Theart ofchange - Flanders Today

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erkenningsnummer P708816
february 11, 2015 \ newsweekly - € 0,75 \ read more at www.flanderstoday.eu
current affairs \ P2
Politics \ P4
Dancing to
another tune
business \ P6
innovation \ P7
\2
art & living \ P10
Kings of
carnival
no love lost
Celebrated contemporary
choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
is taking over the troubled Royal
Ballet Flanders
education \ P9
Instead of cranking
up the pressure to be
romantic on cue, try out
one of our suggestions for
a fun-filled Valentine’s night
\ 10
Aalst is getting ready for one
of Flanders’ biggest parties of
the year. We tell you where else
you can expect a rocking good
celebration
\ 11
The art
of change
multidisciplinary festival in
leuven challenges us to
become transcendent
tom Peeters
More articles by Tom \ flanderstoday.eu
Connect facts with a wide-open imagination, and you get
Artefact, a multidisciplinary festival in Leuven trying to bridge
the gap between art and science. This year it deals with our
human ability to change ourselves, from within and without,
an idea challenging both neuroscientists and artists.
N
© Heather Dewey-Hagborg
othing stands still. Everything is in constant flux, and
humans move with it. Contrary to the static worldview
humankind embraced for ages, now a more dynamic
perspective prevails. “A lot of science is indeed researching the
mutual interaction between different parts of the network,”
says Hicham Khalidi, explaining the choice of “You Must
Change Your Life” as the theme for the 10th edition of the
multidisciplinary festival Artefact.
It’s a festival that explores science through the arts, and this
year’s title refers to a book by the popular German philosopher and cultural theorist Peter Sloterdijk, in which he
describes man as having “eccentric potentials” and being able
to “step out of the river of life and take residence on the shore”.
Khalidi embraced Sloterdijk’s idea of human beings constantly
balanced between falling and standing, eventually trying to
transcend their natural condition.
One of the most striking images from the Artefact exhibition
he is curating in Leuven’s arts centre STUK is a 170-year-old
sofa balancing on one leg. The title of the piece, “Balance From
Within”, serves as an explanation: The apparent lack of movement is forced.
“The couch functions a bit like a Segway,” Khalidi explains.
“Two kinetic, robotic mechanisms react to each other to keep
it upright.” This corrective mechanism can be read as a metaphor for what happens in our brains and bodies when we fall,
but also when we sit and think about our lives (like on a sofa).
“In his book, Sloterdijk claims you can only transcend yourself
and change your life after you have found a certain balance,”
Khalidi says. “But don’t we constantly reflect upon new situations, making adjustments to find a new balance? The most
haunting illustration in Sloterdijk’s book about self-initiated
change is the story about a violinist without arms. He had to
transcend himself twice: to deal with being disabled and to
become a master violinist.”
Khalidi found the book when searching for a poem by the
late Rainer Maria Rilke. In the poem, the author is looking at
a bust, which speaks to him, saying: “You must change your
continued on page 5
\ CurrenT affaIrs
New director for Royal Ballet
antwerp choreographer sidi larbi cherkaoui takes up the reins of a company in turmoil
alan Hope
follow alan on Twitter \ @alanHopefT
A
ntwerp dancer and choreographer Sidi Larbi
Cherkaoui has been appointed as the new artistic
director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders. Cherkaoui
replaces Assis Carreiro and will take up the post on 1
September. Dancer and teacher Tamas Moricz is the
company’s new associate artistic director.
“Cherkaoui is a person with a broad base of support in the
world of dance and beyond,” said Pol Bamelis, chair of the
board of Kunsthuis, which incorporates Flanders’ opera and
ballet. “He can and will build bridges between tradition, the
contemporary world and the future. With his arrival at Royal
Ballet Flanders, we can look to a new future with absolute
confidence.”
Cherkaoui, 38, is one of Europe’s most celebrated contemporary choreographers. Originally a student of Anne Teresa De
Keersmaeker’s school PARTS, he was long associated with
Antwerp’s Toneelhuis before founding his own company,
Eastman, in 2010. Cherkaoui was awarded the Flemish
© koen broos/royal ballet flanders
“a course of reconciliation”: sidi larbi Cherkaoui
culture prize for stage arts in 2012, when then-culture minister Joke Schauvliege described him as “the best Flanders has
Sharp increase in dental
problems in young children
89,500
Hell’s Angel gets 30 years for triple killing
Ali Ipekci, a 40-year-old Hell’s
Angel from Genk, has been
sentenced to the maximum 30
years in prison for killing three
members of the rival Outlaws
gang in Maasmechelen in 2011.
Ipekci intends to appeal the
sentence.
The trial in Tongeren heard that
Ipekci shot the three men inside
a van during a party for the
opening of a new business. He
then dumped the bodies in the
canal. Ipekci denied shooting
the victims but admitted taking
part in the disposal of the bodies
when confronted with DNA
evidence.
In the sentencing phase, the jury
followed the reasoning of the
prosecution that there were no
extenuating circumstances that
would justify anything but the
maximum sentence allowed by
law. The defence had pled for a
lesser sentence, given Ipekci’s
age and that he is the father of
three children.
The trial was reported to be the
most expensive jury trial ever
held in Belgium, costing about
€500,000. The main expenses
© Courtesy De standaard
were related to DNA testing and
technical analyses, as well as a
heavy police presence, particularly on days when members
of both motorcycle gangs were
present, when approximately
180 officers were stationed in
and around the court house. \ AH
Spate of bomb scares causes chaos
© Ingimage
dren is unimportant because these
teeth fall out anyway. “If oral hygiene
is so poor with the primary teeth, then
it will probably also be poor with the
permanent ones – unless these habits
change drastically,” he said. “Brushing
from the very first tooth is really necessary.” \ Andy Furniere
38%
Increasingly more toddlers and young
children are having multiple cavities
filled, which must usually be done
using a local anaesthetic, according to professor Luc Martens, head of
the child dentistry department at the
Ghent University Hospital (UZ Ghent).
Professor Martens told Radio 1 that
the problem has increased dramatically over the last several years. “Some
children have 10, 12, even 15, rotten
teeth,” he said.
Because the children are so young,
they have to undergo the dental work
under anaesthetic at a specialist
department at the hospital rather than
their regular dentists. At least 500 children between three and five years old
undergo this kind of treatment at UZ
Ghent every year, said Martens.
Problems being seen now in young children, he continued, are increasingly
complicated, usually not concerning just one cavity or infection but a
whole series of issues. The problem
stems, he said, from a combination of
poor nutrition – in particular, way too
many sugary drinks – and a lack of oral
hygiene.
The professor also refuted the notion
that brushing the teeth of small chil-
to offer the world”.
The choice of Cherkaoui marks a clear break with Carreiro,
a controversial choice from the start due to her background
in arts administration rather than dance. Carreiro was
appointed in 2012 under difficult circumstances: The ballet’s
then artistic director, Kathryn Bennetts, credited with taking
the ballet from a provincial to a world-class company, quit
when the ballet and opera merged due to government cuts
in subsidies.
“The course I will be seeking to pursue with the company
is one of reconciliation,” said Cherkaoui in a statement.
“For a number of years, there has been a constantly growing exchange between different dance disciplines, as classical ballet and contemporary dance increasingly complement each other. Although there is always a key idea running
through the content of my work, what I am able to achieve
with ballet dancers in terms of form and technique is very
different from my work with contemporary dancers.”
A bomb scare early on the morning of 2 February
led to traffic chaos as the A12 motorway between
Antwerp and Brussels had to be closed as police
followed up a warning of a bomb in the Carré
dance hall in Willebroek.
The building was filled with about 500 revellers
who police evacuated at about 6.00. The building
was searched with sniffer dogs, but nothing suspicious was found.
Another hoax the previous weekend led to the
evacuation of 2,500 people attending a party at
the Brussels Event Brewery in Brussels’ Molenbeek district. Three more bomb threats, including at the American embassy and the law courts
on Poelaertplein, caused chaos across Brussels
during the course of Monday.
The European Parliament was also evacuated after
a Slovakian man dressed in a military uniform was
arrested outside. He was found to have a chainsaw
and a gun in his car but no explosives.
Some 35 such warnings have been made since
the terror threat level was raised last month in
the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre and the
shooting of two terrorists in Verviers. The authorities have warned that anyone convicted of a bomb
threat risks a maximum two-year jail sentence
along with a massive bill for costs for police and
emergency services. \ Derek Blyth
€12 million
0.2%
€51.4 billion
complaints about aircraft noise
over Brussels in 2014, compared to
9,770 the year before. Complaints
came mainly from municipalities affected when routes were
changed. Those changes have since
been suspended
\2
of members of fitness centres
tested positive for illegal hormone
use, a record number. The figure
is so high because inspections are
carefully targeted, said Flemish
sports minister Philippe Muyters
approved by the Brussels-Capital
Region for the implementation of
its Canal Plan, which aims to bring
25,000 new homes and 7,500 new
jobs to the city’s canal area in the
next 10 years
in sales of rough and cut diamonds
in Antwerp in 2014, up from the
2013 record of €49.4 billion. But the
record figure did not lead to more
profit, with margins down from 2
to 3% to zero
drop in the number of unemployed
in Flanders in January, compared
to the same time a year ago, the
first recorded fall in the numbers
since December 2011. The total
number of unemployed is 239,567
february 11, 2015
WeeK in brief
The new McDonald’s on Steenstraat in Bruges, one of the city’s
biggest shopping streets, will not
be granted a license to serve food
to take away, said urban planning alderman Franky Demon.
Customers must consume all
food inside the restaurant. The
city, which also refused McDonald’s a permit to open at all, did
not want a fast food chain on the
street, said Demon. The province of West Flanders eventually
granted McDonald’s an operating permit but cannot override
the city’s decision to refuse a
take-away permit.
Ghent mayor Daniël Termont
was awarded second place in
the London-based World Mayor
Prize. Termont had been shortlisted in the top three. First place
went to Naheed Nenshi, mayor
of Calgary. Termont said he was
proud of the nomination and
attributed it to the people of his
city. “I’m a little bit in love with
Ghent, you know,” he told VTM
News. Following the announcement of the result, he treated
1,000 Gentenaars to a party with
beer and music in the Vooruit
cultural centre.
Footballing legend Rik Coppens,
former Red Devil and first ever
winner of the Golden Shoe, has
died in hospital at the age of 84.
Coppens was born in Antwerp
in 1930 and joined Beerschot at
the age of 16, leaving in 1961 to
play for Charleroi, Molenbeek,
Berchem and Borgerhout. He
played 47 times for the national
side, scoring 21 times. In 1970,
he hung up his boots to take
over the management of Borgerhout, returning to Beerschot two
seasons later as manager. “Our
club shares in the sadness at the
passing of this great man,” the
club said in a statement.
A man suspected of being
an accomplice of the Jewish
Museum shooter is to be extradited to Belgium for questioning,
the court of appeal in Paris has
face of flanDers
ruled. The man was caught on
security footage with the suspect,
Mehdi Nemmouche, days after
the shooting in May last year in
which four people died.
Boortmeerbeek in Flemish
Brabant is the slowest municipality in Flanders at providing social
housing, with a wait time of 12
years and seven months, according to figures from the housing
ministry provided to parliament.
Opglabbeek in Limburg comes
second with 10 years and one
month. By contrast, the wait in
Bever, Flemish Brabant, is only
11 days. The average time taken
to process a request for social
housing is just under three years.
The Dutch and Flemish governments have signed the treaty for
the construction of a new lock at
Terneuzen harbour in Zeeland
province, which will allow the
largest ships in the world to
access the port of Ghent. The
lock is 427m long and 55m wide,
the same size as the new locks
on the Panama Canal, and has
a draught of 16m deep. The cost
is an estimated €920 million, of
which €155 million will be paid
by the Dutch government and
the rest by Flanders. The treaty
now has to be ratified by both
parliaments. Work is expected to
complete by 2021.
