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JULY 27, 2016 \ newsweekLY - € 0,75 \ rEad morE at www.flandErstoday.Eu currEnt affairs \ P2

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BIRDS OF A FEATHER

STITCH BY STITCH

Needleworkers in Assenede are committing a centuries-old tale to an unusual canvas

The revamped Het Zwin Nature Park is an ugly duckling no more

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art & living \ P10

TAZ AT 20

Ostend’s Theater Aan Zee has come a long way, and so have its laureates \ 14

In the groove

Exhibition of album covers shows vinyl’s magic isn’t only in the sound mark andrews More articles by Mark \ flanderstoday.eu

In celebration of 50 years of vinyl’s outer beauty, Fort Napoleon in Ostend is hosting an exhibition of record sleeves by Belgian designers, and there’s a tie-in book and newspaper too.

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unkered down behind the dunes north of Ostend is Fort Napoleon, a squat pentagon of dark red brick, built on the orders of the little general in 1811.

Those visiting the fort as a historical relic this summer might be taken aback to see the techno pioneer CJ Bolland peeking over the outer ramparts, alongside punk originals The Kids and the doyens of electronic body music Front 242.

These images form part of Belgium: The Vinyl Frontier, an exhibition of record sleeves by local designers from the last

five decades, which the fort is currently home to.

There’s a wonderful incongruity between this formerly militarised location and the oddball art on display. It’s the strangest mash-up I’ve experienced since visiting an exhibition of outsider art curated by Sonic Youth in a former U-boat bunker in France.

The Ostend exhibition is the brainchild of Francis Weyns and Ben Van Alboom of Red Bull Elektropedia, an online platform launched in 2009 that documents Belgian nightlife. Belgium: The Vinyl Frontier is the subdivision that focuses on independent music made here.

The reasons for picking Fort Napoleon were straightforward, Weyns says. “Ben has had two exhibitions there that proved a huge success. The city of Ostend and the people of Fort

Napoleon were very supportive. Ostend is becoming one of the biggest cultural cities in Belgium; this combined with the summer season was ideal for our exhibition.”

The show is accessed through doors emblazoned with a blowup of a TC Matic 12-inch sleeve: shocking pink lettering over a chiaroscuro male torso, bulging veins and musculature, which splits neck to crotch as the doors slide open. It’s a bold statement of intent; the exhibition, like its entrance, is playful but not playing it safe.

The exhibition proper begins with a series of “walls” grouped by colour. Placebo’s Ball of Eyes, The Sore Losers’ Skydogs and Brel’s Les Vieux 2 are on the Orange & Red Wall. The Subs and Amatorski feature on the Blue & Green Wall. On The Wall, with its cream, black and white palette, we find the 1970s jazz continued on page 5

\ CURRenT AFFAIRs

Severe rain causes havoc clean-up of towns in flemish Brabant to take several days alan Hope Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT

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esidents of several municipalities in the east of Flemish Brabant are recuperating from the severe rain storms that caused flooding in the area on Saturday. The clean-up could take several days, the mayors of Kortenaken and Linter said.

The two towns triggered their disaster recovery plans in response to the severity of the damage. In some places, rainfall reached 80 litres per square metre, with flooding in the streets up to one metre in depth. The towns of Geetbets and Tienen were also affected, albeit less seriously. A scout camp in Geldenaken had to be evacuated and some 40 scouts found shelter in a rest home.

The situation was still disastrous by Sunday morning, the mayor of Linter, Marc Wynants, said. “It’s one huge mudbath,” he said. “We were up until 4.00, and we’ve been busy since 8.00 this morning cleaning up, but it’s going to take several days.”

The town of Kortenaken found itself in similar circumstances. “The people have been affected emotionally and feel lost,” said mayor Patrick Vandijck. “They also realise there’s nothing they can do in the face of such a flash-flood.”

Both towns will now apply to the Flemish disaster fund for aid. “I’m afraid, however, that the disaster fund may be used up, considering all the terrible weather there has been in recent months,” Vandijck said.

The disaster fund and private insurers are still responding to damage claims from May, June and July. According to the insurance industry federation Assuralia, between the end of May and the end of June, 35,000 insurance claims were filed for a value of €150 million – the equivalent of all claims for 2015. Over the same period, the disaster fund received 22,000 claims for a value of €189 million. Those figures do not take into account claims relating to severe weather in Flemish Brabant on 7 June (photo) and 22-23 June.

© Zumapress

Man who caused bomb alert was student measuring radiation

Antwerp closes Meir to all traffic

A man who was stopped by police in central Brussels on Wednesday wearing a winter coat with long wires protruding from it is a doctoral student at the University of Ghent who was measuring wifi radiation.

The man was reported by a security guard, who had received reports from members of the public about his appearance. Police attended and stopped the man at gunpoint. Police say he reacted strangely and refused to explain his behaviour.

Accordingtotheuniversity,theman, from Iran, speaks neither French nor Dutch and was unable to under-

Antwerp has agreed to block the Meir shopping street to traffic, following the terrorist attack in Nice in which a man driving a lorry mowed down hundreds of people on Bastille Day, killing 84 and injuring many more.

“The pedestrian zone on and around the Meir is now blocked to motorised traffic from 11.00 to 19.00,” a spokesperson for mayor Bart De Wever said. “However, now and then vehicles find themselves where they ought not to be. To avoid that happening, we are going to place obstacles on the side streets so that it

© Courtesy VRT

stand what was being asked of him.

Suspecting explosives, police called in a special intervention squad, as well as the army’s bomb disposal unit, Dovo. A perimeter was established in Schildknaapsstraat and Greepstraat near Muntplein.

A Dovo robot detected metal plates and other material that could

suggest the presence of explosives.

Only when it became clear who he was and what he was doing was the alert ended. The man was taken by police for questioning and later released.

The university explained the man was using a prototype instrument to measure wifi radiation. “There are batteries and cables, which these days can be seen as suspicious,” a spokesperson said. The man will not be sanctioned but may face a bill from police. “This is an unfortunate incident for everyone involved, and we will draw the proper conclusions from it,” she said. \ AH

will be impossible for vehicles to access the Meir. Residents, visitors and traders have to be able to feel safe and live, work and shop in peace.”

The obstacles will be concrete planters or retractable bollards, which were installed in 2012 but have not been used systematically since. Residents and shopkeepers can apply to the city for an access pass to operate the bollards, as can anyone with a garage in the pedestrian zone.

Deliveries to businesses must be completed by 11.00. \ AH

Thousands attend 21 July celebrations in Brussels amid heightened security Belgium’s National Day celebrations took place last week amid tighter than usual security. About 60,000 people attended the military parade in Brussels, which this year was dedicated to the emergency services and their work in response to the terrorist attacks on 22 March.

The night before, the Bal National, a dance evening held on Vossenplein in the Marollen district of the capital, attracted 12,500

people – substantially fewer than last year’s 17,000. Organisers said the turnout was “a success given the current context”.

On the morning of 21 July, the royal family attended the traditional Te Deum in the Brussels cathedral.

Public turnout was sparse – 500 people instead of last year’s 1,500 – because of tight security in the area, including rooftop snipers.

The only problem experienced during the parade was the heat:

€2.4 billion

cost to Flanders for the 378 road traffic deaths in 2015, as well as the more than 32,000 people injured, according to EU figures which estimate the cost to society of a fatality at €2.2 million, and an injured person at €21,300-€330,000

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civil defence forces passed out water to the crowds. For the first time, customs officers took part in the parade, as a token of thanks for their assistance at Brussels Airport on the morning of the bomb attack.

Finally, 25,000 people stayed for the fireworks display on the Paleizenplein at 23.00, with the king and queen and Crown Princess Elisabeth.

In his address on the eve of

© Imago

National Day, King Filip called on the population to have confidence in the future. Among factors that risk exposing fault lines in society, he mentioned the terrorist attacks and the unrest caused by

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invested by Ghent city authorities in toilet facilities – 153 toilets and 79 urinals – including 13,200 rolls of toilet paper, 300 litres of soap and 900,000 paper towels to ensure hand hygiene

households in Brussels in 2015 where electricity suppliers asked for power to be cut off, compared to 842 in 2014, according to Sibelga.

For gas, the number rose from 742 to 1,358

the British referendum decision to leave the EU. “We must beware of false prophets, who play on people’s emotions, who manipulate these fault lines and people’s vulnerabilities. They are keen to point to scapegoats, and to deepen the gulf between religions, peoples, and in the end between all of us. It is more urgent than ever that we strengthen the things that create cohesion and justice in our society.” \ AH

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approved by the Brussels parliament for the new Road Safety Fund, which will organise awareness campaigns and speed checks, as well as pay for infrastructure such as speed bumps outside schools

people tried in Belgium last year for terrorism or membership of a terrorist organisation, 116 of them convicted, putting it in the lead of 16 EU states examined by Europol.

Three countries had more arrests – France, Spain and the UK – but none saw more convictions

july 27, 2016

WEEK In BRIEF The number of reports of possible terrorist financing went up in 2015 to 75 from 35 the year before, the Belgian Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (CFI) reports. The CFI receives information from banks and other financial institutions on possible money laundering and suspicion of financing of terrorist organisations. The total number of reports rose from 6,978 in 2014 to 8,329 in 2015. The increase is likely to continue, the CFI said.

A campaign that aims to make people more aware of littering has been launched in Kontich by its organisers, who include environment minister Joke Schauvliege, waste management agency OVAM, the association of Flemish municipalities VVSG and the food and retail industry federations. Every year 17,500 tonnes of litter and flytipping costs Flanders €61 million. \ indevuilbak.be

National Day on 21 July was the occasion of the announcement of the annual royal honours, when titles are bestowed on prominent citizens. Among those raised to the level of baron or baroness are First World War historian Sophie De Schaepdrijver and Eddy Bruyninckx, retiring CEO of the Port Authority of Antwerp.

The title Commander of the Order of Leopold goes to astronomer Conny Aerts of the University of Leuven, while Munt director Peter De Caluwe becomes Commander of the Order of the Crown, as do theatre director Ivo Van Hove and former Knack editor Hubert Van Humbeeck.

A bronze sculpture by Ludwig Vandevelde has been stolen from the Vrieselhof provincial park in Antwerp province, despite weighing several hundred kilograms.

