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november 16, 2016 \ newsweekly - € 0,75 \ read more at www.flanderstoday.eu current affairs \ p2

politics \ p4

BUSiNESS \ p6

Unexpected victory

innovation \ p7

Peer power

Politicians and the business community react to the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States

Student mediators are being trained in intervention methods and conflict resolution to counter bullying in Flemish schools

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education \ p9

art & living \ p10

A surprise Ensor

Just when a London exhibition is celebrating his work and influence, a new painting by James Ensor has popped up in Ostend \ 13

In a new light

© Karel Hemerijckx/ID Photo

Antwerp non-profit helps sex workers take charge of their own lives Noreen Donovan More articles by Noreen\ flanderstoday.eu

Concerned about the plight of women working in Antwerp’s red-light district, social worker Johanneke Van Slooten founded Cherut, a non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting the sex workers’ dignity and raising awareness about human trafficking.

A

ccording to Visit Antwerp, “window prostitution” in the historic Schipperskwartier (or sailors’ district) “is confined to three streets”. In the surrounding area, the website reads, “you will find authentic pubs, terraced cafes and great places to eat”.

One of these places is Koffieklap, a beautifully renovated,

retro-styled and jazz-infused coffee house owned and run

by Cherut, a non-profit organisation offering support to the women working in Antwerp’s red-light district.

Cherut’s founder, Johanneke Van Slooten, meets here regularly with volunteers to discuss their work with the prostitutes. At other times, if she’s not out in the streets, she can be found in the organisation’s head office, upstairs.

Several years ago, Van Slooten read about the plight of the city’s sex workers in a local newspaper and decided to talk to them and try to understand the paths that led them to a life of prostitution.

At the time, she was studying to become a social worker and

had just returned to Belgium from a stint abroad. The studies, combined with her religious convictions, made her realise that “these girls deserve justice and compassion”.

In 2009, she made her first contact with the workers by approaching the windows, opening the doors and saying “hello”. Quick chats grew into relationships, and Van Slooten learned that, on top of emotional support and practical help, many of the women simply wanted to be treated with dignity and respect.

It was from these short but meaningful interactions that the idea for Cherut was born.

Cherut (the Hebrew word for freedom) is a volunteer-run continued on page 5

\ CURRENT AFFAIRS

Cartoonist Marc Sleen dies at 93 Creator of Nero was one of Flanders’ most beloved public figures Alan Hope Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT

F

lemish caroonist Marc Sleen was laid to rest on Saturday in Hoeilaart, Flemish Brabant, where he had lived since 1955. The popular creator of De avonturen van Nero & Co (The Adventures of Nero & Co) died last week at the age of 93.

The municipality also organised a largescale waffle party at the weekend in Sleen’s memory. Sleen always finished his Nero strip albums with a waffle dinner for all the characters.

Marcel Honoree Nestor Neels was born in Gentbrugge in 1922. Showing a talent for drawing, his ambition was to become a painter, but he ended up as the most

marc-sleen.be

prolific of all of Belgium’s rich roster of strip cartoonists. He retired in 2002, after having been knighted in 1997.

Flanders Today met Sleen (pictured) in 2011 at his home in Hoeilaart, when he explained how his career started. “I wanted to be a painter, but by coincidence I was asked in 1944 to be the house artist for De Standaard,” he said. “It had nothing to do with strips at that point; I had to draw portraits of writers and artists, caricatures and so on. Later on they said that a strip would be a good thing, and that’s where it started.”

Unlike contemporaries like Hergé (Tintin) or Willy Vandersteen (Suske en Wiske),

Paris attacks suspect smuggled jihad fighters into Belgium One of the men suspected of being involved in the Paris terrorist attacks a year ago smuggled at least 10 jihadi fighters into Belgium, who were later involved in the Paris attacks and the Brussels bombings. The information was released at the weekend by the Centre for the Analysis of Terrorism, based in Paris.

Salah Abdeslam allegedly brought the men into Belgium by car, during four return trips from Belgium to France. The report also details the link between one of the main planners of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, and the man who was overpowered while attempting an attack on a Thalys train from Brussels to Paris.

The two men stayed at a Budapest hotel together, and after the police in Verviers raided a terrorist house, Abaaoud came to Belgium to co-ordinate activities. Meanwhile, the State Security intelligence service has issued a warning about the need for serious follow-up of young men who become radicalised while in prison. \ AH

Sleen (his pen-name the reversal of his surname) never used a studio of writers and colourists, drawing and colouring everything himself. His daily newspaper strip followed current events, making his work a comic strip chronicle of Belgian news.

He also produced 217 albums featuring Nero – originally introduced as a mental patient who thinks he is the eponymous Roman emperor. He confessed he made it up as he went along. “It was all nonsense,” he said in 2011. “I never knew at the start of a story how it was going to end.”

A museum dedicated to Sleen and his work is located on Zandstraat in Brussels, opposite the Belgian Comic Strip Center.

© Courtesy Stichting Marc Sleen

Gault&Millau names Tim Boury chef of the year Tim Boury, chef of the restaurant Boury in Roeselare, West Flanders, has been named Chef of the Year by the prestigious restaurant guide Gault&Millau. The guide announced its annual rankings of Belgian and Luxembourg restaurants last week, with top scores going to Hof Van Cleve in Kruishoutem, East Flanders, and to Bon-Bon in Sint-Pieters-Woluwe in Brussels.

Boury (pictured) was named Gault&Millau’s Young Chef of the Year in 2013. “We didn’t get that wrong,” said a spokesperson. This year that title goes to Maarten Bouckaert of De Castor in Waregem, also in West Flanders. Willem Hiele of the restaurant of the same name in Koksijde is Discovery of the Year.

Hof Van Cleve and Bon-Bon were both awarded 19.5 out of 20 points, the highest score Gault&Millau has ever awarded, with one exception – Sergio Herman’s former restaurant Old Sluis in the Netherlands was once given a perfect 20. The Dutch chef ’s Antwerp restaurant The Jane,

© Courtesy Boury

which he runs with chef Nick Bril, entered the rankings this year with a score of 17.

Among the other awards handed out were Asian restaurant of the Year to 5 Flavors Mmei in Antwerp, Italian Restaurant of the Year to La Botte in Genk and Beer Menu of the Year to the venerated Hommelhof in Watou. \ AH

Culture house suggests pact to rid Sinterklaas of racial stereotypes Flemish-Dutch culture house deBuren has proposed a pact to rid the annual Sinterklaas tradition of “racial stereotypes”. The proposal has been criticised by both sides of the debate, including by the Minorities Forum, which says it doesn’t go far enough.

The character of Zwarte Piet (Black Peter) traditionally appears next to Sinterklaas sporting blackface, a Moorish costume, bright red lips, curly black hair and big gold earrings.

Despite his appearance, supporters of Zwarte Piet in Flanders say he is not a racist stereotype and that the blackface is a reference to soot stains from climbing down chimneys.

A trend in the Netherlands to remove Piet’s

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© Kristof Van Accom/BELGA

Toned-down Piets entertained kids and their parents in Antwerp on Saturday

most obvious racial references has also seen some success in Flanders. Antwerp’s annual festival celebrating the arrival of Sinterklaas

at the weekend featured Piets without blackface or painted lips. The characters appeared with soot stains on their faces instead.

That movement spurred deBuren to draw up the Pietenpact, a pledge to remove racial stereotyping from the Sinterklaas event, signed by the two main education networks in Flanders, family union Gezinsbond, Flemish children’s TV broadcasters, youth theatre groups and toy chain Dreamland.

Individuals including musician Bart Peeters, children’s rights commissioner Bruno Vanobbergen and filmmaker Stijn Coninx have also signed it.

Opposition has come from Flemish educa-

tion minister Hilde Crevits, who tweeted at the weekend to emphasise that the blackface is soot. Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever described the pact as “completely unnecessary”, arguing that the tradition in Flanders is “respectful… nobody feels they are being caricatured”.

According to Minorities Forum director Wouter Van Bellingen, the initiative is welcome but does not go far enough. “As an advocate for people with migrant backgrounds, we feel it’s not possible to sign the pact the way it is,” he said. “We are not convinced that the figure of Piet should be represented at all.” \ AH

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escalators on the Brussels metro, 494 of them fitted with a system that restarts after being shut down.

Transport authority MIVB aims to fit the rest of them with the system next year

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installations of solar panels in Flanders in the first half of this year, energy minister Bart Tommelein announced. Limburg led the field with 56 per thousand residents, compared to an average of 39

seal pups washed up on shore and taken in by Sea Life in Blankenberge this year to date, a new record. Three washed up last weekend alone, while five will be released in early December

less income for Bpost in the third quarter, down to €538 million, lower than analysts expected.

Income from packages was up but was outweighed by the fall in ordinary mail

reports of child abuse in Brussels in 2015, down from 532 in 2014, according to the Vertrouwenscentrum Kindermishandeling, which deals with physical, emotional and sexual abuse

november 16, 2016

WEEK in brief All commercial poultry farmers have been ordered to take their birds indoors, after bird flu was detected in neighbouring countries. Though no cases have yet to appear in Belgium, the disease is transmitted by wild birds migrating south for the winter. Consumers are at no risk, federal agriculture minister Willy Borsus said.

The tents outside Brussels Airport’s departure hall, used for pre-screening passengers since the bomb attacks in March, have been removed. The three tents allowed security forces to carry out checks on all passengers approaching the terminal.

Passengers will still, however, be checked by police trained to spot suspicious behaviour.

The Belgian state intends to do everything possible to recover costs from the Dutch shipping company Flinter Groep for the salvage of the cargo ship Flinterstar. The ship ran aground off the Flemish coast in October 2015 after a collision with a gas tanker. Flinter Groep later abandoned the wreck, which was recovered by the government at a cost of €3.3 million. Flinter Groep declared bankruptcy last week.

Brussels public transport authority MIVB is introducing a shuttle bus linking car parks in the centre with shopping areas during the holiday period. One bus will link Manhattan, Rogier, Kruidtuin and Pacheco car parks with Winter Wonders and the pedestrian zone, while a second links the centre with Guldenvlies, Poelaert and Albertina car parks.

The service will be free and runs every 10 minutes at weekends from 26 November to 1 January.

Visit Flanders was awarded the prize for Best Stand Design at the World Travel Market trade show in London last week. The stand, designed to look like an

face of flanders artist’s studio, drew attention to the Flemish Masters theme of Flemish tourism policy over the coming years. It also featured other landmarks, including Eddy Merckx bikes and beer by Palm Belgian Craft Brewers.

