Why is two better than one?

L: For so many reasons. You have someone to rely on and you are never alone. In our case that’s even more true, because when you work with a family member you have ultimate trust for each other. It gives you a sense of safety. And it’s important to get someone else’s opinions.

M: It makes everything so much easier. I work much better in a team, when there’s someone you can have an exchange with, someone to motivate you. I am less ambitious than Lisa and don’t like to be in the center of attention, so it’s good to have someone for that aspect.

Isn’t two harder than one?

M: No. For me it really makes everything easier. It’s good to be able to divide the work. For example Lisa takes care of the things related to communication which I don’t like that much.

L: I am very extroverted and my Mom is the opposite and rather introverted. But introverts and extroverts need each other, so we complete each other perfectly.

Does 1+1 always equal 2?

M: No. Lisa also does things on her own. That’s important, because she is younger and needs some freedom to develop.

L: Well, I don’t know. I don’t think that it’s important to do my own thing. I always want to take my Mom along. In private life that’s different of course.

Do either of you ever wish it was just 1? (Be honest!)

L: No. We would not be doing what we do now. Alone we would have never achieved this. It’s us together who make the images. And also it would be very boring to work alone.

M: No, never. There are fights sometimes of course, but that is normal, you also have that in a couple. But we generally work really well together and don’t stress each other. I really prefer working together.

Is 2 better than 3? They say never 2 without 3…

L: The third one could be my brother, because he believes in us and has supported us immensely the whole time.

M: I’ll answer with another saying: Two is enough and three is too much! It’s fine to work in a pair, but a constellation of three is always difficult. It’s an uneven number and someone might always feel left out.

Do either of you ever feel alone, even when you’re two?

L: It happens and that’s normal, we are still individuals. And the job includes tasks that require working alone, for example when retouching the photos on the computer. The moments at the screen are the loneliest.

Can you remember a life without your +1?

L: That’s really difficult, I mean, it’s my Mom and she has always been there. And before the photography project I was just a regular kid. It really formed me as a person because I started to early. It made me become someone who prefers to jump into wild waters than sitting at a desk.

M: For me it’s the same, she is my daughter. Before we started our project together I did some amateur photography, just for fun, but that was it. We really developed our art together.

Is it all 50/50?

L: If you start calculating it doesn’t work anymore. What matters is the entirety, the end result. It doesn’t matter who has taken care of which detail. In the end it’s always us together.

M: Sometimes we both take photos, sometimes Lisa takes them and I do the retouching or the other way round. But whatever we do, it always has our personal signature in the end.

Why is two better than one?

D: In the artistic field it is always better to be more than one. When you’re all by yourself there comes a point when you cannot judge your own work anymore. It’s good to get another opinion. You make each other better in the end.

F: That’s very simple: Because there are two brains instead of one and four hands instead of two. This means more creativity, more input. When you work alone you are never really confronted with criticism, and criticism is very important. Being two multiples our possibilities. For example we can go to different meetings at the same time or if one of us goes on holidays it doesn’t mean that the workflow stops. It also reassures our clients, because they know there’s always a back up.

Isn’t two harder than one?

F: No. Of course you have to deal with being confronted to another opinion and you have to let go a bit of your own idea sometimes, but that’s not really difficult.

D: You have to find compromises of course and you have to adapt yourself a bit, but it’s not harder, no.

Does 1+1 always equal 2?

F: I’d say 1+1 makes 3: Because it triples the possibilities.

D: It makes three because we created a third entity: Face to Face Design. It’s something that could theoretically even continue without us one day.

Do either of you ever wish it was just 1? (Be honest!)

F: No. Of course things are not always perfect, but it’s always better than being alone.

D: No. We function really well together and never have fights actually.

Is 2 better than 3? In French they say never 2 without 3…

F: Three is great! It means some fresh air, even more ideas and two more hands to help. That’s why we almost always have interns. And we are just in the beginning, maybe we’ll really be three one day.

D: Just when we have a bad intern, then we think two might be better (laughter).

Can you remember a life without your +1?

D: My memory is actually quite vague. I remember I was working home alone and tried to organise myself somehow…

F: I remember quite well. There were no fixed hours, I was working at night a lot, and it was very flexible. Now our hours resemble those of civil servants (laughter). Everything is much more structured. But that’s also because I have kids now.

Is it all 50/50?

D: Nearly. Just when it comes to some of our old clients we work separately. The spirit is definitely 50/50. But we are not pedantic when it comes to that, we don’t calculate the hours we work or things like that.

F: We basically divide everything, also money-wise. But we don’t compare all the receipts to calculate every single cent. I think that’s also one of the reasons why we don’t fight. It’s completely like being in a couple, actually.

Photography Melika Ngombe

The fashion world is all drama – you need look no further than the catty goings-on of industry grandees  Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent. In her gripping book “The Beautiful Fall” Alicia Drake describes the bitter rivalry between the two iconic designers, while dishing up a sneaky behind-the-scenes look at Paris fashion in the 70s. Drake, a seasoned fashion journalist, dives into the biographies of the two men and paints a vivid double portrait of their unwittingly intertwined lives. Intrigue, ambition and glamour in an enthralling mix, a fascinating read for both fashion insiders and outsiders.

Alicia Drake: The Beautiful Fall

Available from Amazon here

Photography Melika Ngombe

From Colette to Dior to Louis Vuitton, all high-end fashion houses count on Stockman mannequins to drape their creations-in-the-making. No wonder, then, that these famous French dummies are a must-have for the studio of any worthy fashion designer. In Brussels, La Cambre‘s army of the shapely mannequins have become part of the furniture. Around since 1867, the ageless Stockman mannequin has kept its position as the number one tailoring dummy for the ready-to-wear trade, keeping the same gestures it made in the 19th century. The company’s founder, Fredric Stockman, is the guy that we have to thank (we think) for today’s clothing sizes: he was the first to identify standardised shapes for our bodies. The company shapes their dummies to fit the prevailing local shape, so that Belgium’s Stockman dummy will be markedly different from Japan’s.

Photography Melika Ngombe

Premiere Vision is hands down the most important address for professional fashion designers on the hunt for fabrics. At this twice yearly fair in Paris, bump into everyone and anyone who’s anyone in fashion, fishing for the perfect material for the perfect next collection. With 700 weavers from 28 countries, the range of choice for the 50.000 or so visitors is eclectic, to say the least. Premiere Vision has swiftly established itself as the world’s number one fabric fair, an event that stays tuned to the demands of the industry and all the trends and tendencies of yearly fashion calendar, with impeccable timing. Whatever you are looking for, if you don’t find it here, you won’t find it anywhere.

From 14th to 16th February 2012

Premiere Vision, Parc d’Expositions Paris Nord Villepinte

www.premierevision.com

Photography Melika Ngombe

With the fashion week roll about to begin, fashion professionals the world around best start sprucing up on their fashion intelligence for the next few weeks will be one long test. Picture the following. You’re standing at the bar at the after-paerty, waiting to be served. Someone starts small-talking you, asking you how you found the collection. Next thing you know, you’re being quizzed on everything from the credit ratings of certain luxury powerhouses and the latest rumours surrounding the appointment of Dior Homme’s menswear designer to who the new face of Balenciaga might be. And, unless your blog reader’s full of the industry’s main chit-chat platforms (Bryan Boy, Tavi and the likes), Women’s Wear Daily‘s really your only ‘get out of jail for free’ card. The weekly bible of the fashion world, the newspaper, who has just celebrated its 100th anniversary, is the mother-of-all authorities on everything that is remotely linked to fashion. Truth is, whether you need to know what’s trending on the catwalks this season, who the new creative director of your favourite fashion imprint is or which upstart just got awarded the Mango Fashion Award? Getting a yearly subscription to WWD’s your only safe bet.

Women’s Wear Daily

Yearly print and online subscription $169.00

www.wwd.com

All photography Yassin Serghini

(First published in the white album)

Writer Sabine Clappaert, Photographer Sarah Eechaut

The press office of the Federal Police was clear: we could only interview him by phone. He would not give us his real name and photos were out of the question. I’d have to leave my number. “Someone” would call to arrange the interview. “Someone” called, early one morning a few days later, safely hidden behind a private number. His voice came down the line smooth and rich like amber. “I can’t do Tuesday or Wednesday,” wiping my suggestions off the table, “but I can do Thursday at four; in person if you want, at headquarters”. Negotiations had begun. Deep inside the maze of buildings that forms the headquarters of Belgium’s Federal Police force sits a squat two-story block that houses special ops. In a cramped office on the second floor, behind one of three cluttered desks and surrounded by phones and whiteboards with scribbled cryptic codes, sits Vincent, his muscular arms folded confidently behind his head.

“There’s also the ‘intervention unit’. But those are the guys that smash through a window ; we’re the guys that open it ”

“Hostage negotiation is part of the ’observation unit’,” he begins. “There’s also the ’intervention unit’. But those are the guys that smash through a window; we’re the guys that open it,” he grins. To most, the murky world of hostage negotiators is best embodied by Samuel L. Jackson in the film The Negotiator. Vincent too, is limited in what he can reveal. “There aren’t many hostage negotiators in Belgium,” telling me the number, albeit off the record. “But what you see in the film isn’t far from the truth. In a hostage situation, the negotiator always has a ’buddy’ that hears everything, scribbles down extra questions and helps make sure we don’t miss a thing. Then there’s the back-up team, of course.” How many people make up the team and what they do exactly, he can’t tell me. “This much is sure: negotiators aren’t cowboys that work outside the law. Everything is strictly agreed before we begin.” The things Vincent won’t (or can’t) tell me I manage to find out via other sources. The negotiation process, the techniques or the fact that there are two types of hostage situations: a “soft crisis situation” in which the perpetrator is alone, his relationship to the victim is personal and his state of mind emotional and impulsive, and the “hard situation” with multiple perpetrators whose behaviour is rational and calculated and whose relationship to the hostages is purely functional.

