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APRIL 13, 2016 \ newsweekly - € 0,75 \ read more at www.flanderstoday.eu current affairs \ p2

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Not to be ignored

Flanders’ minister-president visits Iraqi Kurdistan, where Syrians are taking shelter and the Christian population is heading to escape IS

No, it’s a drone, which can now be flown safely in Belgian airspace thanks to a new app called SkyBridge

A coup for Hasselt’s fashion museum as designer Filep Motwary’s sitespecific exhibition blurs the lines between haute couture and readyto-wear

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© Courtesy Faile

Art and soul

New Brussels temple to urban culture brings light to the darkness Liz Newmark More articles by Liz \ flanderstoday.eu

The new Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art opens in Molenbeek this week, bringing new perspectives to a maligned part of Brussels at a time when the whole city is in need of a lift.

T

he capital of Europe will officially be a centre of cool when its newest museum opens this month.

The Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art (Mima) opens on 15 April, its grand unveiling delayed by three weeks because of the terrorist attacks in Brussels last month.

“Mima will further strengthen Brussels’ position as a tour-

ist hub and expand its cultural opportunities, as well as its place as an innovative platform for contemporary art,” says the museum’s co-creator, Raphaël Cruyt. He is leading the project, alongside Alice van den Abeele – with whom he owns the contemporary Brussels art gallery Alice – and artistic producers Michel and Florence de Launoit.

“Mima’s programme is very different from other art,” says Cruyt, who, like van den Abeele, is from a mixed Brussels and Flemish family. “The capital of Europe deserves a diversity of points of view, something unlike the image of the European project.”

The new museum is a cutting-edge centre that takes the

public through the history of culture 2.0 – basically any art boosted by the internet. That might be street art, graphic design or illustration, punk rock or geek culture, film, visual art or performance, comics, tattoos or fashion design.

Culture 2.0 is often linked to the subculture and the subversive, and the museum’s permanent collection – including dozens of works by the likes of Banksy, Parra, Invader and Flanders’ Franck Vandenbroucke – reflects this.

In the words of Banksy, 2.0 art doesn’t require you to “go to college, drag round a portfolio, mail off transparencies to snotty galleries or sleep with someone powerful. All continued on page 5

\ CURRENT AFFAIRS

Brussels bombs were meant for France, says prosecutor

Terrorists changed plans as police made arrests, leading to airport and metro bombings Alan Hope Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT

T

he federal prosecutor in charge of the investigation into the terrorist attacks at Brussels Airport and in Maalbeek metro station on 22 March has revealed that the bombers originally intended to target France, but switched to Brussels when the police seemed to be closing in.

The information appears to have come from Mohamed Abrini, who was arrested on Friday and claims to be “the man in the hat” seen on security footage with the two suicide bombers at Brussels Airport. Abrini says the arrest of Salah Abdeslam on 18 March caused the remaining plotters to panic and strike in Brussels the following week.

The claim is supported by a statement left by Ibrahim El Bakraoui on a laptop in the Schaarbeek flat where the group made the bombs. In the document, El Bakraoui says he feels pursued, does not know where to turn and refuses to spend the rest of his life in prison. By the time the computer was discovered, El Bakraoui had already blown himself up at Brussels Airport.

Abrini’s arrest last Friday was one of six that took place in the

© Dursun Aydemir

Police officers carried out arrests across Brussels at the weekend

Brussels area over the weekend. He was picked up in Anderlecht, along with two others, whose identities have not been revealed.

Abrini was already sought in connection with the Novem-

ber attacks in Paris, after he drove Salah Abdeslam – now in prison in Bruges – to the French capital two days before the attacks. The car later turned up close to the scene of the suicide bombings at the Stade de France where Abdeslam’s brother, Brahim, blew himself up.

It has been reported that trace evidence of Abrini was found in the Schaarbeek house from where the bombers took a taxi to the airport, and where they are thought to have constructed the bombs.

Among the other five men arrested at the weekend was Osama Krayem, alias Naim Al Ahmed, who was seen on security footage in contact with Khalid El-Bakraoui in the metro. Bakraoui then went on to blow himself up at Maalbeek station about an hour after the airport bombings. Krayem may also be the man seen in City 2 shopping centre buying sports bags that were later found to contain the bombs used at the airport.

Krayem’s arrest was the result of a tip from the Swedish intelligence services, who picked up a phone call he made to his younger brother Anas, who they had under surveillance. \ AH

Schuman-Josaphat tunnel linking EU quarter to Flanders opens The new Schuman-Josaphat rail tunnel officially opened last week, with no problems related to traffic so far, according to national rail authority NMBS. However, the volume of traffic is less than usual at the moment because of the closure of the Brussels Airport station.

The tunnel is supposed to link Schuman, the centre of the EU quarter, with the airport, as well as with Halle, Vilvoorde and other stations on Line 26 to the east of the capital. Following the terrorist attacks at

the airport on 22 March, the airport station is closed, and Schuman is servicing only the S5 line from Halle to Mechelen, and in peak hours the S9 line from Eigenbrakel to Landen.

Schuman station, where train passengers travelling into Brussels can transfer to the metro, has been given a thorough makeover, including two new platforms. The railway runs one floor above the metro.

The Schuman-Josaphat tunnel was originally scheduled to open in December,

but the opening was cancelled during the heightened terror alert following the Paris terror attacks in November. The 1.25-kilometre tunnel took seven years to construct and cost €380 million.

The tunnel is intended to take some of the pressure off of the saturated North-South line through the centre of Brussels. In time, it will allow the Schuman station to serve not only the planned Regional Express Network (GEN) but also inter-city trains from Antwerp and Liège. \ AH

Dutch family of bomb victim files suit against Brussels Airport The family of one of the Dutch victims of the terrorist bombing at Brussels Airport on 22 March has started a legal action against the airport company for negligence. The lawsuit alleges that the airport did not do enough to protect passengers and is based in part on the claims of airport police regarding security problems.

Elita Weah, 41, from Deventer, was killed in the bombing while waiting for a flight to Liberia. Her family, represented by brother Rasco, claims that the airport has failed to provide them with any information on the circumstances of her death.

“A lot of questions remain unanswered,” he said. “We know nothing, other than that she is dead. The Belgians murdered my sister. I will fight this.” Brussels Airport is not responsible for providing information about victims; that is the responsibility of the federal prosecutor.

Brussels Airport said in a statement that it regretted the events that led to the deaths of passengers and stressed that security in all public areas of the airport is the responsibility of the federal police. “There is a clear demarcation of roles,” a spokesperson said.

“That is the law.” \ AH

2.4%

82nd

place on the list of the most visited museums in the world for the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, with a total of 767,355 visitors in 2015 – 12.5% more than in 2014

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© Elyxandro Cegarra/NurPhoto/Corbis

Brussels Airport in the days after the explosion

collected last year in fines from landlords who don’t renovate their properties to make them habitable, according to figures from Flanders’ housing minister. In 2014, the figure was €690,994

decrease in sales in retail shops in February in Belgium, despite an increase across the 19 countries of the eurozone. Sales in Denmark and Slovenia also decreased, but less than in Belgium

Brussels metro stations slowly re-open Brussels metro system is slowly getting back to normal this week, but restrictions are still in place. Twelve stations that have been closed since the attacks of 22 March at the airport and Maalbeek station have re-opened, and the services will run until 21.00 instead of shutting down at 19.00.

The stations now open are Zwarte Vijvers, Sint-Katelijne, Park and Demey on lines 1 and 5; Heizel, Yzer, Naamsepoort, Munthof and Clemenceau on lines 2 and 6; and Lemonnier, Anneessens and Beurs on tramlines 3 and 4.

The other 18 stations that have been closed on the metro and pre-metro network – including Maalbeek – remain closed.

Last week, prime minister Charles Michel and Brussels minister-president Rudi Vervoort promised that the metro would be fully operational this week. The changes are “an important first step” towards full operation “as quickly as possible,” Vervoort said. \ AH

465,000

beer styles is enough, according to UGent professor Guido Aerts. To avoid confusing consumers, categories should be limited to lager, ale, stout, lambic and saisons, he suggests

Belgians who work four-fifths, or 80%, of full time, more than double the number of 15 years ago, according to the federal economy ministry. Nearly 80% are women

APRIL 13, 2016

WEEK in brief Argentina have toppled Belgium to become the number one football team in the world, according to Fifa’s rankings for April. Lionel Messi’s side benefited from winning both of their 2018 World Cup qualifying matches during March, while Belgium lost a friendly game to Portugal. Marc Wilmots’ side drop down to second in the rankings after five months in the top spot.

The March Against Fear, originally planned for the Sunday following the Brussels bomb attacks but postponed because of an unexpected demonstration by football hooligans, will now take place on Sunday, 17 April. People can gather at North Station in Brussels at 14.00, but there were no route details available as Flanders Today went to press.

Cathy Berx, governor of Antwerp province, has expressed concern at the number of incidents at the nuclear power plant at Doel, which is in Beveren, East Flanders, but is directly across the Scheldt river from the city of Antwerp. In the latest incident, last Wednesday night, the plant was shut down after two defects were found in the nuclear section of the plant.

Operatie Kelk, an investigation into sexual abuse by Catholic clergy as well as an alleged cover-up by church authorities, ended last week with a decision not to try anyone involved.

Some suspects have already been judged, some have died and the time limit has run out on others, the federal prosecutor said. The investigation started in 2010 following news that the bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, had abused two members of his family when they were minors. A court in Brussels will now make a final decision, based on the prosecutor’s recommendation.

Antwerp city council has begun renovations on the “Putteke van Quentin Matsys”, a disused water fountain with an elaborate wrought-iron decoration thought to be the work of the 15th-century Flemish master. It

face of flanders includes the figure of Silvius Brabo, legendary saviour of the city, holding the hand of the giant Druon Antigoon – thought to be the first time Brabo was depicted in public, almost four centuries before the statue on the nearby Grote Markt. The work will take an estimated five weeks.

blocking – the practice where online sellers and service providers restrict access to customers according to their location, usually determined by a customer’s IP address. The practice, said Test-Aankoop, is “unjustifiable discrimination” that the EU has previously pledged to fight.

Nature conservancy advocates have sounded the alarm at the rising number of cases of poaching, after the fourth in a series of shootings of deer in the area of Denderbelle, East Flanders. Poachers shot and killed four deer, including one of the oldest stags in the area, which was shot in the hind-quarters but managed to escape. Shooting deer in Flanders is done only to control numbers and is carried out by accredited hunters.

Flanders’ health inspection agency has accused Ghent’s Forensic Psychiatric Centre (FPC) of staffing shortages and the use of unqualified personnel. The inspectors’ report pointed to the inability to ensure one qualified nurse per department for every shift; a failure to meet the legal minimum of 0.7 staff per bed; and a lack of qualified therapeutic staff. The FPC, which opened in 2014, houses prisoners with psychiatric disorders, who were previously kept in normal prisons.