Mysterious DVDs containing religious material dropped into mailboxes do not contain toxic substances, according to the Brussels prosecutor’s office. The DVDs have started appearing in mailboxes, delivered by hand, as rumours circulated on social media that they were infected with a substance that had already caused people in Germany to become ill. One of the DVDs was taken for testing and found to be perfectly safe. An investigation is under way.

A planned new website listing housing rents for each neighbourhood in Brussels does not go far enough, Groen MP Arnaud Verstraete said. The website would gather information from the region’s observation centre for housing to allow anyone to see how much rent is being paid in the same area for similar accommodation. According to Groen, information itself is not enough: Tenants need to be able to force landlords to charge a fair rent.

Brussels mobility minister Pascal Smet was admitted to hospital last week with what he described as “a very serious chest infection” leading to dehydration and kidney problems. Posting on his Facebook page, Smet said he was “lucky to have a really good GP. I’m responsive to treatment, and I feel a lot better.”

The Brussels municipality of Sint-Joost is trying to buy up a number of buildings in the red-light district near North Station, in an attempt to close down those being used for prostitution. Authorities intend to use

the buildings as housing, schools or child care. The goal is not to expel sex workers from the area, a spokesperson for mayor Emir Kir said, but to move them to a nonresidential site.

Flemish youth minister Sven Gatz has approved an extra €125,000 for tents for youth organisations, on top of the €317,000 already budgeted. The money will allow 40 new tents to be purchased, offering space for 400 campers. They will be loaned to youth groups, including Chiro and Scouts.

Brussels-City council has rejected a joint bid by Botanique and Sportpaleis to run the Koninklijke Circus concert hall, opting for a competing bid from Brussels Expo, which currently operates Paleis 12 at Heizel and La Madeleine in the city centre. Botanique ran the venue until the end of last year, when the city decided to award the next contract to Brussels Expo. Botanique challenged the decision before the Council of State, which led to an open tender, which Brussels Expo has now won.

Cyclist Tom Boonen and his partner Lore Van de Weyer have called on animal welfare minister Ben Weyts to make it obligatory for owners to sterilise their cats.

At present, cats only have to be sterilised when being given away or sold. The number of stray cats continues to increase, helping to spread disease. The couple have two cats of their own, Arno and Nieke, both of whom have been “fixed”.

Brussels Airport has announced plans to renovate the Sky Hall, part of the airport building constructed in 1958 and offering a panoramic view of the tarmac and waiting aircraft, which served as a terminal until the 1990s. Works will begin next year on the facade.

OFFSIDE Cirio gone wild Thirsty travellers hoping for a restoring glass of half-en-half at the Cirio (pictured) last week were in for a surprise, because the landmark Art Nouveau bistro was closed to the public. The reason: Actor Rupert Everett had taken the place over to shoot a movie.

The prolific British actor, seen mostly recently in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and A Royal Night Out, is directing and starring in The Happy Prince, an adaptation of the short story by Oscar Wilde. Everett will play Wilde in the movie, and the star-studded cast also features

© Kobe Van Looveren/BioForum Vlaanderen

Dries Delanote The tiny Dikkebus, part of Ypres, is where you’ll find the wildest farmer in Flanders.

Dries Delanote has forsaken all of the rules of modern farming and all forms of mechanisation, apart from a tractor. And the foodie world is beating a path to his door.

Delanote coined the term “wild farming” for himself, though it’s doubtless one his neighbours would agree with. He comes from a farming family, but discarded their methods a decade ago, while he was cultivating a plot of 20 acres while also working full-time in pet care.

Since then he’s moved to being a full time farmer on a sevenhectare farm called Le Monde des mille couleurs (The World of a Thousand Colours). His technique is simple: no pesticides or any other poisons; let the crops grow in their own way where they will; nurture and revive older, natural varieties.

In his fields you’ll find edible nettles, chickweed, wild pumpkin, woodland sunflower, wild salsify and wild chard. “Every-

thing you see is potential harvest for chefs to use,” he told De Standaard. “I sow and then let what’s good in the seed do its work.”

His position on what we call traditional farming is anything but traditional. “After the war, farming became an industry because we had to ensure a food supply. We concentrated on a certain number of cultures and let the rest vanish.”

Chefs of famed eateries like Kobe Desramaults of De Vitrine and De Superette in Ghent and Matthieu Beudaert of Table d’Amis in Kortrijk have become his standard-bearers, hungry for the unique flavours of his produce.

Delanote can’t resist “messing with” the original crops that were growing on the farm before he took over. “We were growing sweeter sprouts in the hope children might like them.

Now I look for seeds from original vegetables, to return to previous times and tastes.

When people taste my lettuce for the first time, they find it bitter. They’re not used to the real taste any more.” \ Alan Hope

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

Colin Firth, Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson and Colin Morgan.

The story concerns the statue of a young prince who sees how hard life is for the people in the streets and instructs a swallow to pick the jewels from his statue to give to the poor. But however much the swallow strips the statue bare, the situation of the poor never improves, the swallow dies and the statue’s heart breaks.

But it’s all right, because Heaven.

God sends an angel to pick up the pair and bring them to Paradise, where they live happily ever after.

All of the action, such as it is, takes place out of doors, so

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.

© Michel Wal/Wikimedia

presumably Everett is planning to pad it out a bit with indoor action, possibly involving Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, played by Morgan. Bosie was, of course, the fey youth whose relations with Wilde got the Irishman banged up in Reading gaol. We’ll find out in 2017. \ AH

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, Emma Davis, Paula Dear, Andy Furniere, Lee Gillette, Diana Goodwin, Clodagh Kinsella, Catherine Kosters, Toon Lambrechts, Ian Mundell, Anja Otte, Tom Peeters, Arthur Rubinstein, Senne Starckx, Christophe Verbiest, Denzil Walton General manager Hans De Loore Publisher Mediahuis NV

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

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\ POLITICS

5TH COLUMN Maggie from the block

When she took the oath as the federal minister of public health in 2014, Maggie De Block (Open Vld) told the King “it’s a dream come true”. De Block was familiar with the subject matter, as she had been a general practitioner for most of her life.

Being Flanders’ most popular politician turned out to be more demanding. The softspoken liberal backbencher had risen to fame when she became secretary of state for migration and asylum in the previous federal government.

She gained a reputation as a hardworking, down-to-earth politician, combining a mumsy image with rather tough policies.

When she refused to intervene to allow some welladjusted young foreign nationals to remain in the country, her popularity went through the roof. As health minister, she is still loved by the public but has increasingly come under fire.

Christian-democrat MPs have soundly criticised her for her plans to reduce the use of tobacco, which they found too weak. Another of De Block’s plans, concerning alcohol, never materialised, as the government could not agree on it.

In both cases, De Block has taken a liberal view, stressing individual freedom. She believes in education rather than prohibition and abhors “hypocritical measures”. “I do not want a world in which we forbid everything,” she once stated.

Her party sees the attacks as an unfair reaction to De Block’s popularity. That, Open Vld has suggested, is also the reason why public health was up for cuts in recent budget talks: De Block had to do her share.

The cuts have hurt. De Block has made nasal spray nine times more expensive, newspapers wrote last week. Unions, doctors, mutualities, pharmacists and academics alike have criticised the cuts.

These have also complicated some of De Block’s projects, such as hospital reform and a new agreement on doctors’ fees. Hospitals are now partly financed by supplements on specialists’ fees. Everyone agrees the system is flawed, but reforming it is extremely delicate.

Some observers say that De Block has fallen victim to the Obama effect: Expectations ran so high they could only result in disappointment. Maybe De Block is disappointed in her dream job herself, but so far she has not let on. She was never one to moan.

Being popular was never her goal, and losing the number one position she has admitted, would be a relief. \ Anja Otte

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Trump victory: Politicians respond to US election result

Local and EU leaders stress the importance of Nato and trade relations Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

P

rime minister Charles Michel expressed concern about security following the election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States, while Flemish ministerpresident Geert Bourgeois, with an eye on trade relations, stressed the importance of continuing to work together.

“I would like to express the wish that you will be a uniting president who will be open to respectful dialogue,” said Michel in a statement. “I hope that Belgium and the United States can continue to defend the same values of liberty and tolerance.”

Michel also made reference to the statements in which Trump called into question the US contribution to Nato: “I hope you will continue to support the European project and guarantee security by means of Nato,” he said.

Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois offered his congratulations to both the future American

© Yin Bogu/BELGA

president and vice-president, wishing them “a strong term of office”.

The US is, he continued, “a political and military superpower and the largest economy in the world. We share its respect for fundamental democratic values and free trade principles. The foreign policy priorities of the Trump administration

are yet to be defined, but I hope that the Nato alliance will remain strong.”

He went on to stress the important of transatlantic trade. “The United States is Flanders’ biggest trading partner outside of Europe,” he said. “The US has also been the biggest foreign investor in Flanders

for many years. I trust that, under the leadership of President Trump, the United States and Flanders will continue to pursue close ties.”

Following the election, European Commission president JeanClaude Juncker and European Council president Donald Tusk sent congratulations to Trump.

Included was an invitation to take part in an EU-US summit at the earliest opportunity.

Juncker later told the BBC: “We will need to teach the president-elect what Europe is and how it works”, and commented that two years would be wasted while Trump “tours a world he doesn’t know”.

Former EU commissioner Karel De Gucht (Open-Vld) foresees a period of uncertainty. “With Hillary Clinton you knew where you were,” he said. “With Trump you can’t say.”

Foreign ministers of EU member states met in Brussels on Sunday to consider the election result informally, prior to a summit on Monday. (See related story, p6)

Economy minister leads mission to Dubai and Oman

Winter Wonders aims to improve Brussels’ image, says mayor

Flemish economy minister Philippe Muyters departed last Saturday for a six-day visit to Oman and the United Arab Emirates. He is accompanied

by Antwerp province governor Cathy Berx and Stéphane Verbeeck, chair of Voka Antwerp.

The mission includes a visit to Dubai, a cosmopolitan city of two million inhabitants famous for its impressive modern architecture and luxury lifestyle. At the other end of the spectrum, the delegation is to visit Muscat, capital of Oman and a trading port dating back to antiquity. Its surrounding Governorate has only been open to foreigners for some 20 years.

The mission is due to meet with the local chamber of commerce in Dubai, and receive a presentation on the UAE’s economy, forthcoming projects and plans for Expo 2020. They will also hear about projects involving construction group Besix and dredging company Deme.

In Oman, the group will be briefed on the Duqm project, centring on the seaport and its special economic zone, site of a major new oil refinery, as well as the economic development project known as Vision 2020. The mission runs until 17 November. \ AH

The 16th edition of Winter Wonders in Brussels is an occasion to restore the image of the capital following the tragic events of March, according to Brussels-City mayor Yvan Mayeur. Last week Mayeur presented the city council’s plans for the latest edition of the capital’s winter fair, which runs from 25 November to 1 January.

