 Movies To Watch Before You Die at the back of this issue, and you’ll quickly understand what I mean. The other 99 pages are an added bonus.
Thank you's: Lali Davies Charlie Dupont Mélisande McBurnie Gintare Parulyte Olivier Rensonnet François Vaxelaire
Kindly turn your mobile phones off, and enjoy this feature.
Quiet on set, For Subscriptions (6 issues) € 18 (Belgium) Transfer € 30 (Europe) € 45 (Worldwide) To ACCOUNT N° 363-0257432-34 IBAN BE 68 3630 2574 3234 BIC BBRUBEBB
Nicholas Lewis.
For Syndication Like what you read ? Our content is available for purchase. Go online at www.jampublishing.com or call + 32 2 374 24 95 for more information.
© Alex Salinas
Stating your full name and address in the communication box.
On this cover Snow White
The Word is published six 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 is correct up to the time of going to press. The publishers cannot be held liable for any changes in this respect after this date.
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THE CINEMATIC ISSUE
THE CONTENTS
01. The Firsts The Cover Ad Ad Ad Editor's Letter The Contents Ad The Contributors Ad The Diary The Diary The Diary The Diary The Diary The Diary Ad
05. The Fashion Special The Cinematic Issue Armani Caroline Bliss Burberry Volume 2 – N° o2 You're Looking at It Saab It's A Word's World Aspria Post-its Belgium Belgium & UK UK Holland & France France Art Brussels
p01 p02 p04 p06 p07 p08 p09 p10 p11 p12 p13 p15 p16 p17 p18 p19
Title Page Sinking Sharks ? Coastal Healing A New Age Video World Ghent’s Movie Heyday The Movie Mecca + A Night of… The Cinematic 3D Glasses Eurantica The Peeping Room
p20 p21 p22 p23 p24 p25 p26 p27 p28
03. Lifestyle The Showstoppers Ad The Business Ad
The Screening Room Bulo Roll Cameras : Cue Bacon Tamarind Foods
p30 p33 p34 p37
The Bored Game Brats
p38
04. Fashion The Fashion Word
Delvaux The Fashion Special Home Spun Down to the Second A Step Too Far ? The Word The Struggling Anointed The Address Book Maasmechelen Village The Incredible Miss White Shiseido The Hit List
p46 p47 p48 p49 p50 p51 p52 p54 p59 p60 p67 p68
Little Green Rooms Cinéart
p70 p75
The Script Page The Cinematic Orchestra Please Turn off Your Mobile… Seeing Right Through You What We're Watching
p76 p78 p80 p86 p92
Waffles Stockists Schweppes Advertisers The Big Issue Ristorante Bocconi Rado
p93 p94 p95 p96 p98 p99 p100
06. Design The Future Ad
02. Belgium The Cinematic Papers The Cinematic Papers The Cinematic Papers The Cinematic Papers The Cinematic Papers The Cinematic Papers The Guide Ad The Word On
Ad The Cover The Discovery The Man The Issue Ad The Laureats The Pick Ad The Special Fashion Ad The Special Showsto…
07. Culture The Shelf The Pencil The Eye Opener TW on the Street The Watchlist
08. The Lasts Ad The Stockists Ad The Round up What's Next Ad Ad
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THE “I GOT A PART” ISSUE
It’s a Word’s World
THE CONTRIBUTORS
Julien van Havere
Oréli
Graphic Designer ¤
Illustrator ¤
An autodidact graphic designer, Julien has for the last year or so been imposing daily exercises on himself, furthering his somewhat intelligible approach to design. Continuing in our quest to give you a ‘lil’ something something’ to take away from each issue, we asked this issue’s Guest Designer to develop a guide to 3D glasses for your DIY pleasure. — Pages n° 26
We like to bring a nip of illustrative absurdity to our pages, and Oréli’s humorous stroke was exactly what we were after. Her work often inhabiting the comical world of revisited animal creatures, she often is called upon for magazine covers, books and posters. For our Cinematic Issue, we asked her to bring her unique touch to our online video piracy and brand extension pieces. We were delighted. — Pages n° 21, 50
Fred Bastin Photographer ¤
We fi rst stumbled upon Fred’s work whilst fl icking through an old issue of Vice magazine. One year later, we fi nally hooked up with him, fi rst for last year’s Delectable Foodie Issue, and now in this issue’s fashion series. An unremitting nostalgic, Fred continues to work with Polaroids, making him the perfect choice to shoot our analoguefriendly Cluedo-influenced fashion series. — Pages n° 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45
Randa Wazen Writer ¤
Of Turkish-Lebanese origin, Randa has become an integral part of The Word team over the issues, holding editorial sway over our Papers section, and injecting a very much needed dose of local fl avour to them. For this issue, she delves into the megalomaniac world of brand extensions, rails against the perils of online video piracy and meets a stopwatch-holding catwalk disciplinarian. — Page n° 21, 49, 50
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THE STORYBOARD ISSUE
THE DIARY
THE FIRSTS
13
The Next Few Weeks’ Agenda Fillers
Belgium ( 01 ¤ 10 )
Dutch photographer ¤ Erwin Olaf is given a fitting retrospective at Antwerp’s FoMu for his 30 years of work as a fashion, advertising and art photographer. Renowned for his humoristic, heavy-hitting and sometimes controversial photographic compositions, he first came to prominence in the late 80s, winning the prestigious Young European Photographer award with his Chessman series. Somehow disturbing yet always memorable, his work is emblematic of an artist who has made having fun central to his work. Think of him as The Joker of modern day photography. Not to be missed.
Celebrity-studded, ¤ glossy events often need to be reduced to the simplicity of a still life in order to take them in with the necessary dose of humour and passiveness. And although he doesn’t pretend to alleviate you of the boredom that are these media saturated splashes, French artist Bruno Serralongue’s work most certainly questions their relevance and purpose. His reducing and nearcondescending photographic tone has a knack of bringing out nothing but the emptiness in these events, reframing them within his own dumbed-down reality. A refreshing, if not slightly ambitious undertaking.
Erwin Olaf – Eyecandy 1984-2009 À Until 7 th June 2009 ☞ FoMu, Antwerp
Bruno Serralongue À From 21st March until 31st May 2009 ☞ Wiels, Brussels
www.fotomuseum.be
www.wiels.org
02.
Wafer-Thin
04.
02.
Space Specific
MoMu’s exhibition ¤ reveals the sometimes astonishing use of paper and the materials derived from it in the fashion world. Beginning with a singular collection of paper dresses, the show seeks to put to the fore the myriad of possibilities (colourful prints and geometrical shapes) prevalent in paper as a creative medium – from throwaway dresses to promotional political t-shirts. Although it proved to be a strong alternative to textile during harsher economic times, its frivolous nature and intrinsic fragility saw its use essentially being reduced to one-shot conceptual creations by the likes of relentless innovator Hussein Chalayan and constructivist Issey Miyake among many others, some of which will be on show at MoMu.
Michel Francois, a ¤ Brussels-based artist, has created four sculptural installations in this second show of his at the Xavier Hufkens Gallery. Scribble is a 1000 meter long white tube which snakes through the gallery, Blindé is a blasted glassprotected cube, Links offers an organically-linked plethora of magnetic spheres and metal rods whilst Golden Cage portrays a cubic construction of four sheetlike gold-plated fences. Making the most of the gallery space, the artist’s installation-based work is contextually specific, yet ephemeral in its essence, resulting in a unique sculptural performance of sorts.
Paper Fashion À Until 16th August 2009 ☞ MoMu, Antwerp
www.xavierhufkens.com
www.momu.be
01.
© Erwin Olaf. Courtesy Flatland Gallery.
Reduced to a Question
© Atopos Collective, Athens. Panos Davios.
03.
Michel Francois À Until 4th April 2009 ☞ Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
03.
© Bruno Serralongue
Attention Seeker
04. © Michel François. Courtesy Xavier Hufkens Gallery, Brussels.
01.
14
THE ADAPTATION ISSUE
© Olivier Pé
05.
06.
THE DIARY
05.
Clinically Inspired
A multi-disciplinary ¤ artist from Liège, Olivier Pé’s drawings tilt towards the philosophical end of the scale, often seeking to make sense of personal experiences through his sensuous and usually monochromatic work. Constructing his very own visual anatomy and artistic vocabulary, his work parallels with facts of life to reveal a sometime chaotic and pertinently meaty aesthetic. Add to that a dose of romanticism and a confident ability to restrain himself when in front of the canvas and his is a body of work we’ve taken somewhat of a recent liking to.
© Alessandra Sanguinetti
Olivier Pé – Anatomie de la Dérive Amoureuse À Until 28 th March 2009 ☞ Iselp, Brussels
www.iselp.be
07.
Confl icting Worlds
Iranian photogra¤ pher Shadi Ghadirian’s work distinguishes itself by its frontal approach to dealing with contemporary Iranian life and its many peculiarities. Women in particular inspire a major part of her work, as she explores their role within the household, and the fashion expectations brought upon them. For her exhibition at Brussels’ Aeroplastics, Ghadirian brings three new series: White Square, Nil Nil and My Press Photos, all of which make cunning references to the incursion of weapons in everyday life. Her unique feminine touch added to the plates only make for a more tranquil body of work. Shadi Ghadirian A Photographer from Iran À Until 4th April 2009 ☞ Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brussels
www.aeroplastics.net © Shadi Ghadirian. Courtesy of Aeroplastics Contemporary.
07.
© Wendy Watriss and Frederik C. Baldwin.
08.
06.
Lights and a Camera
New-York-based ¤ photographer Alessandra Sanguinetti’s usually thematic work offers a refreshing and reflective take on what can often be interpreted as sociological subjects. Precisely constructed, her pictures reveal a surrealist streak, driven by a poetic purpose of some sort. A modern-day visual story-teller, she makes good use of a somewhat cinematic light in her work, injecting slight hints of life in her otherwise oddly sombre renditions. The first exhibition of the artist’s work in Europe, it shows an ongoing series in which Sanguinetti has closely followed the lives of two Argentinean mismatched cousins – from childhood to adulthood. Absolutely essential viewing. Alessandra Sanguinetti Adventures of Guille and Belinda À From 19th March until 19th May 2009 ☞ Natascha Mehlhop Gallery, Brussels
www.nataschamehlhop.com
08.
Living in America
Considering the fact ¤ that Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss were the two people behind Fotofest in Houston, Texas back in 1983, you’d be forgiven for forgetting they actually both were photographers in their own right as well. Indeed, these relentless promoters of what has all-too-often been considered the bastard child of contemporary art – namely, photography – together constructed a visual narrative of the American portrait in its purest of forms, a feat on show at Charleroi’s Museum of Photography. Often drawing on the singularities of country life to produce warm and livedin portraits, the duo’s work is yet another massive contribution to photography, and an important one at that. Looking at the U.S. 1957-1986 À Until 24th May 2009 ☞ Museum of Photography, Charleroi
www.museephoto.be
THE NEXT FEW WEEKS' AGENDA FILLERS
THE FIRSTS
15
United Kingdom ( 11 ¤ 16 ) Avid scrutiny
11.
Take your Hats Off
World renowned ¤ milliner, Stephen Jones, has spent two years choosing more than 300 hats for this exhibition, the setting of which is a magical, feminine box-hedged garden. With hats dating from as far back as 600BC to the present day, and including berets, tiaras, top-hats, baseball caps and more, the show provides a thorough look at the art and use of the hat through the centuries. Various themes such as exoticism and the modern world are all expertly explored and clear sections showing the traditions and mechanisms of hat making and how famous people wore them for example, make sure no detail is overlooked. (CH)
© Louise Herlement
Louise Herlemont’s ¤ work distinguishes itself through the quasi-maniacal way in which it casts an analytical eye on the spaces it occupies. Looking at site-specific locations, the artist has a knack for bringing out the unseen, the invisible, through a canny juxtaposition of interventions, ultimately making of the space what she wants it to be, or wants you to think it is. Rather enjoyably, her calculated intermissions put forward the fugacity of the surroundings, the urgency of a moment and the necessity of immortalisation. Using the invisible to bring about a new interpretation, she forces us into questioning our pre-conceived conclusions about a said environment.
09.
10.
© Avery Preesman
09.
11.
A4: Louise Herlemont À From 27 th March until 3rd May 2009 ☞ Bozar, Brussels
Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones À Until 10 th May 2009 ☞ Victoria and Albert Museum, London
www.bozar.be
www.vam.ac.uk
Clash of the Titans
American artist ¤ Avery Pressman is a purist: his work is based upon his strong belief in the merits of sculpture and painting in their purest of form, eschewing any of the contemporary hoopla associated with both techniques today. To make his point clearer, he constantly confronts both genres in his quest to emphasise their respective characteristics, restraining his work to mere monochromatic interventions, allowing the works to breathe through. Often referred to as ‘decomposed’ painting, his minimalist stroke of genius somehow hits the chord right in today’s sometimes whimsical art world.
12. © Courtesy of Justinephotography.
10.
12.
Good Use
Starting with works ¤ created in 1917, the year of the October Revolution, this exhibition progresses to show how these two major figures of the Russian avant-garde and Constructivism shaped the path that contemporary Russian art would take from then on. Rejecting the notion of ‘art for art’s sake’, Rodchenko and Popova created works that played a part in transforming everyday life at the time - art that could to some degree actually be ‘used’. Over 350 objects, ranging from movie posters, abstract paintings and books show the artists’ influence on cinema and media at the time, and just why they deserve such acclaim. (CH) Rodchenko & Popova: Defining Constructivism À Until 17 th May 2009 ☞ Tate Modern, London
www.zeno-x.com
www.tate.org
© Popova.