Cyclists in Brussels can now help
gather evidence for a possible
legal action by posting photos
and videos to the website www.
velodossier.be. The site plans to
use evidence of unsafe conditions to convince a court to order
the construction of more and
safer cycle paths.
Flemish workers in 2013 did
less night and shift work than in
2000, according to figures from
the labour and social economic
agency. Flanders makes less use
of these “unsocial hours” than
other parts of western Europe.
Evening working went down
from 12% to 8.6% of workers;
night work from 4.8% to 2.9%;
and shift work in general from
10.6% to 8%. The main reason,
said the agency, was a reduction
in the numbers employed in the
manufacturing industry.
The first cases in Belgium of
Cryphonectria parasitica, a
fungal infection fatal to trees, has
been discovered in more than 50
horse chestnuts on Dikke-Beuklaan in the Brussels district of
Jette. Nature organisations and
municipal authorities will meet
on 25 February. The infection,
also known as chestnut blight,
came close to wiping out the
chestnut tree in the US in the
early 1900s. The disease is spread
on the wind, and infected trees
are usually removed as quickly
as possible.
Consumer organisation TestAankoop is taking legal action
against Jo Cornu, CEO of rail
authority NMBS, over remarks
he made before the federal
parliament’s
infrastructure
committee. Cornu had accused
the organisation of populism
and lack of professional ethics
over a study published two weeks
ago that claimed that 82% of rail
passengers were dissatisfied with
train services. The remarks were
“intellectually dishonest”, TestAankoop argued and could lead
to a complaint of criminal libel.
Opponents of a new car park
under the historic flea market
on Vossenplein in the Marollen
area of Brussels have called on
the region to begin a procedure
to have the square, a number
of surrounding buildings and a
Second World War bunker under
the square listed as protected
buildings. The move is aimed at
preventing the construction of
an underground car park, which
protesters argue will hurt the
market, and local commerce,
irreparably.
offsiDe
off into the sunset
The Twitter handle @Stib_Fail
was begun by Kwinten Lambrecht in January 2012. The idea was
to get followers to post news of
delays, breakdowns or any one of
a number of other shocks passengers on Brussels public transport
system MIVB are daily subject to.
Among the complaints: overfull on line 82, broken escalators,
blockages on the embossed pathways for blind people, wet seats,
“the delicate smell of cold sweat in
the morning”, smoking and much,
much more.
“It was good to be able to keep
the pressure on in the beginning,”
Lambrecht told Brusselnieuws.
be last week. “But the stream of
complaints dropped off after MIVB
itself became active on Twitter.
Aside from that, I’d also like to have
a life.” So Lambrecht has retired
the Twitter account.
In fact, the MIVB Twitter account
was launched in 2009 but was
virtually moribund until Lambrecht and his partisans delivered
a sharp kick up the rear of the bus.
Since MIVB finally became active,
with a staff of four covering all
social media, including Facebook,
LinkedIn and YouTube, they’ve
posted 9,335 tweets and gathered
7,661 followers.
“Now they’re doing well,” Lam-
Joke dehond
Joke Dehond, CEO of Inventive Designers, was named ICT
Woman of the Year last week
by the magazine DataNews at a
ceremony in Brussels.
Forthesixth edition oftheaward,
more than 10,000 readers of the
magazine voted, producing a
top three. The other nominees
were Els Blaton, CEO of consultants Everis, and Dominique
Leroy, CEO of Belgacom.
Dehond, 35, was selected by the
jury, which called her “ambitious and driven” and said that it
chose her “because of her enterprising qualities in combination
with her technical know-how”.
“My father was a programmer,
so we always had a computer
at home,” Dehond stated on her
company’s website. “I wrote my
first computer program when I
was 11. It encouraged a conversation between me and the
computer, which – for no special
reason – I named ‘Brian’. I lost
my interest in computers during
my teens, but then decided to
study computer science after
secondary school.”
Dehond
graduated
from
Antwerp University and was put
to work as a software developer
in her father’s company in Hoboken, Inventive Designers, which
© Inventive Designers
develops tools to help companies communicate with their
clients. She moved on to legal,
marketing and business development, in the kind of grooming
often undergone by the offspring
of successful business people.
“I’m really excited about this
recognition,
particularly
because of the deep respect I
have for my fellow finalists,”
Dehond said in a statement.
“Together with the whole organisation, I’ve worked hard to get
our company where it is now.
We still have a lot of challenges
ahead of us, but we’ve established a sustainable basis to
confront these challenges with
confidence and passion.”
The digital transformation “and
automation of our entire industry,” she continued, “as well as
most other sectors, has created
a need for new insights, expertise and decisiveness. As ICT
Woman of the Year I’m going to
give my utmost to this throughout 2015.”
At the same ceremony, Ellen
Van Den Berghe, digital channels manager at the National
Lottery, was named Young ICT
Woman of the Year, designated
for women under 30. \ Alan Hope
flanders today, a weekly english-language newspaper, is an initiative of the flemish
region and is financially supported by the flemish authorities.
The logo and the name Flanders Today belong to the Flemish Region (Benelux Beeldmerk nr
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Corelio Publishing and the Flemish authorities.
© MIVb
brecht admits. “They’re very on the
ball. I’m not some sort of unstoppable whiner, so I decided now is
the best time to quit.”
Since Lambrecht’s announcement, tributes have been raining
in, including a touching one from
MIVB itself, based on the credits
for the TV show Six Feet Under.
Watch “#StibFailUnder, a Love/
Hate Twitter Story” at http://
youtu.be/rLHvhRHuYyc. \ AH
editor Lisa Bradshaw
dePuty editor Sally Tipper
contributing editor Alan Hope
sub editor Linda A Thompson
agenda Robyn Boyle, Georgio Valentino
art director Paul Van Dooren
PrePress Corelio AdPro
contributors Daan Bauwens, Rebecca
Benoot, Derek Blyth, Leo Cendrowicz, Katy
Desmond, Andy Furniere, Diana Goodwin,
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Lambrechts, Katrien Lindemans, Ian
Mundell, Anja Otte, Tom Peeters, Daniel
Shamaun, Senne Starckx, Christophe
Verbiest, Débora Votquenne, Denzil Walton
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Hans De Loore
\3
\ POlITICs
5th coluMn
seeing red
One would think that the opposition on the left was getting
an easy ride these days. After
all, both the federal and Flemish governments are opting
mostly for more conservative
economic and social policies,
bickering about these semipermanently along the way.
Still, times are hard for SP.A,
the largest party on the left.
Although it did not do as badly
at the 2014 election as some
had expected, the party is
still at a low point. It is struggling to find its opposition
voice – having been in government almost continuously for
decades. But mostly, the party
is struggling with itself and its
leadership.
After the elections, party president Bruno Tobback chose to
stay on. The electoral results
may have been disappointing, but they could have been
much worse, he argued. Party
members who had hoped for
a clean slate could do nothing
but grit their teeth.
Meanwhile, a contender stood
up: John Crombez, who had
garnered a reputation as secretary of state for the fight against
fraud. Although Crombez had
been moving up the party ranks
as a cabinet worker for years,
he was still fresh to the public.
But, while it was expected that
Crombez would take over in the
months that followed, Tobback
hung on.
Now SP.A faces presidential
elections in June. It is not the
first time a contender has stood
up, but it is unprecedented for
the Flemish socialists that they
are torn between two candidates of equal status. The result
is paralysis, as many party
prominents prefer to keep their
heads down and await the
outcome of the election.
The situation completely overshadowed a party congress last
weekend, as the media could
hardly be bothered about the
party’s strategy, only showing
interest in the two presidential
candidates and their running
mates.
To make matters worse,
Antwerp party ranks – the largest in Flanders – are torn up
by infighting, which is again
mixed up with the presidential clash.
All of this makes it hard for SP.A
to be the formidable opposition party it once was, as Karin
Temmerman, socialist leader
in the House of Representatives, found out last week
when she criticised the federal
government discord. Prime
minister Charles Michel was
quick to quip that the Flemish socialists themselves are
“specialised in unity. Particularly in Antwerp”.
No wonder most party
members are counting the
days till June. \ Anja Otte
\4
Facebook asks for meeting
Privacy secretary challenges new terms introduced by social network
alan Hope
More articles by alan \ flanderstoday.eu
F
acebook has asked for a meeting with
Bart Tommelein, Belgium’s secretary of
state for privacy matters, to discuss his
misgivings over the new terms and conditions
for users of the social media site.
Facebook’s new terms, introduced on 1 February, have been widely criticised around the
world. The site is now allowed to analyse,
use and sell a wide range of data about users,
including their contacts, messages, photos and
videos. Facebook may sell, for example, names
and photos of users to be featured in advertising
campaigns without their knowledge or consent.
© Courtesy De standaard
The privacy commission in Belgium has already
threatened legal action. Tommelein (pictured),
meanwhile, has called for a co-ordinated European approach to the problem.
The EU is setting up a task force to examine
the problem, led by the Netherlands, Germany
and Belgium. If a Europe-wide solution cannot
be found, the task force will draw up a list of
infringements that each member state can use
on a national level, a spokesperson for Tommelein’s office explained. She described the Facebook overture as “positive news. Belgium’s
concerns have obviously been noted”.
Parliament to step up security Flanders earmarks €55 million
for major roadworks
against terror threat
www.wegenenverkeer.be
The government plans to introduce tough new security measures
around the federal parliament,
according to De Morgen, which
has obtained access to a document drafted by the body’s security chief.
The plan – the latest in a series of
measures introduced to tighten
security in Belgium – was commissioned by House of Representatives speaker Siegfried Bracke
and Senate speaker Christine
Defraigne. It was drawn up by the
head of the parliament’s military
police force, Harry Vindevogel.
The report cites a number of security loopholes including antiquated security cameras, poorly
guarded entrances and lax security checks, De Morgen says.
Vindevogel suggests a number
of improvements including new
© Courtesy klever/wikimedia Commons
automatic doors to restrict entry, a
central control room and compulsory badges for everyone entering
the building. The total cost of the
recommended measures was estimated at between €175,000 and
€250,000.
Until now, ease of access to the
parliament has been considered a
basic principle of Belgian democracy, allowing citizens to monitor their elected representatives. \
Derek Blyth
Mobility and public works minister Ben Weyts has announced a
budget of €55 million for 28 major
roadworks on Flemish roads this
year. The works are mainly structural maintenance and cover a
total of 167 kilometres of road.
The number of projects is higher
than in previous years, but the
individual projects are smaller
in scope. Last year saw about
€80 million invested in works
on motorways; this year and in
coming years, the accent will be
more on regional roads.
Speed restrictions during works
will be closely monitored, Weyts
warned. “There are still too many
accidents happening during roadworks,” he said. “Works mean
adjusting your speed accordingly,
and we will be tough in making
sure that happens.”
The Roads and Traffic Agency,
which will carry out the maintenance, intends to keep disruption to a minimum by doing the
work at night and during holiday
periods. July and August will see
maintenance works carried out
on the A1/E19 between Mechelen
Zuid and Kontich, on the A12
at Strombeek-Wever and on the
A19 between Kortrijk and Menen,
as well as resurfacing on the
A17/E17 between Waregem and
Kruishoutem and the A10/E40
between Zwijnaarde and ErpeMere.