This year’s Christmas tree, a 22-metre-tall pine is being donated by Slovakia, as the country reaches the end of its presidency of the EU. It will be erected on Grote Markt on 17 November.

This year’s guest nation at Winter Wonders is Japan, marking the 150th anniversary of treaty relations with Belgium. The fair will include a 3D video of Japanese scenes projected on the facade of Sint-Katelijne church.

The sound and light show in Grote Markt has been composed by Brussels DJ Felix De Laet, better known as Lost Frequencies, who will give a concert on the square on 30 November.

Winter Wonders will also feature some 200 huts selling artisanal products and food, a 740-square-metre ice rink and fairground attractions. The city hopes to attract 1.5 million visitors. \ AH

Flanders and Netherlands plan joint efforts on transport and radicalisation The governments of Flanders and the Netherlands have pledged a “broader and deeper” level of co-operation, following a summit in Ghent last week. The co-operation includes a merger of the ports of Ghent and Zeeland.

The Flemish-Dutch summit has been a feature of neighbourly co-operation since 2011, when Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, who is still in office, and then Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters, now Geert Bourgeois, decided to come together at least every two years.

“Co-operation between Flanders and the Netherlands is something that goes without saying,” Bourgeois’ office said in a statement. The two governments, aside from their biannual meetings, have taken part in joint trade missions to Houston and Atlanta in the US, and have carried out joint efforts in culture and the chemical

© NVA

Flemish minister-president Geert Bourgeois (left) and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte

industry.

The latest summit led to agreements on working together in the fields of radicalisation of youth in education; rail transport of freight in conjunction with the North Rhine Westphalia rail link; the electrification of the Mol-Neerpelt train line; and infrastructure co-operation in border areas.

Meanwhile, officials who attended the summit in the city hall in Ghent can expect a parking ticket for parking their cars under the city’s wooden municipal hall, a structure on the square outside city hall. Newspaper De Gentenaar referred to it as “the biggest carport in the country” while reporting that parking places had been provided in the Belfortplaats, with police escorts to guide Dutch visitors. \ AH

\ COVER STORY

november 16, 2016

In a new light

Cherut’s volunteers offer friendship and support to sex workers CHERUTBELGIUM.COM

continued from page 1

organisation that offers friendship and support to sex workers, enabling them to take control of their own lives. Elizabeth, one of the outreach workers, joined four years ago. Inspired by the story of her great-grandfather, who worked as police officer in the redlight district in the early 1900s, she decided to try and help the women “just like he used to”.

“My great-grandfather would grab abusive pimps, hold them over the Scheldt and say ‘if you don’t leave the women alone, I’m going to drop you in the river, and they’ll never see you again’,” she says. “The pimps were scared and they would often stop.”

Johanneke Van Slooten of Cherut

Many of the women are lured into the sex industry by human traffickers who promise them legitimate employment in Western Europe, as servers in clubs, for example.

All too often, Van Slooten says, the club in question turns out to be a window.

The red-light district in Antwerp is made up of three streets with 208 windows, but it once spanned 17 streets, says Van Slooten. That was before the city government intervened in the late 1990s, and “a lot of the mobsters left”.

Prostitution in Belgium remains something of a grey area. Sex work itself is legal, but the procuring, advertising or pimping of another person for the purposes of prostitution is not. “Someone working as a prostitute will not be penalised, but everything around prostitution is not legal,” says Elizabeth.

Trafficking, on the other hand, is illegal and can result in a lengthy jail sentence. “Police do check the papers, so the pimps wouldn’t risk putting underage girls in the windows,” Elizabeth says. “The girls are also told by the pimps what to say to the police.”

While the legal minimum age for sex workers in Belgium is 18, Van Slooten says the problem is more

has a noticeable police presence.

If all papers are in order, and there are no incidences of physical violence, Elizabeth says, “the police turn a blind eye to the activities going on there, allowing many of the pimps to feel free to exploit the women and young girls they have brought to Antwerp”.

The women don’t have high expectations when it comes to the police, she continues, “because they often come from countries where the police are corrupt”. Though they inherently distrust police officers, “they have to call on them from time to time when a client becomes abusive and violent”.

Cherut reports cases of human trafficking to the police and, over the years, it has developed a good relationship with the force. There are times when the volunteers become targets of violent threats, and the organisation’s office has been watched by pimps on many occasions. “Especially when one of the girls goes missing,” says Van Slooten. “The windows in our coffee shop have been smashed in the past.”

Cherut’s interaction with the workers is multi-layered. The organisation has 38 volunteers who perform various functions throughout Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent.

Some work in the Koffieklap, which doubles as a training area for women who would like to leave the sex industry and work in the catering industry; training is also given in jewellery making and sewing.

Other volunteers work as translators, counsellors or therapists or do administration.

Outreach workers, like Elizabeth, are the ones who make direct contact with the sex workers. Their primary role is to build trust and establish a rapport.

Van Slooten also visits schools, where she educates male students about Cherut’s work. “We have spoken to young people who are between 16 and 18 years old,” she says. “You see them when you come in, they act all tough and think, ‘what are you going to tell us that we don’t already know?’”

Last year, she continues, “I met with a group of troubled youngsters – really tough guys – who walk around the red-light district during lunchtime. So I gave them a

© Bas Bogaerts/ID Photo

Cherut provides assistance to women working in Antwerp’s red light district who would like to choose another path

differently. My hope is that the next time they are in the area, they will look into the girls’ eyes and remember what I told them.”

Initially, Elizabeth walked around the red-light district accompanied by Van Slooten. “You must

I am not a prude, but I swear, I wouldn’t repeat some of the things these women have told me complex. “They might be 18 when they reach Western Europe, but they have been working as prostitutes for much longer than that.”

The red-light district in Antwerp

reality check.”

She shared with them the stories she’s learned from the sex workers.

“I saw that it really touched them, and I know that they left thinking

be able to handle abuse, rejection and provocation, and you have to be OK with that,” she says. “I am not a prude, but I swear, I wouldn’t repeat some of the things the

women have told me. Over time, they open up to you, and they also start asking questions.”

One time, a 60-year-old worker asked Van Slooten to come up to her window. “‘I have something for you,’ she said and gave us a plant with a card that read, ‘Thank you for coming and talking to me’.”

Both Van Slooten and Elizabeth get very passionate when talking about their work. They can reminisce at length about what the women’s lives were like before they came to Antwerp, “before they realised what was being done to them by their family, their pimp, their boyfriend or their so-called loverboy”.

And they empathise strongly with the plight of the prostitutes who

have to put on a smile as they wave from the windows, “pretending that they like to have sex with 10 different men”.

The two women have heard countless stories. One of them concerned a Bulgarian woman who was sold into prostitution by her uncle when she was 15.

At some point, she was brought to Belgium by a pimp, who soon fled after getting into trouble with the police. All by herself, in a new country, she realised she was free for the first time in many years.

Lacking money, education or experience, however, she decided to return to prostitution and support her family in Bulgaria. Van Slooten was her first friend from outside the sex industry.

\5

\ BUSINESS

week in business Agrochemicals Sapec The Brussels-based company has sold its Spanish and Portuguese agro-business activities to the Bridgepoint European investment fund for €318 million.

Fast Food KFC The US-based fried chicken chain is in negotiations to open an outlet in Antwerp early next year as part of its expansion in continental Europe. The company, which operated several outlets in Belgium in the 1970s, closed its local operations in the face of the development of the Quick fast-food chain.

Pharma Pfizer The American pharmaceutical company is transferring its Havant, UK, packaging and distribution centre to Puurs in Antwerp province.

The Havant facility employs 270 workers. The decision is said to be unrelated to Brexit and more about reorganisation.

Retail Apple The country’s two leading distributors of Apple equipment – Switch, with 10 outlets and three services centres in Flanders, and Easy M with 23 shops across the country – are planning a merger.

Supermarkets Ahold Delhaize The Dutch retailing group plans to close its 13 Red Market discount stores and will turn them into AD and Proxy Delhaize outlets. Red Market launched in 2009 but has been unable to turn a profit in the face of competitors Colruyt, Aldi and Lidl.

Catering Belgocatering The Aalst-based caterer is in negotiation to be taken over

by Creia, the leading Italian firm in the field.

Digital Amazon The American e-commerce group has plans to open a web service centre in the Brussels area next year as part of the development of its cloud computing-related activities.

Meanwhile, the investment property group VGP, based in Zele, East Flanders, is investing €80 million in a new 60,000 square-metre distribution centre for Amazon in Frankenthal, Germany.

\6

Marks & Spencer to close

UK chain to shut down Brussels branch citing disappointing results Alan Hope Follow Alan on Twitter \ @AlanHopeFT

Marks & Spencer (M&S), the British shopping chain prized by local expats for its underwear and ready-made meals, is closing its store on Guldenvlieslaan in Brussels only 18 months after it opened. The company has blamed poor results as the reason for the closure.

British expats were disappointed by the closure of the previous branch on Nieuwstraat 15 years ago. The store was a temple to British foodstuffs like pork pies and proper teabags, as well as to clothing like comfortable pants and cosy flannelette pyjamas.

When M&S returned in a swanky new location on Guldenvlieslaan last year – sharing a development with Zara and Apple – it seemed like a new dawn. But the shop suffered a net loss of €2.2 million in 2015-16, with sales in 2016 down on the previous year’s total.

“This comes as a surprise that we totally hadn’t expected,” said Yves Flamand of the socialist union representing the shop’s 126 staff. “The employees are shocked.” M&S also plans to close stores in other countries, including the UK, France and the Netherlands.

© Eric Lalmand/BELGA

New investments in terminals and jobs at port of Antwerp

Dutch national post rebuffs Bpost takeover offer of €2.5 billion

A group of investors has promised €750 million in investments in the port of Antwerp, the port authority has announced. The investments include a new tanker terminal at the Delwaide dock on the right bank of the Scheldt and a container terminal at the Hansa dock to the south.

In 2013, shipping company MSC decided to move its operations from the Delwaide dock to the new Deurganck dock on the left bank of the river, which allowed the company more space. That left the Delwaide dock without a tenant – a situation that has now been resolved.

The new tanker terminal belongs to the SEA-Invest group, with a capacity thought to be 1.25 million cubic metres, for an investment of €200 million. Also at Delwaide, SEA-Invest will invest €250 million in a new container terminal.

SEA-Invest will also take over IMT Group, which has a container terminal at the Hansa dock, for

The Dutch postal service PostNL has rejected a takeover offer from Belgium’s Bpost, following criticism from the Dutch authorities, including prime minister Mark Rutte, that a takeover would be a backwards step for PostNL. Like Bpost, PostNL is partially state-owned, and formerly operated in Belgium under the name TNT Post. The Dutch government has made clear that it would like to bring the company to market.