The sculpture, “Boeket I”, depicting a bouquet of flowers, had been temporarily moved from its place on the lawn between the castle and the De Remise tavern, to allow a

FACE OF FlAnDERS festival to take place. Authorities are asking for tips from anyone who was in the area between 8 and 15 July and may have seen something.

Thefourmainbanksandthreemain telecommunications companies in Belgium have pledged the launch this year of Belgian Mobile ID, an app that will do away with the need for safety codes and card-readers when logging in to websites. It also allows a legally valid digital signature to be attached to documents.

The collective Pool is Cool has carried out a guerrilla swimming action in the basin on the fish market in Brussels, in protest at the lack of open-air swimming facilities in the capital. The group issued an invitation by social media to swim in the basin of the fountain at the Varkensmarkt end of the square. They submitted the idea of allowing swimming on the Vismarkt in the recent Make.

Brussels competition, but it was not approved by the jury despite receiving the most votes.

The prosecutor’s office in West Flanders is to appeal against the sentence in a case of a Turkish man convicted of human trafficking in the port of Nieuwpoort. The 43-year-old was sentenced to five years suspended, though the prosecution had asked for eight years in prison. The man was found transporting 12 Syrian refugees, including a five-year-old, from a camp in the north of France, with the intention of taking them to the UK. The Brussels regional government has agreed to extend the suspension of the city tax imposed on hotel guests in the 19 municipalities until the end of the year, in an effort to help businesses recover from the slump since the terrorist attacks of 22 March. The suspension of the tax was originally for six months. Food and drinks businesses, meanwhile, will benefit

from a suspension of the municipal tax on terraces.

Fewer than one in five Belgians feels unsafe in current conditions, according to a survey by pollsters GfK of the perception of safety in 21 countries. In Belgium, 18% of men and 17% of women feel unsafe, compared to an overall average of 32%, placing Belgium in fourth place for feelings of security behind Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.

The Belvue museum attached to the palace in Brussels has unveiled a new permanent exhibition on Belgium and its history. The exhibition covers democracy, welfare, solidarity, pluralism, migration, language and Europe. It also includes 200 artefacts making up the country’s “material memory”, including a painting by Magritte, a saxophone and an old waffle iron.

Flemish riders have celebrated a series of victories during the Tour de France, which ended yesterday. Thomas De Gendt was second in the polka-dot jersey ranking for the king of the mountains and won on Mount Ventoux on Bastille Day. He and Greg Van Avermaet came seventh and eighth respectively in the green jersey classification for points won on intermediate sprints. Van Avermaet also claimed the yellow jersey for three days, and won the Limogesto-Le Lioran stage. Serge Pauwels came sixth in the mountain ranking and 13th in the points.

Polar explorer Alain Hubert and his Brussels-based International Polar Foundation are making plans to return to the South Pole in November, when spring is beginning in the southern hemisphere.

Hubert learned this month that an appeal against a banning order against him had been successful.

He is trying to raise funds for a new expedition to the Princess Elisabeth station.

OFFSIDE Keeping tabs Customs officers in Belgium seized no fewer than 262 million illicit cigarettes in 2015, or about 13.1 million packets of 20. An impressive result, but did you know that in some cases, the Customs service sells off some of those confiscated gaspers to third parties?

They come in two forms: counterfeits of major brands like Marlboro or Kent, and “cheap whites” – generic cigarettes of unheardof brands, usually low in quality and price. The counterfeits are destroyed by burning; the cheap whites are sold to the public in countries outside the EU. Open VLD politician Luk Van

© Verhaerenmuseum

Emile verhaeren The poet and writer Emile Verhaeren died 100 years ago this year, and the museum in his name in Sint-Amands in Antwerp province has just received the perfect anniversary gift: a delightful, rather comical painting of the writer called “La Lecture” (Reading) by Constant Montald. The painting was bought from a Brussels gallery and donated by an anonymous benefactor.

The painting shows Verhaeren seated on a dining chair, his lanky body bent almost double over a book and papers strewn on a peach-coloured divan. One arm is stretched out in front of him, as if he were declaiming from the paper he’s holding. His Yosemite Sam moustache, one of the most prodigious in literary history, appears to bristle with passion.

Verhaeren and Montald were good friends, the poet a regular guest at the painter’s salons in his home in Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe, where figures like Magritte and Paul Delvaux were also in attendance. The painter had a taste for the monumental. Two of his paintings are in the Fine Arts Museum in Brussels, each measuring 5m by 5m.

He was also responsible for the mosaic work on the outside of the Jubelpark museums.

Verhaeren himself was born in Sint-Amands in 1855, and though he wrote in French, he went to school in Dutch and was heavily influenced by Flemish painters. He wrote short stories, plays and poems, as well as art criticism, becoming an advocate of the Symbolism of Fernand Khnopff and James Ensor.

He made the acquaintance of Montaldin1896,twoyearsbefore he moved to Paris, although he returned to Brussels often. His work there included a series of volumes of poetry inspired by Flanders, as well as art criticism volumes on Rembrandt, Ensor and Rubens. He died in 1916, and was commemorated with a monument in Sint-Amands, and later in 1955 with his own museum.

“This is a serious work, for which a serious amount of money was paid,” the museum’s curator, Rik Hemmerijckx, said. “An anonymous donor handed it over to us two weeks ago. We immediately hung it in the renovated permanent exhibition Verhaeren and Europe marking the 100th anniversary of the author’s death.”

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

© Ingimage

Besien has a problem with this state of affairs. Cheap whites are made in Russia and China, but also in Italy. The ones that are not stopped by Customs are sold at prices made artificially low by the lack of VAT, excise duty and import tariffs at a cost to the national accounts.

According to the auditors KPMG, the market for cheap whites in Europe is growing. While 262 million were seized in Belgium in 2015, the total the previous year was only 32 million – a sign that the overall market, while likely much bigger, is probably growing at roughly the same rate.

Van Besien has asked federal finance minister Johan Van Overtveldt to draw up a code of conduct for government services in relation to confiscated goods and forfeited assets to govern what may or may not be sold on. The same question raised last year in the same terms has yet to receive an answer.

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

Ministers approve new measures before summer recess green light to new driving regulations, science and innovation alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

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he Flemish government has gone into the summer recess with a “supercouncil of ministers” approving a series of new measures.

They include changes to the requirements for the driving test from mobility minister Ben Weyts and a commitment to switch from analogue to digital radio from media minister Sven Gatz. The plan by environment minister Joke Schauvliege to call a halt to all construction on open land from 2050 was sent back to the drawing board at the last minute after objections from N-VA. Housing minister Liesbeth Homans

presented her plan for strengthening the private rental market, including financial support for landlords who rent to lowincome tenants at affordable rents. Education minister Hilde Crevits announced €160 million for investment in school buildings.

Welfare minister Jo Vandeurzen announced new rules on people in Brussels covered by Flemish health insurance, more money for activities in rest homes and 145 new places for unaccompanied refugees under 15 outside the large reception centres.

Innovation minister Philippe Muyters announced €30 million of new investment in

Families to face smaller Turteltax energy surcharge than expected About 9,000 families who were expecting to pay an energy surcharge of €770 will pay €290 instead, energy minister Bart Tommelein has announced. The surcharge – known as the Turteltax after Tommelein’s predecessor, Annemie Turtelboom – remains the same for everyone else.

The change affects households who use electrical heating and are therefore among the heaviest users of electricity, with consumption of 20-25 megawatt-hours a year. That placed them in a higher category of user, paying €770 instead of €290 for most households.

As well as the 9,000 households, the new tariff also applies to about 18,000 self-employed people, professionals and small businesses. Anyone using more than 25 MWh a year remains on the €770 tariff.

© Ingimage

Tommelein advised those heating their homes by electricity to change, however. Electricity is inefficient for heating, using three to four times as much energy as a heat pump for the same result.

In addition, heat pumps attract a premium from the grid manager and from some provinces and municipalities. \ AH

© nicolas Maeterlinck/Belga

science and innovation, putting R&D investment this year on track for a record total.

Energy minister Bart Tommelein announced changes to the Turteltax (see story below).

The government also circulated a presentation of its highlights of the parliamentary year. They include the introduction of a road toll for lorries; a new system of child allowance; slimming down the provincial authorities and integrating social aid agencies in municipal councils; goals for renewable energy and means of achieving them; reduced salary costs for certain groups; planned start of construction of the Oosterweel connection in Antwerp in 2017 and a new woodland compensation scheme.

Bourgeois rebukes Turkish embassy spokesperson Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois has issued a rebuke to the Turkish embassy in Belgium, after their spokesperson called on the Flemish government to investigate a Turkish opposition movement in Limburg.

In a statement, Veysel Filiz said the movement in support of opposition leader Fethullah Gülen was behind the failed coup in Turkey earlier in the month. “They are terrorists, nothing more, just like IS or [the Kurdish independence movement] PKK,” Filiz said.

Bourgeois issued a statement in response, in which he said it was “absolutely unacceptable” for an embassy employee to presume to give instructions to the Flemish government. He quoted the Vienna Convention of 1961, which governs diplomatic relations between countries, Article 41 of which states: “It is the duty of all persons enjoying such privileges and immunities to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving State. They also have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that State.”

He also stressed that the laws and values of Flanders are those of the rule of law. “I will not tolerate accusations that the Flemish government supports terrorist organisations. That is too crazy for words.

If anyone has evidence of unlawful practices, let

© Courtesy VRT

them file a complaint with our independent justice system.”

Bourgeois said he would be contacting the Turkish ambassador to express his concerns over the statements of his employee. He repeated an earlier call for calm, made following clashes between Turkish opposition supporters and police in Beringen, Limburg, for “Turkish tensions not to be imported into Flanders”. The Turkish ambassador later issued an apology to Bourgeois and to prime minister Charles Michel. \ AH

First phase of Brussels terrorist attack investigation complete The parliamentary investigative committee looking into the terrorist attacks of 22 March has completed the first phase of its investigation and produced a list of more than 300 findings and recommendations.

The first phase dealt with the performance of the emergency services on the day, at Brussels Airport in Zaventem and at Maalbeek metro station in Brussels.