“Being caught telling a lie, no matter how small, can undermine the entire operation.”

Most of the hostage situations Vincent has worked on were ’soft’ ones. Situations that begin spontaneously and in which the most dangerous phase is the emotional beginning, during which impulsive violence is most likely to occur. “A husband that suddenly holds a knife to his wife’s throat, for instance,” Vincent explains. “In such cases active listening skills can solve a lot. In essence, we take on the role of crisis counsellor.” Hard crisis situations are a completely different ballgame. Cases such as the kidnapping of Belgian politician Paul Vanden Boeynants by a criminal gang that demanded 30 million Belgian francs, for instance, “These situations are risky from beginning to end,” explains Vincent. “Here, perpetrators see victims purely as instruments to help them get exactly what they want. They play an ’all-or-nothing’ game.” “The most important factor in any negotiation, hard or soft, is the credibility of the negotiator,” says Vincent, fixing my gaze steadily. “Being caught telling a lie, no matter how small, can undermine the entire operation. That’s why we never promise something we can’t deliver.”

“We’re not therapists. Once we have defused the situation, we leave.”

“Ensuring the safety of the victim is our main priority,” he stresses, and research has indeed shown that negotiations will lead to casualties in only one percent of cases, while hostage situations terminated by physical intervention will result in injury or death in 70 percent of all cases. But not all negotiations end well. “Unpredictable people, someone who has taken drugs for instance, are hardest to deal with. Like the guy we found sitting on a golf course at 5am with two guns to his head. We almost had him convinced to put down the guns, and then he said ’before I give you the guns, I just want to do one more line (of cocaine or speed)’. That’s when I knew: it’s all over. We ran for him, but we didn’t make it.” Silence spreads through the room to blanket his story. Finally, he shrugs. “We’re not therapists. Once we have defused the situation, we leave.” “It doesn’t always work out. And even if it does… We come back, we debrief and we move on. That’s how we can keep going.”

(This article was first published in the white album)

Writer Philippe Pourhashemi, Photographer Pauline Miko

Eddy Beaurain has been fighting dirt for more than 30 years. Pressing n° 1, the dry cleaning business he set up in 1979, is a trustworthy address, enviably located on Rue Antoine Dansaertstraat, Brussels’ fashion epicentre. A former civil servant, Beaurain got bored with red tape, office hours and paperwork. He wanted to be in touch with people and thought dry cleaning could do the trick. “When I was a kid, I lived in the neighbourhood and my parents used to bring their clothes here. They were sent elsewhere for cleaning and they’d come back to collect them after a few days. When I took over from the previous owner, I set up a workshop at the back, allowing us to do everything on the spot. We got regular business fairly quickly, enabling me to hire more staff.” There’s something real and charismatic about Beaurain. Besides his affable manner and openness, he comes across as a sincere and hard-working guy.

“I always find solutions when it comes to dirt. In dry-cleaning, milk and biro are the biggest challenges.”

The fact that he’s been on Rue Antoine Dansaertstraat for so long gives him a unique insight into the life of the street “It changed so much here,” he explains. “I’m 57 now and remember how it was. There were mainly craftsmen. Some were making watches, others were running small ateliers for leather goods and crocodile bracelets. Stijl was one of the first designer boutiques to open in 1984. Sonja Noël (owner of Stijl and Haleluja) is still a client of mine. Theatre companies – such as La Monnaie / De Munt – began working with me, too. I’ve always dealt with creative people and they are very loyal clients.” Never defeated when it comes to stains, he rarely refuses to clean clothes. He doesn’t seem to object to the obsessive habits of some of his clients either. “I always find solutions when it comes to dirt. In dry-cleaning, milk and biro are the biggest challenges. Some folks complain constantly, but they keep on coming back. Others bring things that don’t even need cleaned. We have a guy who drops a bag of white underwear every week. It’s always the same brand and the same amount of briefs. Another elderly man has one black shirt he gets cleaned on a regular basis. The week after, he comes back with the same shirt and a silk white tie. It’s like a ritual and has been going on for years. When the shirt starts falling apart, he has the same one made at a tailor’s he knows.”

As clothing deals with privacy and intimacy, clients start opening up after a while, becoming friends with Beaurain and his staff. “People will talk about personal matters behind the counter. They feel we can be trusted and that we listen to them. Clients become friends after a while.” Beaurain has touching stories about some of them, “I became friendly with this guy who came in every Saturday. He was a joyful person and we had great chats. Then he disappeared for six months and I wondered where he was. One day, I got a call from him, telling me he was at Saint-Jean / Sint-Jan clinic and really ill. He wanted to see me the next day and I went there. We never talked about his illness, but I think it was AIDS. Although it hurt to see him weak and diminished, I had to be there for him. He died a few days after my visit.” Ironically, Beaurain was approached by a fashion brand three years ago and has finally decided to sell his shop. He will close in December this year, starting a new chapter in his life. The stains may be long gone, but Beaurain’s indelible stain on the neighbourhood won’t be washed away any time soon. (Farewell Eddy. Brussels’ fashion strip won’t be the same without you.)

(This article was first published in the white album.)

Illustration Raya Rayax

Writer Lady Jane.

For the white album I thought I’d tell you a bit more about DJ culture. DJ culture before the mp3 was invented and, more specifically, when white labels were the cachet of recognition record store clerks bestowed upon you. When I started buying records, around 1990, my favourite record stores were USA Import in Antwerp, Music Man in Gent and for second hand stuff I always went to Wally’s Groove World – Koenie’s shop that was squeezed in the basement of USA Import. Later on, Dr Vinyl opened shop in Brussels so I didn’t need to drive to Antwerp anymore, even though it was always good to visit other stores because each shop had its own selection.

The only way to get some good music at the time was by religiously visiting record stores every week.

The only way to get some good music at the time was by religiously visiting those stores every week. On Thursdays was when most new records came in and you had to be quick to get them because there often weren’t many copies. So, best trick was to be nice with the person selling the records: Smos at USA, Geert at Dr Vinyl, Benoulie & Biens at Music Man and Koenie at Wally’s Groove World. And, since I was one of the only girls mixing at the time, they always kept some nice copies for me. The retailers had a lot of power in those days. They listened to all the records that came in and it was obvious to them which ones would go on to become hits. Everything was ordered in small quantities and they kept the good records for themselves or their close friends. The idea being that people who bought the records could play them for a while before they hit the dance floors and radio waves.

If you were lucky enough to have purchased a good white label record, it was highly probable that you’d be the only one playing it for months before it got released.

When you were really lucky though, you’d stumble upon a white label. White labels are completely white records. They are promotional copies (not for sale!) although we were quite happy to buy them. They were records that the record companies sent to stores to promote a song that hadn’t yet been released, to sound the market out a little. So, if you were lucky enough to have purchased a good white label record, it was highly probable that you’d be the only one playing it for months before it got released. And, as a DJ, what better way to stand out from the pack than to be spinning some tunes that nobody else could play? Every DJ had his own style and his own hits, songs that everybody could sing along to but that nobody knew the exact name of the producer or the label. That’s also the reason why a lot of DJs used special (white) stickers to cover the etiquette. Some of the notorious white labels that were released six months or even a year before their official release were Felix’s Don’t you want me, T99’s Anasthasia, Cameo’s Money and Nightcrawlers’ Push the feeling on. All of them went on to become very big hits.

Thanks to Geert from Dr Vinyl (Brussels).

Listen to T99′s Ansthasia:

(This article was first published in the white album)

Illustration by Raya Rayax

Writer Rose Kelleher

Like fake boobs, cocaine is no longer the exclusive territory of Beverly Hills and other A-list addresses. But movies will always have a special place in their heart for a sexy and outlandish cocaine hypothesis. Heroine, along with cocaine’s intensely neurotic half-sister crack, have the facial scabs and broken homes side of drugs-in-film covered. But cocaine is showbiz, sex and disco balls. It’s Jimi Hendrix soundtracks and hitting the “big time” while girls frolic in your pool. As recently as The Departed, Jack Nicholson, replete in smoking jacket, tossed a fistful into the air for his harem on an opera house balcony.

Harems? Opera houses? Smoking jackets? This is far from the reality of plumbers and liberal arts students in Brussels toilets, hoovering ammonia-spiked chalk dust off grimy ceramic cisterns. It’s not quite the endless promise of party we get when we see lip-glossed Anne Hathaway and her sexy BFFs squashed into a Manhattan cubicle. But the fantasy is hard to dislodge. Ray Liotta had us considering ditching our day jobs after watching his dream-like rise in Goodfellas. We watched True Romance through our fingers when that guy exploded a ginormous bag of coke in front of a cop (flash car, prostitute – check). Jared Leto looked slightly less than unflappable and a good deal short of glamorous (but certainly outlandish) as he mapped Ukraine in Lords of War with a huge pile of coke.

Cocaine’s partner in crime is oodles of money, often accumulated in a sort-of inspirational rags to riches story (a favourite in the coke fantasy tableau), or wasted by posh New Yorkers sneezing away ten grand’s worth a la Annie Hall. Those who regularly decamp to the toilet and come back spouting rubbish may see themselves in the sexy, bare-foot Uma Thurman accidentally snorting heroine (I said God Damn!) in Pulp Fiction, or in the edgy spectacle of the Boogie Nights boys getting into a bag through a glass coffee table. Mark Walhberg, dishwasher turned porn star (rags, riches) plots life a mile a minute, a life that is certainly not without risk, but better than a boring old normal one.