Bpost had been making overtures, and last week finally came out with an offer of €2.5 billion for the takeover. The news was welcomed

by Alexander De Croo, Belgium’s federal minister for post and telecoms.

Bpost is offering €5.65 a share but stressed that a concrete takeover offer would depend on the approval of the board of directors and the Dutch postal regulator. Bpost said it was “completely convinced of the added value of the merger of PostNL and Bpost”.

The takeover would have reduced

€50 million. Zenith Energy, an American company, intends to invest €250 million in a new tanker terminal, whose location has yet to be disclosed.

“This means a new and promising future for our crown jewel on the right bank,” said port authority CEO Eddy Bruyninckx. “And it’s an argument against those who were against the extension of the port on the left bank on the grounds that the MSC move would leave the Delwaide dock empty.”

The new investment will bring tens of new jobs, and account for around 42 million tonnes of additional traffic through Antwerp, the port authority said. \ AH

© Courtesy 3weg.nl

the share of the Belgian state in the merged company from 51% to 40%, while leaving shareholders in PostNL with 21%. Unions pointed out that the merger would effectively have meant a privatisation of BPost.

However, a representative for the liberal union VSOA expressed concern that the rejection of the merger could mean that PostNL has plans to extend its reach to Belgium and become a competitor for Bpost. \ AH

Six in 10 business people fear effect of Trump presidency More than six out of 10 business people in Belgium fear the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States will have a negative effect on the Belgian economy, according to a poll by NSZ, the union that represents the self-employed.

The survey sought the opinion of 767 self-employed people and heads of small and medium-sized businesses, and showed that only 7% would have forecast the election result. One in 10 would have voted for Trump, while more than half would have voted for Hillary Clinton, with 36% opting for neither candidate.

Two-thirds described Trump’s election as bad news, with 64% warning that his economic policy, in particular his promise to protect American markets, could have a negative effect on the Belgian economy. Among exporting companies, the figure was 83%.

“It’s clear that the great majority of the self-employed and small business leaders in this country are getting ready for difficult times,” said NSZ chair Christine Mattheeuws. “After Brexit earlier in the year, the election of Trump is the second major international event to have an impact on the world economy, and the economy of Belgium.”

Hans Maertens managing director of Flemish chamber of commerce Voka, pointed to the potential for protectionism under a Trump presidency. “Flanders is an exporter, with 84% of our production going abroad. The US is our fifth-largest trading partner, and good relations could be at risk.”

“What struck me is that he said he wanted partnerships and not conflicts,” said Claire Tillekaerts, chair of Flanders Investment & Trade (Fit) following Trump’s victory speech. “That’s language

© Courtesy Syntra Flanders

Relations “at risk”: Hans Maertens is the managing director of Flemish chamber of commerce Voka

that’s a lot milder than was used during the campaign. We’ll have to wait and see how he puts his cabinet together, but I would say don’t

panic. Keep calm and carry on.”

Fit will take part in a royal trade mission to Texas in two weeks.

A Trump presidency “can only be bad news for a small, open economy like Belgium’s,” according to Flemish economist Peter De Keyzer. “The US may not be our biggest trading partner, but it is an example for other economies. It is a role model for free trade, and now they’ve elected a president who is very clearly not in favour of free trade.”

“In the 1930s the US also decided to turn back in on itself,” said Pieter Timmermans, managing director of the Federation of Belgian Enterprise, “with the result that its economy shrank by 60%. The United States is a land of export. Trump has forgotten that.

It can reach 350 million people on the internal market, while we in Europe can reach 500 million.”

(See related story, p4) \ AH

\ INNOVATION

november 16, 2016

The grass could be greener

week in innovation

Natuurpunt to turn by-products of land management into saleable products Toon Lambrechts More articles by Toon \ flanderstoday.eu

NATUURPUNT.BE

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anaging nature is hard work. Most habitats that are now considered to be high-value nature are actually the product of old-fashioned agricultural practices. Grasslands, for example, require pasturing or mowing. If not, these lands become forest again.

“Natuurpunt has 22,000 hectares of nature reserves under its management,” explains Bert Delanoeije, head of the Flemish environmental organisation’s land management department. “A lot of the work is done with farmers, by letting their livestock graze on dry grasslands, for example.”

A big part of Natuurpunt’s reserves are swampy, wet grasslands: a very valuable ecosystem, but not particularly useful to farmers.

“Mowing is essential in maintaining these wetlands,” explains Delanoeije. “We do it ourselves, but this leaves us with thousands of tonnes of cut grass. Given their composition, these cuttings aren’t useful to farmers either.”

Instead, the organisation has to process it in compost installations, at a high cost. A solution was

© Wim Dirckx

The fibres from the grass can be used to make cardboard, building materials or potting soil

needed.

So Natuurpunt set up a collaboration with nature organisations from the Netherlands as well as research institutions and companies. The goal? To turn the residue from nature management into a valuable resource.

“We have different aims with this project,” says Delanoeije. “First, we want to map the total amount of green material under our management. Our partners look at what they could do with it, and we look at how to configure our manage-

ment techniques to their needs.

The unique thing about this project is the co-operation of environmental NGOs with innovative companies to find new solutions together.”

They have plenty of ideas. The fibres from the grass that comes from the wetlands can be used to make cardboard, construction materials or potting soil. The last option is a double win, because normal potting soil is made from turf, the production of which puts pressure on already endangered

marshland.

“All these possibilities require more research, but the concepts are there,” says Delanoeije. “We are also working on a kind of labelling to make it clear to the public that these new products come from a local and ecologically sound source. It adds extra value to future commercialisation of these products.”

There is still a long way to go, with many technical obstacles in putting excess cuttings to good use. But Delanoeije expects concrete results soon.

“I remember how a few years ago we were facing a similar issue with the woodchips that we produced as a by-product of pruning and clearing trees,” he says. “At the time, it was hard to get rid of them, but now they have become a valuable resource in the production of construction materials and as an energy source.”

The new project aims for similar results. And in the end, says Delanoeije, it is all part of a wider story about a more circular economic system, in which resources are reused as much as possible.

Janssen Pharma developing nasal spray against depression Janssen Pharmaceutica, the subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson based in Beerse, Antwerp province, is working on a nasal spray that eases depression and thoughts of suicide.

Preliminary results suggest that the spray works faster than antidepressants.

The spray contains the anaesthetic esketamine, which improves

communication between the brain and cells. That communication process is interrupted in people suffering from depression.

Esketamine is a form of the sedative ketamine. According to recent research, low doses of ketamine can also help people with depression.

“In studies on ketamine, patients felt like a ‘mental fog’ in their head

cleared up after just a few hours,” Husseini Manji of Janssen Pharmaceutica told De Morgen. “Other antidepressants only start to have strong effects after four to eight weeks.”

Esketamine would work according to the same principle, Manji said.

“But the substance is more powerful, so we can achieve results with smaller doses. Because smaller

doses are needed, it is possible to administer the substance via the nose. “That makes it more simple, less time-consuming and less daunting for patients than via a needle.”

The company will test the spray on 1,700 patients worldwide. It hopes to bring the spray to the market by 2020. \ Andy Furniere

People infected with HIV will soon receive refunded medication immediately after they are diagnosed. The refund of anti-HIV drugs in Belgium is currently limited to patients whose immune system is weakened by the disease, but this condition expires on 1 January, 2017. Public health minister Maggie De Block is responding to a call from Flemish sexual health expertise centre Sensoa and other HIV specialists. According to experts, quick treatment with anti-HIV drugs is beneficial to patients’ health and shortens the period during which they can infect others. As a result, the generalised refund should lead to a decrease in the number of infections.

Partners welcome in care homes Healthy elderly people will soon be able to join their partners in care homes more easily, after the Flemish parliament approved a proposal submitted by government party CD&V. Couples are often separated after decades of living together when one partner has to go to a rest home while the other is still healthy.

Partners are currently not welcome in most rest homes because of the cost. Following the approval, care homes will now be allowed to exceed their maximum number of inhabitants, to give the healthy partner a bed. The partner doesn’t receive any care from the home and pays a “hotel fee”: between €1,000 and €1,500 a month, to cover the cost of accommodation and food.

Joint research into ageing of the brain

Q&A Pieter Van Vlierberghe is a researcher at the Center for Medical Genetics at Ghent University. He has been awarded the Swiss Bridge Award for his research into curing childhood leukaemia Every year, one in 150 children in Flanders is diagnosed with leukaemia. Are current treatments successful?

For acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, these treatments include high-dose chemotherapy, potentially followed by a bone marrow transplant. The survival rates are quite high, on average 85%.

However, for children who experience a relapse, the outcome is dismal – only 30% survive.

Although survival rates are fairly good, an often overlooked problem is that high-dose chemotherapy causes drastic side effects later in life, including infertility, IQ problems and an increased chance of a secondary tumour developing when they are young adults.

HIV drugs to be refunded from diagnosis

You received this award for your research into new therapies.

Can you tell us about them?

My group focuses on proto-oncogenes: genes that code for proteins that transform normal cells into cancer cells. In particular we’re targeting a specific class of these genes, called transcription factors.

These don’t work directly but execute their oncogenic function by influencing the expression of other genes. Oncologists have been trying to target these factors for decades, without success.

However, in the past five years an alternative and much easier way to target the behaviour of these transcription factors has been identified. This happens by attacking epigenetic factors. We’re working on a novel drug that belongs in this

realm of epigenetic therapy.

We know the drug is effective in a batch of lung cancer cells, and other data suggests this is also the case in some children with leukaemia. By introducing such targeted agents into the general treatment, we hope to reduce the amount of chemotherapy, which would eventually lead to less side effects and a brighter future for children with leukaemia.

Your team is part of the new Cancer Research Institute Ghent (Crig). What’s the benefit of this new body?

Over the years, several research teams at Ghent University Hospital and the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology have acquired specific expertise and developed a very good international reputation in cancer research. However, a lot of these research activities and knowhow are scattered over vari-

ous campuses in Ghent.

Now, more than 300 cancer researchers and clinicians from various institutes will be united in Crig. The focus is mainly on research that will lead to longer and better survival of cancer patients. Our ultimate goal is making cancer a treatable disease for everyone. \ Interview by Senne

Ghent University and the University Hospital Ghent have signed an agreement with the Dutch Technical University Eindhoven and expertise centre Kempenhaeghe to collaborate on research into the ageing of the brain.

