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Art attack

As a proposal to allow asylum-seekers to work sooner gathers support, Unizo talks to refugees about self-employment

An Antwerpenaar has developed an app that tells wheelchair users which Flemish restaurants, shops and venues are accessible

A Brussels non-profit is working to integrate arts and culture into other subjects to get students to see the world differently

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OK, computers

© Hero Images/Corbis

Flanders faces the challenge of integrating digital technologies in the classroom Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

How do we expect teachers who didn’t grow up being taught technology to teach with it effectively themselves?

An expert from UGent has been investigating how ICT can best be used in Flanders’ schools.

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echnology is everywhere; there’s no getting around it.

The Internet of Things is no longer on the way; we are inside it. If my phone can tell me how far I’ve walked today, then I am one of the Things.

But if teachers have to teach children how to use technology and also have to use technology to teach them other subjects, like maths or geography, what is the situation regarding the education of teachers? How do they learn not only to use information and communications technology (ICT), but to teach it?

Dr Jo Tondeur of the educational studies department of Ghent University carries out research into ICT integration in schools, as well as the interplay between ICT innovations

and professional development. On the one hand, he helps teachers keep up with the shape-shifting world of digital technology. On the other, he monitors the difference that makes to what’s going on in the classroom.

“First, it might be important to make clear what we mean when we talk about ICT,” Tondeur advises. “Do we mean computers, interactive whiteboards, specific hardware or software, applications for social media? It’s difficult to talk about ICT as a single fact or construct.”

In one of his studies he discovered three main types of ICT use in primary education in Flanders: as a search tool, like looking for information on the internet; to teach pupils technical skills, such as the use of a keyboard and mouse or how to insert a picture in a Word file; and as a learning tool, to practise certain types of knowledge and skills.

So, he says, it’s important that we take a multi-dimensional approach when we look at integration of technology in the classroom.

Another factor is the personal beliefs of the individual teacher, whether their pedagogical view is student-centred or a more traditional teacher-centred one. Different belief systems lead to different ways of using ICT. Pupil-centred teachers are open to all uses, while teacher-centred teachers are less likely to take up technology as an information tool because of the direct relationship between the pupil and the device and the freedom it offers. But they are keen on using it to develop knowledge and skills.

You also have to consider the role of the school and its characteristics, says Tondeur. “What we’ve found, for instance, is that schools with a good ICT policy plan or a positive attitude about ICT in general are using it more often in the classroom,” he says.

It’s important not only to have an ICT plan but that it be a plan developed in consultation with teachers, he emphasises. “Sometimes teachers are not even aware of what it consists of,” he says. “It’s important that they are partners continued on page 5

\ CURRENT AFFAIRS

Aquino drugs trial re-opens Judge refuses adjournment request after shooting death of main defendant Alan Hope Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT

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he trial of the Aquino drugs syndicate resumed in Hasselt on Monday with a motion to adjourn to a later date, following the death of one of the gang’s alleged leaders, Silvio Aquino, who was gunned down last month in Opglabbeek.

The judge refused to grant another postponement, allowing only two days for lawyers to view new evidence before the trial started again on Wednesday. Members of the Aquino family join more than 30 accused of a battery of charges, including drugs trafficking and money laundering.

The main reason for demanding an adjournment was to await a ruling on a defence complaint against an alleged gang infil-

trator, which would render his evidence inadmissible. But two courts have already ruled on that question and rejected it as grounds for a mistrial.

Defence lawyers also argued for a delay on behalf of defendant Silvia Likova, the widow of Silvio Aquino, who was shot in their car in front of her. Finally, the defence argued that the trial should not resume until the shooters are identified.

One lawyer even claimed that police officers could have been involved in the hit.

The judge ruled that none of those was reason enough to stop the trial again after the long delays it has already undergone.

The case continues, but further legal challenges are expected.

© Kristof Van Accom/BELGA

An Aquino defence lawyer, Inez Weski, talks to the press

Flanders’ Week of Literacy focuses on young people

Courtesy Flemish Port Day Ghent

Four cities celebrate Flemish Port Day on 20 September Members of the public are invited on Sunday, 20 September, to take part in Flemish Port Day. Under the theme “There is more music in the port than you’d think” all the region’s ports will be open to visitors, with port workers of a musical bent providing entertainment.

Among the attractions in Antwerp, the region’s largest port, is a maritime village at the Kattendijkdok-Westkaai, which offers visits aboard three kinds of ships: the dredger De Neus; Echo, which takes soundings in the river; and the buoy layer vessel Zeeschelde.

On quay 102 is a technical village representing the many various jobs in the port. On the right bank of the river, meanwhile, the customs post, wind energy company Vleemo, warehousing company Vollers and the Port Centre in Lillo will all be open to the public for organised visits.

Similarly, on the left bank, the port’s safety training facility and a container terminal will be open. Sea Scouts will take part in a rowing and sailing competition.

There are food trucks at multiple locations at the Antwerp port as well as children’s activities. At two locations, Delwaide and Deurgangkdok, visitors can take a boat trip on the river. All locations are linked by a free shuttle bus, leaving from Kattendijkdok-Westkaai on the right bank and from Kallosluis on the left.

Similar activities are also being organised at Flanders’ three other ports: Ghent, Ostend and Zeebrugge. \ AH

60,000

The fifth edition of the Week of Literacy in Flanders highlights the problems of illiteracy among young people. Flemish education minister Hilde Crevits opened the campaign last week at the De Grote Post cultural centre in Ostend.

Although youngsters in Flanders don’t score badly on literacy compared to other countries, one out of 10 is insufficiently literate, according to a study by the PIAAC, an initiative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

“That means that they are not

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of children often travel to school by car, a figure that’s far too high, according to motoring organisation Touring

inform young people about the many opportunities for them to improve their literacy skills: at school, the library, a sports club or a local association.

Students from 13 schools created giant letters for the campaign, which can be spotted on main squares or train stations in Ostend, Kortrijk, Ghent, Aalst, Sint-Niklaas, Genk and Leuven.

Put together, they form the slogan Jong & Geletterd (Young & Literate). There is also is a campaign website and video to raise awareness. \ Andy Furniere

ITM launches study on a preventative drug for HIV The Institute for Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp is has launched the Be-PrEP-ared study, the first Flemish research project on the applicability of preventative HIV medication. The researchers hope that the study, which focuses on gay men, can help to reduce the high number of new HIV infections among the target group.

PrEP, short for pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a pill with HIV inhibitors meant for temporary use by people who don’t have HIV but are at a high risk of infection. The project will examine if gay men are willing to use PrEP, how conscientiously the pills are taken, how the use of PrEP is experienced and whether the use

€5 00 ,00 0

of condoms is altered.

“PrEP is a promising medication, but the consequences have to be examined closely before the strategy can be introduced in our country,” said professor Marie Laga, co-ordinator of Be-PrEPared.

Every day, there are three new HIV diagnoses in Belgium, mainly among gay men and residents with origins in Sub-Saharan Africa. Among Belgian men, more than 80% of new infections are transmitted via sexual contact.

Two hundred men are needed for the ITM study and can apply for consideration to be part of the study until 24 September. The study is being carried out with

support of the Flemish government’s Agency for Innovation in Science and Technology and in collaboration with relevant partners such as sexual health centre Sensoa and LGBT rights organisation Cavaria. \ AF

40,000 75

57% visitors to the recent Belgian Beer Weekend in Brussels’ Grote Markt, 10,000 fewer than last year, thanks largely to bad weather on Saturday, normally the busiest day

able to use language, numbers or graphic data to participate fully in our society,” explained Crevits.

You need to be literate, she said, to understand a manual, for example, to use online banking or to write an email to a public institution.

Research shows that the number of people between 16 and 24 who are functionally illiterate is increasing. Most of these youngsters have also had difficulties obtaining a secondary school diploma and getting a job.

One of the campaign’s goals is to

subsidy approved by Flemish minister Sven Gatz for the new culture tower on the campus of the Free University of Brussels (VUB), which will house the successor to the legendary Kultuurkaffee

tonnes of cheese to be produced annually by the monks of Westmalle abbey, up from the current 20 tonnes, to allow them to use more of their own cows’ milk and rely less on market prices

animals a week will be slaughtered at the new Sus Campiniae slaughterhouse in Westerlo, which will be the largest in the country when completed. The project just received a planning permit

september 16, 2015

WEEK in brief Two students and a teacher at a school in Herzele, East Flanders, are carriers of the tuberculosis bacillus, an investigation of more than 100 people connected to the school has discovered. Last May, a 14-year-old girl died of complications of TB, triggering the investigation. The carriers suffer no symptoms, but they will be given a preventive treatment, the Agency for Treatment and Health said.

Car-free Sunday in Brussels, which takes place on 20 September, will begin half an hour later than usual, at 9.30, a conference of the 19 mayors agreed, to give families more time to get out of town by car. Car traffic is forbidden until 19.00 without a special licence issued by the local municipality.

Bernard Wesphael, the former Walloon MP accused of murdering his wife in an Ostend hotel room in October 2013, will be tried by a jury next February, it was announced last week. Wesphael maintains that his wife, Veronique Pirotton, committed suicide. He was released to await a trial date in August last year, after serving 10 months on remand.

The mayor of Brussels-City and the organisers of the Memorial Van Damme athletics meet have issued a call to ministers from the three communities to join in a task force to determine the future of the competition, which took place in the Koning Boudewijn stadium last Friday. The stadium is due to be demolished by 2020, and there is no athletics track planned for the new national stadium nearby.

“The Memorial is the flagship of Belgian athletics,” according to Brussels sports alderman Alain Courtois. “So it’s not fair to let Brussels pick up all of the cost.”

A court in Ypres has begun hearing appeals in the case of the giant

face of flanders chain of collisions that took place on the A19 near Zonnebeke in December 2013. The accident was caused when vehicles on the road ran suddenly into a wall of freezing fog. A total of 131 vehicles were involved, and 74 drivers were charged. Two of those were acquitted; the others were given fines and, in some cases, suspended sentences and made to pay a share of the €80,000 cost of the case. The drivers appealing their sentences cite force majeure, an argument already rejected by the lower court.

More and more teenagers are suffering from head lice because of putting their heads close together to take selfies, according to the head lice clinic in Kieldrecht, East Flanders. Three times as many total cases have been reported so far this year compared to last year, with more teenagers than ever before.

The chances are “very high” that the raccoon is breeding in the wild in Flanders, according to the Institute for Nature and Forestry Research (Inbo). During the summer, a family of raccoons was captured in Schepdaal, part of Dilbeek, while a young raccoon was found dead in Hoeilaart, also in Flemish Brabant. Raccoons are more common in the south of the country, with only sporadic sightings in Flanders, and no sign they were breeding here. But the dead beast was only 14 or 15 months old, which meant it was too young to be living alone, INBO said.

After some discussion and much doubt, the government of Flanders is seeking a new official architect, following the dismissal of Peter Swinnen in February amid accusations of conflict of interest.