The tax case against former Belgian politician and EU Commissioner Karel De Gucht will be re-heard before the court of appeal in Antwerp, the Cassation Court has ruled. De Gucht was accused of failing to declare €1 million in income obtained in 2005 but only discovered during an audit in 2011. A court in Ghent originally ruled the tax authorities had no right to look into his bank account and overturned an order to pay the missing tax. The tax inspectors appealed to Cassation which upheld their appeal.

Members of the public are invited to join Flemish choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and her company Rosas on a Slow Walk in Brussels on 23 April. The route starts at 11.00 at five points on the inner ring – Hallepoort, Naamsepoort, Kruidtuin, Yser and Ninoofsepoort – and ends at Grote Markt five hours later, having travelled at a stately pace of less than five metres per minute. “The Slow Walk is a reaction to the hectic, high rhythm of a city like Brussels,” the company said.

Consumer organisation TestAankoop has started a campaign, together with the European umbrella organisation BEUC, to call on the EU Commission to put an end to geo-

The Brussels-Capital Region has issued a call for projects that breathe new life into one of its 10 shopping areas. A project for each area will be chosen, and financial support of up to €30,000 provided.

The areas include Dansaert, SintKatelijne, Kunstberg, Marollen and Zavel. The public is invited to vote on the projects. \ make.brussels

No decision has yet been taken on the creation of a memorial to the dead in the Maalbeek metro bombing, according to the artist whose poignant portraits of ordinary people decorated the station before the attack. According to several media last week, artist Benoit Van Innis had been engaged to create the memorial. Van Innis himself contacted broadcaster VRT to point out that he is willing but has not been officially commissioned.

The charity Moeders voor Moeders have reported another newborn baby left in their foundling hatch in Antwerp – the ninth since the hatch was installed in 2000. The latest foundling, less than 24 hours old, was named Maarten and placed with a foster family.

OFFSIDE Footballer for a day Ever fancied playing for Portugal?

How would it feel to be a star Italian striker for a day? Do you have a need to restore the lost honour of the Scottish national squad? Here’s your chance to find out: Apply to enter the European Championships of Antwerp.

The EK, as they call it, will be organised in parallel with the other UEFA Euro Championships taking place in France in June and July.

On 25 June, 24 teams representing European nations will boot the ball around until one emerges as the victor.

If you want to make up a football team in the colours of your own

country – or any other country you fancy – you can. Teams need to have a minimum of eight players over the age of 16, but there’s no passport control.

In fact, it’s first-come first-served.

There were many countries still awaiting representation as Offside went to press, including Germany, England, Ireland,

© Tom Palmaers/De Standaard

Brice De Ruyver With the arrests made at the weekend in the Brussels area (see story, opposite page), police will now be hoping all of those responsible for the 22 March attacks have now been rounded up. Among those looking forward to taking a breath will be Brice De Ruyver, criminologist, former government security advisor and crime expert – someone every Flemish media organisation has on speed-dial.

De Ruyver, 61, first came to the public’s attention in the 1990s, when accusations of justice system incompetence following the arrest of serial killer Marc Dutroux brought 300,000 outraged citizens on to the streets of Brussels. De Ruyver was a professor of criminal law at Ghent University at the time and made himself readily available to talk about the divisions among the three police forces still operating then, as well as the justice system.

De Ruyver earned a double Master’s, in law and criminology, before he finished his PhD in criminology in Ghent in 1986.

He has been teaching criminal law since then. “He’s one of those

professors who knows how to get across to students,” said TV journalist Luk Alloo, one of De Ruyver’s former students, in a recent interview.

After a period as the security adviser to former prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, he is back in the news again, with his insights into criminal organisations and their influence on the radicalisation of Muslim youth.

As to the question of whether the terrorists have all been rounded up, he is not optimistic. “We’re not done with them yet,” he told De Standaard at the weekend. “The security services have picked up some important players, but until everyone whose fingerprints were found is behind bars, we can’t afford to rest.”

He paid tribute to the investigators, at one point having been accused of forming part of a failed state. “They’ve shown you can have some impressive successes in a very difficult case.

With their scientific approach, they will surely be able to pick up the ones who remain. This is the proof that we have some excellent investigators.” \ Alan Hope

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

Iceland, Poland, Romania, Spain and Sweden. Scotland fans will be familiar with the feeling of being left behind.

The event takes place at the Wilrijkseplein Sports Centre, matches take 30 minutes, teams of eight to 11 can be male or female, or mixed.

Email sarah@sportizon.be to take part. © Ingimage

\ AH

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

Editor Lisa Bradshaw DEPUTY Editor Sally Tipper CONTRIBUTING Editor Alan Hope sub Editor Bartosz Brzezi´nski Agenda Robyn Boyle, Georgio Valentino Art director Paul Van Dooren Prepress Mediahuis AdPro Contributors Rebecca Benoot, Derek Blyth, Leo Cendrowicz, Andy Furniere, Lee Gillette, Diana Goodwin, Clodagh Kinsella, Catherine Kosters, Toon Lambrechts, Ian Mundell, Anja Otte, Tom Peeters, Senne Starckx, Christophe Verbiest, 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 A complicated state

Prime minister Charles Michel has quite a job explaining that Belgium is not a failed state.

After the Paris and Brussels attacks and the subsequent arrests, news of Belgium’s complicated state structure has reached all foreign media.

At the same time, federal politicians are working hard to convince their own citizens that we are not living under a failed government.

The Brussels attacks came at a time when the government was facing a new round of tough budget talks. Since the start of the term, decisions like these have led to endless squabbling, mostly among the three Flemish coalition parties.

CD&V and N-VA in particular have a point to prove in these discussions.

N-VA wants to bring about the change it has always promised. A government without socialists is the opportunity they have been waiting for.

Centre party CD&V, however, does not want to be part of a right-wing government. It has vowed to be the “social face” of the government and has annoyed its coalition partners with repeated demands for a tax on capital gains.

With the revelations of the Panama Papers, which include a number of Belgian names, it looked like the Christiandemocrat demand would resurface, and arguments would take over again. But lo and behold, during the budget control talks over the weekend, the federal government came up with a number of measures without too much dissent.

Taxes on tobacco will increase.

There will be more flexibility when it comes to the 38-hour work week. People on sick leave will be urged to get back to work. But most notable – especially to unions – are the measures regarding civil servants’ pensions.

These pensions have always been exceptionally high, as they were considered to be a form of “postponed wages”.

The federal government has now decided to cut them by no longer counting years in higher education as if they were years in work.

The opposition and unions are up in arms about these cuts, which they say amount to 15% of civil servants’ pensions.

The measure also surprised Flanders’ minister for education, Hilde Crevits (CD&V), who is in the middle of a debate to make careers in teaching more attractive. Cutting teachers’ pensions obviously does not help. Crevits has asked for more conversation on the subject, proving once more that this may not be a failed state, but it surely is complicated. \ Anja Otte

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Flemish delegation makes official visit to Iraqi Kurdistan Minister-president meets with leaders and pledges funds for refugees Alan Hope Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT

F

lemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois has pledged €200,000 in aid to a Red Cross project to assist refugee families. He made the announcement during a visit to the Gawilan refugee camp near Erbil in the autonomous Kurdistan region in Iraq, where he was on a three-day visit last week.

The project is worth €4.2 million and will help 967 families, who will receive cash transfers. They can choose to spend it on essential purchases or to start up a business activity.

The transfers are also intended to stimulate the economy in and around the camps.

“Sheltering Syrian refugees in their own region of the world is an important element in tackling the current refugee crisis,” Bourgeois said.

“I hope from the bottom of my heart that these people can pick up the threads of their lives again, once a political and military solution for the conflict has been reached.”

In 2014, the government of Flanders provided €400,000 via the Red Cross for water and sanitation in Iraqi Kurdistan. “The Red Cross is doing a great job there and the minister-president wants to express his sincere admiration and gratitude for their work,” a spokesperson said.

Elsewhere on his visit, Bourgeois met religious representatives in Erbil, where Catholic archbishop Bashar Warda offered his condolences for the attacks on Brussels last month. “We know what it means to live in such horror,” he said. “You were for many a destination where a peaceful life was still possible. Now people are asking themselves where they can go.”

Since the 1990s, the number of Christians in Iraq has decreased from 1.4 million to 300,000, with most of those having retreated into autonomous Kurdistan. Orthodox archbishop Daoud Sharaf was one of those forced to take refuge when Islamic State took over the city of Mosul in 2014. “You are living proof that it is possible to live together as different religions in peace,”

© Dirk Waem

Flanders’ minister-president Geert Bourgeois during a visit to the Gawilan refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan

Bourgeois told the two men.

“Kurdistan is a beacon of tolerance and stability in this turbulent part of the world,” Bourgeois said. “By paying this visit, I want to show them that they are not alone and that Flanders wants to support the consolidation of democratic and pluralistic autonomous institutions in Kurdistan. I have ordered the Flemish department of foreign affairs to examine a number of proposals for concrete assistance to the Kurdish government.”

The minister-president also met president Masoud Barzani and his nephew, prime minister Nechervan Barzani. The president explained how the region was suffering from a failure by the Iraqi central government to deliver its promised share of the budget.

“President Barzani gave me a sign that he is willing to do everything to reach a consensus with Baghdad, because things cannot go on this way.

If Iraq denies the Kurds confederalism, there will be a referendum about independence,” Bourgeois said.

The minister-president’s meeting with president Barzani was followed by meetings with the planning and education ministers and lunch with the chamber of commerce. The afternoon agenda included a visit to Erbil’s citadel and its traditional market, with dinner in the evening hosted by prime minister Barzani.

Bourgeois invited the Kurdish government to organise an economic mission to Flanders.

“The Kurds realise they have to diversify to create more wealth,” he said, pointing out that the region lives mainly from oil revenues and is suffering the effects of falling prices. “We want to help them do that. We will help them get their economy going again, via an exchange of expertise and co-operation with Flemish universities.”

Bourgeois breaks the ice for Flemish business during economic mission to Cuba

Belgium to appeal ruling on tax deals for multinationals

Flanders’ minister-president, Geert Bourgeois, has completed a three-day economic mission to Cuba, as the country becomes increasingly open to foreign trade. Bourgeois, also Flemish minister of foreign affairs, was accompanied by representatives of 26 businesses from Flanders and Brussels.

Flanders last paid an official visit to Cuba in 2001, under then minister for foreign trade Jaak Gabriels. That delivered trade opportunities, mainly in machinery, dairy products and fertilisers, according to Claire Tillekaerts, director of Flanders Investment & Trade. However, Cuba still only takes 0.016% of Flemish exports.