The signing took place during the Flemish-Dutch summit in Ghent on Tuesday. The partners have set up an innovation platform called Neu³Ca, which will encourage research into accelerated ageing of the brain among people with epilepsy. Some epileptics suffer from an accelerated cognitive decline that is not caused by dementia. Research into this could lead to more insights into cognitive ageing in general, including into dementia. \ Andy Furniere

Starckx

\7

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!

www.flanderstoday.eu

\ EDUCATION

november 16, 2016

Peer power

week in education

Student mediators stand up to classroom bullying in Flemish schools Andy Furniere More articles by Andy \ flanderstoday.eu

deconflixers.be

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ast month, the secondary school student union Vlaamse Scholieren Koepel (VSK) hosted Dag van de Conflixers (Conflixers Day), during which schools discussed peer support, an intervention method that counteracts bullying by teaching students to utilise conflict-resolution skills in the classroom.

In its 2014 memorandum to the government of Flanders, VSK identified bullying as one of the major problems at secondary schools.

The findings were based on a survey of 3,000 students.

In response, education minister Hilde Crevits presented Working Towards a United School Climate, a publication that aims to support schools in preventing and dealing with bullying, with peer support as

tion to resolve conflicts at school than their teachers or principals?

“Students generally understand their peers better than adults would,” says Emiel Lenaert, VSK representative for bullying preven-

It’s important that students learn to lead a discussion in which they remain neutral and sensitive to the feelings of others the underlying theme.

In co-operation with VSK, Crevits started the Conflixers project, tasking the non-profit with organising peer support workshops in schools. In turn, the education ministry provides guidance by bringing VSK into contact with peer support experts.

Are students in a better posi-

tion. “Grown-ups, for example, may have a difficult time understanding why the youngster is exhibiting these emotions or why they are reacting in a certain way.”

It’s also easier, he continues, “for youngsters to ask their fellowstudents for help, as opposed to an adult, who’s in a position of authority”.

Peer-support projects can take one of three forms: buddy, confidant and peer-mediation. In the buddy system, one of the students takes their classmate, or the entire class, under their wing for the duration of the school year. Acting like an older friend, they help their peers in different ways and follow up on their situation.

In the confidant method, a designated student may remain in the classroom during breaks, for example, letting their peers come and talk to them about their problems, without being judged.

The role of a peer mediator is more complex. When conflict occurs in the classroom, the students bring the different parties together to try to resolve the situation, without passing judgements.

VSK offers workshops for students who would like to become buddies or confidants. For training in peer mediation, the non-profit refers students to specialised organisations like the Netwerk Onderwijs

Mediation (Nom). Schools can also request free inspiration workshops from VSK to find out what projects best fit their needs.

“It’s important that students learn to lead a discussion, in which they remain neutral and sensitive to the feelings of others,” says Lenaert.

“They also need to know how to deal with all the emotional impact.”

Lenaert emphasises that peer supporters can rely on the help of pupil support agencies and adult experts. “On their own, peer supporters cannot perform miracles,” he says. “They need the backing of a comprehensive anti-bullying policy at their school.”

Workshop participants should also be rewarded for their efforts, VSK argues, through the so-called Oscar certificates. These certificates would list the competences acquired by the students in the work as conflict mediators and could be used to help gain employment opportunities in the future.

At Conflixers Day, eight Flemish schools shared their experience on running peer support projects.

“The reactions were very positive,” says Lenaert. “Most schools have no difficulty in finding motivated students and say that the initiatives improve the general atmosphere in the classroom.”

During the event, VSK also ran workshops that addressed bullying of gay and transgender students, and the organisation is already planning a follow-up event at the end of the school year, to examine the schools’ progress and address any obstacles they may have encountered.

VUB professor wants you to know that physics isn’t scary Every year, the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium recognises scientists for their efforts to communicate knowledge to a wider public. Henri Eisendrath, a physics professor at the Free University of Brussels (VUB), is the recipient of the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on improving the public’s understanding of physics.

“If I look back on how science was taught in the early days of my career, I feel slightly embarrassed,” he says. “I remember teaching physics to students from the medical and biomedical departments in the 1970s. Not one of them thought about physics as something useful to them.”

And yet, he continues, many insights from physics found their way to medical science. “At the time, I tried to convince my colleagues of the need to improve this, but without much result.

Back then, there was no such thing as science communication.”

In the decades since, Eisendrath has worked tirelessly on bridging the gap between the scientific community and the general public. He has helped organise several exhibitions on physics and sciences in general, hosted science competitions and worked on educating teachers.

Many things have changed for the better, he says, but there is still a lot of work to be done. “If I look at our society’s scientific literacy, I realise we are not there yet. Even today, a lot of students are often not convinced of the necessity of certain science courses that are not directly related to their field of study. There are many barriers between the different branches of science. Bridging these fields remains a challenge.”

There is more awareness in the academic world about the importance of communication, but other areas are lacking. Teacher training, for one, has plenty of room for improvement, says

Henri Eisendrath is the recipient of the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award for his work to improve the public’s understanding of physics

Eisendrath. “Being a teacher is more than just talking about your field of study. It is equally important to have the students realise how essential science is in understanding how our world works.”

Now more than ever, he adds, it is necessary to bring science to a wider audience. “Our knowledge of science has grown expo-

nentially within the last century, but the general public is not fully aware of the extent of it.”

At the same time, he continues, “science plays an important role in solving the problems we’re faced with, like environmental degradation, climate change and food issues. So a deeper understanding of what science has to offer is indispensable.”

There is, however, a growing interest in science, Eisendrath says.

“The media is paying more attention to it, and that’s important because the impact of science on society goes hand in hand with the explosion of knowledge.

Scientific innovations find their way into our daily lives much faster than ever before.”

Together with filmmaker Vincent Langouche, Eisendrath has just finished the new documentary Quantum Revolution, which science teachers will be able to use in the classroom. \ Toon

Upgrade for courses in teaching Islam The current Islamic education programme in primary schools is to be upgraded.

Education minister Hilde Crevits and the Muslim Executive have agreed to work together on reform. There are currently about 60,000 pupils following the course in Islamic religion in 1,023 Flemish schools, but there is a shortage of qualified teachers. Only 16% of teachers in primary education have the required diploma and only 38% in secondary education. There is no official study programme for teachers to be able to teach Islamic religion in primary school, so the Muslim Executive began providing training itself. It has now signed a commitment agreement with Crevits to professionalise the education of teachers.

Training improves pupils’ group work Researchers from Karel de Grote university college in Antwerp want primary school children to be better taught about shared discussions, to help them work better in groups. The researchers spent two years following classes in five primary schools. Half of the children received training in group discussions; the other half did not. The training taught them to listen, ask and respect others’ opinions, ask “why” questions, formulate arguments and work towards a consensus. The researchers tested pupils on their problem-solving skills and analysed their language use, arguments and attitude in group work. After three months, the trained pupils scored on average 10 to 20% higher than before; the other pupils made no progress.

Law enforcement studies face reform Law enforcement studies in Belgium will be integrated into university colleges and universities so that potential officers will not have to attend a special police school.

Officers will also be able to use their certificate obtained at a police school to apply for other jobs. Those are the main aspects of a reform of police training implemented by federal home affairs minister Jan Jambon. The certification obtained at one of the country’s 10 police schools has also been upgraded to provide more job options. Previously, the certificate earned at such schools was not considered a diploma and could only be used to get work as a police officer. \ AF

Lambrechts

\9

\ LIVING

week in activities Sinterklaas Show Get ready for 6 December with this one-hour show featuring Sinterklaas and his helpers, with music, dance and fun for all. Purchase tickets via the website. 19-20 November, 14.00 & 17.00; Limburghal, Jaarbeurslaan 6, Genk; €9 \ visitgenk.be

Fiery Night Walk Wander through an outdoor wonderland on a cold autumn evening and let yourself be enchanted by fire acts, street performers, live music and light installations.

Follow a designated route through the park, starting between 18.00 and 20.30, and be sure to dress warmly. 19 November, from 18.00; Provinciaal Groendomein Prinsenpark, Kastelsedijk 5, Retie (Antwerp province); free \ gezelligbuiten.be

Ice Magic Hasselt Due to construction and an ever-rising rental price, the annual ice sculpture festival has moved from the front of Bruges’ train station to Hasselt. The theme is Antarctica, in honour of the Antarctic expedition of Hasselt-born explorer Adrien de Gerlache.

Fantastic frozen landscapes, penguins and the stranded ice ship Belgica await you. 19 November to 8 January, 10.0022.00, Kolonel Dusartplein, Hasselt; €9 \ ijssculptuur.be

Art Day for Kids Kids 12 and under all across Flanders and Brussels can participate in a wide range of hands-on and interactive activities organised by theatre groups, dance companies, libraries, museums, music schools and more.

Activities are free or cost a small fee, and many require advance registration. Check the website for activities in your area. 20 November; free to €10 \ kunstendagvoorkinderen.be

First World War Walk In 1916, Mechelse Heide (one of the gateways to Hoge Kempen National Park) was used as a training camp by the German army. On this guided walk, discover surviving trenches, bunkers and artillery craters and hear local stories about the war.

No reservation required.

20 November, 14.00-16.00, Joseph Smeetslaan 280, Maasmechelen; €2 \ nationaalparkhogekempen.be

\ 10

Port city mercado

Antwerp’s new pop-up food court is stylish, diverse and tasty Alan Hope More articles by Alan \ flanderstoday.eu

super-mercado.be

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ntwerp is a covered food market richer, with the arrival of Super Mercado at a former post office on Groenplaats, in the very heart of the city. The temporary project, named after the Spanish word for “market”, is supposed to last until May, when the building undergoes renovation.

But it’s likely that Antwerp will become so attached to the idea that Super Mercado will easily find a new home elsewhere.

“Mayoral residence, pastoral college, court of first instance – the post office at Groenplaats has served many functions since 1509,” said famous Antwerp tour guide Tanguy Ottomer. “The former dining hall for the mail sorters offers a great view on the city.

Super Mercado is sure to become a stopping place on my guided tours.”

The windows that once accepted letters and packages are now home to a variety of food sellers, spread around the edges of the majestic building. In the middle of the floor, there are two bars and copious seating.

The process is simple: Pick up the food of your choice, get a drink from the bar, take a seat and enjoy.

There’s a central system for collecting dishes; no need to carry them back to the vendors.

Among the varieties of food on offer is sum sum, a Chinese-style dim sum served in bite-sized portions. Their aim: to get past the idea that dumplings are only to be served as a starter. The dishes are fresh and vibrant.

Yalla Yalla, Antwerp’s food truck staple, serves fresh Lebanese flat bread and falafel, available on the spot or to take away. BoxBird supplies fried chicken, with an

© Courtesy Super Mercado

either South American or Korean twist.