For a time, it seemed as though the post would not be refilled, with deputy Stefan Devoldere running the office until the end of Septem-

ber. He is now in place until the end of the year, with Swinnen’s successor to be installed in January and to serve until 2020. Applications are open until 4 October.

Three-time murderer Ronald Janssen has been moved from Leuven Central prison to a highersecurity facility in Beveren.

According to reports unconfirmed by prison authorities, he may have been preparing an escape attempt.

Last month Janssen was stopped from taking part in communal activities, made to exercise alone and had to see his visitors from behind a glass screen.

Marlene Mulkens, a campaigner for homeless rights who lived on the streets of Brussels herself for a time, has launched a campaign to provide Homeless Tipis for street people this coming winter.

Together with the charity Corvia, she aims to give out the fourperson tents to people sleeping rough, who have been increasingly moved out of railway and metro stations. “As long as they set up the tents where there is no hindrance for passers-by or other residents, I don’t expect any problems,” she told brusselnieuws.be.

Corvia is selling €1 wristbands to raise funds for the project.

Collectors of Artis Historia points will soon be able to take up their hobby again after an absence of over a decade. The rights to the system – Artis Historia sold general interest books into which collectors could stick photographs they obtained in return for tokens printed on the packaging of various foodstuffs – were bought by publishers Concrea, which will now print tokens on own-brand goods of the supermarket chain Carrefour. In its heyday, up to 1.25 million Belgian households collected Artis Historia points, but the business went bust in 2004.

OFFSIDE Both sides now It’s bad enough getting your kids kitted out to go back to school without having one of them come home on the first day with a fine of €165. But that’s what happened to 16-year-old Emma De Haan from Antwerp.

Emma, it seems, rode her bike the wrong way up a oneway street. Which is perfectly legal in Belgium. Emma was one of a dozen or so cyclists caught by police cycling against the traffic on Begijnenstraat on her way home from Sint-Lieven’s college.

But according to Toon Wassenberg, socialist member of the city council, Emma was doing nothing wrong.

“According to the Highway Code, cyclists may ride in both directions in any street that is at least 3.5 metres wide and is in a 30 km/h zone. The Begijnenstraat is inside a zone 30. The traffic police need to explain why it should be one way only.”

It’s also, as our photo shows, more than 3.5m in width.

But, according to one lawyer, Emma would do better just to pay the fine. Jorgen Van Laer runs the website mijnboete.be and said that the cost of taking it to court and losing is likely to be more than the fine. Accord-

© Courtesy Gentblogt

ROA

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rs longa, industria brevis, as the Romans might have put it. Last week it was announced that the old Baertsoen-Buysse textiles factory on what is known as the Malmar site in the SintAmandsberg district of Ghent is to be demolished to make way for co-housing for senior citizens.

Nobody will regret the passing of the long-abandoned factory for a second, so long as the paintings it contains, about 50 of them, are saved.

For years, the deserted factory has been a sort of atelier for the anonymous street artist known as ROA, who specialises in animals, usually dead or rapidly heading that way. ROA is one of the generation of artists whose works are now more valuable than the property they were once considered to be vandalising.

The pope of this movement may still be Banksy, but ROA is close on his heels. ROA began in the 1980s, and his work can now be seen around the world – from New York to Brazil, from Australia to Canada – both commissioned and not.

He’s even collaborated with U2 on the animated video for the

group’s single “Sleep Like a Baby Tonight” – a complete diversion from his trademark animal imagery.

Most of ROA’s works are monumental, taking up the whole or most of the side of a building, such as the banded anteater on a building in Fremantle, Australia, hanging animals in Berlin or the rat in Mechelen.

Like Banksy, it’s amazing he’s continued to remain anonymous – and uncaught by the police. The works are mainly in black and white, but must still have taken hours to complete.

According to experts, ROA’s many works in the Malmar site (a few pictured) are priceless, which makes it vital for them to be saved. They will probably be integrated as decoration into the new project.

“It’s nice that the city wants to save his work, but I don’t think ROA would lose any sleep” if they disappeared, Bjorn Van Poucke of Street Art Belgium told De Morgen. “The works date back to 2009, and in street art terms that’s an eternity.” The actual value of the works, he said, is “impossible to estimate.” \ 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.

© Google Street View

ing to his site, there is no general exception for cyclists to the one-way system, although some streets have a particular exclusion to allow cyclists to go both ways.

“The days when police courts went easy on cyclists are a decade behind us,” he warned. \ AH

Editor Lisa Bradshaw DEPUTY Editor Sally Tipper CONTRIBUTING Editor Alan Hope sub Editor Linda A Thompson Agenda Robyn Boyle, Georgio Valentino Art director Paul Van Dooren Prepress 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

Editorial address Gossetlaan 30 - 1702 Groot-Bijgaarden tel 02 467 23 06 editorial@flanderstoday.eu subscriptions tel 03 560 17 49 subscriptions@flanderstoday.eu or order online at www.flanderstoday.eu Advertising 02 467 24 37 advertising@flanderstoday.eu Verantwoordelijke uitgever Hans De Loore

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\ POLITICS

5TH COLUMN Under pressure

In Flanders, politics is just as divided over the refugee crisis as are other European regions.

N-VA stands out, with its plea for a special statute for recognised asylum-seekers, who would have limited access to social benefits.

In spite of criticism, the nationalists are sticking by this idea. “We either build a wall around our social security or build a wall around the country,” MP Sarah Smeyers said last week.

At the same time, N-VA is responsible for handling the crisis, with Theo Francken as secretary of state for migration and asylum. His predecessor, Maggie De Block (Open VLD) became immensely popular because the number of asylum-seekers actually dropped during her term. Whether Francken will become as popular remains to be seen.

For the moment, he feels beleaguered on all sides. The right blames him for the rising numbers of asylum-seekers.

The left is suspicious of the 250 daily limit for new registrations, imposed for practical reasons, and they blame Francken for the improvised tent camp that has popped up in the park outside the Office for Foreigners in Brussels.

The tensions seem to be getting to Francken himself.

After only a few refugees opted for the overnight shelter he had opened near the Brussels park, he tweeted: “I offer basic pre-shelter. Only 14 accept.

They simply do not want it.

Tent camp too comfy apparently. Criticism stops here.

Apologies welcome. Thanks.”

The Twitter incident is one of many in Flemish politics (remember prime minister Yves Leterme accidentally publicly tweeting private messages and minister Vincent Van Quickenborne announcing the fall of the federal government by tweet).

Once again, a politician has proven he is less than adept at using the social medium.

Prime minister Charles Michel (MR) defended Francken’s “good work” last week but regretted his “communication”. Jan Peumans, speaker of the Flemish parliament, was more direct, when he called on his fellow nationalists to “keep their mouths shut”.

Keeping Francken quiet is not that easy, though, what with his disposition and the pressure he is under. After Germany decided over the weekend to close its borders, he spoke out again. “We had to become more like Germany?

Now we know what that means,” he said in an interview with the website Newsmonkey. \ Anja Otte

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Refugee camp to be evacuated

Call for asylum-seekers in Brussels to move to alternative accommodation Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

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lexander De Croo, federal minister of development policy, has called for the tent campsite in Maximilianpark in Brussels (pictured) to be cleared and accommodation found elsewhere for the refugees.

“The media of the world are here and trying to show that we are unable to manage the refugee crisis, whereas the reverse is true,” De Croo said. “The time has come for the city of Brussels to say that people can't go on living in a public park like this.”

If he had been mayor, he told newspaper Le Soir, he would not have permitted the situation to deteriorate into what he called “a campsite, a market, almost a music festival”.

Brussels-City mayor Yvan Mayeur, meanwhile, pointed the finger at the federal government and asylum minister Theo Francken.

Francken has now made available alternative accommodation for the refugees, in the nearby WTC-III office building close to North Station.

Both the WTC and the tent campsite are avail-

© Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto/Corbis

able to asylum-seekers who are awaiting more permanent accommodation when they have been processed by the Office for Foreigners.

The offer of indoor accommodation at WTC was not enthusiastically taken up by the refugees last week because of a lack of privacy compared to the tents and the announcement that it was open to them only evenings and nights.

On the first evening it was open, only 14 people showed up to take advantage of the

WTC bed space. The following day, another 24 took advantage of the indoor facilities.

The problem, according to the Red Cross, is that the accommodation is for sleeping only; in the morning, refugees have to leave the premises and presumably return to the park where they can obtain food, clothing and medical attention. Refugees, particularly those with children, the Red Cross said, also prefer a tent, which allows some privacy, to the offer of one room full of cots. The government now plans to provide showers and lockers to make the space more appealing, especially to families.

“We are providing accommodation and people can make use of it, but they are not obliged to,” said An Luyten of the Red Cross.

But she thinks a downturn in the weather will change the situation. “Last night was reasonably warm, but I assume that from the moment it gets colder or starts raining, more people will coming looking for accommodation in the WTC.”

Protest against Marine Le Pen visit to Flemish parliament

Head of special tax investigations calls for anti-fraud squad

Several hundred people were expected to take part in a demonstration in Brussels on Tuesday against a planned visit to the Flemish parliament by Marine Le Pen, president of the French Front National and daughter of the group’s founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen. The demonstration was organised by the groups Blokbuster and Active Students of the Left (ALS). The event was due to begin at 19.00 at Surlet de Chokierplein, close to the Flemish parliament, and proceed to Luxemburgplein.

Le Pen was visiting at the invitation of the far-right party Vlaams Belang to take part in a confer-

The head of the special tax investigations office (BBI) has called for the creation of a single anti-fraud unit under the authority of one minister. At present, anti-fraud forces are spread across various services.

The BBI is a relatively small office within the finance ministry; economic and social fraud are separate. According to BBI director Frank Philipsen, speaking on the VRT programme De vrije markt (The Free Market), a unified service would achieve better results on all fronts.

“Fiscal fraud leads to social and economic fraud,” he said. “Ideally we could bundle our resources.”

He called for the government to set

ence on national sovereignty.

This is the second time she has been invited to the parliament: Last year she was due to come, but had to cancel.

The organisers of the demo said it was an expression of their opposition to the ideas and practices of extreme right-wing groups. “The massive arrival of refugees is being used by the extreme right to encourage racism and divisiveness,” said Julien Englebert of ALS. “Refugees and migrants are being made the scapegoats of the economic crisis of capitalism. What we are saying is: Take on the multinationals, not the victims.” \ AH

© Ingimage

up “an autonomous agency under the authority of one minister, preferably the prime minister.” That would provide, he said, a single way of working, regardless of the type of fraud being dealt with.

Bart Tommelein, secretary of state for fighting social fraud, welcomed the proposal. “Good co-operation between all inspection services pays off,” he tweeted. “I absolutely agree with that. I also agree with the boss of the BBI. Let’s do it!” \ AH

Support for letting refugees work after four months Refugees from a war zone, including many of those currently fleeing the conflict in Syria, should be allowed to work after being in Belgium for four months, federal labour minister Kris Peeters has proposed. The idea has received support from both unions and employers, said his office.