The report itself, which received a second reading by the committee last week, is not yet available. However, committee chair Patrick Dewael gave some indications of the content in an interview on VRT radio.

For example, the committee recommends creating a digital platform that can display the capacity of city hospitals at any time. At the same time, the crisis centre that comes

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into action in the event of serious incidents should be reinforced with an information platform to streamline communications.

“Our emergency plans did not take sufficient account of the possibility of a terrorist attack,” Dewael said. “At present, there is not enough interaction between two emergency centres, as happened during the attacks between Flemish Brabant and Brussels.”

According to insiders, the committee’s proceedings were constructive, albeit with some differences of opinion. Dewael made it clear to members that he would not tolerate polarisation and would not accept a report where the majority parties outvoted the opposition.

The committee calls for the three regions to reach an agreement on GSM standards, after

© nicolas Maeterlinck/Belga

the Brussels mobile network became saturated on the morning of the attacks. It also calls for better training for emergency staff in the use of existing resources, such as the dedicated Astrid communications network.

The committee will begin its second phase

of deliberations, covering the security apparatus in place in Belgium, after the summer recess.

Meanwhile, a new memorial (pictured) has been unveiled in the entrance to Maalbeek station, designed by Benoit Van Innis, who created the ceramic portraits on platform level. The tiled wall, with the design of an olive tree in black on white, also features a fragment of a poem by the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, who was assassinated by Franco’s forces at the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Unfortunately, his name on the wall is given as “Frederico”.

“We will fix that as quickly as possible. That’s an adjustment that can be taken care of quickly,” Van Innis said. \ AH

\ COVeR sTORY

july 27, 2016

In the groove

the vinyl exhibition in ostend lets the artwork speak for itself vinylfrontiEr.BE

continued from page 1

album Good Buddies, with its price sticker still attached.

The sleeves on display have been sourced from various collectors, labels, record shops, Weyns and Alboom’s personal vinyl collections and from records found on the website Discogs.

There are other idiosyncratic groupings, too, with Ferre Grignard, Dez Mona and 2 Belgen on one wall and Burt Blanca, Luc Van Acker and Melanie de Biasio on the adjacent wall.

These sleeves, like the vast majority in the fort, stand proudly out of context, without explicatory text, and have to be taken on their own terms. A visitor without a working knowledge of 50 years of Belgian music will have no choice but to take the sleeves at face value as visual works of art.

Weyns: “Just as we once did, the visitors will get a chance to discover a lot of bands, labels and artwork they’ve never heard or seen before.

We wanted primarily to let the artwork speak for itself and guide the visitors to their own discovery; just like when you’re in a secondhand shop and you find records with artwork that intrigues you, even though you’ve never heard of the band.”

Deeper into the exhibition lies the Comics Corner, for designers taking a more graphic approach. Matto Le D’s work for Fifty Foot Combo is highlighted here. Indeed, throughout the whole exhibition certain designers are showcased more than others: Sozyone Gonzalez, Rudy Trouvé, Dr Lektroluv and Ever Meulen’s sleeves for Telex.

Why these? “For their love of music, their immaculate taste, their originality and their sense of humour,” says Weyns.

Organisers of Belgium: The Vinyl Frontier want the visitors to discover bands, labels and artwork they may have never heard or seen before

In the slyly ironic Ladies Corner, one corny sleeve features a figure silhouetted behind venetian blinds about to lick her fingers. “The girl on the Calypso album by Sven Van Hees is actually the artist himself, dressed up as a woman,” explains Weyns. “If you don’t know it, you wouldn’t see the difference, but the story is in our book.”

It would also be easy to take offence at Vive la Fête!’s Attaque Populaire, with singer Els Pynoo seminaked, trussed up and ready to be sat on like a chair. Out of context

Vinyl is gaining popularity, but it is still a small market Next to featured designers there is a bit of text, taken from the luscious coffee table book that accompanies the exhibition and was put together

by Van Alboom and Weyns. Listed at €39.95, visitors can get a €10 discount with a coupon from The Dusty Needle, a newspaper that can be picked up free at the exhibition.

There is also the Black Corner, nominally featuring the more audacious sleeves, next to old scratched and sprayed graffiti that has been allowed to remain on the fort’s walls. Here are Argonauts and Magneto by Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat, two sleeves from The Kids and Last Chicken in Paris from Limburg post-punkers Bedtime For Bonzo.

in the show, it looks as sexist as Spinal Tap’s legendary Smell The Glove, rather than part of a battery of aware and defiantly sexualised imagery deployed by the band.

Your reaction to the image will depend largely on your knowledge – or lack of it – and general feelings about the band.

Weyns admits this is risky, but adds: “We don’t want to be the jazz police.

Almost all the bands are in control of the things they do; we’re pretty sure they know what their artwork is about.”

That would also be true of the section devoted to The Lords of Acid and their sleeves for Rough Sex, I Want To Increase My Bust and The Crablouse.

A pair of record decks is set up, but when I visited the only aural context was provided by a vintage 1957 Rock Ola jukebox playing an array of seven-inch singles, including The Chackachas’ brilliant “Jungle Fever”, immortalised in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights. The sleeve – crass faux-afrocentrism at best, racist at worst – has worn less well.

The exhibition, book and The Dusty Needle are all part of a concerted drive to celebrate all things vinyl.

They are part of the same movement that coalesces once a year on Record Store Day (RSD).

The book is actually a sequel to Belgium: The Vinyl Frontier Part 1 which was in the format of a vinyl single and featured interviews with seven record collectors. The 1,000 copies were distributed exclusively through independent record stores on RSD in 2014 and instantly went out of stock.

One of the leading lights of RSD is Diederik Decroix, who is heavily involved in maintaining the event’s social media presence. He feels that vinyl is doing better now than it has in 25 years, even if it only makes up 2 or 3% of all music bought in Belgium. “It’s gaining popularity, but it is still a small market,” he says.

For enthusiasts, listening to vinyl is a commitment, and an immersive, sensual experience. “Listening to vinyl is about setting aside some time for music, enjoying the moment of putting the needle on the record and letting it spin; taking the time to get to know an entire record, not just one song, and

enjoying the artwork while listening to the sound,” Decroix says.

He attributes vinyl’s current success to services like Spotify. “If you don’t like a song after five seconds, you skip and skip until you find something you like.”

Red Bull Elektropedia, he says,

until 25 september

has been crucial for initiatives like Record Store Day and for vinyl in general. But every record shop owner also deserves credit. “They are the ones who are truly passionate about music and vinyl, giving advice to their customers day in, day out.”

Fort napoleon

Vuurtorenweg 13, Ostend

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\ BUsIness

WEEK In BuSInESS Baby supplies washcot Kortrijk start-up Washcot has taken a step backwards in time, with a new service that provides families with re-usable cotton nappies, as well as taking back used nappies for cleaning. The nappies contain no chlorine or chemicals, so are safer for babies and better for the environment. “Washable nappies are healthy, ecological and hip,” the company says.

Driving schools Federdrive

The federation of driving schools, Federdrive, has said new rules on driving tests in Flanders will lead to more accidents on the roads. One of the new measures involves performing six set manoeuvres instead of two at present, which will lead to more learners taking to the open road rather than practising in car parks, Federdrive said.

Internet TV Orange

More than 10,000 subscribers have signed up for the new internet TV service from Orange Belgium, formerly known as Mobistar, in the two months since the service was launched, the company said.

Orange hopes to have signed up 30,000 subscribers by the end of the year.

software Microsoft

Computer giant Microsoft has promised better co-operation with Belgian judicial authorities in future in cases of cybercrime. The agreement comes after the West Flanders prosecutor’s office began an enquiry into the company’s failure to provide information in an investigation, despite a legal obligation to do so.

Theme parks Plopsaland

Theme park Plopsaland in De Panne is considering legal action against a West Flanders agency which was supposed to renew the park’s environmental permit but has so far failed to do so. The park’s permit expired on 18 July after 20 years. The government’s environment department said it was considering sanctions.

\6

European Court rules against plans for left bank of Scheldt ruling could hold up construction of new tidal lock

T

alan Hope Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT

he European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has declared the Flemish government’s plans for nature compensation on the left bank of the river Scheldt to be in breach of EU law. The decision means the government and Antwerp Port Authority will have to review their plans for a new dock on the left bank, according to local activist group Doel 2020.

The case concerns the regional planning programme known as Grup, drawn up in relation to the construction of a new tidal lock, which would make it possible to access the docks on left bank of the river.

Doel 2020 activists have opposed the construction, arguing that it is not necessary because the Deurganck dock, which opened in June, is a long way from reaching its capacity.

The construction would mean the loss of the villages of Ouden Doel and Rapenburg, as well as areas of natural importance. The government planned to compensate the loss of natural areas by creating new, larger ones elsewhere.

The European Court has now ruled that this is

© Limowreck/wikimedia

not enough: nature compensation may only be used in exceptional cases, where there is no real alternative, it said. The maintenance and improvement of existing natural areas, it added, has absolute priority over the replacement with new natural areas of those which have been lost.

According to the activist group, the Council of State must abide by the decision and has been asked to halt the regional planning programme for the port, just as it already has for the village

of Doel (photo). The verdict also affects a new project for the enlargement of the port’s container capacity. The project will now have to take into account the priority rule imposed by the court.

Antwerp Port Authority said it had taken note of the European Court’s decision and would further study the ruling with the Flemish government.

• A field of 20 companies operating in the Port of Antwerp will compete for the first Sustainability Award. The idea for the award came from the port’s third sustainability report, presented last year, which highlights the port’s ambition “to be a front-runner in the creation of sustainable added value”.

The applications for the award are not restricted to environmental matters. The list also includes projects that aim to improve the welfare of port workers or improve mobility.

The applications now go before a jury co-chaired by the governors of Antwerp province and East Flanders. The winner will be announced in November.

New head for science centre Technopolis in Mechelen

Sports park planned for Neo but no place for Memorial Van Damme

Stephane Berghmans is the new director of Technopolis, the science centre in Mechelen for children and young people, innovation minister Philippe Muyters has announced.

Berghmans is a doctor in chemistry who has made his career in the private sector, with oil company Total, chemicals group Milliken & Company and Janssen Pharmaceutica. He comes to Technopolis from CommScope Connectivity Belgium in Leuven, where he was innovation manager.

