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Crazy stages

Brussels introduces its longawaited pedestrian zone, which closes a huge swath of streets around the Beurs to traffic

How a farmer’s son from Haacht became the best builder of concert and festival stages in the world

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innovation \ p7

education \ p9

art & living \ p10

Colourful coils

Ghent-based artist Marthine Tayou’s Bozar exhibition starts surprising visitors as soon as they walk in the door \ 14

In a spin

© Courtesy ThromboGenics

Spin-offs are breathing new life into Flanders’ innovation scene Senne Starckx More articles by Senne \ flanderstoday.eu

For the past two years, Flanders’ innovation motor has been sputtering. But both the government and industry agree that the best way to revive it is to encourage the creation of spin-offs and enhance their chances of success via universities and research parks.

T

he EU member states often find a mirror held up to their faces when it comes to economic performance.

One of the European Commission’s favourite ways to do this is by using scoreboard statistics – comparisons between countries and regions that tell them what position they hold in the race to the top.

In the area of innovation, the Commission compiles a new scoreboard every two years. In the latest, covering 2014, the Innovation Union Scoreboard labelled Germany and Scandinavia the leading innovators in Europe. Flanders was in the second group, made up of what the Commission calls

“innovation followers”.

Although Flanders’ score is still way above the EU average, the report has a clear message for policymakers: Get to work.

Over the last two years, innovation has been slowing down in Flanders. That’s in sharp contrast with the situation in the first decade of the century, when innovation was rocketing; for years, Flanders was one of Europe’s leaders.

The remarks in the scoreboard report touch a sore point: while Flanders scores very well in both the quantity and quality of its international scientific publications, one of its weakest points is still the commercialisation of new innovations.

One of the most visible symptoms of this lack of commercialisation is the decline of start-up SMEs and venture capital projects over the last two years. This conclusion is even more painful knowing that Flanders has one of the strong-

est patent portfolios in Europe.

So what can help kick-start Flanders’ innovation motor?

“Although the number of start-up enterprises in Flanders has decreased lately, the number of spin-offs from universities and other strategic research centres has increased,” says Erik Tambuyzer, a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts.

“Spin-offs are a key element in innovation for a knowledgebased region such as Flanders,” he continues. “It’s not easy, however, to turn a spin-off company into a commercial success.”

Tambuyzer organised a high-level conference on the topic earlier this month in Brussels’ Palace of the Academies.

Participants and speakers discussed ways to stimulate and increase the success rate of spin-offs from knowledge centres – a collective term for universities, colleges and research institutes. continued on page 5

\ CURRENT AFFAIRS

Brussels pedestrian zone open The capital’s new city-centre car-free zone is the largest in Europe Alan Hope Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT

T

he face of Brussels’ city centre changed radically this week – for pedestrians, for users of public transport and, above all, for drivers. The new pedestrian zone made its debut on Monday. Said to be the biggest in Europe, it covers an area of about 50 hectares.

The biggest change will be for drivers in the Beurs area. Here is some handy info for figuring it all out.

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The car-free zone along Anspachlaan extends from De Brouckèreplein to Fontainasplein, on the other side of the Beurs. Traffic coming from the North Station direction is diverted via Arteveldestraat and Zespenningenstraat, Cellebroersstraat, Keizerlaan and Wolvengracht, all one-way, in a huge counter-clockwise loop. Traffic entering the

circulatieplan.be

Beurs area coming from the South Station end will join the loop at Bogaardenstraat to exit at Adolphe Maxlaan (one way) or Lakensestraat, which remains two-way.

• Traffic approaching the Beurs from the east, from the direction of Wetstraat and the European quarter, will come in on Kolonienstraat, while traffic from the west will enter via Gentsesteenweg and Dansaertstraat, or via Ninoofsesteenweg and the inner Ring Road.

• New bus service 86 will tour the traf-

fic loop around the pedestrian zone to help bring motorists back to their cars.

• The existing pedestrian zone around Grote

Markt remains as is. The new zone includes the central Anspachlaan and side streets, as

well as the section of Zuidstraat between Lombardstraat and Bogaardenstraat and between Steenstraat and Kolenmarkt.

• Extra cycle paths are provided in side

streets adjoining the pedestrian zone, including Vlaamsesteenweg, Dansaertstraat, Accolaystraat and Putterij.

• Buses 29, 47, 66, 71 and 88 continue to

terminate at De Brouckère but the stops have been relocated slightly. Lines 48 and 95 now terminate at Grote Markt, but will continue to serve Lombardstraat.

• People who live within the new pedestrian areas can get special badges to be able to drive and park in their streets.

Coast trams get free wi-fi

Police and psychiatrists found guilty in cell death of Jonathan Jacob A psychiatrist, the director of a psychiatric hospital and seven members of Antwerp’s police intervention squad have been found guilty in the case of the death of Jonathan Jacob in police custody in 2010.

The police were convicted of involuntary manslaughter, and the psychiatrists of criminal negligence. One police officer was acquitted, as was the commissioner of the police zone concerned.

Jacob was brought to a psychiatric hospital in Boechout, near Antwerp, in January 2010 in a severely agitated state. He was denied admission by the director and was taken to a police cell in Mortsel, where a doctor was called in to give him a sedative.

Jacob resisted and was set upon by several members of a special intervention squad, who wrestled the

26-year-old body-builder under the influence of amphetamines to the floor and knelt on him. He died soon after as a result of internal injuries.

The case was made public in 2013 when the VRT documentary series Koppen obtained an in-cell video of the event.

The psychiatrist and director of the hospital were each given six-month suspended sentences. The police officers each received four months suspended and a fine of €275. The eighth member of the squad was found not guilty, as he had only appeared on the scene after the assault had taken place.

None of the accused was present for the verdict, and none was represented by counsel. All are likely to appeal the sentences, which, as they were handed down in absentia, will lead to a retrial. \ AH

Ten trams on the coast route have been fitted with wi-fi to allow passengers to go online while traveling, public transport authority De Lijn has announced. Thirteen more will be added during the summer, so about one in three coast trams will have the service.

The wi-fi provided is free, but sites considered illegal, extremist or pornographic will be filtered out. Users have to log in to the system, which gives them a limit of 250 MB a month. De Lijn said it will look into providing pass holders with more.

“With summer around the corner, we wanted to provide users of the coast tram with an extra service,” said De Lijn CEO Roger Kesteloot. “It’s clear that people also want to be online when they’re on the road: seven out of 10 mobile phones sold are now smartphones.”

At the same time, Bruges and Kortrijk will see the introduction of 10 wi-fi buses between them. Later in the year, more wi-fi buses will come into service in Ostend and Roeselare.

Kesteloot also announced the start of the 29th annual Coast Tram Campaign. Visitors to one of 40 events or attractions this summer along the coast can take the tram for a special fare. The attractions include Fort Napoleon, Plopsaland, Sea Life and the Mercator sailing ship. \ AH

Jeanne Devos among first to receive Flemish Community Honour The government of Flanders has announced the names of the first recipients of the Flemish Community Honours. The awards were introduced last year and are given to people from all walks of life who have distinguished themselves in some way, or who “by their outstanding talents have contributed to a positive image of Flanders,” the government said.

The intention is to award the honours every year to a number of exceptional Flemings.

© Steven Fruitsmaak/Wikimedia Commons

This year’s honours go to retired journalist and commentator Manu Ruys; Sister Jeanne Devos (pictured), who has spent her life working among the poor in Mumbai; Mieke Van Hecke, former member of the Flemish parliament and former head of the Catholic schools network; Reinhilde Decleir, actor and member of the political theatre group Tutti Fratelli; Frank Cuyt, director of the Flemish Welfare Union; former Flemish minis-

€60 million of children in Flanders spent time in child-care facilities last year.

That’s 1.3% more than in 2013, continuing the trend of parents turning to professional day care instead of informal arrangements

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cost of renovation work on the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, to begin in 2018. The costs will be shared between the Flemish and French-speaking communities and the federal government

ter Wivina Demeester-De Meyer; Wilfried Vancraen, founder and CEO of 3D printing company Materialise; and Peter Van Eenoo, chair of the World Association of Anti-Doping Scientists.

The recipients will be given their awards during a ceremony in the Errerahuis in Brussels, the official residence of the Flemish minister-president, on 11 July, which is Flemish Community Day. \ AH

127 or one child in seven in Antwerp is born into a disadvantaged family, according to Kind & Gezin. Across Flanders the figure is 11.4%, or almost double the figure from 2001

foreign-based websites blocked by the government in 2014, compared to only 20 in 2013. Sites were blocked for reasons such as breach of copyright, illegal betting, extremist content or illegal pornography

of lorries inspected in Belgium showed serious safety faults involving headlights, brakes, chassis or tyres. Some of the 8,574 tested were so serious the vehicles were removed from the roads

july 1, 2015

WEEK in brief Leuven bartender Jan Vanden Plas has won the World Championship beer tapping competition, the third year in a row that someone from Leuven has won the title. Earlier this month, Vanden Plas of the Louvain Louvain cafe was crowned champion of the Belgian beer taps, allowing him to represent the country at the Stella Artois World Draught Masters in London last weekend. He beat 21 other candidates with a flawless execution of the Stella Artois nine-step pouring and serving ritual – from cleaning the glass to serving the beer at the table.

A member of Antwerp’s provincial council has filed a complaint with the federal interior ministry claiming irregularities in the construction of the One World bridge by Flemish artist Arne Quinze on the Tomorrowland festival site in Boom.

According to Kris Merckx, the cost of the project was kept artificially low so as to remain under the €5 million threshold at which, under European rules, public contracts have to be put out to tender. The actual cost turned out to be €6.65 million, Merckx said.

About half of the nearly 6,000 workers who were laid off when Ford Genk closed last December have still not found another job, according to the Flemish employment and training agency VDAB. Forty-three percent of them are over the age of 50. The former employees of suppliers are having more luck, partly because they are younger.

Only one in 10 of the over-50s has found new employment, and one in 20 of those over 55.

A crew of 300 is still working in the plant, dismantling the installations.

Federal police searched a farm in Gooik, Flemish Brabant, last week in connection with

face of flanders the disappearance of Stephen Shittu, a professional volleyball player who went missing in the area three years ago. Last month, the body of a 62-year-old Ninove man, who disappeared earlier this year, was found on one of the farm’s fields. The new search did not turn up any additional leads, police said.

The meat industry federation Febev has complained about a new campaign video by animal rights organisation Gaia that alleges gruesome mistreatment of horses in Argentina, later sold as meat in Belgium. The images in the clip are old and taken out of context, the federation said.

“Gaia demonstrates not the slightest iota of interest in actually reducing animal suffering,” said a Febev spokesperson.

“Gaia is only interested in using sensational images to solicit donations.”

Residents of municipalities in and just east of Brussels, including Sint-Pieters-Woluwe, Kraainem and WezembeekOppem, are taking air traffic control agency Belgocontrol to court claiming that the agency has failed to implement measures ordered by the state following an appeal court ruling on aircraft routes. They claim the increase in take-offs and landings has led to “a situation of intolerable noise nuisance”.