Bernardo Camisao, a Brussels based film maker, believes coke is often just a prop. “Like the use of cigarettes in film noir – there is a mythology around cocaine. It helps to emphasise the fashionability of a story. Whereas heroin is a drug with consequences, coke is recreational, associated with the philosophy of the perfect image, beauty, wealth, and the stress of a high powered job, like the yuppies in American Psycho,” (“Can you keep it down, I’m trying to do drugs!”) or 99 francs (whose protagonist, a commercial ad man, gives some to hamsters). Before all that, the 1930s had Charlie Chaplin sprinkling coke on his food, giving him a ravenous appetite (obviously no room for cocaine in 1930s production budgets).

Pandering to our illusion, most movies spend 90 minutes showing us how sexy cocaine is, and the final 10 minutes showing how sexy it isn’t (death, prison, shoot outs, sisters offering themselves to their brothers…) This cognitive dissonance is compounded when actors make cool movies about coke (yay!) and then get caught in grainy camera phone footage taking the real stuff at the after party (boo!). We all get a much-owed apology, and order is restored.

(This article was first published in the white album)

Writer Robbert van Jaarsveld, Illustrator Virassamy

Here’s an interesting one you might have missed: a 2008 study by the US census predicts that native whites (good one) will be a demographic minority by 2042. The study refers particularly to white people of Western European descent – what you would call Native Americans if you don’t count any actual Native Americans. So if you’re fresh off the potato-boat from Krakow, you’re not quite white enough to make the team. Don’t be misled though: Caucasians will still make up the largest individual ethnic group in the country when compared to Black, Asian or Hispanic population. Whites only actually become a minority when you count all other groups together in one big murky mass of non-white people who are somehow different from that uniquely unique race of Western European Caucasoids. Like it’s them against us in some weird politically correct but sort of latently racist way.

“Put simply, Obama’s more Coming to America than he is Trading Places.”

So America is turning all shades of brown and The Man knows it: considering that, it’s not a big leap to view the 2008 Obama nomination for the Democrats as a preliminary strategic move based primarily on demographic projections. Since the passing of the Voting Right Act in 1965, the Democratic Party has been the primary stockholder in the voting capital that is non-white America. Their vote represents a huge demographic group that – up until ’65 – had largely been sitting idle on the sideline of the political game like an all-star forward ready to win it for the team – if only the coach would let him play. All it took was for the big wigs to realize the potential they had been ignoring and the game could begin. So the fact that Hawaiian-born Barack Obama II – raised mostly by good ol’ white folks – is currently the first black(-ish) president of the US has more to do with strategic political planning than any alleged ideals about multiculturalism or racial emancipation. Regardless of whether or not he is a good politician, as the son of a Kenyan chief and a white woman from a middle-class family he does not represent the typical domestic black community or its political emancipation. Put simply, Obama’s more Coming to America than he is Trading Places.

“ Whites only actually become a minority when you count all other groups together in one big murky mass of non-white people who are somehow different from that uniquely unique race of Western European Caucasoids ”

So what does that mean for the near future? Well, for starters, the Republican party will hand next year’s election to Obama by the tried and tested tactic of exclusively provid- ing candidates who are either void of charisma or riddled with scandal and blunders. Obama will get four more years of economic recession for the GOP to complain about while they whip an ethnic opponent into shape to step into the ring come the next round. Who will that be, you say? I got 5-to-1 on Marco Rubio as Republican candidate in 2016. This young whippersnapper/ senator is just the ticket for a Republican party in need of change and diversity. Not to mention he has an anti-communist back-story that has ’TV drama’ written all over it: he was born to Cuban refugees (politically speaking the best kind of illegal immigrant in the kingdom of Capital).

“As white people become an increasingly rare breed in the US, it will also become increasingly clear that the entire country is owned by a 10 percent minority.”

Rubio, also dubbed the ’prince of the Tea Party,’ made senator before the age 40 thanks to what looks like a surprisingly atypical case of affirmative action. Well, maybe not that surprising considering that Hispanics are the fastest growing group in the country. Whatever the case, as white people become an increasingly rare breed in the US, it will also become increasingly clear that the entire country is owned by a 10 percent minority. Because even as Mexicans take your seat in the Senate, there’s no denying that the core of the American power structure remains the same pasty white as the house on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue – even if it has a black janitor.

(This article was first published in the white album)

Writer Nicholas Lewis, Photographer Sarah Eechaut.

Frédéric Nicolay should really be crowned the unofficial mayor of Brussels. A self-effacing, self-starting oddball, he’s done more than anyone to give the city its distinctive edge: he’s reinvigorated entire neighbourhoods through his bars (Flagey with Belga, Albert with Bar du Matin and Porte de Hal/Halpoort with Potemkine), has launched what is probably its most aspirational beer (Vedett) and, more recently, has even taken to urban planning in the shape of his relooking of a public square. “I grew tired of seeing this dilapidated and derelict square in front of my offices,” he says when we meet one windy afternoon in the backstreets of the Dansaert/Dansaart area, “So approached the city, asking them for permission to spruce it up a little.” Taking matters in his own hand, the genial character planted 40 apple trees, installed reclaimed tree trunks (recuperated from an installation on Monts des Arts / De Kunstberg as public benches, nailed freight pallets to decrepit walls flanking the square’s front façade (a technique he first developed for Galerie Catherine Bastide, whose space is housed in Nicolay’s downtown office complex) and, most endearing of all, painted a white rectangle on the graffiti-riddled garage door in the hope of one day screening movies on it. The whole project took a couple of days – at most. “The entire works cost in between 7,000 and 8,000 euros,” he continues, rather astonishingly. Testament to a new generationof self-empowered community leaders with an entrepreneurial streak, Nicolay is quick to downplay his achievement: “I wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. Anyone could do this. It’s a visual nod to the neighbourhood, but it doesn’t make any fundamental changes to it.”

(This article was first published in the white album)

Photographer Pauline Miko

rueblanche.be

(This feature was first published in the white album)

Writer Rose Kelleher

If there is such a thing as a “white neighbourhood”, those guys have got the organic food shop thing nailed to the fucking floor. With tongue lodged firmly in cheek, copywriter Christian Lander created a blog back in 2008 called stuffwhitepeoplelike, an inventory of everything left-wing, upper-middle-class and appealing to a certain “kind” of Caucasian that stretched our satirical sensibilities all the way from “going camping” to “Barack Obama” (not on the list – going camping with Barack Obama). This pop-psychology highway rest-stop of ridiculousness led to 20 million page visits and a Random House dotted line. It generated belly laughter and hyperventilating accusations of racism in equal measure, though none of the stereotypes are particularly demeaning. Lander’s “white” people, those of a designation that once wasn’t a designation at all, a default while everything else was some kind of “ethnic”, always had the luxury of not having to grapple with the significance of their own ethnic background.

But if you have “Arabic” and “Black” and “Asian” communities, which are (rightly or wrongly) used as common classifications, what about “white” ones?

In Brussels, we are a mix of multi-ethnic Arabic, Black, and Asian communities, along with a squillion others that nobody’s bothered to categorise. All shades of miserable faces greet you as you slide around your dirty burnt orange plastic metro seat. But if you have “Arabic” and “Black” and “Asian” communities, which are (rightly or wrongly) used as common classifications, what about “white” ones? Not everyone is sure that it’s okay to say that. Is it fair to say that there are areas of Brussels with more organic food shops, or yoga workshops? Or bikes with baby seats, manned by women with cloth shoulder bags full of expensive free-trade, sugar-free, bio, organic, meat-free, free-range sandwiches wrapped in recycled whatever? What about antique shops, where Brussels’ paler denizens buy moldy coats from the 40s? More bars and emptier streets? Halal butchers, wig shops and five euro hair- cuts are not a feature of Uccle’s dog poo littered streets (’whites’ like dogs – their piles of poo create more work for Belgians than the warring governments combined). So is Uccle white? That’s either racist or exactly the opposite. Is Harlem white? Is it fuck.

In America, which is a really racially divided country, being middle class and being white are becoming the same thing

Alastair Bonnett, Professor of Social Geography at Newcastle University isn’t buying it. “In Europe, people are increasingly using these labels, but they don’t have the same historical meaning they have in the US. Organic food shops, antiques… everybody is interested in those things, but it depends on wealth. We tie them to class, and in America, which is a really racially divided country, being middle class and being white are becoming the same thing. The idea that we live in racially identifiable places may work there, sort of, but in Europe, with all its ethnicities, conflicts and relatively small non-white population, it really doesn’t. We need to have confidence in our own history.” While we might laugh at the suggestion that there are neighbourhoods with more Pilates classes or adults on skateboards, conversations about what is “white” tend to spiral speedily into heated discussions about unpopular dead Belgian monarchs. A touchy subject, dotted with disclaimers, like “I’m not racist, but…” Oh fuck it, there’s a Pilates class somewhere that needs me.

(first published in the white album)

Writer and photographer Jaques Moyersoen

Ever since its inauguration back in 1955, the Royal Tennis Club of Belgium has lovingly been kept in the same pristine condition. The three indoor tennis courts’ surface is still covered with the same sheets of special Swedish vinyl made by a company which went bankrupt dozen years ago. “That shows how indestructible their product is! The longevity and smoothness are amazing. The surface is almost 60 years and is still impeccable! And best of all it’s easy on the body as well. This surface is unique in Belgium”, the visibly proud owner extols.