At present, asylum-seekers may only work six months after being registered, but all sides now seem in favour of reducing the period for those fleeing war. At the request of social partners, Peeters has proposed conditions to prevent abuse of any new system.

On Wednesday Peeters (pictured) invited the members of the so-called Group of Ten – made up of employers and unions – to discuss the proposal and found broad support. “The sooner refugees can gain access to the labour market, the sooner their process of integration can begin,” said Jan Vercamst of the liberal union ACLVB. Meanwhile Unizo, the organisation that repre-

sents the self-employed in Flanders, has offered training to newly arrived refugees to help them find work or to become self-employed.

Unizo set up its own tent in the park, where refugees could be informed of the procedure for finding a job or starting their own business. According to a spokesperson, there is a strong desire among the refugees for various types of information. Syrians in particular are highly motivated to be self-employed; according to the publication Trading Economics, more than one in three people living in Syria are self-employed.

Unizo’s intervention, the spokesperson said, was also a way of sending out the message that “there are among the refugees people with many skills and much potential”. Many companies in Flanders, unable to fill vacancies for skilled jobs, are looking forward to the arrival on the jobs market of the refugees, many of whom are trained and educated, according to Unizo.

Among the interested parties are the companies represented by the construction federation and

© Courtesy krispeeters.be

the technology federation Agoria. “We notice that there are well trained and technically skilled people among the refugees,” said Marc Dillen of the Flemish Construction Confederation (VCB).

“Many of them already speak English, which will make taking them on a lot easier.”

Unizo will also be schooling its own members on the procedure for hiring asylum-seekers. \ AH

\ COVER STORY

september 16, 2015

OK, computers

Teachers need to work together to integrate ICT into all subjects

TEACHERDESIGNTEAMS.BE

continued from page 1

in the development of the policy, that they’re aware of the school’s vision and how it’s related to their beliefs about good education, who is involved in development of policy and which strategies they are using to implement the plan.”

One problem schools have to face is the digital divide – some children have all sorts of devices available to them at home, others do not.

“Children who don’t have access at home make up about 2% of the pupils in education in Flanders,” he says. “So 98% of children in Flanders have access to computers at home. But those 2% are still a problem.”

In terms of the digital divide, “Access to ICT isn’t the biggest problem in Flanders. The biggest problem is how to effectively use it,” he says. “How to look up information on the internet, for example. What I often see is that children are given a question, and they look it up on the internet. They copy and paste information from the first hit and that’s it. The school can play an important role there.”

For that to happen, though, teachers need to be up to speed themselves. And it turns out that one of the best ways of achieving this is a version of the low-tech classic style of teaching surgical operations: see one, do one, teach one.

Teacher Design Teams are, as the name suggests, a way for teachers to collaborate so that everyone achieves the highest level of competence.

“The good thing about Teacher Design Teams is that it’s a group of two or more teachers – or teacher educators or pre-service teachers – working together and learning how to use new technology in education, but at the same time making curriculum materials, lesson plans and projects,” Tondeur explains. “At the end of that sort of professional development, they’ve learned a lot, but it’s also related to their practical work.”

“We often use the ADDIE model, which stands for Analyse – what do I need to develop; Decide – how to use technology and which technology to use; Develop the course; Implement it and Evaluate it – come together in the design group and discuss the results.”

It’s a bottom-up approach. The members of the team decide for themselves how often they come together, either face to face or online, and they develop materials together. Tondeur: “I think with the support of an expert or coach, this can be a very interesting way to look at professional development.”

Tondeur’s research is not only highly regarded, with more than 2,100 citations in scholarly jour-

© Hero Images/Corbis

From toddlers to teens, pupils expect their teachers to use the technologies that form a big part of their lives

nals since 2010, it’s also in many ways pioneering. Instead of simply describing the conditions like a landscape artist, he and his department are plotting the route future travellers will take. One of the main topics of his research at the moment is pre-service teachers and teacher education.

“Most future teachers now are

Access to ICT isn’t the biggest problem. The biggest problem is how to effectively use it what we call digital natives,” he says, “who grew up using technology as a matter of course. That doesn’t mean they know how to use ICT in education, of course, because they may have missed out on good examples in their own education. I believe pre-service training can help them, but the evidence shows that new teachers often don’t know how to use ICT in the classrooms. They’re required to do it, but they haven’t been shown how.”

The key, he says, is to achieve three things: technical, pedagogical and content knowledge. Like the four humours of Aristotle, the body can only be healthy when all the elements are in balance, which is not always the case.

“Teacher training institutions often have the technological knowledge, but they don’t know how to link it to pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge,” he explains. “What we did in one of our studies was to look for good strategies to help teacher education institutions understand these three elements.

“We saw that we needed to provide clearer role models, give the time to reflect about the role of ICT in education, which is often not the case, and teach student teachers how to collaborate to design technology-rich lessons. And we need to provide feedback, which is also missing in our teacher educators.”

According to Tondeur, what we’re seeing now in Flanders is that teachers realise it’s not enough just to have a course about technical skills; they want a more integrated approach. “But in a lot of education institutions, ICT is absent because teacher educators aren’t ready to integrate ICT in their own teaching.”

Institutions, he says, are starting to realise this and trying to develop a new course about the educational use of technology, where you combine technological knowledge

Teaching the teachers: Jo Tondeur

and pedagogical knowledge. “But what’s missing then is content knowledge: how ICT can be used for specific courses.”

It may sound like an avalanche of learning that’s being asked of new teachers and their own teachers alike, but there’s still room, Tondeur assures, for turning off the computer and going back to old-fashioned methods.

“This comes back to the three key elements, where the technical part is also paper and pen, not only

digital technology. We need to help teachers develop an understanding of when to use which technology in specific content areas with specific pedagogical goals.

“If we can help by using teacher design teams, that’s a good start.

And they might realise that sometimes it’s better not to use technology but paper and pencils. Or the blackboard instead of the interactive whiteboard.”

\5

\ BUSINESS

week in business Air Korongo The Congo-based affiliate of Brussels airlines is to cease operations after three years of activity. The decision by authorities to launch a competing national Congolese carrier has sealed the fate of Korongo.

Car distribution Alcopa The car importer and distributor, based in Kontich, Antwerp province, and handling brands such as Hyundai, Suzuki, Isuzu and SsangYong, is taking over the French Imexso group, which handles some 10,000 vehicles a year in northern France.

Chemicals Vynova The chemical products company, based in Tessenderlo, Limburg, is investing tens of millions of euros to build an on-site chlorine and potassium oxide production unit.

Gas Fluxys The Brussels-based gas supply and pipeline operator is eyeing a share of the Greek gas transport company Desfa in partnership with Azerbaijan’s state gas operator Socar. The move would allow Fluxys to participate in the projected gas pipeline linking Turkey with western European consumers.

HVAC Vandewalle The ventilation and climate technology company, based in Jabbeke, West Flanders, has been taken over by Cofely Axima, an affiliate of the French Engie energy group.

Packaging Van Genechten The Turnhout-based cardboard and packaging products group is taking over a Hungarian cardboard production unit from the Swedish company Stora Enso.

Shipping CMB The stock market-quoted shipping group in Antwerp is turning private by its leading shareholder, Marc Saverys, in a €270 million buyout. The move, pricing the shares at a 20% premium on their last quotation, will give Saverys total control of the company, which is severely affected by the low shipping rates in the bulk freight market.

\6

VRT plans to cut 286 jobs

Flemish public broadcaster must save €25 million, unions promise action Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

U

nions representing staff at the Flemish public broadcaster VRT have vowed to fight the plan to cut 286 full-time jobs, after details of the restructuring of the organisation were leaked. The broadcaster’s goal is to save €25 million by 2020.

“In five years’ time, 286 jobs have to go,” said one union representative. “On top of that, 93 colleagues have to leave to work for external companies. This goes much further than the savings announced and would cause a real social bloodbath.”

Managing director Leo Hellemans said that he is “convinced that this proposal will be good for the VRT. If we implement this plan, we will have the stability we need for the coming years.”

The job losses would not all come immediately, he said. The procedure allowed for some 50 jobs to go every year until 2020, in consulta-

© Courtesy Vlaamse Bouwmeester

tion with unions. “We are demanding a reasonable plan that does not reduce the effectiveness of our public broadcaster,” unions said in a joint statement. “The transition plan in front of us is reprehensible … and must be stopped.”

Unions representing VRT staff threatened to shut down all services on Tuesday if a meeting

of the board on Monday approved the restructuring plans. As Flanders Today went to press, the board was due to meet for the first official reading of the plan.

At the same time, the three unions set up an action committee. “It looked more like a staff meeting, there were so many people present,” said Luc Vandenhoeck of the socialist union ACOD. “The readiness for action is huge; nobody has anything good to say about the plan.”

“We as a board find that certain changes need to take place, but that the core tasks that form the mission of the public broadcaster must absolutely remain untouched,” commented VRT chair Luc Van den Brande after Thursday’s meeting. “This plan is more than an exercise. It’s very important for us to achieve these aims via social dialogue, with respect for all those involved. I hope everyone can be effected together.”

Brussels Airport enjoys best summer ever Brussels Airport enjoyed its best summer season ever this year, carrying 4.9 million passengers in July and August – 5.1% more than last year, management has announced.

The airport started July on a high note, with growth in the first six months of the year up 10% on the same period in 2014.

By the end of July it had handled a record number of passengers: 2.5 million, an increase of 6.3% on 2014, and an average of about 80,000 people a day. The airport attributed the growth to the increase in the number of flights, transfer passengers and cargo.

Transfers went up spectacularly, by nearly 17%, thanks to the addition of 14 new connections.

In August, the airport handled 2.4 million passengers, 4.1% more than in 2014, with transfer passengers up 13.2% and cargo up by 6.2%. The results were due to the arrival of four new cargo companies: Ethiopian Airways, Qatar Cargo, Yangtze River Express and KF Aerospace.

In related news, Brussels Airlines saw a seat occupancy rate in August of nearly 84%, the highest in the airline’s 13-year history. The number of passengers carried was up 12.5% to more than 700,000. \ AH

© Harry Proudlove/Demotix/Corbis

Protesting farmers clash with police in Brussels More than 4,800 farmers with 1,000 tractors arrived in Brussels last week to demonstrate during a meeting of EU agriculture ministers. As well as the anticipated traffic chaos, the demonstration led to clashes with police.

The day began with loud chants and firecrackers, but, as the protest went on, it became more violent, and police used water cannons and tear gas to try to regain control of the situation. Hay bales were set on fire, and police were pelted with stones and bottles.

“Thanks to the violence of certain hot-heads, our people didn’t get a chance to follow the speeches,” said one farmers’ representative. “We were expecting a friendly demonstration. This is not what we stand for.”

The farmers were protesting against falling prices, particularly for milk and pork, which they blame on ineffective policies. Milk production quotas

were scrapped, and production increased. In addition, Russia imposed a boycott on EU exports, and the Chinese market has started shrinking, albeit after several years of spectacular growth.

The demonstrators demanded EU aid, both in direct financial aid to families in need and in structural aid to compensate for lower prices.