Government authorities in Brussels spend 35% more than the average for the rest of the country, according to a study carried out by Belfius bank. Authorities in the capital spend on average €3,895 per resident per year, compared to the national average of €2,882.

Belfius points to a high population density and high costs for education, security and social assistance as reasons. The cost of policing is also much higher: €303 per resident per year, twice

as much as the average for Flanders.

Ostend city council plans to employ students during the summer months to check up on people who have a second home in the city but fail to declare it. The students will compare the owners of properties against the city’s registers, and anyone who is not domiciled in Ostend will be asked to pay the tax.

Flemish mobility minister Ben Weyts has “an open mind” regarding opening up the market in vehicle inspection to competition. The proposal was made by motoring organisation VAB, based on a study that shows that Belgian motorists have mixed feelings about the current situation, with a majority finding inspections too expensive, too slow and sometimes even the cause of damage to the vehicle. Weyts had ordered a screening of inspection centres after taking office, which “showed there is room for improvement,” he said. “The value for money could certainly be higher.”

A Brussels centre for the support of sex offenders who have been released from prison could be on the brink of closure because of a 20% cut in subsidies. “If we don’t get the budget for this year that we are counting on – about €180,000 – we will have to let our four staff members go. That means that sex offenders who might have been released under strict conditions will instead have to remain in prison,” said the organisation’s vice-chair Francis Martens. The Antwerp centre UFC, which has the same role, said cuts meant its operations would be severely curtailed. A spokesperson for justice minister Koen Geens said he was in touch with the communities to look for additional funds.

OFFSIDE The plot thickens… again You know we’ve reached what in Dutch is called komkommertijd (in English: silly season) when the first story comes out about the missing panels from the brothers Van Eyck masterpiece “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb”.

The story concerns the “Righteous Judges” panel from the massive altarpiece. That panel and another were stolen from Ghent’s Sint-Baaf ’s cathedral on the night of 10 to 11 April 1934. One panel was soon recovered.

The “Righteous Judges” panel never was.

Last year historian Paul De Ridder claimed the panel was in the possession of a powerful Ghent family. That trail went cold.

Now comes the allegation, from former KBC board member Jan Bosselaers that the bank was involved in the 1980s in an

attempt to negotiate the return of the panel, on payment of a ransom of 20 million Belgian francs, or €500,000. The attempt was approved by the bank’s management committee, but the negotiating partner, who claimed to be in possession of the panel, pulled out unexpectedly.

The theft itself, more than 80 years ago, can no longer be prosecuted. “It’s not our aim to point the finger of guilt,” said a spokesperson for the Ghent prosecutor’s office. “We want to find the panel, an important part of our art heritage, and return it to the altarpiece.”

The prosecutor hopes that assurance might convince whoever is in possession of the panel to give it up, now that repercussions have been ruled out.

The fake online profile The danger of digital theft is one faced by all consumers, with gangs of hackers breaking into bank accounts and pilfering our credit card details. But for those in the public eye, there’s even more peril lurking online.

Last week saw two instances of social media identity theft with regards to BVs – bekende Vlamingen (well-known Flemings). In the case of federal health minister Maggie De Block, the motive appears to have been pure profit.

Someone – the police are investigating who – set up a fan page on Facebook and then proceeded to try to raise money using the fake endorsement of the fake minister.

The fraudster pretended to have set up a fund for people in financial straits; anyone who made contact was told they could get aid of between €5,000 and €30,000. All they had to do was take out an insurance policy...

“I’m not even on Facebook,” De Block said. “This is pure fraud.

I’d like to warn people not to be taken in by this sort of offer on Facebook. What’s especially bad

is that this con-artist is trying to mistreat people who are already having difficulties.” The police were alerted, and Facebook has taken down the page.

Flemish meteorologist Frank Deboosere has also experienced the problem of fake internet profiles. On Facebook and on Twitter, people pretending to be him have come and gone; the latest appeared last week and managed to collect 609 friends who think they’re dealing with the real weathercaster.

“609 people who have been cheated,” Deboosere said. In real life, like De Block, he does not maintain a Facebook account but is active on Twitter. In this case, nobody appears so far to have been cheated out of anything material. Nevertheless Deboosere is furious.

“This is theft of my digital identity,” he wrote on his website.

“My name is being abused.”

He advised anyone else in his situation to contact abuse@ facebook.com or abuse@twitter. com. \ Alan Hope

Flanders Today, a weekly English-language newspaper, is an initiative of the Flemish Region and is financially supported by the Flemish authorities.

The logo and the name Flanders Today belong to the Flemish Region (Benelux Beeldmerk nr 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 Mediahuis 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 Mediahuis NV A copy of the missing panel by restorer Jef Van der Veken

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

China to build stronger EU connections via Antwerp Contracts signed and Iron Rhine railway discussed at economic mission Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

A

ntwerp could be an important staging post in a new Silk Road, according to Chinese president Xi Jinping, speaking last week during a Belgian royal trade mission to China. According to Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois, who took part in the mission led by King Filip and Queen Mathilde, China is prepared to build new connections with Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The president’s remarks came during a state banquet and concerned the One Belt, One Road programme of economic expansion announced in 2013, which aims to create links between China’s industrial cities and trading centres in other parts of the world. Part of the network involves rail links along the old Silk Road route, as well as sea links with southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.

During the visit, Belgium submitted an application to join the new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which will finance the infrastructure works needed. Bourgeois described the Chinese plans as “fascinating” and drew attention to the importance of re-activating the Iron Rhine – the name given to the old railway connection between Antwerp and the Ruhr region of Germany.

© Yorick Jansens/BELGA

Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois pictured before a lunch with Chinese Investors in Beijing last week

Discussions about reviving the line have been going on between Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany for years without result.

Meanwhile, the Port of Antwerp and Shanghai Maritime

University put the finishing touches to a co-operation agreement with the signing of the document by port CEO Eddy Bruyninckx and university president Huang Youfang. Under the agreement, four Master’s students from Shanghai will receive the Port of Antwerp Maritime Award each year for a thesis on the development of port activities in connection with Antwerp.

“As a port, we invest not only in good commercial relations but also find it equally worthwhile to support future generations,” Bruyninckx said.

In other news from the mission, Brussels-based chocolatier Pierre Marcolini will open his first shop in China next year, after an agreement signed with the Chinese investor EverYI Capital. The products on sale will be made in Marcolini’s workshops in Brussels, which employ 60 people.

The Belgian customs and excise authorities, meanwhile, signed a declaration of intent with the Chinese investment company Xuanshu International and the Port of Zeebrugge to create the China Gateway: Zeebrugge Trade Zone, which will see the West Flanders port become an important port of entry to Europe for Chinese goods.

Flemish government “not yet informed” of stadium plans The government of Flanders had not been officially informed about the agreement announced last week by the Brussels-City council and the developers BAM/Ghelamco regarding the new national stadium, according to sports minister Philippe Muyters.

Anderlecht football club has agreed to move into the new stadium when it is completed in 2019, for a period of 20 years. During that time, Brussels-City will pay a contribution of €4 million a year to have a VIP lounge in the stadium, which will be used for visiting groups and special guests.

Since that announcement, attention has turned to the future of the Memorial Van Damme athletics meet, after Brussels’ alderman for sport, Alain Courtois, said the existing Koning Boudewijn stadium (pictured) will be demolished in 2020.

That, according to organisers of the Memorial Van Damme, is two years earlier than originally announced. “If a solu-

tion isn’t found, we’ll be obliged to organise the Memorial in another country,” a spokesperson said.

The problem is that the new stadium does not include an athletics track, which would have reduced the number of seats available for spectators. The new stadium is designed to seat 45,000. According to Muyters, the government of Flanders stands behind its position in 2013, when it insisted that the new stadium be equipped with an athletics track.

The government of Flanders has a voice in the matter because, although the stadium is a project of Brussels-City, which owns the land on Parking C of the Heizel complex, the land actually lies within the municipality of Grimbergen, Flemish Brabant, outside of Brussels borders.

“As long as there is no solution, the Koning Boudewijn stadium has to be kept open until 2022,” Muyters said in parliament. “That was the position of the Flemish government before, and it’s our position still.” \ AH

© Courtesy Joni-Fuego/Wikimedia

MP wants hearing test in final year of secondary school

Three regions to co-ordinate road safety and driving tests

Flemish MP Freya Saeys has called for the introduction of a hearing test in the sixth year of secondary education. Teenagers, she said, are insufficiently tested for hearing damage, although they are an important target group because of the prevalence of MP3 players and attendance at concerts among the age group.

The timing of the request is not coincidental: Flanders’ huge number of summer festivals poses a risk of hearing damage, said Saeys (Open VLD). She recognised that important steps have been made in the past few years to prevent hearing damage at festivals and concerts. Stricter noise standards have been set, and venues and festivals are obliged to provide free earplugs.

But Saeys said that not all earplugs are of good quality and don’t always sufficiently protect the hearing.

Audiologist Liesje De Wit confirmed this: “People often don’t push them deep enough, so most of the sound is still reaching the inner ear.” Most young people don’t invest in custom-made ear plugs.

Saeys said that an extra hearing test in the sixth year of

The governments of Belgium’s three regions will co-operate on road safety issues, following the signature last week of a co-ordination agreement.

In the last round of state reforms, road safety policy became a responsibility of the regions. But the three mobility ministers said that any coherent policy has to recognise that road safety transcends borders. “If we want to have an effective road safety policy, we have to depend on one another to some extent,” Flemish mobility minister Ben Weyts said. “Each of us runs our own policy independently, but co-operation is needed for us to harmonise at least a few basic principles.”

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secondary education would show students how much their hearing has already been affected. Hearing tests are already provided from pre-school until the fifth year of primary education, but not in secondary school.

“Listening to loud music on wearable digital music players has doubled in 20 years’ time,” said Saeys, “so it’s about time we doubled our prevention efforts.” \ Andy Furniere

Under the agreement, the ministers – Weyts, Bianca Debaets for Brussels and Maxime Prévot for Wallonia – will meet at least once a year to establish broad policy. The rest of the year, working groups will tackle issues such as mutual recognition of certifications, so that driving instructors who qualify in one region will have their qualifications recognised by the other two regions.

The agreement aims to improve the quality of driving instruction in general, as well as in specific areas such as “green” driving – how to use a car to the least possible detriment of the environment – and risk-perception, or preventive driving. \ AH

\ COVER STORY

july 1, 2015

In a spin

Universities and research parks are the ideal setting for ambitious spin-offs continued from page 1

“Flemish spin-offs are discussed quite regularly in the general media,” says Tambuyzer. “But very often the reason is that they’ve been acquired by foreign entities or gained international success.

We have to focus on spin-offs in a broader perspective.”

For Flanders, he continues, “it’s crucial that we anchor the knowledge that these companies are based on and that this is embedded in our physical and geographical region”.