Almost all tennis legends have exchanged forehands under the mythical central court.

Equally as unique are the beautiful giant curved wooden arcades that carry the thirteen meter high roof. “This club was the first large indoor tennis venue in Belgium. It is also the only indoor club in Belgium whose size is up to standard with the international official measures”. With the central court enjoying a capacity of 1,000 spectators, this little club has, rather astonishingly, been the theatre of major tennis events, such as the Davis Cup and the Belgian indoor championship for over twenty years now. The dedicated press area is still there to remind us of the club’s hey-days. “Almost every tennis legends have exchanged forehands under the mythical central court: McEnroe, Edberg, Agassi, Lendl,… and the list goes on. And to witness these glorious talents from the comfort of the presidential lodge, you could spot illustrious tennis fans such as King Leopold III, Baudouin I, and prestigious families such as the Solvay. The only two legends which haven’t played here are Sampras and Borg,” Elseneer concedes.

All members’ tennis clothing must be at least 80% white.

The Royal Tennis Club of Belgium was built in 1954 – along five storey’s of parking spaces below it – by “La Compagnie Immobilière du Congrès”, which belonged to “La Banque de Bruxelles” (later known as BBL and now taken over by ING), under the impulse of the count Jean-Pierre de Launoit and the expertise of Philippe Washer, one of Belgium’s best tennis players at the time. The later wanted a classy winter club which had the same feeling as if you were at Wimbledon. To that end, much of the English venerable club’s style and philosophy were replicated. The courts’ only colour is green, and there is no advertising to be seen, except for the logo of the club’s now obsolete sponsor, “Donnay”. The superb lacquered wood and copper tennis poles were brought in directly from Wimbledon’s dead stock. The dressing room’s lockers are inch-exact replicas of those found in the vicinity of the All England Lawn Tennis Club. And as an ultimate tribute to the sports tradition, all members’ tennis clothing must be at least 80% white.

The sense of being in a “club” in its most traditional of English meaning is emphasized not only by the home-like feel of the bar, lounge, and hand-painted dining room – which all have birds-eye views on the courts – but most importantly by the warmth and kindness of the ever-present Elseneer family. “When we took over the club in 1978 it was basically loosing money. There were three secretaries, two locker rooms concierges, several cooks, a butler, a barman, and two waiters. The fixed costs were astronomical.” Today, apart from an external cook, they run the club entirely by themselves and live in a flat right above it. Gilbert’s many jobs go from handling the managerial aspect of the club and dispensing tennis lessons to his life-long clients to cording rackets in his little in-house shop with utmost attention. His wife on the other hand manages the administration and catering. “It is the only way to make the club financially viable. We don’t get paid for our managerial and administrative activities, our salary comes exclusively from my tennis lessons and my wife’s employee status. The benefits from the club are directly invested in maintaining it in its pristine vintage state. We’re not rich, but we’re not loosing money either”, he concludes.

There are some things that money cannot buy.

Indeed, there is little doubt that money is only secondary to Elseneer’s passion for the game of tennis and his club, considering he is virtually sitting on golden eggs that are only waiting to be latched. Every year he receives mind-boggling offers from investors and promoters to buy-out the highly coveted acres the club is sitting on. And every year the offers climb. He is well aware that instead of renting three huge tennis court’s for 10€/hour a piece, they could easily be replaced by hundreds of parking space that would rack up the cash pile. But for Gilbert, it is a different story. The club is his life and he loves it dearly. He sees the place as a high-quality working tool in the center of Brussels. A place where he can live to its fullest his unwavering passion for tennis and lead a happy life. There are some things that money cannot buy. And Gilbert, even though he could be a millionaire, is as happy as a man can be.

There is however, a hint of nostalgia when Gilbert speaks of the club’s glory days. It is true that not many champions can be spotted running on the courts anymore, nor are any important tournaments hosted here. But these let-downs are the inevitable side effects of the incredible level of professionalization tennis has underwent in the last 30 years. The Royal Tennis Club of Belgium was built at a time when the country’s best players were in fact amateurs, the tournaments prize-money small and sponsorships a barely heard-of concept. While it also used to be the winter club of choice for many members of the very select Royal Leopold Club and many other outdoor tennis clubs, the invention and popularization of the pressurized bubble also rendered obsolete the need for an indoor-only club. That is, the era, when most clients were regulars and the club part of their social life, has given way to a more motley fauna composed of locals and expats which don’t hang around too long after their three sets.

There’s this atmosphere kneaded with tradition and elegance that today can only be found in classy golf clubs.

But the relative decay of the club compared to its prestigious past does not curb its owner enthusiasm for it by an inch. Even in the most extreme weather, the pristine courts stay dry and the air pure and healthy. And there’s also this atmosphere kneaded with tradition and elegance that today can only be found in classy golf clubs. And when he’ll retire, Gilbert (who is now 74 years-old), knows he can count on his son, Gilles, a former tennis world champion turned professional trainer, to maintain the club’s magic and unique soul.

tennisclubdebelgique.be

Interview and photographs Yana Foqué

Photography Yana Foqué

You are a travelling man. Tell us the best thing about being on the road.

The random encounters, and landscapes.

Do you feel as though being in between places is a necessity for your music?

No, it’s circumstantial. I’ll play with the cards I’m dealt.

What can make you extremely happy?

Eating good food, of course.

Your music can be very subtle, at times almost hypnotic. Listening to your record feels a bit like a drift. On top of that you named the album ‘Badlands’, which gives it an extra cinematic ring to it. How did you decide on the name?

It was definitely in tribute to the American landscapes I’ve driven through.

Photography Yana Foqué

How far can you go to get a song just right?

Ideas are not forever. If the moment is lost, I abandon the idea.

The song ‘ Coast to Coast’ echoes the voices of the past. The introverted yearning shimmers true. When did you write this song?

Between 2007-2008. The idea came from driving in the night, also as a passenger. Drifting in and out of sleep.

Your music overflows with images. Do you sometimes feel as a character to your own film?

Yes, because I think of that person as a reflection, like staring into the infinity mirror.

Nicest compliment you got on the record?

My mom said “ You are my pride” when she saw a picture of me in the newspaper.

‘Badlands’ is available on iTunes here

Photographer Sarah Eechaut

Eaux d’Artifice, the 13-minute short movie made by American avant- garde director Kenneth Anger in 1953, occupies a unique place within his body of work. Whilst Anger is best known for his experimental, transgressing work like the homoerotic reverie Fireworks – way ahead of its time when you consider that it was made in 1947 – Eaux d’Artifice has a deliberate anachronistic feel to it. Filmed in the baroque park of the Villa d’Este in Tivoli (30kms south of Rome), the silent film follows a woman dressed in an extravagantly intricate dress, suggestively gliding down staircases amongst cascading waterfalls. The gushing water has a certain subdued eroticism to it, which comes as no surprise from a director who used spilled milk and fireworks to evocate an orgasm. The sole protagonist in Eaux d’Artifice is a midget – an actress called Carmilla Salvatorelli Anger recruited from Federico Fellini’s motley crew of actors – which is a smart play as it amplifies the imposing presence of the water fountains. Though the subject matter is very classic – not unlike a Pre-Raphaelite painting brought to life – it really is the visual technique that gives the movie its tone. Shot in blue-tinted monochrome, Anger’s ability to present a mesmerizingly beautiful play of light on bubbling and cascading water defines the short movie’s nostalgic mood, further emphasised by its musical backdrop – Vivaldi’s Winter Concerto from the Four Seasons. To get to that luminescent visual effect, Anger shot the film in black and white through a red filter and then lined up each frame so it would set of the water drops. Camera speeds and shutter angles were also used to great effect. Eaux d’Artifice – which was selected back in 1993 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” – is a visual poem that has no clear narrative direction, although that is where its beauty lies. It is pure form and a study of movement and colour. Its remarkable beauty (the word comes up a lot when discussing Anger’s work) charmed many writers and directors, including Jean Cocteau, Tennessee Williams (“the most exciting use of cinema I’ve seen”) and Martin Scorsese, who admitted it made him realise the importance of music in film for the first time. Not bad for a short with a jumping midget in the main role.

Written by Sam Steverlynck

Watch the video here

Photography Joke De Wilde

© Yana Foqué

Names: Michael Vidal, Dane Chadwick, Juan Velasquez, David Reichardt.

What’s your favourite city to play in?

DR: Los Angeles. There’s always so many great friends at our LA area shows, for me, that makes it a lot more fun then playing for a bunch of strangers.

Last time you played in Antwerp you where the opening act for No Age. How do you look back on that first contact with the city?

JV: I remember people where very quiet; it was hard to tell if people enjoyed it. BUT I realised that they where just being SUPER-POLITE. I hope people are rude at this show!!!

Your third album Crush was released in 2010 on Bella Union… Could you draw what the album means to you? Where it came from? Inspirations?

MV: (see extra picture)

Where do you recommend people to listen to the album?

DC: In your bed.

Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie are known for their extreme generosity and artistic freedom towards the bands they work with – was this one of the reasons to sign to this label? How do we find traces of that in Crush?

MV: They have never said “NO” to us. I like the label; they showed the most interest and offered the most support, from the very beginning. They took a risk and financed the album, which goes to show how generous they are.

In between Skeleton and Crush there’s a gap of almost two years. During this period, did you experience any musical growing pains?