Bufala is the place for mozzarella dishes, in the form of Carpaccio, salad or pizza. Other stands offer Mexican food, sushi, fresh meat

Sedaghatnia and Kokkot – where chef Nicolas Neyens served slowcooked stew of hare with Westmalle dubbel and the delicious mackerel in dashi with pumpkin puree – are likely to find worthy

it’s gone. All the more reason for some entrepreneur to get on the job of supplying a replacement.

“An initiative like this can only be an encouragement,” said Antwerp’s councillor in charge of planning

We’re very happy to give room to people who want to do their creative thing and charcuterie, oysters, Malaysian dishes and Belgian classics.

Various bars offer wine, cocktails and beer.

As Flanders Today went to press, two of the vendors were being replaced. The caviar and wine stand of the sommelier and Mijn Pop-Up Restaurant judge Sepideh

successors.

An egg waffle from Bubble Waffle to top off the meal, paired with a Penny Black coffee, and we’re done.

Super Mercado is lively and busy, but there’s no problem finding a spot to sit. The space is cleaned efficiently and unobtrusively.

Antwerp is going to miss it when

and heritage, Rob Van de Velde, whose department will be managing the renovations to the building. “We’re very happy to give room to people who want to do their creative thing. This space provides the opportunity for young startups and people passionate about food.”

BITE Babies come first at Ghent restaurant especially for parents “And for the baby?” You don’t expect any waiter to ask you that question, but in Ghent’s new restaurant Amélie+Moi, it’s standard.

Named after the founder and owner, Stefanie Canu, and her three-yearold daughter, Amélie, the restaurant in the city centre serves breakfast, lunch and drinks specially prepared for three age groups: babies, toddlers and their parents.

According to Canu, she’s responding to a need she herself had. “Many people underestimate the isolation you’re confronted with as a young parent,” she says. “I suffered from loneliness and a serious lack of selfesteem after giving birth, which eventually resulted in postnatal depression.”

It took her a while, she continues, “to understand that I needed to step out into the world and meet other people who were in the same situation and recognised what I was going through. With Amélie+Moi, I want to make it possible for young parents to gather and talk, without having to leave their babies at home.”

While socialising, the parents can put their children in a cradle by the bar or in one of the baby bouncers.

There is also a changing table and a play area with puzzles, games and handicrafts.

The baby menu consists of purees and porridge, but Amélie+Moi also serves small pieces of steamed or raw vegetables. Canu believes

© Yasmina Besseghir

firmly in the Rapley method, a babyled weaning technique invented

by British health-care worker Gill Rapley.

“The baby is given small pieces of steamed vegetables or fruits so they can start experimenting with tastes and textures through play,” Canu explains, “The baby can then decide for themselves what to swallow.”

A former psychologist, Canu

ameliemoi.be

intends to dedicate her place to the well-being and mental health of young parents. With a series of lectures and activities, she wants to educate and inform, breaking taboos on parenting.

“Of course we’ll have our share of cooking workshops,” she says, “But who’s ever heard of young dads and moms suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder? Soon, we’ll host lectures on burn-out, worklife balance, postnatal depression and the taboos concerning maternal love.”

It’s all part of the package, she adds. “We want to become a place of reference for the community of young parents.” \ Daan Bauwens

november 16, 2016

Life on earth

Kids’ museum explains it all, from diamonds to the birds and the bees Daan Bauwens More articles by Daan \ flanderstoday.eu

DEWERELDVANKINA.BE

Wereld van Kina in Ghent specialises in getting children interested in natural history, and it doesn’t hold back when it comes to the origins of life.

K

eicool, or super cool, is a word you often hear used

by Flemish kids. Now just imagine it as the chorus of a catchy song performed by a dozen rocks in a museum.

Though kei is added to the front of Dutch words to intensify their meaning, the word also literally means “rock”. The museum gleefully plays with this pun in the song, as the rocks nostalgically recall their early days as magma and the traumatic process of crystallisation, and look ahead to the future when they’ll melt back into the earth’s crust.

That’s if they’re lucky enough to avoid ending up as building material, of course. It seems there’s more excitement to a rock’s life than you might think.

The song isn’t the only trick this museum uses to get children interested in geology. Riding in a lift that leads to the centre of the earth, they can see the earth’s surface moving further and further away as they travel through one geological layer after another.

In a sandpit, they can mould their own mountains, which will then, as if by magic, explode and become volcanoes. A secured vault displays the world’s most precious stones, while an accompanying video talks about the issue of blood diamonds.

In complete darkness, you can see the most baffling fluorescent minerals, while a terrace looking out on to the San Francisco skyline is hard to resist, until a powerful earthquake makes the ground under your feet disappear.

Kei-Cool! is the new permanent exhibition at De Wereld van Kina (The World of Kina), Ghent’s museum for natural history for children. Although kina is both a Hawaiian word for a baby girl and a type of tree that grows in Africa, the museum’s name doesn’t refer to either. Kind (Dutch for “child”) and natuur (“nature”) are what this place is all about.

Kina has a long history. After Ghent’s massive urban expansion during the 19th century, a teacher by the name of Leo Michel Thiery was worried that children growing up surrounded by nothing but concrete would forget about the beauty of nature. He built a terrarium and an aquarium in his classroom and started growing rare plants and flowers in the school’s garden.

When, in 1924, his local municipality decided to start a school museum to house its growing

collection of lendable material for biology and physics classes, they asked Thiery to be its first curator.

He happily accepted and began devoting his weekends to teaching.

Thanks to this passion, both the museum and Thiery’s Sunday lectures became a hit. The museum’s botanical garden was the first of its kind in Flanders to be open to the general public.

Though Antwerp and Mechelen started similar initiatives at about the same time, Ghent’s school museum is the only one still standing a century later. It’s now a branch of the museum called The World of Kina: the Garden.

Inside the old building, children can experience their first encounters with tarantulas (under professional supervision), while outside in the “glimmer garden” toddlers

© Photos courtesy Stad Gent Dienst Voorlichting

are asked to help the elves. The creatures have lost their sight, touch and smell and cannot navigate round their living space. By touching and smelling grass and herbs and recognising flowers and butterflies, toddlers can help the elves find their way around.

As the garden is in the middle of the city, it attracts thousands of visitors, in particular during the annual Gentse Feesten, when kids can learn how to make bee hotels, ointments and soap using herbs from the garden.

While the old museum and garden are gems in terms of architecture and the collection, the main branch is in the southernmost wing of Sint-Pieter’s abbey. That’s where the museum’s main attractions can be found: exhibitions on fossils, the evolution of life on earth, the sea and the human

body, including a thought-provoking attic devoted to the world of human sexuality.

After walking through the various chambers of the human heart, each of them separated by saloon door-like valves, wallpaper picturing thousands of sperm cells leads the way up the stairs. On the attic’s

ble kind of naked or clothed body.

For adolescents, quiet rooms in a corridor lit by red lights teach them about subjects such as relationships, masturbation, sexual orientation and contraception.

A computer in the corner trains them in online assertiveness.

The next set of stairs leads from the

We hope these children grow up to be conscious of the miracles of nature and our duty to respect it ceiling, the sperm frantically swims in a vortex before reaching its final destination: the egg.

“It’s another example of our everlasting challenge to find creative ways to explain difficult science to children,” says Renée Van Baelenberghe, one of the museum’s scientific curators.

Here kids can learn everything there is to know about sexuality.

Toddlers play a touching game through holes in a transparent wall – an exercise in which they learn to indicate what kind of physical contact is permissible and what is not.

In one corner, an animated movie quite explicitly gives away all the secrets of human conception. In the next room, children can choose between all sizes and shapes of velcro body parts and reproductive organs to assemble every imagina-

sexual jungle of the internet to the birds of the real jungle, set up in the old tradition of wooden boxes with replicas of animals surrounded by a painted habitat. This is the last stop. Two dragon skeletons see all visitors off the premises.

Wait, dragon skeletons? Van Baelenberghe: “In this region, we owe much of our initial fascination with natural history to the discovery of dinosaur skeletons,” she says, “which people back then believed belonged to dragons.”

Having these skeletons in front of the museum is a reminder that this is a place to inspire wonder and surprise. “We hope the children who leave this place grow up to be adults conscious of both the miracles and the vulnerability of nature and our duty to defend and respect it,” she says. “That’s our mission, and these dragons remind us of it.”

\ 11

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\ ARTS

november 16, 2016

Original sinners

week in arts & CULTURE

Punk music festival returns to Hasselt after a four-year abesence Mark Andrews More articles by Mark \ flanderstoday.eu

SINNERSDAY.COM

T

his month, Hasselt will again be ground zero for devotees of New Wave and punk, as Sinner’s Day returns after a four-year hiatus. This one-day indoor festival ran for three years from 2009 and is back with eight pioneering bands over 10 hours.

Rather than punk, this edition is post punk – no three-chord slash and burn this year: John Lydon is here with PiL; Tuxedomoon represent the experimental, avant-garde; DAF and OMD the pop and industrial ends of electro; and The Beat (the Ranking Roger version of the two line-ups that tour) fuse ska, reggae and punk.

The festival is topped and tailed by two bands that originated in The F Club in Leeds: The Sisters of Mercy and The Cassandra Complex, both purveying hard, electronic rock music.

The odd man out on the bill is Tricky, who is too young to be punk, post punk or New Wave. “I like to go a little bit outside my frame and I love his music and I love his personality,” says Sinner’s Day founder Marlon Waghemans of his inclusion.

“He has a long history in music, including Massive Attack. Fifteen years ago I had a band and we went on tour with him; I saw some amazing gigs by him.”

Sinner’s Day began back in 2009.

Waghemans: “I still had records in my living room by those darker bands, punk bands, New Wave bands – call it what you want – and I thought other people had the same feelings about that music. But you didn’t see those bands at festivals – even in Belgium, which has a lot of festivals. They weren’t really welcome any more.”

So he took matters into his own hands.

Sinner’s Day is really an update of the Belgian New Wave festivals that Waghemans loved in his youth in the 1980s: Futurama in De Brielpoort in Deinze and Seaside in De Panne. Several of the bands who played those have played Sinner’s

© PiL Official

John Lydon’s PiL are one of the main acts at this year’s Sinner’s Day

Day. The first edition featured Gary Numan (Waghemans’ favourite), Gang of Four, The Human League and Front 242. Lydia Lunch and The Bollock Brothers also featured lower down the bill. So did Leuven’s The Neon Judgement. Waghemans: “I’m always proud to add a Belgian band because Belgium is important in this genre of music.”

It didn’t all go to plan, however. “A lot more people than we expected came, so we failed a little in organisation,” Waghemans says. “We needed about 4,000 people to break even; there were close to 10,000. We didn’t have enough people to serve the beer or the food … it went a little bit wrong. We received criti-

cism and I agree with it.”