The longest works involve renovation of bridges on the A12 at Londerzeel, which will last the whole
year, and the renewal of Woluwelaan in Brussels, which begins this
month and will last until the end of
the year. \ AH
Integrated youth more likely
to be radicalised, says expert
Government debates
unemployment benefit reform
The more an immigrant family is
integrated into Belgian society,
the more likely it is that one of
their children will become radicalised, according to Marion Van San,
a sociologist from Rotterdam who
was called before the new radicalisation committee of the Flemish
Parliament.
“There are also Belgian families
whose young people have gone off,
and they are not all lower class,”
she told De Standaard, in contradiction of the general view that
poverty and social exclusion are
triggers for radicalisation. “The
young people who went [to Syria]
are not all uneducated or frustrated, and there is generally very
little empirical evidence to show
that they were victims of discrimination.”
Van San has carried out research
into Syrian fighters and is in
contact with about 90 families,
including those who are well integrated in Belgium and the Netherlands. In most cases, the parents
As the federal government works
to boost employment figures,
member of parliament Zuhal
Demir (pictured) has defended
N-VA’s proposal to cut people off
unemployment benefits after a
certain period. “We have to introduce more reforms to ensure that
more people seek work,” she said.
“Once they see that they can no
longer pay the bills, they will try
harder to find a job.”
But CD&V, which forms part of
the coalition government, immediately rejected the plan, arguing that it had not been agreed
during the talks to form a federal
government. “If we want to avoid
social discord, we have to stick to
the agreement we reached with
the social partners,” said Stefaan
Vercamer.
Opposition parties also criticised
Demir’s proposed benefit cut.
“Impoverishing a person is the
worst thing you can do to help
them get a job,” said Evita Willaert
of Groen, while Meryame Kitir of
are simply unable to do anything
to stop their children from becoming radicalised. Those who come
from well-integrated families have
higher expectations from society,
which makes them more sensitive
to exclusion and discrimination.
They also tend to be more Western-oriented, using alcohol and
drugs, taking part in nightlife and
only becoming more religious
later. Many have a diverse circle of
friends and have completed school
successfully.
“This is not a plea to mess about
with the basics of poverty policy
or to drop all work on the discrimination that is often shown to exist
on the labour market. But people
should not cultivate the illusion
that those measures alone will
be enough to counter radicalisation and extremism,” she said. “To
really understand this group takes
long-term and profound insight
into the young people concerned
and the families they come from.”
\ AH
© luma/Het nieuwsblad
the socialists said that the policy
was “heartless”.
The federal government has
pledged to raise the employment level to 73.2% of the working population by 2019. It needs
to create 440,000 new jobs over
the coming four-year period, but
a recent survey by the National
Bank revealed that the government’s current policies would
only create 60,000 new jobs, while
a report by the Federal planning
office put the figure of new jobs at
just 16,300. \ DB
\ COVer sTOry
february 11, 2015
The art of change
artefact festival explores science through the arts
www.artefact-festival.be
continued from page 1
life”. Khalidi was intrigued and started
to read philosophical texts and scientific
papers about plasticity and neuroplasticity, the discipline exploring changes in the
brain as a result of behaviour, environment,
emotions or injuries. He discovered the
work of the American neuroscientist Israel
Rosenfield.
“His work emphasises external triggers,” he
says. “His theory says we have bigger brains
because we started to use our environment:
We began to walk and migrate. Our memory
and brain have made evolutionary changes
in order to aid the body’s migrations.”
But, according to Rosenfield, whose witty
book DNA: A Graphic Guide To The Molecule That Shook The World (a sort of “DNA
for dummies”) is on display at the exhibition, our memory doesn’t store everything. Rather, it creates a dynamic network
of associations that are evoked by external
triggers and situations.
With these arguments for change and adaptation by both Sloterdijk and Rosenfield in
mind, Khalidi started to select this year’s
Artefact artists and performers. Rosenfield’s
research is particularly obvious in “When
You Fall Into A Trance”, a video by the British artist Emily Wardale that connects the
social with biology and neurology.
“It’s about four people,” Khalidi explains.
“One, a brain scientist, is examining a man
who suffers from impaired proprioception
or positional sense, meaning he falls down
whenever he can’t see the movements of his
own body. According to neuroscientists, the
perception of one’s own body is essential to
a human being. As long as this man is unable
to truly perceive his body, he loses control
over his movements and his balance.”
As a result, “When You Fall Into A Trance”
places both visitor and protagonists in
uncertainty. Apart from the focus on
this brain disorder, it’s a video about the
complex, often inadequate communication
between people, one of the artist’s fortes.
Our memories and
brains have made
evolutionary changes
in order to aid the
body’s migrations
Other works refer to how to think about
these complex relationships. Take “The
Hand, The Eye and It” by the Dutch “linguistic performer” Hedwig Houben. She likes to
chart the artistic process and her own position as an artist. In a 20-minute video performance, a plasticine copy of the artist’s hand
takes on the role of a mediator between her,
the maker and the object, the “it”, which
also looks like a body.
Entering “Room C (Extended)”, a participative installation by the Flemish artist Roel
Heremans, visitors are encouraged by the
voice in their headphones to close their eyes
and use the power of their imaginations.
“It’s an introspective installation about our
“balance from within” by Jacob Tonski provides a metaphor for the whole theme of artefact: keep from falling and transcend expectations
perception of time and about the question:
Are we our memory, or not?” says Khalidi.
“Rosenfield claims we are not, since we can
train it, and we don’t store thoughts in separate boxes in our brains. According to him,
our memory operates as a chain of signals
triggered by a context: our environment, the
people around us, the objects we touch…”
Khalidi considered adding a work referring to post-traumatic stress disorder, but
instead he selected a contemporary installation by the Iraqi artist Mokhallad Rasem.
“How does the body react (especially if we
don’t treat it well)?” is the crucial question
in his performance Body Revolution.
Rasem worked at the National Theatre of
Iraq before the war brutally changed the
course of his life. Now a prize-winning resident director at Toneelhuis in Antwerp,
he finds himself with a totally different
perspective.
In a performance with three dancers – from
Iran, Iraq and Morocco – he explores the
ways people deal with violence and destruction. “Their Arabic roots were important to
me,” he explains. “They also know people
who fought in the war, and they experienced the Arab revolutions from abroad,
just like me.”
Not being a dancer himself, his starting
point was not technique but emotions. “The
body can cry or yell, too. I’m interested in
how people react to smoke, bullets, explosions, while under constant threat and
suppression. I became aware that the body
changes in extreme situations, physically
and mentally.”
Body Revolution aims to show how the
body is affected by war and by the information people from the Arabic world receive
from the people they left behind and from
the media. “It’s strange,” Rasem realises. “In
Iraq I ran away from reality. Here reality is
appealing to me.”
Khalidi, having Moroccan roots himself, is
familiar with artists from North Africa and
the Middle East: “At the moment there are
about a dozen contemporary Moroccan
artists doing very well. I try to offer them a
platform. Take Younes Baba-Ali, who lives
and works in Brussels and Casablanca. I
showed his work at the Marrakech Biennial, since he is raising pertinent questions
about our society.”
Khalidi refers to the video “Être et ne pas
avoir” in which Baba-Ali tackles “social
tourism”. Because of his origin, he’s able
to change perspectives of a white majority
12-22 february
that claim that immigrants are abusing the
social welfare system.
But don’t think the artists presented at You
Have To Change Your Life want to tell you
how you should change your life. As if they
all are also inspired by the bust in Rilke’s
poem, they are only indicating the human
need to continually change in order to
survive and/or transcend oneself.
sTuk kunstencentrum
Naamsestraat 96, Leuven
artefact:
Manage your oWn changes
The Artefact festival has a history of looking at science through the framework of art.
“But there’s one big difference,” says curator Hicham Khalidi. “Art is about making
images, science about finding truth. For
scientists, verification is important, for
artists not.”
Nevertheless, in different STUK exhibition
rooms artists seem grateful for the possibilities offered by science. See, for instance,
the 3D portraits by American artist Heather
Dewey-Hagborg (pictured on cover). Her
sculpted faces look almost real, based on
traces of DNA people left in public places.
Still, the programme, offering a stateof-the-art music selection, wouldn’t feel
accomplished without an evening of debate
with real scientists.
So a collaboration was arranged with
Campus Gelbergen, an independent platform encouraging social debate and
personal development. “We will focus on
the learning process, uniting voices from
the fields of child psychiatry and brain plasticity,” says Khalidi about the debate he will
co-moderate on 18 February.
In between lectures by the renowned Flemish child psychiatrist Peter Adriaenssens,
the Dutch philosopher Bert van de Ven and
© achraf bendaoud
“art is about making images, science about finding
truth”: artefact curator Hicham khalidi
Iseult Beets, a postdoc at the Motor Control
Laboratory of the faculty of kinesiology and
rehabilitation sciences at the University of
Leuven, there are workshops with professionals in change management, movement
and learning.
\5
\ busIness
WeeK in
business
air ryanair
The low-cost Irish airline
has demanded that Brussels Airport review the way
it charges for the use of its
space. Because of the way
the airport splits its charges
between per-aircraft and perpassenger costs, Ryanair said,
airlines are being encouraged
to fly with small, half-empty
aircraft, and the airport is
restricting company growth.
auto electronics
Melexis
The Ypres-based microelectronics company reported
strong growth in turnover
and profits in 2014. Sales were
up by 20% to more than €332
million, and net profits up by
half to €85 million compared
to 2013, the company said.
Digital technology
Digitopia
The technology developer,
based in Wijnegem, Antwerp
province, has launched Innovation Boulevard, a series of
apps and equipment aimed
at shoppers in Antwerp’s
Meir. The apps include virtual
queues, which allow you to
do something else while waiting to pay, and virtual changing rooms, which tell you the
perfect size to choose.
Medical feops
The
Ghent-based
tech
company has developed a 3D
computer model able to accurately predict how a cardiac
patient will react to an aortic
valve implant. A spin-off
from Ghent University, FEops
builds a 3D model of a patient
based on images provided by
the physician, which shows
exactly which sort of valve is
best suited to the case.
Ports Zeebrugge
The port of Zeebrugge could
consider a fusion with the
port of Antwerp in the future,
CEO Joachim Coens said. The
port is expecting a fall of 20
to 30% in deep-sea container
traffic this year because of the
departure of major shipping
lines. This will leave it with
significant over-capacity just
as the gas market is falling and
roll-on/roll-off traffic remains
stagnant.
retail as adventure
The Antwerp-based outdoor
clothing and equipment chain
has been sold for €400 million
to the French private equity
investor PAI, owners of the
Hunkemöller lingerie chain
and baggage handlers Swissport. AS Adventure is still
15% owned by founder Emile
Lathouwers and management, with the rest held by
British investor Lion Capital.
\6
Quotas for women a success
study shows that introduction of gender quota has had positive effect
andy furniere
More articles by andy \ flanderstoday.eu
T
he directors of stock market-listed
companies still feel that the government
shouldn’t have imposed quotas on the
number of women on their board of directors,
according to research released by Hasselt
University (UHasselt). But the majority also
admit that the quotas have led to many
positive results. Researchers presented their
findings at an international congress on equal
opportunities in Antwerp last week.
A law from 2011 stipulates that at least onethird of the board of directors of listed companies in Belgium must be women by 2017 – or
2019 depending on the size of the company.
Government-funded enterprises had to achieve
this minimum by 2012.
Businesses were extremely critical of the quota
© Ingimage
regulation, arguing that with too few capable
women, companies would simply put token
women on their boards, and that a small group
of qualified women would be called on to serve
on several boards.
Criticism has decreased sharply since the regulation was introduced, said UHasselt postdoctoral researcher Hannelore Roos, who inter-
viewed 40 CEOs, chairs and both executive
and independent members of boards of directors. Although three-quarters of the companies
they represent don’t meet the requirement yet,
a change of mentality has clearly taken place,
they agreed.