JV: I think Dane joining the band made us rethink how we wanted to make music. His influence is much more then just the drums, he gave us the confidence to experiment and use electronics and other genres of music.

The song Throwing Shade starts of with a serious beat, after which keyboards and other noise join the party… All in all it sounds very different from your other work… The song – with a lot of tropical 80s vibes to it – is almost a breakpoint in the album. Is this the direction Abe Vigoda is heading towards on the next album?

JV: Definitely! We have written one new song and I think it has the simplicity of throwing shades. We are very interested in writing more impactful simple songs that have a bit more “pop” sound/feel. But, who knows? We havent written it yet.

Where do you see yourselves in:

a minute: DC: finishing dinner

a day: DC: Paris!

a week: DC: sleeping.

a month: DC: working on music/life.

a year: DC: working at a grocery store.

a decade: DC: manager!

Writer Sam Steverlynck

This documentary shows Alec working on his Broken Manual project about hermits living in the most remote areas in the US. “It was one hell of a ride,” smiles Arnaud. “A crazy road movie for which we drove 30,000 kms and journeyed throughout the entire United States from east to west and north to south.” Though Paris-based Laure had previously worked on a documentary about Chilly Gonzales (read our interview with the artist here), Somewhere to Disappear was Arnaud’s debut. “Besides being a film, it was a real adventure for both of us. An amazing experience to have travelled that much and met all those singular individuals. And being a photography buff, it was awesome to spend so much time with Alec, whose work I adore.” Anecdotes from their peregrinations include a hermit on methadone freaking out and holding them at gunpoint, as well as being arrested by the FBI. In one scene featuring Tony – a daunting man living in a barred house without windows who seemed to suffer from paranoia – one notices the camera shaking. It was Arnaud trembling with fear.

The low-budget documentary was entirely funded by private money. The directors had difficulties selling their proposal, as they were constantly faced with the questions: “So what are you guys making? Is this a portrait of the photographer or the people retreating from society?” The reply was simply “both”. “We wanted this feature to be as much documentary as fiction; without interviews or the conven- tional codes of the documentary genre. That is why we treated Alec as a character. For us, it was more about making a poetic film. We took our time to create a slow sense of atmosphere.” Though there is no real narrative development, the documentary does have a sense of rhythm. The camera follows Alec closely in the beginning, yet shots become broader as the documentary progresses, focussing on the wild landscapes. Ghinzu’s guitarist Greg Remy (featured on page 61 of our red album), as well as Rob & L’Aiglon from Phoenix, kindly contributed to the introspective soundtrack.

Arnaud assures us that finding the hermits was less difficult than expected: “contrary to what one might think, a hermit living by himself in the woods is connected to society. He has electricity and Internet. Some even have a Facebook account and are members of online hermit communities!” Surprisingly enough, the interviewees were far from reluctant to chat with the crew, visibly in dire need of human interactions. They all had different reasons to retire from society but were all equally interesting. From the extremely shy teenager, to the redneck or tree hugger, the documentary por- trays a motley crew, but without ever sinking in the sensationalism of a freak show. Though Laure and Arnaud are still looking for a distributor, the documentary has already been screened in Minneapolis’ Walker Art Museum, Toronto’s Hot Docs festival and the LACMA in L.A. It will also be featured in the upcoming Rencontres d’Arles Photography Festival. Seems like its directors will have to wait a bit before they can retreat themselves.

Below are movie stills as well as a director’s cut of behind-the-scenes images.

Photographer Melika Ngombe

01. Books

Divided into six chapters (Body, Objects, Spaces, Words, Scenes, Faces and Masks), ‘La Photographie n’est pas de l’art’ brings together art collector Sylvio Pearlstein’s monumental private collection of photographs. Built up over four decades, the collection clearly is a passionate and very personal undertaking, as rich as it is eclectic, and this book is the closest you’ll ever get to seeing it in its entirety. If there ever was a granddaddy of fashion photography in Belgium, Serge Leblon would be prime contender. Having shot fashion editorials for the likes of Vogue, Dazed & Confused, Another, all the Belgium-based photographer really needed to crown his career was a book. And, thanks to the initiative of BaseDesign who spearheaded the project, this full-paged opus is pretty much it. “Pretty much” because word is a second volume is on its way very shortly. Goes to show how monumental Leblon’s oeuvre really is.

Left: La Photographie n’est pas l’art, Collection Sylvio Perlstein (2009) – Musee d’Ixelles, Bruxelles. Right: Serge Leblon, Fashion (2011) – Lido.

02. Publishing

Two recent discoveries have kept our passion for print very much alive. Paris-based independent publishing imprint Editions FpCf (the brainchild of graphic designer Claire Schvartz and university professor Maxime Milanesi) launched its fanzine Tell Mum Everything Is Ok with the sole purpose of championing emerging photographers. With a participative approach to content producing (each fanzine’s visual narrative is shaped using photographs that the pair find, or receive), an aesthetic that tilts towards the “less- is-more” (all you get are the photographs and their credits) and a limited print run (the fourth edition was printed to the tune of 500 copies), Tell Mum Everything Is Ok is the kind of cute and cuddly photography fanzine we’d like to see more of. On the other side of the spectrum, Belgian publishing house Le Caillou Bleu is the closest the country gets to Steidl. Founded by 41-year-old Fabrice Wagner, the company, in the words of its founder, “publishes photography books of all type.” And, although the photographers selected deserve mention (Satoru Toma, Andre Cepeda, Christophe Bourgeois), it really is the books’ finishing (textured covers, different types of paper stock) that define Le Caillou Bleu’s catalogue.

03. Memberships

Since its creation nearly 25 years ago, Charleroi’s Musée de la Photographie has accumulated an impressive collection of more than 80,000 pictures and 2 million negatives, making it the closest to heaven on earth for the true photography lover. Tracing back to the very origins of photography in 1860 and renewing its displayed selection on a regular basis, each visit offers a new look at the evolution of the medium, and their frequent exhibitions examine the work of the greatest photographers in depth. This membership card will grant its happy owner free entrance at the museum for one year, invitation to exhibition openings, subscription to Bulletin Photographie Ouverte, a 10% reduction on gift-shop books and items, as well as free entrance in Lausanne’s Musée de l’Elysée. A must-have, in every sense of the word.

Les Amis du Musée de la Photographie membership card (from €20 to €70). Available from the Musée de la Photographie.

04. Gear

Depending on the kind of getaway you’re gearing up to, either one of these cameras is the perfect one for you. If it is a city trip you’re going on, Sony’s new Cybershot DSC-TX10 – compact and reactive – is the perfect camera to take along: as good at taking portraits of the little one as it is at capturing urban landscapes. If, on the other hand, you’re setting sail for slightly further (and rougher) shores, Nikon’s Coolpix P7000 – solid and sturdy – is the camera to bring along. Perfect for those Safari treks…

Left: Nikon Coolpix P7000 (€500,67).

Right: Sony Cybershot DSC-TX10 (€350).

05. Magazines

In this day-and-age of instant, digital photography, sifting through the rubble and spotting talent has become harder than ever. Fortunately for us, these three magazines do a spot-on job. The View – a semi-annual platform for contemporary photography – has lead the way since its creation in 2005, doing justice to the photographs it publishes with its weighty paper stock, discreet varnish and generous format. Smaller-scaled and slightly more conceptual, Bokeh’s short texts add to the visual poetry of its selection, whilst quarterly Foam Magazine (a quarterly published by Amsterdam’s museum of the same name) presents eight portfolios around a single theme. Pictured is their Spring 2011 “Happy Issue”.

View Photography Magazine (€15).
Bokeh (€5).
Foam Magazine (€17.50).

06. Tech

Given the amount of camera phone contests we’re often asked to take part in, we thought it was high time we took a closer look at smart-phones that put photography at their core. With a touch screen practically as big as the phone itself and a one-touch-does-it-all policy, BlackBerry’s Torch 9800 scored high in terms of snapping-away. It scored a little lower in terms of the actual telephone (too bulky, small touch keys, a little too fidgety), but this isn’t a ‘telephone special’ now is it?

BlackBerry Torch 9800 (€549,99 from The Phone House and Proximus, €549 from Base).
Blackberry.com

Writers Nicholas Lewis, Philippe Pourhashemi and Randa Wazen

01. Scent of a summer

We all need to indulge in our girly side once in a while. Marc Jacobs knows cool chicks inside out and is sure to please his cute, adoring fans with Daisy Eau So Fresh, a bubbly and unpretentious summer fragrance. Six colourful daisies adorn its clear bottle, turning the removal of the top into an amusing, tactile experience. The scent itself couldn’t be more upbeat, with notes of grapefruit, apple blossom, violet, wild rose and plum bringing some much-needed joy and sweetness to our daily grind. (PP)

Daisy Eau So Fresh by Marc Jacobs 125ml bottle (€93).
Available from Ici Paris XL and Marc Jacobs retailers.
marcjacobs.com

02. It’s all in the detail

You’re going to have to up the antes if you want us to even consider wearing a watch. The thing is, we’re not exactly wrist-wearers, preferring instead to, erm, go naked. But every now and then, a particular model pops up on our radar. With its subtle quirkiness, undertones of a deep-rooted design discipline and a functionality befit of its origins (Swiss, what else?), it really is the streamlined purity of its squared-shaped dial complemented by just the one yellow hand that sealed it for us. That, and the fact that we actually caught ourselves wondering what wardrobe staple it’d be a best fit with. And there goes another item to add on the “wallet watch list”. (NL)

R5.5 XXL Platinum watch by Rado (€3,100).
Available from Cosyns (Brussels), Slaets Horloges (Antwerp) and Van Bignoot (Ghent).
rado.com