Avery Preesman À From 19th March until 2nd May 2009 ☞ Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp
16
THE CAR CHASE ISSUE
© Marc Domage; Adagp.
13.
14.
THE DIARY
13.
Message in a Bottle
Widely regarded as ¤ one of Europe’s most important living artists, Parisian born Annette Messager is here given the attention she deserves in an up-to-date retrospective of her unique work dating from the 1970’s. Using an incredibly diverse range of materials and forms to create her distinctive works of art, Messager provides a new way of seeing things and how they can be used together. Items such as soft toys, stuffed animals, various fabrics, wool, photographs, prints and drawings, are all employed as intrinsic parts of Messager’s large-scale sculptural installations, in which movement also plays a key role. (CH) Annette Messager: Les Messengers, Haywood À Until 25th May 2009 ☞ Hayward Gallery, London
www.haywardgallery.org.uk
15.
New and Improved
After a £13.5 million ¤ expansion designed by Belgian architects Robbrecht en Daem in collaboration with leading artist Rachel Whiteread, The Whitechapel reopens its doors on 5th April this year. A 78% increase in gallery space provides new exhibition areas and galleries as well as new educational and archive space. The British Council Collection: Great Early Buys is one of the fi rst exhibitions in the new space, showing works chosen by Michael CraigMartin from the collection that the British Council bought early on in an artist’s career, and the prices they paid. Henry Moore, Peter Doig and Chris Ofi li are among them . (CH) British Council Collection Early Buys À From 5th April until 14th June 2009 ☞ Whitechapel Gallery, London
www.whitechapel.org
© Richard Long
14.
© David Hockney.
15.
© Michael Porter. Courtesy of Purdy Hicks Gallery.
16.
Pandora’s Box
Looking back to it’s ¤ previous use as The Museum of Mankind and the ambitions of those who ran it, The Haunch of Venison is here turned into a ‘cabinet of curiosities’, bringing together the works of over 40 international artists to help explain the world, it’s mysteries and diverse cultures. All the works shown have been chosen and united to evoke the mysterious and bizarre. With anthropological and archaeological overtones, the exhibition takes the visitor on a journey of discovery in this, one of the UK capital’s most ambitious group exhibitions in a private space. Artists shown include Sophie Calle and Damien Hirst. (CH) Mythologies À Until 25 th April 2009 ☞ Haunch of Venison, London
www.haunchofvenison.com
16.
All in the Detail
Landscape painter ¤ Michael Porter began painting at the age of 15 when he first attended art school in Nottingham. He moved to London where he worked in a Hackney studio for over 20 years, developing his technique and creating most of his lifetime’s work. His distinctive paintings, usually oil and acrylic on paper, are here exhibited in an up-to-date one man show. With an intrinsic respect for the tradition of landscape painting, Porter infuses his works with his own innovative techniques and technical experiments to create an almost unbelievable realism which takes the viewer into an abstract and ideal world. (CH) Michael Porter À From 13th March until 25th April 2009 ☞ Purdy Hicks, London
www.purdyhicks.com
THE NEXT FEW WEEKS' AGENDA FILLERS
THE FIRSTS
Holland ( 17 ¤ 18 )
France
Avedon Avenue
Renowned pho¤ tographer Richard Avedon occupies the enviable position of those photographers who live the scenes and situations they shoot. Indeed, his name is synonymous with exquisite fashion photography and groundbreaking portraiture, recognised around the world for bringing out the personal and discreet in his subjects’ photographs. The fi rst retrospective of its kind – developed in close collaboration with the artist’s foundation – it has travelled the world to fi nally arrive in Amsterdam for its fi nal European showing. Expect a varied presentation of the legend’s work, from his glossy fashion series of the 1950s and his many portraits of public personalities to his famous In the American West series, nostalgically depicting the American Midwest’s bygone era. Absolutely essential viewing.
17.
19.
18.
www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr
Looking at Them
Hanneke van Leeu¤ wen’s distinctive eye for portraits instantly caught our attention. Somehow teasing the thin line binding fashion portraiture and renaissance paintings, her work’s eerily realistic tone allows her subjects’ personality to shine through, albeit from a distance. Passive to the situation yet staring right into the lens, she fools the viewer into thinking they are impervious to her work, making them appear as though they are slightly annoyed by her intruding nature. Not in the slightest, as the intimacy of her prints reveal.
19.
© Dominique Issermann.
18.
© Hanneke van Leeuwen
www.foam.nl
Happy Birthday
Sonia Rykiel, Exhibition À Until 19th April 2009 ☞ Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris
20. Richard Avedon Photographs 1946 – 2004 À Until 13th May 2009 ☞ Foam, Amsterdam
( 19 ¤ 21 )
Uncontested queen ¤ of everything knitted. Inventor of the “work-in-progress” ethic. Purveyor of the endless and limitless, Sonia Rykiel’s uncompromising style has been gracing the catwalks for 40 years now. With hints of sombre feminism – she has made black her colour of choice – and a distinctive poetic streak prevalent throughout her creations, the designer has over the years single-handedly constructed a vocabulary of her own, unremittingly French yet reassuringly global in its reach. The fi rst major exhibition of its kind, Les Arts Décoratifs’ show pays homage to a lady who has done more of her fair share for the fashion world. Essential.
© Richard Avedon
17.
17
20.
Plastic World
Say what you will, ¤ the legendary Barbie doll has defi ned the lives of little girls the world over for decades, fi rst bursting onto the toy scene some 50 years ago. Always sitting on the cusp of fashion, she has been dressed, made up, re-styled and revisited countless of times, the miniature icon of choice for some of the biggest names in fashion, design and art. The exhibition at Colette retraces this incredible journey, as well as showcasing the “Barbie Room” - complete with a Jemery Scott collection of clothes and accessories –and one-off collaborations such as Lynda Farrow sunglasses. 2009 is set to be the doll’s year and Colette is just getting the party started. Barbie at Colette À Until 29th March 2009 ☞ Colette, Paris
www.galeriebart.nl
© Mattel.
www.colette.fr Hanneke van Leeuwen À Until 28 th March 2009 ☞ Galerie Bart, Amsterdam
18
THE COMEBACK ISSUE
Seeing Paris
The third series ¤ of commission made out to American photographer William Eggleston by the Fondation Cartier, this one has a slight patriotic feel to it, as he is asked to turn his lens on Paris itself. Godfather of colour photography, Eggleston is renowned the world over for his ability to bring bright, dramatic colours to his plates. Also showcasing his lesser-known work as a painter, the exhibition is the artist’s second solo show at the Fondation, reflecting its close and long term association with the artists it works with. An exhibition sure to make you look at the city in an all together different way.
In-Betweeners
21.
Animal Collective @ L' Ancienne Belgique on 18th March 2009 – this is Animal Collective’s third gig at Brussels’ AB, and it comes strong on the back of their latest album. The experimental, sometimes chaotic New Yorkers’ noisy sound continues to please and conquer.
© Eggleston Artistic Trust.
21.
THE DIARY
William Eggleston - Paris À From 4th April until 21st June 2009 ☞ Fondation Cartier, Paris
Concert Picks ¤ Grace Jones on 16th March 2009 @ L’Ancienne Belgique, Brussels.
www.fondation.cartier.com ¤ Beirut on 6th May 2009 @ Botanique, Brussels.
T.A.G on 21st March 2009 Investing a long-forgotten end of the city’s office district, the Temporary at Gallery collective takes over the pedestrian Charles Rogier Passage for a guaranteed month of spacespecific installations. With Word contributor Jean-Biche taking part, expect to be kept intrigued. www.misteremma.com Bonnie “Prince” Billy @ L' Ancienne Belgique on 22nd April 2009 – otherwise known as Will Oldham, mister “Prince” Billy’s music lives within its own world of dreamy melancholy. A guaranteed night of leftfield sing-along ballads and poetic lyricism.
What We’re Giving Away ¤
Moleskine City Notebook Brussels
We like it when big boys go local, and this is exactly the kind of neighbourhood initiative we like. To celebrate the launch of their new Moleskine City Note Book Brussels, the creative minds at Moleskine and Urban Communication have enlisted the talent of several artists to customise the world-famous agenda with sketches, drawings and words, available for purchase from Ebay. Late comers will however be able to win the standard Brussels edition by emailing wewrite@thewordmagazine. be, putting Moleskine Brussels in the title box, and specifying the delivery address.
Two pairs of tickets to the following concerts Animal Collective at L'Ancienne Belgique, Brussels on 18th March 2009. Bonnie “Prince” Billy at L'Ancienne Belgique, Brussels on 22nd April 2009. ¤
What you need to do. Send an email to wewrite@thewordmagazine.be, specifying which concert you wish to go to in the subject line. The first readers to do so will each win a pair of tickets to the concert of their choice. Conditions. Until tickets last. Applies to Belgium only. Normal conditions apply.
contemporary art fair / 24 - 27 april 2009 preview & vernissage / 23 april / invitation only austria / charim / krinzinger / kugler / mauroner / ruzicska / steinek / thoman / winter / belgium / aeroplastics / aliceday / baronian_francey / bastide / cerami / crown / d&a lab / de brock / dependance / desimpel / deweer / fifty one / filles du calvaire / gentils / geukens & de vil / gladstone / grusenmeyer / hécey / hoet bekaert / hufkens / in situ / jamar / janssen / jozsa / koraalberg / elaine levy / maes & matthys / maruani & noirhomme / meert / meessen de clercq / moba-nomad / mulier mulier / obadia / office baroque / olivari-veys / pieters / elisa platteau / rech / stand projects / andré simoens / stephane simoens / szwajcer / tache-levy / think21 / transit / triangle bleu / van der mieden / vilenne / zwart huis / zwarte panter / china / continua / cuba / habana / denmark / asbaek / bjerggaard / larm / v1 / nicolai wallner / wilson / finland / anhava / france / aboucaya / brolly / de multiples / de villepoix / filles du calvaire / fournier / galerie 1900-2000 / giroux / gutharc / in situ / jgm / la b.a.n.k. / mennour / nelson-freeman / obadia / papillon / paviot / rech / rein / schleicher+lange / sparta / tarasieve / templon / triple v / vallois / germany / art agents / bourouina / conrads / duve / feinkost / figge von rosen / fruit and flower deli / galerie 5213 / grimm / kewenig / parisa kind / pfab / kleindienst / klemm’s / kudlek van der grinten / kuttner siebert / mertens / neu / ostermeier / scharmann / schlechtriem / schmidt maczollek / sels / stüber / tanit / traversee / wentrup / zander / zink / greece / apartment / berniereliades / the breeder / italy / continua / la citta / photo & contemporary / tucci russo / luxembourg / beaumontpublic / nosbaum & reding / norway / galleri k / portugal / filomena soares / republic of ireland / rubicon / slovenia / skuc / south africa / stevenson / spain / horrach moya / senda espai 292 / soskine / switzerland / annex 14 / bärtschi / blancpain / groeflin maag / patricia low / mitterrand + sanz / moser / rotwand / the czech republic / svestka / the netherlands / aschenbach & hofland / hof & huyser / lentz / motive / ronmandos / rumpff / stand projects / upstream / welters / the russian federation / triumph / united kingdom / alison jacques / bischoff/weiss / brown / chinese contemporary / corrias / faggionato / fred / ibid / simon lee / modern art / museum 52 / stand projects / vilma gold / united states of america / bitforms / boesky / chinese contemporary / conner / crg / de voldere / edlin / fruit and flower deli / gladstone / grimm / luxe / rubenstein / salon 94 / schlechtriem
brussels expo / halls 1 & 3 / from 11am - 7pm / www.artbrussels.be
20
THE PIRATED ISSUE
THE CINEMATIC PAPERS
SEQ 02 .
THE CINEMATIC PAPERS INT. DARKENED ROOMS — DAWN
This issue’s Cinematic Papers are as variety-packed as the screening room at a film’s premiere. We consider who the actual victims of online video piracy are, get nostalgic with a look at Ghent’s independently-minded cinematic past and get excited about a new, border-breaking way of creating video content.
ALEX DEFORCE (Writer) Coastal Healing NICHOLAS LEWIS (Writer) The Movie Mecca JACQUES MOYERSOEN (Writer) A Night of Shorts KAREN VAN GODTSENHOVEN (Writer) A New Age Video World, Ghent's Movie Heyday RANDA WAZEN (Writer) Sinking Sharks ?
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tion, the problem lies in the general misconception that downloading a movie won’t hurt the individuals involved in the fi lm making process. “Everybody’s suffering from it. Cameramen, writers, costume makers, you name it.” In this case, as in many others, it seems to always be the folks at the bottom of the chain who get the cut. “You wont ever hear big shots like Brad Pitt or James Cameron complaining about earning less because of piracy.” The independent sector has not been spared, fi nding itself most at risk. Despite receiving various grants, European cinema, with its strong heritage of independent and art house fi lms, relies heavily on market support. “A lot of distributors that are essential to the circuit are going out of business but no one hears about them because they are very small entities,” explains Peter Bouckaert, member of the Federation for Independent Belgian Movie Producers. At the other end of the argument, piracy defenders such as Erik Dubbelboer, President of torrent tracker Mininova, believe that fi le sharing benefits society by “making culture more accessible.” An argument dismissed as a chicken and egg situation by
Bouckaert. “Piracy circulates fi lms that have been made possible thanks to certain mechanisms, but once they are affected, we won’t be able to make fi lms anymore.” It is however these precise mechanisms that “The Piracy Bureau” Piratbyrån, a Swedish organisation that supports people opposed to current ideas about intellectual property, believes need some shaking. “The problem is that the industry wants to pursue the same pattern as it did before the Internet,” explains Magnus Eriksson, Piratbyrån co-founder. Yet change doesn’t figure in industry leaders’ agendas, repression being their main priority. And while most anti-piracy activists feel optimistic regarding the future of the battle, Eriksson can’t help but laugh at such an assessment. “There is one joker in the game and that’s storage devices. If in 2015 you can get a hard drive of 10 petabytes, it will contain the entire history of music and cinema. You can shut down every single pirate from the Internet but the information will still be out there.” With such heavy prospects in sight, a radical re-examination of the movie industry’s business model does indeed sound like the safest bet and might even become a necessity. (RW)
© Oréli.