Roos’ research shows that companies reflect on
their staffing policies much more than before.
To find a new director, for instance, they look
beyond the usual – mostly male – networks.
They also turn to other sectors, like the academic
world, to find female candidates.
The research also demonstrated that CEOs
and board members also feel that the common
assumptions they held in 2011 about the lack of
women candidates have turned out to not be
the case.
Six architects compete for Beurs
conversion into Beer Temple
Flanders’ official architect
dismissed with immediate effect
Six architects from a field of 35
applicants have been selected for
the next round of a competition
to design the new Belgian Beer
Temple. The museum dedicated to
local beer is to be installed in the
Beurs, the former stock exchange
building on Beursplein in Brussels.
The six were selected on the basis
of their experience with listed
buildings and their overall vision,
as well as their proposed plans for
the Beer Temple. Stéphane Beel,
based in Ghent, is best known for
M Museum in Leuven; Polo Architects from Antwerp worked on the
Belgian pavilion at the Shanghai
Expo; Arter from Brussels worked
on the Grand Casino in Brussels.
Kempe Thill, based in Rotterdam,
was responsible for the Maritime
Academy in Antwerp; Imagination, with offices in London and
The Flemish government has voted
to dismiss official architect Peter
Swinnen with immediate effect.
His term of office was due to run
until June this year. Neither the
government nor Swinnen’s office
have given any detailed explanation for the sudden decision.
According to the only statement
released, by deputy ministerpresident Liesbeth Homans, the
dismissal follows a report by Audit
Vlaanderen which was delivered to
the government on 29 January.
According to De Morgen, the speed
with which the decision was taken
on receipt of the report suggests
the audit made serious allegations
against Swinnen. One of them is
thought to be conflict of interest in commissioning a study into
whether the working practices of
the official architect’s office could
© Courtesy ben2/wikimedia
Cologne, specialises in restaurant
and hotels; while Ghent’s Robbrecht en Daem is known for its
numerous high-profile projects,
including the Concertgebouw
in Bruges and the renovation of
Antwerp Zoo.
The final six will now go into more
detail on their proposals, and a
winner will be chosen in June by
the two contractors for the project:
the city of Brussels and the Belgian
Brewers federation. \ Alan Hope
be applied in Albania. Swinnen’s
own practice, 51N4E, has strong
ties to the Albanian government,
the paper says.
The report also raises questions
about renovations to the Ravenstein Gallery near Central Station in
Brussels, where Swinnen installed
his official office in 2012. Some of
the expense claims relating to that
work cannot be linked to his official duties, De Morgen reports.
The government issued a statement saying the work of the office
would continue under Swinnen’s
deputy. However, the post of official
architect could be nearing its end,
as the Flemish government intends
to replace the post with a panel of
experts whose job would be to
sketch out plans for the government’s architectural policy. \ AH
€75 million extra investment in
tourism projects
Flanders adopts UN convention
on investor relations
The government of Flanders is
to invest an extra €75 million
over the course of this legislature on tourism projects aimed
at providing tourists with destination services better adapted to
their needs, Toerisme Vlaanderen
has announced.
Since 2012, the agency has built
its activities around two types
of programme: thematic and
geographical. Themes include,
for instance, cycling heritage
or the commemoration of the
First World War. Geographical
programmes relate to the three
main destination groups – the
coast, the art cities and the more
rural, green regions.
In 2014, for example, subsidies were accorded by Toerisme
Vlaanderen to the Bruges Beer
Museum under the art cities
programme; to a new skate park
in Blankenberge under the coast
Flanders has adopted a United
Nations convention aimed at
ensuring transparency in disputes
between the government and
investors. The measure, drawn up
by the UN Commission on International Trade Law, increases the
accountability of governments to
ensure they respect their international obligations.
Flemish minister-president Geert
Bourgeois (pictured), who is also
responsible for foreign policy,
told parliament that it was in the
region’s interest to sign on to the
convention. “Flanders depends
on international investment; it is
to a large extent the source of our
economic success,” he said. “But
in the past, disputes between the
state and investors have often
been resolved behind closed doors.
By adopting the new convention,
Flanders is joining an international
consensus to ensure that disputes
programme; and to the Viking
Festival in Tongeren under the
regions programme.
Tourism minister Ben Weyts’ new
plan involves launching a set of
strategies that bring added value
to society, to the economy and to
business. These “leverage strategies” would increase the region’s
name recognition internationally, he said.
The extra subsidy will be distributed to projects that fit in one
of three strategies: a thematic
programme about the Flemish Old Masters; a programmes
stressing Flanders’ infrastructure
for conferences, meetings and
exhibitions; and a programme
stressing and reinforcing the
drawing power of existing destinations. Toerisme Vlaanderen
will soon issue a calls for candidate projects for financing. \ AH
© Courtesy geertbourgeois.be
of this nature are transparent and
open to public scrutiny.”
Bourgeois said the new rules would
provide a more secure basis for
future agreements. “The convention increases legal protection for
Flemish companies that are seeking to invest internationally, as well
as protecting foreign companies
that want to invest in Flanders.”
The new rules apply to some 3,000
investment agreements across the
world, including about 90 involving Flanders. \ Derek Blyth
\ InnOVaTIOn
february 11, 2015
Power up
WeeK in
innovation
benelux’s biggest energy storage research lab opens in brussels
ben bloom
More articles by ben \ flanderstoday.eu
www.PortofantwerP.com
T
he biggest laboratory for
energy storage research in
the Benelux has opened
at the Free University of Brussels
(VUB). The Battery Innovation
Centre, which opened in
December, will house scientists
working on the development of
electric cars and solar and wind
farm technology.
The biggest
challenge with
batteries is
to balance
performance
with durability
and capacity
Batteries are the key to the development of clean, efficient electric
vehicles and energy farms. The
VUB has a long history of expertise in the field, and its engineering
faculty was a pioneer of research
and development in electric vehicles. The new innovation centre,
known as the BIC, will also focus
on other crucial energy matters,
such as improved performance
and storage capacity for solar and
wind power.
With 260 test channels, 10 climate
chambers and thermal imaging equipment, the BIC has been
© Courtesy Mobi
Developing more durable batteries is key to the success of electric cars
established to better market the
VUB’s battery-testing technologies.
Professor Noshin Omar, head of
the centre, said: “The biggest challenge with batteries is to balance
optimal performance with durability and capacity. Investing in
durability means reducing performance. In our climate chambers
we can test thermal as well as electrical performance and durability,
and on this basis, we can develop
market models for rechargeable
energy systems.”
The BIC is an integral part of Mobi,
a research group of more than 60
staff members from the faculties
of engineering and economic and
social sciences, led by professors
Joeri Van Mierlo and Cathy Macharis. This means their technological
innovation is fed by other research
such as environmental impact
studies and market analysis.
Research into batteries is growing
in importance, with electric cars
the future of ground transport as
we seek to reduce our use of fossil
fuels. The past decade has seen
a boom in their popularity and
development, but power storage
remains a problem, leaving many
potential customers with doubts
as to their car’s range and the ease
of recharging.
“For us, the behaviour of the
Q&a
www.Provan.be
BenProesmans,theownerofametal-processing company in Genk that scooped the first
Factory of the Future award, explains how a
new methodology cut costs and lead times
What does Provan do?
We deliver what we call tailor-made metal solutions. These include sheet laser cutting, laser
cutting of tubes and pipes, bending and welding
of metal parts and assembly. We have a broad
range of customers: from developers of medical
equipment to heating producers and shop interior manufacturers.
You won the Factory of the Future award for
implementing a Quick Response Manufacturing system. What’s that?
Quick Response Manufacturing, or QRM, is a
production methodology that focuses on time
instead of costs. The process of “time thinking”
instead of “cost thinking” results in a reduction
of the lead time – the time between placement
of an order and delivery of the final product –
that has a material impact on the global costs.
For example, we were looking for an alternative production method that would enable us
consumer is very important. How
is a driver of an electric vehicle
going to behave?” says Van Mierlo.
“We know, for example, that being
‘fun to drive’ plays a key part for
the consumer in their acceptance
of electrical vehicles.
“In addition, there is what we call
range anxiety, or the fear of being
stranded with an empty battery.
How can we respond to that? Are
hybrid vehicles or dynamic inductive charging systems a good
response to this? Technological
innovation needs to be driven by
such information.”
The BIC encourages partnerships
within the energy sector, while
creating a positive environment
for further industry collaboration. It will also enable organisations and companies to improve
their individual applications by
enhancing overall performance
and energy efficiency.
Mobi provides technical and
scientific services to organisations and private companies, and
its facilities and models have been
implemented in projects with
clients including BMW, Scania and
Toyota.
visualisation of our production activities. As
a consequence, our operators are guided by a
thoroughly digital system, and thanks to the
use of coloured flags in the system, they organise their work completely independently. These
flags indicate the order of the transport carts
and metal parts in the different production
steps, so everything can follow one another in
rapid succession.
to manufacture and deliver stoves as quickly
as possible. A batch production of 60 sets used
to take around four weeks. However, with an
increase in the number of product variants, we
feared that our production method would cause
problems in terms of lead times and available
warehouse space. So we decided to implement
an entirely new production method: QRM.
What impact did it have on production?
On the shop floor, QRM is a combination of two
things: smart production, thanks to our innovative software – we are the first company in
Belgium to use this system – and the physical
Were you satisfied?
Definitely! Our products can now be made in
batches of 15 sets. As a consequence, the lead
time for each set has decreased by a massive
85%, from three-and-a-half to four weeks to just
three days. The packing process is now twice as
fast and the smooth workflow means we don’t
need to stock large quantities of parts anymore,
freeing up lots of storage space.
But this is just one example where the benefits of QRM are clearly quantified. Thanks to the
QRM approach, we are implementing a production methodology that is guaranteed to reduce
our total costs in the long run. \ Interview by
Senne Starckx
fertility clinic
calls for donors
The Centre for Reproductive
Medicine at Brussels University Hospital has launched an
urgent call for donated egg
cells. In Brussels alone, about
170 couples are waiting for an
egg cell donor, and the waiting
list is growing. The shortage
is due to more people having
to rely on fertility treatment.
Reasons vary, from more
couples postponing pregnancies to treatments after
chemotherapy, or because of a
genetic abnormality. According to gynaecologist Dominic Stoop, women are often
scared off by the hormone
treatments necessary for egg
cell donation. “But a fertility
centre like ours provides the
perfect assistance and guarantees an anonymous donation,” he said.
researchers
make nanotube
breakthrough
Scientists from Antwerp
University have succeeded in
arranging organic molecules
in nanotubes, a breakthrough
that could lead to applications
in optic telecommunication.
The findings were published
in the magazine Nature Nanotechnology. To use the organic
molecules for optic applications, they have to be arranged
in the same direction in a
nanotube. That has been a
problem until now, because
the opposite charges attract
each other. “You can compare
them with two magnets,”
explained researcher Jochen
Campo in a press release. “If
two magnets stick to each
other, they don’t really work
anymore. But if you put the
magnets in the same direction
in a narrow tube, they form
one strong magnet together.”
foetuses not harmed
by chemotherapy
Cancer treatment during pregnancy is not harmful to the
baby, according to the results
of a study released by a team of
researchers from the University of Leuven. Oncologist
Frédéric Amant, who led the
research project, presented 10
years of data last week during
an international congress at
the university focusing on
cancer during pregnancy and
infertility issues. Doctors hesitate to recommend chemotherapy to pregnant women.
