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JUNE 3, 2015 \ NEwswEEkly - € 0,75 \ rEad morE at www.flandErstoday.Eu currEnt affairs \ P2

Van UytVanck loVe

Flanders’ last tennis player to survive in the French Open is surprising herself, her coach and a legion of new fans \2

Politics \ P4

BusinEss \ P6

innovation \ P7

old school

Education \ P9

art & living \ P10

PoP goes the city

Flanders is launching its first alumni networks to keep in touch with its graduates and bring them together in cities across the world

An adventurous city-trip competition hitting Brussels this autumn brings out the best in all-women duos

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Art can build a bridge

returning Bruges triennial reflects on public space, citizenship and cultural heritage ian mundell More articles by Ian \ flanderstoday.eu

The Bruges Triennial, returning after a more than 40-year absence, aspires to bring tourists and locals together, using the city and its famous landmarks as a setting for contemporary art by artists from around the world.

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© Peter De Bruyne

ruges is reviving its art Triennial after a gap of more than 40 years, placing work by 17 international artists and architects in some of the city’s most famous locations. As a result, this summer’s tourists will have rather different photographs of the city from those taken by the millions who preceded them.

They will see tree houses in the Begijnhof, a giant mirrored tower on the Markt and a chocolate Stock Exchange on the Burg. And as they cruise along the canals, they may catch sight of a toppled electricity pylon in the water, still humming dangerously, or even a swimming bruggeling or two.

The Triennial is not necessarily for tourists, but it does concern them. The whole project revolves around the question: what if the five million people who visit the city every year decided to stay? The art works responding to this notion reflect on public space, citizenship, the economy and cultural heritage.

The idea of reviving the Bruges Triennial came from the city’s mayor, Renaat Landuyt. He is no stranger to this kind of initiative, having helped establish the Beaufort Triennial along the Flemish coast in 2003 when he was minister for tourism in the region. Now he wants to do something similar with Bruges. “We want to use our historical city as a scene of contemporary art,” he said on the opening day.

The Triennial is also an attempt to bridge the gap between the 117,000 people who live in Bruges and the 5.3 million tourists who visit each year. “In using the city as a scene, we also want to open the minds of our inhabitants, and we’re lucky to have found artists whose work invites visitors and inhabitants to meet each other,” Landuyt said. “And every construction or work of art is an invitation to think about how to live together in a city.”

The project is curated by Till-Holger Borchert, director of Musea Brugge and head curator of the Groeninge Museum, and Michel Dewilde, visual arts curator at the Cultural Centre of Bruges. “We started to discuss what is unique about Bruges and how the perception of Bruges within Flanders differs from the perception of Bruges in foreign countries,” Borchert said, thinking back to the origins of the project.

While Bruges looms large in the international mind as a tourist destination and a place of cultural and historical significance, in Flanders the city tends to be perceived as small and provincial. Merging the two ideas produced the attractive fiction of Bruges as a mega city.

At the same time, the curators didn’t want to be too introspective. “We always tend to look at the specificity of Bruges, and that is also a big aspect of the project, but I think every work that we see here today could be taken away and re-assembled elsewhere and it would maintain its meaning, and still allude to the questions we have asked,” Borchert said.

For example, a number of projects examine the role of public space within cities and propose ways that it can be reclaimed. The “Canal Swimmer’s Club”, designed by Japanese architects Atelier Bow-Wow, is a platform built in the canal next to the Carmersbrug, producing a

Cataract Gorge by Israeli artist Romy Achituv continued on page 5

\ CURRENT AFFAIRs

Power cut at Brussels Airport more than 23,000 passengers affected as Zaventem loses electricity for several hours alan Hope Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT

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elgocontrol, the air traffic control agency for Belgian airspace, is investigating the cause of a power outage last week that forced the grounding of all flights out of Brussels Airport for four hours. More than 23,000 passengers are estimated to have been affected.

The incident took place during a routine test of emergency generators at 9.45 on 27 May. Both the normal system and the emergency system collapsed in the ATC centre CANAC2 in Steenokkerzeel. The airspace was partly opened again at about 14.00, with a new emergency generator providing 20% of capacity.

By Wednesday evening another generator was on-stream, bringing capacity up to 75% – a situation that continued for several days. .

The military stepped in to help resolve the immediate crisis. Aside from Belgocon-

© Demotix live News/Corbis

All flights were cancelled or seriously delayed, a situation that lasted for days

trol which governs Belgian airspace, and Eurocontrol for airspace above 7,000 feet, the defence ministry also has ATC facilities to handle military and other flights crossing Belgian airspace. The military radar at Gavere in East Flanders is regularly used by Belgocontrol.

When the power outage occurred, a defence spokesperson explained, thousands of aircraft were in the airspace, and the military stepped in to “deconflict” the skies and prevent accidents. Later, incoming flights were re-routed and departing flights were grounded.

About 400 stranded passengers spent the night in the airport on cots provided by the Red Cross. “We’re trying to make the best of it,” said one man interviewed by VTM News.

“You can’t do anything else. And this is also all-inclusive,” he joked.

Airlines serving Brussels Airport said they were “bewildered” at the effects of “a relatively normal, manageable problem” like a power cut. “A thorough investigation is needed urgently because this cannot be allowed to happen again, that much is obvious,” said Dieter Bruneel, chair of the Airline Operators Committee of Brussels Airport.

Mobility minister Jacqueline Galant has called for a report on the causes of the incident. “I expect a reasonable explanation of the situation, why it took so long to fix and what can be done to prevent such a thing happening again,” she told VTM. The Belgian Travel Organisation (BTO), which represents tour operators, called it “a black day for Belgian aviation and the tourism industry in general” and said it is investigating the possibility of a damages claim against Belgocontrol.

Greg Van Avermaet wins Tour of Belgium

Van Uytvanck carries Flemish flame into fourth round of French Open

Lokeren’s Greg Van Avermaet claimed the 85th Tour of Belgium, winning the final stage of the fiveday event by narrowly holding off second-placed Tiesj Benoot.

Van Avermaet, 30, is a two-time runner-up in the Tour, a race that has long been dominated by Swiss time-trial specialist Tony Martin.

This year the race didn’t include a long time trial, making Van Avermaet the favourite.

It was only in the final stage that the Flemish cyclist imposed himself: Helped by his teammates

Alison Van Uytvanck produced another stunning victory against France’s Kristina Mladenovic at the weekend to reach the fourth round of the French Open. Her 6-4, 6-1 win against Mladenovic, ranked 44th in the world, means the last Flemish player in Paris has a chance to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Van Uytvanck (pictured), ranked 93 in the world, only played her first Grand Slam last year, and the sole WTA title to her name is the OEC Taipei Ladies Open she

at BMC Racing Team, Van Avermaet edged firmly ahead of his rivals – including Tom Boonen and Jürgen Roelandts – by the close. “We controlled the race all day long,” Van Avermaet said. “I spent a little bit of energy there but not too much.”

Sunday’s final stage in the Ardennes brought the riders over almost 200 kilometres in the hills around Sankt Vith with 10 categorised climbs, including the famous Haute-Levee, Col du Rosier and Cote de Stockeu. \ Leo Cendrowicz

won in 2013. The 21-year-old from Grimbergen is currently Belgian tennis’ third ranked woman, behind Kirsten Flipkens and Yanina Wickmayer, but while her erstwhile superiors failed to get past the first round in Paris, Van Uytvanck is just one match away from the quarter-finals.

Her fourth-round tie – which took place as Flanders Today went to press – is against Romania’s Andreea Mitu, currently at 100 in the WTA rankings. Van Uytvanck won their last encounter 6-2, 7-5,

© Virginie lefour/BElGA

in Olomuc in the Czech Republic in 2013. \ LC

Test-Aankoop files country’s first-ever class action suit – against NMBS More than 20,000 people have signed on to a class-action lawsuit brought by Belgium’s consumer organisation TestAankoop against the rail authority NMBS. The action is the first of its kind in the country since the law was passed last year to allow class-action suits.

The suit alleges that seven strikes

by NMBS personnel in the last

eight months, including the strike last week by drivers’ union ASTB, have caused customers with travel passes a total of €24.5 million in damages – about €35 per person.

“One individual is too small to take court action, so we have decided to file a collective action,” said Test-Aankoop director Ivo Mechels. “Passengers have a

70%

more breweries in Belgium than seven years ago, bringing the total to 259. The great majority are small artisanal brewers – a reflection of the shift of consumer taste from pils to craft beers

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right to damages, but too few of them ask because the system is so complicated. According to our calculations, NMBS has taken €24.5 million in unearned income from pre-paid passes.”

Rail pass holders were recruited

by Test-Aankoop workers handing out fliers in train stations and via the organisation’s website.

“This is the perfect opportunity

to force a large company like NMBS to listen to its customers,” Mechels said.

NMBS now has 30 days to respond with an offer; if it is not accepted, the matter will go before the court. According to Roger Blanpain, emeritus professor of labour law, the suit is unfounded. “TestAankoop’s demands are in opposition to the principle of the right

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profit in 2014 for the port of Ghent, €2 million less than in 2013. The reason was a combination of less traffic and higher costs, according to CEO Daan Schalk

new trams and 113 new buses ordered by Flemish public transport authority De Lijn, in addition to 386 new buses and 48 trams now awaiting delivery

to strike – one of the fundamental rights of the Belgian Constitution,” he said. “The disruption of the organisation of work and financial damage are inherent consequences of a strike.” The unions, he said, have done nothing illegal. \ AH What do you think of Test Aankoop’s suit? Visit www.flanderstoday.eu to vote in our poll

34.5%

for a complete structural revision and cosmetic renovation for the Erasmus hospital in Brussels.

The package includes a whole new wing of 88,000 square metres

reduction in the price of Flanders’ Jonagold apples at the end of 2014 compared to the year before, as a result of the Russian boycott. The price of pears fell by 23.7%, but tomato prices were up 20.8%

junE 3, 2015

Week in brief

face of flanders

Tourism minister Ben Weyts has approved €3.4 million in funding for a complete refit of the Mercator, the former training ship that brought the remains of Catholic saint Father Damiaan back to Belgium in 1936. The three-master has been a museum ship moored at Ostend since 1964.

study contradicts claims by city councils, including in Vilvoorde and Leuven, that argue the shopping centre will drain custom away from local centres, as well as cause traffic chaos. Thanks to population growth, the study says, there will be enough of a market for everything.

Skype has been served a subpoena to appear in court in Mechelen, after the online telephone service, owned by Microsoft, refused to allow detectives access to conversations between criminal suspects of an Armenian syndicate. The suspects were thought to be using Skype to arrange the delivery of stolen goods, and an investigating magistrate issued a warrant for the connection to be tapped.

Skype refused, arguing it is not a local telecommunications provider and does not fall under Belgian law.

The government of Flanders has awarded a diploma of additional protection to the Plantin-MoretusprintingmuseuminAntwerp, with the backing of Unesco. The status was introduced in 2013, in the wake of incidents where radical forces in Afghanistan and Syria destroyed artefacts and monuments. Although the PlantinMoretus museum is in no such danger, Bourgeois explained, the award “demonstrates the unique and indispensable character of this heritage site, both on a Flemish level and worldwide.” The only other site under special protection in Belgium is the Horta House in Brussels.