SINKING SHARKS ?
Sinking Sharks? Just like the music industry a few years ago, it is now the movie industry that is seeing its profits melt away as a result of online fi le sharing. Responsible for more than 80% of movie piracy, it has become unstoppable thanks to the boom in broadband Internet connections and the evolution of fi le sharing protocols used to distribute large amounts of data. Combined with the actions of international release groups (pirate networks who record movies in theatres as soon as they are released), and leaked screeners (advance DVD copies of unreleased fi lms that are sent to critics), anyone using the Internet can watch feature fi lms before they even hit the silver screen! But here’s the glitch: to make movies, you need money, lots of it. So while we rejoice at the idea of having the entire history of cinema at our fi ngertips for free, we are literally killing it… For Christophe Van Mechelen, manager of the Belgian Anti-Piracy Federa-
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THE DOCUMENTARY ISSUE
THE CINEMATIC PAPERS
“In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director,” Alfred Hitchcock once mused. Not to get religious, but soul fans around the globe will surely agree that Richard Olivier must have been sent from heaven when he shot his now-classic 'Transit Ostend' film, by far the most telling account on Marvin Gaye, once the biggest soul superstar, and his early eighties’ exile at the Belgian coast. “My wife had read in TéléMoustique that Marvin Gaye was now living in Ostend. A small news item, two lines. Through a journalist friend I got in touch with Freddy Cousaert.” Cousaert, the Ostend promoter, had taken the lost singer under his wing after they'd met in London. “We drove to Ostend and met Marvin and Freddy in a restaurant. At the time I didn't even know who Marvin Gaye was,” Olivier recalls. The year is 1981. A young, and driven independent fi lm maker, Olivier didn't have the slightest clue this little journey to the seaside would result in the making of a fi lm that would make people mail him every week, from Japan to Austria, to this day, 25 years after the death of the legendary Motown singer: “Marvin was troubled at the time. He didn't have any money, and things didn't look bright. So Freddy thought it would be good for his morale that we fi lmed a documentary about him. Marvin said: OK, I'll come and watch your previous fi lms.” “Marvin was nothing at the time. He knew he had a great talent, but he had sunken deep. Completely broken. In Ostend, he was getting himself back on track again. In the fi lm you see him boxing, playing basketball, jogging on the beach, watching the North Sea. That’s what he did really.” “When the fi lm was fi nished, I organised a little screening at the RTBF. Friends and crew only. Marvin was too late, he arrived in the middle of the fi lm, and at the end he asked if we could play it over again. At the end of the fi lm he took me in his arms and told me it was fantastic. When he signed a picture for me, he thanked me for making him imortal.” Shot on 16mm fi lm, with little to no budget, Transit Ostend was fi lmed in just a couple of days, with Marvin Gaye re-enacting his everyday activities in Ostend. Originally, the fi lm was only a mere 29 minutes long, but was later re-edited into a 56 minute Remember Marvin Gaye version. But more plans had been made though, plans for a fi lm on the life and times of Freddy Cousaert: “I went to England to negoci-
© Yassin Serghini
Coastal Healing
ate with the BBC, together with Freddy. We agreed to make a fi lm about Freddy, but for some reason they decided to make the fi lm without me. The problem was, Freddy had told them he owned the rights to Transit Ostend, which wasn't the case, my wife and I own all of the rights. But the BBC made a fi lm anyway, called Troubleman, for which they unrightfully used my images. So I sued them. For seven years, it was my lawyer against their four lawyers. But I won. And I'm proud to say I fucked the BBC, me - little Belgian.”
Back in the US ‘Sexual Healing’ had hit the charts big time. Gaye's mother was sick in bed at the time, and called him back home. After several arguments, Gaye's father shot two fatal bullets at his son. April 1st 1984. At the age of 44. (AD)
Contact Richard Olivier to order the Remember Marvin Gaye DVD at:
www.olivier-fi lms.be
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Luckily, a new movement of producers who don’t mind their work being shared has risen. They want their creations to be used, reused, downloaded and remixed. Their mantra? The bigger the user community, the more new works can come out of it, and the greater the collective creative pleasure. The name? Open culture, Creative Commons and the copy-left movement. But, with revenue streams dwindling both at movie theatres and DVD stores, one wonders where this freely downloadable content will ultimately come from. Since there’s no free lunch in the film industry, an alternative business model needs to emerge. Change is needed, copyright regulations are lagging behind, but creativity alone might get us out of the rut. Creative Commons are a set of licensing schemes (with national versions) that you can label your work with, in order to clearly lay out what people can and cannot do with it. Some award winning independent movies have proved that even with open licensing schemes, revenue is possible: the movie Star Wreck has been freely downloaded 3.5 million times now. The movie’s fan base has even taken care of subtitles in many different languages. Some countries in Europe are experimenting with public-private partnerships in order to finance independent movies, and
the European Commission’s “European Film Gateway” project is preparing and digitalising a database of 69,000 public domain films. Many museums, archives and heritage institutions cooperate in this project, fully aware of the copyright troubles that await: who knows which old studio or director will turn up and claim new income? Thomas Christensen from the Danish Film Institute, argues: “It’s true that this is a grey zone, but someone will have to try it. We have to try and forge new publicly funded licensing schemes. Now you either have free stuff or expensive content from a monolithic industry. I don’t advocate either of them. The only good thing about piracy is that it forces us to think of new ways to deal with old copyright regulations, and ultimately generate income for the real artists, not just the so-called rights’ societies.” With the rise of a convergent culture, in which the consumer becomes a producer (prosumer is the buzz word), talks back on Youtube and makes low-budget productions, we can only hope for a more diverse, intertwined and quality-driven film industry. (KVG)
© Yassin Serghini
A NEW AGE VIDEO WORLD
A New Age Video World With torrent and pirate sites taking up more than three quarters of data traffic on the web, it seems like something heavier than just music is being downloaded: series, sitcoms, Hollywood premiers, all are now whitin easy reach, not just for nerds but also for you and your neighbour. Because piracy is a pain for both the content-side of the industry as well as for the cable companies, they both try and block the data traffic. This causes violations of net neutrality on one side, whilst on the other hand, copyright breaches prevail. Stronger regulations are impossible to enforce, because the internet is such a powerful, decentralised mechanism. The movement simply cannot be stopped. More and more peer content is being shared, more types of output come to the surface, and the way of operating grows more sophisticated: even if a cable company shuts down a pirate site, the software could nest itself on a ‘dark web’ and still spread packages of data to your home PC. It makes The Matrix look like a Sunday afternoon cuppa.
www.creativecommons.org
THE REMAKE ISSUE
THE CINEMATIC PAPERS
© Ghent University Library.
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Original ticket stubs from Pathé’s now defunct Ghent movie houses.
Ghent’s Movie Heyday Considering the rather strong presence of Ghent in Belgium and Europe’s film industry (think of the Film Festival, the awarded directors as well as the movies and TV series being filmed in the city), The Word wondered how the country’s third largest city had achieved international status within movies circles. A dive into Ghent University’s Library archives which houses the Johan Daisne archive, one of the largest personal paper archives on cinema in Belgium, as well as hundreds of boxes containing all sorts of documentation relating to cinema - unearthed some of the city’s cinematic roots. A plethora of art deco posters, billboard announcements and exhilarating flyers point to a blooming, post-war cinema-enthralled city. Albert Warie, aged 86 and a lifelong operator and field engineer at the Capitole Cinema (now Concert and musical hall), confi rms this: “All in all, Ghent had more than forty small
cinemas in the post war period. A little more than half were in the city centre, but at least a third were very local cinema-houses in the city’s many small, folky districts. This made for wide dissemination of the movies, as well as the ‘culture’ of cinema going. You didn’t have to be an uptown city-bird in order to go to matinees or screenings.” Indeed, Ghent was an early bird in coupling cinema with other cultural activities such as cabaret, theatre and music concerts. Many cinemas sprung up in the commercial and transportation areas, catering to all parts of society: the Socialist Vooruit hall screened propaganda movies whilst the district cinemas catered to the many laborers, with at least two of them being peepshows or sex cinemas offering the ever-so-discreet extra services. Today, only two independent cinemas remain of the original forty something: independent Movie houses Sfinx and Scoop, still nestled near the commercial and station districts - Sfinx at the Veldstraat and Skoop near Zuid. Indeed, the advent of mass-entertainment consumption, culminating with the opening of behemoth Kinepolis-Decascoop
in 1982, heralded the closure of nine out of 14 independent cinemas that same year within the city. Catering to small audiences only, their business plan was ill-prepared to counteract the growth of the mass consumption of entertainment we saw in the 80s and 90s. As Albert Warie states: “With the near-end of the film reel, it was mission impossible for the small cinemas to renovate their machines and switch to digital screenings. On the other hand, with the advent of downloading, I believe cinemagoing won’t die. Heck, you can now even go and watch football and opera at the cinema.” Still, a dive into Ghent’s cinematic past uplifts the contemporary façades with layers of cultural historical relevance, and at least partly explains why the city, for its size, is such a beehive for cinema and theatre lovers. And for those of you who’d like to get a last taste of analog, creaky screenings, Albert is still screening original reel (from Brussels’ fi lm museum) every second Sunday of the month at MIAT, the museum for Industrial Archeology and Textile. Hurry! (KVG) www.miat.gent.be/htm/cinepalace.html
THE MOVIE MECCA + A NIGHT OF SHORTS
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But you’ll also fi nd the unheard of, rare and special edition, as his loyal base of customers are a difficult bunch to please. Consider the customer looking for a French subtitled Ludwig de Visconti, or the client who buys the same movie from different publishers (to enjoy each edition’s specific artwork) or the rest of the city’s collecting cognoscenti looking for a gem to complement their collection.
And if they also want to splash out on a wallsized Plasma screen, Marino’s brother – previously a film projector for UGC Toison d’Or/ Gulden Vlies – has just opened a shop in the same street which will cater to all your homeentertainment needs. A film-feeding family affair of sorts. (NL)
The screenings currently take place in two different locations: the Beursschouwburg in Brussels’ city center and Cook & Book in Woluwe St Lambert / Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe. A typical session consists of a selection of 10 international short films ranging between three to 20 minutes with a thirst-quenching break in the
middle. The films' genres are eclectic and you're likely to be taken on a roller-coaster of emotions as the night unfolds its ride of heart-breaking documentaries, explosive music-videos, breathtaking animations and hilarious stories… (JM)
Wander past it and it looks like nothing more than your typical multimedia store. Upon closer inspection though, a seemingly organised world of imposing DVD towers and uneven stacks of movie soundtracks reveals itself behind two jam-packed windows. Welcome to the wonderous universe of Mélopée, a cavernous emporium of subtitled feature fi lms and obscure movie scores. Opened in 1991, Mélopée began as a music shop specialising in movie soundtracks and World music. “As a kid, I loved cartoons but felt one element, music, was always missing,” says owner Marino, explaining why he first opened the store. Two years later, he was the first to make the DVD format available to the Brussels market, precisely remembering the month they were launched in Europe: “They started appearing around Europe in March 1998, whilst I already had them in 1997,” grins the proud holder of UGC’s Unlimited Access Member’s card. Indeed, it is obviously his love for music which first got him started in movies, Asian and Old ones specifically.
© Yassin Serghini
The Movie Mecca
www.melopee.be
Usually confined to the darkness of small cine-clubs and obscure film festivals, short films have had the reputation of being accessible only to an elite of cinephiles. But since the launch of Short Escape five years ago in Brussels, nothing could be further from the truth. Short Escape' team scrutinises short-film festivals and the internet to select only the cream of the crop in the shortened format. The originality of the concept is that instead of showing their exquisite findings in a restrictive member's-only cine-club, they bring them to the very same places you're likely to be found for a night out, and best of all, for free. Forget the claustrophobia and the moroseness of your average local theatre, here you will be enjoying Roman Gravas' latest short while sipping a Mojito in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. And if you're lucky, he might even be present to introduce his work to the multi-cultural audience and answer the questions you may have about it. It is indeed not unusual to have some of the young and even well-established directors taking part in the event and sharing their passion for film-making.
© Gina van Hoof
A Night of Shorts
www.shortescape.com
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THE 3D ISSUE
THE GUIDE
fine art & antiques fair
20-29 March BRUSSELS
EXPO
weekend 11am till 7pm week 2pm till 7pm Ladies’ Day Friday 27th, free entry for ladies Late Night Opening Thursday 26th to 10pm
ILLUSTRATION : F. SCHUITEN
www.eurantica.be
Exhibition sponsored by
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THE X-RATED ISSUE
THE WORD ON
The Peeping Room You’ve just found out your girlfriend’s real name is Hector. You've drowned your sorrows in a 36-hour bender with the friends you had all but forgotten during your three year love affair and, whilst lumbering back home, convince yourself you are now an unlikely member of the lonely bachelor brotherhood. You then decide the overwhelming sweat stench and short-lived warmth of a strip joint might actually prove a welcome solace. Here is what awaits you… all for five euro a pop. Photography Sarah Eechaut
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THE PEEPING ROOM
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Take Your Pick Super Video Show Premature In the Hot Seat Job Well Done Spotlight Spin Low Riding
With Special Thanks to D., Erocity Ghent, La Fille d'O and the Anonymous Shop.