The timing of the trip is strategic, as it follows Barack Obama’s recent visit – the first US president to visit the country since America’s embargo imposed in 1960. But the embargo is not yet fully dismantled to allow US businesses access to the Cuban market. “Flanders doesn’t have to wait for the economy to be fully open,” said Gunter Peeters of food products company OVI in Antwerp province.

Also accompanying Bourgeois were dredging

The federal government has lodged an appeal against a ruling by the European Commission that ordered the government to recover up to €942 million in tax advantages granted to multinationals. The Commission judged the tax breaks to be state aid to industry, which is illegal.

The ruling concerned so-called excess profits, an arrangement that allowed a multinational to write off a part of its taxable income in Belgium, deemed to have been created by the company’s international standing, reputation, know-how and expertise. Agreements were reached with 60 multinationals; the Commission’s decision related to only 35. The system, in any case, was abandoned last year.

The rulings were, the Commission said, the equivalent of state aid and represented a distortion of fair competition, since smaller companies had no access to such an advantage. In January, federal finance minister Johan Van Overtveldt said he would seek a compromise from competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager and look into the possibility of an appeal. The government has now gone ahead with the appeal.

The case will be heard by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, and one of the first moves by the government will be to seek a suspension of the repayment order until the court has heard the case, which could take years. \ AH

© Dirk Waem/BELGA

Minister-president Geert Bourgeois and Flanders Investment & Trade director Claire Tillekaerts (left) on a tour of Havana

companies Jan De Nul and Deme, who have a special interest in the Mariel economic development zone west of Havana. Mariel was created to attract western investment and offers tax breaks and reduced customs charges to companies installed there. The new port will eventually handle one million containers a year.

The Huyghe brewery of Melle, East Flanders, makers of Delirium Tremens was also present in Cuba, along with Frisomat of Wijnegem, a specialist in construction of buildings able to withstand tropical heat and hurricanes. \ AH

\ COVER STORY

APRIL 13, 2016

Art and soul

Curators want to offer cutting-edge art and diverse points of view

MIMAMUSEUM.EU

continued from page 1

you need now is a few ideas and a broadband connection”.

While focusing on plastic art, Mima also aims to break down barriers between art and other creative worlds. “Iconoclast” refers to the mobile and transferrable nature of culture.

Dutch artist Parra, who created the museum’s logo, reflects this goal of expanding art outside galleries: He is also a skateboarder, plastic artist, graphic artist, video clip producer and musician.

Mima, arguably Brussels’ first major contemporary art museum – the future of the city’s plan for a modern art museum located in the former Citroen garage uncertain – is certainly cause for excitement among artists and museum visitors. Housed in the former Belle Vue breweries along the canal in Molenbeek, next to the trendy Meininger hotel, which opened in 2013, it covers a massive 1,300 square metres and eight exhibition halls across four floors.

The entrance, a big room with old red bricks and concrete beams, leads into the reception area and art shop and opens out into a video viewing space. The first three floors are dedicated to temporary exhibitions and the permanent collection, with the fourth reserved for workshops.

You could also visit for the rooftop canal views alone or to eat in the brasserie.

Mima promises much more than just exhibitions, says Cruyt, with conferences, lectures, live music and children’s events planned.

These artistic, educational and academic initiatives should boost the reputation of much-maligned Molenbeek, particularly in the wake of the Paris and now Brussels terrorist attacks.

The Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art alongside the Brussels canal should give new life to the area

For Cruyt, the possibility of a new museum at the Citroen garage or other possibilities being discussed, such as the return of the Museum of Fine Arts’ modern and contemporary collections, could only increase his own museum’s appeal.

“Why should there be a conflict?

Brussels is the European capital and deserves a wide range

Molenbeek is poor but cosmopolitan and has a promising future with a growing social mix Cruyt is reluctant to dwell on this, however, as he links the museum more to the canal zone associated with the town centre. “I think Molenbeek’s image will improve rapidly by itself,” he says, adding that it is the people of Brussels who have been wariest of the area for historical reasons. “The reality of the situation is the opposite of what is projected by the media.

Molenbeek is poor but cosmopolitan and has a promising future with a growing social mix.”

of projects,” he says. “The more museums it has, the sexier the city is.”

Cruyt also says there were no problems in setting up Mima with the Brussels-City authorities, some of whom had wanted to create a federal contemporary arts institution of their own.

“There is no conflict, because Mima is a private initiative,” he says. “We had good feedback from all the Flemish and Brussels authorities.”

With links to Toerisme Vlaanderen and other local Flemish organisations, along with VisitBrussels, Mima will also be funded by the museum’s takings, private sponsors, friends of the museum and subsidies.

Mima may give a boost to Molenbeek and Brussels’ canal area in the same way as Tate Modern has rejuvenated a formerly less popular part of London along the Thames. However, Cruyt says revitalisation of this part of the municipality was already taking place. “I appreciate the parallel, and it’s true Mima will help the area,” he says. “But the development of the city is naturally going in this direction, Mima or not.”

He says the museum fits in perfectly with the Canal Plan rolled out by the Brussels-Capital Region – which aims to smarten up public spaces, breathe new life into the district, strengthen its diversity and put it on the map – thanks to the 30,000 visitors they expect to attract in the first year.

And the museum, which has a four-person team and four more running the shop and canteen, plans to link the canal district to the city centre via educational programmes for schools, associations and families, and will even do this literally with its own minibus.

Light up the city Mima plans to stage two temporary exhibitions a year as it aims to bring 2.0 culture to a wider audience and wants to export its exhibitions abroad. The first show, City Lights, will see live music and extra activities on its opening weekend.

City Lights showcases five acclaimed American – mainly New York-based – artists: Maya Hayuk, Swoon, Momo and Faile, the artistic partnership of postpunk pop artists Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller. The idea behind the title – a nod to the classic Charlie Chaplin movie – is that these artists have lit up cities through urban projects or playful street art.

Archetypal figures of 2.0 art, the five have created four installations for the exhibition. Monumental abstract and psychedelic painter Hayuk, who started out photographing the New York punk rock scene in the 1990s and has worked with the Beastie Boys, will present a giant mural on one of the museum’s walls.

Swoon, who is heavily involved in humanitarian causes such as building sustainable houses

15 April to 28 August

© Courtesy Mima

Maya Hayuk’s “Multiverse” (2012)

in post-earthquake Haiti, has created a poetic installation made from paper. She is known for collective projects such as the rafts of “Swimming Cities of Serenissima”, which was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2009.

Faile, whose work is inspired by pop culture of the 1950s and ’60s and has graced institutions including Tate Modern and the New York City Ballet, will show off their pulp image creations, which they glue, paint and print in various media and frequently transfer to walls.

Finally, urban artist Momo – already known in Flanders for his psychedelic 3D street art presented in 2001 at Leuven’s Outomatic festival – will offer more urban digital art.

Mima

Henegouwenkaai 33, Brussels

\5

\ BUSINESS

week in business Banking ING

The Dutch-owned bank has followed the example of BNP Paribas Fortis and Belfius by reducing its interest rate on savings accounts from 0.5% to 0.11%, the legal minimum.

The bank said its decision was motivated by negative interest rates on the money markets.

Mobile Proximus The state-owned mobile operator has been criticised by the telecommunications ombudsman for ignoring complaints from subscribers about m-commerce services, which send paid SMS messages to customers, often without the the subscriber ever signing up for the service. The issue was the subject of 510 complaints last year.

Mobile Mobistar The mobile operator will stop roaming charges in EU states for pre-paid clients from 30 April. For subscribers, the charges decrease to six cents a minute for phone calls and six cents per megabyte of data used. The price of a text message goes down to 2.4 cents.

Security Securitas The municipality of Herne in Flemish Brabant has become the first in the country to employ a private security firm to carry out routine patrols of public buildings. The decision to hire Securitas was taken after a wave of 53 break-ins in the months of January and February, mayor Kris Poelaert explained.

Technology Gateway The Limburg tech company, which specialises in software for booking hotels and flights, has been declared bankrupt by a court in Hasselt. The company started in 1990, and their software is used by more than 5,000 travel agents daily.

Some 40 jobs are at risk from the failure.

Retail ZEB The public prosecutor in Halle-Vilvoorde has called for a fine of €48,000 for clothing store chain ZEB for a publicity stunt carried out last year that offered €5,000 worth of plastic surgery as a competition prize. According to the prosecutor, law forbids any form of advertising for plastic surgery.

\6

Lidl promises 2,000 new jobs Supermarket to open four new outlets in Brussels and Flanders Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

G

erman supermarket chain Lidl has announced plans to open four new stores in Brussels and the periphery and renovate four more in Vilvoorde and SintAgatha-Berchem. The changes will create 2,000 new jobs in Belgium over five years, the company said.

The total investment in the stores is some €500 million. Lidl already has nearly 300 stores in Belgium and Luxembourg, employing 6,300 people.

The new store planned for the Brussels municipality of Evere will have a surface area of more than 1,500 square metres, which will make it the

© Courtesy storecheck.be

largest Lidl in and around Brussels. The three other new stores will be located in Anderlecht and Molenbeek in Brussels and Machelen in

Flemish Brabant.

Lidl’s last opening in Brussels was the cause of some controversy, when the store in the Marollen district was opposed by residents and business owners as inappropriate for Hoogstraat, a street dedicated to antique and vintage shops.

The region’s Monuments and Landscape agency imposed conditions before granting a licence.

Lidl had to ensure that its exterior was compatible with the historic character of the area, forcing a change to the traditional appearance of its outlets. “This was the first supermarket in Belgium we’ve done that for,” said a Lidl spokesperson.

First self-driving trucks on Flemish roads

Belgian names on Panama list could face prison sentences

Self-driving trucks appeared on Flemish roads for the first time last week. The trucks drove from Westerlo and from Brussels to Rotterdam, as part of the Dutch pilot project European Truck Platooning Challenge.

For the project, two self-driving trucks followed another truck in which a driver was controlling the steering. The two self-driving trucks follow at exactly the same speed as the lead truck and also brake automatically at precisely the same moment.

This technique of connecting trucks in a convoy – called “platooning” – works via GPS, radar and wi-fi technology. For this project, however, drivers were sitting behind the wheels of the self-driving truck to intervene if necessary.

As most accidents occur because of human error, and the system reacts more quickly than a driver can, self-driving trucks are meant to improve road safety. They also drive very close to each other, about five to 10 metres, which saves on fuel and means they take up less space on the roads.

Current legislation requires trucks to maintain a distance of at least 50 meters from the vehicle in front, so an exception was made for the test. The legal framework may in the future have to be adjusted, mobility minister Ben Weyts told VTM. The technology must also be further fine-tuned before the trucks will become a common sight on the road.

Companies participating in the European Truck Platooning Challenge were Iveco, Mercedes, MAN, DAF, Volvo and Scania. \ Andy Furniere

Belgians who appear in the “Panama Papers” – some 700 names, according to reports – could face a prison sentence.