The EU Commission responded with a proposal to pay €500 million in support, as well as help with export promotion to find new markets. The meeting ended, however, without an agreement being reached. According to federal agriculture minister Willy Borsus, the measure does not go far enough.

The government of Flanders, meanwhile, said it would offer credit guarantees for farmers to pay costs, such as animal feed, or for the refinancing of existing debts on more advantageous terms. \ AH

Four Flemish companies nominated for Most Promising prize Consultants EY have announced the four nominees for this year’s government of Flanders’ prize for the Most Promising Enterprise. The competition is organised by EY, De Tijd newspaper and BNP Paribas Fortis.

Destiny in Zaventem is a telecommunications operator that started up in 2008 and now has 1,500 B2B clients. The company owes its success to a personal and solution-oriented approach to the client, the jury said.

Devan Chemicals of Ronse in East Flanders, with offices in the US, UK and Portugal, employs only 43 people but is still a world player in the field of chemical products and processes for textiles.

Their applications are used in every imaginable field of textiles, from bed sheets to sportswear to safety gear for industry. The company won an international award in 2013 for a revolutionary application to allow the colouring of polypropylene fibres.

NGData of Ghent, meanwhile, is an IT company specialised in the management and analysis of complex data, such as that obtained from social media or supermarket customer cards. It develops technology allowing companies to draw up a data genome for each client used to improve the customer experience.

Finally, Vente-Exclusive.com, based in Ruisbroek,

Flemish Brabant, runs a successful shopping website. News came last week that the French site vente-privée.com had acquired a majority stake in the site, which made €90 million in sales last year and aims for €130 million this year.

“Doing business with daring and imagination still pays off in Belgium,” said Rudi Braes, CEO of EY Belgium. “That’s what we want to communicate to promising businesses just starting out. In their development and growth phase, the Flemish government prize is a fine confirmation that all the work leading up to this has been worth it.”

The winner will be announced on 20 October. \ AH

\ INNOVATION

september 16, 2015

Freedom of movement

week in innovation

Fleming’s wheelchair mobility app makes the world a bit broader Linda A Thompson Follow Linda @ThompsonBXL \ flanderstoday.eu

ONWHEELSAPP.COM

M

ichiel Desmet’s plans on his 28th birthday were pretty modest – venture into Antwerp with friends and grab drinks at a bar.

But since a bus accident that left him paralysed from the waist down five months before, casual outings had become something the Berchem local needed to plan in advance – more so than most people.

So he did his homework and scrutinised an online map from the City of Antwerp that spotlighted a number of wheelchair-accessible restrooms across the city. But when he showed up at the McDonalds on Groenplaats, staff told him those “accessible” restrooms were in fact on the first floor. And no, there was no elevator.

The exchange lasted just a few minutes, and Desmet and his friends quickly left, but the incident left him perturbed.

“First, it was a little baffling that the information was incorrect. Second, of course it was frustrating,” he says. “And third, it gave me the idea that I needed to find something that would help me.”

That resolve has since culminated in On Wheels, an app that aims to alleviate the big unknown that often haunts those in a wheelchair – can they get inside or not? It allows users to view and upload information on the accessibility of public locations like coffee shops, pharmacies, banks, government buildings and restaurants.

“The app is really like a personal mobility guide that tells you individually the places in the city you can go to,” Desmet explains. “So you don’t have to call up the store or cafe to find out if you can get in.”

To get started, users simply need to enter the width of their wheelchair and the maximum height of thresholds they can handle and, voila, the app shows users those places accessible to them.

People can also upload their own information anywhere in the world. “You just measure the width of the door, the height of the thresholds, verify if there are wheelchair-accessible restrooms, and whether there’s a place in the business where you can turn around,” Desmet says, explaining that when the latter isn’t possible, that means rolling backwards all the way to the exit. “We verify that information is correct, and if it is, it’s added to the map.”

© Dries Luyten

Michiel Desmet from Berchem was inspired to create an app that gives wheelchair users more freedom in Flanders’ cities

Today, the app offers information on some 9,000 locations across Flanders.

Though equal opportunities state secretary Elke Sleurs announced a €20,000 grant for On Wheels in April, the app was a labour of love from inception to finish. Desmet developed the app and runs the non-profit behind it with three friends, while some 1,700 students from university colleges visited and measured thousands of premises across Flanders as part of Dag van de Zorg, a one-day open-house event for the care and health-care sector organised by the nonprofit of the same name.

With much of urban Flanders pretty much mapped, the capital is up next. Armed with rulers, volunteers from the local non-profit Wheelchairity and a local student club will hit Brussels next month.

This isn’t the first app targeted at wheelchair users, though. Apps like Wheelmate, Wheelmap and Wheelcome, for instance, also aim to help people on the move by colour-coding locations, rating them with stars or labelling them “accessible” or “non-accessible”.

But Desmet found these apps to be confusing.

Holding up his phone with the Wheelcome app open, he says, “Here, you have Christine’s Tobacco Shop, which has one star. But it’s not

clear what one star means. What good is that to you as a user?” he asks. “There was no organisation that did it the way we are doing it.”

At the same time, the app also doesn’t shame non-accessible locations; they simply don’t show up on the map. That was a conscious decision, Desmet explains. “This way, you don’t tell businesses: ‘You’re doing a poor job’.”

The kind of information the app offers is hugely practical, but in Desmet’s view it also has a critical restorative power.

“The world of people who are in a wheelchair is really threatening, especially in the beginning.

First, you have a number of social stigmas, let’s say. Everyone looks at you, and you’re not used to that at first. And second, the world is threatening because you don’t know how you can move in it,” he explains.

“You really limit yourself in your freedom of movement by only going to places you know. Or, in the case of many people in a wheelchair, you go outside a lot less and stay at home a lot more.”

On Wheels won’t help with the psychological adjustment, Desmet says; that’s something wheelchair users have to work out on their own. “But it can help you at the mobility level,” he says. “It’s really as if your place in this world becomes a bit bigger.”

Q&A In his thesis for teacher training in biology and informatics at Brussels’ Odisee University College, Stijn De Vooght examined how the use of tablet computers can improve biology lessons. He tested his theories during an internship at Sint-Jozefscollege in Brussels How did you use the tablets in class?

I tested apps that could be used for different courses and those specifically meant for biology lessons. Kahoot! is an example of an app for any kind of lesson that enables teachers to create a quiz at the end of the lesson – a playful way to summarise the subject matter. A helpful app that’s specific to biology is called Touch, with which students can see the effect of heat and cold on nerve cells. Students can examine what happens when you hold a match to the skin, for example.

How did the pupils react?

The apps helped to involve them in the biology lessons and keep their interest. I think it’s more difficult for teachers who only have presentation slides or textbooks at their disposal to achieve this. The animations should also help students to remember and apply information more easily.

Are there also disadvantages to using tablets and apps?

Not if you make clear agreements. You have to make sure the tablets are only used for concrete exercises, otherwise they could

become a source of distraction.

Can the cost of tablets be a problem?

I don’t think so because tablets also replace certain books, so that compensates for the investment.

Do you think tablets are essential for the future of education?

They can certainly help to improve the quality of lessons. They can also be very useful for integrating pupils with special needs into regular education. Through specialised apps, children with communication difficulties can more easily express their feelings, so teachers can understand their needs better and react more quickly if these students experience difficulties. In my opinion, the trend of increased use of digi-

tal visual applications in schools will only progress and things such as holograms will become common educational tools.

VIB and UGent scientists predict plant size

Scientists connected to the Flemish life sciences research institute (VIB) and Ghent University (UGent) have developed a technique to predict the final size of a plant while it is still a seedling. The breakthrough was made possible through the discovery of a set of genes associated with the final size of a leaf. Plant scientist Joke Baute and colleagues from the Italian Institute of Life Sciences in Pisa conducted a study into the set of all RNA molecules of the cell division zone in corn seedling leaves. The scientists linked a specific set of RNA molecules to external properties, which are not expressed until much later in the growth process, such as final leaf size and biomass production.

Dyslexia also causes memory problems Adults with dyslexia also have difficulty remembering information in the short term, according to PhD researcher Louisa Bogaerts of Ghent University.

Bogaerts, who has dyslexia herself, examined the role of the memory in reading problems. Apart from issues with short-term memory, people with dyslexia also have trouble remembering the order of elements in a series, including the sequence of figures in a telephone number or the letters in a word. The problems with memory concerning order explains why people with dyslexia also have difficulty outside the area of language, such as with learning a series of musical notes.

KU Leuven determine age using DNA Forensic biomedical scientists from the University of Leuven have developed a test to estimate a person’s age through samples of their blood or from their teeth, which could help track down criminals or identify dead bodies. Currently, DNA profiles are used to identify criminals, but if the DNA is unknown, the new test can estimate the perpetrator’s age, with a margin of error of 3.75 years. Blood and teeth samples can also reveal the age of unidentified bodies.

Teeth samples offer a margin of error of 4.86 years. The researchers are the first to have successfully used the aging process embedded in DNA to estimate age. \ AF

\ Interview by Andy Furniere

\7

Your dailY news

Sign up now for our daily and weekly newsletters with local headlines, events and features, tailor-made for expats in Belgium Subscribe for free at www.thebulletin.be

\ EDUCATION

september 16, 2015

The power of art

week in education

Non-profit shows students how culture can effect everything else Andy Furniere More articles by Andy \ flanderstoday.eu

abc-web.be

S

ince the late 1990s, Brussels non-profit ABC – short for Art Basics for Children – has wielded the power of arts and culture to stimulate children’s creativity. Now, it’s ready to take its mission to the next level.

With a new building wing and an even bigger focus on rebooting traditional teaching practices, the organisation hopes to extend its impact on the education sector.

ABC was an initiative of the artist Gerhard Jäger, originally from Austria, who sought to share his knowledge of arts and education with a broader audience than just his own children. After getting his feet wet organising projects for festivals and events, he founded the ABC-house in 2004 on Gaucheretplein, close to Brussels North Station.

ABC-house was set up with financial support from the government of Flanders and the Flemish Community Commission in Brussels. Both are also helping fund the expansion of the house, which should be complete by next February.

The building’s new wing will include two rooms, one of which will be used for physical activities – dancing, for example – and meditative activities like yoga. The other new room will be the “lab classroom”, which will serve as – you guessed it – a laboratory for educational experiments.

For two weeks, schools will be able to book the lab classroom for their regular lessons, which the organisation says will offer a more “uplifting” environment than your typical classroom.

Teachers, meanwhile, will be able to get guidance from the ABC team.

The activities at ABC-house are offered in Dutch, English, French and German. The house also welcomes aspiring teachers, day care centres and families for shorter visits.

“We want to add an artistic dimension to regular education, to integrate arts and culture fully in the normal curriculum, instead of seeing it as just one of the courses,” explains ABC co-ordinator Lien Hemerijckx. “At the same time, we want to gain insight ourselves through this close contact with the traditional way of giving lessons.”