The Queen Elisabeth Competition, this year for violinists, has been won by 21-year-old Lim Ji Young from South Korea, who received a cheque for €25,000 and the loan of a Stradivarius violin.

The two Belgian contestants in the competition, Fien Van den Fonteyne from East Flanders and Hrachya Avanesyan from Brussels, were eliminated in the first round.

The Belgian website Foodwe.be has won a European prize for the reduction of waste by NGOs. The website, launched in September, allows businesses to donate unsold but still edible foodstuffs to food banks. It has since handled 20 tonnes of food that would otherwise have been binned.

Some 12,000 projects competed for the prize.

Uplace, the planned new shopping centre in Machelen, will attract more shoppers to the Brussels area, with positive effects for retail businesses in surrounding towns, according to a study commissioned by Uplace. The

The Belgian intelligence services have started an enquiry into claims that the German secret service BND tapped a number of internet connections in Europe, including 15 in Belgium, over a period of years to intercept online communications. The affair is already being investigated by the Belgian telecommunications regulator BIPT and by Proximus internally.

The latest Flemish BOB campaign against drink-driving will start on 5 June. Mobility minister Ben Weyts launched the new campaign at the weekend, together with representatives of the Belgian Brewers Federation, the Road Safety Institute and the insurance federation Assuralia.

Road safety campaigns are now a regional responsibility, and there was some question earlier in the year as to whether the BOB campaigns would continue.

Euronext, formerly the Brussels Stock Exchange, opened for trad-

offside no good deed

No good deed, they say, goes unpunished – and media coverage doesn’t help. No sooner was the good deed of students Camilla and Yasmin Passieux and Jill Cnudde all over the papers than someone blew the whistle on the object of their goodness. Thankfully, the story has a happy ending. Allow us to explain.

The three young women were approached in the street in Antwerp

by Benny, who asked for €1 to help pay for the night in a homeless shelter. He shared some details of his life with them, including that he had been on the streets for eight years.

His story was enough to inspire the

ing last Monday in a new location, after vacating the Beurs building in central Brussels for the first time since it opened 142 years ago. The exchange is now located in the Markies building close to the Brussels cathedral, while the Beurs is transformed into a beer museum. The building had long ceased to be the centre of trading, after automation in the 1990s and a merger with the exchanges of Amsterdam, Paris and Lisbon in 2000.

Road haulage companies have threatened action in protest at the introduction of a toll for lorries using Flanders’ roads from April next year. The Dutch government has also expressed opposition to the toll, with the infrastructure minister calling it “unfair” that Belgian truckers will be compensated by a reduction in road tax to the disadvantage of trucking companies from neighbouring countries crossing Flanders. The toll is also in breach of EU rules, she said: Road tolls are allowed, but they may not discriminate.

Prime minister Charles Michel and justice minister Koen Geens were among 500 people who last week took part in a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels, in which four people were killed. “We shall never reduce the risk to zero, but we can take measures to improve security, and that is what we have started in the past year,” Michel said.

The Gezinsbond (Family Union) is looking for volunteers to act as “mystery shoppers” in toy stores in Flanders to look for signs of sexism, such as dolls advertised for girls or trucks for boys. “Small businesses are doing a good job,” a spokesperson said. “The larger chains, though, sometimes go seriously over the line. We think it’s a shame that toy manufacturers and retailers reinforce the clichés of what boys and girls are supposed to like.”

three to start Project Benny, a Facebook group and a bank account number to which anyone can contribute for the relief of homeless people – dental work for one person, a new CV for another and so on.

A heart-warming story, soon picked up by all the papers. Until a whis-

jo claes Last week Face of Flanders featured a Flemish musician who had won a competition for singer-songwriters in the Netherlands. This week, we profile a crime writer who just picked up the Gouden Strop (Golden Noose) award for crime writers in the Netherlands.

Jo Claes was born in Hasselt in 1955 but has lived most of his life in Leuven, where he has worked for more than 30 years as a teacher of Dutch and English at the Heilig-Hart secondary school.

In the beginning, his work showed elements of the fantastic or magical, possibly under the influence at the time – the early 1980s – of the mainly South American school of magic realism.

His debut collection of short stories, De stenen toren (The Stone Towers), won a prize in 1986 and was followed by the novella De dwaling (The Delusion) and the novel Postume dood (Posthumous Corpse).

Following a number of books on religion, the Bible and Greek myths, Claes turned to crime fiction in 2008 with the publication of De zaak Torfs (The Torfs Case), set in Leuven, where Torfs, an art

expert (no relation to the local university rector) is hired to carry out an expert evaluation of a newly surfaced painting by a medieval master. The book introduced Chief Inspector Thomas Berg, who was to figure in the series of mysteries that followed.

The Gouden Strop winner, De mythe van Methusalem (The Myth of Methuselah), brings together Claes’ interests in crime and the fantastic, as CI Berg investigates the murder of a professor engaged in stem cell research who may just have stumbled upon the secret of eternal youth.

“Through the use of a number of classic thriller elements, Jo Claes has told an intelligent and exciting story with verve and brio,” the jury concluded. The prize includes €10,000.

Incidentally, another award was presented at the same time as Claes’ Golden Noose.

The Gouden Schaduw (Golden Shadow) award went to René van Rijckevorsel, who, despite having a Flemish name (Rijkevorsel is a municipality in the province of Antwerp) is actually a Dutch journalist. \ Alan Hope

flanders today, a weekly English-language newspaper, is an initiative of the flemish region and is financially supported by the flemish authorities.

tinyurl.com/ProjEctBEnny

© Garry knight/Flickr Commons

© ANP

tle-blower pointed out that Benny is receiving help from welfare agency OCMW, who told Project Benny their aid for the man was in conflict with his coverage.

The project, however, carries on, with donations now topping €3,000.

“We’ll use the money to help other homeless people. Our mission remains the same, and every euro goes to people on the street.”

This Saturday, the Project Benny founders and other volunteers will give out food parcels at Antwerp’s central station. Visit the organisation’s Facebook page for further information.

The logo and the name Flanders Today belong to the Flemish Region (Benelux Beeldmerk nr 815.088). The editorial team of Flanders Today has full editorial autonomy regarding the content of the newspaper and is responsible for all content, as stipulated in the agreement between Corelio Publishing and the Flemish authorities.

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 Rebecca Benoot, Bartosz Brzezi´nski, Derek Blyth, Leo Cendrowicz, Katy Desmond, Andy Furniere, Diana Goodwin, Julie Kavanagh, Catherine Kosters, Toon Lambrechts, Katrien Lindemans, Ian Mundell, Anja Otte, Tom Peeters, Daniel Shamaun, Senne Starckx, Christophe Verbiest, Débora Votquenne, Denzil Walton gEnEral managEr Hans De Loore PuBlisHEr Corelio Publishing NV

Editorial addrEss Gossetlaan 30 - 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden tel 02 373 99 09 editorial@flanderstoday.eu suBscriPtions tel 03 560 17 49 subscriptions@flanderstoday.eu or order online at www.flanderstoday.eu advErtising 02 373 83 57 advertising@flanderstoday.eu vErantwoordElijkE uitgEvEr Hans De Loore

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\ POlITICs

5th colUMn looking to themselves

The next elections are three (local) and four (regional/ federal) years away, but they are still never far from our politicians’ minds. In the year since the 2014 elections, they have demonstrated some rather unusual behaviour.

With coalition governments, the majority parties are supposed to stick together, while the opposition tries to expose their decisions (or lack thereof) as bad for the country. In recent months, though, the majority parties have been opposing themselves, while the opposition is too obsessed with itself to come up with any real opposition.

In the majority, CD&V and its vice-prime minister Kris Peeters illustrate this best.

With the ambition to be the governments’ face for social issues, they have condemned their coalition partners N-VA and Open VLD time and time again as being too harsh.

But CD&V is also under attack. Liesbeth Homans (N-VA), vice minister-president in the government of Flanders, lashed out at Peeters for his trip to Japan, which she said was a “breach of competences”. With their recent “preelectoral” Helfie campaign, N-VA’s “helping hands” also explicitly reach out to traditional CD&V voters.

This is the second time that N-VA has campaigned to broaden its appeal: Before the last elections, the nationalists went after the liberal vote with an anti-tax rhetoric. This, combined with a number of proposals to make the tax shift concrete, has prompted Open VLD president Gwendolyn Rutten to emphasise exactly who is the anti-taxation party in Flanders: hers.

That the majority parties are at each other’s throats comes as no surprise as recent research has shown that all three of them fish in the same electoral pond. To voters, the three parties are interchangeable. Asserting themselves ever more aggressively – four years before the elections! – is their only option for growth.

Opposition SP.A, meanwhile, has been involved in an internal struggle for months.

The outcome seems certain: challenger John Crombez will become the new socialist leader, succeeding Bruno Tobback. The dirty campaign leading up to this, however, has halted the opposition expected from the socialists.

Groen, traditionally much smaller, seems to have taken over as the main opposition voice. With a new generation –Meyrem Almaci and Kristof Calvo – it has succeeded where SP.A has failed. \ Anja Otte

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Ban Ki-moon awarded honorary doctorate by KU Leuven

un secretary-general delivers climate message, meets local politicians alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

T

he University of Leuven (KU Leuven) awarded an honorary doctorate to United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon last week. In a speech at the ceremony, Ban (pictured) called upon the world to take urgent action on climate change and on poverty.

“We are the first generation that can put an end to poverty, and we are the last generation that can put an end to climate change,” he said.

Change was already taking place at a faster rate than we realise, Ban continued. “The consequences could affect the full range of human needs — health, food, water and national security. At the same time, there are solutions. Many businesses and governments are already seeing the benefits of climate action.” He called on governments to adopt a new and meaningful climate change agreement when they meet in Paris in December.

Ban also had a special message for young people:

© Eric lalmand/BElGA

“Here at Leuven University, students are earning one of the great gifts a person can have: a good, quality education. I know that is hard work, but I have another homework assignment for you: Become global citizens with global vision. Act with passion and compassion. Challenge your leaders, your professors, your presidents, prime

ministers and CEOs. Tell them that you have a responsibility to make this world more peaceful and prosperous. … Use your voices to claim your rights, and I will work as your ally.”

The secretary-general’s trip to Belgium, part of his goodwill tour marking the 70th anniversary of the UN, also included a speech to the European parliament focused on the migration crisis, a meeting with King Filip and Queen Mathilde and a meeting with members of the Belgian government at Hertoginnedal Castle in Brussels. Prime minister Charles Michel, foreign minister Didier Reynders and development minister Alexander De Croo were present.

Ban thanked the government for its efforts in Burundi over recent weeks to prevent an increase in violence and asked that Belgian troops be kept in the region for the time being while there is still a chance of unrest.

New branding for Flemish institutions in Brussels

Flanders proposes shortlist for billions of EU funding

Flemish institutions in Brusselsaretoadopta new logo, proposed last week by Sven Gatz, Flemish minister for Brussels, and Guy Vanhengel, chair of the college of the Flemish Community Commission (VGC). The logo takes the form of a stylised letter N, white on a black background. The form is based on the logo used by Dutch-language educational establishments in the capital.