“Stephane Berghmans gained his experience in the academic and business worlds,” Muyters said.

“He is a man who can build bridges between those worlds and the public. Above all, he came across as an enthusiastic and innovative manager. He is someone with a dynamic leadership style who is capable of approaching the challenges Technopolis is facing.”

The Neo project at Heizel in Brussels, a shopping and conference centre, has plans for a sports park within the complex, comprising an athletics track and possibly a 5,000-seater grandstand. However, the park, backed by the City of Brussels and Brussels-Capital Region, is not intended to provide a new home to the Memorial Van Damme, Neo’s chair Henri Dineur told Bruzz.

The Memorial is one of Belgium’s most important athletics meetings and dates back to 1977. It is held in memory of athlete Ivo Van Damme, who died in 1976 at the age of 22 in a car accident in the south of France. The Memorial takes place in the Koning Boudewijn stadium, which is due to disappear when Neo is built. A new national stadium is planned nearby on Parking C of the Heizel complex, but it has no room for an athletics track.

© Courtesy De standaard

One of Berghmans’ first jobs will be to motivate staff following their long dispute with his predecessor, Erik Jacquemyn. Accusations of mismanagement led to Muyters suspending working subsidies last year. Staff called for Jacquemyn’s resignation in May last year; he stepped down in February.

“With Berghmans as leader, Technopolis will be able to build for the future,” said Luc Van den Brande, chair of the Technopolis board.

“Above all else, he attaches great importance to strong co-operation with all of his colleagues.” \ AH

More education staff choose to work part-time Increasing numbers of staff in the education sector are working part-time, according to figures from education minister Hilde Crevits, requested by Flemish MP Jos De Meyer.

Last year, 27.3% of Flemish teachers worked part-time, compared to 24% in 2013. The figures are higher for staff members aged 50 or older: an increase from 29.7% in 2013 to 34.1% in 2015.

“It’s clear that many employees in education choose a more limited workload in the last part of their career,” said De Meyer, an educa-

tion expert in the CD&V party. “It’s important to keep this option open for education staff.”

De Meyer also expects a large number of staff members to take a regular career break in September, as it is the last time the measure will be offered – a complete break or working only part-time with financial support from the government. Specific career breaks – for parental leave, to provide palliative care or to give medical assistance – will continue to be supported by the government. \ Andy Furniere

© Courtesy klasse

© Courtesy neo

The new sports park will not fit the bill either, Dineur said. The event attracts a capacity crowd of around 50,000 at the Koning Boudewijn stadium; the 5,000 seats in the new park would be far too few.

Bruzz reports having seen an alternative plan, contained in a study commissioned by Brussels finance minister Guy Vanhengel, which proposes a much larger stadium with 23,000 places. The Neo board’s decision to back the smaller sports park would appear to have wiped Vanhengel’s study from the table, the newspaper concludes. \ AH

\ InnOVATIOn

july 27, 2016

One world under science

WEEK In InnOvATIOn Vet and medical research under one roof

multicultural projects show the cohesive power of science andy furniere More articles by Andy \ flanderstoday.eu

innoviris.BE

I

nnoviris, the Brussels institute for research and innovation, is battling polarisation in society through science promotion initiative Science Mundi. It will fund projects that show how diverse cultures, through time, have contributed to our current scientific knowledge and technological innovations.

At the beginning of the year, Innoviris invited various types of organisations in Brussels – schools, universities, youth associations and non-profit organisations – to propose projects that promote science and technology among children.

The total budget of the Science Mundi call is €200,000, and a jury of experts is currently examining which of the 29 proposals will receive funding. Projects proposed by only one organisation can receive up to €10,000, with more on offer for those with several partners. The final decision will be taken by the end of August and the projects will run from September until the end of June.

Innoviris launches a similar call concerning science promotion every year, on central topics such as water or the Earth, but Science Mundi is different from its predecessors. After the terrorist attacks in Paris, the Brussels state secretary for scientific research, Fadila Laanan decided the projects should focus on bringing the different communities in multicultural Brussels together.

“By emphasising how scientific progress throughout the centuries is the result of developments in different cultures all over the world, the projects must show the value of diversity in society,” Science Mundi co-ordinator Evy Ceuleers of Innoviris explains. The projects can also bring people from different backgrounds together, for example disadvantaged youngsters with those from a more affluent environment.

One of the projects in the running for funding through Science Mundi is Computer Sciences Without Borders, from the Free University of Brussels (VUB) and non-profit

© Courtesy CoderDojo

science Mundi offers funding for projects that show how different cultures have contributed to science through the ages

organisation CoderDojo Belgium.

The goal is to familiarise children between the ages of 14 and 18 with the history and practical side of computer science.

One of the aims is to create a “travelling museum” in the form of a mobile installation with information panels on the history of computer science, to be set up in schools and libraries throughout Brussels.

It would enlighten children about the origin of algorithms, essential in computer sciences, to this day.

The term “algorithm” comes from the name Al-Khwa¯rizmi¯, a Persian mathematician who worked in the 9th century.

There would also be an interactive component to the project. The partners would organise a largescale event with workshops on the history of computer sciences, develop a kit with which youngsters could carry out programming exercises and launch a web portal on which they could advertise their own efforts at programming.

Promoting programming among young people is the core activity of CoderDojo, so it would provide the necessary expertise to set up interactive workshops.

“Such projects are urgently necessary in Brussels, since the ICT sector here is developing strongly and so there is a growing demand

for digital experts in the region,” says Ceuleers. “By increasing the interest of youngsters in this field, the project would help to battle the high youth unemployment in Brussels.”

Other Dutch-speaking applicants are the Brussels campus of Odisee University College and non-profit Foyer, which carries out multiethnic work in the Brussels district of Molenbeek. Together they developed a proposal for a project that targets children aged between 10 and 12 who don’t yet speak Dutch fluently.

aged between 18 months and three years. During hour-long sessions, the team at the museum allows the toddlers – with their parents – to explore the world of animals in a tactile and playful way. “This could further lower the thresholds of museums, which are still too readily associated with passive experiences,” says Ceuleers.

A central aim of Innoviris is to bring linguistic communities together, so it encourages organisations to cater to both Dutch- and French-speakers. One of them, the non-profit Maximilian Park Farm,

Museums are still too readily associated with passive experiences The project would organise interactive workshops on science and tech for the children, led by Odisee students, who are studying to become teachers. “This way, these future teachers could get to know the cultural diversity of the student population that they would later encounter in Brussels’ schools,” says Ceuleers.

Another project proposed by the Museum of Natural Sciences targets a much younger audience: toddlers

answered this call with a proposal to install a digester in the park. In this container, old bread can be converted into gas and fertilisers.

By taking this practical approach, the project would increase interest among youngsters from all backgrounds in chemistry, biology, physics and ecology.

Innoviris also has a permanent funding programme, which evaluates proposals for science promotion initiatives throughout the year.

Scientists take the pee, and make it drinkable Bio-engineers at Ghent University have developed a water purification process to recover pure water and fertilisers from urine. They’re testing their solar-powered installation on the urinals at this year’s Gentse Feesten.

Urine contains 70% of all useful fertilisers in wastewater but makes up only 1% of the total volume of wastewater. Instead of diluting it and disposing of it in sewers, the Ghent installation will filter it at the urinals.

As the concept works on solar power, it’s ideal for summer festivals, which suffer from logistical problems concerning wastewater. The researchers also aim to introduce the installation in devel-

oping countries where farmers often have little access to commercial fertilisers, resulting in loss of harvest. If local farmers were able to recover fertilisers and water from urine, agriculture could be organised more sustainably and locally.

TheurinalsareaprojectoftheCentreforAdvanced Process Technology for Urban Resource recovery, which gathers experts from various backgrounds to use resources from waste streams.

Last year the centre created a beer called From Sewer to Brewer on the basis of recycled waste water. The purified water from the urinals might also be used to create a new version of this beer. \ AF

The federal research centre for public health (WIV) and veterinary medicine (Coda) are merging into the new general healthcare research centre Sciensano. The two responsible ministers, Maggie De Block (Open Vld) and Willy Borsus (MR), said it was a world first for specialists from the medical and veterinary sectors to deal with healthcare challenges under one management. The new centre takes effect on 1 January, 2017 and will provide advice to the government, set up scientific research and support clinical research. It will also monitor the good practice rules of labs and be responsible for risk assessments. Sciensano will be based at the Erasmus Zuid-site in Brussels.

Limburg company stores solar power A Limburg company has installed an innovative system in which it uses batteries to store the solar energy it generates. InterOffice, specialised in distributing office and school supplies, will run its Tongeren datacentre at night on the energy it generates during the day.

The system was developed by start-up We Are Smart from Bilzen and research bureau Think! E from OudHeverlee in Leuven. The new system makes the company the only one in Belgium with the choice to either use its energy itself or send it to the grid. Energy minister Bart Tommelein, who inaugurated the new system, said he believed strongly in decentralised energy production.

Hyper-local weather stations in Ghent Scientists from Ghent University and the Public Observatory Armand Pien have invested in a network of six high-quality weather stations that will measure the temperature, wind, rainfall and humidity every minute, to map local weather differences. The stations are placed in various urban areas, including in a park and at the port.

One is set up in a rural area in Melle to compare urban weather with that in the countryside. The stations, which will remain in place for three years, will send the data to a UGent server, to be analysed by researchers. The data will also be used in tertiary and secondary education. \ AF

© Courtesy UGent

\7

\ eDUCATIOn

july 27, 2016

Fun summer for all

WEEK In EDuCATIOn

volunteer teachers organise dream holidays for children at summer camps débora votquenne More articles by Débora \ flanderstoday.eu

PirlEwiEt.BE

M

ost teachers work hard all year and, come summer, they like to get away from it all. Some, however, choose to spend their summers volunteering. They go out camping, for example, with less privileged children, offering them some time away from the labours of life.

Ivo Libens and Gerlinde Vanderstraeten are both volunteers for Pirlewiet, a Ghent-based non-profit that offers children and families who can’t afford a holiday the opportunity to get away.

The two teach at different schools and specialise in different subjects, but their motivations for volunteering are not that different.