According to the Academy, knowledge centres are the key to promoting knowledge-driven entrepreneurship in Flanders. One of the biggest and largest is to be found in Leuven.

Since 1972, the KU Leuven Research & Development Department (LRD) has guided the creation of 105 spin-offs, of which 87 are still active. Today, these companies employ more than 4,000 people.

Some are already world-famous, like Materialise, a pioneer in 3D printing, and ThromboGenics, an innovative drug developer (pictured on cover). And who knows: Maybe there’s a new Google among these 87, or the new ones being created?

“That we can only hope for,” says Koen Debackere, general manager of LRD. “Although I have to say that the prospects for our most recent spin-offs look very good.”

As well as 3D printers LayerWise, there’s Cartagenia, which develops software for medical diagnoses.

“Cartagenia has become a market leader in a short period and is now expanding its reach as part of a large US group.”

So what’s LRD’s recipe for success?

“There’s no simple formula,” says Debackere. “Every start-up is different, as every research and market sector is different. The only thing we can do is to provide the best foundation so that spin-offs can arm themselves against continuously changing circumstances. But if you want a common denominator, here’s one: Every strong spinoff seems to have a strong multidisciplinary character.”

In the meantime, a working group at the Academy has listed seven recommendations in a position paper aimed at policymakers who want to give innovation in Flan-

KVAB.BE

© Rob Stevens/KU Leuven

Layerwise prints 3D implants for the medical sector, for both humans and animals

ders a boost. Some, just like the concept of innovation itself, are rather vague. Others are more concrete: “Incubation periods should be longer so that risk of failure is reduced”; “more investments are needed to help penetrate the global market”.

According to Tambuyzer, one of the challenges is to free innovation in Flanders from its “golden cage”. “In recent years, along with increased research funding, a large amount of human resources potential has been created in Flanders,” he says.

“But it sometimes seems that these excellent researchers are locked up in golden cages. Knowledge centres should actively scout for entrepreneurial talent between them, so that, with the right attitude and coaching, these individuals can actively engage in a spinoff and learn more about customer focus.”

Successful commercialisation and the innovative character of a product or service go hand in hand.

Or, in the words of Koen De Witte,

co-founder of reMYND, a successful KU Leuven biotech spin-off, it’s all about creating “a flock of positive black swans”, or unexpected events. reMYND is at the forefront in the development of treatments for diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes. “When we started in 2002,” De Witte says, “our business plan consisted mainly of performing contract research using our in-vivo mouse model for Alzheimer’s and extending the

offering with in-vitro models.”

Today, the Leuven-based spin-off still does contract research for the big pharmaceutical companies, biotechs and academic institutes, but the in-vitro model has also grown into different, unique preclinical treatments (still in the preclinical phase) that go far beyond treating Alzheimer’s: from restoring the function of the pancreas in diabetes patients to restoring diseased neurons in people with Huntington’s disease.

“We owe the current resilience of our company to the black swans in our portfolio,” says De Witte.

The success of reMYND relies heavily on the “good science” provided by KU Leuven, the Flemish life sciences institute VIB and academic institutions worldwide. De Witte: “On the scientific and R&D side, the identification of novel mechanisms and drug targets requires excellent scientific collaborations, good advisors and a critical mass of trained researchers.

“Apart from that, research and innovation grants and financial incentives from the Flemish, federal and European governments were very welcome to overcome the incubation phase. It seems to be a common complaint in the spin-off world that venture capitalists are not keen on investing during this phase, because it’s too risky.”

Last but not least, De Witte mentions the importance of the positive image biotech has in Flanders for his company’s success.

Another example of a successful Flemish spin-off is ProDigest, a company founded in 2008 at Ghent University that performs contract research for both the food and pharmaceutical industry. ProDi-

gest was founded by Sam Possemiers, who did his PhD in the gastrointestinal research lab of professor Willy Verstraete.

Today, the microbial inhabitants of our intestines are in the spotlight because of their role in nutrition processes and several diseasecausing factors. With ProDigest, Possemiers is offering a lab model of the human intestine to interested companies.

After his PhD defence in the summer of 2007, Possemiers had to choose between an academic future or one in industry. “I decided to try both, by translating academic knowledge into industrial application,” he says.

After the start-up in 2008, there was a four-year incubation period.

“During this time, we turned our company concept, based on the model of the humane intestine, into a professional entity.”

In June 2012, the next stage began, with the growth phase and the growing awareness that the company was there to stay.

So what has Possemiers learned about the connection with the knowledge centre since his transformation into an entrepreneur?

“A knowledge centre is an ideal atmosphere for starting a company,” he says. “Also, we were able to use the ‘spin-in structure’ of the university as a try-out. The crucial incubation phase, therefore, is turned into an embedded spin-off phase.”

Possemiers also says the reality of entrepreneurship has transformed him personally. “A world of difference can be made in the self-confidence, creativity and open-mindedness of young people, just by getting them acquainted with the reality of entrepreneurship.”

The Royal Flemish Academy FOR Science and Arts The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB) was founded in 1772, as an organisation along the lines of the British Royal Society.

Its main task is to nourish the societal debate, with scientific and artistic input, in a neutral and interdisciplinary way, by publishing position papers and organising thematic meetings for Flemish, Belgian and European researchers and other stakeholders.

The symposium on innovative entrepreneurship via spin-offs of knowledge centres is part of the Academy’s Thinker’s programme. Last year, there was a Thinker’s programme on Flanders’ Future as a Knowledge Society, for which Portuguese scientist and politician José Mariano Gago was the Thinker-in-residence at the Academy.

\5

\ BUSINESS

week in business Gases – Air Liquide The French industrial gas producer inaugurated its new €50 million carbon monoxide production unit in Antwerp last week. The plant’s additional capacity is earmarked for the area’s many chemicals producers that make extensive use of the gas.

Hotels KKR The US-based investment fund has acquired two hotels in Antwerp, the 247-room Radisson Blue Astrid and the 59-room Park Inn, both located opposite the city’s Central Station

Logistics WDP The Meise-based industrial property group is investing €115 million in the Netherlands to acquire a distribution centre in Tilburg and a multimodal facility in Zwolle.

In addition, the company is building a €24 million distribution centre in Willebroek, Antwerp province.

Meal vouchers Monizze The Brussels-based electronic meal vouchers management company has been acquired by the French Up group, which handled up to €6 billion worth of vouchers last year.

Payments Alibaba The Chinese group plans to open an outlet in Brussels early next year to test its Alipay online payment platform on the European market.

Alipay has China’s biggest market share in the sector, with 300 million users.

Telecoms Huawei The Free University of Brussels (VUB) and Proximus have signed a partnership agreement with the Chinese telecommunications group to set-up a joint ICT learning and innovation centre to develop and test 5G technology for the European market.

Trucks Daf The Dutch trucks manufacturer, which invested €100 million last year in a new paint shop for truck cabs in Westerlo, Antwerp province, plans to hire an additional 200 workers for the site to meet growing demand.

\6

Delhaize and Ahold merge

Albert Heijn and Delhaize are now one big supermarket group Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

T

he merger of supermarket giants Delhaize and Ahold, owner of Albert Heijn, was officially announced last week. Dick Boer, COO of the Dutch Ahold group, has been named CEO of the new Ahold Delhaize group.

The current CEO of Belgium’s Delhaize, Frans Muller, will be deputy CEO. The deal was announced during an extraordinary meeting of the works council, at which unions were informed about details of the merger. Ahold will acquire Delhaize shares at the rate of one for 4.75 Ahold shares, which values the Delhaize share at €90, putting a total value on Delhaize of €9.31 billion. Ahold will

hold 61% of the new entity, and Delhaize 39%.

Delhaize shares gained 8% on Tuesday on news of the impending announcement.

Belgian group Delhaize faced massive restructuring last year, said to be necessary to remain competitive. Workers at stores across the country went on strike in protest at news that 14 stores would close and 2,500 staff made redundant. In the end, 10 stores closed and 1,800 staff were laid off.

The new Ahold Delhaize group will comprise an empire of more than 4,600 stores in Belgium, the Netherlands and the US, employing 380,000 people. The combined Ahold Delhaize will serve

© Laurie Dieffembacq/BELGA

50 million customers a week. Last year the two partners reported combined sales of €54 billion and profits of €1 billion.

Supermarkets handed multimillion-euro fines for price fixing

Leuven’s Bondgenotenlaan designated as “Face of the City”

The federal competition authorities have handed down fines totalling €174 million to seven supermarkets and 10 of their suppliers for price fixing.

The supermarkets concerned are Carrefour, Colruyt, Cora, Delhaize, Intermarché, Makro and Mestdagh. The highest fines in this group go to Carrefour (€36.4 million), Colruyt (€31.6 million) and Delhaize (€25 million).

The suppliers fined – both local and international – are wideranging and include Beiersdorf, Belgium Retail Trading, DE HBC Belgium, Henkel and Reckitt Benckiser. The highest fines have gone to Procter & Gamble (€29 million), L’Oréal (€8 million) and Unilever (€6.7 million).

The practice was brought to light

by Colgate-Palmolive during an investigation; the company agreed to co-operate and avoided being fined. GlaxoSmithKline also co-operated and was given a reduced fine of €554,000.

The companies were found guilty of having organised a co-ordinated increase in the consumer prices of household items, perfume and

Bondgenotenlaan in Leuven, the city’s main shopping thoroughfare, has been designated “Face of the City” and protected as a site of historic, architectural and social value. The announcement was made by Flemish ministerpresident Geert Bourgeois, also responsible for heritage, after the successful conclusion of an agreement with the city.

Bondgenotenlaan (which translates as Avenue of the Allies) is in many ways a monument to the destruction suffered by Leuven in the First World War and the massive effort of reconstruction that followed. The street is now a major commercial artery running between the reconstructed university and the Martyrs’ Square monument to the war dead (pictured), located in front of the train station.

“Thanks to the agreement on thoughtfully constructed management goals, we are able

hygiene products, such as shampoo and deodorant, between 2002 and 2007. The fines form part of a new system that allows for a transactional result: The companies have admitted their offence and declined the right to appeal, in return for a 10% reduction in their fines.

Even so, the total fines package is a record for Belgium: the previous record was in 2013 with fines of €15 million in the cement sector.

Véronique Thirion, the auditorgeneral of the competition tribunal, said the fines were elevated in response to the gravity of the case. “Price fixing is a very serious offence,” she said.

The consumer suffered the results of the price fixing over the course of five years and should therefore be compensated now, consumer organisation Test-Aankoop said in a statement. Federal consumer affairs minister Kris Peeters pointed out that the fines imposed by the competition authority are not intended to compensate victims but to act as a sanction on offenders. \ AH

Chinese buy Wijnegem and Waasland shopping centres The Waasland Shopping Center in Sint-Niklaas and the Wijnegem Shopping Center near Antwerp have been acquired by the Chinese Investment Company (CIC) in conjunction with the property fund manager AEW. Majority stakes in the two retail centres formed part of a package along with eight centres in France that were put up for auction by CBRE Global Investors. CIC/AEW came in with the highest bid at €1.3 billion. The deal means that CIC now owns 50% of Wijnegem, worth €400 million, and 65% of Waasland for a value of €360 million.