That would not be because placing funds in offshore investments is illegal, but because they may have lied to investigators about owning such funds on a previous occasion.

The Panama Papers is a leak of millions of pages of private financial information from the Panama-based law office Mossack Fonseca. The documents were studied for months by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which includes reporters from De Tijd and Knack, to make sense of the mass of financial information.

The documents, published earlier this month, reveal the financial constructions used by hundreds of thousands of investors to avoid tax in their home countries. Among those listed are close friends of Russian president Vladimir Putin, the late father of British prime minister David Cameron, the wife of

Brussels Airport temporary check-ins working smoothly The temporary check-in installation at Brussels Airport is now working perfectly, with no problems reported since operations started on 3 April, an airport spokesperson said. Most airlines have returned to the airport, and home airline Brussels Airlines is no longer flying from any of the country’s regional airports.

The check-in is a temporary solution to the severe damage the airport suffered when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the departures hall on 22 March. “Thanks to our phenomenal team’s hard work, we’re coming back,” said airport CEO Arnaud Feist. “But we realise that only 200 metres of the marathon is yet run.”

Most airline customers have resumed flights. One of the few negative reactions took place when Delta Airlines put one of its two routes out of the airport – Brussels to Atlanta – on hold, while Brussels to New York

the Icelandic prime minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, who has since been forced to resign, and top footballer Lionel Messi.

The Belgian tax authorities have on several occasions given those whose money is stashed in offshore funds the opportunity to declare those holdings, in return for being able to repatriate their funds at a lower than usual rate of tax. Some investors have taken advantage of that offer, some more than once.

However, anyone who withheld information about offshore holdings and now appears on the list of investors in the Panama Papers can expect a serious investigation by tax inspectors, a tax lawyer told De Standaard.

In Belgium, 732 names are listed, among them the De Spoelberch family, the richest family in Belgium and one of the main shareholders of brewer AB InBev. The list also includes Franco Dragone, head of the massive entertainment firm of the same name and known for his contributions to Cirque du Soleil. \ AH

Nearly 600 companies apply for unemployment following attacks

© Ye Pingfan/Xinhua Press/Corbis

remains.

The airport advises passengers to check first with their airline to verify that their flight will take off. Airport and police advise turning up at least three hours before departure to take account of the new security measures. The airport website contains full information on conditions there, as well as links to individual airlines. \ AH

Nearly 600 companies in Belgium have proclaimed a period of temporary unemployment for their staff following the 22 March bomb attacks in Brussels and Zaventem, according to unemployment agency RVA. The companies have filed a total of 1,799 requests in the last two weeks, compared to about 100 in a normal month.

Temporary unemployment can be invoked for several reasons when workers are prevented from working fully or in part. One of the reasons is force majeure – circumstances beyond the company’s control. On the day of the attacks, federal labour minister Kris Peeters announced that the conditions for force majeure had been met, and companies could resort to temporary unemployment.

When the conditions are met, workers receive a temporary unemployment benefit from the RVA. In this case, employers have to provide specific reasons why work has to be interrupted; only employees working at Brussels Airport are excused from providing that explanation.

Most of the requests came from Brussels and Flanders – 800 and 760 respectively – mainly from food and drinks service, hotels and cleaning companies. \ AH

\ INNOVATION

APRIL 13, 2016

Airspace for everyone

week in innovation

New platform tells drone users where flying is safe, and where it isn’t Senne Starckx More articles by Senne \ flanderstoday.eu

UNIFLY.AERO

E

very day around 300,000 airplanes traverse the world’s skies, carrying millions of passengers. For all its magnitude, the spectacle is far from chaotic.

Air traffic controllers carefully monitor the location and the speed of each and every one of these aircrafts: Every pilot flies every plane according to a precisely defined route. Compared airplanes to drones – 1,000 of which are sold in Belgium every month – and the contrast couldn’t be bigger.

Drone users are very often amateurs who lack aviation knowledge and adequate training. Experts warn that if basic monitoring and control mechanisms aren’t put in place, the use of airspace by both manned and unmanned planes could have disastrous consequences.

To address the issue, the Belgian government is finalising its first drone legislation. The new law sets the minimum age of 16 for drone pilots and a maximum flying height of 90 metres. The legislation follows news last year that the technological sector was still being governed by a law on model aircraft use dating from 1954.

Manned aviation systems were not developed for a large number of users, who often lack aviation skills

© Courtesy UniFly

But the drone revolution is also creating opportunities for companies specialised in flight management technology. UniFly, a unique collaboration of Flemish air traffic controllers, pilots and drone researchers, has developed the first global solution that enables planes to share the airspace with their miniature, unmanned counterparts.

The group, a spin-off of the Flemish technology research institute Vito, has launched a software platform called SkyBridge that provides a central database for every drone-related application.

SkyBridge not only provides information on the airspace or the current legislation at a specific location, it also allows drone users to upload their flights or look up previous ones. The platform is accompanied by a mobile app.

“Our platform prevents the potential problems caused by drone users,” explains Marc Kegelaers, UniFly’s CEO. “With SkyBridge, users can easily check whether they’re permitted to fly or not, because of local regulations or aviation activities that might have already been planned in the area.”

The platform, he explains, can also be used by aircraft pilots to detect any drones in their vicinity. He says that the solution to finding a place for drones in conventional aviation can’t be provided by existing management systems.

“These manned aviation systems were not developed for a very large – and growing – number of users, who very often lack aviation knowledge.”

The platform’s interface is adapted to each user’s needs to maximise market reach, Kegelaers explains. “We have features for private drone users, professional users, policing bodies,

aviation authorities, air traffic controllers and drone manufacturers.”

The government of Flanders seems sold. At last month’s Drone Days trade fair in Brussels, where the platform was officially unveiled, innovation minister Philippe Muyters said that SkyBridge answers the need – both in Flanders and internationally – to know where flying is safe, and where it isn’t.

“The platform represents an accessible solution to the problem and a vital link in the future development of drone applications,” he said.

Thanks to the support from the Flemish government’s investment agency PMV, and the QBIC Arkiv Fund, UniFly currently boasts capital of €1.2 million.

But the Flemish sky represents only a tiny portion of the world’s airspace, so UniFly is constantly on the lookout for opportunities abroad. The company, housed at Antwerp Airport, participates in many international activities.

In Switzerland, UniFly’s technology played a part in a demonstration in which drones were monitored with satellite communication. The company’s software is also used by American tech firm MTSI, which also acts as its distributor in the US. Boosting its portfolio even further, in a recent European competition for air traffic management software, UniFly finished second out of 81 participants, trailing only behind the industry giant Airbus.

Once the federal government signs the new legislation into law, drones will be divided into three categories, depending on their size and purpose. The smallest, used by recreational users, won’t be allowed to fly higher than 10 metres. The limit of 45 metres will be reserved for drones weighing less than five kilograms, and their operators will need to be at least 16 years old and have a flying certificate.

The largest and heaviest drones – those weighing up to 150 kilograms – will be limited to 91 metres above the ground. They include research drones used to monitor agriculture or measure CO2 emissions.

One of SkyBridge’s strengths is that it integrates all the legislation on drones and manned aviation that exists in the world. “This is indeed a huge endeavour, as every country or region has its own specific legal peculiarities,” Kegelaers says. “We hope that the government will soon present the new legislation, so that Flemish customers can also use our platform to its full potential.”

Trambuses under consideration for four routes in Flanders The government of Flanders is examining if it’s possible to introduce so-called trambuses on the region’s roads. The announcement from mobility minister Ben Weyts was made during a visit last week to the coach construction company Van Hool in Lier, which produces the Exqui.City trambus.

Trambuses come in different forms, but generally look like a tram mounted on wheels. In countries where it is currently used, it has a dedicated lane, but no tram infrastructure like cables or tracks.

It offers the comfort and smooth ride of a tram, but the flexibility of

© Courtesy Exqui.City

a bus in terms of route changes if required.

A government taskforce, responsible for improving the flow of public transport in Flanders, will analyse

the possible use of trambuses on four routes, connecting Willebroek and Brussels North Station, Jette and Brussels Airport, Kontich and Berchem Station in Antwerp

exquicity.be

and stops along Ghent’s inner ring road.

“Trambuses could improve public transport more rapidly, as we don’t have to install tram infrastructure,” said Weyts. Trambuses are also cheaper to produce than trams.

Van Hool has built more than 160 trambuses, which are currently in service in 10 countries, including Germany and Spain. Last year, the City of Kortrijk ran a trial project using trambuses, in co-operation with the bus and coach industry, the government of Flanders and public transport authority De Lijn.

Petra De Sutter wins Maakbare Mens prize

Fertility specialist Petra De Sutter has won the biennial prize awarded by De Maakbare Mens (The Adaptable Humans) for her pioneering work as a scientist, doctor, opinion-maker and politician. The prize is awarded to those who contribute to a better understanding of medical developments and their related social challenges.

De Sutter is a gynaecologist and head of the department for reproductive medicine at Ghent University Hospital.

She has been actively involved in the creation of progressive legislation in medically assisted reproduction and transsexuality. De Sutter, who is herself transgendered, holds a seat in the Belgian Senate, making her one of the few openly transgendered politicians in Europe.

VIB and NC State to collaborate Flanders’ life sciences research institute, VIB, has signed a collaboration agreement with North Carolina State University (NC State) in the US. As both VIB and NC State have special expertise in plant biotechnology research and a strong link with their local agro-tech sectors, the co-operation should be mutually beneficial on both an academic and an industrial level. VIB and NC State have agreed to exchange researchers, start collaborative projects and set up new companies together. The partners will put a special focus on plant breeding, the influence of soil ecology on plants, synthetic biology, precision agriculture and field phenotyping.

Project to improve use of waterways The government of Flanders has set up the company Watertruck+, which will build a fleet of three pushers and 28 barges for inland navigation and make the transport of cargo via rivers easier, Flemish mobility minister Ben Weyts has announced.

According to Weyts, 80% of all businesses in Flanders are less than 10 kilometres from a navigable waterway but these waterways – more than 1,000km in length – are not being used to transport goods. In the Kempen region and West Flanders province alone, Watertruck+ can ensure the transport of three million tonnes of goods per year, according to estimations. The fleet could replace 150,000 trucks annually, said Weyts. \ AF

\ Andy Furniere

\7

\ EDUCATION

APRIL 13, 2016

Special needs, special skills

week in education

M decree leads to shortfall of teachers with special training, says MP Senne Starckx More articles by Senne \ flanderstoday.eu

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t the beginning of the 201516 academic year, the M decree came into force in Flemish education. It states that children with a minor disability or with special learning needs must be incorporated into the mainstream education system.

Since these children have enrolled, however, a considerable number of teachers and parents have started to complain that the process isn’t going as smoothly as it could.