Libens, 59, has been teaching for 40 years, mostly in special needs schools. Although he plans to retire next year, he says he won’t stop volunteering with Pirlewiet, which he joined six years ago. “I did some other volunteering before but I felt it wasn’t really what I wanted,” he says.

“What I do for Pirlewiet is closer to what I know best: interacting with children who have mental conditions.”

Initially, he helped out in the kitchen at summer camps. But the list of responsibilities quickly spread beyond the canteen. “As a special education teacher, I’ve dealt with children with physical and psychological problems,” he explains.

“These children might react more aggressively to certain situations, for example.”

So the camp organisers asked him to help with children who needed to calm down. “There’s no use in getting angry at them,” he says. “I let them burst out in frustration and then they calm down and you can talk to them about anything.”

Vanderstraeten (pictured), who is 39 and has two children, recognises the situation. “The children and the parents we see here are often challenged in different ways at the same time,” she says. “The children are socially excluded and are not progressing as well as others their age, while their parents might be on low incomes and often didn’t finish school themselves.”

The combination of these elements creates a challenge for the camp’s organisers. Despite the added burden, however, Vanderstraeten, who has been volunteering with Pirlewiet for 20 years, remains committed to the cause.

“It’s good for me as a teacher to look at the problems from all angles,” she says. “I can learn from the other camp guardians. They have different jobs, and by consequence different approaches,

All major Flemish universities have decided to stop sending students to Turkey as part of the Erasmus exchange programme. The measure was taken in the aftermath of the thwarted military coup, the imposition of a state of emergency and the suspension of thousands of education staff in Turkey. Students who were planning to study in the country will now have to postpone their trip or choose a different destination. The universities of Leuven and Hasselt have already suspended programmes in the country.

The Free University of Brussels (VUB) has asked 10 of its students who were planning to study in Turkey in autumn to postpone the trip or choose another country.

More infrastructure by 1 september Gerlinde Vanderstraeten with her older daughter, who has accompanied her at summer camps for underprivileged children

so it broadens my perspective.”

Libens points to the strong group dynamic as one of the main reasons he keeps on going.

“Most of the time the volunteers come from very diverse backgrounds,” he says. “Some are young, some old; there are teachers and students.

“Sooner or later, the same question arises: why do you do it? Then you listen to each other.

Everyone has a story to tell.” But the diversity can make communication challenging and result in tension. “If it works, however, the relationship you create there in only a matter of days is truly amazing.”

Vanderstraeten takes the time to ensure that the trips work out perfectly. “We have to support each other and create a strong team, so we can all rely on one another,” she says. “But you’re still dead-tired once it’s all over.”

Because she teaches primary education, she prefers to volunteer at family camps. “It’s where parents and children spend their holidays together,” she says. “But they’re not with each other all the time. I may be working with parents on something, while the kids are playing elsewhere.”

As a teacher, she mostly deals with children.

“But thanks to the family camps, I get to meet the parents. It helps me to understand their

challenges, and why their children react in a certain way.”

Some of the children Vanderstraeten works with, however, don’t live with their parents, but in foster homes and orphanages, adding an extra challenge to the mix.

“Once, at the end of a holiday, one of the children sneaked out of their room at night to be with their parents,” she says. “They knew the vacation was almost over and that they would be separated from their parents again.”

The parents were upset at her for not allowing it to happen. “They often don’t realise how difficult it can get and that you’re giving up your free time to help them,” she says. “But of course, you don’t volunteer for gratitude.”

Both Libens and Vanderstraeten say there is a shortage of volunteers. “I tell those who have doubts to try it at least once,” says Libens.

“You’ll see that the experience you gain more than compensates for all the troubles.” The idea of being able to offer a child a nice holiday, away from everyday difficulties, he adds, is rewarding enough.

He’s now getting ready to go to another camp this summer. Every year, he does about three.

Vanderstraeten, who’s just had a baby, is taking a year off.

Q&A Steven De Laet is a researcher at the School Psychology and Child & Adolescent Development department at the University of Leuven. For his PhD thesis, he studied the influence of classroom relationships on student performance.

Your study focused on rebellious students. What did you discover?

The aggressiveness displayed by the students is a means to an end, and it serves the ambition of these rebels to be popular. The reason some children show aggression, both physical and psychological, is very often connected to their social status. These children, in particular older children, want to be the centre of attention.

They aim for popularity and social status, which they consider more

Turkish exchange programmes halted

important than being nice.

But to gain that popularity, these students actively seek out conflict with their teachers who – like their parents – embody authority.

When teachers react, the children can show their fellow students that their dominance stretches to the teaching staff.

What are the consequences?

I found that popular students show less commitment to studying: they spend less time on homework and studying at home and

we saw that students who have a warm, open and harmonious relationship with their teachers show much more commitment to their school life.

pay less attention in class. They are also more likely to miss classes, to lie and to tag along with their peers who display deviant behaviour. These factors have a negative effect on the student’s overall performance. On the other hand,

What is the role of schools and teachers?

They should pay attention to these dynamics, both in primary and secondary education. This is something that should be high on the agenda of both school psychologists and student counsellors. But even a single teacher can make the difference. There are several methods and interventions that can strengthen the quality of the relationships inside the classroom.

Flemish education minister Hilde Crevits has said she wants 21 new school buildings to be finished by the first day of school in September. In an interview with De Morgen, she said that 34 additional projects should be completed by the end of the year. The construction will create 214,527m² in additional school space at a cost of almost €440 million, and will bring the total number of new buildings this year to 111. Thanks to the reduction of VAT on school construction, the Flemish government can invest an additional €160 million. The EU has also approved a government initiative to invest another €200 million in building projects for schools with the private sector.

Attracting francophones to Dutch The Huis van het Nederlands (House of Dutch) is launching a pilot project to make the Dutch language more attractiveamongstudentsinFrenchspeaking schools in Brussels.

After the summer, the organisation will begin a campaign to raise awareness about the benefits of learning Dutch, with a project in five Frenchspeaking schools, focusing on technical education. To show pupils where Dutch is spoken in Brussels and why they need the language, experts will take them on a tour, with information about work, free time and sports. The pilot phase will run until December. There will be a more permanent programme next year. \ Andy

Furniere

\ Interview by Senne Starckx

\9

\ LIVInG

WEEK In ACTIvITIES Hot air balloons The Eeklo Balloon Gathering is a chance to see dozens of hot air balloons, both on the ground and in the air.

The balloons take to the sky at 19.30, and the grounded balloons will be lit up on Saturday evening. There are also carnival rides and entertainment on the ground.

30-31 July 18.00, Burgemeester Lionel Pussemierstraat, Eeklo (East Flanders); free \ meetjeslandseballoonmeeting.be

Folk festival

Not just music, but a fun family festival with lots of activities for all ages. You can participate in the Highland games, taste whiskeys, watch Irish dancing, a Druid ceremony or a rugby match, or do some shopping at the Celtic market. 30 July 13.30; fields next to the municipal swimming pool, Leopold II Laan 18, Dendermonde; free \ folkdendermonde.be

Bread baking

Learn to bake bread at the Museum of Old Techniques.

You’ll get to fire the oven, knead the dough, form loaves, pop them into the oven and pull them out using a wooden peel. Registration required at 02 270 81 11 or info@mot.be. 6 & 20 August 14.00-18.00, Liermolen, Vorststraat 8, Grimbergen; €15 for adults, €6 for kids \ mot.be

scavenger hunt Local cyclists fought in the Battle of the Silver Helmets on 12 August, 1914. This 26-kilometre bike route leads you along First World War sites in Herk-de-Stad and Halen.

Pick up a map and guide at the Tourist Office in Herkde-Stad. Until 15 September, Pikkeleerstraat 14, Herk-deStad (Limburg); €5 \ tinyurl.com/herk-de-stadscavenger-hunt

Urban camping

Feel like camping out but don’t feel like travelling far?

Spend the night in this solarpowered, eco-friendly campsite in the middle of the city.

Bring your own tent, or rent one of the deluxe huts or even a tree house. Until 30 August, Desguinlei 88, Antwerp; €13-€30/night \ bivakurbancamping.be

\ 10

A stitch in time

local history group weaves a tale of early flemish folklore toon lambrechts More articles by Toon \ flanderstoday.eu

taPijtvanassEnEdE.BE

I

n the town of Assenede, near the border with the Netherlands, a local history society has gathered for a meeting in one of the members’ homes.

Known as Hallekin, the group is working on a giant tapestry depicting Floris ende Blancefloer, a story written by Diederic van Assenede in the 13th century.

It’s nearly 750 years since the story was published and, since van Assenede is believed to have come from these parts, the group wanted to celebrate it in style.

“The Bayeux Tapestry was what inspired us,” says Marc De Smet, a member of Hallekin. “Later we found out that some people in Scotland were working on a similar project to depict the history of Scotland on a tapestry. They shared their experiences with us and we decided to go for it.”

Floris ende Blancefloer is a tale of a forbidden love between Floris, a prince at the Islamic court of early medieval Spain, and Blancefloer, a local Christian girl.

It’s a story with a happy ending, despite attempts by Floris’ parents to sabotage the affair.

The text is based on a similar story in French, from a century earlier.

Members of Hallekin first reached out to the Texture flax museum in Kortrijk, where they were put in contact with the largest linen producer in Flanders. Libeco donated the fabric needed for the tapestry, enough to cover a tennis court.

“In total, the tapestry will be around 80 to 100 metres long, and 90 centimetres wide,” De Smet says. “The story will be depicted in 80 scenes, designed

© Courtesy Hallekin

by a local artist who also drew the concept for a statue in Assenede.

All the scenes will be stitched by hand and 30 of them are already finished.”

Apart from the tapestry, the 750th anniversary of Floris ende Blancefloer will be marked with a book by Professor Jozef Janssens, who specialises in medieval literature. Janssens says van Assenede’s story was significant for early Flemish literature.

“It stands out because it was unusual for its time,” he says.

“Most literary work from the time depicts battles and conflicts, while van Assenede’s book is a love story.”

Van Assenede was not an elusive figure. “We know a lot about him, because he was an important cleric for the duke of Flanders,” De Smet explains. “His name comes up in several official documents, so he must have been a man of high status. His name and various documents also indicate that he is from around here.”