“The Flemish Community has for many years had the aim of reaching one-third of Brussels residents with its policies,” Gatz said. “To help achieve this, the N lets everyone know immediately which are the buildings where Dutch is

The government of Flanders has set out its six priority areas for applying for EU aid under the new European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). Among Flanders’ concrete projects are infrastructure and mobility works at Oosterweel, the North-South link in Limburg and the expansion of the Brussels Ring.

EFSI is an initiative of the Juncker Commission, a reaction to the 15% fall in strategic investments in the EU since a peak in 2007, just before the global financial crisis.

The fund is worth €315 billion for the whole EU – €240 billion for long-term investments and €75 billion for small and mediumsized enterprises.

The government of Flanders said it welcomed the new fund, provided it formed part of a general improvement in the investment climate in Europe,

the glue that binds together the people who work there, who use its services or who are just visiting.”

The logo will be attached to building and also form part of communications materials. “The new logo is an important decision taken by the Flemish government and the VGC in parallel,” said Vanhengel. “The logo will be a cohesive element in the communications of the Flemish Community in the capital. The purpose is to make high-quality Dutch-speaking services – including schools, sports, daycare, health and culture – recognisable and attractive.” \ AH

including the removal of certain obstacles to investment. Besides the aforementioned infrastructure projects, the government is looking at applying for financing for SMEs in research and development, energy efficiency and renewable energy, social housing, welfare and health infrastructure and schools.

“EFSI offers opportunities for Flanders,” said minister-president Geert Bourgeois in a statement.

“The government has chosen six priority fields where we will concentrate our efforts and where we will look into the possibility of EFSI funding.”

“Flanders has to make the most of the possibilities that EFSI represents,” added the region’s finance minister, Annemie Turtelboom.

“The investments of today are the jobs and well-being of tomorrow.”

\ AH

11 of 19 Brussels communes against TTIP trade pact When negotiators from the US arrive in July for the latest round of talks with the EU on the creation of a new free trade agreement between the two economic blocs, they will be arriving in a European capital that is largely opposed to the deal.

The municipal council of Schaarbeek agreed last week to express its “concern” at the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which opponents argue is a threat to business in the EU, to the environment and to the democratic process. The TTIP, critics say, will give corporations the right to sue governments over democratic policies and lead to the privatisation of essential services.

In April, the Brussels parliament resolved to investigate the consequences of the agreement for the capital. Among the region’s communes, 11 out of the 19 are strongly opposed, with Ukkel due to vote on its motion soon. The 11 communes have declared TTIP-free zones, including Brussels-City, Elsene, Sint-Gillis and WatermaalBosvoorde.

Watermaal-Bosvoorde has gone so far as to threaten an action before the European Court of Justice if the EU’s Council of Ministers approves the TTIP. Negotiators from the two sides meet in week-long cycles, alternately in Brussels and in the US. The last meeting took place in New York in April; the

© Greensefa/wikimedia

MEPs demonstrate in the European Parliament against TTIP

next – the 10th round – will be in Brussels in July.

Negotiations have been criticised on both sides of the Atlantic for their closed-door approach. \ AH

\ COVER sTORy

junE 3, 2015

“Palace” by scottish artist Nathan Coley (left) is one of the few installations at the Triennial with opening hours; “Tree Houses in Bruges” in the Begijnhof courtyard creates a relationship between shanty towns and begijn houses

Art can build a bridge

triennial invites us to think about overpopulation, demographics and sharing a city triEnnalEBruggE.BE

continued from page 1

new place for music, social encounters and other events. A spur of the platform extends under the bridge into an area of canal designated for swimming.

Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, one half of the Atelier Bow-Wow team, described how he had been inspired by the city’s desire to encourage canal swimming, now that water quality has improved.

“Everywhere in the world cities want to try to limit the behaviour of people, and ask them to behave in a very disciplined way. So swimming in the canal sounds wonderful.”

Another angle on public space comes from Studio Mumbai, a group of architects and builders from India. Its “Bridge by the Canal” is a set of covered benches built along the Groenerei, in a structure not unlike a wooden bridge.

Sitting here you enjoy the same view of the canal that you would from the bay window in a small, opulent tower across the water. It’s also possible to imagine the structure pivoting to become a functioning bridge across the canal, reconnecting the public street to a private alley that presently ends at the water’s edge.

While inspired by this specific location, the bridge could fit in almost anywhere. “It’s an idea about how

to face new over-population and changes in habitation in the city,” said Louis-Antoine Grego, one of the Studio Mumbai architects. He went on to explain that the bridge was manufactured in India before arriving in Bruges as a flat-pack.

“Maybe we can make many of them and send them everywhere,” he said.

point for strangers – a person from Bruges and a visitor – and create an intimate place in the square.”

This meeting point is inside the “DiamondScope”, although only Bruges residents have been told the combination to unlock the door. So if visitors want to see inside, they need to find a bruggeling and have a conversation.

Every installation or work is an invitation to think about how to live together in a city Another way of reclaiming public space is proposed by Norwegian artist Vibeke Jensen. Her “1:1 Connect: DiamondScope” is an angled tower clad in mirrors, its shape reminiscent of the Bruges crane that has been built on the Markt. It points at the Belfry, and one aim of the piece is to create an artistic dialogue with this tower.

The other is to change perceptions of the square.

“People from Bruges told me that they hardly ever came here because there are so many tourists, and they feel kind of expelled from the square,” Jensen explained.

“So I wanted to make a meeting

“It’s trying to make a generous and secluded space for strangers in the middle of this very crowded square,” Jensen said. “From the outside it mirrors everything – the architecture, the tourists, the selfies – and multiplies this whole consumption of the square. And inside it’s all red, with two framed views: one of the square from the front and one of the top of the Belfry.”

While many of the Triennial artists take their inspiration from the city as it is now, a few refer back to its history as a birthplace of capitalism. “Masquerade” by Brusselsbased artists Katleen Vermeir and

Ronny Heiremans is a video installation that looks at the dynamics between art, architecture and economics. It plays in the Poortersloge on Academiestraat, once a meeting place for bankers and merchants.

Meanwhile, Norwegian artist Anne Senstad has mounted a huge sign reading “Gold Guides Me” on old warehouses overlooking the canals to the north of the city. This is also the site of the Triennial’s pop-up cafe, housed in shipping containers jutting over the water.

Then on the Burg there is “Uber Capitalism” by Austrian artist Rainer Ganahl. This is a large replica of the Bruges stock exchange, made from industrialstrength chocolate and topped with a rotating sign from which the work takes its name. “It turns like a Mercedes star, which is an interesting symbol in European capitalism,” the artist explained.

Dating from around 1300, the Bruges stock exchange was one of the first in the world, but also an early casualty of failing markets, closing when the harbour silted up a couple of centuries later and trade collapsed. Chocolate, meanwhile, is one of the found-

until 18 october

ing commodities of global capitalism and still an important part of Belgium’s trade (to say nothing of Bruges). And Uber refers to the controversial alternative taxi business.

“Uber stands for this new form of capitalism that no longer has a traditional working structure, but all the participants are selfcontractors, using apps,” Ganahl said.

Other highlights in the Triennial include “Tree Houses in Bruges”, by Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata, who has filled the trees in the main courtyard of the Begijnhof with small wooden shacks.

Too high to reach, they recall the small begijn houses, but with the makeshift feeling of a shanty town.

Rather than intruding, the effect is rather poetic.

Meanwhile, Chinese artist Song Dong has built a small mountain range out of windows recovered from a demolished neighbourhood of his native Beijing, a comment on differing attitudes to architectural heritage in Asia and Europe.

Called “Wu Wei Er Wei” or “Doing Nothing Doing”, the multicoloured structure is beautifully placed in front of St Salvator’s Cathedral.

Across Bruges

\5

\ BUsINEss

Week in bUsiness Analytics Engagor The Ghent-based social media management and analytics tools developer has been taken over by the US-based Clarabridge, a supplier of customer experience management solutions, for an undisclosed amount.

Banking BkCP

The Brussels-based financial institution, owned by the French Credit Mutuel Nord Europe bank, is to merge into its local sister company Beobank, the new name of the former operations of Citibank until the sale to the French group in 2013.

Cars Audi

The Brussels assembling unit, building the best-selling A1 model, is to phase out its current production over the next three years to prepare the facility for the assembling of a new model, possibly an electric car, from 2018. The company has invested €700 million on the site since 2007 and is currently spending €100 million a year to update the facilities.

Diagnostics Biocartis

The Mechelen-based specialist in molecular diagnostics solutions has signed a partnership agreement with Luxembourg’s Fast Track Diagnostics company, producer of medical kits used in projects financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Entertainment studio 100

The Flemish TV producer and theme park operator will launch a €90 million rights issue in June to finance the building of a hotel next to its Plopsaland park in De Panne and to further develop its TV and cinema activities.

Hotels sheraton

The landmark 520-room hotel on Rogierplaats in downtown Brussels is to be redeveloped following its acquisition by the local property group Eaglestone. The 40-year-old, 40,000 square metre property is to be split into a renovated Sheraton with fewer than 200 rooms, a few hundred apartments and a shopping mall.

supermarkets Colruyt

The Halle-based supermarket inaugurated a new €79 million, 37,000 square-metre, state-of-the-art distribution centre near Ath in Wallonia last week.

\6

De Persgroep takes over Humo and other Sanoma titles teve Blad, story and vitaya also acquired by publisher of de morgen alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

D

e Persgroep, owners of daily newspapers De Morgen and Het Laatste Nieuws and co-owners of TV station VTM, have taken over ownership of the magazines Humo, Story, TeVe Blad and Vitaya from the local branch of the Finnish Sanoma publishing group. Union representatives at Sanoma said the take-over “came out of the blue”.

De Persgroep had shown an interest in several Sanoma titles last year, but Sanoma at that time was busy integrating its Belgian and Dutch magazines into one company. The final decision to do business was only taken recently, both sides said.

No price details have been released.

The buy-out means the transfer of 65 employees from Sanoma to De Persgroep.

Unions expressed concern at the effect of the sell-off. “A number of initiatives had been launched, and synergies were being sought with the Netherlands,” said Geert Haverbeke of the socialist union BBTK. “Now that there are fewer magazines, it could be that there will also be less need for support services.”

The Flemish Association of Journalists (VVJ) also expressed concern, with the hope that De Persgroep would not merge the content of the newly arrived magazines. “That would do the press landscape no good,” said VVJ secretary Pol Deltour. De

Persgroep already publishes Dag Allemaal, a celebrity gossip magazine in direct competition

with Story.

Koen Verweek of De Persgroep’s magazines division said that Sanoma’s TeVe Blad, however, was not a direct competitor for the group’s TV Familie, as the former is strictly a guide, while the latter is more article -focused. TeVe Blad sells 163,000 copies a week, according to the latest circulation figures and is the best-selling of the four titles changing hands.

In other news, Sanoma announced it would stop its Libelle TV channel from 1 July to concentrate on online video. Radio station Story FM will be sold when a buyer can be found, Sanoma’s Belgian CEO said.