Flemish MP Kathleen Helsen (CD&V) asked education minister and fellow party member Hilde Crevits for some data. These figures showed exactly what Helsen had feared: Even in primary education, where most of the disabled children end up as a result of the M decree, only 53% of teachers have specialised postgraduate training in teaching children with special needs.

In secondary education, less than 30% of teachers have followed this extra training.

In technical and general secondary education, the number of teach-

© Ingimage

ers specifically trained to deal with special-needs pupils is negligible – 4% in primary and less than 0.5% in secondary. And of the people responsible for co-ordinating care at primary school, only 14% have

the extra qualification.

“The figures are worrying,” says Helsen, “especially because teachers in the regular education system will have to deal more with pupils with special needs. I even wonder

if this might be the reason so many teachers are against the decree.”

Crevits says she takes Helsen’s concerns seriously but that she has faith in the expertise of teaching staff, particularly in the special education system. “Competence is developed not only during education or training, but also during refresher courses, work experience and the sharing of knowledge.”

Helsen says she lays no blame on the teaching staff. “I don’t doubt their daily commitment to their pupils.

But the M decree was introduced along with the promise that there would be possibilities for teachers to receive professional training.”

Crevits insists that extra training is not the only way to a good education for all pupils. “Helsen’s statements disregard the experience teachers acquire during their career,” she says, “and the contribution of the existing multidisciplinary teams, composed of educationalists, speech therapist and physiotherapists.”

UAntwerp 11th best of world’s youngest universities Antwerp University (UAntwerp) has been placed 11th in a ranking of the world’s best universities established in the past 50 years. The ranking, called 150 Under 50, is compiled by the UK’s Times Higher Education magazine.

The outgoing rector of UAntwerp, Alain Verschoren, has said he is happy with the ranking. “It took time and hard work to bring together three Antwerp university institutions with different cultures,” he said, referring to the origins of the university, which was created by a merger in 2003, though its roots go back to 1852.

The result also reflects a positive evaluation of the leadership of Verschoren, who has been rector since 2008 and will be succeeded by

lawyer and historian Herman Van Goethem on 1 October.

Top of the 150 Under 50 ranking is the Swiss École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, followed by Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. No other Flemish university was listed in the ranking.

Times Higher Education also creates a general World University Ranking, in which UAntwerp is ranked 190th. Both rankings are based on performance relating to education, research, citations, industrial revenue and international reputation. Reputation plays less of a role for the 150 Under 50 ranking.

In last year’s similar QS Top 50 Under 50 ranking, UAntwerp was listed in 13th place. \ Andy Furniere

Q&A

EIGHTANT.BE

Siard van den Bosch is co-creating an online platform to improve communication between students and their landlords. Eightant will be launched at the start of the next academic year What does the name Eightant refer to?

The brainstorming about the project took place on the eighth floor of a student house, where all of us – the four founders – were living and became close friends.

And it also refers to Antwerp, where the idea originated and where we’re developing our enterprise.

What inspired you to establish the platform?

In our own house, students sometimes complained that they didn’t get a reaction from the landlord when they reported a problem or

tinyurl.com/150under50

asked for information. The landlord was also frustrated, because he didn’t have a clear overview of what was needed in the building.

The main problem is that the existing communication – via emails, WhatsApp, Facebook and so on – can be chaotic and confusing.

Professional software tools, mostly made in the US, are often not easy to use for people who don’t have much time or ICT experience.

How will your platform improve things?

Eightant will be simple to use and give a comprehensible overview to landlords and students. Students

from a certain floor, for instance.

It will also be easier for landlords to notify students about works in the building. And we will integrate a feature for landlords to be warned about inspections of things like fire extinguishers.

will be able to send personal messages, for example about a broken light in their room, as well as public messages that are relevant for all students, like a problem in the shared kitchen. We will integrate a statistics tool, so landlords can see that there are recurring complaints about noise coming

What phase are you now in?

We are testing the current version in two very different student houses in Antwerp, one fairly small and one much larger, and negotiating with private investors. We will start up at the beginning of the next academic year, initially focusing on Antwerp and then targeting the whole of Flanders and the Netherlands. Our long-term goal is to also get a foot in the door of the UK market. \ Interview by A F

Project to make move to pre-school easier The Flemish Community Commission (VGC) in Brussels, the local representative of the government of Flanders, has set up a project to make children’s transition from day care to pre-school easier. The Educare project examines how children in Brussels experience the transition, in part by filming toddlers during their first months at pre-school.

The researchers found that toddlers often struggle when confronted with activities in large groups and with only one teacher, as well as following certain rules. Starting preschool is even more difficult for children who have not gone to day care and don’t speak Dutch. Educare’s next step is developing ways to make the transition easier. The researchers will look for inspiration abroad, and two pilot projects will be set up next year.

Grade repeaters less likely to get diploma Students who repeat the second or third year of secondary school are 13% less likely to earn a diploma than students who don’t have to repeat a year, researchers at Ghent University have found.

The study also showed that grade repeaters are 13.6% less likely to be enrolled in general education (ASO) in their final year and 14.2% more likely to be enrolled in professional education (BSO). According to the researchers, holding students back has a negative effect on their self-esteem and can lead to psychological problems. The researchers stated that education experts already have enough insight to develop a more successful system but alternatives would first have to be tested in practice.

Schools get access to demographic data Thanks to the new user-friendly and interactive application Dataloep, Flemish schools can get a clear insight into student numbers and characteristics, prevalence of repeating a year and the in- and outflow of students. According to education minister Hilde Crevits, the information and statistics should help school directors strengthen their education policies and management quality. In the future, Dataloep will be expanded, with data on study certificates and the transition to higher education and the labour market. The website, which is accessible to the public, includes figures on registrations in primary, secondary and higher education. \ AF

\9

\ LIVING

week in activities Mantra singing The singing of mantras is an ancient practice that uplifts the spirit and clears the mind.

Join in an evening of guided mantra singing, led by three voices with musical accompaniment. Registration required via info@fitopia.be. 16 April 19.30-21.00, Fitopia, Mechelsesteenweg 154, Edegem (Antwerp province); €20 \ pranayogakaren.wordpress.com

Farm and Flower Market Every year, the village of Lochristi is transformed into an outdoor market selling plants, flowers, gardening tools, farm equipment and regional products. There’s also sheep shearing, birds of prey, bouncy castle, petting zoo and more. 16 April 10.00-18.00, across Lochristi (East Flanders); free \ bloemenmarktlochristi.be

Sustainable Spring Family Festival The municipality of Vorst in Brussels hosts a series of events each spring to promote ecological practices. This afternoon festival includes workshops on bread baking, vegetarian and wild food, building an insect hotel and making your own eco-friendly cleaning products. Plus children’s activities, info stands, prize raffles and more. 16 April 13.00-18.00, Vorst Abbey, Brusselsesteenweg 59, Brussels; free \ tinyurl.com/feestelijke

Manga and Cosplay Festival Hasselt’s Japanese Garden once again hosts its popular weekend devoted to Japanese pop culture. Fans of manga (Japanese comic books) and anime (cartoons and animated films) go all out, dressing up as their favourite characters and showing off their costumes on the catwalk. 16-17 April 10.00-18.00; Japanese Garden, Gouverneur Verwilghensingel 23, Hasselt; €6 \ japansetuin.be

Watermill Festival Celebrate the start of the tourist season in MeeuwenGruitrode with a weekend of outdoor activities for the whole family. A new bike route linking five watermills, a guided walk with sheep and a picnic, live musical entertainment, regional specialties ( featuring local blueberries), horsedrawn wagon rides and more.

17 April 10.00-18.00, Hoogmolenweg 15, Meeuwen-Gruitrode (Limburg); free \ meeuwen-gruitrode.be

\ 10

On the air

Haspengouw TV gives voice to the residents of southern Limburg Toon Lambrechts More articles by Toon \ flanderstoday.eu

HASPENGOUW.TV

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hose looking for the latest on what is happening in the southern part of Limburg province can now watch Haspengouw TV, a new online channel hoping to reach an audience of both locals and those from outside the region.

“People often think of the southern part of Limburg as a bit of a sleepy region,” says Luc De Boeck, one of the people behind the new station.

“But that is totally not true. There is a dynamic to be found, to the surprise even of the people who live here. That’s something we want to share with the rest of Flanders.”

As the name implies, Haspengouw TV focuses on the southern part of the province, famous – especially this time of year – for its fruit blossoms. “That’s our primary focus,” De Boeck explains. “But we want to grow across the provincial borders, because Haspengouw is bigger than just Limburg.”

The station, he says, wants to show different aspects of the region, including tourism, but also heritage and culture. “We view these elements along very broad lines,” he says. “I'm thinking about social initiatives, interesting people or innovative projects. There is a lot going on here, but the dynamics are often overlooked. We want to change that.”

Because it is broadcast online, TV Haspengouw’s programmes are available to everyone. It was launched in February, but De Boeck and his team have been in the business for a lot longer. Their previous project is T/A/S, a production house that’s been around for 27 years.

“Because we live here, we want

© Courtesy Haspengouw TV

Haspengouw TV focuses on the region famous – especially this time of year – for its fruit blossoms

to be ambassadors of the region,” De Boeck explains. “We want our reports to appeal to the people of Haspengouw, but also those living elsewhere.” The reports are quite long – some up to 10 minutes – which “allows us to go deeper into people’s lives and let them tell their

like Haspengouw TV. “TV Limburg has existed for a long time, and is indeed a strong regional station,” he says. “Our goal is to complement what they do.

They provide news; we want to look behind the headlines with more in-depth reports. Also, the region

We want to look behind the headlines with more in-depth reports stories,” says De Boeck.

Regional stations are nothing new in Flanders, and Limburg province already has TV Limburg, one of the most successful local TV stations in Flanders. But De Boeck says there is still room for initiatives

is bigger than just Haspengouw, so TV Limburg’s reports don’t usually focus on our area. That is something we can do.”

The first task for Haspengouw TV is to make a name for itself. To gain exposure, the channel is collaborat-

BITE Pop-up Cargo bar ushers springtime into Antwerp You know it’s nearly summer in Antwerp when Cargo Zomerbar pops up in Park Spoor Noord.

Well the restaurant is back, and regulars will be pleased to know that there are just a few tweaks to an already highly successful formula.

This year the focus is on locally and ethically produced food. “Where possible, we choose ingredients from a local organic farmer,” says chef Nikolaj Kovdal. “We’ve also added our homemade ice cream to the menu. There are some unique flavours, including chocolate brownie and Maldon salt and olive oil.”

In addition to ice cream, the regular menu includes a variety of salads, wood-fired pizzas, tapas and other bar snacks. All perfect to enjoy in the deckchairs on the terrace, as you watch the kids splash about in the sizeable wading pool.