This collaboration has led to a number of practi-

© Ilse Liekens

ABC-house wants to integrate arts and culture more fully into traditional curricula

cal applications. For example, all the ABC-house furniture was created by the staff. Through its spin-off Basisbox, ABC also makes creative learning environments for schools, libraries, museums and other organisations. It designed a studio, for instance, with educational materials for youngsters at the Magritte Museum in Brussels.

“It’s not our goal to train future artists but to familiarise children with the way that artists look at the world and to convert their ideas into concrete works,” Hemerijckx explains. “Hopefully, we can assist children in acquiring an explorative and creative attitude that enables them to be the artists of their own lives.”

ABC-house was designed as one large art studio, with rooms full of books and materials that stimulate creativity. In the workshops, children can create collages and theatre masks, write calligraphy, carve wood or work with textiles.

They also cook their own lunches and can try their hand at gardening.

“Working with one’s hands is an important part of our activities because this can be a calming exercise for children who mostly work on their cognitive skills at school,” explains Hemerijckx.

“Hopefully, they will continue doing such activ-

ities at home.”

The most remarkable room in ABC-house is probably the one with the Kamishibai stage.

Kamishibai is a Japanese method of storytelling in which a set of cards with pictures are fixed onto a small stage. As storytellers narrate their stories, they remove the cards one by one. ABC stays true to this tradition by sending storytellers on bicycles equipped with a Kamishibai stage into the city. One of them is currently entertaining children in the refugee tent camp at the nearby Maximiliaanpark.

This not the first time ABC has taken action for a social cause. In the past, the non-profit has organised activities at the Klein Kasteeltje reception centre for asylum-seekers, also in Brussels.

The staff tries to involve families from disadvantaged backgrounds who live in the North Station neighbourhood as much as possible.

Year-round, ABC reserves half the slots for its Wednesday afternoon workshops for children from the neighbourhood.

Anyone interested in learning more about the activities of ABC-house is welcome to visit on 10 and 11 October, when the non-profit will celebrate the new school year with a mini festival.

Q&A Marc Hermans is the head of the teacher training department at PXL University College, which has just launched a new degree in cultural education

the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren and the cultural centre C-Mine in Genk.

Weren’t there sufficient other degrees to meet the needs of the cultural sector?

Not at the Bachelor’s level. Cultural institutions can find graduates with Master’s degrees in arts and culture, but often those students want to become artists themselves. Degrees and courses really serving the cultural field are rare.

Except for Project Kunstvakken (Project Art Courses), an optional subject in the teacher education course.

We noticed it was becoming very successful among our students. A survey conducted among cultural institutions showed that offering a postgraduate course could produce the profile they were looking for. Students could add

What are the main challenges of launching such a degree?

Well, we wanted to keep enrolment fees low, but that would have required an extra effort from a field already struggling with a shortage of both time and money. [The fee is €400 for one module or € 1,500 for four]. Funding from Brussels education ministry would be welcome.

We are also concerned that staff members of cultural institutions will be confronted with managers who don’t want them to take time for the programme. Going to a seminar for a few hours is much less expensive, of course. But to really professionalise the field, our postgraduate will be far more efficient. \ Interview by Tom Peeters

it to their curriculum, and staff members of cultural institutions would also have the chance to improve their skills.

What courses are being offered as part of the new degree?

We selected four modules. Orientation in Culture is a general module offering a helicopter view of the policy levels responsible for culture. Cultural Education is more theoretical, while Product Development introduces students to action plans and the organisation of guided tours, workshops and so on. The module Culture and Communication was most in demand as writing attractive promotional copy is essential to attracting audiences.

© Courtesy De Standaard

Will all the courses be taught by guests who work in the cultural sector themselves?

Yes, here and on location. We will set up close collaborations with, among others, the Provincial Centre for Cultural Heritage, the Bokrijk Open Air Museum,

Technicians prepare for wind energy sector The universities of Leuven and Ghent have joined forces to establish an English-language post-academic programme in offshore wind energy, which focuses on the technical challenges involved in wind farms.

There are three operational wind farms off the coast of Belgium in the North Sea. Five will soon be added, tripling the capacity. This expansion depends on the availability of qualified staff, the universities said. Because of the shortage of engineers and technicians in Flanders, finding specialised technicians can be challenging. The new programme will train students in regulation, maintenance, monitoring and construction matters related to wind energy.

New teachers must do social work Every student enrolled in teaching studies in Flanders will in the future be required to work on social projects such as organising language classes for non-Dutch speakers or helping young asylum-seekers with homework. That is the central measure included in the “Learning through social commitment” agreement signed by education minister Hilde Crevits and the University Colleges Council. University colleges currently provide students with specific projects, like language camps, to prepare them for future challenges. Apart from teaching, teachers also have to be able to work with non-Dutch speaking students, children from disadvantaged families and youngsters with a disability.

PXL to offer dementia care training PXL University College in Hasselt is starting a programme this month to train students to care for people with dementia.

The 60-hour programme will be integrated in the Advanced Bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary care for the elderly.

The training will be spread over two years, so students can combine the programme with a job in residential care, family care, insurance funds and home care organisations. It has been recognised by the federal public health department, and employers who hire a graduate will receive subsidies. “Because of the ageing population, there are more people with dementia with different needs and capabilities,” said PXL in a statement. “The programme will train professional caregivers who commit to improve the quality of care for people with dementia and their personal environment.” \ AF

\9

\ LIVING

week in activities Flemish Harbour Day Get a glimpse of the inner workings of the harbours of Antwerp, Ghent, Ostend and Zeebrugge. Companies open their doors to show how the modern maritime industry operates. Boat tours, music, food and more. 20 September, across Flanders, free

\ vlaamsehavendag.be Hoeilaart Grape Festival Annual event celebrating the harvest in this traditional grape-growing region. Live music, street performers, children’s activities, used bike sale, cheese tart competition, fireworks and, of course, grapes.

18-21 September, Hoeilaart city centre (Flemish Brabant), free

\ druivenfestivalhoeilaart.be Manifiesta Festival of Solidarity around issues of social and environmental justice, human rights and equality. Concerts, debates, comedy, film, games, information stands and children’s workshops. 18-19 September, Staf Versluys Centrum, Kapelstraat 76, Bredene (West Flanders), €9-€21

\ manifiesta.be Day of the Edible Landscape See artisanal products being made with local ingredients: bread baked in wood-fired ovens, spelt beer brewed in a museum and stroop (syrup) made from local fruit. 20 September 10.00-18.00, Bokrijk Open-Air Museum, Bokrijklaan 1, Genk, €10

\ bokrijk.be Medieval Festival Held on the grounds of Vorst Abbey, this weekend festival brings the middle ages to life with costumed ladies and knights, jugglers and acrobats, wandering minstrels, jesters and craftsmen. Closing spectacle and fireworks on Saturday. 18-20 September, Vorst Abbey, Brussels, free

\ vorst.irisnet.be Speculoos Festival Lembeke is the home of Lotus, the biggest manufacturer of speculoos cookies in Belgium.

For an entire week, the city celebrates their most famous product with parties, parades, contests, concerts, fireworks, bike rides and more. 17-23 September, across Lembeke (East Flanders), free

\ kaprijke.be

\ 10

The baby blues

Flemish mums break the silence on postpartum depression Rebecca Benoot More articles by Rebecca \ flanderstoday.eu

facebook.com/thegentlemom.be

K

irsten Ginckels and Ellen van den Bouwhuysen both had busy lives, loving partners and challenging jobs.

When they had babies, it seemed like they really had it all.

Until everything came crashing down. Both women went through postpartum depression.

“After a long chat, we decided to do something about our situation, so we created The Gentlemom,” Ginckels explains. “We launched it for ourselves as a coping mechanism, as a way to share our thoughts and feelings, but also for other mothers so they wouldn’t feel alone when things get tough. We wanted to show them that they aren’t the only ones, since many mothers find it hard to talk about this.”

The Gentlemom is a Facebook page where Ginckels, van den Bouwhuysen and other new mums share their experiences and insights.

It’s garnered 10,500 likes.

The two women, both in their 30s, met while on assignment for women’s magazine Flair, where Ginckels worked as a writer and van den Bouwhuysen as a freelance photographer.

They identified as kindred spirits since they quickly realised they shared a secret – they both weren’t getting by.

An estimated one in six women worldwide is affected by postnatal depression. It is frequently brought on by the drastic change in hormones after giving birth coupled with the profound lifestyle changes that spring from caring for a baby 24 hours a day.

Common postpartum symptoms are a general sadness, lack of energy, anxiety, irritability, altered sleeping and eating patterns and the feeling of having lost control over one’s life.

Many women experience mild postpartum symptoms, or what’s known as the “baby blues”. It’s only when these symptoms become severe or last longer than two weeks that women are advised to see a doctor.

Admitting how trying it can be to care for a newborn is still taboo – for women especially. Women, the belief goes, are born with a mothering instinct that makes caring for a baby easy – natural even. It’s expectations like these, says Ginckels, that make it hard for many women to admit – to themselves or others – that they are struggling.

© Ellen van den Bouwhuysen

Van den Bouwhuysen (left) and Ginckels hope to paint a more honest picture of motherhood

In The Gentlemom founders’ view, young mothers are too often left to their own devices.

Many of them need more social and emotional support but are scared to admit it, for fear of being judged or labelled a bad mum.

“For many mothers, The Gentlemom is a place to relax, breathe easily and connect with kindred spirits,” van den Bouwhuysen says.

Women today, they say, are expected to juggle jobs, children and relationships, which can make them feel like they’re walking a tightrope. In the posts on The Gentlemom page, there’s no glamour – just brutal honesty and a clear call to mums to be kind to themselves.

“We want to paint a realistic picture of motherhood and hope that new mums can relate and feel relieved,” Ginckels says. The two women also recently released a book that discusses issues they dealt with and offers experiences and insights they hope will help new mothers.

Flemish MP Freya Saeys (Open VLD) for one

has backed them in their quest to help mothers in their time of need. At her initiative, the Flemish government approved a resolution to break the taboo and raise awareness among care providers about postnatal depression. Flemish family agency Kind and Gezin (Child and Family), for instance, mainly focuses on children. But Ginckels and van den Bouwhuysen say that the agency should live up to its name and offer care to parents, too.

Both the online community and the book took form quite naturally, so who knows what the future will bring for The Gentlemom? But one item is definitely on the agenda.

“We’d like to create an actual community, in real life,” van den Bouwhuysen says, “where mothers can talk and bond without being criticised. Mothers can be pretty hard on themselves and others, so our message is: ‘Be gentle.’

A happy mom equals a happy baby.”

BITE An ingenious twist on a Japanese staple Take two scoops of ramen noodles.

Now wrap them around a burger, pick it up and eat it.

You’ve never dreamed of doing such a thing? Well, Guy Quirynen dreamed of it. A graduate of the famous Ter Duinen hotel school in Koksijde, he later did an internship in Kyoto. That’s where, as he tells it, he discovered the Japanese way of eating noodles during his first meal – a bowl of tonkotsu ramen made with pork bone broth – and was instantly smitten.