Hyundai to invest €50 million in new Limburg distribution centre

Red Cross objects to minister’s comment about illegal work

Hyundai Mobis Europe (HME), a distributor of parts for Korean car manufacturers Hyundai and KIA, is planning an investment of €50 million for a new distribution centre in Beringen, Limburg, the company announced.

The works involve the construction of a warehouse covering 78,000 square metres to be ready by the middle of 2016. The new centre will initially employ some 200 people, most of whom are already employed at HME’s headquarters in nearby Lummen.

Employment is expected to increase later, when the site is extended by another 20,000 square metres by 2020. The ground for the centre was bought from the municipality of Beringen and is situated on the Ravenshout Noord industrial estate.

The new centre will operate as a central store for HME’s other distributors both inside and outside Europe, as well as serving Hyundai and KIA clients directly in France, Switzerland and the Benelux. The decision by HME to opt for Limburg, as opposed to a compet-

Red Cross Vlaanderen said it was “surprised” at an insinuation by Bart Tommelein, the federal secretary of state for anti-fraud measures, that volunteers working for the organisation are recompensed “in the black”, or undeclared, as a means of avoiding tax. The organisation invited him to spend a day with its volunteers to learn about the reality of their status.

Tommelein made the comment while explaining his proposal to allow anyone to earn up to €500 a month at a lower – or zero – rate of tax. “People who, for example, work as a coach for a sports club, or as a volunteer for the Red Cross, should be able to be compensated for that in a reasonable manner,” he said. “And not via a payment in the black, as often happens these days.”

The Red Cross issued a statement: “Our volunteers receive no pay for the work they do, which is just what makes them volunteers. The only recompense volunteers receive is reimbursement of expenses incurred. This is paid out in a completely transparent manner. … The secretary of state’s

© Courtesy Mobis Marketing

ing offer from Germany, came down to the package of conditions offered by the government of Flanders.

“The decision by this world player in the automotive sector shows that Flanders is gaining in competitive power and is able to stand together with other regions in attracting investment,” said economy minister Philippe Muyters, who announced the news with HME at a press conference in Hasselt. “This is a promising project that will bring new jobs to Limburg.” \ AH

© Courtesy Rode kruis lede

comments are an insult to each of Red Cross Vlaanderen’s 13,500 volunteers.”

The organisation called for a clear definition of the status of volunteer, which is urgently needed to make it clear what can be described as real volunteer work and what cannot, it said. Some organisations, the statement explained, do pay their volunteers – an example being fire brigades. In those cases, it said, it would be better to describe those volunteers as “freelancers”.

“Bart Tommelein is kindly invited to spend a day with a couple of our volunteers to prove to him that each of them works entirely unselfishly to help others,” Red Cross Vlaanderen said. \ AH

Plans for US Customs post at Zaventem Brussels Airport is one of nine airports chosen to take part in an expansion of the US Customs and Border Protection department’s Preclearance programme, CEO Arnaud Feist has confirmed.

The programme is already operational in Dublin and Shannon in Ireland, Aruba, Bermuda, Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas, eight cities in Canada, Abu Dhabi

and Dubai. The idea is to carry out customs and immigration checks on passengers flying direct to the US in the airport of departure, rather than on arrival.

The authorities say passengers save time by not having to go through immigration on landing or during transit to another US airport. Critics say it is also a means of making sure asylum-

seekers are detected before they get to the US. “This announcement by the American authorities is a recognition of the quality of infrastructure at Brussels Airport and the high security level of our operations,” Feist said. “Carrying out checks here will make the procedure simpler for passengers to the US.”

Travellers are unlikely to see any changes for some time. Talks have yet to be started on installing US customs and immigration at Zaventem, and the airport will first carry out a feasibility study.

It’s estimated it could take two or three years before the system is up and running. \ AH

\ INNOVATION

junE 3, 2015

Admit one

Week in innoVation Universities to print cornea

ticto’s smart badges are winning plaudits at home and abroad georgio valentino More articles by Georgio \ flanderstoday.eu

ticto.com

T

icto is on a roll. Earlier this year the Brussels-based cyber-security company was recognised at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. The industry’s annual pow-wow crowned Ticto the second-most innovative company of 2015, behind Dublin’s Waratek.

It’s a slightly misleading award, though. If one doesn’t often hear of silver medals in the winnertake-all markets of information technology, it’s because there are no such medals. The law of the start-up jungle is “go big or go home”. Ticto earned the rare distinction of “first ever runnerup” because the award jury was hopelessly deadlocked about who would take the gold.

The product that made Ticto so competitive is the tictopass, the first smart badge to boast a new feature called “visual crowd authentication”. The concept is modelled on electronic ID and bank cards.

Individual or group credentials are embedded in the badge circuitry then processed by the badge’s software in real time to generate synchronised but unpredictable displays and LED colours – the equivalent of one-time passwords – that are presented to strategically placed readers that either allow or deny access. Voilà. You have ensured the security of your site or event.

It’s flexible, too. Badge groups are programmed with different algorithms to allow for varying levels of access on varying schedules. In short, tictopass is a customisable backstage pass that can’t be forged.

Promotional literature describes this as “the next-generation company badge” that is fated to replace the traditional chip card just as the smartphone dethroned the flip phone. It’s programmable, reusable and as portable as any badge or credit card. Best of all, it doesn’t require a wireless network or central controller.

Tictopass readers are simple gatekeepers that accept or reject the badge presented; the badge itself has done all the work autonomously and offline.

This addresses consumers’ growing concerns about privacy. According to its creators, tictopass is far less intrusive than other technologies – GPS, wifi, bluetooth and even cameras – and thus respects employee privacy. Tictopass

UGent games teaches advertising literacy

Federal secretary of privacy issues Bart Tommelein (left) is introduced to Ticto by company founder Johan Vinckier (right)

doesn’t capture data. It’s a gatekeeper, tasked with making only one binary distinction: OK or not-OK It’s an advanced but simple solution to several recent high-profile security breaches locally.

In separate episodes, Antwerp’s Doel 4 nuclear power plant fell victim to sabotage and the country’s police headquarters was infiltrated by hackers. In Brussels, activists regularly breach security at European summits, and the ease with which they penetrate controls has troubled European and Belgian authorities. Traditional methods just aren’t cutting the mustard.

That’s why Ticto founder and CEO Johan Vinckier is urging organisations to get smart about security. Vinckier is no stranger to smart systems.

The US-born Belgian entrepreneur paid his dues first as a technology guru at international management consultancy McKinsey and later as an executive at BPost, where he championed the

development of chip cards. He even had a hand in the development of the Mobib pass, which has become the bedrock of Brussels’ public transport system.

The tictopass was unveiled late last year as a proof of concept but is now being tested in real working conditions by Brussels Airport, the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre and national restaurant chain Lunch Garden.

Initialresultsarepromising.Ticto’srecentvictory at the RSA Conference has only reinforced the feedback Vinckier and co have been receiving from beta testers here in Belgium. Ticto is now looking past the beta stage and marketing international commercial programmes that will go live in the last quarter of this year. Its target clients are high-risk sectors, companies dealing with sensitive or confidential information, open-air worksites, transport networks and the medical sector.

Q&a

ZEnsor.BE

Yves Van Ingelgem is an engineer at the Free University of Brussels (VUB). He recently won the first MIT Innovator of the Year award for Zensor, which turns raw data from industrial monitoring into readyto-use information You’re a materials engineer, not a software designer. How did you end up developing this tool?

In my PhD research, I discovered a problem when taking measurements on metallic samples in solution. That turned out to be an early indication of the metal being actively corroding. I knew this concept could represent a solution for real problems encountered in industrial infrastructure – corrosion in windmills or pipelines, for example.

I decided to convert the idea into a technology ready for the market.

With a team from VUB, I gradually expanded our offering with new sensor types, so that today we

The ophthalmology department of Antwerp University (UAntwerp) is working with the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) to create a cornea with living cells using 3D printer technology. The prototypes will be tested in the laboratory next month. UAntwerp is designing the cornea – the transparent covering at the front of the eye – while KU Leuven is providing the printing technology.

For the research, which should be finished by 2018, the universities received €600,000 from the Flemish Fund for Scientific Research. “That includes the first tests on animals but not the clinical research or tests on humans,” Jennifer Patterson, researcher in materials engineering at KU Leuven, told De Tijd.

What does this MIT Innovator of the Year Award mean for you?

It’s a fantastic opportunity to show ourselves to the world. It also helps us spread the word. Our partners and customers can keep on focussing on their core activities, and we will ensure their infrastructure is followed up properly, using stateof-the-art technology.

can offer everything from sensors to monitoring, interpretation and reporting. We call it integrated infrastructure health monitoring.

How does the digital part of Zensor work?

Take a windmill, say. Data gathering is done continuously using our units installed in or on the foundation or poles of the structure. These units collect all the data from the connected sensors, prepare it and send it to a centralised data processing unit, mostly cloud-based. Here intelligent algorithms browse through the data to convert it into knowledge. So the owner of a windmill can interpret

the sensor information without having to process the raw data by himself.

You’re selling Zensor in a spinoff you’ve just launched, is that right?

It’s something unique, which I could never have imagined. It takes a lot of energy to run the administration and negotiate, but the dynamics and success stories of the company energise me. So, in the end, the balance is very positive. \ Interview by Senne Starckx

Ghent University (UGent) has developed four computer games to teach young people about product placement and other kinds of advertising used in various media.

The Reclamewijs, or Advertising Literacy, platform also enables them to discuss the topic. According to a UGent statement, it is essential that children develop “advertising literacy” – the ability to recognise adverts and understand the intention behind them.

The online games are meant for youngsters aged between 12 and 16. UGent worked with experts from the education and advertising sectors, and the creation is part of a fouryear project also involving the University of Leuven, Antwerp University and the Free University of Brussels (VUB).

Doctors to focus on undiagnosed conditions Four specialists at the University Hospital of Ghent are embarking on a project that will focus on patients who have remained undiagnosed for years. The Programme for Undiagnosable Rare Disorders is the first of its kind in Belgium, reports De Morgen.

The initiative is meant to lead to faster and more efficient diagnoses. The team consists of a geneticist, an specialist in internal medicine, a neurologist and a nephrologist, or kidney specialist. Patients can only be referred to the team by their doctor. It is estimated that between 60,000 and 100,000 people in Belgium suffer from a rare disorder, and 44% of them receive incorrect diagnoses before the cause of their illness is found.

\7

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\ EDUCATION

junE 3, 2015

Mutually beneficial

Week in edUcation

flemish universities reach out to alumni, both at home and abroad senne starckx More articles by senne \ flanderstoday.eu

E

arlier this year, former Ghent University (UGent) students on America’s east coast received a surprising invitation in their mailboxes. Their alma mater on the other side of the Atlantic was organising a get-together right there in New York City.

The networking reception, the email explained, would take place at Flanders House in central Manhattan. And both Flemish alumni who had moved to the US and Americans who had studied in Ghent were to pop champagne corks and celebrate the launch of the university’s brand-new US Alumni Network.

This isn’t the first such alumni network for UGent. Over the past two years, the institution has established similar networks in China, Vietnam and the Balkans. During her speech in New York at the May launch event, rector Anne De Paepe called the alumni “the true ambassadors of the university” and said that “they facilitate contacts with the academic world and industry and promote our university among American students.”