03. Bag raider

Bags can be a hard one to pull off during the summer months. The trick is to pick a style light enough to complement your summer breeze, but strong enough to contain your daily essentials. Colour is crucial, as are form and function. These are all prerequisites venerable French leather goods staple Lancel has mastered, and this is never more so evident than with its Premier Flirt slinger. A “be-easy”-type bag with enough pizzazz to turn the right kind of heads, its supple shape, exquisite craftsmanship and lemon, ostrich-print leather were the perfect match for the kind of summer we’re planning on having: unplanned, colourful and off-the-beaten- track. (PP)

Premier Flirt handbag by Lancel (€699).
Available from Lancel (Brussels).
lancel.com

04. Byzantine bling

Glastonbury, Coachella, and the likes have morphed into runways of late, and after enduring the sore sight of Wellies in all shapes, sizes and colours for the past five years (thanks, Kate), the timing feels ripe to re-inject some much-needed glam into festival footwear. Fresh off the Paris-Byzance collection, which pays tribute to Coco Chanel’s fascination for Byzantine jewellery, these black leather sandals are draped in enough gemstones to blind anyone, no matter the sunglasses. And if heroin-chic is what you’re going for, trust us – prancing around battered fields in these whilst holding a beer in a plastic cup couldn’t possibly get more deliciously decadent. (RW)

Leather sandal with glass beads by Chanel (price on request).
Available from Chanel (Brussels).
chanel.com

05. Not just another pair of aviators

When it comes to eyewear, few designs have stood the test of time like aviators. And whilst the original Ray-Ban’s may be perfect for purists, those unwilling to risk meeting half a dozen tear-dropped shade-adorning clones on a simple run to the local grocery might favour the variations offered by some of the countless brands who’ve also exploited the classic design. Debuting its sunglasses collection this spring, this Tru Trussardi model, with its generous golden frame and vintage demeanour, carry the badass vibe of a South-American druglord, whilst its discreet branding and subtle use of leather accents on its brown rims elicit Italian chic. Think Pablo Escobar meets Marcello Rubini. (RW)

Aviator TR12819 sunglasses by Tru Trussardi (€199).
trussardi.com

06. Got colour?

At the end of a shoot on a recent night, a bunch of us where having a cigarette break in the garden. Talking about what we still felt was missing from the photograph we were trying to finish (we were on set for our book page), the discussion suddenly shifted to Randa’s fashion sense and, more specifically, her choice of colours (she mostly wears black). “You really should wear more colour,” said Renasha. I began thinking about having a slightly similar colour deficiency myself (my wardrobe is mostly made of blues and greys). The only way I usually bring a touch of colour to what can only really be described as a very unicoloured uniform is by the shoes I wear. And these little babies are just the thing I need to shine a light on my dark- blue-jeans-grey-sweater formula. (NL)

Chute sneakers by Lacoste (€ 75).
Available from Lacoste (Brussels).
lacoste.com

07. Cos’ we told you so

In its ongoing battle for design democratisation, COS keeps coming up with stronger collections each year, pushing its high and low concept on the high street. With the belief that great fashion shouldn’t be out of bounds, it’s ironic how many insiders actually shop there to find stylish, reliable pieces. Staying true to its minimal roots, Collection of Style has been growing steadily since its London launch in 2007. Revisiting extreme trends to make them more appealing to the adoring masses, the collection anticipated our longing for colour this season. A pair of lightweight cotton chinos in a saturated shade is all you need for brightening up the office routine. Think preppy, but don’t be a bore. (PP)

Collection of Style chinos by COS (€59).
Available from COS (Brussels and Antwerp).
cosstores.com

Photographer Yassin Serghini

From left to right: Natural Habitats (Steidl), Dirty Blonde (Faber & Faber), Landscapes (Hatje Cantz), Straight in The Light (ARP2 Editions), The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (Picador) and What Would John Do? (BIS Publishers)

Straight in the Light (2009-2010) by Michel Mazzoni – ARP2 editions

Straight in the Light, Brussels-based Michel Mazzoni’s second book, captures his American road trip, taking as starting point the faded and fazed-out. A photographer who sees landscapes as a meeting of spaces, his sparse, eerie and intentionally over-exposed images document the departed, disappeared and decayed. Looking through the book, one cannot help but feel a mix of contrasting emotions: beauty vs sorrow, escape vs reality, soft vs heavy-hitting. Using Californian, Arizonian and New Mexican natural light to fabulous effect, this is an intimate and insightful account of the maturity Mazzoni’s work has gained over the last few years.

Available from ArpEditions.

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) by Tom Woolfe – Picador

The Merry Pranksters were a colourful group of post-beatniks lead by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest author Ken Kesey. Embarking on a summer-long road trip through America in a bus whose destination simply read “Further”, they went on to make history championing psychedelic drugs and band-of-the-moment Grateful Dead. Those epic days might have disappeared in a fog of hazy memories and acid flashbacks hadn’t journalist Tom Wolfe been on the bus, notebook in hand, religiously chronicling it all. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test narrates their story, describing its kooky protagonists, their wild adventures, even including tips to guarantee a fruitful, freak-out free LSD experience… The vivid descriptions and stream-of-consciousness styles collide, making this cult classic the closest you could possibly get to actually being there. That’s until its cinematographic adaptation, directed by Gus Van Sant, hits screens later this year.

Available from Amazon.

What Would John Do? Flour Power – Baking your Way to happiness (2010) by William Georgi – BIS Publishers

A hilarious pastiche of self-help manual meets cookbook, What Would John Do? reveals the mysteries of how a humble cookie contains all the ingredients for a happier life. The author recounts the teaches of John Altman – an unemployed Dude-like neo-hippie who gives away free cookies on San Francisco’s Baker Beach draped in nothing but an apron – developing his “spread the love” mantra in seven chapters meant to resemble the seven steps to bake the perfect cookie. John’s seemingly simplistic leitmotivs – referred to as “Johnisms” (“Go natural”, “whatever man”, or our personal favourite: “no one is bigger than the cookie”) – are pure pearls of wisdom and whether or not he actually exists, or if his recipe is that good, matters little. What Would John Do? is about the bigger picture. A wonderful lesson in how to step back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

Available from Amazon.

Landscapes (2011) by Gerhard Richter – Hatje Cantz

Landscapes have a longstanding presence throughout Gerhard Richter’s vast body of work. As a matter of fact, their simple beauty have fascinated the German painter for the past 35 years, taking more of his time than any other theme. Despite the breadth of these explorations, only two exhibitions have been devoted to this subject matter so far and critics rarely made time to explore the values and meanings of these paintings, dismissed as purely “aesthetic”. This is the first book to examine these gorgeous and dream- like romanticised visions. Featuring over 80 plates that combine his photorealistic paintings, signature blur as well as a few rough sketches reminiscent of his abstract works, Landscapes is a must-have for the true Richter fan.

Available from Amazon.

Natural Habitats (2010) by Massimo Vitali – Steidl

Page after page, Massimo Vitali’s bright and monumental prints of holiday resorts packed with herds of people are both soothing and mind-boggling. Capturing these popular spots in Turkey, Italy, Croatia or the French Riviera from dizzying heights affording the best views, the humans depicted are reduced to tiny flesh- coloured pinheads swarming in a strange mass that seems to socially gravitate around each other. Some of Vitali’s tribes of beachgoers and bathers can be seen under temporary shelters (umbrellas, tents, canopies), whilst others simply attempt to make peace with their surroundings. In both cases, the depicted packs breathe tranquillity and peace, whilst evolving in these heavenly “natural habitats.”

Available from Steidl.

Dirty Blonde – The Diaries of Courtney Love (2007) – Faber & Faber

Few women in show business history have been as controversial as Courtney Love. Often bashed by tabloids and peers, Kurt Cobain’s widow and de facto queen of grunge never went down without a fight and has come to be known for her loud, spontaneous and unabashedly wild nature. Dirty Blonde features an intimate collection of notes, photographs and documents belonging to the peroxided anti-hero, turning out to be her most intimate release to date. Poignant excerpts of her childhood diaries, song lyrics written in juvenile hall, report cards from school, old flyers, promo pictures, intimate photographs of Kurt and their baby daughter make up this fascinating scrapbook containing everything you’d ever need to know about the MTV Generation’s most iconic and scandalous blonde.

Available from Amazon.

Writer Rose Kelleher

Low-cost brands have no such neurosis. Think IKEA, Ryanair or Lidl. Their screaming yellow billboards pull in the crowds, leaving the discretion of forest greens and burgundies to the more discerning brand manager. Yellow is an eye-catching, attention-grabbing marketing tool that spells “affordable”. Suzy Chiazzari of Iris International School of Colour Therapy says “yellow is highly visible. Wanting to stand out in the crowd is considered by some to be brash and pushy, so it depends whether you want to send out the message of accessibility or exclusivity”. Roger Pruppers, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Amsterdam University agrees. “Bright yellow has the capacity to really grab attention, and that’s something luxury brands don’t want”.

Loud, conspicuous branding that requires sunglasses – think the garish interior of a Ryanair cabin or a Zeeman’s back-to-school poster – does not endear the luxury shopper. They happily pay a premium for “quieter”, less conspicuous markings. They seek exclusive membership of an elite “club”. IKEA, Telenet, Lidl and Zeemans do not discriminate. They are aware of the effect their eye-watering use of yellow has on bargain-hunting customers, and have embraced it with just as much gusto as their bejeweled cousins have turned their finely sculpted noses up at it. So what colour is luxury? Burgundy evokes images of chesterfield couches and hunting jackets in most. “Research shows that primary colours like yellow grab your attention, but that they also convey a simple message,” Says Roger. “Burgundy is a mix of different colours, it’s a very specific shade. It communicates sophistication and complexity, that there is more to the brand that a simplistic message”.