Amant and his team have
demonstrated that chemotherapy does not put the
health of the foetus at risk
because it is protected by the
placenta. The treatment also
doesn’t affect the development of children after they are
born. \ AF
\7
Your dailY news
Sign up now for our
daily and weekly
newsletters with local
headlines, events and
features, tailor-made for
expats in Belgium
Subscribe for free at
www.thebulletin.be
\ eDuCaTIOn
february 11, 2015
From the bottom up
WeeK in
eDucation
eu project on
education for athletes
edushock is trying to change education from the inside out
andy furniere
More articles by andy \ flanderstoday.eu
www.edusHock.be
A
s many teachers and administrators have
learned, it’s not easy to implement largescale reform in an education system. A
group of about 15 people is now trying to change
the system from the bottom up.
The non-profit organisation, dubbed Edushock,
sponsors the Edushock Learning Festival, which
gives teachers, principals and administrators a
platform to present the projects they have developed to improve education.
Two weeks ago, the third edition of the festival took place in the ALM Berchem conference
centre in Antwerp. Some 300 teachers, principals
and students participated in workshops structured around the ideas of 24 of their peers from
Flanders and the Netherlands.
Keynote speakers like Rik Torfs, rector of the
University of Leuven, and Fons Leroy, managing director of the Flemish employment agency
VDAB, also presented their respective visions on
the school of tomorrow.
“We bring together people who can inspire the
entire education sector,” says Tom Fleerackers,
co-ordinator of the festival. Fleerackers is the
head of the small- and medium-sized enterprises
management programme at Karel de Grote
University College in Antwerp.
These initiatives are
like small jolts that
gradually change
the system
Edushock’s bottom-up approach was inspired
by a book of the same name published in 2011.
In that book, innovation expert Dirk De Boe and
education specialists Bernard Lernout and Pieter
Sprangers identified 20 trends that they believed
would shape education in the future.
“We focused on positive innovations that are
currently being developed and implemented on
work floors,” explains De Boe, who also serves
as chair of Edushock. “These initiatives are like
small jolts that gradually change the system.”
The premise of the book is that teachers should
be recognised as key figures in children’s education who provide inspiration inside and outside
of the classroom. Teachers, the Edushock authors
write, should become specialists in relating
“moving tales” – engaging lessons that open the
minds of their students.
uHasselt takes on
Herkenrode barracks
Dutch education entrepreneur Claire boonstra speaking at the most recent edushock festival
“These are not new ideas,” says De Boe. “They
date back to the time of the Greek philosopher
Plato, when teachers were highly regarded as
mentors.”
The Edushock authors also believe that schools
should increasingly develop into “wide-ranging
schools” that are integrated into local communities as a whole. “They should attract the expertise
of companies to enrich their study programmes,
include extracurricular activities of various associations and provide social services like that of a
day-care centre,” explains De Boe. “To be more
accessible, schools could be open all day.”
The flexibility that this vision for the schools of
the future takes as a key principle also applies
to the learning programmes offered to students.
“The curricula should be more customised in
order to strengthen children’s personal talents,”
says De Boe.
The book includes some 400 concrete tips
and good practices that today’s educators and
administrators can use to prepare for tomorrow.
The most recent Edushock festival shows that
there is no lack of good ideas in today’s education system. Germain Desmet of the PTI Kortrijk
school in West Flanders explained how they
are moving toward a “wide-ranging school” by
including both a day-care centre and nursing
home on their premises.
Another speaker, Dirk Bicker from the Antwerp
school De Wereldreiziger, argued that the
“superdiversity” of teenagers from various backgrounds and cultures produces a creative atmos-
phere in the classroom. In another talk, photographer Evy Raes also explained how photography
can be integrated into school curricula and can
also be valuable in maths and grammar lessons,
for instance.
Other workshops focused on the promotion of
the STEM studies – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. A team from the
Urban Primary Education network in Antwerp
demonstrated its “robotics suitcase”, which
includes accessible tools with which children
can start to learn programming.
To spread the innovative gospel of Edushock,
the non-profit recently set up EDUSHOCKx
(the name is a reference to TEDx lectures).
“Apart from organising a large-scale event, we
also want to encourage school staff to set up
their own smaller, local EDUSHOCKx festivals,”
explains De Boe. “The members of our organisation can coach them.”
Though De Boe and his fellow Edushock team
members want to change the education system
from within, that shouldn’t be taken as a sign of
deep or constant disagreement with the ideas
and policies of education ministers, De Boe
assures.
“But it’s clear that they have difficulty reconciling the demands of various partners, like
the education networks and unions,” he says.
“We can’t afford to wait for this slow decisionmaking process; we have to take swifter action
ourselves.”
Education Council calls for common policy against bullying
The Flemish Education Council (Vlor) has
called on Belgium’s governments to develop a
long-term policy against bullying. The advisory
report was published as part of the Flemish
Anti-Bullying Week, which kicked off last Friday.
According to Vlor, there is still too little expertise on bullying at school, and schools need
more support to combat the problem, which
is becoming more widespread. Because bullying doesn’t stop at the school gates, an antibullying policy should also include other partners, said Vlor, like sports clubs, youth groups,
welfare organisations, police and the judiciary.
In the report, Vlor has requested a statement of
What skills do athletes aged
12 to 25 need to combine
studies with a sports career?
To answer that question,
the European Education,
Training and Cooperation
Programme (Erasmus+) has
initiated a study that brings
together nine international
partners, including the Free
University of Brussels (VUB).
Gold in Education and Elite
Sport received €500,000 in
EU funding and will last two
years. The project makes
it possible for participating countries to optimise
the organisation and assistance of their “study and top
sport” programmes in education institutions and sports
federations. VUB rector Paul
De Knop, a sports sociologist,
will be part of the Belgian
research team.
© wikia.com
common intent from Belgian ministers responsible for social welfare and education. The statement should include common goals and agree-
ments per policy area, said Vlor. “All education
partners are willing to negotiate with the
governments and with each other on an action
plan,” said the organisation.
Vlor also stated that there is too little research
on an educational approach to bullying and
suggested that investments be made in research
and results made available to schools so they
can use methods that have worked well.
“We want to keep an anti-bullying policy high
on the agenda,” explained Vlor chair Harry
Martens. “It is the common concern of all partners involved in education that every student
feels safe at school.” \ AF
The University of Hasselt
(UHasselt) has signed an
agreement with the city
to take over certain buildings at the historic Herkenrode barracks. The university will use it for reception
and meeting rooms and a
part of the faculty of business-economic sciences. The
school for mobility sciences
and research institute IMOB
may also be housed there. The
agreement is a new step in
the university’s “two-campus
strategy”. The purpose is to
house the exact, biomedical
and applied sciences studies
at the Diepenbeek campus at
the edge of the city, and the
human sciences on a campus
in the city itself.
Dave eggers awarded
chair at uGent
American
writer
and
publisher Dave Eggers, author
of the best-selling novel The
Circle, has been awarded
the Amnesty International
Chair at Ghent University (UGent). He will give a
lecture in March at Vooruit
cultural centre in Ghent
and will also talk to professors and students. Eggers
became known for A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering
Genius, a semi-autobiographical novel about raising a little
brother after the death of the
parents. The award, however,
is due to his work for social
justice: In 2010, Eggers established ScholarMatch, which
matches youngsters with
immigrant backgrounds with
grant donors, and his initiative 826 National provides
writing courses to children
aged six to 18. \ AF
\9
\ lIVInG
WeeK in
activities
Carnival in
blankenberge
The coastal city goes allout for Carnival, with a fun
fair on the Grote Markt,
a big parade on Saturday
and a children’s parade
on Sunday. On Fat Tuesday, the Vuûle Jeannetten
(Dirty Jennies) compete
for a prize. 13 February to 23
March; Blankenberge; free (For
more Carnival suggestions, see
facing page)
\ http://carnaval.blankenberge.be
north sea Cyclo-cross
The oldest cyclo-cross event
in Belgium, held continuously since 1959, takes place
on Valentine’s Day, appropriately for the country’s
best-loved winter sport. All
the big names will be there,
including Sven Nys, Kevin
Pauwels and last year’s
winner, Tom Meeusen. 14
February 11.00; Sportpark De
Krokodiel, Duinenweg 435,
Middlekerke; €12
\ www.noordzeecross.com
youth choir
and jazz concert
The LVS Choir and Jazz
Band from Ascot, UK, give
a free concert in Brussels.
LVS Ascot is a co-ed, independent day and boarding
school in Berkshire with
student musicians who
are seasoned performers.
14 February, 15.00; BELvue
Museum, Koningsplein 7, Brussels; free
\ www.belvue.be
nieuwpoort
harbour tour
During the school holidays,
take a one-hour boat tour
that covers the “Mouth of
the Ijzer” nature reserve,
the fish market, the yacht
harbour, the Albert I monument and the Ganzepoot
lock complex. 14-21 February
15.00; Rederij Seastar, Robert
Orlentpromenade 2, Nieuwpoort; €9.50
\ www.seastar.be
spinrag children’s
festival
Spinrag is a week-long festival of theatre, dance, film,
music and art for children.
Performances,
installations, workshops and activities in various locations
throughout Kortrijk. Free
kick-off party on 14 February at Schouwburgplein.
14-22 February; Schouwburg
Kortrijk, Schouwburgplein 14;
Tickets/reservations required
for some events
\ www.spinrag.be
\ 10
Valentine’s for the rest of us
no hearts, no flowers, just plenty of fun stuff to do on 14 february
V
Pain, and more pain:
In the Mood for Love
alentine’s Day can lead to
a lot of expectations – and
this year it’s on a (gasp!)
Saturday. We here at Flanders
Today
understand
perfectly
well that when the pressure is
on, romance turns off. So we’ve
come up with a few fun and
casual ways to spend this fateful
evening, whether or not you’re in
the company of someone special.
Although they’re not all fraught
with hearts and flowers, they do
all take place on 14 February.
In the Mood for Love – it sounds
like the perfect flick for a Valentine’s night out. But be warned,
if you’re in a relationship, it had
better be a strong one. This lavishly
designed 2000 film from Hong
Kong, with its perpetually slowmoving camera and its heavenly
melancholic soundtrack, focuses
on two hoodwinked people who
could find solace in each other
company. That’s right, “could” –
because, as this achingly beautiful gem proves, the road to love is
paved with traps and pitfalls. (In
Cantonese with Dutch & French
subtitles) 19.30, Cinematek, Baron
Hortastraat 9, Brussels
Hollywood royalty:
Some Came Running
How about spending your Valentine’s eve in the company of Frank
Sinatra, Dean Martin and Shirley
MacLaine? In the lush melodrama Some Came Running (1958),
master of stylish staging Vincente
Minnelli choreographs Hollywood
royalty in a small-town setting
“bursting at the seams with the
pressures of passion”, as a blurb for
the original novel read at the time.
This screening at Cinema Galeries
is an act of cinephilia by Sabzian, a
group of young Brussels filmmakers. Meet them afterwards for a
drink around the corner from the
cinema. (In English) 20.00, Cinema
Galeries, Koninginnegallerij 26,
Brussels; reservations recommended at [email protected]
\ www.sabZian.be
Shrouded in secrecy:
Mystery Night
The final night of Antwerp’s Kleppers Festival is a big secret, though
Het MartHa!tentatief promises
it will “have nothing to do with
Valentine’s”. Sounds good to us!