The tapestry is a collective work.

Around 60 needleworkers, some from Flanders and some from abroad, will work on the embroidery. “For me, this is one of the most inspiring aspects of tapestry,” says De Smet. “It’s a work of art, created not by professionals but by regular people, from

beginning to end.”

The group hopes to finish the tapestry by 2018. “Or 2019, there is no pressure,” says De Smet. It will then be taken around Flanders.

“We don’t want it to just hang somewhere and collect dust,” he explains. “It’s primarily a pedagogical instrument to teach people about early Flemish literature that has slid into obscurity.”

Which is a pity, he adds, “because Diederic van Assenede and his contemporaries were the first to write in Flemish. The tapestry will keep their heritage alive, even among those who don't like to read.”

BITE

walk and taste: Eat your way through the limburg countryside tinyurl.com/wandElEn-ProEvEn

If there are two activities that people here enjoy, it’s walking and eating. Some might say these two are incompatible: after all, walking is regarded as part of a healthy lifestyle, whereas indulging in good food usually isn’t.

Here in Flanders, one need not worry about such distinctions. Both walking and eating are done for enjoyment, without moralistic baggage or worries about one’s waistline.

The city of Lanaken has found a way to combine walking and eating in a way that showcases the beauty of this corner of Limburg. Their walking and tasting arrangement combines a 12-kilometre walk through the Maas river valley with stops for local specialities and a hearty lunch.

The walk starts in picturesque Oud-Rekem. It’s worth exploring the town a bit before starting the walk; large informational signs in four languages are placed at points of interest. At the tourist office, you’ll receive food and drink vouchers, along with a handy map and guide.

© Toerisme Limburg/Instagram

Once you’re under way, it’s only a 15-minute stroll before you arrive at the first stop for a cup of coffee and a generous slice of local favourite miserable: a rich layer of buttercream between two layers of almond cake.

On leaving Oud-Rekem, the route takes you down a wooded road past the psychiatric hospital and an old cemetery where patients were once buried. Today it’s part of the Hoge Kempen

National Park.

The route then enters the park and follows signposted walking trails through the woods. Lunch is served at a busy, family-oriented restaurant with an outdoor patio facing a popular playground. The choices – stoofvlees (beef stew) or videe (chicken in mushroom gravy with puff pastry) – are served with fries and a small salad.

Classic local fare, tasty and filling.

From there it’s a short walk to the Waterburcht, the ruins of an old medieval fortress. Inside, you can learn about its history and view artefacts, but it’s more fun to explore the ruins and climb to the top of the gate for a great view over the moat and adjacent castle. At the information desk, you can taste either a local jenever or a blueberry liqueur.

The last stretch takes you along the canal back to Oud-Rekem. Allow a good five or six hours for the walk, including stops to eat and explore points of interest. Starting before noon is best. \ Diana Goodwin

july 27, 2016

sustainability is at the heart of the revamped Zwin park, a treat for bird-lovers

© Courtesy Het Zwin nature Park

Welcome on board

the new-look Zwin nature Park is a revelation: an international airport for birds denzil walton More articles by Denzil \ flanderstoday.eu

At the new Zwin Nature Park, visitors can explore the many aspects of birdlife, both virtually and in real life.

H

et Zwin is a nature reserve covering 158 hectares, shared between Flanders and the Netherlands and extending along the coast for 2.3 kilometres. Thanks to the daily ebb and flow of seawater, the unique ecosystem of mudflats and salt marshes creates wonderful conditions for worms, snails and other tasty titbits, which nourish a wide range of birds.

The last time I visited, a few years ago, I was very disappointed. The antiquated buildings were in an abysmal state of disrepair, and the sight of wild birds in cages led me to write a letter of complaint. To say it’s undergone a makeover is an understatement. The ugly duckling has morphed into a beautiful swan.

It’s now called the new Zwin Nature Park: “the international airport for birds”. It certainly conveys the reality that Het Zwin is a vitally important hub for migratory birds

constantly winging in and taking off. However, is an airport a place you want to be for any length of time?

Thankfully, this is where reality trumps the metaphor. The new visitor centre is not like an airport lounge at all. It’s a spacious, black wooden structure based on a Zeeland barn, where visitors could happily spend hours without getting bored.

Visitors are given a “passport” with a chip on the back, which allocates them one of 10 birds – the pied avocet in my case. Scan the passport at the different exhibition panels to discover details about your bird.

I discovered what the pied avocet eats, where it migrates to and from, its song and calls, mating display, predators, nest and eggs. I examined its feathers under a microscope. There was even a flight simulator that explained how it flies. Elsewhere you can wander around the Wonder Room, with its cabinets of avian curiosities, or watch a bird movie in the purposebuilt theatre. The extensive interactivity of the visitor centre is a

Zwin.BE

clever way to share the wonders of bird migration and explain it to the screen generation.

After a while though, I was itching to leave the screens behind, get outside into the sunshine and actually see some real-life birds.

The passport includes a map of the Zwin Park, with a trail that led along a footpath to seven themed cabins.

These cabins take interactivity to

pecker). In the Laboratory Hut, someone was on hand to help me dip a net into a pond, and another to identify what I had caught (a young newt and a dragonfly larva).

In the Observation Hut an enthusiastic ornithologist pointed out and identified specific birds at the water’s edge – including the pied avocet. I was particularly pleased that he found a Mediterranean Gull for me – the first one I

Het Zwin is a vitally important hub for migratory birds constantly winging in and taking off an intriguing level. In some, there was something very old-tech: a live, interactive person (referred to as a “flight attendant” in keeping with the airline conceit).

So in the Feeding Hut, my flight attendant identified the birds that were feeding right in front of us on the nut and seed dispensers (close-ups of a great spotted wood-

had ever seen. There’s also a stork tower. I climbed to the top and found myself looking directly into a stork’s nest – complete with a sunbathing storklet – at the top of a tree.

The guides are knowledgeable and friendly and work hard at communicating to an audience with vastly different knowledge levels. As one

of the guides explained: “It’s difficult. I might be talking to someone who has a PhD in ecology or to a person who has never seen a wild goose before!”

After finishing the trail through the park, I took a circular walk around the Zwin plain. For an extra €2 there is a guided two-hour walking tour of the plain (in Dutch or French) with a Zwin nature expert.

The park is very child-friendly, and a visit with children or grandchildren might inspire them to develop a thirst for knowledge about birds.

Sustainability is key to the project – a joint initiative by the Province of West Flanders and the Agency for Nature and Forest, which manages the Zwin plain. The visitor centre, for example, is heated and cooled by a geothermal heat pump and built with fully sustainable materials.

The parking area is limited to 200 places, and visitors are encouraged to travel by train and bus.

There’s an hourly bus to the park from Knokke railway station, and a B-Excursion ticket from NMBS covers the train journey, the bus connection and the entry ticket.

\ 11

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done in Flanders?

If you can’t think of anything at all, you’d better check out our new e-book

Quirky Flanders offers 20 unexpected – or downright odd – activities or sights across the region you can get busy taking part in right now

Visit the Flanders Today website to download the e-book now! For free!

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\ ARTs

july 27, 2016

WEEK In ARTS & CulTuRE Overheated artwork gives up the ghost in M HkA

More than 200 works are on show across the three museums taking part in the Biennale of Painting

© Rik Vannevel

Faraway, so close

Biennial art show offers home comforts and new discoveries musEumdd.BE rogErravEElmusEum.BE dEinZE.BE

christophe verbiest More articles by Christophe \ flanderstoday.eu

The Biennale of Painting, hosted by three museums in the Leie region, is named after a fictional place and offers several revelations among its homegrown and overseas exhibits.

A

naked man, lying on his side on a carpet, portrayed from the foot of his neck to the base of his buttocks, with his hairy back to the viewer. “The Back” by New York painter Ellen Altfest is one of the most striking paintings on view at the fifth Biënnale van de Schilderkunst (Biennale of Painting).

It sails under the flag “Yoknapatawpha” – a title that probably only rings a bell to William Faulkner cognoscenti. It’s the name of the fictional county in which the writer sets a good number of his novels. For the Biennale organisers, it expresses the desire for the unknown and exotic versus the safety of one’s own environment.

It’s possible to see an exotic landscape, too, in the realistic “The Back”. It seems the perfect symbiosis of the tendencies the curators of Yoknapatawpha are looking for.

Most of the more than 200 paintings on show belong to just one of the two categories, however.

The Biennale of Painting is organised jointly by three museums from the Leie region, named after the tributary of the Scheldt that runs through West and East Flanders. Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Deurle is built around the collection of the late captain of industry Jules Dhondt and his wife, Irma Dhaenens. The Museum van Deinze en de Leiestreek (Museum of Deinze and the Leie Region) focuses on local artists, while the

Roger Raveel Museum in MachelenZulte is a monographic institution, dedicated to the work of one of the most popular post-war Flemish painters.

The three may have joined forces for this biennale, but each retains its identity. Dhondt-Dhaenens takes as a starting point two painters from its own collection: James Ensor, with his taste for the grotesque and exotic, and Albijn Van den Abeele, a landscape painter from the end of the 19th century who painted the (small) world he saw around him. Their work is surrounded by contemporary art. The abstract works by Australian Denise Green in particular are a revelation.

The paintings of Germany-based Japanese artist Maki Na Kura sit

world. It’s true, but that could be a good definition of lots of artworks, visual or otherwise.

At the Roger Raveel Museum, the eponymous artist is part of the biennale. That’s not so strange, since Raveel was a prototype of the artist who produced universally speaking art with elements very close to home. What’s stranger is the choice to spread some Biennale works through the permanent collection.

It’s a confusing set-up in a museum whose labyrinthine architecture is already puzzling.

Luckily, this doesn’t detract from the quality of what’s on show. The mixed-media paintings of Argentinian Antonio Berni, for instance, who never shied away from adding a broom, some stovepipes or even

The three may have joined forces, but each retains its identity on the border of abstraction. They can be viewed as contemporary interpretations of classical Japanese landscapes paintings, but also as an abstract entanglement of fields of paint. A third highlight in Dhondt-Dhaenens are the brooding, ominous portraits by German rebel Walter Dahn.