Wijnegem is the largest shopping

© Courtesy Wijnegem Shopping Center

centre in the Benelux. It opened in 1993 with 250 outlets over 61,900 square metres. Waasland is smaller at 45,000 square metres and 140 shops and dates to 1972.

It was renovated and extended beyond the original 40 shops in 2004. \ AH

© Courtesy FaceMePLS/Flickr Commons

to reconcile the heritage value of the Bondgenotenlaan with its role as central shopping street,” Bourgeois said. “I support the efforts of the city to encourage residential use of the upper floors of the shops: habitation is better for listed buildings than standing empty.”

Leuven mayor Louis Tobback looked forward to an exhibition in 2018 that would, he said, bring Bondgenotenlaan the attention it merits. “We are also delighted that the avenue is to be protected as a Face of the City, with guarantees for a lively business future,” he said. \ AH

Plants must excel to compete with sister companies, says Voka If production facilities in Flanders want to play a role on the world stage, they need to transform themselves into “lead plants”, according to the Flemish chamber of commerce (Voka). The conclusion arises out of a project where top Flemish industrialists were coached on how to improve the ranking of their production facilities.

A “lead plant” in business jargon is one that is of crucial importance to the parent company. Ford Genk is a major example of parent companies choosing between their plants: The factory was closed, while Ford’s production in Spain was not only spared but given Genk’s work.

The Voka project, in co-operation with the Flemish government’s Enterprise Agency, sought to examine how a production facility can ensure that it is the leader in a

contest between subsidiaries. The answers are collected in the book Lead Plants published by Lannoo and compiled by Nadia Werkers of Voka Antwerp-Waasland and Professor Rudy Martens, dean of the faculty of applied economics at Antwerp University.

Among the tips in the book: Use the creation of an ambitious local strategy to single the Flemish facility out from its sister facilities – which are also competitors.

“Industrial facilities here are under enormous pressure as a result of the high salary and energy costs,” Werkers told Trends magazine.

“There is also a tough competitive atmosphere within businesses. The goal is to make Flemish production facilities leaders in the group, recognised for a speciality and indispensable to the company.” \ AH

\ INNOVATION

july 1, 2015

All the world’s a stage

week in innovation Peerby and Rescoop most radical innovators

The rise and rise of Stageco, set designer to rock’n’roll royalty Tom Peeters More articles by Tom \ flanderstoday.eu

STAGECO.BE

For more than 30 years, Hedwig De Meyer has been building stages and dreams with Stageco, the Tildonk-based company that has set the scene for acts as big as U2 and Pink Floyd, and is about to build the main stage for Tomorrowland.

T

he story of Stageco is that of a handful of adventurers becoming the world leader in building stages for outdoor concerts and festivals. With the biggest names in pop, rock and dance, they’re developing oncein-a-lifetime experiences, says founder and CEO Hedwig De Meyer.

De Meyer has just come back from the US, where he went to the Electric Daisy Carnival dance festival tour in Las Vegas and saw The Rolling Stones in Pittsburgh. Both events were developed and built with the steel and craftsmanship of Stageco, the Tildonk-based company he launched 30 years ago.

De Meyer’s parents were farmers who grew chicory in the Flemish Brabant countryside, where from time to time the young Hedwig had to help out. That didn’t really entertain him, so this child of the ’60s became a DJ and took a degree in sound engineering at Brussels’ Narafi institute. More importantly, a meeting with Herman Schueremans, the organiser of a nearby local festival, would influence his career.

Website maps risk zones for tick bites

Hedwig De Meyer and The Claw, the stage set that put Stageco on its way

manager, charmed by our vision, asked us to build one of their three stage systems. We stood out, and when he got a production job for Pink Floyd, we were on board too.”

1994’s Division Bell tour was Stageco’s first custom-designed stage tour: a curved roof triggered the audience to “come inside the universe of the band” and was another step forward in stage technology. Stages became an extra

When you’re a pioneer in your business, you can write the rules Back in 1979, it was on the very lawn of last weekend’s Rock Werchter festival that De Meyer built his first outdoor stage. “We wanted to hire a stage for the first open-air edition of the festival,” he says, “but we couldn’t find a proper one, so we decided to build one ourselves.” With a pole at the front to support the roof and a covered platform on both sides for the loudspeakers, their first stage wasn’t state-of-the-art, but it did the job.

Over the next few years they would improve as stage builders.

Six towers of the sturdiest steel, a black box in the middle and scenery elements next to, behind and above became the standard, and in 1985 Stageco appeared as a separate company.

“A Genesis tour opened the eyes of the international scene,” recalls De Meyer. “Their production

Trading platform Peerby and renewable energy co-operative Rescoop have been named the year’s most radical innovations in Flanders. Peerby received the jury award and Rescoop the public prize in a competition organised by De Standaard and the non-profit Social Innovation Factory in Brussels. The winners receive guidance in the development of their idea and an advert in De Standaard. Peerby is an online platform that makes it easy to borrow items among neighbours, and Rescoop is a co-operative in which citizens collaborate on the development of renewable energy production.

artistic outlet for selling rock’n’roll dreams (and concert tickets), with U2’s 360° tour (2009-2011), better known as The Claw, a high point for Stageco.

“We started to collaborate closely with the architects of the bands, without taking over their creative jobs. Their ideas drive our development. Our XXL stage is designed entirely from an architectural point of view,” explains De Meyer, who’s wearing the company slogan — If you can imagine it, we can build it — on his sleeve.

The crisis in the recording industry in the first decade of the millennium came as an unforeseen opportunity for live entertainment and for Stageco: to sell concert tickets and once-in-a-lifetime experiences, you need stages.

“And no one can build them more efficiently,” confirms Geert Vandenbon. The author has just published

30 Years of Stageco: From Werchter to the World, an extensive chronicle of the company, containing pictures and stories from the early days up to the present. “It weighs two kilos,” he says, smiling. “That’s exactly what De Meyer liked about it, as it perfectly symbolises the heavy structures and the rock’n’roll world the company deals with.”

During his research, Vandenbon was especially impressed by the system behind the touring.

“There are companies who can create stages, some can produce them, others can transport them, but no one combines these three elements like Stageco does,” he says, comparing the organisation to a perpetual motion machine, always respecting the tight time schedules.

“It’s a wheel with three spokes,” De Meyer says. “And we simply cannot be late. One of my old slogans was: Whatever the weather. You know, we have this sense of urgency which is totally lacking if you try to build a normal house in Belgium.”

Stageco can run three or four productions at the same time, with several stage systems and with their own staff, while still providing one-offs in between, anywhere in the world. “As I speak, we’re at the European Games in Baku,” De Meyer says.

“Apart from our stages and teams at the American dance festivals and with The Stones, we’ll start building stages in the US for Taylor Swift and Kenny Chesney.

In Germany we’re now with rock group Böhse Onkelz at the Hockenheim race circuit. Next week there’s Werchter Classic and AC/

DC, with whom we’ll do another world tour, and we’ll start building the main stage at Tomorrowland.”

This last assignment is proof that the rockers have entered the dance world. They have to, since many of their big rock act friends are getting old. “The challenging thing in this business is that it changes all the time and you have to adapt,” De Meyer says.

“Our workers used to be called the black steel men, since the black of our steel towers and trusses is one of our trademarks. We preferred steel over lightweight aluminium because of its strength, and we painted the steel in black because we didn’t want the material to stand out in the dark. All the emphasis had to be on the bands.”

Didn’t that change with tours like The Claw? “True, that was a perfect balance of stage, band and music, all making each other stronger,” he says. “The stage has become a part of the show. Which for us, humble people in nature as we are, was a top experience.”

It was also an experience for which U2 thanked the company in person at their 2011 “homecoming” gig in Brussels’ Koning Boudewijn stadium. When Bono asked The Edge who he thought was the nicest Belgian, the answer was: “Hedwig, of course”.

“I was surprised,” De Meyer admits.

“But it was a pleasing encouragement. Still, after all these years, the most exciting thing is that when you’re a pioneer in your business, you can write the rules of the business.”

The federal Scientific Institute of Public Health has launched a website that maps risk zones for tick bites in Belgium as part of a prevention campaign against Lyme disease. Lyme is an infectious disease usually transmitted through the bite of a tick infected with the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. In Europe, it is largely the castor bean tick (Ixodes ricinus) that is a carrier of the bacteria. Ticks mostly live in shadow-rich places covered with a thick layer of plant litter, fern or high grasses. Residents are asked to report any tick bites as quickly as possible on TekenNet. The more people take part, the better the website can map risk zones.

The information will be especially useful for forest rangers, farmers and gardeners. \ tekennet.wiv-isp.be

UGent offers platform to “smart textile” researchers The fourth edition of the Smart Textiles Salon took place last week at Ghent’s Museum of Industry, Labour and Textile. Every two years, Ghent University (UGent) provides a platform to international researchers working with smart textiles. These use integrated electronic technology, like sensors, which can be used for a multitude of applications in clothing, such as protecting firefighters, analysing the condition of patients and determining athlete fitness. The Smart Textiles Salon gathers the latest innovations and prototypes in the international field. The department of textiles at UGent and the university’s Centre for Microsystems Technology also showed their work. \ Andy Furniere

\7

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\ EDUCATION

july 1, 2015

Securing cyberspace

week in education

New Bachelor’s course at HoWest trains students to battle cybercrime Andy Furniere More articles by Andy \ flanderstoday.eu

I

CT innovations offer endless possibilities but also create new dangers, as reports of increasing cybersecurity breaches attest. To prepare for the number of technicians needed to protect our personal interests as well as the country’s security, the Bruges campus of University College West Flanders (HoWest) is awarding about 50 Bachelor’s degrees this month with a focus on cybercriminality.

At the end of 2013, the public became startlingly aware of the scale of cybercrime when a routine check-up at telecommunications company Belgacom – now Proximus – revealed a security breach.

Experts determined that hackers had infiltrated the ICT system and intercepted data.

Documents made public by American whistleblower Edward Snowden soon indicated that the British intelligence organisation GCHQ was responsible for the cyber-attack against Belgacom.

discipline as part of a Bachelor’s.

HoWest students could also for the first time this year acquire the internationally accepted Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) designation.

The programme is gaining in popularity, says cybersecurity lecturer Kurt Callewaert. “For many youngsters today, the internet is their natural habitat.”

The programme teaches students technical applications like forensic analysis and cryptography. But they also acquire the skills to set up and implement a cybersecurity plan for a client organisation.

“They have to test the efficiency of a cybersecurity system as well, by trying to hack it,” explains Callewaert. Students are also brought up to date with the latest privacy and ICT legislation.