You’ll have to slap down your
€12 to €16 out of pure faith in the
Antwerp theatre collective since
you don’t get much of a sense of
how you’re going to spend the next
\ www.cinematek.be
Persia meets the West:
Mohsen Namjoo
© Chris van der burght
two hours. The group does promise a performance that you will
“talk about for years and look back
on later with nostalgia”. Golly. You
can finish off your evening right in
the same building at Bourla Beats,
a big DJ dance party. (In Dutch)
20.00, Bourlaschouwburg, Komedieplaats 18, Antwerp
\ www.toneelHuis.be
Passionate poetry:
Saint Amour
Every year around Valentine’s
Day, Saint Amour, a literary lovefuelled tour sponsored by Behoud
de Begeerte, makes its way
through Flanders and the Netherlands. This year the focus is on
poetry, with, among others, recent
Herman De Coninck prize-winner
Maud Vanhauwaert and renowned
poet and author Stefan Hertmans
taking centre stage to read new
and unpublished work. Dutch
musician Thé Lau and Flemish singer Bert Dockx (of Flying
Horseman fame) will add a little
music to the mix, while Quan Bui
Ngoc and Daisy Ransom Phillips
of Les ballets C de la B (pictured)
will majestically dance to Verdi.
Head to Ostend on Valentine’s
night or catch it on tour elsewhere
in Flanders from 11-19 February.
(In Dutch) 20.00, De Grote Post,
Hendrik Serruyslaan 18A, Ostend
\ www.begeerte.be
bite
five new regional products
Recognition as an official streekproduct, or authentic regional product, is
a big deal in Flanders. Awarded by
Flanders’ Agricultural Marketing
Board, the label has been around for
more than 10 years, and more than
180 products have been recognised.
A streekproduct is made in a traditional and artisanal manner and
must maintain a strong connection
to a particular region.
The range of approved Flemish
regional products is diverse, and
there are still hundreds of products waiting for approval, which is
granted or denied three times a year
by an assessment board. The first
round of 2015 resulted in five newly
recognised traditional regional
products.
Alloo Smokehouse in Bruges has
been smoking fish since 1885.
Around that time, smokehouses
were popping up at small ports all
along the Flemish coast, and halibut
was a popular and cheap alternative
to turbot or salmon. The Alloo family’s smoked halibut is first dry salted
and then cold smoked for about
eight hours. There are no preservatives or colorants.
In 1945, fish processing plant Simar
was established along the river
Scheldt in Sint-Amands, Antwerp
province, by the Van HemelrijkMaes family. It’s their family recipe
for pickled herring that made the
cut for regional product. The meaty
chunks of herring are soused in mild
vinegar, making for one wonderfully
tart delicacy.
The tradition of smoking ham is
nothing new to the Van Hoe family
of Oudenaarde, East Flanders. The
secret behind their St Eloy smoked
ham has passed down from father to
Some people have called Iranian
singer and setar player Mohsen
Namjoo the Iranian Bob Dylan.
That’s an insult to both “Bawb”
and Namjoo. The latter’s sensual
style is a mix of Western folk rock
and Persian melodies, combined
with lyrics that draw as much
inspiration from centuries-old
poetry as from every day, modern
life. The combination of the two
led to Namjoo being sentenced to
five years in prison for insulting
the Koran in 2009. (He lived, and
still lives, abroad and never served
them.) Coincidentally or not, the
key contrasting emotions in his
music – despair and passion –
only deepened after this episode.
20.00, Bozar, Ravensteinstraat 23,
Brussels
\ www.boZar.be
This anti-Valentine’s guide has been
brought to you by Rebecca Benoot,
Lisa Bradshaw, Bjorn Gabriels and
Christophe Verbiest
www.streekProduct.be
son for generations since 1892. The
dry cured hams are smoked while
still on the bone, and then given
ample time to mature. After about
40 weeks, when the flavours in the
meat have fully ripened, the hams
are deboned and wrapped in gift-
worthy artisan-style packaging.
Oudenaarde’s legendary brasserie
Jan Van Gent, meanwhile, has been
selling lekkies for more than 200
years. The recipe for the sweet has
not changed in all that time, incorporating the same ingredients, including different types of brown sugar,
candy syrup and butter. This mixture
is brought to the boil, poured onto a
marble slab and then pulled repeatedly for a pillow-soft result.
Jan Van Gent has bragging rights to
another traditional candy-turnedstreekproduct. It created its first
bierbollen (beer balls) in the 1980s
in an attempt to make a candy based
on beer from the previously breweryrich city in the Flemish Ardennes.
After some experimentation, the
bierbollen based on sour cherry beer
(pictured) turned out the best. \
Robyn Boyle
february 11, 2015
The life of the party
the humorous, irreverent and rowdy gather in aalst for carnival this weekend
katrien lindemans
More articles by katrien \ flanderstoday.eu
F
lemings know a thing or two
about celebrating carnival,
but nobody in the region
takes the affair quite as seriously as
the people of Aalst.
Preparations for the famous Sunday
parade begin months in advance at
this East Flemish city. An election
is held for Prince Carnival, who is
charged with the important task of
master of ceremonies, and there’s a
local radio station that plays nothing but carnival songs in the Aalst
dialect to get listeners in the appropriate celebratory mood.
This year, Aalstenaars are gearing up for the 87th edition of the
carnival. The tradition goes back to
the middle ages, but the first official carnival in Aalst was planned
during a council meeting in 1923.
Almost a century later, in 2010, the
Aalst carnival was added to the
Unesco list of Intangible Cultural
Heritage.
The election of the latest Prince
took place a couple of weeks ago,
and Joeri Mens, known as “De Joe”
among locals, received the most
votes. On the eve of carnival, he’ll
be handed the symbolic keys to the
city. Mens will be in charge of the
city throughout carnival weekend.
On Sunday, 15 February, the head of
the parade departs from Statieplein
at 13.00. Some seven hours later,
the tail of the parade finally arrives
at the city’s Grote Markt. With
more than 70 floats built by various groups and every single participant dressed up, entertainment is
guaranteed throughout the day. As
is traditional, the floats depict and
mock local and national politics.
Monday is all about the broom
dance performed by the Gilles
of Aalst, a group of masked men,
dressed in white, red and golden
costumes. By swinging their
15-17 february
www.tinyurl.com/aalstcarnival
brooms and stomping the ground
at the Grote Markt, they hope to
chase away bad spirits and bring
forth a good harvest. After the
dance, Prince Carnival and his
helpers throw onion-shaped candy
from the city hall’s balcony.
Exactly 100 of these candies
come with a number that can be
exchanged for a gift at the town
hall. Whoever catches the candy
marked nr 1 wins a little golden
onion. Be sure to get to the Grote
Markt around 14.30 if you want to
try your luck.
Another parade will meander
through the city around the same
time. Later in the evening, all the
groups traditionally gather for the
election for the best carnival group.
Tuesday is probably the most peculiar day of the Aalst festivities, as it
sees a parade of grown men dressed
up as women sashay from the
Grote Markt to Vredesplein. These
so-called voil jeanetten, or “dirty
jennies”, typically sport impressive
bosoms, fishnet stockings, fur coats
and sometimes push a pram, filled
with beer.
It’s also tradition for them to wield
broken umbrellas and bird cages.
Don’t take it personally should
one of them insult or mock you –
that’s what voil jeanetten do. As the
story goes, men used to dress up in
their wives’ old clothes for carnival
because they didn’t have money to
buy fancy carnival outfits.
On Tuesday evening, all the different groups gather on Grote Markt to
mark the end of the carnival season.
The prince sets fire to a human-size
carnival doll, while bagpipe players
perform “Amazing Grace”.
A winter fun fair also runs from 6
to 22 February in Aalst’s city centre.
across aalst
© Dokumentatiecentrum aalst karnaval/Visit flanders
More carnival celebrations
The official carnival period runs
from 15-17 February, exactly 40
days before Easter. Traditionally, carnival is the last moment of
excess before the solemnity of Lent.
In Flanders, nearly every city stages
its own carnival, and festivities take
place all over the region from early
February until the end of March.
Quite a few carnival parades aimed
at families with children are just
around the corner. These festivities
usually take place on the Friday
before the official carnival period.
In Genk, for instance, more than
3,000 children from 11 schools will
leave from Stadsplein to parade
through the city on 13 February.
The next day, the city will welcome
an international carnival parade
with 55 floats from Belgium and
abroad (pictured).
The capital is also having a carnival party. The annual Carnival
d’Oruro takes place on 14 February and will see a traditional Bolivian parade leave from Sint-Katelijneplein in the heart of Brussels.
Even Manneken Pis will be dressed
up for the occasion in a devil
costume. The event continues with
a masquerade and closes with a
party at Jeugdzaal Sint-Katelijne.
Like every year, Halle is organising a kid-sized carnival, with an
election for Prince and Princess
Carnival on 7 March at CC ’t Vondel.
The event ends with a kids’ party,
which goes on until midnight. The
next day, the newly elected Prince
and Princess Carnival will open the
annual fun fair.
One week later, on 14 March, adults
can join in on the madness. There’s
a devils’ parade at Biezenweide on
Saturday, while carnival floats will
make their way from the nearby
town of Sint-Rochus to the centre
of Halle on Sunday. The festivities
and fun fair end on Monday with
the burning of the carnival doll and
fireworks at Graankaai.
\ www.carnavalHalle.be
\ 11
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february 11, 2015
Big fish, small pond
de mens emerge as a foursome on their effervescent new album
christophe verbiest
More articles by Christophe \ flanderstoday.eu
www.demens.be
Twenty-three years after their debut,
Flemish rock band De Mens are still going
strong. But things have changed slightly
on their new album, Nooit genoeg (Never
Enough).
T
he Big Three, they were called more
than 20 years ago: Noordkaap, Gorki
and De Mens, Flemish rock bands who
appeared at the start of the 1990s with songs
in Dutch, which was unusual at the time.
Over the years, Noordkaap metamorphosed
into other projects by singer Stijn Meuris.
Gorki ended with the untimely death of Luc
De Vos in November last year.
But De Mens are still going strong.
Nooit genoeg (Never Enough), their 11th
opus, entered the Flemish charts at number
five, the highest position ever for an album
by this rock band from Flemish Brabant.
Which means that this first new batch of
songs in almost five years has been eagerly
awaited.
“You shouldn’t take that for granted. Every
time, you should ask yourself if it’s still worth
making a new album,” says De Mens singer
and guitarist Frank Vander linden.
He formed the band with his childhood
friend, bass player Michel De Coster. In 1995,
after two albums, Dirk Jans became their
drummer, and they’ve been a trio ever since.
But with Nooit genoeg, De Mens emerge as a
foursome, adding to the line-up keyboard
player David Poltrock.
Poltrock has in fact been playing concerts
with De Mens for years. He’s a busy bee –
producer, keyboardist with Hooverphonic
and regular session musician.
Adding a new member after being a trio for
so long is quite a step, admits Vander linden.
“It’s like taking a second wife,” he says with a
big grin. “Two weeks ago we asked him officially. David felt at home with us, both musically and personally.”
Isn’t Vander linden worried that Poltrock’s
busy schedule might conflict with his duties
for De Mens? “It’s part of the deal that De
Mens have priority. I don’t expect any problems. David formulated it nicely: He plays in
De Mens and with Hooverphonic.”
Poltrock also shared songwriting duties on
Nooit genoeg. You can hear the difference
from previous albums, but it’s immediately
recognisable as De Mens. Nooit genoeg shows
an evolution, not a revolution.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,”
Vander linden says. “After all these years,
© Guy kokken
The new album by frank Vander linden and De Mens has been eagerly anticpated
we’re good at what we do, so it would be
laughable if we started playing something
completely different. We can’t change our
DNA.”
I’m happy those
early songs never
saw the light of day
Vander linden had just turned 30 when De
Mens’ debut album was released in 1992.
Before that, he had been working as a music
journalist, a job where he could combine his
passions for language and music. He had
been playing music on the side for years.
He used to sing in English, but everything
shifted when he realised he should write and
sing in Dutch.
“It was weird that it took me so long to real-
ise that if I wanted to make music in which
feelings resonated, I should use the language
in which I felt these emotions. But looking
back, I don’t regret the fact it took me so
long. I’m happy those early songs never saw
the light of day.”