Regular and special events are planned throughout the summer, and the work week will officially end on Friday afternoons at “gin o’clock”.

“We are giving the weekend a proper kick-off,” says Kovdal. “Every week we will try to feature a

© Courtesy Cargo Zomerbar

different brand, so people can do a little tasting in our gin bar.”

And if you would rather finish the weekend on a gentler note, you can do so with the Sunday brunch. From 10.00 to 13.00, there’s a rich break-

ing with various partners, including KU Leuven’s Centre for Agrarian History and the local heritage foundation Erfgoed Haspengouw.

Ultimately, De Boeck says, Haspengouw TV wants to evolve into a platform that unites local organisations with social actors and government agencies that are involved in the area. “In all likelihood, the provincial structures as we know them today will fade,” he explains. “Inter-municipal co-operation will become more important, and we can play a role in this evolution.”

For a small location station, De Boeck is aiming high. “We can start local newsrooms, for example. Our ambition is also to expand across provincial boundaries and produce programmes in addition to our reports. I hope we can start with this later this year.”

CARGOZOMERBAR.BE

fast buffet with croissants, bacon and eggs, smoked salmon, freshly squeezed fruit juice and more.

The bar is also open if you need something stronger to get the day properly started. To avoid disappointment, Kovdal recommends you book ahead via the website, especially for larger groups.

Keep the first weekend of June free for the Meat & Beer Fest co-hosted with De Laet & Van Haver restaurant from nearby Hove. “We’re inviting top chefs to cook and offer workshops and demonstrations,” says Kovdal. “We’ll also serve some unique beers from smaller breweries. It is going to be one very special festival.”

Football fans will not be forgotten during Euro 2016, which starts in the second week of June.

“Every day we will have coverage of all the matches on a big screen.”

As more events get added as the summer goes on, Kovdal suggests keeping an eye open for lastminute updates on Cargo’s website or its Facebook page. \ Dan Smith

APRIL 13, 2016

Where high and low fashion meet Fashion designer Filep Motwary’s exibition wows crowds at Hasselt museum Diana Goodwin Follow Diana on Twitter \ @basedinbelgium

MODEMUSEUMHASSELT.BE

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n Egyptian goddess rises towards the ceiling, her golden headdress and garment glittering boldly. Nearby, a gypsy queen saunters up in a colourful printed skirt, her hair bedecked with cutlery. A visitor from the future, dressed in black and loops of metal, joins the tableau.

No, it’s not the latest Hollywood epic, nor a cosplay convention.

It’s just a few of the creative and eclectic costumes on display in Haute-à-Porter, an exhibition created for Hasselt’s Modemuseum. The brainchild of Cypriot fashion journalist, designer and photographer Filep Motwary, the show investigates the relationship between haute couture and prêt-à-porter fashion.

Although the distinction may be lost on the average consumer, haute couture and ready-to-wear have traditionally been regarded as separate aspects of the fashion industry. The former, with its strict guidelines established by a Parisian governing body is defined by custom tailoring, one-of-a-kind garments and hours of painstaking handwork. It’s prohibitively expensive and accessible to only a handful of clients: the 1% of the 1%.

Prêt-à-porter, or ready-to-wear, as its name implies, is sold off the rack in multiple sizes to multiple buyers. It has long been considered a lowly alternative to couture.

However, as amply demonstrated by the selection of garments in the exhibition, the line between haute couture and ready-to-wear is becoming increasingly blurred, with the result that distinguishing between the two can be difficult – if not pointless.

The clothes are grouped into thematic categories based on some of fashion’s most enduring obsessions: the corset, the crinoline, volume, draping, embellishment, history and “the classics”

Growing up in Cyprus, Motwary first learned about clothing from his seamstress mother. He studied fashion at university and went on to intern for John Galliano, who was then the head designer for Christian Dior. Throughout his career, Motwary has been a designer, stylist, photographer, blogger and editor.

For Motwary, in Hasselt for the opening of the exhibition, Hauteà-Porter is the culmination of his professional experience. “Working in fashion for 20 years – photographing, writing, teaching, being a jury member, attending shows,

museum not well known outside of Belgium.

“To be honest, an exhibition like this is usually reserved for big cities like Paris, New York or London, but instead can be seen in Hasselt,” says the museum’s director Kenneth Ramaekers.

Some of the most iconic or fragile garments are behind glass, but most are not, affording the viewer a rare opportunity to see them up close. A few are instantly recognisable, such as Thierry Mugler’s gold robot suit, or John Galliano’s interpretation of the classic New Look silhouette for Christian

Few of us will ever wear such exquisite creations, but anyone can appreciate them as works of art

© Courtesy Modemuseum Hasselt

‒ types of garments that have stood the test of time. Many of the pieces on display could easily illustrate two or more of these themes, and part of the enjoyment of seeing them is noticing the common concerns, different solutions and infinite variation.

The exhibition operates on many levels: as a three-dimensional dissertation on its central premise (a discussion that is continued in the gorgeous accompanying catalogue), and as a retrospective of fashion’s greatest hits from the last 30 years.

It is also a demonstration of the inventiveness, craftsmanship and creativity that goes into creating high fashion. Few of us will ever wear such exquisite creations, but anyone can appreciate them as works of wearable art.

There is another thread running through the exhibition, which includes not just fashion but photographs, sculpture and taxidermy. The selection of clothes, along with the other works, constitute a personal statement by the curator, who worked on the exhibition for three years.

talking to designers – it’s 20 years of information.” he says. “Theoretical, literal, metaphorical – all of it comes together here.”

The metaphorical dimension is expressed through the use of stuffed wild animals throughout the exhibition. A life-size elephant’s head, a zebra, a peacock and a crocodile, among others, share space with the couture gowns. Motwary invites the visitor to draw comparisons between the animals’ natural adornments and the human need to transform, embellish and augment our natural shape.

The exhibition has been getting a lot of attention in the international press, with glowing reviews on several fashion websites. It’s an exciting coup for Hasselt’s fashion museum, a small, regional

Until 11 September

Flemish projects win prestigious Europa Nostra Awards Two projects in Flanders have won a Europa Nostra Award, the European Union’s most prestigious recognition of cultural heritage. The De Hoorn brewery in Leuven has won the prize in the Conservation category, while the project Grote oorlog door kinderogen (The Great War Through the Eyes of Children) has been honoured in the category Education, Training and Awareness-Raising.

De Hoorn (pictured) is the birthplace of Stella Artois, dating back to 1923, but it had stood empty and unused for 20 years when a group of entrepreneurs acquired the building in 2007.

They worked to turn it into a dynamic cultural centre, which opened in 2012.

“This initiative has greatly contributed to the preservation of an important piece of industrial heritage in Leuven, thanks to their creative use of space within a well-preserved industrial framework,” the prize jury said.

© Philippe Dujardin/Europa Nostra

The Great War project, meanwhile, brings together the province and tourist agency of West Flanders, animation studio

Dior.

But surprises abound, from a hooded, egg-shaped dress made from black feathers by Giles, to a transparent bodysuit decorated with tiny wisps of fur by Olivier Theyskens.

For the uninitiated, it’s nearly impossible to tell which garments are couture and which are ready-towear. But that’s exactly the point.

“The pret-à-porter pieces chosen to be part of this exhibition are all excellent examples of the craft,” says Motwary. “Whether the embroidery or the stitchwork, the feather works or the handwork – it’s all there. These are not garments that one can ignore.

Some of them cost as much haute couture pieces, so it’s a good point to ask again – where is the line between them?”

Modemuseum Hasselt Gasthuisstraat 11

europanostra.org

Kidscam and non-profit Lessen in het Donker (Lessons in the Dark). Fourteen classes of pupils from the fifth and sixth years of primary school investigated the First World War and presented their findings in an animation film.

“With such an action-oriented approach, the children were able to present their understanding of the First World War, and reflect on what they had learned,” the jury said. “The project demonstrates a useful way to look back on that difficult time, and to inspire the children to deal with empathy and solidarity with the people who had to go through those ordeals.”

This year, 187 projects from 36 countries were nominated for Europa Nostra prizes. Of those, 28 were given awards, seven of which will be chosen for the Grand Prize in May. The public can also vote for their favourite project via the website. \ Alan Hope

\ 11

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\ ARTS

APRIL 13, 2016

War and reconciliation

week in arts & CULTURE

Compassion helps overcome trauma in Inne Goris’ new stage production Ian Mundell follow Ian on Twitter \ @IanMundell

A

lessandro Baricco’s 2002 novella Without Blood is about a boy and a young girl who meet fleetingly in the violence of war, then again several decades later. Their conversation, with its meditation on victims and aggressors, revenge and reconciliation, has been brought to the stage in a timely new production by Flemish director Inne Goris.

“Maybe it’s a story that can help us confront what is happening around us, and to think about how we can move on,” Goris says in reference to the violence currently troubling Europe.

“It’s not that there is a happy ending, but what you see is two people experiencing the same thing from very different positions.”

Rather than responding to current events, however, the production began with a commission to mark the centenary of the First World War. “I started reading about the war, and all the stories that I found and thought were interesting have already been used in other performances,” Goris says. “But I have a bookshelf at home where I put all the books that I will maybe, one day, use for a performance, and Without Blood was one of them. It’s a book that I read about 10 years ago and that has always stayed in my mind.”

Baricco, who wrote the book in Italian, is vague about when and where the story takes place. In the first part, a group of armed men invade a farmhouse, intent on killing everyone inside.

When the carnage is over, the adolescent Tito discovers a little girl, Nina, hidden beneath the floor. Struck by her beauty and innocence, he says nothing and lets her live.

In the second part of the novella, Nina and Tito meet again, many decades later. “What I always find interesting is how people respond to a traumatic experience, and that’s what’s happening here,” Goris explains. “They try to find the right words, to find a way to explain to each other what happened to them that night.”

One challenge in bringing this story to the stage is the contrast between the violence of the first section and the relative calm of the second. “We had the feeling that the first part is very cruel and very aggressive, and so quite hard to relate,” says Goris, who works under the auspices of the Ghent-based production company LOD Muziektheater. “So the composer Dominique Pauwels has worked on a way to capture that violence in sound and music.”

For the second part, Goris has chosen a rather

© Courtesy LOD Muziektheater

Director Inne Goris (second from left) chose a minimal setting to highlight the “choreography of words and little gestures”

minimal setting, with the two protagonists – played by Lieve Meeussen and Johan Leysen – simply talking across a table. “It’s a choreography of words and little gestures taking place in one square metre,” she says.

The small girl who is seen curled up in the foetal position beneath the floorboards in the first part of the performance also reappears, a connection between the past and the present.

“I had the feeling that this image of the girl reminds both the woman and the man of the most beautiful and the most cruel things that they have ever experienced in their lives,” Goris explains. “So the girl is on stage, like the living wound of that night and its living beauty. She is a bit like a cat that is with them; at certain points, she pushes them to go on, and at another moment is there to comfort them.”