“Ramen” is the name of the soup though the word is often used to refer to the noodles themselves. The soup is based on a broth made with meat and bones with an intense savoury flavour. Quirynen calls his restaurant Umamido, which means

“the savoury way”.

The noodle bar is a fixture in Japan, and Quirynen decided to bring it to Belgium. His first restaurant was in the Flagey area in Brussels; two more followed in Antwerp, close to the Fine Arts Museum and on Dageraadplaats near Berchem station.

Now he’s added a fourth, on SintKatelijneplein in Brussels. “We were lucky to find a place here where the Achepot used to be,” he said, referring to the French bistro that closed 10 years ago. “This is a sort of Flemish quarter, and it’s also very international.”

The menu is the same all over. The essential broth is made in Antwerp in a 200-litre pot, then vacuumpackaged and sent out to the other

© Ganaëlle Glume/Umamido

locations. The meat comes from a co-operative in Malmedy.

The ramen comes in six varieties: flavoured with salt, soy, miso, spicy

umamido.be

miso, tonkotsu or vegetarian. Other dishes include gyoza, steamed packets of chicken and veg; steamed pork buns with lacquered pork belly; and marinated mountain vegetables with tofu and a seaweed salad.

But back to that ramen burger.

The beef is prepared and aged in the cold room in Antwerp. The noodles are cooked in the broth then dried in the shape of a burger bun (pictured). They don’t necessarily keep it, though, all the way to the end. I wasn’t the only one of the party who ended up slurping up whatever I could get a grip on, my fingers soaked to the wrist. Don’t order this dish if you’re out with someone you wish to impress. But do order it at some point. \ Alan Hope

september 16, 2015

Love and food in Charleston Leuven researcher reflects on food in final instalment of Flemings in America Courtney Davis O’Leary More articles by Courtney \ flanderstoday.eu

F

or a researcher focused on the brain, Emilie Tuijnder McKinnon sure talks a lot about food.

Last month, she began a doctoral degree in medical imaging at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, following up on her Master’s in biomedical engineering at the University of Leuven.

While she’s passionate about her studies and dreams of becoming a research physician, when she talks about the differences between her life in the US and Flanders, the conversation continually circles back to food.

Having moved here in early 2014 from Antwerp province to live with her American husband, Tuijnder McKinnon has had time to develop an appreciation for the food culture in her new home, as well as experience cravings for home-grown Flemish dishes.

Food accounts, she says, for one of the biggest differences between the two places.

“I miss having good bread with a wide selection of lunchmeats and spreads to put on it,” she says. “I have attempted to make bread myself, but it has not always been a great success. You can buy some decent bread here, but then my husband will start complaining that I spent $6 on a tiny loaf of bread… And then sometimes I let myself go and buy expensive cheese.”

Tuijnder McKinnon met her husband-to-be through mutual friends while travelling in Texas in the summer of 2012. They travelled back and forth between Flanders and the US until her definitive move.

Since moving abroad, Tuijnder McKinnon has come to better appreciate her Flemish culinary heritage – something she admits she hadn’t in the past. Among the specialities she has learned to cook from scratch are mayonnaise and fries, stoofvlees (beef stew), mussels, steak tartare and speculoos.

But she’s also enjoying the local food scene, finding it hard to pick a favourite dish or product. “I have actually discovered so many great things,” she says. “Fried chicken, good barbecue, slow-cooked pork, biscuits, cinna-

Feeling rushed: Emilie Tuijnder McKinnon and her American spouse

mon rolls, good Mexican food … but not only unhealthy stuff. Americans are the best at making salads as well!”

As for the stereotypes that dog Americans and US food culture, she has found more of them to be false than true. “Not everybody is obese, and there is good American beer,” she says.

Something Tuijnder McKinnon does find jarring however is Americans’ haste when it comes to dinner. “They don’t really take time to eat or spend time together as a family at the table,” she says, adding that this applies to everything from restaurant dining to backyard barbecues. “Even though Charleston has a great food scene, I do miss Flan-

ders’ foodie culture – spending a lot of time at a restaurant without feeling rushed.

Eating out being the main event of the evening and not finding yourself on the sidewalk again after 30 minutes.”

Timing has been an issue with friendly gettogethers, too. “My husband always tells me that hanging out with friends isn’t a formal business, but I feel that it is hard to plan things,” she explains. “If I ask people to come over at 18.00, people come between 18.00 and 19.00 and, as a good Belgian, I want to have appetisers ready. Or when I am invited to a barbecue at 16.00, I will always be there first and be awkwardly alone for like half an hour.”

That being said, she describes Americans as being among the nicest people she has ever met – very open-minded and non-judgmental. Her only qualm is that they’re just a little too casual. She gives the example of paper plates being used in buffet-style dinners at friends’ homes. “You just grab food when you’re hungry, and you don’t sit down and eat together,” she says.

Tuijnder McKinnon absolutely loves warm and sunny Charleston, she says. “It is a gorgeous place to live and, for me, the step from Belgium to the US was made a little smaller with living downtown and biking to work. That’s not possible in every American city. Also, the weather is a big bonus!”

Whether she and her husband stay after she’s completed her PhD (in five years) is still up in the air. She came for love and might stay for both of their careers. “I do a lot of neuro-imaging research, and I would like to become a neurologist so I can add some clinical knowledge to my research. Maybe one day I can make an advancement in the field.

I guess this implies that I will most likely stay in the US.” Her husband is a physician as well, and she points out that it’s not that easy to switch your credentials to another country. “But who knows? I did not foresee myself living here either,” she says. “I think Belgium is an amazing country, and I only realised that after leaving.”

50 Weekends in Flanders: Design Hotspots in Kortrijk Flanders Today has launched an e-book with ideas for how to spend a year’s worth of weekends. Visit our website to get your free copy of 50 Weekends in Flanders. We’ll also print one of our suggestions every week here, too.

DE DINGEN Look for the Vedett sign on Budastraat. It guides you to a quirky bar furnished with odd tables, potted plants and an old school wall map. It’s a relaxed place with a cultural feel where jewellery made by young designers is on sale. They also organise concerts by local bands. The perfect place to sit with a bowl of soup and a West Flanders craft beer.

But open rather odd hours.

Kortrijk is slowly turning itself into a hip design town with smart new architecture, restored industrial spaces and a major international design fair held every two years (next in 2016). Most of the designer stores are clustered in a couple of quiet streets near Grote Markt.

\ dedingen.be

\ toerismekortrijk.be

DE BESTE KAMER Tom and Elien Devoldere (pictured) sell understated Scandinavian design in a bright modern space. They seek out tables, chairs and lamps to suit young couples setting up a home on a tight budget. The shop’s name comes from the Flemish tradition of keep-

ing a “best room” to be used on Sundays. But de beste kamer in a Flemish home would not often contain the minimalist furniture you see here. \ debestekamer.be

LEBRAHC Kortrijk designer Charbel designs beautiful clothes based on geometrical forms and vivid colours. He sells them in a cool concept store near Grote Markt. The name, in case you were wondering, is Charbel in reverse. \ lebrahc.be

BUDAFABRIEK Flanders’ former master architect Peter Swinnen converted an abandoned factory

TINYURL.COM/50WEEKENDS

on Buda island into a striking cultural centre.

Look out for film screenings, environmental projects and digital conferences. \ buda-eiland.be

WAUW Interior designer Davy Depaepe runs a small vintage store in the design district filled with animal skulls, retro furniture and an old cinema projector. He also designs striking home interiors. \ wauw.be

SEVEN BRIDGES Kortrijk is in the middle of a building project to put seven new bridges over the river Leie as part of a bold urban plan. The most striking is the Collegebrug that carries cyclists and walkers in a series of gentle curves above the river. \ Derek Blyth

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september 16, 2015

An emotional backpack Gaëtan Vandewoude picks up the pieces in new Isbells album Christophe Verbiest More articles by Christophe \ flanderstoday.eu

isbells.be

The image of a cheerful six-yearold Gaëtan Vandewoude on the cover of the latest Isbells album stands in sharp contrast with the far-from-happy mood of the songs. The musician opens up and tells us why.

T

he first words Gaëtan Vandewoude utters on the new Isbells album Billy set the tone for the next 42 minutes: “Billy was a sad boy / He didn’t even know / Until he was old enough.”

The singer says upfront that “Billy” the boy and the album tracks are based on his own life. “In looking for a cover picture, I was surprised to see photos of myself in which I’m laughing,” he says. “I was once happy as a child, I realised.”

I’ve met Vandewoude, 36, several times since 2009, the year he released the first, eponymously titled Isbells album. Delivered in his high-pitched voice, the band’s folky pop songs have long been drenched in melancholy, yet Vandewoude never seemed that burdened in person.

It was two years ago that his walls came tumbling down. “I was sitting at home, and I had an image of myself scattered on the floor in a thousand pieces.”

Putting the pieces back together was difficult, but Vandewoude (pictured) ultimately succeeded.

And Billy is a sincere account of that process. At the same time, he has managed to compose lyrics that should resonate with everyone who has learned that life isn’t always rosy, and that speaks to the album’s strength.

“My older lyrics were also rooted in personal experiences, but I always tried to formulate them in a general way,” Vandewoude explains. “Now they’re more straightforward and refer more to my own life. Before,

© Yves Delport

Isbells, featuring frontman Gaëtan Vandewoude, are on tour across Flanders this autumn

I touched on a subject, but I wasn’t ready to delve deep into it. It was too confronting.”

The catalyst for this revised writing style was a temporary breakup with his wife. They had been together since he was 16 and she 15.

“I was finger-pointing – ‘I can’t stand the way you want me to live with you’ – but later I realised the problem was deeply in me. I couldn’t cope anymore with how I was living my life.”

Vandewoude had built sturdy walls around himself. “I didn’t want anyone to come too close, to avoid getting hurt. It felt safe and strong,” he says. “Subconsciously, I always knew I was lonely and insecure, but I denied those feelings: It was my way of surviving. Now, I don’t feel strong anymore. But I do feel much better!”

Looking back, he can’t single out

any one event where things first went wrong. “It’s more like a backpack on my shoulders that filled up over the years. And at one point, it became too heavy to carry any further.”

necessary to close that chapter,” he explains. “In general, to understand an emotion or situation, I need to find the right words to formulate what’s happening. And this time, it had a healing effect.”

Subconsciously, I always knew I was lonely and insecure, but I denied those feelings He’s quick to add, though, that countless people carry such an emotional rucksack. “I’m not special in that. It’s called life.”

Vandewoude says making Billy was a therapeutic experience.

“Processing everything that happened to me in song lyrics was

After his last Isbells album in 2013, Vandewoude released an album as Sweet Little Mojo. Heavy on indie guitars and synths, it was an upbeat collection of songs he wrote before Isbells. “I wasn’t ready to record and release those songs earlier,” he explains.

And he couldn’t have put out those songs under his more famous moniker, he says. “The music of Isbells is clearly defined. It’s a way to express my pain. Which means there is no place for humour or exuberance, though these are also part of my personality. I think it would be difficult to release a dance track as Isbells. If ever I feel the urge to, I’ll opt for yet another name.”