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THE SUBTITLED ISSUE
THE SHOWSTOPPERS
The Screening Room — Although we found it hard not to start making out at the back of the room, we did in the end manage to shoot this month’s pick of showstoppers just the way we like them: dim-lit, oversized and slightly off-tone. Encompassing our obvious centres of interest, our elected bundle of delights makes for a well-stocked set of cinematic basics. Photography Opération Panda
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Billingham’s hardwearing, understated, camera bags have been essential kit since New ¤ York photographers fi rst started using them in the 1970s. Made for over 30 years by the same family business, the bags are a warren of sand-proof zippered compartments and hidden pockets, and come with a near lifetime guarantee. This one’s been following US troops around Northern Iraq and still looks pretty good to us. (HJ) www.billingham.co.uk
THE SCREENING ROOM
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Ben went for Newtree’s Chilly Chocolate and Cote d’Or’s no nonsense Black. Hettie picked ¤ frozen organic blueberries (“They make your mouth go completely blue,” she said). Delphine settled for Nachos and Guacamole (though we found Doritos to be a worthy European alternative). Meli’s North American blood made Oreos her cinematic munchies of choice whilst Karen selected wasapi peas for our DVD night in. I would personally have gone for a bag full of the most yuckiest of sour sweats (you know, nuclear greens, deadly reds and space-age blues) but the rest of them always end up knicking all of them. (NL)
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When interviewing Mélopée’s Marino for our Papers section, we asked him to recommend two ¤ DVD box sets and one soundtrack which for him have, and would, stand the test of time. For the pleasure of your ears, he picked Basil Poledouris' dramatic score for the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring sword and sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian. For the fl at screen, he fi rst went for David Lynch’s Eraserhead box set, which includes the cult movie as well as a full archive of his shorts. He then strongly recommended Armenian director Atom Egoyan’s complete works box set, including that for which he is most famous, Exotica. The tips of a connaisseur. All available from Mélopée. Plattesteen, 12 1000 Brussels
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THE AWARD-WINNING ISSUE
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It’s back to the glory days of studying when it comes to an actor’s preparation for a fi lm: ¤ get the highlighter out and yellow-out your lines. Now do you get why these guys get paid astronomical amounts? They’re eternally having to remember lines off the top of their heads, only to have to learn entirely new ones the next day. School, all over again. (NL) Stabilo Boss’ Original Yellow Highlighter. Available from pretty much anywhere.
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We’re not exactly tech-heads, but the minute we got to play around with this gem we knew ¤ we’d want to keep it. Slick, discreet and handy, Philips’ Tragbarer DVD-Player range comes with the necessary dose of design ingenuity and innovation restraint in a world of over-zealous features and futile functions. We found its nestling of the DVD underneath the touchpad a smart touch, its 26cm swivel screen remarkably convenient and its SD memory card slot a property we actually had a use for. (NL) Philips’ PET 1030 Portable DVD Player from € 399,99
www.philips.be or +32 (0)78 250 145
THE SHOWSTOPPERS
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THE TRAILER ISSUE
THE BUSINESS
— The standard line about infidelity in the film business is so well worn that it’s been reduced to initials – DCOL – Doesn’t Count On Location. Marital indiscretions may be tactfully ignored, but other human urges can have a devastating effect on set morale if they get out of hand. Producers quickly learn that one thing that really does count on location is the standard of the catering.
© Gintare Parulyte
Roll Cameras: Cue Bacon
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© Gintare Parulyte
Writer Hettie Judah
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Film units enjoy their military metaphors. Like an army, the cast and crew put in unforgiving hours, often in tricky conditions, and perform specialised work at speed. They work for extended periods in conditions so intimate that they could recognise colleagues by their body odour. And if an army marches on its stomach, well, so does a fi lm unit. Seven years ago Sabine Dehimene was working as a production assistant on a series for VRT, the Flemish Community’s equivalent to the BBC. The schedule contained a night shoot lasting from 23.00 to 06.00; they needed to provide a meal at one in morning, but no caterer would take it on. The producer and Sabine ended up cooking the meal themselves.
When Sabine found that few caterers were flexible enough to work the evening or night, she decided it was time to ditch production and take up a spatula. “I picked a really super name, got some business cards printed up, and went for it,” she explains. The name Kitchen Bitch – probably won’t attract many christening fi xtures, but having worked in fi lm, she knew it would hit the right note. With its modest fi lm industry, Belgium’s catering units tend to provide only one meal a day. For a medium budget feature, the cost is about €18 - 20 per head, although small indie budgets can force that as low as €1214. “The difference between set catering and cooking in a restaurant is that we have
to move,” explains Sabine. “You have to cook the meal at home, take everything with you in the car, be on set on time and then….wait.” That wait is the biggest complaint among Belgian film caterers – while they are expected to be punctual to the absolute second, the time that the unit breaks for lunch can be delayed for up to three hours. Cooked food changes if it is kept warm for long periods. Texture, flavour and colour can alter in as little as 20 minutes, but delays are a constant of life on set, and it is a distinction of catering for film that they need to be factored in when planning menus. Most catering units use an oven and hot plate on location to bake sensitive fi sh dishes or heat up soup, but conditions are not always
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© Charlie Dupont.
ROLL CAMERAS: CUE BACON
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predictable. Koen Tijs has catered some major movies in the last 16 years, including Eric Van Looy’s Loft. His trickiest location came last year during a production set in World War II that required a night shoot in the rain-sodden Ardennes. “We had to be there in the military camp for days and days,” recalls Koen. “We had a tent, but there was no road to it, so we had to push it on wheels 500 meters to our vans and prepare lunch for 100 people during the night in the rain. Because they were shooting at night, they’d need lunch at midnight or one in the morning.” Despite the extreme conditions, Koen charged the week at normal rate; “that production was six or seven months of work for us, so we’re not going to make things diffi cult for one week in the mud.” Koen is on set pretty much every day of the year – in fact his company De Merode often handles three shoots at once. The movie scene in Belgium is small, and like the owner of a local café, Koen knows his regulars. “It’s a pleasure to take care of their specific wishes without them asking,” he explains, but he’s also aware of the responsibilities that come with ubiquity. “These people eat on set 200 days a year – you need to take care that the food you are providing is varied and healthy.” After a decade and a half catering to every fashionable diet imaginable, Koen now pre-
© Erwin Borms
" These people eat on set 200 days a year – you need to take care that the food you are providing is varied and healthy. "
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empts special requests by serving all components of a meal separately, allowing the pernickety to assemble what they need for themselves. Having started her career catering for designers during Paris Fashion week, Els Dapootes of Mange Tour is well used to picky eaters. “There are always two sides on set,” she explains, “the technicians, and the actors. The technicians want meat and potatoes and sauce. The others want light food with lots of vegetables.” Catering to a top capacity of 120, Els’s day starts at 5am with a visit to the market and the development of the menu; her selling point is seasonal cuisine and she tries to use ‘forgotten vegetables’ when possible. Depending on how far
the shoots are from her kitchen, the lunches need to be sent off by 11am. During busy periods, the last minute service and preparation on set is taken care of by friends – often resting actors earning extra cash between jobs. After lunch, the dishes come back to be cleaned and the preparation and planning start for the next day. Larger budget productions bring different requirements. Russ Boswell of Ace Catering, who catered In Bruges, arrives on set with a custom fitted Iveco kitchen truck, a 3.5 tonne support truck full of supplies and a 4x4. With that set up, he and partner Judy Crane can provide three meals a day, seven days a week for over 200 people “ad infi nitum”, anywhere in Europe or North Africa.
THE ON LOCATION ISSUE
THE BUSINESS
© Gintare Parulyte
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Although they usually bring a big freezer truck full of British crew favorites, “on a larger fi lm we usually have one member of staff whose sole job it is to shop,” explains Russ. “With some actors’ dietary needs you can have unusual things to source.” Surprisingly, it’s not the stars that make things tricky. “The more famous they are, the easier they are to deal with,” confides Russ. “Up and comers can be the most demanding.” That can mean going all-out to accommodate a young actresses’ strict wheat-free diet for three months, only to see her at the wrap party tucking into a sandwich. By contrast, after working on a fi lm in Spain with Antonio Banderas, Russ was charmed; “ he used to come into the kitchen every morning and make his own sandwich; at lunch he’d queue up happily with the rest of the crew.” Russ loves the travel that comes with the job, and appreciates the down times that come between fi lms, but warns that the job
© Erwin Borms
" The more famous they are, the easier they are to deal with… Up and comers can be the most demanding. "
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does not suit all comers. “You need the stamina to work 14 or 16 hour days non stop, and the patience to deal with a tired fi lm crew,” he explains. “It can be stressful on camera – they don’t want to come to the service hatch and be served by grumpy people. They don’t only like you for your food, but for your attitude – you’re there to help things along.”
Previous Pages The Delivery 02. The Set Up 03. The Buffet 04. Kitchen Bitch Sabine Dehimene Dishing it Out. 01.
This Page 05. The Bread Bank 06. Els Dapootes Top & Tailing
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THE CULT MOVIE ISSUE
SEQ 07.
THE FASHION WORD
THE BORED GAME BRATS INT. DARKENED ROOMS — DAWN
Don’t mistake them for the condescending type, that’s just their pose. No, this manicured set of twenty-some thing good-lookers simply stand waiting for time to pass…
FRED BASTIN (Photography) RUBEN DEBUCK (Fashion)
Costume, Shirt & Shoe’s all by Les Hommes
Grey Layered Dress & Shoe’s by Cos, Men’s Blazer by Filippa K
Her. Dress & Pumps by Paul Ka Him. Trench Coat, Printed Shirt & Pants by Dries Van Noten, Shoes Paul Smith
Shirt by Filippa K, Trousers, Scarf & Shoes by Hugo Boss
Woven Black and White Top & Blazer by Raf Simons, Costume Pants by Filippa K, Shoe’s by Raf Simons
Long Blue and Grey Printed Dress by Christian Wijnants, Shoes by Martin Margiela (Hair and Grooming with Surfspray from Bumble and Bumble)
Blouse, Top, Shoes & Elastic Skirt by Paule Ka
Costume by Bruno Pieters, Belt & Shoes by Hugo Boss
Him. Costume, Shirt & Shoes all by Les Hommes
Make Up & Hair Eva Peeters & Karima at Touch for Givenchy & Bumble and Bumble Models Tine & Adeline at Vision Brussels Elisabeth, Wenceslas & Jules at New Models Pauline at Dominique Zeno at IMM With Thanks to The Warwick Barsey Hotel, Brussels
Her. Cocktail-Dress by Mini-Market, Leather Bolero Jacket by Stine Goya, Shoes by Cos
delvaux.com Newspaper Bag, Men’s “1829” Collection, Designed by Bruno Pieters – Cabas, Vegetable tanned calf – 250 examples
THERE’ S A BRAND NEW TALK, BUT IT’ S NOT VERY CLEAR THAT PEOPLE FROM GOOD HOMES ARE TALKING THIS YEAR IT’ S LOUD AND TASTELESS AND I’ VE HEARD IT BEFORE YOU SHOUT IT WHILE YOU’ RE DANCING ON THE WHOLE DANCE FLOOR OH BOP, FASHION (FASHION, DAVID BOWIE)
THE SILENT ISSUE
HOME SPUN
© Yassin Serghini, Mélisande McBurnie & Gintare Parulyte.
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Home Spun Writer Nicholas Lewis Every now and then, we come across a product, service or plain just good idea that warrants a little extra digging. More often than not though, these usually are false alarms, deliberately misleading and cunningly laid-out marketing gimmicks. Not so for Chauncey, a Brussels-based outfit which took its fi rst steps in 2008, with a single-item collection consisting of a Marine-inspired sweater (coming in either of two colours) and a no-nonsense, less-is-more ethos. The men’s knitwear brand is headed by French designer Nathalie Bouhana and Belgian freelance photographer David Sdika. Nathalie has over 20 years of experience in the fashion industry, heading the women’s knitwear departments of Cerruti, Hermès, Ferragamo and Alfred Dunhill. David, a trained veterinarian, actually went on to work with photography agency Magnum in Paris, before meeting Nathalie and settling for the life of an unlikely fashion spouse.