After one location – the order in which you visit the museums doesn’t matter, and you don’t have to see them on the same day – it’s already clear that the theme the curators have chosen gives way to very different works. According to one curator, many of the selected artists build a fictional universe that says something about our

a baguette to his canvases. But the revelation here is the little-known Belgian surrealist Rachel Baes, who faded into obscurity because she was the mistress, before the Second World War, of one of Flanders’ leading fascists. It’s time for a reassessment of her work on artistic grounds.

TherediscoveryoftheGermanminimalist Charlotte Posenenske, who died in 1985, has already started, and the three works on show here

until 25 september Roger Raveelmuseum,

Gildestraat 2-8, Machelen-Zulte

confirm how she distilled great art from a seemingly simple interplay of lines and planes. In a sense, that’s what Raoul De Keyser did for decades, with impressive results.

Just one more name: the Lebaneseborn, France-based Fadia Hadad and her enchanting “Masque” series.

The Museum of Deinze and the Leie Region chose works that are “in a certain waysymbolist”.Thestarting points are paintings by expressionist Gustave Van de Woestyne, with a few amazing distorted portraits, Emile Claus – a Flemish impressionist who became fascinated by exoticism on his trips abroad – and Joe Van Rossem, whose chaotic and colourful paintings reflect his helter-skelter state of mind.

Those artists are contrasted with a dozen others, of whom Colin Waeghe ( from Ghent, but living in Leipzig) is the absolute revelation. He treats diverse topics – the refugee crisis, the dismal atmosphere in the former German Democratic Republic – in his immediately recognisable style, but it’s the way he paints, with cool, at times almost clinical distance, that’s impressive.

Two other highlights in Deinze: the semi-abstract landscapes of the Dutch Carla Klein and some of the abstract works by Silvia Bonotto, an Italian living in Mol. With some great discoveries and a handful of established names that don’t disappoint, this fifth Biennale strikes home.

Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Museumlaan 14, Deurle

Museum voor Deinze en de Leiestreek,

An installation by the Flemish artist Dennis Tyfus in the modern art museum M HKA in Antwerp fell apart in the night of Monday to Tuesday last week, as a result of the heat acting on the animal fat that formed part of the work. The work, called “Ultra eczema”, consisted of vacuum bags containing animal fat. The bags proved unequal to the high temperatures of the last few days, and began leaking melted fat.

The exhibit was due to run until 24 July, so the museum decided not to repair the installation, a spokesperson said. \ muhka.be

Bruksellive festival calls it a day after 11 editions The free festival Bruksellive has come to the end of its run after 11 editions, organisers have said. The festival in the Ossegempark and Groentheater in Laken in Brussels will not go ahead this year, having become too large for the constantly changing group of volunteers responsible for the organisation.

The Brussels youth centres behind the festival will now work out a new format, probably including theatre, workshops and children’s attractions as well as music.

Last year’s festival attracted 12,000 visitors. \ facebook.com/bruksellive

Horta Museum to double in size

The Horta Museum in Brussels will open in October offering visitors twice the space to visit, after the house next door in Amerikastraat was integrated into the museum. The conversion of the house started in 2014 as a solution to the growing numbers of visitors and the limited space in the original museum. More than 60,000 people visit the museum every year, and are often to be seen queuing outside into the street. The new museum features a waiting room, cloakroom, bookshop and library. A planned tea-room was dropped earlier. \ hortamuseum.be

Lucien Matthyslaan 3-5, Deinze

\ 13

\ ARTs

Own the stage

© Marianne Hommersom

young flemish artists hope for big break at ostend’s summer theatre festival georgio valentino More articles by Georgio \ flanderstoday.eu

With nearly 150 events over 10 days, the 20th anniversary of Theater Aan Zee in Ostend puts the spotlight on contemporary performances and promising artists.

O

stend’s Theater Aan Zee summer arts festival has come a long way since its inaugural edition in 1997. The event was conceived as a modest five-day showcase for young Flemish artists. Organised in the off-season and hosted by a coastal resort city whose Belle Epoque glory days were a distant memory, expectations were low. Despite everything, however, it worked.

Ostend has since experienced a renaissance, thanks in part to the festival. For its part, TAZ has grown into a cultural powerhouse whose reputation extends into the Flemish hinterland. It now boasts established and up-and-coming talent from across the region and attracts more than 100,000 visitors a year.

This 20th anniversary edition packs nearly 150 events into 10 (hopefully) sunny days of artistic bliss. Though the focus rests squarely on contemporary theatre, there’s plenty else besides. The programme includes music, film, visual arts, literature and poetry as well as a family park with non-stop puppet shows, craft workshops and other kid-friendly events.

While the festival entertains audiences and enriches its host city’s cultural landscape, its most profound contribution is to the young artists for whom the TAZ Jongtheaterprijs (Young Theatre Prize) is both incubator and launchpad.

Leentje Vandenbussche is one of many Flemish theatre makers who got their start at TAZ. The Bruges native, now based in Ghent, was fresh out of art school when she took part in the festival for the first time a decade ago.

The piece she presented at TAZ#2006, called Beckett in his Place, had been staged months earlier as her graduation project at Ghent arts academy KASK, where

\ 14

she studied 3D design. Inspired by Samuel Beckett’s ground-breaking mid-century play Waiting for Godot, the site-specific performance featured amateur performers standing and waiting. It premiered in Ghent’s Korenmarkt on what would have been the Irish playwright and Nobel laureate’s 100th birthday.

tHEatEraanZEE.BE

holm. It was the start of a rollercoaster ride for the eight young artists of Zie!duif.

“We were proud to be among the laureates, but the atmosphere was tense,” Vandenbussche recalls.

“Some people loved Stockholm; others hated it. The next thing we knew we were runners-up at Fringe Amsterdam. In total I think

artist whose career was jumpstarted by an early appearance at TAZ. Like Vandenbussche, Warlop was a recent KASK graduate when she was tapped for TAZ in 2004.

She went along for the ride but hardly suspected what was in store.

“I didn’t even realise there was a prize,” Warlop says. “It was a heavy year. I had lost my brother and I

© Reinout Hiel

Leentje Vandenbussche’s 2006 site-specific performance (top) was inspired by the play waiting for Godot; Miet warlop, who first performed at TAZ in 2004, is returning to the festival with her newest performance, Dragging the Bone

“To my own surprise it was a great success,” Vandenbussche says. It wasn’t long, she adds, before the then TAZ theatre co-ordinator, Steven Heene, invited her to take the performance to TAZ. The young artist embraced the opportunity and arrived weeks early to begin scouting performers by open call and chance encounter.

“I’d never been to the festival before, so I had no idea what to expect,” she says. “But being on my own for those weeks, I was overwhelmed by the heart-warming environment.

Everyone was so supportive before, during and after the festival. It was a new home, a new family.”

Beckett in his Place won Vandenbussche an honourable mention at TAZ#2006. She returned in 2008 as part of theatre collective Zie!duif, who won that year’s Jongtheaterprijs for the performance Stock-

we staged Stockholm over 60 times.

TAZ opened a lot of doors for us and provided material support for our next production.”

Zie!duif were invited back to TAZ in 2009, but couldn’t recapture the magic of Stockholm. The company split up the following year.

“It wasn’t easy to work in a group of eight strong-willed women,” Vandenbussche says, “but we had fun and shared many great experiences on tour.”

Vandenbussche has forged ahead with her own vision. This year she returns to Ostend to celebrate not just the 20th anniversary of the festival but the 10th anniversary of her TAZ debut and big career break. Naturally she’s staging a new version of Beckett in his Place, which marks the end of one artistic cycle and the start of another.

Miet Warlop is another young

was feeling miserable. When they announced that I was a winner, I was at the bar ordering 10 beers. I didn’t hear it.”

Her prize-winning Huilend Hert caused controversy for its fusion of installation and contemporary performance art.

“Even as I collected the award,” she remembers, “there were some people telling me that the piece wasn’t theatre. It was the first time I’d had to defend my art and I found I enjoyed it. The whole experience left me wanting to do more of what they said wasn’t theatre.”

The follow-up, Sportband, allowed Warlop to do just that. Premiering at TAZ#2005, the production was a raucous, music-filled requiem for

28 july-8 august

her late brother.

“I brought all my friends on stage to play music and work out against the clock,” she says. “After all the darkness of grief, the artistic process was a beacon of light for me.”

Warlop went from strength to strength after her TAZ debut. She has since staged several highprofile contemporary theatre productions across Europe. Earlier this year she was announced as recipient of a €99,000, five-year grant by Flemish culture minster Sven Gatz. In an age of budget austerity, this is no small feat.

“It’s satisfying to be rewarded after 12 years of hard work,” Warlop says.

“It’s not a crazy grant but it’ll help me start to build my future.”

She’s celebrating this summer by coming home to TAZ – in more ways than one – with a new production, Dragging the Bone.

“I think Dragging the Bone is closer to Huilend Hert than the other pieces I’ve made in between,” Warlop says. “I made all the tableaux myself and the flow of the action forms a unified image at the end. It’s also more vital. It involves a lot of sculptures and has a bigger message to the world, our world, the world of woman, the world of art, the world of heart.”

Like Vandenbussche, Warlop cites TAZ as a crucial break in her fledgling career. “TAZ contributed by making me visible among a large group of talented young artists,” she says. “From there I built solid relationships with artists and venues across the region. I’m grateful to all of them.”

This year’s anniversary edition features a host of newcomers who may likewise remember their first TAZ as a seminal career moment.

Jongtheaterprijs winners are to be announced at a ceremony at De Grote Post on 6 August. The grand prize is worth €10,000 and grants access to an international network of cultural institutions.

across Ostend

\ AGenDA

july 27, 2016

Sunday best

COnCERT

Angels of the Sea until 20 november

S

tephan Vanfleteren’s Engelen van de Zee (Angels of the Sea) don’t have wings so much as flippers, he says, enabling them to jump out of their nest and dive into the wide world.

His angels are vulnerable children, all between six and 16 and attending the Koninklijk Werk IBIS maritime school in Bredene, where they get an education focused on discipline and human warmth, something that’s missing in their complex home situations.