“When they graduate, they are almost certain to get a job quickly,” says Callewaert. “Consultancy bureaus in particular are eager to include them in their teams because of the growing demand

When they graduate, they are almost certain to get a job right away The graduates of the HoWest programme Computer and Cyber Crime Professional – the only cybercrime Bachelor programme in the country – can now help companies and other organisations to prevent such breaches of their systems. HoWest launched the programme, part of the Bachelor’s degree in applied informatics, in 2010.

Other higher education institutions offer Advanced Master’s and Postgraduate programmes, but no school was yet offering the

for advice on cybersecurity.”

HoWest co-operates with departments in the federal police and the army, which send various experts to the school as guest lectures. The police and army also benefit from the programme, as they need more specialists in the field.

“There are only about 2,000 cybercrime specialists in Belgium, compared to about 46,000 in the Netherlands,” says Callewaert, “while it’s Belgium that houses the European capital, with all its important institutions.”

www.tinyurl.com/howestcyber

HoWest students can now become globally recognised Certified Ethical Hackers

Statistics show that Belgium is increasingly being targeted by hackers. The number of registered cyber-attacks increased from an average of 116 a month in 2010 to 614 a month in the first half of 2014.

According to Callewaert, hackers mainly have economic and political motives. “Because of the increasing use of online banking, the cybersecurity systems of banks are constantly under attack,” says Callewaert. The business world in general is a major target, while universities and hospitals, for example, also possess information that attracts attention.

Snowden’s leaked documents brought political cyberwarfare out into the open. That the Belgian government has not been spared was demonstrated last year by the hacking of the federal foreign affairs department’s server, probably by Russian intelligence services. “There really is a war going on,” declares Callewaert.

However, businesses and institutions still underestimate the importance of cybersecurity, he

says. “Many SMEs still use passwords like 1-2-3-4.”

To raise more awareness around the issue, about 50 organisations in Belgium from the business, academic and government sectors have joined forces in the Cyber Security Coalition. In November, the coalition will launch a campaign on the importance of secure passwords.

The coalition also promotes the exchange of knowledge and provides advice on policy. In September, it will bring together CEOs of major companies to share experiences. In terms of the government, the coalition said it would like to see more ICT integration in education. “Secondary school students in general education [ASO] graduate without coming into contact with programming,” says Callewaert.

“That’s not right in this digital age.”

Much is also expected from the Cyber Security Centre, to be established by the federal government.

The new centre will co-ordinate the handling of cybersecurity issues across the country.

Q&A What kind of marketing advice do you provide?

It helps to involve the local community. Staff can, for example, ask schools to make toys for the animals and invite the children over to bring their creations.

This way, children become aware of the good work that shelters are doing and are more likely to adopt an animal from there later on.

Els Peeters is a lecturer in the Agro- and Biotechnology Department of Odisee University College, which recently organised a course in animal shelter training in three institutions across Flanders Why was this kind of programme needed?

Animal shelters are run by people who love animals, but they don’t always have the necessary knowledge. Working in a shelter is not the same as keeping pets. Even veterinarians, who have a medical background, benefit from the training because we explain how to best organise a shelter and give marketing tips. The main themes of the training are animal health, hygiene, accommodation, business management and marketing. We gave practical advice but also covered legislative aspects.

What kind of animal welfare tips do you offer?

We explained, for example, how to recognise and reduce stress among cats. Cats are clearly anxious when their pupils are enlarged, their ears and whiskers point backwards and they’re cowering. A simple trick to help them is to give them a cardboard box because they like to hide.

It might sound ironic, but you also shouldn’t clean the cages of cats and dogs too often or too thoroughly because that stresses them out, which makes them more vulnerable to diseases. Having their own smell around them gives

© XaMa Fotografie

them the safe feeling of being in their own territory, so it’s better to regularly clean just certain spots that are very dirty.

Will the training programme be organised again next year?

Yes, and perhaps we will expand the scope a little. We focused on cats and dogs this year, but should maybe include more specific information for people working with other animals – like rodents and birds. \ Interview by AF

UAntwerp begins non-binding entry test Antwerp University (UAntwerp) is bringing in an introductory test for students in all faculties. Not all programmes will integrate the test, but 80% of new first-year students will sit it. The purpose is to give students an idea about their capabilities, and in particular in what areas they can improve. “This aspect is of major importance,” Ann De Schepper, chair of the university’s education council, told De Standaard. “We will give students personal feedback with suggestions about how they can improve themselves. We are convinced this will increase the pass rates.”

The test is not an entrance exam and the outcome will not affect the student’s final results.

Government launches truancy action The government of Flanders has presented its action plan to battle truancy and prevent youngsters leaving secondary school without a diploma. About 12% of children in Flanders finish their education without a diploma, with many of them having regularly skipped school. In secondary education, 2.3% of students are absent for more than 30 half-days in a year – considered “problematic absence”. Eight out of 10 of these students don’t pass at the end of the school year. “We see a significant link between youngsters who skip school often and lose a year of school and then leave school without a diploma,” said education minister Hilde Crevits.

Students to receive cross-border diploma In September, Vives University College, based in Kortrijk and with campuses across West Flanders, will launch a bilingual Bachelor’s degree in business management in Dutch and French. Graduates will get three diplomas that are recognised in Flanders, Wallonia and France – a first in Flanders. In the first year, students receive courses in both Dutch and French. From the second year on, they have to go to one of the partner schools in Wallonia, France or Canada. The degree is part of the EuroMetropool initiative – a collaboration between Kortrijk, Tournai and Lille.

The three cities are working to create an EU cross-border district to improve co-operation between authorities. \ AF

\9

\ LIVING

week in activities Damme Street Music Festival Traditional brass bands, Cuban rhythms and a bluegrass band playing on board the canal boat between Bruges and Damme – in short, something for everyone. 4 July from 19.30, Damme (West Flanders); free \ straatmuziekfestivaldamme.com

Fly In Koksijde Two-day air show commemorating the First World War with vintage aircraft, classic cars, re-enactors’ village, children’s activities, plus hotair balloons and fireworks.

4-5 July, Koksijde air force base, Zeelaan 303; €10 \ flyinkoksijde.be

Scheldeland in Steam Take a ride on one of two vintage steam trains between Baasrode in East Flanders and Puurs in Antwerp. Plus classic cars, more steam engines, train literature, entertainment and more. 4-5 July 10.0018.00, old Baasrode-North Station, Fabriekstraat 118, Dendermonde; €12 \ stoomtrein.be

Bree kids summer A free afternoon of games and activities for kids, including bouncy castles, crazy bikes, archery, tugo-war, survival course and more. 5 July 14.00-18.00, Bree city centre (Limburg); free \ tourisme.bree.be

Laugh Festival Five days of free street theatre and comedy, culminating in the main festival and parade on Friday, 10 July, in the city centre.

Also: children’s activities, international market, food and drink. 6-10 July, across Houthalen-Helchteren (Limburg); free \ lachfestival.be

Limburg Vierdaagse Four days of cycling fun celebrating 20 years of the Limburg bike path network. Every day, participants can choose from three bike routes between 25 and 60 kilometres. Along the way, see local highlights, plus entertainment, food and drink. 7-10 July, across Limburg; €10 (€4 for one day) \ limburgfietsvierdaagse.be

\ 10

“What’ll it be?”

Bar tenants victims of “strangulation contracts”, says federation Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

A

man walks into a bar, and the bartender goes, “What’ll it be?” and the man says, “You already know what it’ll be, because I only have the illusion of choice”.

It’s not a joke, it’s the situation in a large number of the bars in Belgium because of what Horeca Vlaanderen (HV) refers to as “strangulation contracts”. HV, the industry federation for the food and drinks service sector, wants to put an end to the practice; federal consumer affairs minister Kris Peeters has expressed a willingness to consider their demands.

“According to estimates, 60 to 70% of cafe proprietors don’t have the freedom to buy what and as much as they want,” explains HV director Danny Van Assche. “Usually there’s an agreement because the brewery is also the owner of the property. It’s understandable that they require the beer to be supplied to the tenants by them. But it goes much further than that. Many contracts require the cafe to order a certain amount of their beer, on pain of heavy fines.”

HV also found that many contracts included clauses obliging licensees to obtain other supplies either via the brewery or from an approved seller, often at up to 30% above market prices. Those products include soft drinks, coffee, wine, cleaning supplies, even toilet paper.

“Price negotiation is impossible,” Van Assche says. “That affects a bar’s profits, with a great number of bankruptcies as a result.”

The state of the market in Belgium plays an important role, too, in limiting consumer choice. Leuvenbased AB InBev – the largest brewer in the world – controls

© M Vanhulst/Visit Flanders

Horeca Vlaanderen says as many as 70% of cafe proprietors don’t have the freedom to buy what they want

57% of the local market. Under EU rules, AB InBev should not to be able to impose any conditions on its bar tenants by reason of its overwhelming dominance of the market.

But the brewer obtained a release in 2010 when the rules came into force, under which it may impose its own draught beer on its bar tenants.

Other factors also distort the market. The next two largest brewers, Alken-Maes and Haacht, both impose conditions on tenants: Grimbergen and Affligem beers must be served in an Alken-Maes cafe, with kriek from Mort Subite, while Keizer Karel, Tongerlo and Ommegang must be served in a Haacht pub. Smaller brewers are

often dominant in their local area – De Koninck in Antwerp, Het Anker in Mechelen, Roman in Oudenaarde.

“It’s not because brewery contracts are bad for the cafe sector that they ought to be completely banned,” Van Assche said. “Our argument is for different and fairer contracts.”

That would include, HV says, an end to minimum sales quantities and to designated suppliers for non-brewery products; obligatory beers would only apply to draught, and one tap must remain open for the tenant’s own choice.

“This is a problem that has existed for more than 100 years,” says Van Assche. “It’s not going to be solved in one day.”

Jean-Louis Van de Perre, chair of

the Belgian Brewers Federation, declared that his organisation was open to discussion. “The problem of brewery contracts has dragged on for a long time,” he told Trends magazine. “We are always open to dialogue, in the event of excesses or irregularities. We want to work together for a structurally sound sector.”

Minister Peeters, meanwhile, says that he doesn’t “want the alarm call of the sector to go by unheard”.

He has invited the brewers and HV for talks and has passed the HV dossier to the Arbitrage Commission, which includes jurists, economy experts and representatives from the sector, who will determine whether the contracts in force at the moment are legal.

BITE Blogger promotes healthy lemonades in new recipe book Juices and infused waters are all the rage now both on the blogosphere and in real life. Served in a cool glass, preferably with a straw, these fruity concoctions are every bit as tasty as cocktails. Plus, they’re perfect for the summer and fairly easy to make.

If you’re looking for inspiration, food blogger Marta Majewska – better known as Princess Misia – has just released Limonade, a book with recipes for homemade lemonades, iced teas and infused water.

Majewska, who lives in Halle, Flemish Brabant, but grew up in Poland with a garden she describes as a mini farmers’ market, has been cooking with fruit and vegetables for as long as she can remember.