With the new network, De Paepe hopes to build a close and lasting relationship with former students in the US. “Over the past years, we have invested heavily in strengthening the bonds between the several alumni networks and the university,” explains Liesbeth Lava, UGent alumni co-ordinator.

AccordingtoLava,thelovebetween universityandformerstudentsgoes both ways. “Many of our alumni are looking for a stronger connection with their alma mater. When they

© David willems / UGent

Ghent University alumni at the launch of the new network at Flanders House in New york

were students, they were part of a close community. Now, as graduates, they want to keep belonging to that community.”

In addition, she continues, “they experience their alumni status as a facilitator of social get-togethers and networking events. This is especially so abroad.”

The university’s alumni also project the university’s image, she says.

“And as successful graduates, they offer an inspiring example for the new generation.” Alumni have also been very useful when it comes to making policy decisions. “They provide a really reliable sounding board for the university’s activities,” says Lava. “Their feedback helps us fine-tune our education programmes so that we can respond to today’s needs and challenges.”

Ghent isn’t the only university to have pumped up the charm for its former students. The University of Leuven (KU Leuven) , which already has alumni chapters in

London, Shanghai and the US, recently rolled out a “universitywide” alumni policy and will establish new chapters in Amsterdam, Berlin and India later this year.

And with 200,000 alumni around the world – that’s roughly four times the university’s current student population – the alumni office has its work cut out for it. “‘University-wide’ means that we encourage collaborations between alumni from different fields of study,” explains Katlijn Malfliet, KU Leuven rector for alumni policies. “Our alumni can contribute in several ways. They can give feedback on the development of our teaching activities; they can give advice on education choices; they can facilitate international relations and the recruitment drive and, last but not least, they can come back as part of our lifelong learning efforts.”

At times of austerity like these, alumni can also be a welcome potential source of extra money

to plug financial gaps, especially since public funding for higher education is expected to decrease in Flanders over the next couple of years.

“Alumni can support a chair or donate to our university in any other way through the Leuven University Fund,” says Malfliet.

“Last year, 25% of the gifts were from KU Leuven alumni. So by donating money, they strengthen their alma mater in its three core duties: education, research and service to society.”

Fundraising among alumni is still a relatively new practice in Flanders, but in the US, it is a long-standing tradition. Private institutions, particularly the Ivy League universities like Harvard and Yale, receive almost no public funding for their undergraduate programmes, so alumni are very much expected to chip in.

That’s not yet the case in Europe.

Still, Lava stresses that the university’s new alumni relations efforts are not meant as veiled fundraising campaigns. “Our first goal is to establish a network, a community, in which an alumnus actively participates in a broad spectrum of activities.”

This creates a relationship, she continues, “that allows some alumni to go further in their engagement in several ways,” whether through donations, advice, or by giving guest lectures.

“Either way, for fundraising, we don’t rely on our alumni alone. We have several donors that have no personal connection to our university but still want to support us.”

UGent publishes official policy on ethical research practices Earlier this month, Ghent University (UGent) became the first university in Flanders to release a policy plan on research integrity. One of the plan’s goals is to improve scientists’ management of research data.

Over the last decade, well-publicised cases of research fraud have convinced Flemish policymakers and academics to raise more awareness about good research practices, with the creation of both new regulations and a commission on the subject.

In 2009, Belgium’s leading science policy institutions launched a code of ethics for researchers working in the country. Since then, all Flemish universities have established a Commission for Research Integrity, which investigates reports of possible fraud.

In 2013, a Flemish Commission for Research Integrity was established to offer a second opinion and advice on more general related questions.

UGent’s official policy makes it a frontrunner among universities in Flanders. Research co-ordinator Stefanie Van der Burght is responsible for implementing and monitoring the policy. She will raise awareness, develop strategies to avoid problematic research practices

© Hilde Christiaens/UGent

and provide advice.

Her advice is essential because correct methods in research are not always as clear-cut as they would seem. “There are three research strategies that are undeniably improper: fabrication, falsification and plagiarism,” explains Van der Burght. “But there also is a grey area of questionable research practices that form our topics of discussion.”

Academics, for example, don’t always agree on whether it’s OK to leave specific data out of a publication if they call their findings into question but don’t influence the final result. Another questionable tactic is “salami slicing”: publish-

ing a series of related articles instead of uniting them into one, to plump up your CV. There is also much discussion about including fellow researchers’ names as co-authors of articles to which they didn’t actually contribute.

UGent has created a website for its researchers explaining good practices and providing useful tools. “They learn to consider which data to use and who should get access to them, for example,” says Van der Burght. “We also recommend using new technology that enables automatic storage of data through a digital system, instead of writing in lab notebooks.”

UGent furthermore provides workshops for PhD students, organised by the doctoral schools.

“Groups of about 15 students receive a day-long session on theory and practice,” explains Van der Burght. “By working on case studies, they learn to take the right decisions in different phases of a research project.”

As research integrity is one of the required final competences for UGent graduates, all students need to learn about it throughout their educations. “In an increasing number of courses, lecturers focus on the issue, and we are taking action to further spread the message in faculties,” says Van der Burght. \ Andy Furniere

UAntwerp kit to stop youngsters smoking

An interactive anti-smoking kit developed by Antwerp University aims to discourage children in secondary education from smoking.

Professor Filip Lardon, a cancer researcher, created the kit. “There are still too many youngsters getting addicted; we urgently have to turn around this situation,” he told Gazet van Antwerpen. The kit consists of a booklet with trivia about health and disease and the short- and long-term consequences of smoking.

It includes quizzes and an interactive presentation for teachers.

Not enough secondary maths teachers

Too many pupils aren’t achieving the eindtermen – the final requirements for students to graduate – for maths, according to a survey by the Support Point for Test Development and Surveys at the University of Leuven.

The survey examined the results of 5,600 students in the sixth year of secondary school. The Belgian Mathematical Society is calling for the recruitment of more teachers with a Master’s degree in maths. Vice-president Philippe Cara, a maths professor at the Free University of Brussels (VUB), told VRT one of the biggest problems was the lack of a strong maths background among new teachers.

Plans for Islamic school in Mechelen

A non-profit in Mechelen wants to establish an Islamic primary school for both Muslim and non-Muslim pupils, reports Gazet van Antwerpen. According to the paper, about 12,000 Muslims live in Mechelen.

“We find that many youngsters don’t finish school and don’t move on to higher education,” Saïd Bouazza, president of Islamic Education Mechelen, said. “As a result, they have trouble finding jobs and some suffer from identity crises.”

With mosques in Mechelen, parents are working to collect €600,000. They then hope to receive recognition and subsidies from the government of Flanders.

This would be the region’s first such school; Brussels has one Islamic school.

Mechelen education alderman Marc Hendrickx said: “This is segregation, while the city wants to work on a common future for all Mechelaars.” \ AF

\9

\ lIVING

Week in actiVities Babelut Festival

A music, theatre and arts festival for babies and toddlers. Each workshop and performance is geared towards a specific age group. 5-7 June, Dommelhof Provincial Park, Toekomstlaan 5, Neerpelt (Limburg); €4 \ babelutfestival.be

Voxtra A cross-cultural performance of international folk songs: iso-polyphony from Albania, rurale canta e tenore from Sardinia, Bekostyle from southern Madagascar, runic songs and joik from Finland and storytelling songs from Belgium. 6 June, 20.00, Muziekpublique, Molière, Naamsepoortgalerij, Bolwerksquare 3, Brussels; €14 \ muziekpublique.be

scherpenheuvel walk Choose from seven routes between five and 30 kilometres and discover all the beauty and history of this ancient pilgrimage site, including the 17th-century basilica of Our Lady, the oldest domed church in the Low Countries. 6 June, 7.0015.00, Den Egger Community Centre, August Nihoulstraat 74, Scherpenheuvel (Flemish Brabant); €1,50 \ degrashoppers.be

Velt Eco-Garden Days More than 150 organic gardens in Flanders and the Netherlands open their doors to the public over the weekend. Get inspiration and tips for your own garden, ask questions and learn about environmentally friendly gardening methods. 6-7 June, various locations; free

It takes two to city-trip

urban race brings all-female, no-prisoners concept to Brussels katrien lindemans More articles by katrien \ flanderstoday.eu

S

even hundred women, 25 challenges, eight hours and one city – those in a nutshell are the quintessential ingredients of Pop in the City, the urban race that sends female duos into cities for a day of unconventional exploring.

“We like to call it experimental tourism,” says Clementine Charles, one of three French co-founders of Pop in the City. “We’ve all travelled a lot and found it difficult to interact with locals or do stuff that’s off the beaten tourist track. Pop in the City allows all participants to discover a city in a different way.”

This September, Pop in the City and the attendant participants will land in Brussels. The upcoming race will mark both the ninth edition of the event and the first time it will take place in a capital. “Brussels is a very interesting city; it’s the capital of Europe, yet relatively unknown,” Charles says.

“It’s easily accessible, too, which is important as the contestants are responsible for their own travel arrangements to the event.”

While you might prefer to stroll casually through a city’s historic centre, time is money in Pop in the City. It is a race – technically at least.

Participants typically gather at 9.00, don the event’s bright orange T-shirts and receive a roadmap with 25 riddles that lead to locations where they can discover or experience something new.

“There’s no particular order in following the map, and they can ask locals for help,” explains Charles. “The duo that finishes the most challenges wins.”

It can sound a bit daunting in print.

“We do want to surprise people

© Courtesy Pop in the City

Pop in the City participants in Porto. The race combines quirky sightseeing with thrill-seeking adventures

– in a good way,” Charles laughs.

“That’s why we ask women to register in pairs, because together they feel less timid. The teams help and even befriend each other, so there’s not really a competitive vibe.”

Some 270 women signed up for the first-ever edition of Pop in the City in Porto back in 2012. The winners were treated to a helicopter tour over the city. “We always link the challenges and the prize to the city,” Charles explains and reveals that one challenge in the Brussels’ edition will involve chocolate and another a death ride from the Atomium.

Though it is still months away, tickets to the Brussels race on 26 September have already sold out.

The organisers reserved one-third of them for Belgian duos; the other tickets were bought by women from France, Switzerland, Italy, England and even the US. Marlène Coornaert, from Brussels, is one of those lucky ticketholders.

“It will be my third time in Pop in the City,” she says. “I was intrigued by the event after watching the video from a previous edition on Facebook and convinced my friend to join me in the race in Aixen-Provence in 2013. Last year, I

participated in Nice as well.”

At €195 per person, the tickets don’t come cheap (the price covers the cost of the race and a dinner).

“The event is meticulously organised, and some of the challenges are just priceless,” Coornaert says.

“In Aix-en-Provence, we got to extinguish a fire with the local fire brigade. The evening dinner was at their station as well; it was such a great experience.”

Organisers are still looking for volunteers who can lend a helping hand on the day, and that’s open to both women and men.