The school was founded by King Albert I at the start of the last century to give shelter and care for the poor and often neglected orphans of fisher families, explains

Brussels

JMSN: Fresh off his collaboration with Kendrick Lamar, Detroit-area singer and multi-instrumentalist JMSN (pronounced Jameson) releases his third album and undertakes a headline tour of Europe. 2 October 20.00, Ancienne Belgique, Anspachlaan 110

navigo, Oostduinkerke navigomusEum.BE

the photographer, who has previously portrayed fisherman, in the book that accompanies this exhibition at the Navigo National Fishery Museum in Oostduinkerke. With a hint of nostalgia in their traditional sailor uniform, the children look pure but fragile.

“Every child has the right to a clear horizon, even when it’s stormy at sea,” Vanfleteren says. So, though all pupils have a set of different uniforms, he portrayed them wearing their Sunday “first-class uniform”, reserved for official ceremonies and festivities. “You might consider the obligatory uniform, the discipline and the student number they receive when enrolling to be an

anachronism from past times, but it gives these youngsters a grip on the chaos in their lives.”

As well as pure and fragile, the pupils also look proud of their Sunday best, as if they want to highlight the exhibition’s name. The photo series is also featured in the book Onze Vissers: Het DNA van Het Zilte Leven, which offers an extensive illustrated history of the Belgian fishing industry since 1830. Focusing on the heritage and soul of the fishermen’s culture, the book comes with a CD including six traditional sailor’s songs by Smory & de Visschers, a quartet headed by the Flemish blues singer and guitarist Roland Van Campenhout. \ Tom Peeters

\ abconcerts.be

vISuAl ARTS Ghent

© stephan Vanfleteren

vISuAl ARTS

Zomer van sint-Pieter

cities and (velo)cities

until 31 august

ZomEr-van-sint-PiEtEr.BE

Leuven classical music festival Zomer van Sint-Pieter was conceived in 2001 as a spin-off of the successful Brussels series Midis-Minimes, which had been regaling the capital with daily lunchtime concerts throughout the summer for 15 years. Now the Leuven festival celebrates its own crystal anniversary with a season full of the world’s best musicians performingworksbyhistory’smost seminal composers. Concerts start promptly at 12.15. The coming week sees performances by Brussels-based cello quartet Tetracelli (pictured), Eastern European folk duo Deborah Nemtanu and Natacha Kudritskaya and more. \ Geor-

until 28 august The sixth edition of the Summer of Photography biennale is in full swing with events across Brussels.

The exhibition Cities and (Velo)cities weaves together two of the major threads in contemporary photography: the technical problem of capturingmovementinastillimageandthe

De Markten, Brussels dEmarKtEn.BE

ethical problem of urban space, its representation and its effects on the everyday lives of citizens. Supported by the Visegrad Fund, photographers from Poland, Hungary and the Czech and Slovak Republics explored their own cities and present their impressions here. \ GV

Brussels

Bart Lodewijks: Photographic documentation of Dutch conceptual artist Lodewijks’ monumental but ephemeral chalk drawings. In the context of the Summer of Photography biennale. Until 4 September, Bozar, Ravensteinstraat 23 \ bozar.be

Tienen

Suikerrock:Thirtiethanniversary edition of sweet summer music festival is headlined by Deep Purple and boasts an appearance by national heroes dEUS. 29-31 July \ suikerrock.be

FESTIvAl

FESTIvAl

sfinks mixed Now in its 41st edition, Sfinks Mixed has always been way ahead of the curve when it comes to world music. The free four-day festival was one of the first to promote artists from Africa and the Caribbean. Its scope has since expanded to embrace folk styles from around the world, including homegrown genres. This is the only festival where you’ll see Flemish folk-rock singer Guido Belcanto and Jamaican reggae star Marcia Griffiths (pictured) on the same stage on the same day. Sfinks doesn’t just mix music. There’s also a market with crafts from around the world and a kids village with non-stop amusement for the young ones. \ GV

vISuAl ARTS

FESTIvAl

gio Valentino

28-31 july

Guy Slabbinck: Scramble for Africa: Ghent artist revisits Belgium’s controversial colonial history with this triptych of large-format paintings, prominently displayed in DOK’s windows. Until 31 July, DOK, Koopvaardijlaan 13 \ dokgent.be

ClASSICAl 30CC, Leuven

get ti ckets now

FESTIvAl

dioniss Molenveld, Boechout sfinKs.BE

29-30 july The Gentse Feesten has wrapped, but Ghent still has plenty of party in it. Sint-Denijs-Westrem, a village on the outskirts of the city, hosts the free weekend festival Dioniss for the ninth year. The main square comes alive with street theatre, live music, games,workshops,foodtrucksanda summer terrace. Most of the action,

sint-Denijs-westrem dioniss.BE

including performances by Antwerp electro group Soldier’s Heart (pictured) and Brussels indie-fusion band Fùgù Mango, happens on day 2. Dioniss doesn’t neglect the kids either. Its family programme boasts puppetshows,liverockmusic,standup comedy and a family-friendly DJ. \ GV

Leuven

M-idzomer: Open-air city festival features international acts like Mark Lanegan Band as well as contemporary art.

28-31 July, M Museum, Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 28

\ m-idzomer.be

FAMIlY Brussels

Brussels Beach: With its weekly kids concerts (every Wednesday) and open-air museum exhibits (every Saturday), the capital’s pop-up beach is a paradise for families. Until 7 August, Saincteletteplein \ brusselbad.be

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\ BACkPAGe

july 27, 2016

Talking Dutch

vOICES OF FlAnDERS TODAY

dung-ho farmer causes a stink

In response to: Women’s advocate, midwife, refugee: meet Ghent’s student of the year Finn Yrjar Denstad: We need more of these brave and positive stories like this one! For every negatively loaded story about immigrants, there are hundreds like this one that go untold.

derek Blyth More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu

W

hen I saw the headline, I wasn’t sure what it was all about. Landbouwer bemest dorpscentrum Glabbeek – farmer fertilises village centre in Glabbeek.

So I clicked through to find out what had happened in quiet little Glabbeek. Terwijl hij bezig was met het transporteren van varkensmest – While he was busy transporting pig manure naar een nabijgelegen biogascentrale – to a nearby biogas power station, vergat de landbouwer vermoedelijk de afsluitklep goed dicht te doen – the farmer seems to have forgotten to close the shut-off valve properly.

You can guess what happened next. En dus deed de mestkar waarvoor het ontworpen is – And so the manure spreader did what it was designed for: mest in een grote boog wegspuiten – it spread manure in a wide arc.

Het resultaat was hallucinant – The result was mindboggling: over een traject van 5 km – all along the 5 kilometre route zat alles aan één kant van de straat onder een dikke laag drek – everything on one side of the street was buried under a thick layer of dung: een broodautomaat – a bread dispensing machine, geparkeerde auto’s – parked cars, gevels – the front of houses, verkeersborden – traffic signs, bushokjes – bus shelters, tot zelfs het kerkhof – and even the churchyard en een monument voor gesneuvelden van de Tweede Wereldoorlog – and a monument to the dead of the Second World War. The mayor of Glabbeek couldn’t believe his eyes (or nose). De stank was niet te harden – The stink was unbearable, om van de schade nog maar te zwijgen – not to mention the damage, Peter Reekmans said.

How could it happen? Ik kan dat amper geloven – I find it hard to believe dat die landbouwer niet opmerkte – that

In response to: Scientists take the pee, and make it drinkable Dieter Gijsens: Bear Grylls approves.

In response to: Talking Dutch: Dung-ho farmer causes a stink Mick Gillow: Is that Nigel Farage’s holiday home? © Courtesy VRT

this farmer didn’t notice dat hij het centrum van onze gemeente aan het bemesten was – that he was spreading manure in the centre of our village, the mayor said.

De betrokken landbouwer bezweert echter – But the farmer in question swore dat hij geen flauw benul had van zijn drekbombardement – that he didn’t have the slightest clue about the bombardment of muck.

Er moet mechanisch iets zijn misgegaan – Something mechanical must have gone wrong, mogelijk door het schokken tijdens de rit – possibly caused by a shock during the journey, the farmer claimed. Maar ik kan dat vanachter het stuur van mijn tractor niet zien – But I couldn’t see anything from where I sat on the tractor.

The village had to spend several days cleaning up the houses and scrubbing the gravestones. De brandweer heeft gedaan wat ze kon – the fire brigade did what they could.

But Glabbeek may never fully recover from the day it was crapped all over.

PHoto of tHE wEEK

John Fung @JFDarkAngel Woohoo! Just in time for the Ghent festival! As our boat guide says, people in Ghent know how to party.

FaZe Mojo @MojoOnPC Super chill day today! Went filming then shopping and now chilling with some drinks in Antwerp! Who’s in Antwerp right now?

The Philippe Baron @ThePhilipBaron This square has been incredibly embellished since my student days. Good job, Leuven.

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THE lAST WORD ministerial mum

“If the weather doesn’t work out or if my family point out that I’m paying too much attention to my PC and my files, then a lastminute trip to the Alps is a possibility.”

Environment minister Joke Schauvliege is the only Flemish minister planning to holiday in Flanders – if all goes well

generation game

“People are living longer, and it’s not those in their 50s who need a bit of extra support, it’s those in their 20s.”

© Antwerp Zoo/Jan Van de Perre

In THE PInK Antwerp mayor Bart De wever has officially opened Flamingo square, a meeting place in the city zoo populated by 32 Cuban flamingos. He also unveiled a stone plaque at the zoo’s entrance.

On dry days the plaque is covered with sand, but when it rains it is washed clean to reveal a poem composed by De wever himself

CD&V in Flanders is to propose a change in the law to allow inheritance to pass straight to grandchildren if the benefactor wishes

so much hot air

“These people put their lives in my hands, so to speak. That’s a lot of pressure, but I can handle it.”

TV weatherman David Dehenauw has advised six successful round-theworld balloon trips, most recently the record-breaking attempt by Russian Fedor Konyukhov

tomorrow belongs to me “Such a beautiful decor, and everyone’s so friendly. Too loud?

No way. That’s the way this type of music should be. The bass should be felt as well as heard. That’s what I think, anyway.”

Marie-Louise, aged 78, spent a day at Tomorrowland with her friend Suzanna, aged 79

[N\A \ 16