“I had the factory contacts, the experience and the competences yet had never done my own collection” reflects Nathalie, as way of explaining the frustration which kick-started the label. The self-confessed tomboy says she was destined to design collections for men, although it would be some time before she would be given the reigns to a menswear label. “(Salvatore Ferragamo’s) Giovanna Gentile Ferragamo approached me to head her women’s knitwear department, saying she also wanted to develop a men’s line...my eyes popped.” Several collections later, weekly Paris to Florence return trips as well as a stomach-wrenching plane accident resulting in the rear doors opening during take-off led her to believe the time was right to move on. Before leaving however, she met Madame Boucher at Chanel, who needed someone to develop the knitwear collection at Holland & Holland, a brand Chanel had bought to get a foothold into the lucrative market for high-end hunting gear. Rather astonishingly, venerable house Hermès also approached her around the same time, but solely to take charge of the brand’s menswear. Going against all industry-wisdom, she took on the Hermès position as a freelancer (which the house was reputed for never taking on) whilst at the same time working for Chanel’s Holland & Holland. At Chanel, she clearly
had the fi nancial backing and production infrastructure needed to produce her sometimes intricate creations, whilst at Hermès she benefited from the house’s professionalism, discipline and organisation (“Invaluable knowledge when launching our own label,” says David). Funnily enough, she is today knitwear designer for James Purdey, a direct competitor to Holland & Holland owned by Swiss luxury super-group Richemont. But let us be honest, the James Purdey gig mostly is a cash-cow thing. Indeed, most of the couple’s time, attention and resources goes into making of Chauncey the affordable luxury brand the couple had envisioned: a knitwear-only, durable and timeless label of the highest quality, priding itself on craftsmanship and, to put it in the words of David, “a slice of Belgian Surrealism” when it comes to their attention-to-detail. Add to that the duo’s obvious creative restraint, inspiringly understated approach to design and remarkably astute sense of style and you have yourself a near-guaranteed next-big-thing. Chauncey’s latest SS/09 collection, as well as its sweater-only debut collection, are available for purchase from
www.chauncey.be
DOWN TO THE SECOND
THE FASHION SPECIAL
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are not in the house,” he jokes. But when the lights go off and the music is rolling, Guillaume – fully armed with his two stopwatches and an intercom connected to Etienne, who is in the room watching the show - steps in for what will be the most intense minutes of his day. “The schedule is really tight and the backstage is a constant battlefi eld. I don’t have the time to see who is the model, so I just throw them out there! I have 10 to 15 seconds with each, which I use for a little pep talk, something nice to get them in the mood. It’s funny but even the most experienced models can get very tense, some might be distracted, others tend to become a bit slow, so it’s up to me to set everyone in the right state of mind according to what the designer wants for them to express.” What happens once the show is done and the heat is gone? “We hug, kiss and congratu-
late the designer.” And while he is unable to pick a particular client as his favourite, he admits that the Chanel shows are usually a very special experience. “The clothes are gorgeous, the budget is colossal and there is all that ‘Chanel magic’ that surrounds it. It’s an honour to work with Mr. Lagerfeld. The glitzy vibe of the A-list celebs at the front row and over the top-ness of it all is also quite amusing.” But don’t expect Guillaume to start mingling with the likes of Victoria Beckham or Kanye West. “I manage to keep a certain distance, it’s almost like seeing a play. I’m in the dark and witness the madness of the fashion world unfolding before me. No one knows me and it is perfect that way. But when people applaud at the end of the show, I do take some of it for me. Not too much, because I didn’t create the clothes, but I feel like I played my part.”
Down to The Second The name Guillaume Joveneau might not ring a bell, yet he plays a crucial role in the most exclusive fashion shows in the world. As a “topper” he gets to send the likes of Naomi Campbell and Agyness Deyn down the runway and is partly responsible for the atmosphere and the image of a brand during a show’s full 12 minutes running time. When in Brussels, Guillaume spends most of his time working for several agencies as an event planner and is the artistic director of Belgian brand Chine’s acclaimed fashion shows. But when teamed with old pal Etienne Russo, founder of Villa Eugénie, he embarks on the international Fashion Weeks with one single goal: to make sure models enter the catwalk at the right time, providing the show with a flow as smooth as silk. “It is rarely very complicated, but as the saying goes, the simpler it is, the most perfect it should be. You cannot afford any mistake.” With top-notch clients such as Chanel, Hermès, Sonia Rykiel, Lanvin and Dries Van Noten, we’ll take his word for it. And if you assume anyone can just send models down a runaway every ten seconds, think again… The job requires various skills such as diplomacy, flexibility, a knack for numbers and solving problems, but most of all, nerves of steel. The team works on very short notice, usually the day before the show. After the length of the show, size of the catwalk, soundtrack and number of silhouettes are established by the designer and the producer – in this case Etienne -, Guillaume works out the running order. His mission is then to brief the models during rehearsals, making sure they understand everything. While some shows have very minimalistic settings, others can involve extravagant runways or choreographies. “I must fi nd ways for complicated concepts to become simple and look harmonious. Etienne explains what he would like to see and I must translate those desires into pragmatic instructions to the models in order to get it done. They don’t care about the general result, they want to know exactly what they are supposed to do, whether they have to walk left or right.” Minutes before the show, the tension begins to rise, especially given that no one knows exactly at what time it will kickoff depending on who’s missing. “A golden rule of the fashion protocol is that you never ever start a show if Anna Wintour or Suzy Menkes
© Ulrike Biets
Writer Randa Wazen
THE MOTION PICTURE ISSUE
A STEP TOO FAR ?
© Oreli
50
A Step Too Far ? Writer Randa Wazen When Pierre Cardin began exploring new markets in the fifties, it caused an outrage in the world of luxury brands and high fashion. The French designer even got expelled from the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in 1959 for launching a ready-to-wear collection for the Printemps department store as the first couturier in Paris. Even though he was reinstated, Cardin has ever since been relentlessly mocked and accused of cheapening his image. But half a century later, it looks like he actually might have the last laugh. While in the past, high end designers stuck to creating clothes, maintaining a certain aura of exclusivity around their names or those of their fashion houses, they have today become ubiquitous, sometimes achieving celebrity status. You could drink Coke from a Cavalli designed bottle, listen to music in your $ 175 Marc Jacobs iPod case, text friends from a Prada phone, paint your walls in colours picked by Veronique Branquinho for Levis, walk on a Paul Smith rug or even sleep in Matthew Williamson bed sheets hugging your little Lagerfeld x Steiff Teddy Bear at the same time.
Another case in point is the burgeoning of capsule collections created for high-street stores and mass retailers. French catalogue La Redoute has been able to strike big names like Miyake, Gaultier, Lacroix and SaintLaurent since the 90s. But it was H&M’s tour de force in 2004, when Karl Lagerfeld designed 30 styles for the Swedish retailing giant, which ignited the “guest designer” craze. Max Azria’s designs could be found in the Carrefour aisles and Alexander McQueen will soon be available at Target, only to name a few. “For some young high end fashion designers it is merely a matter of surviving. They have to accept other assignments in order to have a decent income because they cannot live off the sales of their own collection,” explains Edith Vervliet, general manager of the Flanders Fashion Institute. An argument strongly confi rmed by Valeria Siniouchkina, designer of the emerging Belgian brand Girls From Omsk, who recently launched a line for Kipling. “It’s really diffi cult for a brand to sustain itself in the beginning. What most people don’t realise is that the costs are much higher than the profi ts. You either need to have a fi nancier, obtain a bank credit, or be really rich!” But what's the luxury designers’ excuse? As Edith puts it simply, “ for some of them it is also a matter of money.”
What sparks further interest is the newfound freedom for designers to engage in non-fashion activities. When Hedi Slimane parted with Dior Homme, he sunk his teeth into another passion of his: photography. Rick Owens debuted his own furniture line, inspired by Bauhaus and Art Deco, and Tom Ford is currently making his directorial debut with the independent fi lm “A Single Man,” starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. One might wonder how long it will be until John Galliano publishes novels or Gareth Pugh fronts an industrial band… Once again, fi nancial motives seem to be at the centre of these new creative patterns. Times are harsh and the competition just keeps getting fiercer. “There are more and more designers, in more and more countries, but the piece of cake to be divided does not grow gradually,” Edith notes. “Diversifi cation is the key word and cross-fertilisation can be the answer.” At the cost of their artistic integrity? Not really. The aforementioned designers, even those who like Jacobs and Lagerfeld have become masters in the art of over-exposure, are still considered as visionaries and respected for their clothing lines which, at the end of the day, is all that really matters.
For subscriptions and more information, go to www.thewordmagazine.be
52
THE SPECIAL APPEARANCE ISSUE
THE LAUREATS
The Struggling Anointed — Awards for young fashion designers are starting to look less like gifts and more like an essential means of survival within an increasingly greedy industry. Writer Hettie Judah Photography Sébastien Bonin
The modern fashion world thrives on novelty, and it needs new designers coming in to keep things interesting. Alas, even a semi-rational view of the industry reveals you’d have to be eye-foamingly insane to set up your own fashion label (that or young enough not to realise what you were getting in to). It is a grotesquely expensive business, and outside the world of Hollywood fairytales, even for a successful young designer, it can be a long time before there’s any money coming in. As a measure of just how few bright young things actually make it beyond next big thing status, pull out a fashion magazine from 10 or even five years ago and see how many of the freshly hyped names you recognise. It’s a sobering experience. As the thirst for fresh fashion blood grows ever stronger, a network of awards has grown up, through which the industry can spot and support incoming talent. These are not just a jolly pat on the back from industry seniors; they have become the means by which young designers survive in the business. “It is very important – without these awards a few of us wouldn’t have made it so far,” explains multiple laureate Christian Wijnants. “There’s a lot of money involved in fashion at the beginning – shows, presentations, marketing – without external support it would be very difficult.” His rural-naif, richly textured collections and inspired knitwear have netted this 31-yearold designer the Grand Prix given to young designers at the Hyères Festival, the Swiss Textiles award and three of the top awards from ANDAM, the Paris-based fashion association. Money from awards has allowed Christian to invest in PR, a press agent and an in-house assistant, and paid for him to produce collections and put on fashion shows. Having such in-
Sandrina Fasoli and Michael Marson
frastructure and expectations in place can produce its own expensive momentum. Christian estimates his first show, five years ago, to have cost him €10,000. Now that he’s working with girls from Paris agencies, rather than models brought down from Antwerp the cost has gone up to €30-€50,000, but he needs to hold his corner. “Fashion is not just about one season – you have to survive in the long term,” he notes. Of course it’s not all about the cold hard cash – the awards bring cachet and exposure, and for Christian, the kind of boost he needs to carry him through the tough times. He says that he loves meeting the juries and hearing their feedback, and while he keeps his ears open for words of wisdom, he rather wishes that the awards brought strategic coaching as well as fi nancial support; “ it’s great to get money, but fashion is a business, and we’re creative people. We don’t necessarily know how to make the right business decisions.” It is part of the role of award juries to identify those young designers with a serious need
for investment rather than those most likely to blow the whole lot on horse tranquilisers and glue. But even so, the extreme sobriety with which Sandrina Fasoli and Michaël Marson have processed the €300,000 they received from the Mango award last year is almost disturbing. Their austere loft space in Forêt is…exactly the same as it was two years ago. They haven’t even hired an assistant. “If we have someone coming here we want to be able to give them interesting work – and at the moment we really don’t need any help. We’re used to working as a team of two,” they explain modestly. Right now, they actually don’t even need the money for a show, since the White Club – a Northern Italian association recently founded to support young designers - has backed the Sandrina Fasoli label to show in Milan for two seasons. So far, their major financial undertaking has been to hire a press officer in Paris and a very dynamic agent in the United States.
THE STRUGGLING ANOINTED
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Press coverage can be a mixed blessing if you are not equipped to deal with it. In many ways the trickiest award for young designers is the prestigious Grand Prix du Jury at Hyères. Unlike the more substantial cash awards given to designers three or four collections into their career, Hyères is for the very young. Like Sandrina, Cathy Pill won the award while she was still in her fourth year at Brussels’ La Cambre art school and she says that at the time of application, she felt the weight of expectation to get out there and represent Belgium and her school. Hyères was only the best known of the awards that Cathy won as an undergraduate, which included ITS (International Talent Support)’s first prize and an award from the WGSN trend website. “The money allowed me to realise my collection for my final year at La Cambre,” she explains. “It allowed me to explore what I wanted, to test prints, to find couturiers to help me and to work more professionally.”
That extraordinary graduation collection, with its complex, limpid prints and sophisticated draping, in turn went on to win Cathy ANDAM’s Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé Foundation awards. “It was an opening to the wider world,” she recalls. “It is the most important award I’ve won; because it gathers together all the big fashion groups and gave me contacts that could really help on the fashion circuit. It allowed me to present my fi rst collection in Paris.” By her mid twenties, Cathy was showing with the haute couture collections in Paris. The award juries had recognised her clear vision and the level headed approach that would allow her to flourish under the kind of pressure that could swamp other designers her age. “It’s good pressure – but you need to be ready for it, and your collection needs to be ready for it,” she explains. “You mustn’t do it blindly – it’s not a one-shot route to success.”
Cathy Pill
Despite having the biggest purse of any European fashion award, Sandrina says that the pair received almost no press coverage when the Mango prize was announced in 2007 – “perhaps because it was the fi rst time they had given it.” It is only now, as the collection that the pair designed for Mango hits the shops, that the press is starting to pay attention, and at last the award is starting to have a knock-on effect – this spring, their press office in Paris is suddenly fielding a lot of requests. While the prize money looks pretty mini besides the Mango award, more modestly funded domestic awards like those handed out by Modo Bruxellae and Weekend Knack/ Le Vif have their own role - “the Belgian market is very diffi cult, very closed,” explains Sandrina. The bottom line is that any wellpublicised award makes the clothes visible to the buying public – invaluable exposure for a designer who can’t afford to advertise – “you can have money, but without press, you can’t do anything,” she adds.
54
THE STAR STUDDED ISSUE
The Address Book — Although we do venture into the odd new promising outlet now-and-again, when it comes to hitting the retail trail, we like to play it safe, returning to a select few of high street regulars. Spanning the usual suspect cities, we reveal our notso-secret list of essential fashion emporiums. Writers Karen van Godstenhoven & Nicholas Lewis
BR
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SE
LS
Photgraphy Sarah Eechaut & Yassin Serghini
PH (Men)
Patrick Henderiks’ Boutique PH' is nestled within the quaintly vibrant retail village of Rue de Namur/Namsestraat, the upward street linking the city’s upper side to its lower counterpart. Opened eight years ago, the boutique affords a dramatic interior style, complete with glass ceiling and contrasting black mirrors and counters. Patrick sees his store as uni-brand, saying the unique selection forms a continuum, similar to his personal ‘indirect collection’. A personal collection boasting tag names not elsewhere available in Brussels: Maison Martin Margiela, Jil Sander, Costume National, Dior Homme and Balenciaga. Probably the city’s best kept secret. (KVG) Rue de Namur 68 Namsestraat 1000.