The performances that Goris creates often have this blend of theatre, music, dance and the visual arts. She also returns frequently to the themes of adults and children, making work for both audiences. “I always start with the story that I want to tell and how I want to tell it,” she says. “Deciding on the age group is one of the last steps.”

Her inspirations range from fairy tales to Greek

tragedy, and from a joyful fascination with snow to the grim lives of Africa’s child soldiers. With Zonder Bloed, as the new production is called in Dutch, the darkness of the story and the minimal treatment demanded by Flemish writer Peter Verhelst’s dialogue meant it was destined for a more adult audience.

Yet these lines are not hard and fast. “We did a run through, and the 10-year-old brother of one of the girls who is singing was there. I wouldn’t say that he loved it, but he had some really interesting questions and made some good remarks,” Goris says. “So you shouldn’t underestimate children. You have to be careful sometimes, but not too careful. They also have questions about what is going on around us.”

Zonder Bloed runs at Kaaitheater this week (in Dutch with English surtitles), in Ghent next month (in Dutch) and at the Lift Festival in London in June (in English)

13-15 April Kaaitheater

Sainctelettesquare 20, Brussels

Films by women take centre stage at Mooov Film Festival Although women in the West have made great strides in filmmaking (though not as much as you might think – check any directing awards), they still struggle to get recognition and funding in many other parts of the world. That situation is improving, even if many women must split their time between their homelands and the West to achieve their goals.

The Mooov Film Festival, which is based in Turnhout and Bruges but also hosts screenings in several other Flemish towns, does not make selections according to a theme, but themes inevitably emerge as the programme comes together.

So this year, as organisers pored over the best in world cinema with social themes, they discovered that women directors – and women’s issues in general – are coming to the fore. The phenomenon can be seen in both the opening and closing films.

Opening the festival on 19 April in Turnhout is

As I Open My Eyes, the acclaimed feature debut of Tunisian director Leyla Bouzid. One of the first fiction features to be set during the Arab Spring, it tells the story of a young woman trying to live a rock’n’roll lifestyle in the face of disapproval from both her family and the suffocating political structure that surrounds her.

The festival closes with Parched, director Leena Yadav’s sharply critical look at the plight

mooov.be

of women in rural India as young widower Rani (Tannishtha Chatterjee, who is also on Mooov’s prize jury) struggles with her brutish, womanising teenage son. She and the women who revolve around her depict myriad problems related to economics, sexuality and insular communities.

Other standout films on the programme are Guatemalan director Jayro Bustmante’s Ixcanul, which sees a young woman resisting an arranged marriage while trying to save her family’s coffee plantation, and I Am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced (pictured), based on a story that made global headlines in 2009 by exposing Yemen’s common child-bride arrangements. The director, Khadija Al-Salami, escaped such a marriage herself at age 11. \ Lisa Bradshaw

19 April to 1 May

Across Flanders

Veerle Baetens to direct film of hit novel

Flemish production hour Menuet has bought the film rights to author Lize Spit’s best-selling novel Het smelt (The Melting). Popular actor Veerle Baetens is set to write the script and direct the movie. It will be her directorial debut. Menuet and Baetens have worked together on many projects, including the Oscar-nominated The Broken Circle Breakdown and hit TV series Code 37. Spit’s debut novel, the story of a young woman revisiting her past with a mysterious block of ice in the boot of her car, was published last November to wide acclaim. It is being translated into Danish, French, German, Norwegian and Spanish. Baetens called the book “absolutely brilliant.

It grabbed me by the throat from page one. This is an incredible opportunity, and I am eternally grateful to Lize for putting her trust in me.”

A timeline for the production has not yet been announced.

Vaccarello named creative director of Yves Saint Laurent Anthony Vaccarello of Brussels has been named the new creative director of the legendary fashion house Yves Saint Laurent. Vaccarello previously served in the same post at Versus, a label owned by Versace. The 33-year-old with Sicilian roots was born and raised in Brussels and studied fashion at the La Cambre school of art and design. The year he graduated, in 2006, he won the Grand Prize at the Hyéres International Festival of Fashion and Photography and has since been in demand by top European designers.

Vaccarello’s first collection for the fashion house will be spring/summer 2017.

Whispering Sons win Rock Rally Five-piece band Whispering Sons of Helchteren and Leuven have won the 20th edition of Humo’s Rock Rally, which played out last weekend at Brussels’ Ancienne Belgique. The Joy Divisioninspired post-punk band beat out the nine other finalists, all of which were whittled down from 100 in preliminary competitions. “The drawnout keyboards, the quiet drum loops and the odd, babble-like singing style takes us to a place both emotional and peaceful,” said the jury.

The band play this month in Opwijk and Ghent. \ whisperingsons.bandcamp.com

\ 13

\ ARTS

No time for silence

Bent Van Looy hits his solo stride the second time around Christophe Verbiest More articles by Christophe \ flanderstoday.eu

Das Pop lead singer Bent Van Looy’s second solo album was conceived in Paris, made in Los Angeles and “couldn’t have been written five years from now”.

“I

’ve always thought in concepts, even as a child,” musician Bent Van Looy recalls. “For me, it all started with drawing a drum kit. This abstract dream turned into an inevitable desire: I really wanted a drum.”

Later, age 12, he got a whole kit, and, he says, the first time he played with people, “a new world opened. But all this started with a decision I made when I was five: I knew I wanted to dedicate my life to drawing and music. Becoming a doctor, a policeman or an actor – that has never been an option.”

After gloriously winning Humo’s Rock Rally in 1998, the Ghent band

BENTVANLOOY.COM

he says. “My solo debut was hugely important: I’d been writing the songs for years, and in my head it had become a big statement.

Because I knew perfectly well what I wanted – a minimalist solo effort with a piano at the heart. I underused the talents of the brilliant producer Jason Falkner. Even so, collaborating with him was so inspiring, so magical, that for the new album I prepared much less. I only had lyrics and melodies when I got on the plane.”

That plane took Van Looy to Los Angeles, and to Falkner’s recording studio. “This album was a joy to record,” he says. And it’s clear in every song on Pyjama Days, a collection of varied pop tunes, coming much closer to Das Pop than those on Van Looy’s first solo outing. “With that album I wanted to distinguish myself from Das

With my first solo album, I wanted to distinguish myself from Das Pop. That was less important this time Das Pop went on to release four albums. They delivered exactly what their name promised: catchy pop tunes, hovering between bittersweet and enraptured.

They haven’t split up, Van Looy insists. “We’re not going to make a record because we need money or because people expect it,” he says.

“When we have the feeling we have something to say again, that’s when we’ll make our fifth album.”

In 2013, Van Looy released his first solo album, Around the Bend. Now he has a follow-up, Pyjama Days, which debuted at the top of the Flemish album charts earlier this month – a new achievement in Van Looy’s career.

“This one was a lot easier to make,”

Pop,” he says. “That was less important this time.”

But to be clear, his new songs couldn’t have been recorded by the band. “They weren’t conceived for them; it’s a completely different attitude,” Van Looy says. “Das Pop is much more conceptual, which isn’t the same as impersonal. It’s about pop music in its most concentrated form, something that’s less important for my solo work.”

Van Looy and Falkner are the only two musicians on Pyjama Days.

Live, of course, the singer needs a band, and it’ll be without Falkner.

“He’s touring with Beck,” he says.

“And it’s too expensive to have a musician from Los Angeles play-

© Charlie De Keersmaecker

Bent Van Looy and backing band are on tour this week in Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent

ing with me over here.”

He’s very happy, though, he says, with the band he’s assembled.

“We rehearsed for the first time a few weeks ago. After a few years of playing solo at a piano, it’s great to be surrounded by musicians again and be able to trust them fully.”

The singer, who turns 40 next month, recently moved back to Antwerp, the city where he was born and where he lived until the age of 16, when he moved to Ghent.

For the last decade, he’s been living

in Paris. In the new song “High and Dry”, he sings, “Paris you have made me”.

“For 10 years, Paris has been not just a refuge but also a creative breeding ground,” he explains. “I liked strolling through the city; when I left the house I always knew inspiration would find me.

But that’s not just Paris: I’ve writ-

13-15 April

More new albums this week Echo Beatty

Ephy

Nonetheless • Waste My Records Antwerp couple Annelies Van Dinter and Jochem Baelus have released their second album as Echo Beatty. Nonetheless is a collection of nine dreamy songs for which they combine a bluesy feel with slivered electronics and other eerie sounds. Singer Van Dinter sounds like a sweet fairy who lures you in and suddenly reveals herself to be a lot more wicked than you thought. If I were David Lynch, I’d fire Angelo Badalamenti and ask Echo Beatty to provide the soundtrack for the upcoming new series of Twin Peaks.

They deal in pop noir that stirs the soul.

Small Things & Bigger Nothings • Moshetel Multi-instrumentalist Ephraim Cielen is one of the hidden treasures of the Antwerp music scene. As a sidekick, he excelled with Ellen Schoenaerts and Liesa Van Der Aa. The latter is co-producing Cielen’s first solo album, released under the moniker Ephy. Informally mixing jazz, soundscapes, pop tunes, libertine electric guitars, brooding strings and melancholic horns, Cielen makes each of the 10 songs sound different, but you can hear they’ve all sprung from the same source. Small Things & Bigger Nothings reveals a lot of turmoil in its lyrics, with the music serving as their counterpoint.

\ echobeatty.com

\ soundcloud.com/ephymose

\ 14

ten loads of Das Pop songs while walking through Ghent.”

Van Looy is convinced that the city in which he lives influences his work. “I lived in London for a while. It’s a city with much more energy than Paris; things go much faster there. It’s a tougher city, too.

Sure, Paris is a metropolis, but it’s also conservative and sedate.”

The move to the French capital was first and foremost a departure from Ghent. “I wanted to get out of that city and to start from scratch: meeting new people, seeing new places and reinventing myself.”

Living in another language “makes you a bit of another person,” says Van Looy, who wrote some songs in French while in Paris. “Not enough to fill a whole album,” he says. “It might happen in the future, though. I noticed that I’m writing different songs in French.

They can’t just be translated into English, or vice versa, and the music is different.”

In recent years, Van Looy has become a household name via Flemish television, thanks to his role as a jury member in The Voice van Vlaanderen. But what happened to the visual arts?

“It’s a bit frustrating,” he admits.

“Music and television are perfectly combinable, because they both start from movement, tumult and collaboration between people. But visual art, for me, equals complete loneliness. I need the time and the space to make it, which I don’t have. That’s why I don’t even try it right now. The images that are lodged in my head aren’t lost, though. I keep them for the day I’ll have enough time.”

He could make time, couldn’t he? “Sure, but pop music has a momentum. Pyjama Days is an album I could only have made now, not in five years. The time for silence hasn’t come yet.”