All in all, Vandewoude feels privileged. For the past six years, he’s been able to live off his music. “It’s a dream I’ve had since I started playing at 15.” Isbells is a factor, of course – their first album sold 17,000 copies, a whopping figure for a Flemish band that wasn’t signed to a major record label.

But Vandewoude also works as producer, and his music has been used in commercials and soundtracks, most notably in a Grey’s Anatomy episode.

As a Flemish band, being featured on the soundtrack of such a famous programme calls for some amount of luck, Vandewoude is the first to admit. Still, “a good music publisher helps,” he says, explaining that they act as a bridge between artists and film and TV producers.

A friend gave Vandewoude Briefe an einen jungen Dichter (Letters to a Young Poet) by the BohemianAustrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke while he was working on Billy.

He immediately connected with Rilke’s idea that in the end no one can advise a poet – the only thing to do is go into yourself.

“In the end, one thing counts: Am I satisfied with the album? From then on, it’s out of my hands. I can’t influence what people think about it.”

Isbells are on tour this autumn, with stops in Middelkerke, Brussels, Leuven, Antwerp and Bruges

More new albums this week An Pierlé

Dani Klein & Sal La Rocca

King Dalton

Le tout nouveau testament • Helicopter

Dani Sings Billie • Sony

Thilda • Waste My Records

Last fall, after a 28-year-career, Brussels singer Dani Klein called it a day for Vaya Con Dios, the band she turned into one of the best-selling Belgian artists ever.

But music, it turns out, was her first love and will be her last, hence this new album Dani Sings Billie. Accompanied by a handful of highly experienced jazz cats led by double bass player Sal La Rocca, Klein sings a dozen songs originally immortalised by Billie Holiday. Don’t expect Holiday imitations or affectations though; Klein brings her own voice to the songs.

King Dalton’s new album is named after the derelict Villa Thilda in Turnhout where the band recorded this album last winter. Thilda is only their second album, but with links to Zita Swoon, Think of One, Laïs and A Brand, the band are veterans of the Flemish music scene. In these highly eclectic songs, they mix rock guitars, North African funk, bluesy musings, a jangling country banjo and much, much more. But in the end, they mostly seduce with their beautiful harmonies.

Ghent-based singer and pianist An Pierlé has written her first feature film soundtrack for Le tout nouveau testament (The Brand New Testament), a comedy

by Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael, in cinemas now. Most of the tracks on this 37-minute album are short instrumental compositions in which Pierlé proves herself to be a very versatile composer and arranger who can handle everything from small piano pieces to fully arranged tracks with strings, euphonium or tuba.

It’s the mission statement of an interesting new film score composer.

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\ ARTS

week in arts & CULTURE VRT productions nominated for Prix Europa

Flemish public broadcaster VRT has received five nominations from Prix Europa, the European awards for TV, radio and online content. Goed volk (Good Folk), starring chef Jeroen Meus, was nominated for best TV documentary for its unique take on travel and food. In the TV fiction category is Nieuw Texas, a comedy about four working-class brothers who unexpectedly inherit a mansion. The Panorama report Mijn Jihad (My Jihad) is nominated for intercultural TV programme, while Café Cuba, a drama series on Radio 2 set during the First World War, was nominated for radio fiction.

Radio 1 also received a nomination for Gewone mensen (Average People), a series of four mockumentaries. Winners will be announced in Berlin on 23 October.

Ghent hosts Haiku Festival Nearly 30 poets from 16 countries will be in Ghent this weekend for a colloquium, part of the international haiku festival Peace in-Ghent-in Peace, running from 16 to 21 September and spearheaded by Viadagio and Vrede. Former Belgian prime minister Herman Van Rompuy, an official haiku ambassador, will be one of the event’s guests of honour and will give a talk on haiku and peace. Viadagio is publishing a collection of poems in three languages for the occasion, and haiku will be printed on huge banners that will hang along the canal in Ghent.

Less is More Artists go in search of Utopia at Mechelen biennial Contour Bjorn Gabriels More articles by Bjorn \ flanderstoday.eu

The seventh edition of Contour, the biennial of the moving image in Mechelen, is dedicated to the utopian ideas of English humanist and author Thomas More, who lived in the city 500 years ago.

L

ate morning, early September. Out-ofoffice replies have made way for reminders to please not forget this meeting or that event. The new school year has started with high hopes. And so has the new cultural season.

Outside Mechelen railway station, near the canvas cube that announces all the artists participating in this year’s Contour biennial, a group of students gathers. They’re on their way to a Thomas More info day, where they’ll find out more about what higher education has in store with regard to their futures. Perhaps they’ll hear about the man who gave his name to their prospective university college, too.

Will they read passages from More’s Utopia, a blend of fiction and philosophy about an ideal society on an imaginary island, partly written in Flanders and first printed in Leuven in 1516?

One of these first prints, edited by More’s friend Erasmus, is now on display in Hof van Busleyden, at the actual spot where More lived during his time in Mechelen.

Both humanists challenged set beliefs of their time and continue to inspire. The combination of More and Erasmus gives Contour 7 its subtitle, Fooling Utopia, a reference to both More’s Utopia and Erasmus’ satirical work The Praise of Folly.

While digesting this year’s Contour selection, I consider its main questions: Can utopian thought can still hold sway in this day and age and is it constructive rather than destructive?

\ viadagio.be

Young Belgian Art Prize winners named Brussels artist Emmanuelle Quertain has won the Crowet Prize, worth €25,000, in the Young Belgian Art Prize competition for her intimate oil paintings, which, the jury said, “form a counterbalance to the overwhelming stream of images delivered by mass media”. The competition’s Bozar Prize, worth €12,500, went to Brussels artist Hana Mileti´c, who every day of the related exhibition read work from her poetry collection and also recorded a live album with Brussels rap collective La Frénétick.

The Langui Prize, also worth €12,500 was won by the Brussels-born Emmanuel Van der Auwera for his video installation of young people watching snuff movies. Finally, the ING Public Prize was awarded to Flemish artist Floris Vanhoof, whose multi-media installations blur the borders between projected images and light.

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CONTOUR7.BE

An van. Dienderen’s Lili questions racism in imagery

On this cloudy morning, rain threatens during every stroll from one location to another.

The first shoppers of the day zigzag their way between double-parked delivery vans, and a bulldozer bounces its way to yet another building site. People are on the move; Mechelen is constantly being rebuilt.

Contour’s first work, “Moon Extinguishers” (Italian artist Grazia Toderi refers to the locals’ nickname, manenblussers), found at the cultural centre next to the biennale’s starting point, gives a night-time vision of the local Sint-Rombouts tower. The projection on the ceiling is circular, perhaps referring to More’s utopian island, and carries a black question mark: an inquiring Batman sign hovering over the city. From the start, doubt outweighs a firm tone of voice.

This opener is immediately answered, however,

by Italian Arte Povera artist Gilberto Zorio. In his typically sparse installation of lamps and inscriptions, he states: “It’s a utopia, reality is

© Kristof Vrancken

Angel Vergara’s “De Nekker Tree” lovingly reflects the real tree next door

revelation”. Zorio seems sure we are to find all answers in the mundanity of everyday life.

The short film Lili by Flemish researcher and filmmaker An van. Dienderen shows that what we take for granted often harbours ingrained preconceptions. Aided by archival documents and Flemish actress Maaike Neuville, Lili illustrates the phenomenon of “china girls”, whose perfect Caucasian appearance is used to calibrate the colour balance of film cameras before shooting actually begins. The whiteness of porcelain skin functions as the standard against which all other colours are weighed.

Does this imply that entire portions of film history are inherently racist? What does imposing one’s own ideal say about you? As in most of her work, Van. Dienderen stresses that all images are manufactured in one way or another.

Contour’s next step in exploring utopian thought goes underground, in a corridor complex beneath the shopping street IJzerenleen. There, Lebanese artist Rabih Mroué reflects on the tragedy of war that haunts his homeland. Is it possible to begin to think of a brighter future when the past weighs so heavily on you?

In one of his works, a video that speeds up and rewinds the collapse of a house, Mroué says that he “keeps on oscillating between remembering and forgetting”. Fittingly placed in a constant loop, the very short piece doesn’t retell the past to remember, but “to forget, at least part of it”.

Another video extends two seconds of a football game to two minutes, if only to stress the futile nature of a two-hour ceasefire in a lingering war.

In Hof van Busleyden, on the other side of Mechelen’s commercial quarter, the most appealing work is a new video by New Yorkbased Flemish artist Johan Grimonprez, partly because he uses images from the dystopian film Alphaville by romantic iconoclast JeanLuc Godard. In “Every Day Words Disappear”,

Grimonprez intercuts Godard’s joyfully stylised yet poignant view of a world that has banned love with an interview he conducted with American philosopher Michael Hardt about the friction between politics and love.

Equally political but with a stronger sense of rebellious surrealism is the video installation “Encyclopaedia Utopia” by Bulgarian artist Nedko Solakov. In the immensely rich traditions of both surrealist montage and Eastern European art reflecting on oppressive regimes, Solakov comments with sharp wit on the collection of notes, pictures and drawings he created in 1990, shortly after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. As such, it perhaps best illustrates Contour’s motto, Fooling Utopia.

Every location in which Contour sets foot houses works trying to connect with More’s ideas, but all conceptual arm-wrestling aside, its closing piece in the courtyard of the Noker chapel reminds us of the aesthetic bewilderment described by film pioneer George Méliès (and many after him) of seeing the projection of leaves moving in the wind.

For his “De Nekker Tree”, Brussels-based Spanish artist Angel Vergara filmed the sun-drenched courtyard in summer, where the actual tree and the projected tree now form a natural pair. Digitally manipulated visuals and often surprising sound-effects make for an aesthetic experience that alternates between the idyllic and apocalyptic, between real-life intangibles and projected convictions.

Back at the station, pupils, students and workers flock to the platforms. Next stop, Utopia?

Until 8 November Across Mechelen

\ AGENDA

september 16, 2015

Music, music everywhere

Bozar Music Opening Night 19 September, 19.00

Bozar, Brussels BOZAR.BE

B

ozar is known for its original Art Deco architecture, its world-class visual arts exhibitions and the occasional presidential appearance (Barack Obama, for instance, as if you had forgotten).

It’s also one of Brussels’ most popular concert halls, with a programme spanning classical, contemporary, electronic and world music. All are showcased during the season kick-off gala that is Bozar Music Opening Night.

More than a dozen multimedia and site-specific performances unfold throughout the building but particularly in the majestic Henry Le Boeuf Hall. This opening night is special for another reason: it marks the start of Bozar’s 150th season.

There’s music everywhere. The Secession Orchestra stalks the hallways with instruments in hand.

CONCERT Trixie Whitley 1 December, 19.00

© Nicolas Draps

The collaborative Music Rooms project colonises foyer, balcony and studio. The reception salon is occupied by one of the opening night’s headliners, German overtone singer AnnaMaria Hefele. A YouTube sensation, Hefele can sing two distinct vocal parts at the same time.