Now and then, Vander linden gives workshops for young musicians. One of his
catchphrases is: “If you want to write interesting lyrics, you should become interesting people.” He feels lyrics are too often
neglected by musicians. “They’ve been practising for years on their guitars, they have
studied music formally, but the forefront
of their work, the lyrics, is at the level of a
12-year-old.”
He’s often heard the counter-argument that
no one listens to the lyrics. “If that’s the case,
why not play instrumentals?”
The disadvantage of singing in Dutch is
that the market for your music is limited.
Vander linden laughs in agreement. “Touring abroad is an illusion you know you don’t
have to indulge in. The same way I don’t
have to dream of having a blonde quiff. Big
fish, small pond is the highest possible goal.
It has its advantages. Some Flemish bands
imploded because they were chasing their
international dreams.”
The only market outside of Flanders that
is receptive to songs in Dutch is the Netherlands. But De Mens could never force a
breakthrough. “We did our best, but it didn’t
work,” says Vander linen. “They don’t understand us, I think. Of course, you can keep on
hoping and investing time and money. But in
the end, why would we skip well-paid shows
in our country for those endeavours?”
In 2013, Radio 1 asked 13 Flemish and Dutch
writers to come up with lyrics for a song,
destinedfor13artistsorbands.DeMenswere
coupled with author Herman Brusselmans.
“He gave me a bunch of verses that I could
rearrange and edit,” says Vander linden. “He
was fully aware that penning song lyrics is
completely different from writing a novel or
even poems. Even the great Hugo Claus has
written some lyrics that didn’t make a lasting impression.”
De Mens tour Flanders from April
More neW albuMs this Month
guido belcanto
Cavalier seul • Universal
Barely a year after Guido Belcanto realised
a sort of comeback (he’d never really gone
away) with Balzaal der gebroken harten
(Ballroom of Broken Hearts), he’s back with
a new album, Cavalier seul. With the help of
big names like De Mens frontman Frank
Vander linden, who contributed a song,
Bart Peeters, Jan De Smet and more,
Belcanto zigzags from Lee Hazlewoodinfluenced orchestral pop via heartfelt
schlagers to Tex-Mex. The singer, who
debuted in 1989 with Op zoek naar romantiek (Searching for Romance), is still a plain
and unabashed romantic. On Cavalier seul
he muses about love gone wrong, adultery
and the pitfalls of being an aging troubadour.
douglas firs
The Long Answer is No • Excelsior
las Firs, and their second outing, The Long
Answer is No, is even better. Douglas Firs,
spearheaded by Gertjan Van Hellemont,
specialise in Americana. It results in both
lively rock songs and more intimate
musings. The latter (“22 22”, “That Kind of
Thing”) in particular are an impressive
showcase of Van Hellemont’s talent. Some
of the powerful songs may lack a bit of originality at times, but that’s just nitpicking.
Shimmer & Glow, released in 2012, was a
promising debut for the Ghent band Doug-
\ 13
\ arTs
WeeK in arts
& culture
Two venues apply
for “major cultural
institution” status
Flemish culture minister Sven
Gatz has invited the Concertgebouw in Bruges and Ghent’s
Vooruit to apply to be included
on the list of the region’s major
cultural institutions. The list
currently features seven institutions,includingdeSingeland
the Museum of Contemporary
Art (M HKA) in Antwerp, the
Ancienne Belgique concert
hall in Brussels and Kunsthuis
Opera/Ballet
Vlaanderen,
based between Antwerp and
Ghent. The Concertgebouw
opened in 2002 when the city
was the European Capital of
Culture, while Vooruit was
constructed in 1913 as the
socialist party’s culture and
function hall. With the inclusion of the two organisations,
he said, East and West Flanders would be represented,
giving a more even regional
spread of recognised institutions. The two institutions will
now submit a candidacy for
inclusion on the list.
besteburen launches
in rotterdam
BesteBuren, an arts and
culture festival subsidised by
the Flemish and Dutch governments, launched last weekend
in Rotterdam, with concerts
by Flemish cabaret singer
Brigitte Kaandorp, Dutch
rapper Typhoon and Flemish
jazz pianist Jef Neve. BesteBuren is a year-long collaboration between the Netherlands
and Flanders to collaborate on
artistic projects and introduce
each other to culture across
the border. Several Flemish
politicians were at the opening
at Rotterdam venue LantarenVenster, including Flemish minister-president Geert
Bourgeois and culture minister Sven Gatz. The collaboration is like “a good marriage,”
said Gatz, “where the partners value and encourage each
other”.
\ www.besteburen.eu
De keersmaeker part
of Paris’ opera season
Following two successful runs
of her piece Rain, Flemish
choreographer Anne Teresa De
Keersmaeker has again been
invited by the National Opera
of Paris to contribute to the
2015-16 season. Paris’ opera
and ballet have released a joint
programme for the first time,
and De Keersmaeker’s Bartok/
Beethoven/Schonberg Repertory Evening will be performed
14 times starting on 22 October. The institution has also
programmed a new nine-day
version of De Keersmaeker’s
Work to be performed in the
Centre Pompidou in February
2016.
\ 14
Iconic stripes
veteran fashion designer Paul smith bares all in new exhibition
katrien lindemans
More articles by katrien \ flanderstoday.eu
www.modemuseumHasselt.be
Fashion Museum Hasselt has
devoted an expansive, quirky
exhibition to the more than 40-year
career of multitalented designer
Paul Smith, the man behind the
iconic stripes. We talked to the
British designer about his myriad
inspirations, his singular aesthetic
and that time he almost became a
professional cyclist.
F
ashion exhibitions usually
showcase a lot in the way of
clothes and catwalk images.
Hello, My Name Is Paul Smith,
now on view at Hasselt’s Fashion
Museum, takes a decidedly
different approach.
Hello focuses on what drives this
legendary British designer, where
he gets his inspiration and how his
company grew from a tiny shop in
central England to a world-famous
brand sold across the world in
some 70 countries. The exhibition was previously on view at the
Design Museum London, where it
drew more than 110,000 visitors.
Visitors to the exhibition first
make their way through a maze
of Smith’s quintessential, multicoloured stripes. Behind the maze
is a wall, covered with numerous framed pictures, objects and
letters. “It’s a selection of what
hangs on the walls of my office in
Covent Garden,” the designer, in
Hasselt for the opening, tells me.
There are works by artists like
Andy Warhol, David Hockney and
Banksy, but also a lot of items from
friends, family and fans. “I don’t
know how or when it all started,
but I get mail from fans and
customers nearly every day,” Smith
divulges. “Sometimes it’s a letter
from a six-year-old, or a gift from
somebody in Japan. There’s even
one fan in the US who’s been sending me stuff for the last howevermany years. I’ve got cabinets full of
things. It’s a bit like performance
art.”
Smith keeps almost everything he
receives and stores it in his office.
Together with the many pictures
he snaps and the
notes he keeps
in
his
scrap-
“It’s a lot bigger here than in london”: Paul smith appreciates Hasselt’s fashion Museum
book, these objects and trinkets
are his main source of design
inspiration. “I get inspiration from
everything; it’s all about the eclectic mix,” he says. “The world is full
of brands and designers; I think it’s
important to have a clear point of
view.”
Hello illustrates that singular
aesthetic by way of an abundance
of objects and colours, such as one
entire wall plastered with 70,000
buttons.
Smith’s career could have taken a
very different turn. He left school
at 16 to work at a clothing warehouse in his hometown of Nottingham. He never trained to be a
designer; his real passion was
sports. And if it hadn’t been for
an accident at the age of 17,
he might very well have
become a pro cyclist.
Instead, he designed a
small men’s collection and opened
his first shop in
1970, encouraged
by Pauline Denyer,
his then girlfriend
and now wife. “It
was called Paul
Smith Vêtements
pour l’Homme, a tiny shop
with no windows,” Smith
remembers. “I designed
Paul smith’s telltale stripes can be found on coffee mugs,
six shirts, two jumpers and
mobile phones and, of course, clothing the world over
two suits. They all just fit on a
bed, which is how I presented my
collection in Paris. My hotel room
doubled as a showroom.”
Hello shows a replica of that first
shop in Nottingham; the evolution from the teensy space to his
current shops around the world,
shown in pictures on another wall,
is impressive. From a minimalist
outlet in London to a bright pink
building on Melrose Avenue in LA,
the stores all have their own identity.
I think it’s
important to
have a clear
point of view
His design studio, replicated for
this exhibition, offers another
insight into his design process. At
the centre of the space is a long
white table covered with strips of
until 7 June
fabric, thread, buttons and paint.
“Anything could be a source of
inspiration,” Smith says.
During a team meeting in his office
once, he continues, “I reached out
to a plastic dinosaur because it
had the perfect shade of green
for the collection we were working on.” That colour could then be
recreated in his design studio and
matched to others for a new stripy
pattern.
According to Smith, now 68, the
exhibition in Hasselt even inspired
his current collection. “As the
museum here is a lot bigger than
the Design Museum in London, I
had more space to exhibit some
of my favourite pieces. I dug into
my archive and found some larger
pieces from the 1980s, which
I revisited and reinvented in a
modern way for the past winter
and current summer collections.
They feature slightly bigger shapes,
and I added a pop of colour, too.”
Besides designing 28 collections
a year for all his different clothing lines, Smith also shoots his
campaign images himself. “I’ve
always loved taking pictures. One
day someone suggested I’d shoot
my own campaign pictures –
which I’ve been doing ever since.”
He’s even branched out as a photographer for several magazines, such
as Icon Magazine in Germany and
France’s Figaro.
The iconic Paul Smith stripes have
featured in several collaborations
as well. There was the Evian water
bottle in 2009, the Burton snowboard in 2010 and a collection of
stamps for the Isle of Man in 2012.
“When I redesigned the bottle of
HP brown sauce in 2005, people
were queuing at Harrods to get
one,” Smith says, laughing. “They
all bought 10 at a time, so they had
to limit the number of bottles to
three per person. It was crazy.”
With his clothing line, perfume,
shoe and watch collections,
Smith is a busy man, to say the
least. “I don’t have time to do all
the things I get invited to do,” he
says. “However, I couldn’t refuse
the offer to redesign the children’s book Cars and Trucks and
Things That Go by Richard Scarry,
in honour of its 40th anniversary.”
And there’s always a bit of room
for his other passion, cycling. “I’ve
designed bike shirts for the Giro
tour in Italy and collaborated with
Merciancyclesforalimited-edition
series of bikes.” Smith points out
that he’s a big fan of Flanders’
teams and of local cycling legend
Eddy Merckx in particular. “He’s a
great cyclist, and I’m hoping I’ll get
the chance to see his exhibition in
Brussels.”
fashion Museum Hasselt
11 Gasthuisstraat
\ aGenDa
february 11, 2015
Because you can never have too many jazz festivals
concert
BRAND!
17-21 february
“B
leuven
www.nona.be
rand!”: Legend has it that’s what the
citizens of medieval Mechelen yelled
(“Fire!”) when they saw a reflection
of the moon high up above their beloved SintRombouts Cathedral, explaining their nickname
“Maneblussers” (Moon Extinguishers).
In 2015, a poster with the same exclamation is
all over the city, but fortunately the fire brigade
need not respond. Just like ages ago, it’s only an
imaginary fire, this time instigated by a crossfertilisation between musicians on city stages.
Indeed: BRAND! is a brand (no pun intended)
new jazz festival.
Initiated by Mechelen’s Cultural Centre and the
arts centre NONA, and supported by STORM!,
the biennial jazz festival taking place around
the same period in Ostend, BRAND! welcomes
the young Flemish reed player Joachim Badenhorst as the central guest at its first edition.