De Rome, Antwerp Ancienne Belgique, Brussels Handelsbeurs, Ghent

\ AGENDA

APRIL 13, 2016

A vinyl revolution

VISUAL ARTS

Record Store Day 16 April

recordstoreday.be

M

I love finding out about new, unknown stuff. The passion of independent record store staff should be central on Record Store Day. Collectors want this knowledge and enthusiasm.”

Close support comes from Karel Van Audenaerde, who launched RSD in Belgium in 2009 and is co-owner of Music Mania in Ghent.

Another traditional element are RSD-only vinyl releases featuring local artists. This year finds releases from K’s Choice, Brzzvl, 30,000 Monkies, Kaptain Korsakov and The Spectors, among others.

RSD also has to accommodate global major labels that have seized on it and the vinyl boom as a way of increasing profits from their back catalogues. But these are dismissed by most fans. “A lot of big labels are just releasing stuff that doesn’t have any value for the real collector,” says Decroix.

CONCERT

THEATRE

Blues Cycle

Karamazow

Veteran American bluesman Corey Harris comes to Brussels for a show-and-tell of transAtlantic proportions. This blues programme kicks off with a screening of Martin Scorsese’s 2003 documentary The Blues: Feel Like Going Home, in which the award-winning director follows Harris (pictured) to the Mississippi delta and West Africa in

Expolaroid 2016 Sint-Gillis: Part of the international festival of instant photography, featuring works by several local artists, an opening event and a guided walk. 21 April to 15 May, Pelgrimshuis, Parmastraat 69

Across Belgium

ore than 80 shops selling vinyl in Belgium will be hosting events this weekend for Record Store Day (RSD), an international event celebrating the humble neighbourhood record shop.

Shops participating with special vinyl releases, concerts or other treats include Vynilla and Wool-E-Shop in Ghent, The Vinyl Touch in Mechelen and Coffee & Vinyl in Antwerp.

Cultural centre Vooruit in Ghent devotes an entire day of concerts to the cause, and many of Flanders’ fave bands can be found there and elsewhere, including Mauro Pawlowski, Admiral Freebee, Kiss the Anus of a Black Cat and Amatorski.

The frontmen for RSD in Belgium are Thomas Coucke and Diederik Decroix. The latter doesn’t work for a record store, but spends a lot of time in them. “I am a collector,” explains Decroix, “and

15 & 18 April, 20.00

Brussels

Molière, Brussels \ muziekpublique.be

search of the music’s roots. The film features music from and interviews with seminal players like Leadbelly and Muddy Waters.

Next, Harris demonstrates the emotive power of the blues with an acoustic performance blending contemporary blues and its traditional African precursors. \ Georgio Valentino

\ paprikasbl.be

FOOD&DRINK Ghent Record Store Day still remains the high point of the year for Decroix and lovers of vinyl and independent shops everywhere. Although, for him, he admits: “Every day is record store day!” \ Mark Andrews

\ proof.gent

Campo, Ghent

14-16 April

lazarusvzw.be

Flemish theatre collective Lazarus takes on Dostoyevsky in this new production, loosely based on the 19th-century Russian novelist’s The Brothers Karamazov, an epic tale of familial and social ferment that inspired the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, the narrative innovations of James Joyce and the existential angst of Friedrich Nietzsche. The six-strong

Tasting: Discovery tour around the world in six spirits, featuring some surprising flavours to challenge even the most seasoned tasters. 15 April 20.00, Proof Shop & Tasting Room, Jan Breydelstraat 34

Lazarus team, including screen actors Koen De Graeve (De helaasheid der dingen, Tot altijd) and Charlotte Vandermeersch (Code 37, Belgica), both wrote and star in the production and promise to breathe new life into the seminal story. The production premieres in Ghent before touring Flanders throughout the spring. (In Dutch) \ GV

Food Truck Boulevard: The travelling food truck festival makes its way across Flanders touting an array of dishes from around the world, plus open-air bars and DJs. 15-17 April, Zwijnaarde Castle, Joachim Schayckstraat 6 \ foodtruckboulevard.be

EVENT Brussels Brussels Brontë Weekend: The Brussels Bronte Group’s weekend of events celebrating the 200th birthday of British novelist Charlotte Brontë, who lived for a time in Brussels between 1842 and 1844.

Talks, readings and a guided walk showcasing the places she frequented. 16-17 April, across Brussels \ thebrusselsbrontegroup.org

FESTIVAL

© Guy Kokken

EVENT

STAND-UP

Nacht van de Vrouwelijke Stem & Boekenbal

Trevor Noah

16 April, 20.00 Housed in a disused Ford garage, Antwerp’s Permeke Library has been celebrating its tin anniversary with a months-long programme of literary and artistic events. This special evening recognising women’s voices in the arts is the grand finale. The night includes spoken word, readings and even song and dance with Flanders’ poets, singers and opinion-makers. On the bill are such heavy hitters as Saskia de Coster, Kristien Hemmerechts (pictured) and the new 20-something phenom Lize Spit. Festivities continue into the wee morning hours with the Boekenbal. Antwerp’s literary establishment will be drinking and dancing to DJs and their vinyl right there between the books. \ GV

Permeke, Antwerp permeke.org

31 May, 20.00 Despite a handful of appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival over the years, comedian Trevor Noah was little known outside his native South Africa until 2015, when he was chosen to host the satirical American news programme The Daily Show. While they missed Noah’s predecessor – the immensely popular Jon Stewart – audiences embraced the new host and gave his career a global boost. Noah is set to tour Europe with a new stand-up routine during a brief Daily Show hiatus.

This Antwerp date is his first-ever appearance in Belgium. Expect humorous and incisive commentary on current events. (In English)

© Keke Keukelaar/GVA

Brussels

get tic

kets n ow

Stadsschouwburg, Antwerp livecomedy.be

Listen! - A Brussels Future Music Festival: First edition of this electronic music festival featuring concerts and DJs, with an emphasis on future-orientated dance music, plus record fair, exhibitions, lectures and workshops with a variety of artists.

14-16 April, across Brussels \ listenfestival.eu

Kortrijk Flanders Festival Kortrijk: Seventh edition of the music festival with a programme rooted in classical tradition yet seeking confrontation with contemporary music, featuring an opening performance by Huelgas Ensemble and the sound art installation Sound of Silence. 14 April to 1 May, across Kortrijk \ festivalkortrijk.be

\ GV

\ 15

\ BACKPAGE

APRIL 13, 2016

Talking Dutch Skinny latte and a saucer of milk, please

In response to: Police arrest third airport terrorist suspect Shazia Imran Ghaznavi: We’re proud of the Belgian police.

Well done.

Derek Blyth More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu

I

t had to come sooner or later. After dog beer, it was only a matter of time before the first cat cafes began to open in Flanders. Vanuit Japan via de VS, Frankrijk en Duitsland – From Japan, via the US, France and Germany, reports De Morgen, overgewaaid naar ons land – it has blown across to our country: het kattencafé – the cat cafe.

Belgium’s first cat cafe opened in Brussels 18 months ago. Now there are plans to open one in Ghent called DreamCATchers. In dit koffiehuis – In this coffee house, kan u uw bakje troost opslurpen – you can sip your mug of coffee, in het gezelschap van acht kitten – in the company of eight kittens.

DreamCATchers is de droom van Lana Bauwens en Evelyne Vandenberghe – DreamCATchers is the dream of Lana Bauwens and Evelyne Vandenberghe, twee jonge vrouwen die zich al heel hun leven over katten ontfermen – two young women who have taken pity on cats all their life, en ook al een flink aantal kattencafé's bezochten in New York, Londen en Amsterdam – and have also visited a good number of cat cafes in New York, London and Amsterdam.

The inspiration comes originally from Japan, where at least 80 cat cafes have opened over the past 10 years.

Daar wonen de mensen klein – People there live in cramped houses. En dat betekent vaak: geen plaats voor huisdieren – And that often means no room for pets.

En dus trekken ze na een drukke werkdag – And so they head off at the end of a stressful working day naar een plek waar die wel verzameld zitten – to a place where they can be found in numbers.

Bauwens and Vandenberghe plan to pick up their resi-

VoiceS of flanders today

In response to: Flights slowly resume at Brussels Airport Aneta Trajkovska: Good luck and many happy moments ahead!

In response to: Belgian names on Panama list could face prison sentences Steven Toerist: I’m from Barcelona, I know nothing ;) © Ingimage

dent cats from local charities that gather up strays.

Customers are expected to treat the cats – which can be quite shy – with respect. In de zaak geldt maar een regel – There is just one rule here: niet de klant, maar de kat is koning – the cat, not the customer, is always right.

Knuffelen mag – you are allowed to stroke them.

Tenminste, als het dier daar zin in heeft – at least, as long as the animal wants you to.

But sometimes the cats need to escape the constant petting. Er zijn aparte luikjes waar ze zich kunnen terugtrekken – There are cat boxes where they can retreat als ze geen zin in publiek hebben – if they don’t want to be surrounded by people. Ook mogen ze niet worden opgetild – And they can’t be picked up, uit hun slaap gehaald – roused from their sleep of gevoederd – or fed.

It sounds like a cute idea if you feel the need for a little furry friend with your morning coffee.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Pawan Bishnoi @ponny29 Great food, amazing chocolate, impressive landscapes, wonderful art, the best cycling. Just a few experiences you can have in Flanders.

Lisa @andthemoun I honestly have no idea where I put my bike last time I was in Ghent.

Fritz Alkemade @FritzAlkemade Early flight to Brussels. Looking forward to lecture for the magicians in Leuven.

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the last word If at first you don’t succeed “You can find enough success stories in the media from entrepreneurs, but nobody ever mentions that those stories often start out with failure. Starters need to hear those stories, too, or they might give up at the first hurdle.”

Bart Lodewijckx of Unizo, which is organising the first Flemish Fuckup Night to feature some feel-bad stories

Home front “However harrowing the story may be, this is unlawful.”

SEEING RED Brussels Airlines has unveiled the latest specially decorated member of its fleet: Trident, designed in honour of the Red Devils national football team, is painted inside and out with images of the players and coaching staff, and transported its first passengers to Berlin last week

Bruges city council has ordered Kris Provoost, a homeless man, to stop renovating a former First World War bunker to live in

No secrets “Teenagers don’t seem to understand boundaries. Swapping passwords is even seen as a sign of love and trust.”

Antwerp researcher Joris Van Ouytsel found that nearly half of all teenagers read their sweetheart’s private messages without permission

Service with a smile “They want to come and show us how to be more friendly? I take that personally. As if I’m not friendly enough. They ought to see how much trouble we have to go to.”

Marina Pak, a server in Ostend, is just one of those offended by a proposal to send coaches in to teach wait staff at the coast how to be more friendly

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