\ www.velt.nu/ecotuindagen

kuurne art market On Saturday, traditional craft demonstrations including basket weaving, blacksmithing, woodcarving, lampwork, etc. On Sunday, an arts fair with contemporary works. Flea market and entertainment on both days. 6-7 June, Kuurne city centre (West Flanders); free \ artmarktkuurne.be

Open Churches Days Explore the religious heritage of Belgium as nearly 500 churches open their doors to the public over two days.

Some churches offer guided tours, concerts and other activities. 6-7 June, across Belgium; free \ openchurches.be

\ 10

bite Bioweek reflects diversity of flemish organic food market What do a producer of goat’s cheese, a chocolatier, a coffee roaster and a fruit farmer have in common? They are four of the eight faces of this year’s Bioweek. Their diversity is a reflection of Flanders’ organic food market, but their passion for organic binds them together.

Ever wanted to learn about organic farming, other than the fact that it produces distinctively tastier products? This Bioweek is a record edition, offering more than 150 interesting and educational activities scattered across Flanders, from biotech labs to organic food stores, and every stop in-between.

The slogan of the campaign, “with organic, I’m investing in our future”, was not chosen at random. Organic food provides an answer to numerous social challenges: the state of our soils, global warming, access to food, fair prices for farmers, etc. The nine-day Bioweek is the ideal time to learn more about the sector and what it can do to ensure a brighter future for all of us.

© Courtesy Bioweek

The selection of activities is varied: open farm days, a behind-the-scenes look at an organic supermarket, numerous guided tours and even an introduction to the organic certification process.

For those looking to get outdoors, Bioweek offers more original tips for a fun (and educational) day out: a brunch or a picnic, organic gardening demonstrations, children’s entertainment, relaxing bike rides to organic farms and plenty of cook-

BiowEEk.BE

ing demonstrations and workshops.

A few stand-out Bioweek events include a guided tasting tour with Pieter Coopmans, who farms cattleatHerkenrodeAbbey inLimburg;apersonal tour with Jean-Pierre, owner of De Wriemeling, an pioneering organic farm in Veltem-Beisem, Flemish Brabant, which has been producing organic vegetables for 30 years; and the chance to meet Renaat Devreese of goat farm ’t Reigersh in the coastal city of De Haan, who explains the process of making organic goat’s cheese, starting with the optimal care of the goats.

And naturally, just about every organic food shop and supermarket selling organic will take part in Bioweek as well, with tastings, promotional activities and contests. \ Robyn Boyle

6-14 june Across Flanders

junE 3, 2015

Sport in the city

Week in arts & cUltUre Hof Van Cleve falls off top 50 list

Brussels youth give up vices and spread street workout gospel débora votquenne More articles by Débora \ flanderstoday.eu

wolfsBar.BE

T

hey call themselves Wolves, and they look like they can lift a car with one hand.

Feeling a little intimidated? No need to.

Junior, Malik, Manzul, Marvin, Thibaut and Federico are the founding members of the Wolf ’s Bar crew, and they’re all adherents of a new sport called street workout, which celebrates healthy, strong bodies.

Street workout is a natural sport, Manzul Akhmedov tells me. He’s from the Brussels district of Molenbeek and, together with his brother, he took up the sport 18 months ago. “The only things that you need are your own body weight and some type of steel bars, which you can find at different spots in the city once you start looking for them,” he says. “Street workout is a bit like working out at the gym, but without the machines.”

In other words, the men use only their bodies as a weight to train with. The result is an iron-hard body mass that they use to perform gravity-defying tricks out in open in Brussels parks.

Until two years ago, street workout was unheard of in Brussels, explains Akhmedov, 20. “The origins of street workout are in the former Soviet states, but no-one had heard about it until the Americans picked it up. And the internet did the rest.”

Known and practiced only by a dozen locals, the sport still has a lot of catching up to do here. The guys insist that it offers a healthy alternative to young people who might otherwise just hang out in the streets.

Akhmedov gives the example of a time he went to a local park to work out. He had his earphones in and was engrossed in his routine, until he noticed a couple of guys sitting on a bench nearby, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. “They watched me, but we didn’t talk,” he recounts. “But when I went back to the park later on, I saw them doing street workout themselves. That was so cool.”

For Akhmedov, street workout is a sport for everyone. “Anyone can pick it up,” he says. “It costs

Groeningemuseum strengthens Neoclassical collection

© Mark Gysens

street workout offers a fun, cheap alternative to fitness clubs

nothing, it’s cool, and it’s healthy. What more do you want?”

More training spots, apparently. Brussels lacks places that lend themselves to street workout sessions. “Right now, we work out in a park in Jette, but we need more places dedicated to street workout,” Akhmedov explains. “It’s basically like playgrounds, but instead of swings, we need bars.”

So a while back, he began knocking on doors to ask local officials to create dedicated spots.

At first, he was told they wouldn’t be able to do anything before 2016 – but that was too long to wait for him and his friends. “So I insisted, and not without success,” he says. “Elsene will start building a workout park in a couple of weeks, and Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe and Molenbeek

will follow soon.”

Akhmedov and his friends follow a gruelling schedule, training up to six times a week. “You have to earn your firm body through disciplined training and healthy living,” he says, pointing out that the street workout ethos prohibits protein supplements, cigarettes and alcohol.

Taken together, street workout almost sounds too good to be true. These young men eat fruit, steer clear of smoking and treat their bodies like temples. Wouldn’t that make any mother’s heart sing?

Er… until you see the clip in which Akhmedov and his gang somersault their way over Brussels’ metro tracks. As the caption below the video warns: Don’t try this at home.

Brussels festival practises DIY approach

diyday.BE

Make your own soup, paint a building, try out a 3D printer: DIY Day isn’t your average summer festival. For one day each year, the folks at MicroMarché in Brussels’ Sint-Katelijne district invite the community to come together and discover the value of doing it yourself.

The event is the brainchild of Ben de Melker from Brussels, who also runs MicroMarché, a creative hub that’s hard to classify. It’s home to varied social, cultural and artistic organisations, it holds hands-on workshops, it’s a co-working space, and it hosts world music concerts in its courtyard bar.

The volunteer-run DIY Day festival gathers all these strands together.

Now in its fifth edition, it will focus on five themes – society, culture, ecology, alternative economy and technology.

“I’ve been organising events for the last 10 years,” says de Melker, “but before it was purely for commercial events. Then I went travelling for two years and decided I wanted to try to find something that was

more accessible to everybody – a free festival for the community.”

During those travels, he spent a lot of time working on farms. “There was all this sharing of skills, and learning of new skills,” he says, “and I realised I’d like to do something like that here.”

So he put his head together with some friends and his brother, and DIY Day was born. “The group of volunteers has changed over the years,” he explains. “It’s kind of an organic movement. Some people stepped out and others chipped in, helping out one year, then wanting to invest more of their time and energy the next.”

The motif throughout the festival is one of community, of sharing, learning and rejecting waste.

Under the social umbrella, you’ll find kids’ entertainment, music, live painting, street theatre and circus workshops, as well as activities with a wider impact.

“There’s an organisation of friends of ours that tries to make a link between people who have a handicap and people who don’t,” says de

After tumbling 20 places down the list last year, the Kruishoutem restaurant Hof Van Cleve has now fallen entirely out of the top 50 list of the World’s Best Restaurants, published annually by Britain’s Restaurant magazine. It is the first time that Hof Van Cleve, headed by chef Peter Goossens, has not made the top 50 list. It does appear on the total list of 100, coming in at 54. Last year, it placed 45.

“The most important rankings are still the Michelin and Gault-Millau guides,” said Goossens in response. “The 50 best is a list like many other lists, and we have to put it into perspective.” The Bruges restaurant Hertog Jan, meanwhile, came in 53 on the list, climbing from 65 last year.

Melker. “They’ll be doing a workshop that’s accessible for everyone, and they’ll be making a communal artwork that anyone can join in with.”

Ecology is covered by outdoor sessions on compost and natural paints, as well as a chance to talk to producers of organic fruit and veggie baskets and artisan beer.

Sustainability is also a priority.

“We avoid electricity at the festival,” says de Melker. “We have some where the bar is, and for certain artists, but otherwise we avoid activities that need electricity. It’s the same with water; we’re trying to avoid using too many resources.”

You will find electricity, for instance, at the MicroFactory, fitted out with 3D printers and a laser cutter, plus interactive installations. A lot of what you’ll see here is handmade: junk repurposed and given a new lease of life.

“It’s all about the consciousness of these things,” explains de Melker.

6 june

Bruges’ Groeningemuseum has purchased a painting by turn-of-the 19th century Belgian artist Joseph Denis Odevaere at an auction in New York. The painting depicts the beautiful young hunter Narcissus, who, according to Greek mythology, falls in love with his own image and turns into a yellow flower. The piece was one of five paintings that Odevaere exhibited in 1820 at the Ghent Salon. Hanging in the same room as the Odevaere is another painting new to the museum, on permanent loan: “Portrait of Théodore Joseph Jonet and His Two Daughters” is by 19th-century Belgian artist François-Joseph Navez. The paintings, said the museum in a statement, “strengthen our important collection of Neoclassical art”.

Concertgebouw, Vooruit official Flemish Cultural Institutions

“Reusing, swapping and, when something breaks, realising that you don’t have to throw it away.

You can repair it, you can have fun while doing it, you can learn a skill, you can save money.”

The festival is a collaboration between MicroMarché and Bronks theatre, and events will be held in the two venues, in the Sint-Katelijne square and in the park on Steenkoolkaai. \ Sally Tipper

MicroMarché

Steenkoolkaai, Brussels

The Bruges Concertgebouw and the Vooruit cultural centre in Ghent have been awarded the status of Flemish Cultural Institutions, minister Sven Gatz announced.

The two venues join deSingel, Ancienne Belgique, Kunsthuis (home of Opera Vlaanderen and the Royal Ballet), Brussels Philharmonic and de Filharmonie as official ambassadors of Flemish artistic development, presentation and participation. The two additions, Gatz said, also ensure a more balanced geographical spread: the existing institutions are concentrated in Antwerp and in Brussels.

\ 11

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• Flex: your ticket is fully changeable and refundable with no additional fees.

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Best of Belgium plus expat Directory 2015

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junE 3, 2015

Marble paints 1,000 words

flemish artist Pieter vermeersch explores the metaphysical aspects of time and space christophe verbiest More articles by Christophe \ flanderstoday.eu

galEriEgrEtamEErt.com

A

rchaeologist or architect, that was what Pieter Vermeersch wanted to become when was younger.

Sure, the Kortrijk native drew and painted a lot and was quite talented at both, but this was nothing exceptional in the Vermeersch home since his grandfather and parents were all artists.

But when he was 15, he suddenly saw the light. He decided he would dedicate his life to art (as his brothers later did). “I still don’t know why. Not that our parents pushed me or one of my siblings in that direction,” the artist tells me from his home on the outskirts of Brussels, which doubles as a small gallery space.

Vermeersch (pictured) has a new and very intriguing exhibition at Galerie Greta Meert in Brussels.

Though all the works are brand new, the show offers a perfect summary of the art Vermeersch, now 42, has been creating over the past 15 years and illustrates the two main strands of his artistic practice: colour field paintings, for lack of a better word, and colourgraded installations.