THE PICK
THE ADDRESS BOOK
THE FASHION SPECIAL
55
Own (Men and Women).
The brainchild of Thierry Rondenet and Hervé Yvrenogeau, Own began as a brand in its own right, growing over the years into a multi-brand store whose pickings reflected the owners’ functional and straight-lined aesthetic. A magnificently designed boutique – rather cunningly pitting wood stage sets against mirror panels -, its selection speaks of experienced buying on the part of the owners. Brands include office favourite APC, the newly brought-in Acne as well as Whyred, Linda Farrow and Atelier 11. (NL) Place du Jardin aux Fleurs 5 Bloemenhofplein, 1000.
Kelly (Women).
A newcomer on the local fashion circuit, Kelly comes strong on the back of founders Alexia Stapels and Clément de Clerq’s belief that a certain breed of Brussels-based women – the type to have a daddy-sponsored credit card and a Mini by the age of 18 – weren’t being catered to in the contemporary manner they deserved. Resulting in their 1950’s-inspired, über-feminine boudoir-come-changing room fashion, carrying refreshingly unknown brands such as Antipast, Crumpet and Majestic next to more household names such as Love Milla, Notify and Missoni. Rue Darwin 60 Darwinstraat, 1050.
56
THE PAPARAZZI ISSUE
THE PICK
Balthazar (Men and Women)
Muriel Hervy Balthazar and her daughter Gaëtane’s multi brand emporium situated on the cusp of Ixelles’ Avenue Louise and La Cambre’s green spot is an intimate, spacious and unpretentious affair. Striking a perfect balance between the sure-shot (Comme des Garçons, Paul Smith and John Smedley), the basic (Filippa K), the original (Erotokritos) and the surprising (Ghent-based Men’s brand 7days), the offering is, in the words of co-buyer Joy Debauve, “timeless but with a twist, an undefined originality not found elsewhere.” (KVG) Av. Louise 294 Louizalaan – 1050.
Icon (Women)
Huddled within an 18th century townhouse, Icon carries a selection of brands as diverse as the customers that step in – from Japanese and American tourists to Flemish townsfolk, young hipsters and old French ladies. Michèle Bogaert, owner and buyer, is over the moon this season with Helmut Lang’s collection, but also points to the special edition collection by Cacharel and the work of local talent Sandrina Fasoli. Other brands available in the store include Philip Lim, Startas (Eastern-era sneakers making somewhat of a comeback), Isabel Marant, Sonia by Sonia Rykiel, Citizens of Humanity, Acne, Humanoid and Vanessa Bruno. (KVG) Place du Nouveau Marché aux Grains 5 Nieuwe Graanmarkt 1000.
Houben (Men and Women).
Situated next door to Icon is one of the more conceptual names on the retail trail, Houben. With outposts both in Antwerp and Brussels, this boutique for fashion intellectuals and luxury connoisseurs has that gallery feel to it, slightly clinical and ohso-intimidating. This is one boutique which makes no apologies for its pretentiousness which, with such constructivist brands as Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garçons and Azzedine Alaia, is no surprise. (NL) Place du Nouveau Marché aux Grains 6 Nieuwe Graanmarkt 1000.
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AN
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THE ADDRESS BOOK
Princess Blu (Men and Women).
Fresh from a latest round of renovations and extensions, Princess Blu remains the Antwerp address to remember for the city’s traditionally demanding fashion cognoscenti. The baby of owner Alex Somers, the store has often been the fi rst to champion new and unheard of brands. And this season is no exception. With shoe brand Common Projects being given a little of the limelight, and hands-down Word favourite Kitsuné making a national debut, Princess Blu yet again manages to stay ahead of the pack. (NL) Schrijnwerkersstraat 7, 2000.
Louis (Men and Women).
Full Page
Louis was one of the fi rst stores to back the rising tide of Antwerp designers making a name for themselves in the 90s, often giving them an unparalleled platform from which to launch their visionary collections. Although the boutique slightly tilts towards the smallish, its current mix of electives makes it a pre-requisite of any therapeutic fashion bouts: Rick Owens, Martin Margiela, Balenciaga and A.F Vandervost all form part of its much-loved DNA. (NL) Lombardenstraat 2, 2000.
Nationalestraat 91, 2000.
This page, photography Yassin Serghini.
Sien (Women).
Sien is the kind of understated store you’d expect your wife, girlfriend or sister to spend days in, such is its sense of intimacy and feminine complicity. Set against a rather monochromatic backdrop, the shop’s interiors is somehow an extension of its selection: conceptual but never unapproachable, heavy-hitting but never shocking. With new brands Rue du Mail and Sofia Kokosalaki complementing more traditional ones such as Boudicca and Alessandro dell’Acqua, the boutique confi rms its status as the city’s feminine fashion emporium of choice. (NL)
THE EDITED ISSUE
THE PICK
GH
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Eva Bos (Women)
This top-notch 1950s-1960s vintage boutique combines own designs with contemporary gems (the likes of Dice Kayek and Zuid) to offer well thought-out, classical pieces ranging from the obvious Hermès Kelly bag to a Chanel Camélia brooch and an YSL evening gown. Counter-reactive to mass consumerism, design professor Eva Bos steadily built her museum-like boutique in her quest to spread beauty and originality in a timeless and intimate environment, a feat she has effortlessly achieved. (KVG) Vlaanderenstraat 66, 9000.
Suite (Men and Women).
Suite is the concept of Glen Sestig, who envisioned a suite, complete with thick carpets, sumptuous curtains and Chesterfield sofas as a boutique that would cater to the creative yet no-nonsense woman. The idea has turned some heads and been copied many times, but the serenity and classiness have rarely been replicated. Expect the obvious Belgian bighitters (MMargiela 6, Sofie d’Hoore, Bruno Pieters and Anemie Verbeke), the up-andcomers (Glasjuweel), star designers (such as Hussein Chalayan) and slightly more downto-earth offerings (APC, Acne). (KVG) Hoogpoort 59, 9000.
And Those We Couldn’t Forget Rewind 44 Sint - Pietersnieuwstraat, 9000 Ghent Prive Joke Rue du Marché au Charbon 76-78 Kolenmarkt, 1000 Brussels Fish & Chips 36-38 Kammenstraat, 2000 Antwerp Waffl es Rue Antoine Dansaert 189 Antoine Dansaertstraat, 1000 Brussels Veals & Geeks Rue des Grandes Carmes 8A Lievevrouwbroersstraat, 1000 Brussels Nu 110 Diestsestraat, 3000 Leuven
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60
THE WALT DISNEY ISSUE
THE SPECIAL FASHION
The Incredible Miss White Our comical and uncompromising take on the cult Walt Disney fairytale has a certain whiff of Belgian surrealism that we’ve taken somewhat of an unexpected liking to. Fashion Kim Peers Photography Alex Salinas Art Direction Eleonore Vanden Eynde
Dress Ugo Zaldi, Panty Veritas, Shoes Christian Louboutin, Bag Delvaux
Dress Paul Ka, Shirt Cos, Pants Zeeman, Shoes, Caps and Ties Episode
Her. Vest Oni Onik, Shirt Xandres, Skirt Ines Raspoort, Shoes A.F Vandervorst Him. Pants Zeeman, Shirt Filippa K, Shoes, Caps and Ties Episode
Dress Sonia Rykiel, Panty Cette, Shoes Christian Louboutin
Dress Oni Onik, Rabbit Fur Sussies, Shoes Christian Louboutin, Bag Delvaux
Hair and Make Up Sigrid Volders Models Layna @ Dominique Models Dworfs Eric, Rufus, Robin, Jorg, Ludo, Frank and Daniel Thank You’s Troc International The Wide Family
68
THE RED CARPET ISSUE
THE SPECIAL SHOWSTOPPERS
The Hit List — We lounge it out in The Royal Windsor’s Fashion Suites this month for our selection of theme-inspired Showstoppers. Contextualised within the contemporary and slick aesthetic of the hotel’s Marina Yee suite, we single-out five fashion-friendly goodies which you should know about. Photography Yassin Serghini
Christophe Coppens Braces 01.
Braces are the kind of accessory we’ve always wanted to wear, but somehow felt we just weren’t ¤ quite suited for yet. Enter Christope Coppens’ latest take on the elasticised wares, and we’re set to re-evaluate our original position. Seemingly created with the Tectonic-generation in mind, the pair – which also comes in orange – is guaranteed to give you that extra bit of edge. (NL)
Victoria & Albert Fashion Exhibition Catalogues 02.
Want to know what the creative minds of a generation are thinking of next? Like to be kept ¤ up-to-speed on what are the colours, cuts and styles that’ll make it on to the catwalk in seasons to come? Open up one of the V&A’s exhibition catalogues, and you’ll quickly be a trend-spotter in your own right. Indeed, the publishing extension of what is widely regarded as the best curatorial fashion department in the world makes for inspirational, genre-defi ning reading. (NL)
Fluo Suspenders (€90) Available from Place du Nouveau Marché aux Grains 23 Nieuwe Graanmarkt 1000 Brussels
All past exhibition catalogues are available from the V&A’s online shop.
www.christophecoppens.com
www.vandashop.com
THE HIT LIST
Mo Ka Atelier 11 Jewelry Collection 03.
Brussels-based concept and design agency Mo Ka teams up with Antwerp jewelry collective ¤ Atelier 11 to reveal a collection of canny-referenced, white-dipped accessories. We picked the Scissors necklace, but the electronic music heads will opt for the Synthesizer collection. A cute, unique and pointy design-come-fashion association we’d like to see more off. (NL) Scissors Hanger (€ 220) Available until 12th March at Mo Ka’s guerilla store: Rue de Flandres 124 Vlaamsesteenweg 1000 Brussels or at Atelier 11’s Antwerp store Scheldestraat 32, 2000 Antwerp
THE FASHION SPECIAL
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Isabelle Baines Sweater 04.
This precious piece of knitwear is our favourite remedy for the crisis: a statement-like invest¤ ment for the Left Bank-ish type. We cannot guarantee that you'll fi nd this exact same one in the boutique, as she makes mostly madeto-measure and one-of-a-kind pieces, but since all her stuff is made from the same highend materials (merino, cashmere and cotton), you’ll have a difficult time choosing which one to spend your pennies on. And this isn’t even mentioning her selection of Comme des Garçons and Sofie d'Hoore. (KVG) 100% Mercerized Cotton Sweater (€295) Available from Isabelle Baines Rue du Pépin, 48, Kernstraat 1000 Brussels
www.moka.be www.atelierelf.com
Farewell Norden 05. We’d been planning on doing something on Norden for some time now, but when we finally got ¤ round to it, we learnt that our favourite hawker of sturdy Nordic knitwear and slim cuts was about to close its Brussels outpost down. Understanding the pressures brought about by tense economic conditions, we decided to celebrate the boutique one last time by sending it off with an appropriate farewell. For our last Norden indulgence, we chose this heavy-knitted Apple green cardigan. Make sure to check in on them on your next city trip to Paris. (NL)
S.N.S Herning Knitted Cardigan (€140)
www.ilovenorden.com
One night at the Royal Windsor’s Marina Yee Suite from €950
70
THE POST PRODUCTION ISSUE
THE FUTURE
Little Green Rooms — Over the last two decades, in the same period that the gaming world has risen to become a massive power (and perhaps because of it), a huge change has taken place on and behind our cinema screens. It is led not by writing, acting or directing – although it affects all three – but by design. Writer Hettie Judah
The rise of Computer Generated Images – CGI – and effects added to fi lm in post production have not only changed the look and texture of the fi lms we watch, but the depth of movement in a field, the speed at which the ‘camera’ moves within a scene, and the type of action that we now accept as normal. We have reached a point where there is apparently no limit to the design of a fi lm, beyond that of its budget. 01.
The In-Betweenies
“I think we are going to end up split between computer generated cartoons and ultra realist dramas, and the fi lms that are somewhere in between will get rarer and rarer. I’m not fully into gritty realism – that space in the middle is often where the interesting things happen.” David Mackenzie, director (Young Adam (2003), Hallam Foe (2007), Spread (2009). The fi lm world’s love affair with CGI has often been accused of putting the design of a fi lm before the quality of the acting. We have an image of actors fl ailing around morosely in front of a green screen, responding to monsters they can’t see, in landscapes they can’t
imagine, wearing a body that bears strikingly little resemblance to their own. David Mackenzie – who has directed respected actors including Tilda Swinton, Ewan McGregor and Jamie Bell in tightly fi lmed, emotionally intimate dramas – points out that performing in front of a blank backdrop is all part of the acting tradition. “In plenty of theatre spaces actors create imaginary worlds with very simply designed backdrops,” he explains. “Do actors need to be immersed in their environment or can they act it? I’m sure that you can get an amazing performance out of someone in a green room.”
While he has used CGI only sparingly in his work – notably to create some of the sequences in Hallam Foe where Jamie Bell is seen climbing over rooftops in Edinburgh – he is quite clear that so far this has had more to do with budgetary issues than points of principle. “Certain scenes in Hallam Foe were fi lmed in a studio in a warehouse and had nothing to do with reality– it made me think you don’t need a set. I think some guys – like Roberto Rodriguez (Sin City) – are already doing that; shooting whole fi lms in little green rooms.” David points out that the problem is not design being prioritised over performance, but
LITTLE GREEN ROOMS
DESIGN
71
design being prioritised over plot. “Genre film is about spectacle so people are borrowing everything they can from that new toolbox. But you can see when people got so enamored of special effects that not much else happened.” The result is movies that are full of astonishing moments, but lack presence over all – you can have great performances and wonderful design, but a story that dissolves in the construction of perfect sequences. David well remembers his excitement when he watched the seamless, logic-defying, endless shots produced for Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 2006), “the narrative slightly suffered,” he recalls, “but I don’t think the performances did.”