So what if a discount brand like IKEA changed their corporate colour to burgundy tomorrow, would we begin to associate burgundy with cheap? Roger says “IKEA is a hugely influential brand, but I’m not sure that it could change the meaning of a colour all by itself. Perhaps, you could ask the question the other way around: If IKEA started using burgundy, how long would it take for us to associate the brand with luxury?” But this is unlikely, he adds. “IKEA’s whole strategy is deliberately based around value for money.” Yellow’s mass appeal means you won’t find it over the door of the air conditioned emporiums on Brussels’ Boulevard de Waterloolaan, London’s Bond Street or the Parisian Avenue Montaigne. But this snobbish rejection fortunately applies to corporate identity only, and doesn’t extend to products them- selves. Marc Jacobs may still send Kate Moss sashaying down the catwalk in a saffron boiler suit but he’ll never adorn his fashion house with the same shade. Chivas Regal are as likely to use yellow in their branding as they are to be found handing out free samples of double scotch at your local Delhaize. Veuve Cliquot is the exception. They recognise that consumers associate yellow with champagne, along with sunshine, happiness and other “priceless” stuff.

Interview and photography Yana Foqué

1. What’s on your mind?

Fights and smells. I want to control them more at our shows.

2. Favourite albums of the month are…

I haven’t listened to many albums, more just songs.

3. Arabia Mountain is going to be released next month. What inspired you to make this album?

South-American folk music.

Hip-Hop – S&W (instrument).

4. In the two years it took to write, create and record the album – What has changed?

The flavours of the months.

5. How was working with Mark Ronson on this album? Why did you want the album to be produced by him?

I think the Grammy Awards speak for themselves. He is in the upper echelons of pop production.

He was sweet.

Name: Cole Alexander

6. What has been the best psychedelic experience of your life, so far? And has it got anything to do with the cover of your newest album Arabia Mountain?

No, but my greatest psych experience is when I imagined I had lost all of my organs and bones. I melted and I was like mush for a moment

7. Black Lips has a habit of colouring outside the lines: If it hasn’t got anything to do with the gig, then it mostly has to do with the gig’s location… As a band, you’re not afraid to play venues and countries that typically don’t see many rock bands perform…. Which country is high on your list?

Iraq, Cuba, Syria, Tunisia, Zambia, Uganda, Antarctica (we have leads).

8. What’s a borderline bad idea to you?

Smoking.

9.The sex, drugs, and rock’n'roll lifestyle – think you’ll ever grow tired of it?

I only know so much about it. I know the cliché well. But in actuality, I know so much.

Photography Joke De Wilde

Photography Sarah Eechaut

Messing around with snakes is no innocent choice; such is the strength of mythology associated with them and the fear they seem to elicit in a vast majority of people. “There is a clear will to demystify the animal,” admits Rien, “but they’re also of an extreme beauty, colour and texture wise.” Working in collaboration with other breeders, Rien purchased several snakes, mostly red ones, and began experimenting three years ago. “You can predict the outcome of the colour and pattern, but there are no guarantees.”

One could obviously question the true artistic value of this project. After all, this could very well happen in nature. Yet the boundaries of artistic creation keep on being pushed, as technology, scientific research and biology merge into new forms of expression. Commonly referred to as BioArt, made popular in the late 90s when Eduardo Kac introduced Alba, the world’s first transgenic fluorescent rabbit, Sébastien’s work is more traditional in that he simply exploits accidents and genetic flukes. But the selection on top of that is key in differentiating his approach to that of a scientific researcher or a mere breeder. Sang Mêlé is a study on form and colour. “Just like a painter, I chose my colours by selecting certain individuals, and like the sculptor, my work operates in shapes as the snake is a three-dimensional object,” he explains. Sang Mêlé could there- fore very well earn its place within art history, even though having living creatures as a main medium definitely challenges its archetypes and the way people perceive art. If anything, the dichotomy between nature and human productions is one in which Rien does not believe, as he firmly stresses. “We often speak of nature as being something external to our productions but when you think of it, if we are products of nature, than our very own productions are those of nature too.”

Having worked on Sang Mêlé for three years, he lacks distance and results. His livestock currently counts about 18 specimens and he produced one baby in August, which sadly died a few weeks later. The product was a blend of four different species, and Sébastien is unsure as to the exact causes of this failure. The defunct one has now been recycled into another project. “It sounds sordid, but I’ve always kept all my carcasses in a freezer,” he says with a mischievous smile. Frozen into interesting shapes, his colubrids, boas and pythons have become sculptures, which he then photographs. Busy with countless other projects, such as his collective Phase 3 or Le Bestiaire – a line of silver pendants cast in the shape of small animals’ jaws, created in collaboration with jewellery designer Artamonoff – Sang Mêlé currently remains a non-profit side-enterprise (the artist can’t sell the products in order to keep the process going). It is also a never-ending one: “there will always be new ways of pushing the selection in other directions. It’s a work in movement, like life. Like the world.” And just like life, this project doesn’t have an ultimate goal, if only perhaps, achieving the creation of specimens that will be as far removed from their original forms.

Sébastien Rien’s photographs of frozen specimens will be displayed at the MAAC
Rue des Chartreux 26-28 Kartuizersstraat
1000 Brussels
From 27th May to 25th June
maac.be

Photographer Ismaël Moumin

01. Penny for your style

Belgian-born Diane von Fürstenberg knows women. Her upbeat energy, passion for life and positive attitude shape her work. She likes to empower her customers and caters to her desires and aspirations. With talented Frenchman Yvan Mispelaere now at the helm as creative director, new blood keeps flowing through the house’s many lines. This fresh direction stands out in DvF’s accessories, including her gorgeous handbags that are stylish, yet remain functional. This season, the Penny is a must-have. With its jazzy colours, roomy size, soft feel and playful pattern, it puts a cheeky smile on our sun-starved faces. (PP)

Penny leather bag by DvF (€1,100).
Available from Diane von Furstenberg (Brussels and Antwerp).
dvf.com

02. Inside out

Rarely seen on the outside, let alone regarded as an object of aesthetic value, artificial pace- makers have been saving lives since the late 50s. It should come as no surprise that with a cardiologist father and years spent working in a morgue during his architecture studies, young jewellery maker Michael Guérisse O’Leary would become fascinated with these simple yet vital medical devices. Diverting it from its conventional use, he turns these recycled sterling silver and titanium lifesavers into brooches. Limited to a five-edition run, each Pulse Generator is as precious and unique as the organ they once served.

Pulse Generator brooch by Michael Guérisse O’Leary and Philippe Humbeeck (price upon request).
oleary.be

03. Lady and the tramp

The name may be misleading, but Lady Violette is underwear for guys. Don’t expect scary fishnet or see-through lycra. The recently graduated Anne- Julie Wesel introduces her line this season, which is made out of soft bamboo cotton. Inspired by old-school styles – such as kangaroo briefs, fitted tank tops and contrasting trims – her vision of men’s undies is both playful and ironic. Choosing traditional toile de Jouy motifs depicting erotic scenes from Belgian artist Felicien Rops’ etchings as her only print, this first collection combines textile tradition with a sense of playful refinement. And with fabric this smooth, don’t be surprised if your very own Lady suddenly nicks your favourite pieces from your drawer. (PP)

Lady Violette underwear (between €45 and €50).
Available from Blender (Brussels).
ladyviolette.be

04. And Chauncey created womanswear

It’s no secret we have a soft spot for Brussels- based knitwear brand Chauncey. Their minimalist yet stylish designs, backed by impeccable craftsmanship and top-notch quality yarn, carry everything one could ever dream of from a jumper. Our only damper came from the fact that Nathalie Bouhana’s designs catered to an exclusively male clientele so far. Imagine our joy, then, to find out that she has decided to expand to womanswear for this spring. The line sees navy polo’s, cute Bermuda shorts, classic cardi’s and, our personal favourite, a gorgeous knit dress that comes in black and grey – sturdy in appearance yet subtle in feel.

Knitted linen and cotton dress by Chauncey (€365).
Available from Mapp (Brussels).
chauncey.be

With thanks to Françoise Salinger

Photographer Merel ‘t Hart

The venue employs a staff of 45. This is in addition to cleaners, security agents, bar and restaurant staff.

Located in a 10.000 sqm complex that is said to go back to the 11th century, L’Ancienne Belgique – or AB as it is also known – was a popular concert hall in the early 20th century. Often threatened with closure due to noise complaints from the neighbourhood, it underwent several renovations and even filed for bankruptcy in 1971. Saved by funding from the Flemish government in the late 70s, the main hall was completely soundproofed and reconditioned in 1982, resulting in the AB as we currently know it. Entirely tinted in a deep cardinal red – commonly used in most theatres as it absorbs the stage lights – the venue retains a unique warmth and intimacy, even when at full capacity (2.000). Upgrading the entire equipment with state of the art technology and a perfect acoustic system, it has become the venue of choice to capture the CD and DVD live performances of artists such as Iggy Pop, Oasis, Kings of Leon, Goldfrapp, Queens of the Stone Age, The Hives and Yeasayer to name a few. Mike Patton has been quoted saying “AB is the best venue in Europe. No, in the world!” and Lou Reed was in awe when he discovered the main hall before performing at last year’s Domino Festival. Praises coming from such demanding musicians who have toured throughout the world are no mean feat, and the 300.000 concertgoers who flocked in last year can’t be wrong either. The 233.450 tickets sold in 2010 have earned the AB the third spot in Pollstar’s annual list of Top 100 Worldwide Club Venues, making it the only European venue in the top 50.