That first year was an experience, an experiment, he admits, “but the bands were really happy. So we continued.”

In 2010 and 2011, Sinner’s Day featured Heaven 17, The Fall, The Bunnymen, The Damned, Mark Almond, The Cult and Visage among others. Waghemans picks out The Psychedelic Furs and Patti Smith as highlights of those years.

At the other end of the spectrum were Nina Hagen (“terrible – my opinion”) and Diamanda Galas (“an amazing artist but she’s quite difficult. The audience didn’t like

20 November

her. I think if you talk to her about Sinner’s Day, she will explode.”)

That’s not why Sinner’s Day took a break after 2011. “It was getting more like a job than just something that I loved to do,” says Waghemans. “Expectations got higher, the risk got higher. That was never in my plan.”

The Ethias Arena changed ownership and the deal was different, he says. “There were more complicated contractual arrangements and the financial issues – percentages to the venue, to the bands, to this, to that – just killed my motivation. My ambition was just to do music.”

Though Waghemans had lost his mojo, others were interested in taking Sinner’s Day over, but the baton was not finally passed until this year. Waghemans has advised on the programming of the line-up, but Star Group, an events management company, is handling the dayto-day running.

“The audience is still the people with those records in their living rooms, dedicated people,” says Waghemans. Most are from Belgium, but lots are from Holland, France, Germany, the UK and Italy.

People even fly over from the US and Brazil.

“Another thing I’m even more happy with is the new generation,” says Waghemans. “Kids of 18, 19, 20 who come; though I have to be honest, it’s a small percentage.”

His fantasy 2017 line-up? “From leftfield, The Residents and Jim Thirlwell, and more mainstream The B-52s. I would also really love to add the newer generation, like Hurts or The Editors.”

Waghemans traces Sinner’s Day back to watching The Sex Pistols on TV with his grandmother when he was a kid. “She was shocked,” he recalls. “I fell for the attitude.

It’s still part of my character, my vision.”

Ethias Arena

Gouverneur Verwilghensingel 70, Hasselt

Director Peter Monsaert tackles moral ambiguities of red light district On the cover of this newspaper is an article about the women who work in Antwerp’s red light district.

Hearing their stories is a way to break down the barrier between the workers and the public represented in that thin pane of glass.

The new movie Le Ciel Flamand (The Flemish Heaven) makes a similar effort. Scripted and directed by Peter Monsaert, who covered similar territory in his debut film Offline, Le Ciel is set in one of those stand-alone houses along Flanders’ thoroughfares that seem a world away from the steady line of windows in their urban

counterparts.

Eline is taken with the homey appearance and pretty red lights that adorn her mother’s workplace, and, having just turned six, she’s starting to ask questions. She always has to wait in the car for her sweet and soft-spoken mum, Sylvie, the establishment’s owner and bartender, who placates her

daughter with stories of how her customers come to her office when “they need a hug”.

But one day when Sylvie is distracted on the first floor, Eline decides to have a look inside. And then something very bad happens.

Monsaert handles the moral ambiguities of this situation fairly well, never judging Sylvie as she spends the rest of the film tortured by self-blame. She also throws a little blame over to Eline’s father, who Eline only knows as her beloved “uncle Dirk”. Dirk (Wim Willaert, an Offline alum) has plenty of guilt of his own, feeling like a failure as

a father who’s not around.

When the police close the case empty-handed, Sylvie starts her own investigation, and the strained relationship with Dirk leads both of these lost souls down a revenge path of no return.

Sara Vertongen (Binnenstebuiten) is especially sympathetic as a quietly tough single mum struggling to maintain a family business in which she’s quickly losing faith.

And Esra Vandenbussche is a little revelation, portraying Eline so naturally, one almost forgets it’s fiction.

Studio Brussel becomes Studio Hellhole

In recognition of Donald Trump’s win as the presidentelect of the United States, Studio Brussel radio station changed its name last Thursday to Studio Hellhole for three hours during the evening commute. The rock and pop station was reminded by a viewer after the election that they had promised to change their name to Studio Hellhole if Trump won and decided to honour the promise, if just for one day. Listeners could tweet song requests using the hashtag #studiohellhole.

Elsje wins Willy Vandersteen prize The strip album Elsje maakt geschiedenis (Elsje Makes History) has won the Willy Vandersteen Prize for the best Dutch-language comic album of the year. The prize was given last week in Antwerp at the annual Boekenbeurs, Flanders’ largest book fair.

The daily strip, which appears in several Dutch newspapers, is by the Dutch duo known as Hercules & Valkema, who have been publishing it since 2007.

Elsje follows the adventures of a little girl and shows that “the family strip is in no way dying out,” according to the jury.

“Elsje does it the ‘old school’ way: She has conquered the market by being published in newspapers and magazines.” The prize, an initiative of Stripgids and Sabam Artes, is worth €5,000.

New painting by Ensor discovered A previously unknown painting by turn-of-the-20th-century surrealist master James Ensor has surfaced in the painter’s home town of Ostend. The painting (pictured), titled “Skeleton Arresting Masked Figures” and dated 1891, is known from correspondence, but has never been seen except by the family who have always owned and who now want to sell. The work was certified as genuine by the Ensor Committee and can be seen in two weeks at Sotheby’s in Brussels before being sold in Paris next month. The painting is expected to fetch more than €1 million. (See related story, p14)

\ Lisa Bradshaw

\ 13

\ ARTS

A life in motion

Antwerp musician Chantal Acda on transition, rebellion and ugly shoes Christophe Verbiest More articles by Christophe \ flanderstoday.eu

CHANTALACDA.COM

“I

was 17, maybe 18 before I realised that music was more than an activity for my bedroom,” Chantal Acda says.

“Maybe at a younger age I just used it to rebel against my mother.

Teenage rebellion.” She laughs loudly. “It turned out differently, didn’t it?”

Acda, from the Netherlands, moved to Brussels 16 years ago.

Here, she first made music with a band, Chacda, later in different duos (sleepingdog, True Bypass).

It was 2013 before she released her first album under her own name.

Let Your Hands Be My Guide was followed last year by The Sparkle in Our Flaws, and now Live in Münster, which she’s currently supporting with a tour.

The 38-year-old says she learned a lot from being one half of those duos. “And it was comfortable: I could shelter behind the strong backs of my musical partners. I didn’t have to stand in the spotlights on my own. At the time, though, I never thought of it that way. It only dawned on me afterwards.”

It’s no coincidence that her solo debut came out in 2013. “The years before that album were an extremely dark period for me,” she says. “I hope I’ll never have such a rough time again.”

She found herself at a crossroads. “I decided to change my life completely. It was a good decision; I feel much better now.”

Acda isn’t a jazz musician, but she has some jazz cats in her band.

You can hear it on the new live

© Terry Magson

Antwerp-based musician Chantal Acda has just begun working with one of the business’s big names

album: Songs aren’t recreated, they are reinterpreted, with room for improvisation. And she’d love to play at jazz festivals more often.

“Pop music nowadays is heavily formatted,” she says. “The recordings are the result of lots of cutting and pasting, because everything has to sound perfect. That really feels oppressive.”

She went to Berlin to record her first album, to Portland, Oregon, in the US for her second. “I need to be somewhere else when I’m recording an album,” she explains.

“If I stay in Belgium, my life outside

the music continues: the children, practical things, you name it.

When I go away, music is the only focus.”

This week, Acda is in another north-west American city – Seattle – where the great Bill Frisell is recording guitars for her new album, to be released next year.

Frisell is an eclectic guitar player who has worked with the likes of Elvis Costello and Suzanne Vega.

“I emailed his manager, and he told me they had just bought my last album and loved it,” she says.

“Then Bill wrote to me directly

saying that he had no free time, but that he would make some anyway.

I couldn’t believe it.”

People told her she didn’t stand a chance of working with him, but that didn’t stop her from trying.

“On that level, I’m very Dutch: In the Netherlands, from a young age you’re encouraged to carry out your plans and not expect to get ‘no’ for an answer. In Flanders, this mentality is completely different.”

A few years ago she said in an interview that she would never go back to the Netherlands because she didn’t like the mentality there.

If you’re waiting for a bus, she gives as an example, a stranger might well come up and tell you: “You’re wearing ugly shoes.”

“Over the past six months, my mind has slowly been changing.

I wouldn’t go up to Holland, but in the south of the country, like Zeeland because I’m in a…” She hesitates. “Identity crisis is too strong a word, but a transitional period.”

At times, she says, she finds the climate in Flanders heavy. “In the Netherlands, contact is easier. Here you can go into a shop and by the time you leave you’ve made no eyecontact, not even with the cashier.

On the other hand, the Dutch lack depth, they can be superficial.”

Acda left her homeland 16 years ago and these new feelings surprise her. “I never thought I would feel like this,” she says. “As a matter of fact, I feel like a stranger in both countries. The only place where I really feel at home is Iceland.”

But she can’t really say why and certainly has no plans to move there. After living in Brussels and Hoegaarden, she moved to Antwerp three years ago to form a new family with her partner. “We have children who go to school here: They are the priority.” And for a musician, Antwerp is an ideal place to live, she says.

“Everyone is very supportive, going to each other’s shows. I never felt that in another town.”

Chantal Acda is on tour across Flanders until 10 December, and again from 1 February

Ensor and Tuymans meet in London art gallery’s double act royalacademy.org.uk

The posters on the London Underground describe the Royal Academy’s Intrigue exhibition as “James Ensor by Luc Tuymans”, giving the two Flemish artists equal billing.

This shows how high Tuymans’ stock has risen in London, both as a painter and as a curator – but also how low Ensor’s profile still is with the British public. When Rubens filled the Royal Academy last year, he needed no introduction.

Despite sharing the billing, Tuymans is not out to steal his predecessor’s thunder. This is an exhibition that puts the case for Ensor (1860-1949) as a great painter and draughtsman, with a rich selection of his work densely packed into three rooms.

The title comes from “Intrigue”, one of the paintings that attracted Tuymans to Ensor when he was a

\ 14

teenager. “Captivated by the theatrical power of this work, with its unsettling crowd of masked figures, I found myself questioning which elements were true and which were false,” he recalls in his introduction to the show.

“For me Ensor was a scenographer, depicting a strange world that was neither tangible nor imaginary, populated by inscrutable beings.

Perhaps the painting was a vision of the parallel existence that for Ensor, the perpetual outsider, signified reality.”

Other striking examples of this uncanny thread in Ensor’s work include “Astonishment of the Mask Wouse” and “Skeletons Fighting for the Body of a Hanged Man”.

Even the fish in “Skate” has an unsettling, mask-like quality.