© Neil Davidson.
Paint Me St Paul’s
“If you were to go round a studio 10 or 15 years ago, just nosing round at different fi lms and stages, one would always walk in to the stage and see a big canvas on it. Almost every stage had some paint in it, it was like going round a gallery; that’s how I learned. Now you only see blue or green screens. It’s quite rare to see painting. People actually say “ooh gosh, we don’t see many of you anymore” – that’s what it is like now,” Howard Weaver, Scenic Artist, (Valkyrie (2008), The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) Finding Neverland (2004).
02.
" It is evident that new effects have completely changed the conception of what might and should appear on screen. " Julian Caldow
As life on screen becomes ever richer, it seems life on set is becoming rather depleted. A whole group of skills that were once the mainstay of studio fi lm making are dying off as large fi lm sets are being replaced by a more intimate arrangement that will be fleshed out in post production. There are the carpenters and set painters, of course, but also a shift in other areas like lighting and even the actual photography – it’s all stuff that can be fiddled with and sorted out on a computer, so the pressure on highly skilled operators is dropping away, certainly on a lot of larger budget productions.
03.
Weaver’s work as a scenic artist is being challenged not only by CGI, but by ever cheaper giant photographic prints. On the fi rst Bridget Jones (2001) movie he painted two backdrops showing the roofs of Borough Market in London that went right around the set – one for scenes during the day, the other for night. By the time the sequel was made, his painted backdrop had been replaced by giant double-sided translucent photo prints – when they wanted to change from day to night, lamps were turned on behind the paper and the alternative night image shone through without the need to change the whole set.
Jobs come in for Howard when scenes require extraordinary perspective that a camera might fi nd hard to capture. Perspective painting is something that clearly inspires him: he cites Powell and Pressburger’s Black Narcissus (1947) as a masterpiece of the art for its vertiginous mountain shots. Hitchcock’s sets have also been an influence. “That was the heyday,” he enthuses, “when it was part of the fabric of fi lm making. You didn’t build St Paul’s Cathedral, you just painted a great big cut out.” As far as Howard is concerned, it is no coincidence that these fi lmmakers are now
72
THE SPECIAL EFFECTS ISSUE
THE FUTURE
regarded as some of the greatest artists in cinema. “I do think something has been lost,” he explains. “If you do a set and a backing, you can control the whole lot, so what you shoot is what you get. Some directors like the idea of it being a fi nite thing, to have the fi lm in the camera. But for others it’s much easier to say ‘we’ll fi x that in post’– to me it seems an excuse not to make a decision.”
" You can only push the audience’s suspension of disbelief so far and still expect it to be effective. " Paul Catling 04.
It is surprising how fast traditional fi lmmaking techniques are being forgotten. Howard recalls a recent shoot he did in Prague with two young directors who were used to working with CGI – they couldn’t believe that the Czech crew had built a set with a vast forest in the middle of it – “they were amazed that you could actually shoot someone running through a forest on a stage.” What might be cost-effective in Prague is less so in Pinewood. Part of the drive away from big fi lm sets is a fi nancial one. “ We used to build sets for 10 or 12 weeks,” explains Howard. “ It would cost about 15-20,000 pounds a week for the stage; when you add it up it makes it very expensive.” Put Me in the Picture
“ The designer can only produce what the director wants. If a fi lm fl ops it’s normally for a few reasons – that it’s been horribly miscast, or a script is not fi nished – I wouldn’t say any fi lm fell on its arse because of the design or visual effects. I don’t think that’s the responsibility of the art dept - it’s the director and the screenwriter and the producers.” Julian Caldow, Concept illustrator (The Duchess (2008), Children of Men (2006), Casino Royale (2006) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). While budget may be a reason for not building sets, the cost of the increasingly sophisticated techniques used in CGI is starting to kick back in the other direction. “Lord of the Rings changed the whole landscape,” explains Julian Caldow. “It was a very brave fi lm to make. It had wall to wall visual effects, it
05.
was a huge success and everybody wanted a piece of that.” Although from a design perspective, everything has become possible, the cost of creating the scenarios has become so high, that there are usually a strictly limited number of effects shots available. For movies with a large number of effects, art departments are now being asked for a previz – a pre visualisation of exactly what the visual effects scenes will be. “They have to know for budget,” explains Julian. “But it means that you can’t get alternative angles and so on, because everything has been pre budgeted. Previzs have become important earlier and earlier in the production process. Visual effects used to be the last things done; now they are coming on earlier and earlier.” 15 years ago, Julian was working with pencils, marker pens and tracing paper – changing the colour of a background for a scene would have meant cutting out the image and
putting it onto a different backing. Now, using a computer program called LightWave, he can change the scale of a sketch, work out what needs to be built as a set and what will be computer generated. He can work in 3D, and see what the camera will see, so that the art director can tell where to put the set on a stage. While in certain ways Julian’s job has become easier, he also says that people can’t resist the urge to fiddle and make more and more tests; “the more things that can be changed, the more you can be sure that the production designer will change it if they can.” For Julian, looking at the design of fi lm from the wider perspective, it is evident that new effects have completely changed the conception of what might and should appear on screen. “I defi nitely think that visual effects are employed to do things that 10 or 15 years ago designers wouldn’t have felt the need to do. They’ve almost overtaken the art depart-
DESIGN
73
lot of people think the computer revolution has taken away the artistic input,” says Paul, who does not look back fondly on the days he used to have to build all his creature models in clay. “I think that’s a fault - all the people who use the computers are trained artists, the good people always rise to the top.”
effects. There’s that classic ‘money shot’ you get of monsters with the camera going down the throat – it stops being about the fi lm but about the effects.” For Paul, the gold standard of effective CGI is to moor the fantastical visuals to something recognisable from the real world. “In horror movies, people don’t tend to be scared by creatures with 1000 eyes and a million teeth. They tend to be scared of human deformity. The most effective use of CGI is to augment prosthetics – in Harry Potter the thing that made Voldemort look so scary was removing his nose.” What goes for characters also goes for set. Paul is currently working on Tomo, his fi rst fi lm as a director, which is based on an award-winning short he made about the relationship between a man and a robot. Rather than creating everything with CGI, he’s just been scouting for locations in Iceland. “To believe in the future shown on fi lms you’ve got to have it as realistic as possible,” he explains, “even though it’s set on an alien planet. The awful tendency is for people to go mental with designing the landscape but you start looking at that rather than the movie itself; it starts taking you out of the movie. In Tomo I’m not taking it so far that it wouldn’t be possible on earth.”
CASINO ROYALE © 2006 Danjaq, LLC. United Artists Corporation and Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All rights reserved
LITTLE GREEN ROOMS
06.
ment,” he explains. Even he is fooled by CGI – he recalls watching the airport chase scene in Casino Royale and thinking; “I don’t remember that being built. You see airplanes and vehicles and lights and buildings, none of which are there.” For a movie with a lot of visual effects to succeed, it needs the kind of time and budget that many studios are not brave enough to put on the line. Julian cites The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) as a fi lm that was put into theatres before the effects had actually been fi nished – “most of the effects were temporary effects shots, not fi nal renders” – and puts the disappointment of The Golden Compass (2007) down to the fact that this hugely ambitious fi lm was made in such a rush. “I think that was a warning for doing these movies with a massive scope; it had visual effects in almost every shot,” he explains. “Whereas The Matrix (1999) got it very right – it was a great looking movie and well designed, but not incredibly expensive. Everybody ripped that movie off.” The Monster Man
“When I started, everything was animatronics puppets. It was a really crap process; all the shots were limited by how the thing moved. Now it’s possible to show creatures in their entirety walking around. And the actual design has changed – you were always forced to design something where a skinny performer could get inside and walk around. The great thing about computers is that you’re not limited by the human physique, it’s an enormous change – you can have a monster 100 ft tall or skinny as a pole. You can have six legs.” Paul Catling, Concept artists/creature designer (The Wolf Man (2009), Babylon A.D (2008), The Golden Compass (2007), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). From Catling’s perspective, it’s all good – we’re in a golden age of movie monsters. “I think a
" To believe in the future shown on films you’ve got to have it as realistic as possible. " Paul Catling
For CGI triumphs, Paul thinks that animation of the T-Rex in Jurassic Park (1993) still hasn’t been outdone, but admits to being totally blown away by the design for Davy Jones in Pirates of The Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006). For him, the key to good CGI monsters is to effectively integrate the character into the scene. “The biggest problem with CGI is that it’s still development and the hard thing is to make it look real,” he explains. “With the old animatronic suits the creatures are there on set and they look real because they are actually in the scene. In CGI you can tell that it’s not really there.” Although from a design perspective, CGI has made everything possible, Paul explains that you can only push the audience’s suspension of disbelief so far and still expect it to be effective. Effects fail when the animation defies the laws of physics and the scene immediately becomes cartoonish. “When it goes wrong is when people are in love with the
Bring on the Sauce
“The important thing for me is the suspension of disbelief. A few years ago we showed an Argentinean zombie fi lm. It was enormously cheap – everything was done with ketchup and cardboard boxes – but you really got into the story and the characters. That’s what has to remain central.” Chris Orgelt, organiser and programmer of Brussels’ International Festival of Fantastic Film. Speaking about the era of gorgeous sets and incredibly influential interiors on sci fi movies, Paul Catling talked about the stillness of what
74
THE ACTION MOVIE ISSUE
THE FUTURE
used to happen in those 1970s genre films; “it was like a period movie, but set in the future,” he explained, describing the dialogue as ‘kitchen sink drama.’ Set design was beautiful on films when there was time for the camera to stick around, but in modern genre movies, the camera barely stops, well, moving. Chris Orgelt of Bifff is measured in his enthusiasm. He praises fi lms like The Lord of the Rings and The Dark Knight (2008), where the effects push the plot, but admits there has been “a proliferation of fi lms where the story is an excuse for the special effects people to go crazy. In the recent Star Wars movies the actors could have been replaced by puppets.” Chris notes that those fi lms with the most influential look in recent years are ones that are rooted in something much deeper than a brimming toolbox of effects. “The look of The Ring (2002) was all based on women with long hair over their faces and a white gown, it’s an archetype that’s been present in Asian mythology for hundreds of years.” As the tools of designing for film shift from the glories of ketchup, cardboard, clay, marker pens and roofing tiles to green screens and motion capture suits, it seems oddly enough that the principle of good design remains the same – that the design serves the movie, not the other way round. As far as we get in sophisticated computer techniques, what keeps us stuck to our seats are the same appealing human elements we connected with back in the days where all the robots wore tinfoil and all the spaceships wobbled on their strings.
07.
Previous Pages 01. Paul Catling's Concept Art for his Forthcoming Feature Tomo 02. Jamie Bell on a “Rooftop” for David Mackenzie’s Hallom Foe 03. Howard Weaver’s Scenic Background for Killing Me Softly 04. Howard Weaver’s Painted Backdrop for Closer 05. Jullian Caldow’s Concept Art for Zone 3 06. Jullian Caldow’s Concept Art for Casino Royale This Page 07. Paul Catling's Concept Art for Doc Ock (Spiderman 2) 08. Paul Catling's Concept Art for Lyra & Iorec (The Golden Compass) 08.
76
THE ROUGH CUT ISSUE
THE SHELF
The Script Page — What better than reviewing this month’s pick of literary and photography gems whilst at the same time projecting the latest David Fincher in a backroom of forgotten film realms and oilhungry machinery ? Photography Yassin Serghini Writers Hettie Judah & Nicholas Lewis Art Direction Mélisande McBurnie
Translating Hollywood (2007) By Sam Sarowitz Mark Batty Publisher
Ever wonder how a movie’s promotional material was treated simultaneously in far-flung parts of the world? Ever asked yourself why Sex, Lies and Videotape’s Polish promotional poster was more graphically revealing than its English equivalent? Or why Eastern bloc countries sometimes seemed more inclined to emphasise a movie’s sex content than other countries? How have cultures defi ned the way a movie is sold and promoted to us at a local level? This question forms the basis of Sam Sarowitz’s book, which provides a visual comparative essay of sorts on the treatment given by local distributors and movie houses to the Hollywood fi lms they’ve just received and are about to screen. (NL)
Desire: The Shape of Things To Come (2009) Gestalten
This handsomely bound volume offers an overview of design in this new century, with a series of essays re-interpreting the idea that ‘form ever follows function’. Here, function is expanded beyond physical and social needs to include the psychological – the desire to be different, to innovate, to participate in a story, to express social and environmental concerns and so on. Despite its heft, this at times feels like a rush job – too many pictures look like computer renderings and too many of the objects selected feel like they tumbled off a press release. (HJ) How to Set Up and Run a Fashion Label (2009) By Toby Meadows Laurence King
Any fearless recent graduate dizzy enough to still be considering branching out on his or her own in the unforgiving, fi nancial capital-heavy world of fashion start-ups might consider getting this box-ticking guide to setting up a fashion label. Something of a glorified textbook, Toby Meadows’ exhaustive and intently personal account reads like a long list of step-by-step dos and don’ts. From creation to retailing, the book touches upon every industry facet, drawing on several pointy case studies to further illustrate the lesson being taught. Complemented by surprisingly revealing imagery as well as self-explanatory graphics, you’d be a fool not to fl ick through this gem if you’re counting London, Paris or Milan as your next stop. (NL)
THE SCRIPT PAGE
CULTURE
Wired to Care (2009) By Dev Patniak & Peter Mortensen Pearson Education
Businesses that fail to thrive and designs that flop can too often trace their failings back to a lack of engagement with the consumer. According to Patniak, founder of strategy firm Jump Associates, we have become mired in a deep arrogance that has led to corporations and product designers consistently secondguessing the needs of consumers instead of getting to know the people they are catering to. Patniak links his timely argument for a more empathetic approach to design and business to a call for a wider behavioral shift based on open, integrated business practices. (HJ) Space Project (2008) By Vincent Fournier Verlhac Editions
Brussels-based, French photographer Vincent Fournier has taken it upon himself to visit most – if not, ultimately, all – earthbound spatial centers. Be they launch pads, research units, observation platforms, test and training centers or even warehouses, not one inch of space’s presence on earth is left untouched by Vincent’s aw-inspiring photography. A minutely researched account of the hidden and restricted, the book goes from Russia’s Star City to the Mars desert Research Station in Utah to reveal a world of quasi-empty gigantic warehouses, and lots of clinical whites. Available in Brussels’ Bozar Shop, this is one book that, erm, will get you over the moon. (NL)
¤ From Right
Desire (Gestalten), Translating Hollywood (Mark Batty Publisher), How to Run a Fashion Label (Laurence King), Space Project (Verlhac Editions), Wired to Care (Pearson Education), The Cinematek’s Opening Program.