Also included is a new type of work that he plans to explore more over the next few years: marble blocks with a few touches of paint, hanging from the walls like canvasses.

“Aesthetically these marble works might not seem linked to my paintings, but they, too, spring from my fascination with the metaphysical aspects of time and space,” he explains. “The marble is a heavy condensation of centuries’ worth of history.”

The basis of all his paintings, Vermeersch confesses, are photographs. Yet the most recent in which I can discern any tangible link to the surrounding world are more than 15 years old.

That’s because he relies on a database of photos he shot himself, the artist explains. “I compose those pictures in such a way that there is no reference to what’s on the photo or where it was taken,” he says. “So you’re only left with a notion of space that’s been created by the play of light and shadow.”

The photos are manipulated, he continues, “the colours changed around, and I end up with images that I copy, almost mechanically, in oil paint on a canvas,” he says.

“I realise that the photographic elements aren’t visible anymore, but, for me, they’re highly realistic paintings. I could never make them without a photo I can start from.”

Looking back, he says, he has worked from photos from the moment he started painting, even as a young boy.

Vermeersch’s art has typically been described as abstract, and he understands and is fine with the classification. “Once a painting is what I want it to be, it’s finished for me,” he says. “It has a life outside my studio, and I don’t want to influence that.”

Vermeersch’s artistic process is already finished when he picks up a brush, he says. “Making the painting is a craft. Of course, I want to master it as well as I can, but it’s not creative.”

Explaining that he uses a technique in which he adds paint to a layer that hasn’t dried yet, he says: “Since I make them wet-on-wet, I have to finish them in one day.

That day, I’m not a painter but a printer.”

The process that preceded the more recent marble works also on view was very different from that for the canvasses. “With the marble works, there’s no preconceived idea,” he says. “I go back and forth, put some paint on the marble, remove it, start over again, wait a few days to see if I still have to add something, etc. It’s a highly intensive process, sometimes even a duel. It’s very liberating. And I love the balance between both practices.”

One decision does precede the act of painting on the marble – the choice of the stone. “The marble needs to have a pictorial quality that still allows me to add

some information. I’m looking for complex marble – a complexity that reflects all the time that has passed to form that stone. Sometimes you can even see drama in it.

They’re usually pieces that people who are looking for marble for home decor are less interested in.”

On the ground floor of the gallery is a Vermeersch installation that consists of a rough-looking wall and two building walls covered

until 4 july

with a blue colour gradient.

This type of installation represents a third aspect of Vermeersch’s oeuvre. “These wall paintings are not related to a pre-existing image.

They’re a visual element that manipulates the space in which they are placed.”

All in all, the show makes for a wondrous world, courtesy of an artist still too little-known in his own country.

Galerie Greta Meert Vaartstraat 12, Brussels

More VisUal arts this Month un-scene iii

century. The 10 artists selected for this bi-annual incentive prize generally are already a bit more known that the ones featured in Un-Scene III, but you can still expect to make new discoveries. The 2013 edition for instance introduced us to the amazing Jasper Rigolle. Still, sometimes the jury really gets it wrong. In 2007, the year Pieter Vermeersch, Sarah Vanagt, Koenraad Dedobbeleer and Virginie Bailly were all featured in the show, the jury decided not to give out a first prize. Let’s hope this year’s jury won’t be as confused. 24 June to 13 September, Bozar, Brussels

For the third time, Brussels contemporary art centre Wiels is bringing together young Belgian or Belgium-based artists in its Un-Scene group exhibition. Their names might sound unfamiliar, but don’t let that deter you. The previous two editions spotlighted several artists who later had solo exhibitions, while one – Vincent Meessen – was even chosen as the main artist for the Belgian pavilion at the Venice Biennale. 30 May to 9 August, Wiels, Brussels \ www.wiels.org

\ youngbelgianartprize.com

young Belgian art Prize Another exhibition that focuses on young artists with ties to Belgium, this show has a history that goes back more than half a

lili dujourie Courtesy the artist, photo by Hugard & VanoverscheldeFacebook

Un-scene III: Julien Meert, Untitled, 2014

dame of Belgian art, will be honoured with a retrospective that suits an artist of her stature. Contemporary art museum SMAK in Ghent and the modern and contemporary art museum Mu.ZEE in Ostend will both host Folds in Time – that’s how big this exhibition is. The show presents an exhaustive overview of Dujourie’s work, which is extremely broad in scope, with works in marble, lead, papier-mâché, steel, ceramic and velvet that all try to bridge the gap between sculpture and painting. Moreover, she’s responsible for some of the most innovative video art made in the 1970s. 6 June to 4 October at SMAK, Ghent, and Mu.ZEE, Ostend \ smak.be

This summer, Lili Dujourie, the grand

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\ ARTs

Dancing from the heart

antwerp dancer malik mohammed wins talent show and hearts after a long struggle linda a thompson Follow linda @ThompsonBXl \ flanderstoday.eu

vtm.BE/sytycd

Kenyan-born Antwerpenaar Malik Mohammed took the crown in the latest series of VTM’s So You Think You Can Dance, performing from the heart and giving viewers an insight into the journey that brought him here.

W

hile his contestants tended to stick to the genres they knew insideout, Malik Mohammed dabbled in different styles, wardrobes and eras in his 30-second solos on the most recent season of the TV competition show So You Think You Can Dance.

There was some throwback ’90s hip-hop, an electrifying hotchpotch African routine, a funky Michael Jackson homage and a more contemporary piece that moved one judge to tears.

At times, it felt like the young Antwerpenaar needn’t have bothered. He likely could have made do with a simple twostep, and the audience, the judges and half a million Flemish viewers would have still loved it.

“No matter what song, no matter what style he’s doing, he just lights up the stage, and I don’t think anyone on the show has had that as much as he does,” says Dan Karaty, who joined the show’s judging panel in 2009.

“When you say somebody dances from their heart, from their soul, he has that. He has that ability to just feel the music and make you as a viewer feel it, too.”

Those communicative powers helped win the hip-hop dancer the sixth season of the Flemish-Dutch reality show and a prize package that includes €25,000 and a dance training of his choice.

“This is just who I am,” says Mohammed, still nominally a student in AP University College’s sports-teacher training programme. “I always walk around very happy, and I think that’s just what you see in my dance.”

One of the longest-running talent shows on Flemish television, So You Think pairs dancers of wildly different backgrounds and gives them a week to master short choreographies across a spectrum of styles – from ballroom to Bollywood – to be performed during live shows. At the end of each episode, the dancer with the fewest audience votes is sent home.

The past 13 weeks have centred on the dancers, their personalities and backgrounds to an extent that none of the previous seasons did. And Flemish viewers fell hard for the Mohammed they got to know better with each episode, hearing more about the grievances behind his million-dollar smile.

Born in Nairobi, Mohammed lived with various relatives as a child because his mother wasunabletotakecareofhimfull-time.When he was eight, they moved to Belgium after his mother fell in love with a Belgian, who died from heart problems when Mohammed was 17. He was never close to his biological father, who still lives in Kenya, and they only speak on the phone every couple of years.

Mohammed, 22, who is easy-going in person and exudes a quiet, confident calm, says he didn’t plan to tell Flanders all about his childhood. “At first, I hesitated,” he says during an interview at the VTM studios in Vilvoorde. “I didn’t want there to be a sort of compassion,

\ 14

Malik Mohammed, whose ability to move people through his performances helped him win VTM’s so you Think you Can Dance

or that it would be something that would help me make it to the next episode of the show. I wanted to get there purely by virtue of my dance skills.”

But he did a 180 as the live show progressed and other candidates began making sobering on-camera confessions about absent fathers, broken homes, terminally ill relatives and feelings of not belonging.

him to thrive and how difficult it was when he and his mother arrived here, speaking English and Swahili. But he dismisses the suggestion that he doesn’t want to talk about racism.

“I just look at it differently,” he says, pointing out that he chooses not to dwell on the topic – in interviews and in life. “I still experience it sometimes, and it is what it is. I leave

He has that ability to just feel the music and make you as a viewer feel it, too “I kind of also wanted people to know who I am and what I stand for,” he says. Explaining that he was worried spectators wouldn’t understand his solos if he kept mum on his past, he says: “It wasn’t just executing steps; it was really my story.”

No solo encapsulated his story better than the one he delivered in the final episode. In a sober, modern-inflected performance to a bare-bones violin and piano song, he repeatedly tried to make his way to the front of the stage, his arm stretched out and upward in a grabbing motion. No matter whether he calmly walked, lunged forward or bided his time, on each attempt, his hand, his arm, his body violently flailed back, jolted by an invisible force. Until, finally, he reached the edge of the stage, looked down and jumped off it.

In interviews, Mohammed has tiptoed around who or what the obstacles were that got between him and his ambitions. He has talked vaguely about people who didn’t want

it at that, and I’m going to continue doing my thing.”

After Mohammed and his mother emigrated from Kenya, they settled in Boom, a sleepy, migrant Antwerp municipality of 17,000 people. He stumbled his way through high school and graduated with a degree as a CNC (computer numerical control) machine operator from the professional stream of PTS Boom. “I can’t even remember what CNC stands for,” he says, “That’s how interested I was.”

His real passion was football, and he spent every free period on the pitch of third division club K Rupel Boom, where he played as an attacker for six years, determined to one day play professionally. But when Sihame El Kaouakibi, his best friend’s sister, founded the Let’s Go Urban dance school in Antwerp, he started skipping football practice for dance rehearsal and ultimately shelved that early dream.

He was 17, and soon, he confesses, dancing was the first thing he thought about when he woke up in the morning, and the last thing he thought about when he went to sleep at night. He took countless lessons at Let’s Go Urban and eventually started teaching hiphop and house dance classes there and at another Antwerp dance school. In later years, he performed at Night of the Proms and the Flemish Opera as part of large, glossy Let’s Go Urban productions.

At the same time, he paid his dues in the underground battle scene, with the all-male dance crew Young Kingz he founded with eight other Let’s Go Urban alumni two years ago. Together with Youssef, he made it to the semi-finals of Juste Debout, one of the world’s biggest street dance competitions, in the house dance category in 2013.

True to his stubborn personality, Mohammed had tried to get on So You Think twice before, though he never made it past the pre-selection phase. After he recovered from two operations to fix a torn meniscus and ligaments (both sustained while dancing), he started plotting his third bid.

“I really want to live off dance, and I know that it’s by being seen that you can open certain doors,” he says. “That’s what I was really looking for – meeting people, finding certain paths, getting opportunities.”

“Malik is a lion. He’s the kind of person who, from the moment they set their teeth into something, they won’t let go,” says his friend Youssef El Kaouakibi, who’s known him since he was eight and is himself an accomplished house dancer. “He was already very professional and disciplined but So You Think gave him that extra push that proved he could push himself even further.”

\ AGENDA

junE 3, 2015

Project Runway, eat your heart out

concert

SHOW2015 12-13 june

Antwerp

antwErP-fasHion.BE

A

ntwerp Royal Academy’s annual catwalk show is the highlight of the year for its fashion department students, who get to present the designs they have been working on for months to both the jury and an audience of family, friends and fashion enthusiasts.