There are also examples of Ensor’s satirical work, such as “The

© Royal Museum for Fine Arts Antwerp ©www.lukasweb.be - Art in Flanders vzw, photo Hugo Maertens

“The Intrigue” by James Ensor, 1890

Dangerous Cooks”, in which the artist’s head is served up to the critics on a platter, and a selection of self-portraits, including the celebrated “Self-portrait with Flowered Hat”.

A more serious side to the artist is found in his large religious paintings, such as “Adam and Eve

Until 29 January

Expelled from Paradise” and “Fall of the Rebel Angels”, and in his experiments with light, from bourgeois interiors to the storm-troubled sky over Ostend, his home town.

The exhibition draws heavily on public and private collections in Flanders, particularly that of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. It’s a tantalising glimpse of the riches awaiting rediscovery there when it reopens in 2019.

Tuymans has included just two of his own works: a student etching that shows a strong Ensor influence, and a tall painting of a Gilles from the Binche carnival in Wallonia, connecting with Ensor’s love of masquerades. (See related story, p13) \ Ian Mundell

Royal Academy of Arts

Burlington House, Piccadilly, London

\ AGENDA

november 16, 2016

A visual goldmine

THEATRE

Selleslags Unpacks Until 22 June

L

ast year, press photographer Herman Selleslags, 78, donated his and his father’s archive to Antwerp’s Photo Museum (FoMu). The 250,000-plus items – including photographs, glass plates, slides, prints, pocket diaries and cameras – make for a real goldmine, covering daily life and events in 20th-century postwar Belgium.

The first exhibition based on this archive, Selleslags Unpacks, is not a retrospective. According to Tamara Berghmans, who curated the exhibition with Joachim Naudts, it was too early for that. Their priority is to digitalise the archive.

So the visitor mainly gets to see

FoMu, Antwerp fomu.be

an appetiser of what is still to come, neatly illustrated by a pile of unsorted boxes of negatives and contact sheets. The exhibition does give a glimpse of the diversity of both Rik and Herman Selleslags’ work, tackling social and cultural issues.

According to Herman, who at 16 started working at his father’s photo agency, a strong image says something not only about the people in it, but also about the era when it was taken. That’s the reason you don’t see a lot of closeups, and why, for instance, Rik’s photos of the Brussels Marollen district, taken in the 1940s, are so striking.

© Herman Selleslags

Herman Selleslags, Paul McCartney, Hyde Park, London, 1968

DANCE

THEATRE

The Clean and the Dirty

Sneeuw

23-24 November 20.30 Since the 1980s, Vera Mantero has been blazing the trail for contemporary dance in Portugal, becoming one of Lisbon’s most celebrated choreographers and a frequent guest on Flemish stages. Now Mantero returns to Kaaitheater for the Belgian premiere of her latest dance production. The Clean and the Dirty promises to make us rethink the relationship between self, art and environment through the movements of three dancers, one being Mantero herself. The choreographer and her co-producers at activist art association Imagine 2020 make the case that climate change requires us to change not just our actions but our entire way of being-in-theworld. \ Georgio Valentino

Kaaitheater, Brussels KAAITHEATER.BE

19 November to 14 December

As the main photographer for the Flemish weekly Humo, Herman carried out assignments to cover rock’n’roll and pop music in Flanders. While colleagues from the daily press looked the other way, he portrayed Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, among others.

Inspired by French photo pioneer Henri Cartier-Bresson, he waited for just the right moment – like when he got the 1960s icons Mick Jagger and “Nonkel” Bob Davidse in one frame, or when movie star Matthias Schoenaerts kissed his father Julien, the Flemish theatre icon, on the forehead. \ Tom Peeters

NT, Ghent NTGENT.BE

CONCERT

Modernity à la Belge

Ariana Grande

Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Brussels FINE-ARTS-MUSEUM.BE

28 May Like so many other Nickelodeon graduates, Ariana Grande used her TV show fame to jumpstart her career as a singer. Unlike most of her cohorts, however, she has proven to be a genuine star. With her huge, overpowering voice almost too much for her sultry R&B and dance-inflected pop, Grande is a phenomenal soul

For millennia, artists looked to tradition for their ideas and legitimacy. Then, sometime in the 19th century, a new breed of artist decided to live for today – and even tomorrow. Modernity was born from this impulse to throw off the age-old shackles of convention. The new art depicted new subjects, usually drawn from the gritty reality of modern life, and used new techniques that were wilful transgressions of classical rules. This major exhibition surveys the European pioneers of the movement and Belgium’s considerable contribution. Pictured is Paul Delvaux’s “The Fire” (1935) \ GV

\ stan.be

VISUAL ARTS Brussels Cover Art: Collection of exceptional comic book covers, providing a behindthe-scenes look at the creative and production processes involved. Until 28 May, Comics Art Museum, Zavelstraat 20 \ comicscenter.net

FAMILY Picasso for Families: An extension of the current Bozar exhibition Picasso: Sculptures, Discovery Trails allows families to immerse themselves in the wonderful world of Pablo Picasso, and invites children (ages six and up) to discover the artist’s work using all five senses (in French and Dutch).

20 November 14.30-16.00, Bozar, Ravensteinstraat 23 \ bozar.be

DANCE Antwerp West: Ballet piece by three American choreographers, Cunningham, Forsythe and Bokaer, each with his own unique vision and ideals about movement and body language. Until 19 November 20.00, Opera Antwerpen, Frankrijklei 3 \ operaballet.be

© Jules August

© Tuna Limposujo

The Monkey Trial: Performance based on the 1925 Scopes Trial in Tennessee, in which a young biology teacher was taken to court for teaching evolution (in Dutch). 18 November 20.00, Xaverius College, Collegelaan 36

Brussels

Flemish stage director Luk Perceval presents his adaptation of Nobel prize-winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk’s 2002 novel Snow. Perceval is known for his respectful but bold handling of literary treasures like Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Pamuk is celebrated at home and abroad for his insight into the forces shaping contemporary Turkey, namely the struggle between Westernising elements and a rising tide of religious fundamentalism. Snow follows a secular-minded political exile as he returns to Turkey and confronts the contradictions of Turkish society. In Dutch. \ GV

VISUAL ARTS Until 22 January

Antwerp

get tic

kets n ow

Sportpaleis, Antwerp SPORTPALEIS.BE

singer hiding in plain sight. Her choice of genre and songs have caused her to attract a mostly teen fanbase, but with two Grammy nominations under her belt and a coveted spot on Time’s 2016 list of 100 Most Influential People, the 23-year-old is one to watch. \ Linda A Thompson

EVENT Brussels Céilí: A night of traditional Irish music and dance, with fun and simple group dances that require no previous experience, and music by fiddlers, flute players and more from Ireland, Belgium and America.

18 November 19.00-1.00, EPEE, Zwaardstraat 4 \ facebook.com/BelgiumGAA

MARKET Brussels Swedish Christmas market: Annual Christmas fair organised by the Swedish Church in Brussels, featuring Swedish handicraft, textile and candlesticks and more gifts, plus culinary specialities and the chance to make your own Christmas wreath. 18-20 November, Chorale Suédoise de Bruxelles, Gallierslaan 35 \ svenskakyrkan.se/bryssel

© Paul Delvaux Foundation/Sabam Belgium

\ 15

\ BACKPAGE

november 16, 2016

Talking Dutch

VoiceS of flanders today

Thursday Night Fever Derek Blyth More articles by Derek \ flanderstoday.eu

TIJDVOORJERELATIE.BE

Y

ou’ve maybe heard of Donderdag veggiedag – Veggie Thursday. Now the government has come up with a new pastime for a Thursday aimed at couples – Donderdag datedag – Thursday date day.

The idea was launched by Flemish health, welfare and family minister Jo Vandeurzen, according to Het Laatste Nieuws. Pendelen tussen school, werk, de kookpotten en je wasmachine – Commuting between school, work, cooking pots and your washing machine: we hebben het allemaal alleen nog maar “druk, druk, druk” – we are all always “busy, busy, busy”.

This hectic lifestyle can lead to some serious problems. Door die dagelijkse beslommeringen – As a result of the daily grind, komt de relatie van jonge ouders vaak onder druk te staan – young parents’ relationships often come under pressure, Vandeurzen said in an interview on Radio 1.

The answer is really quite simple, he believes. Maak van donderdag je vaste date-dag – Turn Thursday into your regular date day en blijf ook met je partner de beste vrienden – and stay best friends with your partner.

The government has created a website, a Twitter hashtag and a Facebook page, where it posts helpful tips for parents who might have forgotten how to date. Schenk evenveel aandacht aan je partner – Pay as much attention to your partner als aan je smartphone – as you do to your smartphone.

Everyone benefits from this, Vandeurzen says.

Wanneer de ouders een goede relatie hebben – When the parents have a good relationship zijn ze niet alleen gelukkiger – they are not only happier het is ook een goede zaak voor de kinderen – it’s also a good thing

In response to Local researchers give kids group discussion training Jennifer Treasure: Yes a very positive outlook and they have less problems

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for the children aangezien zij opgroeien in een positief gezinsklimaat – since they are growing up in a positive family atmosphere.

So take heed, young parents. De boodschap is duidelijk – The message is clear: vanavond alle potten en pannen aan de kant – put all the pots and pans to one side tonight voor een gezellige date-night – voor a cosy date night.

But not everyone likes the idea of a government minister telling parents what to do. Relatie-experte Rika Ponnet is geen voorstander van een vaste “date night” – Relationship expert Rika Ponnet is not a fan of a fixed “date night” in de agenda van koppels – in couples’ diaries.

The government’s date night, she told public broadcaster VRT, risks becoming just one more obligation in our busy lives. De campagne is nogal betuttelend – The campaign is rather patronising, she said.

We moeten al zoveel – We are already forced to do so much, ik geloof niet in om mensen te verplichten zoiets in hun agenda in te plannen – I don’t believe in forcing people to plan something like this in their agendas.

Maybe it’s best just to keep Thursday as veggie day.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

WarGravesCommission @CWGC A breathtaking sight of #remembrance beside @CWGC Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial with 10,000 poppies forming a Flanders Field for #ArmisticeDay

Fabian cancellara @f_cancellara Off to Flanders for the world premiere launch of my book,signings 10/11.nov at antwerp book fair #uitgeverijkannibaal @standaardboek #bkb16

Paul Hollywood @PaulHollywood Morning from a cold Antwerp, but look at the station ..#citybakes

Woodie Smalls @woodiesmalls SHOW IN GHENT WAS SOOOO SICK WOAAAH..

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© Benoit Doppagne/Belga

LEST WE FORGET The armed forces pay tribute to those killed in war, as crowds gathered at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Brussels to show their respect for the war dead on Armistice Day last week

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