With Thanks to Cinema Vendôme
77
78
THE HOLLYWOOD ISSUE
THE PENCIL
The Cinematic Orchestra — Yes, there’s a feel good factor to the evening and friendships are being made. Or are they? Aren’t we all just following suit? Looking over our shoulder for approval or, most probably, badmouthing someone we actually like. Either way, don’t deny you recognize yourself in our penciled party of the neighbourhood’s contrived crowds. We know we don’t. Illustration Jean-Baptiste Biche
THE CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA
CULTURE
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80
THE PARAMOUNT ISSUE
THE EYE OPENER
SEQ 11 .
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR MOBILE PHONES INT. DARKENED ROOMS — DAWN
Who else than our in-house equivalent to would best be suited to shoot our series capital’s oldest, and well-kept screening Ever the symmetrical eye, Sarah’s plates all-together different eye on cinemas we childhoods in…
Candida Höfer on some of the rooms? had us cast an had spent our
SARAH MICHIELSEN (Photography)
01.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR MOBILE PHONES
02.
CULTURE
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82
THE SUNDANCE ISSUE
03.
THE EYE OPENER
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR MOBILE PHONES
04.
CULTURE
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84
THE CANNES ISSUE
05.
THE EYE OPENER
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR MOBILE PHONES
CULTURE
85
06.
01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06.
UGC’s Grand Eldorado Room Cinema Arenberg The Cinematek’s Ledoux Room Flagey’s Studio 5 Kinepolis’ Room 8 The Ex-Shell Building’s Screening Room
86
THE ANIMATED ISSUE
THE WORD ON THE STREET
SEQ 12 .
SEEING RIGHT THROUGH YOU INT. DARKENED ROOMS — DAWN
The relative thickness of our paper often makes it difficult to give you a behind-the-scenes peek. Not so with this month’s brushed-wizardry offering, a mix of pretty off-tone, slightly Eyes Wide Shut-like transparent illustrations.
ISABEL BARAONA (Illustrator)
SEEING RIGHT THROUGH YOU
CULTURE
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THE SCENIC ISSUE
THE WORD ON THE STREET
SEEING RIGHT THROUGH YOU
CULTURE
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90
THE FICTIONAL ISSUE
THE WORD ON THE STREET
SEEING RIGHT THROUGH YOU
CULTURE
91
THE EXTENTED VERSION ISSUE
THE WATCHLIST
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THE EXTRAS ISSUE
THE STOCKISTS
The Stockists
A
A.F Vandevorst www.afvandevorst.be
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O
Filippa K www.fi lippa-k.com
Oni Onik www.oni-onik.be
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Billingham Bags www.billingham.co.uk
G
Bruno Pieters www.brunopieters.com
Villa Eugénie www.villaeugenie.com Verlhac Editions www.verlhaceditions.com
P W
H
Bumble and Bumble www.bumbleandbumble.com
V
Hotel Warwick Barsey www.warwickbarsey.com Hugo Boss www.hugoboss.com
Paul Ka www.paulka.com Paul Smith www.paulsmith.co.uk
Waffl es www.ilovewaffles.be The Winery www.wineryonline.be
Philips www.philips.be
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COS www.cosstores.com
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Isabelle Baines www.isabellebaines.com
Creative Commons www.creativecommons.org J
Cette www.cette.com Chauncey www.chauncey.be Christian Louboutin www.christianlouboutin.com Christian Wijnants www.christianwijnants.be Cinema Vendome www.cinema-vendome.be
Raf Simons www.rafsimons.com Raspoort www.raspoort.nl
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Les Hommes www.leshommesfashion.com Laurence King www.laurenceking.co.uk
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Seven Days Make a Week www.sevendaysmakeaweek.com Short Escape www.shortescape.com
M
D
Dries Van Noten www.driesvannoten.be
R Y Z
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Maison Martin Margiela www.maisonmartinmargiela.com
Delvaux www.delvaux.com
Xandres www.xandres.be
Mark Batty Publisher www.markbattypublisher.com Mélopée www.melopee.be
Sonia Rykiel www.soniarykiel.com Sussies www.sussies.eu T U
Mini Market www.minimarket.se
Ugo Zaldi www.ugozaldi.com
schweppes presents
INDIAN TONIC
unexpected since 1783
96
THE HAPPY ENDING ISSUE
THE ROUND UP
pages 02 – 03
pages 04 – 05
caroline biss
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Giorgio Armani www.giorgioarmaniparfums.com
page 06
www.caroline-biss.com
Caroline Biss www.caroline-biss.com
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For more information or to make a booking, please see the spa section on our website www.aspriaclub.be
austria / charim / krinzinger / kugler / mauroner / ruzicska / steinek / thoman / winter / belgium / aeroplastics / aliceday / baronian_francey / bastide / cerami / crown / d&a lab / de brock / dependance / desimpel / deweer / fifty one / filles du calvaire / gentils / geukens & de vil / gladstone / grusenmeyer / hécey / hoet bekaert / hufkens / in situ / jamar / janssen / jozsa / koraalberg / elaine levy / maes & matthys / maruani & noirhomme / meert / meessen de clercq / moba-nomad / mulier mulier / obadia / office baroque / olivari-veys / pieters / elisa platteau / rech / stand projects / andré simoens / stephane simoens / szwajcer / tache-levy / think21 / transit / triangle bleu / van der mieden / vilenne / zwart huis / zwarte panter / china / continua / cuba / habana / denmark / asbaek / bjerggaard / larm / v1 / nicolai wallner / wilson / finland / anhava / france / aboucaya / brolly / de multiples / de villepoix / filles du calvaire / fournier / galerie 1900-2000 / giroux / gutharc / in situ / jgm / la b.a.n.k. / mennour / nelson-freeman / obadia / papillon / paviot / rech / rein / schleicher+lange / sparta / tarasieve / templon / triple v / vallois / germany / art agents / bourouina / conrads / duve / feinkost / figge von rosen / fruit and flower deli / galerie 5213 / grimm / kewenig / parisa kind / pfab / kleindienst / klemm’s / kudlek van der grinten / kuttner siebert / mertens / neu / ostermeier / scharmann / schlechtriem / schmidt maczollek / sels / stüber / tanit / traversee / wentrup / zander / zink / greece / apartment / berniereliades / the breeder / italy / continua / la citta / photo & contemporary / tucci russo / luxembourg / beaumontpublic / nosbaum & reding / norway / galleri k / portugal / filomena soares / republic of ireland / rubicon / slovenia / skuc / south africa / stevenson / spain / horrach moya / senda espai 292 / soskine / switzerland / annex 14 / bärtschi / blancpain / groeflin maag / patricia low / mitterrand + sanz / moser / rotwand / the czech republic / svestka / the netherlands / aschenbach & hofland / hof & huyser / lentz / motive / ronmandos / rumpff / stand projects / upstream / welters / the russian federation / triumph / united kingdom / alison jacques / bischoff/weiss / brown / chinese contemporary / corrias / faggionato / fred / ibid / simon lee / modern art / museum 52 / stand projects / vilma gold / united states of america / bitforms / boesky / chinese contemporary / conner / crg / de voldere / edlin / fruit and flower deli / gladstone / grimm / luxe / rubenstein / salon 94 / schlechtriem
brussels expo / halls 1 & 3 / from 11am - 7pm / www.artbrussels.be
Alternatively, please call 02 508 0800 to find out when you can book your Spa Day. Aspria Club - Brussels’ Finest Health and Fitness Club - Rue de l’Industrie 26 - 1040 Bruxelles
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Burberry www.burberrythebeat.com
Saab www.saab-ids.be
Aspria www.aspriaclub.be
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BULO www.bulo.com
Tamarind food www.tamarindfoods.be
fine art & antiques fair
20-29 March BRUSSELS
EXPO
weekend 11am till 7pm week 2pm till 7pm Ladies’ Day Friday 27th, free entry for ladies Late Night Opening Thursday 26th to 10pm
ILLUSTRATION : F. SCHUITEN
www.eurantica.be
Exhibition sponsored by
Eurantica www.eurantica.be
Artbrussels www.artbrussels.be
ADVERTISERS
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delvaux.com
page 46
THE LASTS
IT’S ALL ABOUT PASSION Discover over 95 boutiques including Hugo Boss, Scapa, BCBG, Barbour, Essentiel, Samsonite, Marlboro Classics, Nike, Furla, Pringle of Scotland, Calvin Klein Jeans, Petit Bateau, Diesel, Björn Borg, Leonardo, Kipling, Versace, River Woods, Olivier Strelli, Napapijri, Oilily, Levi’s, Villeroy & Boch and many more…
offering savings of 30% to 60%* and indulge yourself in the Belgian equivalent of Bicester Village and La Vallée Village.
Opening hours: Monday – Sunday**: 10.00 – 18.00 E314 direction Genk, Exit 33. Follow the signs to Maasmechelen Leisure Valley and then to Maasmechelen Village outlet shopping. Free parking. For all other information, please visit
ChicOutletShopping.com
MEMBER
www.MaasmechelenVillage.com Free information number: 0800 40236
* SAVINGS OF 30% TO 60% ON THE RECOMMENDED RETAIL PRICE / ** FOR EXCEPTIONAL OPENING AND CLOSING DATES, DIRECTIONS AND 02/09 ALL OTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT WWW.MAASMECHELENVILLAGE.COM / © MAASMECHELEN VILLAGE 2009
Newspaper Bag, Men’s “1829” Collection, Designed by Bruno Pieters – Cabas, Vegetable tanned calf – 250 examples
✃
VIP INVITATION Present this coupon at the Maasmechelen Village’s Welcome/Information Centre to receive a VIP Day Pass that entitles you to 10% extra discount off the outlet price in 5 boutiques of your choice.
For subscriptions and more information, go to www.thewordmagazine.be
Validity: until 15/04/2009. Code: Word
Delvaux www.delvaux.be
The Word www.thewordmagazine.be
Maasmechelen Village www.maasmechelenvillage.com
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Shiseido www.shiseido.be
Cineart www.cineart.be
Waffl es www.ilovewaffles.be
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CERAMICA CHRONOGRAPH
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schweppes presents
INDIAN TONIC
unexpected since 1783
Schweppes www.schweppes.be
Bocconi Ristorante, part of The Rocco Forte Collection “Hotel Amigo” Rue de l'Amigo 1, 1000 BRUXELLES | Tel. : 02.547.47.15 | Fax : 02.547.47.67 www.ristorantebocconi.com | bocconirestaurant@roccofortecollection.com
Bocconi www.ristorantebocconi.com
www.rado.com
Dining in style
Rado www.rado.com
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THE BIG ISSUE
WHAT'S NEXT
WHAT REALLY IS THE BIG ISSUE ?
— FEMALE SOLDIERS GETTING GETTIN RAPED RAPE IN THE BY THEIR MALE COUNTERPARTS COUNTERPAR T US ARMY ? — BABIES MAKING BABIES IN THE UK ? — DESIGNERS BECOMING BIGGER THAN THEIR LABELS ? — DRUNK DRU FINANCE MINISTERS ? — A TIME-BOMB TIME TIMESYNTHETIC GENERATION FUELLED ON SYNT ARTISTS EXCESSES ? — CONTEMPORARY A RICHER THAN THE COLLECTORS THAT IN GOT THEM STARTED ? — A BROTHER BROTH BROT THE WHITE HOUSE ? — THE TH GROWTH OF MUSLIM-BASHING ? — A ROTTING R ? PLANET LANET FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS GEN GE THEIR PARENTS ? — KIDS OUTSMARTING TH GOING LOCAL ? — SUPERSTARCHITECTS G (READ: THE PHILIPPE STARCK-DEIN BRUSSELS) SIGNED TASCHEN STORE STO ST EXECUTIVE PAY — MIND-BOGGLING EX GOVERNMENT BAILOUTS ? DAYS AFTER GOVERN SEX IN INDIA ? — HAVING UNPROTECTED UNPROTECT UNPROTEC — THE AVAILABILITY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING, WHENEVER WE WANT, HOWEVER WE WANT IT ? — HAPPYSLAPPING, EPIC HBO TV SERIES AND SKUNKED-UP ROLE MODELS. MODELS The Word’s BIG ISSUE. Out 8th May 2009. Carry it if you can.
Dining in style
Bocconi Ristorante, part of The Rocco Forte Collection “Hotel Amigo” Rue de l'Amigo 1, 1000 BRUXELLES | Tel. : 02.547.47.15 | Fax : 02.547.47.67 www.ristorantebocconi.com | bocconirestaurant@roccofortecollection.com
www.rado.com
CERAMICA CHRONOGRAPH