Her first book, Fourplay (2014), was all about seasonal cooking.

In Limonade, Majewska bundles 50 recipes for fruity summer drinks,

each of them illustrated with a beautiful photograph. Determined to make the drinks as healthy as possible, she ruled out white sugar and opted for alternatives like cane sugar, agave syrup, stevia, honey and other sweeteners.

Majewska (pictured) is not the only one determined to make healthier drinks for both kids and adults: Last week, Swedish furniture giant Ikea decided to scrap fizzy and full-sugar lemonades from the drinks menu in its in-store restaurants and instead serve water, infused with natural fruit flavours and sweeteners. These drinks contain up to 50% less sugar than traditional lemonades – something to keep in mind when planning your next BBQ. If you still don’t know what to make of sugar-free drinks, give Marta’s recipe book a go. Here’s a free

princessmisia.com

sample you can whip up now.

Fig lemonade ( for six) Ingredients: 8 ripe figs 700ml water 100ml fresh lemon juice 100ml basic agave syrup* Wash the figs and peel them. Blend them and 300ml of the water in a food processor until smooth.

Strain the mixture through a sieve.

Add the rest of the water, the syrup and lemon juice and mix. Pour the lemonade into a jug and refrigerate for at least one hour, or add ice cubes. Stir just before serving. *Basic agave-based syrup (makes 300ml): Simmer 175g of agave syrup and 200ml water in a small sauce-

pan for three or four minutes. Stir so that the sugar completely dissolves, remove from heat and let cool. \ Katrien Lindemans

Limonade is published in Dutch by Davidsfonds

july 1, 2015

An unusual proposition

Limburg architectural firm sways buyers by opening up old factory to summer events Diana Goodwin More articles by Diana \ flanderstoday.eu

dechocoladefabriek.be

O

n the outskirts of Tongeren, in the little district of Nerem, a surprising sight appears along a quiet back street.

A large, rectangular brick building rises above the neighbouring houses and fields in this sleepy suburb of 900 people. Above the coloured glass panes of a five-metre tall round window crowning the front entrance, a cheeky squirrel in glazed clay looks down at visitors.

Although I live just 30 kilometres from here, I’d never heard of this place until recently. I’ve come today, on a chilly Saturday morning, to take a tour and meet the architects who are planning to turn this former Limburg industrial site into modern lofts.

The parking lot is overgrown with weeds, and the buildings are in an obvious state of disrepair. But I’m instantly enchanted by the site, by the art nouveau details on the facade, and by that squirrel.

The factory, built in 1909 to produce chocolate bars and peperkoek (gingerbread), was in operation until 1934, when the company went bankrupt. During the Second World War, it was occupied by the Belgian military, then the Germans and finally by American troops.

Starting in the 1970s, it housed a tin foundry, but the building has been sitting empty since 2012. A group of local investors started looking into developing the site last year. They were familiar with the old factory and couldn’t bear to see it fall into ruin.

They contacted staff at Hasselt architectural firm a2o, who jumped at the chance to work on the project, now dubbed De Chocoladefabriek (The Chocolate Factory). “It’s a dream for an architect to make something of a building like this,” says Bart Hoylaert

Anyone with an idea can contact the organisers and ask to use the Chocoladefabriek

of a2o. “And it’s nice to be a part of the history of Limburg as well.

We don’t have that many buildings like this.”

His colleague Killian Nekeman explains that the factory is unique in Limburg. It was one of the first poured-concrete buildings in Belgium. Built next to old railroad tracks, it has an unusual cantilevered roof, also made from concrete, covering the former loading area along the length of the building.

The architects have been careful to integrate the existing structure and to maintain as much of its original appearance as possible. For instance, existing window openings will be extended to ground level to create doorways for each ground-floor unit. This means that every unit has its own entrance and garden. Upper units will be accessible via a broad glass

gallery built on top of the roof.

The most spectacular lofts will be located in the tower, where each floor will become a separate dwelling. From the upper levels of the tower, there are spectacular views of every side of the surrounding countryside.

A range of units will be offered, each one designed to make the best use of the 100-year old industrial architecture. Sizes will range from 75 to 200 square metres and even the smallest units have the option of increasing the total floor space by adding a raised loft.

But what’s really innovative is that each unit is available with a choice of four levels of interior finish – from a “bare box” with just walls, floor and utility hookups, to a move-in ready home with toilet and bedroom fixtures and kitchen appliances.

Another feature of the architects’

design is the inclusion of common areas that will be used by all residents, such as the green area surrounding the buildings, which will be a community garden. The former factory workshop, with its two-storey-high ceilings, will be a common room available for parties and events.

It will be a challenge, the architects admit, to convince people here to buy into such a non-traditional living concept. And yet, Nekeman says: “The building sells itself. Everyone who enters the building falls in love with it.”

The Hasselt firm realised that they needed to get people to come see it in person if they were going to convince them to live here. So they came up with a crazy idea: to let people use the empty building for free.

Between now and the start of construction, the site will host

an impressive variety of events and activities. The first “guest” to take residence in the old factory is a pop-up bar run by Tongeren restaurateur Peter Muziek. Until the end of the summer, it’s open to the public every Saturday and Sunday from noon to 20.00 and can also be booked for private parties.

There are creative workshops for children scheduled as well as laser tag games for groups. On the first Friday of every month, the site hosts an afterwork party, and more workshops and exhibitions are in the works.

Anyone with an idea can contact the organisers and ask to use the site. This way, the architects and developers hope to lure more visitors to this hidden gem of Limburg’s architectural heritage and promote their vision for its future.

New series: 50 weekends in Flanders Because you can’t keep every single issue of Flanders Today, we are working on an e-book with ideas for how to spend a whole year’s worth of weekends. 50 Weekends in Flanders will soon be available on our website, but we’ll be printing one of our suggestions every week here, too. So if you’re more of a “clip-and-save” type, you won’t be left out.

A weekend at the beach: DE PANNE The beaches in Flanders can get crowded, especially in the summer, but there are hidden places along the 67-kilometre coastline where you can eat excellent seafood, visit

quirky museums, hike in windswept dunes and sleep in fabulous B&Bs. De Panne is a lively seaside town close to the French border where King Albert was based during the First World War. The centre is dominated by high-rise apartments (as is most of the coast), but you can set off on a hike along the beach and quickly leave the crowds behind. \ toerisme.depanne.be

Explore the DUMONT QUARTER A cluster of old beach houses lies hidden in the dunes to the south of De Panne. They were built by the Brussels architects Albert Dumont

and Georges Hobé in a distinctive rustic style inspired by English cottages. Hobé built his own beach house on Hoge Duinenlaan on top of the highest dune.

Eat at BISTRO MERLOT Here is an elegant restaurant with a warm, bustling interior. It is decorated with mirrors, soft lights and photographs of French film stars, which makes it feel more like Paris than De Panne. This is somewhere to taste fresh homemade shrimp croquettes along with chunky golden hand-cut fries. You also get very good steaks here. Nieuwpoortlaan 70B

Stay at VILLA SELECT This beautiful old hotel is one of the last on the Flemish coast where you can sleep in a room with a sea view. The guest rooms are spacious and bright, with sweeping views of the silvergrey North Sea. The hotel is run by a friendly young couple who lay out a generous breakfast in a bright room overlooking the beach.

You can also swim in an indoor pool or sweat in the sauna. \ Derek Blyth \ hotelvillaselect.be © Courtesy Visit Flanders

\ 11

Best of Belgium plus expat Directory 2015

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week in arts & CULTURE Tim Burton film crew to shoot in Brasschaat A Hollywood film crew led by acclaimed film director Tim Burton are due to start filming next month at Torenhof Castle in Brasschaat, north of Antwerp, producer 20th Century Fox has confirmed.

Burton, creator of imaginative classics like Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks! and Beetlejuice, was searching for a suitable setting to shoot his latest movie, based on the children’s book Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

The story by American author Ransom Riggs is set in a spooky orphanage. Torenhof is a late 19th-century castle in eclectic style. Riggs in fact based his description of the orphanage in Miss Peregrine’s in part on the abandoned Villa Nottebohm in Brecht, near Brasschaat. While the film features famous actors such as Samuel L Jackson and Judi Dench, who will actually be present in Antwerp is not being publicised.

All Flemish music on new Vivavlaanderen The VRT’s Radio 2 has launched a new website dedicated to Flemish music of all genres. Vivavlaanderen. be is a reference site for the history of Flemish music but also aims to be a supporter of music for the future by featuring upcoming talent and new work. Each artist – about 55 at the moment – is given a timeline and a biography, as well as audio and video samples.

“With this new site the VRT is opening up a treasure trove of fantastic music,” commented singer Will Tura, who not only features on the site but is the project’s patron.

Summertime picnic tables set up across Brussels In an effort to improve quality of life in public spaces, Brussels association eQuama has launched European Canteen, an experiment that sees rings of long picnic tables in public spaces across the city where people are invited to meet with friends and colleagues for coffee, lunch or a meeting.

The modular tables, with seating for up to 150 people, can be set up in different places and in different formations, such as around a statue or overlooking a pond. The summer pilot project provides tables at seven locations across the city: Frère-Orbansquare, de Meeussquare, the esplanade of the European Parliament, Leopoldpark, Jean Reyplein, the Schuman roundabout and Jubelpark. \ europeancanteen.be

july 1, 2015

Grave diggers

Wielsbeke excavation turns up unprecedented Bronze Age burial site Toon Lambrechts More articles by Toon \ flanderstoday.eu

A

n unexpected archaeological site has been found during construction of a business park in Wielsbeke, West Flanders.

Archaeologists dug up the remains of three Bronze Age burial mounds and smaller graves from a later period. The whole site spans a period of 2,000 years.

Local councillor Magda Depree was stunned. For years, she and her husband have worked this land as farmers, with no idea that there was an archaeological site under their feet.

Sam De Decker is an archaeologist at the Flemish government’s heritage agency. “In the 15 years I’ve been working as an archaeologist, I’ve never seen a find of such value. It’s not just the size; the fact that people were buried here over a 2,000-year period is unprecedented.”

It requires imagination to visualise it, but three mounds once stood here, two circles and an oval. The largest measured 35 x 17 metres.

The mounds date from the Bronze Age, about 1,500 BC and served as a tomb for a single person.

At a later stage, at the beginning of the Iron Age, small square graves were dug around the manmade hills. A few tombs from this period were filled with gifts such as ceram-

the pollen... It will give us a better picture of how people lived here and how the region looked.” That work is expected to take more than a year.

Eventually, the site will become part business park, part sports centre, though construction is delayed while archaeologists do their work.

© Toon Lambrechts

ics and glassware, indicating trade links with the rest of Europe. Later, ashes would be buried in urns.

“A community has probably been burying its dead here for two millennia,” says De Decker. “There may be gaps in their presence, but the mounds must have been visible to the people of later ages. Nowhere else in Flanders have we found such a long continuation.”