But the event is just as thrilling for the spectators, since they bear witness to the emergence of new talent. The alumni of today may well become the great designers of tomorrow, and success stories are manifold in the history of Antwerp’s world-renowned fashion school.

Apart from the usual excitement, there is an extra reason to attend the catwalk extravaganza this year. After a lengthy residence in a big industrial venue along the river, the style circus is moving to a half-open hangar

in Park Spoord Noord, the city’s newest and most popular park.

“With the new location we want to inject the show with an extra dose of energy,” says Flemish designer Walter Van Beirendonck, head of the fashion department.

Another novelty this year is PARCOURS, an installation route that runs through the city and offers visitors a closer glance at pieces from the collections of this year’s final-year students. Each installation is built around a theme and combines video or photography with looks from the collection.

The tours start at the Academy on 13 and 14 June and are guided by experts from the city fashion museum, MoMu. A unique opportunity to look up the skirts of 2015’s batch of talent. \ Catherine Kosters

coMedy

VisUal arts

stephen k amos

the welfare state

3-5 june, 20.00 FFACT (Fun, Food and Acting) is an expat-oriented initiative of Brussels’ TTO Theatre that combines English-language theatre and comedy with audience participation and general conviviality. The final FFACT event of the season on 4 June is a stand-up set by British comedian Stephen K Amos, who is currently introducing himself to

Mechelen, Brussels, Antwerp ffact.BE

Europe after sell-out tours in the UK and Australia. Amos’ brand of feel-good, observational humour has endeared himself to audiences tired of the cynicism that often accompanies stand-up comedy.

His three-night stand in Belgium also includes dates in Mechelen (3 June) and Antwerp (5 June).

\ Georgio Valentino

filM Brussels film festival 5-12 june Every year the Brussels Film Festival celebrates European cinema with an extensive programme of screenings, debates, workshops and other special events. The 13th edition sees some 70 films from 15 countries compete for prizes, including the coveted Golden Iris. Entries include Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska’s surreal medical thriller Body (pictured) and Swiss filmmaker Stina Werenfels’ family drama Dora or the Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents. The festival also revisits cinematic classics like Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi head-scratcher 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is accompanied here by an original soundtrack performed live by Belgian rock group Zone Libre. \ GV

Olly Murs: The British singersongwriter, who was introduced to the public on the TV show The X Factor in 2009 and has since toured with One Direction and Robbie Williams, launching his career with hits like “Please Don’t Let Me Go”, “Heart Skips A Beat” and “Dance With Me Tonight”.

7 June 19.00, Lotto Arena, Schijnpoort 119

Parkloods, Antwerp

Flagey, Brussels BrussElsfilmfEstival.BE

until 27 september Antwerp’s Museum of Contemporary Art explores the relationship between post-war Europe’s political structure – the welfare state – and its artistic Zeitgeist – the postmodern avant-garde. On the surface, the bureaucratic ethos of the former has nothing to do with the libertarian spirit of the latter.

But this multimedia exhibition,

\ greenhousetalent.be

Brussels

Mary J Blige: One of the world’s most successful modern R&B singers, aka the “urban queen of hip-hop soul”, performs an intimate (by her standards) concert. 28 June 20.00, Ancienne Belgique, Anspachlaan 110 \ abconcerts.be

PerforMance Brussels M HkA, Antwerp muHka.BE

which combines archival documents as well as works by several 20th-century artists from around the world (including Antwerp’s own Anne-Mie Van Kerckhove), proves there’s more than meets the eye. Both of these paradoxical forms expressed modernity in all its utopianism and all its cynicism. \ GV

\ thelittleboxoffice.com/bss

Market schellebelle (East Flanders)

\ tinyurl.com/potjesmarkt2015

cultural festival of tibet Tibet’s struggle for independence from Chinese imperialism became a cause célèbre in the 1990s, thanks to the advocacy of American pop stars like the Beastie Boys. The issue has since disappeared from headlines, but NGOs continue to work on behalf of Tibet. Brussels’ Zangdok Palri organises an annual cultural festival in solidarity with

As You Like It: The Brussels Shakespeare Society performs the ever-popular pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare, this time set in the 1920s, directed by Tim Myers (in English). 8-13 June 20.00 (13 June also at 14.30), Petit Varia Theatre, Graystraat 154

Potjesmarkt 2015: Traditional potjes (little pots) market, referring to a time when Schellebelle was known for its handmade earthenware pots, still sold every year on this day, followed by the village’s annual market starting on Monday. 5-9 June, Dorpsplein

festiVal 7 june, 11.00

get tic kets n ow

Georges Henripark, Brussels ZangdokPalri.nEt

the Tibetans. This day-long celebration boasts loads of traditional song and dance, an artisanal market with fair-trade products from the region, an introduction to Buddhism and, of course, authentic Tibetan cuisine. Festivities unfold in the open air and in a real yak-wool yurt. Entry is free. \ GV

festiVal Brussels International Folklore Festival: Annual festival featuring music and dance by ensembles from Croatia, Russia, Swaziland and Panama. 7-10 June 15.00 & 20.00, Festival Hall, Koning Albertlaan 33 \ info-zomaar.com

food&drink Brussels Week-end à la Française: Second edition of the market dedicated to all things French, including gastronomy, wine, hobbies, decor, tourism, lifestyle, gifts and more.

6-7 June 11.00-20.00, Guy d’Arezzoplein (Ukkel) \ weekendalafrancaise.be

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\ BACkPAGE

junE 3, 2015

Talking Dutch How does your garden grow?

In response to: Brussels Airport downed by power cut, 23,000 passengers stranded Sharman Tait Disconcerting information. Hope it gets resolved soon!!

derek Blyth More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu

I

was standing in my garden one evening feeling quite satisfied with my efforts. I’d been following the government’s instructions for sustainable living right down to the last detail. I’d planted flowers to attract insects. I’d created a frog playground. I’d even built a bijenhotel – a bee hotel. Not, I have to admit, a luxury bee hotel. More an Air Bee & Bee, if you get my meaning.

But there was one thing still to do, according to the local environmental organisation. I had to compost.

Here’s what they advised in the home composting leaflet they were handing out at the Sunday market. Zet uw compostbak niet te ver van uw huis, zodat u niet de hele tuin door moet – Don’t place your compost bin too far from the house, or you’ll have to walk across the whole garden. Good point, although our garden is hardly Versailles.

Laat ook wat ruimte rond de compostbak – Leave some space around the compost bin, zodat u nog makkelijk kunt bewegen met spade, hark en emmer – so you can move around easily with a spade, rake and bucket. Done.

Plaats een plastic bakje in de keuken, met een deksel, om uw keukenafval tijdelijk in op te slaan – Place a plastic container in the kitchen, with a lid, as a temporary storage solution for your kitchen waste.

I annoyed my wife at this stage in the urban composting project by using a Tupperware box that was meant for her lunch. She angrily tipped the orange and potato peelings into the rubbish bin. So much for saving the polar bears.

You do have to be very careful about what you compost, the leaflet warned. You can toss in eierschalen – eggshells, theezakjes – tea bags and grasmaaisel – grass mowings. But the compost bin is not the proper place

CONNECT WITH US

In response to: Test-Aankoop files Belgium’s first-ever class action suit – against NMBS Anna Drozd At last! Someone’s right to strike cannot affect my freedom and various different rights.

© Ingimage

for blikken – tin cans, mosselschelpen – mussel shells, or stof (uit de stofzuiger) – dust ( from the vacuum cleaner).

I stuck the list on the fridge door so that all members of the household were fully informed of the rules. But I still occasionally find something forbidden lurking among the mouldering mulch, including visgraten – fish bones, and even broodresten – stale bread.

Now comes the scary part. Een heel leger van organismen gaat aan de slag om uw afval te verwerken tot compost – An army of organisms will go to work converting your waste into compost. Bacteriën, schimmels, compostwormen, pissebedden en zelfs naaktslakken – Bacteria, mould, compost worms, woodlice and even slugs.

They weren’t kidding. The compost bin was soon crawling with all sorts of bugs and fleas. Na 6 tot 12 maanden is de compost rijp! – After six to 12 months, the compost is ready.

I like to poke around in the evening to see how it’s doing.

And to remove any unwanted tin cans that may have been deposited.

Tweet us your thoughts @FlandersToday

Poll

a. Totally. A round-trip to Paris for €14 is worth putting up with a longer travel time

20% b. I might use it for a short hop to Amsterdam, but not for destinations farther away

50% c. Nope. High-speed trains are more environmentally friendly and not that much more expensive if you book in advance

30% shows a round-trip to Paris, leaving and returning on a weekday, costs €26, while the same trip to Amsterdam is a mere €19. If you play around with days and times, you can bring the cost down even further.

The low price is balanced, of course, against the possible discomfort.

Buses used to be, before Ryanair

\ next week's question:

came along, the most uncomfortable mode of transport, and that’s likely still the case.

Just how tolerable conditions are will determine whether people in numbers will decide the low price is worth it. For those who are good at thinking ahead, meanwhile, trains are now pretty competitive when booked well in advance.

Test-Aankoop is taking rail authority NMBS to court in a class-action suit for compensation for travel interruption due to strikes. What do you think?

Log on to the Flanders Today website at www.flanderstoday.eu and click on VOTE!

\ 16

Vytenis Andriukaitis @V_Andriukaitis Honoured to be part of #20kmbru - be unstoppable @EU_ Commission

Zayd Rehman @zaatarwazayd @qasim_saeed @AdilH6 I would have accepted "I’M LEUVIN’ IT" though

Jacob Whitesides @JacobWhitesides I HAD CHILLS ALL NIGHT AND IT WAS LIKE 90 DEGREES I FREAKING LOVE ANTWERP

MykeLikee @MykeLeTauris In Bruges, the roads are paved of cobblestones, mortar and me with beer in them.

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the last Word

do you plan to use flixbus’ new service from Brussels to amsterdam, Paris and other cities? is price more important than speed?

ThenewFlixbusserviceofferscheap travel out of Brussels by coach to Paris, Amsterdam and Cologne, and connections from Cologne on to other German cities. Not many of you seem enticed by the longer journey, although there are plenty of takers for Paris and Amsterdam – both about three hours one way.

A quick search on their website

Voices of flanders today

a question of taste

“I have no explanation. Nothing has changed at In de Wulf. In fact, the whole team has the feeling we’ve grown.”

Chef Kobe Desramaults’ Dranouter restaurant In de Wulf was dropped from Restaurant magazine’s prestigious top 100 best restaurants in the world, from 61st place last year

living large

“It’s difficult to defend a situation where criminals, who are already living in prison at the expense of the state, still get to enjoy their benefits.”

About 1,600 prisoners currently receiving disability benefits are to lose them while in prison, health minister Maggie De Block has decided

Head of the class

“I’d really like to give integration classes for newcomers. I’ve always thought that, and I mean it. I come from a family of teachers, and I think I have a talent for education.”

Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois on life after politics, in Het Nieuwsblad

not wanted on the voyage “It says a lot when people like Sepp Blatter and Marine Le Pen are welcomed with open arms by Putin, while those who support the democratic opposition are blacklisted.”

Former Belgian prime minister, now MEP, Guy Verhofstadt, has been declared persona non grata by the Russian government

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