The centrepiece of the programme is Quatuor

get tic

kets n ow

Ancienne Belgique, Brussels abconcerts.be

Ghent-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Trixie Whitley kicks off her European tour in Brussels. It’s not just any tour, either. Whitley is celebrating the release of her second album Porta Bohemica. Her 2013 debut Fourth Corner earned Whitley accolades on both sides of the Atlantic but particularly in her native Belgium, where she has become a festival headliner. In another testament to her national renown, the first Brussels date (30 November) sold out in short order and prompted the venue to add this second night.

Tana’s marathon performance of String Quartet II. The six-hour piece was conceived by pioneering American composer Morton Feldman as a kind of meditative exercise and, true to spirit, the musicians (pictured) refuse to strike any epic poses. Like a stream flowing through the opening night festivities, String Quartet II is an occasion for contemplation rather than a call to arms.

Robert Wilson’s ultra-slow-motion video installation Lady Gaga: Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière is another exploration of the longue durée.

It’s not all arty abstraction, though. Austrian producer Gabriel Prokofiev, grandson of classical composer Sergei Prokofiev, gives the classics a cybernetic shot in the arm with his Vienna Remix. Finally, the night ends with a late-night dance party hosted by Brussels DJ Fady One and inspired by the German word for “future” (zukunft). \ Georgio Valentino

CLASSICAL

This year the Festival of Flanders Flemish-Brabant is rechristened as Festival 20/21. The focus on contemporary classical music remains the same, but the new name underlines the festival’s structural metamorphosis into two mini-festivals. The Novecento programme celebrates the pioneering modernist composers of the 20th century (this year

Across Leuven festival2021.be

its Janá ek, Gershwin and Britten, among others) while Transit explores the brave new world of 21st-century contemporary classical music (including Italian composer Pierluigi Billone and Brussels-born Guy De Bièvre). The first is spread out over a month, while the second is concentrated in a single weekend at the end of October. \ GV

© Phile Deprez

FILM

Tannhäuser

UFA Film Nights

19-27 September

Flemish Opera, Ghent operaballet.be

24-26 September Bozar joins forces with one of Germany’s oldest film studios and one of the world’s most famous DJs to present a selection of classic silent films in a radically new context. The Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra accompany a screening of Austrian director Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s controversial 1929 melodrama Pandora's Box (pictured).

A German jazz trio accompanies three Charlie Chaplin silents. The highlight of the weekend, however, is Jeff Mills’ appearance. The pioneering Detroit DJ accompanies two screenings of Walther Ruttmann’s 1929 avant-garde documentary Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis, a visual geography of Berlin during its Weimar heyday. \ GV

Contemporary Spanish stage director Calixto Bieito flamboyantly reimagines Tannhäuser for the Flemish Opera. The source material, Richard Wagner’s 1845 opera, is itself a reimagining of the medieval legend of the eponymous knight’s enchantment by and devotion to the goddess Venus. Wagner’s interpretation casts Tannhäuser as the quintessential Romantic hero: a righteous rebel who follows the spontaneous, the natural and sometimes – why not – the carnal. He is thus condemned by a repressive society that has lost its humanity. After its world-premiere run in Ghent, Bieito’s Tannhäuser treks to Antwerp for a two-week engagement. (In German with Dutch surtitles) \ GV © Pierpaolo Ferrari

Stand-Up Antwerp: The English Comedy Cellar features Geoff Whiting (UK), Christian Schulte-Loh (Germany), David Deery (US), Paddy Lennox (Northern Ireland) and resident MC Nigel Williams. 22-23 September 20.15, De Groene Waterman cellar, Wolstraat 7 \ facebook.com/ Standupantwerp

Brussels Mrs Klein: The English Comedy Club presents this play set in 1934 London about a brilliant and unorthodox psychoanalyst renowned for her ground-breaking work with children (in English).

22-26 September 20.00, Warehouse Studio Theatre, Waelhemstraat 69a \ thelittleboxoffice.com/ecc

Leffinge (Middelkerke)

\ Georgio Valentino

PERFORMANCE

Antwerp

MUSIC FESTIVAL

Festival 20/21 21 September to 28 October

PERFORMANCE

Leffingeleuren 2015: Annual music festival with more than 40 bands performing everything from pop, rock and blues to hip-hop, reggae and techno, in addition to food trucks, street theatre and art exhibitions.

18-20 September, Leffinge Church \ leffingeleurenfestival.be

FILM Brussels Anton Corbijn presents Life: Premiere of the film Life in the presence of the Dutch director Anton Corbijn, about the role Life photographer Dennis Stock’s portraits had in the iconisation of the young actor James Dean. Interview with Corbijn follows the screening. 21 September 20.00, Bozar, Ravensteinstraat 23 \ bozar.be

Bozar, Brussels bozar.be

Korean Film Festival: Third edition of the festival featuring the best of recent Korean cinema, including eight national premieres and appearances by four directors. 18-25 September, Bozar and Cinema Galeries \ facebook.com/koreanculturalcenterbrussels

LITERATURE Brussels Davide Enia: One of Italy’s leading playwrights joins readers to discuss his first novel, On Earth as it is in Heaven (in English). 23 September 20.00, Passa Porta, Antoine Dansaertstraat 46 \ passaporta.be

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september 16, 2015

Talking Dutch Nudge, nudge, wink, wink

In response to: Wim Vandekeybus releases first feature film Galloping Mind Nikoleta Kyprianidismauro Wim and Mauro are unprecedented co-creators. This song in this film: beautiful, strong and true.

Derek Blyth More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu

Y

ou might not realise it, but right at this moment you’re probably being nudged. All over the world, governments are taking up the idea of nudging people to do the right thing. And it could soon be happening to you right here in Flanders.

We weten wat gezond is – We know what’s healthy, according to De Standaard, maar maken toch vaak ongezonde keuzes – but we often make unhealthy choices anyway.

Hoog tijd om te nudgen – It’s high time we started nudging, beginnen nu ook onze politici te beseffen – our politicians are now beginning to realise.

It all started back in 2008, when American academic Richard Thaler published a book called Nudge. Its aim was simple: op een niet dwingende wijze gedrag sturen – to persuade people to do things without forcing them.

The idea was taken up enthusiastically in the UK, where they created a government department called the Behavioural Insights Team, better known as the Nudge Unit.

One of its early successes was to nudge people into paying their taxes on time.

Om uitstelgedrag tegen te gaan – To deal with people who put off paying, staat nu op de Britse aanmaningsbrieven dat de meeste andere inwoners van de gemeente hun belastingen wel betaald hebben – it now states on the British tax form that most other residents have already paid their taxes. Since the change, the number of people paying their taxes on time hugely increased.

Now Freya Saeys of Open VLD would like to bring nudging to Flanders. But nudging reluctant taxpayers is not her goal. Als arts zoekt Saeys voorbeelden in gezonde voeding en sport – As a doctor, Saeys is looking for examples in areas like healthy eating and sport.

She points out four coffee bars at Brussels North station

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In response to: Temporary accommodation for refugees goes unused Emily Darrow It’s not exactly accommodation, if they can only spend the night there and have to leave in the morning along with all their belongings. © Ingimage

– Panos, Einstein Kaffee, The Coffee Club and Starbucks.

Alleen bij de eerste kan je gewoon ‘een cappuccino’ bestellen – Only at the first one can you simply order “a cappuccino”. Bij de andere vragen ze een maat – The others ask what size you want.

But there is a huge difference in “regular” sizes. Terwijl de cappuccino van Panos 237 ml bevat – while a Panos cappuccino contains 237ml, krijg je bij Starbucks een kuip van 470 ml in de handen gestopt – you get a 470ml bucket thrust into your hands at Starbucks.

Flemish broadcaster VRT carried out a little nudging experiment of its own in the staff canteen. Frieten werden niet meer op borden maar in puntzakken geserveerd – Fries were no longer served on plates but in cones, een subtiele manier om porties drastisch te verkleinen – a subtle way to drastically reduce portion sizes. Yet there were no complaints. Staff didn’t notice they were eating less.

You might have realised by now why governments are so keen to nudge their citizens. Nudgen is meer doen met minder geld – nudging means doing more things with less money.

Tweet us your thoughts @FlandersToday

Poll

a. Yes. Teachers who are not performing well need to go, and the principal and school board know better than a court

75% b. No. Teachers need to be protected from arbitrary decision-making by one school head. Appeal procedures are there for a reason

25% documented.

The issue made headlines recently when the principal of an Antwerp school resigned because the teacher she had fired was reinstated by the College of Appeal.

Teachers who are fired in Flanders can appeal the decision, which this teacher did.

This procedure isn’t available to

most workers in Flanders, so why should it be for teachers, our readers seem to ask. At the same time, people expect a lot from teachers, and there has been plenty of reports of long working hours, inadequate feedback and challenging classrooms. Perhaps tenure is one of perks that attracts the right people to the job, too.

\ Next week's question: Federal minister Alexander De Croo has called for the dismantling of the tent camp for refugees in Brussels and moving them to indoor facilities as soon as possible. What do you think?

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

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In response to: Ghent University brews beer with waste water Pete Hutch Have they found a way to recycle Heineken and make good beer from it?

Méabh @Brusselsness Wonderful rainbow over #EUquarter in #Brussels today

Dazed @DazedMagazine How six Belgian designers took over the world: http://www. dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/26241/1/how-the-antwerpsix-took-on-the-world … @1Granary

Melissa Ciardullo @MelCiardullo If only city streets were lined with parks and grass rather than cars. Oh, Ghent did it. #livingstreets #laboftroy

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the last word

Should Flanders make it easier to sack teachers who receive poor professional reviews?

There’s not much sympathy around these parts for the idea that school principals and school boards cannot decide for themselves to fire a teacher. Readers voted three to one in favour of the idea of making it easier for school administrations to sack a teacher who’s not performing – presumably as long as that is adequately

VoiceS of flanders today

Good start

Tough talk

“We just graduated and immediately started a business. We want to spend 10% of our time making products that have a positive effect on society.”

“I want young people to realise that emotional self-care is important. Not feeling good about yourself generates a lot of negative energy, and that can lead to suicide or some other kind of drama.”

Three young Antwerp entrepreneurs have set up the site offerhelp. be where asylum seekers can ask for help and Belgians can offer solutions

Cooking the competition “She’s the best-selling author in the country. Every year she’s good for sales of €5 million in the bookshops. She’s leaving Piet Huysentruyt, Jeroen Meus and Sofie Dumont in her dust.”

Johan Ghysels, publisher of cookbook writer Pascale Naessens, soon to launch her own line of salt and pepper shakers and table linen

Flemish non-profit organisation Bond zonder Naam has started a programme in which ex-prisoners visit schools and clubs to talk to young people

Star power "Wow, this guy is majorly talented.”

American actor Ashton Kutcher’s post to 17.6 million Facebook followers about Brussels-based hip-hop artist Stromae, currently on a US tour

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