Every major construction project in Flanders requires a routine archaeological sweep before it can begin. But the discovery came as a complete surprise.

“We never suspected that there was

something in the ground here,” says De Decker. “We couldn’t see the circles on aerial photos. But given the proximity of the river Leie – important for trade in that period – and the fertile farmland, it was likely that there would be something. The trial excavations were promising enough for us to examine the whole area.”

The fieldwork is finished, but the actual work starts now, says Maarten Brakke, archaeologist at Group M, the company that carried out the excavations. “Now we will analyse everything,” he says. “The skeletal remains, the offerings,

The fact that people were buried here over a 2,000year period is unprecedented Because of potential delays, these mandatory archaeological surveys are not always appreciated or understood. Which is a pity, according to De Decker.

“The results here show that there are still very valuable things to be found in the ground. Archaeology is not a burden but tells a story about our ancestors and, ultimately, about our own identity.”

Belgian Beer & Food magazine now in US bookshops belgianbeerandfood.com

The English-language magazine Belgian Beer & Food, published by expats in Brussels, has been launched in the US bookstore chain Books-A-Million. The launch earlier this month took place at beer cafe Nomad in New York City, where guests nibbled on a range of Belgian appetizers and, naturally, beers.

“The US has always been a major

customer for our magazine,” said publisher Paul Walsh. “About 3,000 copies of each edition are sent to the US. But the agreement with Books-A-Million, the second-biggest bookstore chain in the country, now also gives us a place in the magazine racks. That visibility can really help us move forward.”

Walsh is Irish and startead publish-

ing the quarterly magazine with fellow expats from the UK in 2013.

“We wanted the world to get to know the variety of Belgian beer,” he said. “What better way than with an English-language magazine available worldwide?”

Belgian Beer & Food is sold in local shops, online and is also available in Brussels Airlines’ business class. \ Lisa Bradshaw

Dummy trees offer comfort to Flanders’ toddlers As I set out a picnic at the Brilschanspark in the Berchem district of Antwerp, my four-year-old sets off towards a tree without saying a word.

I watch him wondering, as he tries to find an explanation for what’s caught his eye: The yellow ribbons hanging from the branches contain something familiar, and he asks: “Mommy, why is this tree growing dummies?”

I’d heard about tutjesbomen, or dummy trees, but hadn’t ever seen one. A sign planted nearby explains what this decorated tree is all about: to “ease the pain” for toddlers when they have to give up their dummies.

Many children are strongly attached to their dummies and find them comforting, but using one for too long can cause dental problems as it pushes the upper teeth forward. So parents have to be creative and find a way to get their kids to give up the dummy without them crying

themselves to sleep for the first couple of nights.

One tradition is to give it over to Sinterklaas, but of course, that limits your options to one day a year. The dummy tree is a more flexible option.

The idea is that a child ties his or her dummy to one of the ribbons hanging from the tree. When they see that lots of other children have done the same before them, it makes it easier to leave their own dummy.

The custom is common in Sweden and Denmark, where hanging your dummy on the tree is a rite of passage, and it’s now gaining in popularity in Flanders.

The tree in Berchem is an initiative of local city councillor Evi Van der Planken. Non-profit Junior Chamber International has put together a map of all the tutjesbomen in the region and even organises tutjesboom days. Nature museum De Wereld van Kina in Ghent has one,

TUTTENBOOM.BE

A tutjesboom for children in Aalst

and the council in Haaltert, East Flanders, has just installed one in its Warandepark.

Even schools are joining in, with trees set up on school grounds in Ghent and Aartselaar, Antwerp province. \ Débora Votquenne

\ 13

\ ARTS

Ready to strike

Pascale Marthine Tayou balances deeply personal with political in new show Ian Mundell More articles by Ian \ flanderstoday.eu

Adopted Gentenaar Pascale Marthine Tayou confronts small and big themes head-on in his new exhibition at Bozar in Brussels – from his childhood fears of the empty blackboard to the long shadow of slavery in the US.

P

ascale Marthine Tayou’s Boomerang cuts a colourful swathe through Bozar in Brussels, the exhibition spilling out of the usual gallery spaces to fill the halls and foyer of the building.

Bright and boisterous on the surface, Tayou’s art also raises deeper and darker questions about the state of the world.

“The exhibition is more or less a self-portrait of the human race,” he says, in a typically sweeping statement. “That’s to say, I position myself as the representative of the human race, a race that is turning progressively against itself.”

The result is art that is personal, particularly when it comes to his African roots, while addressing big themes such as the environment, religion, power and identity.

Tayou was born and raised in the central African country of Cameroon, studying law to please his parents before becoming a selftaught artist. His international career began in the mid-1990s, taking off in 2002 when he participated in the Documenta 11 exhibition in Kassel, Germany. Subsequent appearances at the Venice Biennale cemented his reputation.

Instead of gravitating to one of art’s international capitals, like Berlin, Paris or New York, he settled in Ghent. He first got to know the city in 1997, when he was invited to participate in a group show at SMAK, the museum for contemporary art.

He liked the atmosphere and returned to the city several times in subsequent years. It was also in Ghent that he met his wife, the future fashion designer Jo De Visscher. After living in Bonn and Brussels, they set up home in Ghent in 2009.

Suggestions that Ghent is an odd choice for a French-speaking artist with an international reputation are briskly dismissed. “I think it’s the centre of the world,” Tayou says. “It’s from here that I see the world, that I admire it, that I can put some distance between myself and the events that take place around me.”

I must look sceptical, since he goes on to explain that Ghent may need a little time to rise to this ambition. “All centres of the world

bozar.be

start out on the periphery.

They turn themselves into centres of the world, and I want to participate in the fabrication of a Ghent that is also a centre of the world.”

Fabrication is the right word.

His studio, where we are sitting, occupies a former metal works in the Sint-Amandsberg district. Its rooms are stacked with the found objects that go into Tayou’s work, from African drums and carved figures, to cooking pots and gourds. Elsewhere there is work in progress, while completed pieces stand in open packing cases or hang from the roof. © Philippe De Gobert

Africa is like a serpent someone has invented that is very pretty but that bites its own tail The current exhibition, Boomerang, is an expanded version of a show that had its debut earlier this year at London’s highprofile Serpentine Sackler Gallery. Transferring from this compact space to the roomier halls of Bozar means more work could be included and, although some of the intensity is lost, the range of media and materials is dizzying.

There are photographs and videos, framed fabrics and graffiti re-imagined in neon light.

Pipes snake along the walls, accompanied by hand-written comments on pollution black spots around the world. There are piles of painted cobblestones, cracked mirrors, stacks of cooking pots, figurines and fetishes.

Tayou’s large constructions are the most impressive, particularly “Africonda”, which greets visitors as they step through Bozar’s front door. A brightly coloured knitted snake sits in a vast coil on top of a pedestal of wooden stakes (pictured).

Embroidered masks are caught in its embrace. A bale of hay concealed within releases a powerful scent.

This is a commentary on the way outsiders have cast Africa as a romantic, highly colourful place. “Some Africans are surprised when they discover this reading, while others live with it and even come to believe that they are really colourful and romantic,” Tayou explains.

“Africa is like a serpent that someone has invented that is very pretty, but that bites its own tail. It is caught in its own trap.”

Equally bold statements can be found in “Coton tiges”, a vast cloud of cotton

suspended from the ceiling, pierced through with wooden stakes. This refers back to US slavery and the cotton fields. “Our Traditions” also hangs from the ceiling, a dense mass of palm brooms, horsetails with beaded handles, gourds and glass heads suspended from an iron grid.

Glass figures are a Tayou trademark. Modelled on traditional wooden figures, the change in material makes them transparent, ghostly and fragile. Yet they still carry a burden, laden down with merchandise in “Les Sauveteurs”, or caked in chocolate in the “Poupées Pascale”.

You will also see a lot of “colonists”, thin stick-like figures initially carved as souvenirs for Africa’s occupiers but since reappropriated and turned out for tourists. This bright cast of characters appears in many of Tayou’s assemblages, while giant versions of them stand guard over Bozar’s Horta Hall.

The impact of these large pieces is immediate, but there is also a power in Tayou’s more understated work, such as the “Chalk” and “Charcoal” series. These fill frames with pieces of coloured chalk or charcoal to give a textured, abstract surface, broken occasionally with small embedded objects or numbers written black-on-black.

The idea harks back to Tayou’s school days and the terror of the empty blackboard. In contrast to the discipline of white chalk, coloured chalk was a joyful release: not just to write and draw with, but also to play with, since ends of coloured chalk were used in games like marbles.

Replacing the blackboard entirely with coloured chalk, or the paper with charcoal, takes back the power. “For me it’s an act of revenge on a certain kind of education, but it’s also a way of showing the origin of what I have become today,” Tayou says. “Chalk and charcoal are also universal. It’s not a case of north or south; who doesn’t know chalk?”

Until 20 September Bozar

Ravensteinstraat 23, Brussels

More visual arts this week Plein Air

Mijn Vlakke Land (My Flat Country)

Mijn Vlakke Land examines ideas of the Flemish landscape through the eyes of 50 photographers from Belgium and abroad, with work dating from 1856 to the present (pictured). FoMu, Antwerp’s museum of photography, describes the result as “more a hymn to the romantic landscapes of our hearts and imaginations than to the actual Flemish countryside”. Until 4 October, FoMu, Waalsekaai 47, Antwerp \ fotomuseum.be

\ 14

M Museum in Leuven is devoting its latest show to the Tervuren School, a group of artists that gathered around Hippolyte Boulenger in the 1870s to explore painting in the open air. Pitched as the missing link between romanticism and impressionism, the museum says they redefined Belgian landscape forever. Until 13 September, M Museum, L Vanderkelenstraat 28, Leuven \ mleuven.be

Henri-Victor Wolvens: From Darkness to Light Henri-Victor Wolvens stars at Elsene Museum, in particular his bright paintings inspired by the North Sea. Close to James Ensor and Constant Permeke, there are traces of inspiration from both painters in Wolvens’ work. Until 20 September, Elsene Museum, Jean Van Volsemstraat 71, Brussels \ museumvanelsene.irisnet.be

\ AGENDA

july 1, 2015

Rites of passage

Giant Masks from the Congo Until 8 November

T

Belvue Museum, Brussels belvue.be

he vast Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren is daunting at the best of times, which makes this compact exhibition of Congolese masks an excellent introduction to its collection. The masks are on show at the Belvue Museum in Brussels while their home is being renovated.

The exhibition centres on masks used in the mukanda, an initiation ritual for boys of the Yaka and Suku peoples in the south-west of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Current in the early 20th century, when the masks were collected, it is not clear from the exhibition whether the tradition persists.

Boys to be initiated into adult life were taken to a camp in the bush, circumcised and instructed over several months in the responsibilities of manhood. Masks played an important part in this process, indicating the roles of the elders

and key moments in the ritual.