Despite playing an opening solo concert in
Sint-Rombouts and last year releasing two solo
albums on his KLEIN label, the gifted improviser will mostly share the stage with colleagues
and friends during the five days of the festival:
first in a quartet accompanying the silent movie
Nanook of the North, then backed by his former
teachers Michael Moore and John Ruocco as a
member of the Han Bennink Trio.
Badenhorst can later be found playing a special
set with his own Baloni trio and drummer Dré
Pallemaerts and introducing the Carate Urio
Orchestra (pictured), the seven-piece European
band with which he will record an album at
NONA right after the festival.
Another key musician on the line-up is trumpeter Bart Maris, an adventurous improviser
and band leader, backed by the young French
quartet Walabix and in duet with cellist Lode
PerforMance
concert
aja monet
gisela João
15 february
Macy Gray: The Grammyaward winning American R&B and soul singer
presents her latest album,
The Way, a collection of
nearly-dark love songs. 18
February 20.00, Zaal Het
Depot, Martelarenplein 12
nOna and CC Mechelen
Pianofabriek, brussels
www.Pianofabriek.be
Spoken word, simply put, is poetry
that’s meant to be performed.
At worst, it makes for dull, vacuous droning. At best, it offers an
immersive experience that’s hard
to put into words but that feels
at once deeply real and intuitively true. Aja Monet (pictured),
a New York poet and activist who’s
performed at all the city’s iconic
black cultural venues, knows
how to do spoken word, and she’s
coming to Brussels to give you a
taste. Expect both uncomfortable
and soothing confessions about
the tough art of self-love, the mess
that is family and what it’s like to
be black in today’s America.
www.hetdepot.be
antwerp
Vercampt.
In addition, BRAND! sees the world premiere
performance of LABtrio, a fruitful collaboration
between the Antwerp jazz/funk orchestra Brzzvll, the British/Trinidadian poet Antony Joseph
and the Ghent quartet Nordmann. They play
BRAND!’s closing party in celebration of their
first album, the appropriately titled Alarm.
\ Tom Peeters
4 march, 20.00
get tic
k
30CC, leuven
www.30cc.be
13-22 february
The Flanders Opera and British director Nigel Lowry take us
back to ancient Egypt with this
new production of Akhnaten. The
pharaonic drama was written by
American composer Philip Glass
in the 1980s and has been staged
around the world. Although
the opera is performed mostly
in archaic Akkadian, Egyptian
and Hebrew, Glass designated
www.oPeraballet.be
one character as a go-between,
summarising the action in the
audience’s native language (in this
case Dutch). Lowry also tapped
one of Antwerp’s favourite sons
Walter Van Beirendonck to design
the stage costumes. It is the famed
Flemish fashion designer’s firstever opera. A run in Ghent follows,
and tickets are going fast, so don’t
wait to book. \ GV
15 february, 11.00
For the seventh year, Belgium’s car
museum Autoworld celebrates
Valentine’s Day weekend with a
Volkswagen rally through Brussels.
Vintage “bug” and “beetle” owners
from home and abroad have been
invited to convene at Jubelpark in
the morning hours before setting
off on a soon-to-be-announced
circuit from the eastern fringes of
Brussels to the Atomium in the
west, then back again. Motorists
are welcomed at the end of the line
with a nice cup of tea (champagne
is probably not appropriate). Spectators are welcome all along the
route. \ GV
The Magic of Boccherini:
Tribute to the Italian classical-era composer and cellist,
performed by Baroque
orchestra B’rock, soprano
Robin Johanssen and Roel
Dieltiens on cello. 12 February 20.00, Sint-Quintinus
Cathedral, Vismarkt
antwerp
Stand-Up Antwerp English
Comedy Cellar: Standup comedians Peter White,
London Hughes and Rob
Rouse perform in English,
with resident MC Nigel
Williams. 18 February 20.15,
De Groene Waterman Bookstore (cellar), Wolstraat
7, reserve at takethemic@
me.com
www.facebook.com/
standupantwerp
faMily
brussels
love bugs Parade
flanders Opera, antwerp
ets no
w
PerforMance
event
akhnaten
classical
www.ccha.be
© estelle Valente
oPera
www.trixonline.be
Hasselt
Everyone knows that pop is all
about the latest, hippest and
youngest, but world music thrives
on fresh blood, too. Portuguese
fado singer Gisela João gave the
genre a shot in the arm when she
stepped into the spotlight in 2013.
That same year she conquered
the Ghent Festival of Flanders
with two sold-out concerts. The
young singer (pictured) is now a
confirmed success and continues to cultivate the Flemish audience that embraced her from the
start. This Leuven concert kicks
off an eight-date tour with stops
in Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels and
more. \ Georgio Valentino
\ Linda A Thompson
Monster Magnet: American stoner rock for fans
of bands like Fu Manchu,
Clutch, Kyuss and Truckfighters, with a sound that
ranges from 1970s hard rock
and psychedelia to heavy
metal and space rock. 12
February 19.30, Trix Antwerp,
Noordersingel 28-30
autoworld, brussels
www.autoworld.be
Disney On Ice: 100 Years of
Magic: More than 65 Disney
characters from 18 stories
perform and sing songs on
ice skates, including Mickey
and Minnie Mouse, Donald
Duck, Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio and all of the Disney
princesses. 11-15 February,
Vorst Nationaal, Victor Rousseaulaan 208
www.vorstnationaal.be
activity
Meise
Winter Weekend: Bundle
up and take a guided walk
along the botanical garden’s
most beautiful winter-hardy
plants,includingsnowdrops,
buy some winter bulbs and
enjoy a warm drink. 14-15
February, National Botanical
Garden, Nieuwelaan 38
www.plantentuin.be
\ 15
\ baCkPaGe
february 11, 2015
Talking Dutch
Has anyone seen my teeth?
In response to: Debate over priority-to-the-right traffic rule
Martin Thorpe
If this will fix 10% of fatal and severe injuries then it must
be worth doing.
derek blyth
More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu
E
very year, the Brussels transport authority
MIVB publishes a list of objects left behind by
passengers on its trams and buses. And every
year, the list seems to get just a little bit weirder.
You might be surprised by the sheer number of things
that people lose on their way to work in the capital. Elk
jaar verliezen onze reizigers gemiddeld 16,000
voorwerpen in het Brussels
openbaar vervoer – Every
year our passengers lose an
average of 16,000 objects on
Brussels public transport, it
says in this year’s report.
The transport authority
used Twitter to release a list
of de top 10 meest verloren
voorwerpen – the top 10
most lost objects. The list
is headed by obvious objects
like kaarten – cards, tassen – bags
and portefeuilles – wallets. And of course people
are also forgetting countless handschoenen – gloves,
paraplu’s – umbrellas and brillen – glasses. But it’s
worrying to find that they are also shedding identiteitskaarten – identity cards and even smartphones.
You find out more about the habits of your fellow travellers when you read the second list, which covers
de 10 vreemdste verloren voorwerpen – the 10 most
bizarre lost objects. How on earth can someone forget
a viool – a violin, you might wonder. Or een plasmascherm van 80 cm – an 80cm plasma screen TV.
Other passengers managed to leave behind een beenprothese – a prosthetic leg, een dokterstas – a doctor’s
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bag and een prototype van een militair toestel – a
prototype of a military device. I don’t know about you,
but that makes me a lot less happy about travelling
on bus 71.
Not forgetting, of course, the passenger who left
behind een friteuse met vet – a deep fryer filled with
fat, and someone else who managed to forget
een koffer met sexspeeltjes –
a suitcase filled with sex toys.
All these objects are waiting
to be collected in the transport
authority office, along with een
koersfiets – a racing bike,
vals gebit – false teeth and
een advocatentoga – a
lawyer’s robe.
The transport authority
notes
that
twothirds of lost objects are
never collected. That adds up to a
lot of people who can get on fine without their
identity cards, deep-fat friers and false teeth.
It’s clear that people have to be more careful with their
stuff when they travel by public transport. But if you
do happen to forget something, you can always pop
in to the lost and found office at Naamsepoort metro
station. It’s all very straightforward. Just tell them
what you lost, and they will hand it back.
But there is one possible problem. Een verloren voorwerp wordt u teruggegeven op vertoon van uw identiteitskaart – You have to show your identity card to
reclaim a lost object. Which is fine – as long as you
haven’t left it on the tram.
Tweet us your thoughts @flandersToday
Poll
a. No. The rule is simple and easy to remember. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
15%
b. The rule should be retained in some situations, where it works well, but abandoned in others
8%
c. Yes. Keeping it in place here and there will only make it more confusing. Put up yield signs and stop the
insanity
77%
this poll was posted to Facebook,
an unprecedented number came
to the website to vote accordingly.
The result is convincing: More
than three out of four of you want
the rule scrapped entirely, and
another 8% where local conditions
allow. So who’s in favour? Some of
\ next week's question:
our Belgian readers, perhaps, who
grew up with the law and see no
reason to change it. The majority
of those who expressed an opinion, in any case, seem to be expats.
Will the rule disappear? Probably
eventually, but later rather than
sooner.
Nationalist party N-VA has proposed cutting off unemployment benefits after a certain period of time. How long
do you think should that be?
Log in to the Flanders Today website at www.flanderstoday.eu and click on VOTE!
\ 16
In response to: Sharp increase in dental problems in toddlers
Caroline Drysdale
Just stop feeding the kids sweets
In response to: Six architects to compete for Beurs conversion
into Beer Temple
Dee Pitelen
Beautiful building - hope they don’t ruin it!
In response to: Ratebeer names Lennik Café as one of world’s best
Ralph Elliott
Lucky devils for going astray ... what a find
ADAM LAMBERT @adamlambert
Brussels: sad we had to cancel tonight. The last thing I’d want
is to let u down but I’m under doctors orders to stay in bed
and get well.
Jonty Wareing @jonty
This Airbnb houseboat in Ghent is absolutely incredible. To get
to my room I have to cross five rooms, two ladders, and the
bridge.
Cara Ellison @caraellison
Yey! Today at 13.45 I am doing a talk called ‘A Year On The
Couch’ for http://www.screenshake.be/ in Antwerp. I hope to
see you there!
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the last WorD
should belgium scrap the priority-to-the-right traffic rule, as motoring
organisation vab suggests?
In a not-entirely-surprising result,
our readers are crystal clear about
how they feel about the traffic
rule that gives priority to vehicles
coming from the right: Get rid of it.
Not only was there a wave of
support for the idea, proposed by
motoring organisation VAB, when
voices of
flanDers toDay
royally red faces
“Dear Family, Sir, Madam,
You recently received a card
thanking you for the condolences
you expressed to Their Majesties King Albert and Queen Paola
on the occasion of the death of
Her Majesty Queen Fabiola. To
our great regret, the last line in
the text mentioned Queen Paola
instead of Queen Fabiola. Please
accept our sincere apologies.”
The Royal family blundered in sending out thank-you notes in which
they referred to the death of Queen
Paola
good sport
“I’m not going to sully myself with
a dirty campaign. I wish John luck
– though not too much luck.”
Socialist party president Bruno
Tobback will be challenged for the
leadership by former minister John
Crombez (see p4)
lack of interest
“The alacrity with which the
justice system seizes your money
is in stark contrast with their
tardiness in giving it back.”
Lawyer Johan Platteau on a case in
which the court blocked the bank
account of a Russian man and has yet
to pay him back even though the case
was dropped in 2012
exodus
“As a Jew, I no longer feel safe in
Brussels, and I want to say very
clearly, more and more people are
now thinking in concrete terms of
emigrating.”
The security situation threatens to
drive the Jewish community from
Belgium, according to one unnamed
man, interviewed in De Morgen
[K\R