The most important were the giant Kakuungu masks, their wooden faces stained red and wreathed in raffia hair. Despite his menacing appearance, Kakuungu’s role was primarily to protect the camp. One room is devoted to these imposing masks and those of Kazeba, Kakuungu’s female counterpart.

A second room contains smaller masks worn by elders in other roles and by the boys themselves for the dances that marked their return to the village. The range of faces and shapes is fascinating. Some masks have animals perched (or slumped) on their crowns, while others feature human figures or more abstract shapes. All sport thick raffia manes.

You'll need to consult the catalogue to get a full account of the ritual, or as much of it as ethnographers have pieced together. This work, and the

collection of masks, was aided by Jesuit missionaries in the Congo. A third room describes their role and includes further artefacts from the region. \ Ian Mundell

MUSIC FESTIVAL

FESTIVAL

Paradise City

Until 13 September

4-5 July Flanders welcomes its newest summer music festival. This open-air weekender isn’t just about seeing international electro bands like headliners Gus Gus from Iceland, Flight Facilities from Australia and some 40 others.

It’s also about sustainability and citizenship. Organisers have published a “Green Charter” that

Ribaucourt Castle, Steenokkerzeel paradisecity.be

reads like an ecological manifesto.

They also invite ticket-holders to become community members.

Admission to this inaugural edition on the grounds of the stunning Ribaucourt Castle (pictured), just a few minutes outside of Brussels, includes a “Green Card” that will unlock rewards in the years to come. \ Georgio Valentino

Until 13 September The mighty river Maas snakes its way from headwaters in north-eastern France to Belgium, where it forms the boundary between Flanders and the Netherlands. Thence the river partners with the Scheldt and the Rhine to flow via one giant delta into the North Sea. The inaugural edition of the arts biennale Mater Mosa celebrates cultural exchange down the

CONCERT Brussels Siobhan Owe: The IrishWelsh singer and harpist performs heavenly harp and voice renditions of traditional Celtic songs. 6 July 20.00, Zandstraat 29 \ art-base.be

CLASSICAL Brussels Miniemen Festival 2015: 300th anniversary edition of the festival inside an 18th-century baroque church, featuring Brussels’ oldest organ and midday concerts by wind instrument quintets, choirs and spiritual ensembles. 1 July to 30 August, Miniemenkerk, Miniemenstraat 62 \ festivaldesminimes.be

VISUAL ARTS Brussels

Up and down the Maas river matermosa.eu

1,000-kilometre length of the waterway, including a photo exhibition

by French-born, Netherlands-based artist Jean-Michel Crapanzano, who has installed his photo lab on Mater Mosa’s flagship, the temporary Parthenon on the Maas. Halfpuppet/half-people performance The Greeks (pictured) officially opens the venue on 2 July. \ GV

Kosmopolite Art Tour: The Brussels leg of the international street art festival takes place along the canal and features more than 30 Belgian artists and their freshly painted murals, plus workshops, exhibitions and performances. 2-10 July, canal district \ kosmopolite.com

FESTIVAL Antwerp Dansen & Feesten in het Stadspark: Free dance and music festival, featuring concerts by De Mens, Guido Belcanto, children’s show De Piepkes and Radio Minerva Soundsystem, as well as DJs and a skateboard contest.

4-5 July, Stadspark, Quinten Matsyslei \ petrolclub.be/agenda/ dansen-in-het-park

FAMILY

PERFORMANCE

Chillen & Grillen

Het Theaterfestival

4 July to 29 August Ever since Ghent’s old docks were repurposed as a community centre in 2011, the site has been thriving with culture, leisure and sport – especially during summertime, when DOK installs its postindustrial beach. Every Saturday during the season (except for a two-week pause for the Gentse Feesten) DOKstrand hosts the deluxe neighbourhood barbecue Chillen & Grillen. Resident grill guru Slammy serves up the edibles, while Flanders’ finest DJs and musicians provide the atmosphere. The cocktail bar is open until midnight. Early birds can also catch the Copa DOK beach football tournament on selected afternoons. \ GV

DOK, Ghent dokgent.be

3-13 September Think of this annual festival as a theatrical greatest-hits compilation. Every year a jury of professionals invites a selection of the previous season’s best loved Dutch-language productions for one final bow. The festival is hosted this year by Brussels’ Kaaitheater but also works its way into Bronks, KVS, Wiels and CC Strombeek Grimbergen.

Brussels get tic

kets n ow

Across Brussels theaterfestival.be

This edition’s stand-outs include Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s dance-as-exhibition Work/Travail/ Arbeid and Antwerp-based theatre company Olympique Dramatique’s adaptation of American playwright Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning August: Osage County (pictured).

Het Theaterfestival performances tend to sell out, so book early. \ GV

Brussel Bad: A beach in the canal area of Brussels featuring heaps of sand and the atmosphere of a beach party, with sports, lounge chairs, cocktails, activities for kids and a free music festival. 3 July to 9 August, Sainctelettesquare, Akenkaai

\ brusselbad.be

TALK Brussels Robert Phillips: Change, The Only Agency We Need: The British author and authority on communication talks about the death of public relations and outdated, hierarchical ways of working, with an aim to put radical honesty at the heart of business and politics (in English). 8 July 18.3023.00, Full Circle, venue to be announced \ fullcircle.eu

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\ BACKPAGE

july 1, 2015

Talking Dutch Last but not least

Brianna Mahon @bmahon56 Grabbed the bull by the horns and walked him across the floor for the wheelie contest win in Brussels! @MonsterJam

Derek Blyth More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu

Y

ou might have thought Belgium was a sporty nation, what with Kim Clijsters and judo, and all those cyclists whizzing around the country on a Sunday morning.

But not according to a report that looked at sports in 15 countries, in which Belgium comes near the bottom.

België is een barslecht sportland – Belgium is rubbish at sport, reported De Standaard. Vlaamse en Waalse sporters halen veel minder medailles dan je eigenlijk van een land als het onze zou mogen verwachten – Flemish and Walloon sportspeople win far fewer medals than we would expect from a country like ours.

Veerle De Bosscher, professor of sports policy and management at the Free University of Brussels (VUB), explained how the report came up with its findings.

Op basis van onder meer de welvaart in een land en het bevolkingsaantal – On the basis of factors such as the standard of living in a country and its population, kun je een cijfer bepalen aan medaillepunten dat dat land zou moeten halen op Olympische Spelen, WK’s en EK’s – you can come up with a figure for the number of medals that such a country should win in the Olympic Games, World Cups and European Cups, De Bosscher told De Standaard.

Een gouden medaille telt dan voor drie punten – A gold medal counts for three points, een zilveren voor twee – a silver for two, en een bronzen voor één – and a bronze one. België haalt voor de periode 2009-2012 18 punten – Belgium scored 18 points in the period 2009-2012.

Eigenlijk hadden dat er 29 moeten zijn – But it should have been 29.

With its miserable tally, Belgium came third from last, ahead of Portugal and Estonia. How could this happen

CONNECT WITH US

Anita Kelly @LiminoLady #RW15 stage drinks: @Hozier: tea with tea bag still in. @royalblooduk: bourbon from the bottle © Erik Drost/Wikimedia Commons

in a country famous for its cycling and tennis talent?

De Bosscher offered an answer. Het ligt aan ons sportbeleid en aan onze mentaliteit: te snel content – It’s down to our sports policy and our mentality: We’re too easily pleased.

The best-performing country was France, with 284 points, followed by Australia on 280. The Netherlands also scored well, with 118 points, while even little Denmark totted up 48 points.

Now Belgian officials are starting to panic. Behaalt België volgend jaar op de Olympische Spelen in Brazilië helemaal geen medailles? – Could Belgium win no medals at all at the Olympic Games in Brazil next year? Het valt niet uit te sluiten, vreest zelfs het BOIC – Even the Belgian Olympics Committee admits it’s not impossible.

Flemish sport minister Philippe Muyters pointed out that Flanders is still in the early stages of implementing a programme to train top athletes. Je praat over generaties van atleten die ondersteund moeten worden – You’re talking about generations of athletes that have to be supported, he said. Het is een werk van lange adem – It’s a long-term project.

So we might win more medals one day. But don’t hold your breath.

Tweet us your thoughts @FlandersToday

Poll

a. No, defence lawyers often drag a case out in order to eventually obtain an acquittal

18% b. Yes, otherwise time after charges are made could be used to gather more evidence. A limit is needed

9% c. For some crimes, sure. But some cases are more serious than others and should never run out of time to convict

73% tion: Should there be a statute of limitations?

A clear majority of you support the idea of imposing a time limit on most court cases, but not the more serious ones. The question facing jurists and legislators is to work out whether complex fraud is serious enough to extend its statute of limitations. It’s one of the easiest types of case for defence lawyers

to drag out, and the latest case is a good example.

Maybe what’s needed, you think, is a sliding scale, so that the more serious the fraud, the more time the prosecution gets to bring it to court. Perhaps also some kind of tightening up of the rules on frivolous motions and adjournments would encourage lawyers to get on with it.

\ Next week's question: Brussels city centre now has the largest pedestrian zone in Europe. Will you be more encouraged to visit the area now?

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

\ 16

In response to: Antwerp to measure crowds through mobile phone data Jack Cross But this is a leader in the surveillance of people. The article positions it as a happy innovation going forward.

In response to: Talking Dutch: Last but not least Trent McGiffert I was really disappointed in Belgium at the last Olympics.

In response to: Delhaize and Albert Heijn announce merger agreement Melanie Breuer Vasco Youpiee! I love A.H.’s salads!

In response to: Citizens of Aalst, let your lawns run wild and free Joyce Gill My lawns are fully in tune with nature, so is my nettle patch.

LIKE US

facebook.com/flanderstoday

the last word

Do you think time on major court cases should be allowed to expire, leaving noone culpable in the end?

Earlier this month, a court in Leuven dropped a massive corruption case. The case against 55 staff of Belgium’s buildings agency dated back to 2007 and alleged that property developers and building contractors paid bribes to agency officials – extremely serious allegations.

But the case was dropped because time ran out. So we asked the ques-

VoiceS of flanders today

Back in the saddle

Service with a smile

“I had to promise I would stop if I got tired, but I feel good. I’m allowed to work, and that’s when I feel my best.”

“Customers come for the first time because they think people with Down’s are cheerful and fun.

But they keep on coming because the food is delicious.”

Ghent mayor Daniël Termont is back at work after surgery for colon cancer, several weeks earlier than anticipated

Field trials “After only two minutes my first match comes in. Fifteen minutes later, there are six men on my list.

An hour later, the number is 25.”

Flemish journalist Marlies Madden tested the Tinder smartphone dating app at Rock Werchter, with some success

Thijs Swinkels, founder of the Brownies & Downies restaurant chain in the Netherlands, where customers are served by workers with Down’s syndrome, plans an outlet in Flanders

Balance of power “This is the first day of a test phase. We’ll see how it turns out.”

Nicolas Liekendael is one of two Brussels police officers patrolling the new pedestrian zone on a Segway electric scooter

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