The backstage zone in front of the production room.

For the Morcheeba or Iron & Wine fans, 730 balcony seats are available. Free seating is on a “first come, first served” basis.

The catering canteen. “Proper food” is a luxury touring artists don’t take for granted, something that the AB understands only too well. Former house cook Lut De Clercq was even renowned abroad for her dishes and wrote several books on the subject.

The AB Sessions room, which also doubles as an extra dressing room on busy nights. Two microphones and a camera are on hand to record sessions of acoustic sets broadcasted on the venue’s website.

“If you get lost, just follow the red line” is a sentence often overheard in the backstage zone that stretches from the main hall to the recording studio and catering canteen.

A couch from the Stella bar.

Lights, fixtures and fittings.

A dressing room.

State of the art technology has been customised to suit all the needs of the wide breath of artists that come through AB’s door.

The AB Sessions room.

The AB Sessions room.

A dressing room.

The Stella bar, right next to the main hall.

A couch from the Stella bar, often used for photo sessions and interviews.

Iggy Pop – Lust For Life (1999)

Massive Attack – Karma Coma (1998)

LCD Soundsystem – Yeah (2010)

Ghinzu – Blow (2008)

Photographer 354 Photographers

From left, clockwise: Urban Interventions (Gestalten), Gang Leader for a Day (Allen Lane), Bankrupt (Twin Palms Publishers), Anish Kapoor (Phaidon) and The Red Balloon (Doubleday)

Bankrupt (2004) by Phillip Toledano – Twin Palms Publishers

Bankrupt presents no foreword nor summary, its subject matter being quite self-explanatory. A handful of anonymous termination emails are featured as the only textual elements, eluding to the sense of incomprehension or disbelief their recipients might have felt upon first read. New York-based photographer Phillip Toledano started taking pictures of recently abandoned offices in 2001, documenting what he referred to as “economic archaeology”. The oversized dimensions of the book and Toledano’s large-scale prints emphasise the desolate character of these vacant offices. Page after page, we are faced with empty drawers, dying plants, the mess and chaos of desks that have been hastily abandoned, piled boxes, coatless hangers, lifeless rooms, ending with its most moving and ironic image: a cleared desk above which a blue sticker on the wall reads “We’re all in this together”.

Available from Amazon.

Anish Kapoor (2009) by David Anfam – Phaidon

From its beautiful and rich cover reminiscent of the textures of his wax works to the colour pictures that capture the intensity of pigment sculptures, this book – prefaced by art historian David Anfam – is a useful resource for understanding Anish Kapoor’s highly rated oeuvre. Famed for his larger-than-life pieces that involve trompe l’oeil and site-specific installations, the British sculptor has rapidly become one of the most respected artists of his generation. With hundreds of images ranging from reproductions of his work, photographs of Kapoor in his workshop, as well as sketches from his most ambitious projects, this weighty volume certainly lives up to its promise of being the most comprehensive monograph ever published on the artist.

Available from Amazon.

Gang Leader for a day (2008) by Sudhir Venkatesh – Allen Lane

When American sociology student Sudhir Venkatesh infiltrated a gang to gain an in depth understanding of urban poverty in early 90s Chicago, he certainly had no clue of how far it would take him and how drawn he would become to the subjects of his interests. Spending nearly a decade in the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago, one of the worst ghettos in America, he quickly found himself in the midst of a crack dealing crime ring. Recounting his trials and tribulations with an unexpected candour, this book tells the tale of a curious young man that ended up getting far more than he had bargained for.

Available from Amazon.

The red balloon (1956) by Albert Lamorisse – Doubleday

Based on the French movie of the same name, The Red Balloon tells the story of little Pascal, a lonely only child whose vivid imagination leads him to befriend a large helium filled red balloon which he manages to tame and turns into an obedient pet. The pair embarks on a series of adventures through the streets of Paris, until a gang of jealous schoolmates “burst his bubble” by throwing rocks in its direction. The minimal amount of colour stands out amongst the beautiful black and white photographs taken during the filming of this 1956 children’s classic. As heart-warming as it is poignant, this naive tale will bring out your inner child, a few smiles and possibly even tears.

Available from Amazon.

Urban interventions: personal projects in public places (2010) by Robert Klanten – Gestalten

Part street art, part agitprop, urban interventions have become a permanent feature of cities’ landscapes in recent years, gaining both in notoriety and interest. Whether artists, that chose to make use of public spaces for creative expressions, or activists, who go to the street to spread political messages, both use the city as their personal drawing board. The results are often amusing, and whether political or simply aesthetic, always thought provoking. This book showcases the projects of over 70 individuals and collectives, who operate throughout Europe and America, taking art out of white cubes and into the agora.

Available from Amazon.

Writer Vincent Dechamps

© Vincent Dechamps

The rules are simple and have yet to be changed: a masked villain – often disfigured or who’s identity is concealed by smart camera angles – leads the action, perpetuating several bloody crimes, devoid of pity and hungry for violence. He’s usually after a defenceless heroine, surrounded by her posse of spotty teenagers. John Carpenter‘s Halloween – which goes back to 1978 – was the first blockbuster to impose the slasher movie’s basic protocol with its legendary opening scene. A distressed audience witnesses the ruthless murder of a teenage girl through the eyes of a masked killer. As he leaves the house where the killing took place, two pedestrians – who happen to be his parents – stop him. Once they remove his mask, one discovers the angelic face of a 10-year-old. With that, the evil Michael Myers’ cult figure status is sealed, as he quickly adopts a huge butcher knife and a terrifying anonymous white mask to commit his sins.

Halloween’s opening scene

From that point onwards, the slasher caravan was on the move and the killers barking, drawing more pints of blood and generating increasing revenues each year, its most prominent figures being Jason Voorhees, who sports his signature hockey mask and machete in Friday the 13th (1980) and the disfigured Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). The 80s marked the heyday of the slasher movie, spawning iconic features that are still worth watching today. The success of the genre resides in its directness and simplicity, making it rather effective and pleasurable to watch. However, it is precisely the honest – perhaps naïve even – nature of the genre that turned it into a repetitive and bland exercise, boring audiences towards the end of the decade as a result. Producers felt forced to increase blood scenes, looking for more disturbing ways to kill their victims. In the early 90s, irony was the new black. Films were no longer about frightening audiences, but having them in stitches instead. Peter Jackson‘s Braindead (1992) is a great illustration of how horror and humour could happily coexist at that time. There had never been that much haemoglobin on screen before, but there was laughter in equal parts, too.

A compilation of Jason Voorhees’ 13 best kills

The top 5 Freddy Krueger kills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFvpro5_N2I&feature=related

The trailer for Braindead

In the early 90s, American horror films were not in great shape. Only mainstream productions – such as Interview with the Vampire (1991) or Jurassic Park (1993) – could get people queuing at the box office. The era of B horror films seemed over, but someone came along who revived the category. Thanks to an unknown writer called Kevin Williamson, Scream was born in the mid 90s, convincing studios and audiences of its appeal. A huge commercial and critical success, Scream was initially thought of as an homage to slasher movies and revived their scope, paving the way for new categories, such as “torture porn” with Saw (2004) and Hostel (2005), as well as “gore parody” with Piranha 3D (2010). With its fourth instalment ready for release, Scream is set to prove that slasher films are far from over, with audiences enjoying what can only be described as a bloody good laugh once again.

Scream’s opening scene

Part 2

Piranha 3D trailer

Photographer Benoît Banisse Art direction and styling Flore van Ryn

01. Just click it

We’ve become experts at commissioning photography, art directing as well as styling it, but when it comes to photography itself, we let the professionals do the talking. It’s not like we wouldn’t enjoy getting behind the camera and shooting a gorgeous pair of… shoes. It’s rather that, well, we can’t really be bothered with the technical aspect of it all – you know, aperture, shutter speed, contrast, focus and what not. Imagine our joy, then, when this beauty landed on our desks for a little test. It’s light, has interchangeable lenses and, wait for it, does it all for you.

α NEX-3 16mm interchangeable lens camera by Sony (€500)
Available from Sony Centers throughout the country
sonycenter.be

02. Prints please

It’s a known fact that we’re of the type to look down on people when first meeting them. Often wrongly interpreted as snobbism, it’s only really a sometimes worrying obsession with footwear. We won’t judge you by your looks, your intellect or even your personality, but we will judge you by the shoes you wear. Call us shallow; we believe the shoes a person wears are just as telling a character clue than, say, whether or not you bite your nails. You’re on safe ground though if we meet for the first time and these are the shoes you’re wearing. Part of Converse’s collaborative collection for women with Finnish textile printmaker Marimekko, they’d say three things to our trained eyes: she’s cool, confident and carefree.

Jack Purcell x Marimekko (€89,95)
Available from Bellerose (Brussels)
converse.be

03. The revolution in red

Although you could argue that, in this day-and-age of virtual protests and desktop unrests, all you need to organise a revolution is a Facebook page and a handful of Twitter followers, we’d like to think of ourselves as a touch more old school – even in the small matter of deposing governments. Fact is, if we ever were to seriously consider overthrowing the powers that be (not such a far-fetched idea considering the country’s record-breaking political deadlock), we’d start with plotting the downfall on paper. Not any kind of paper of course. You see, if we’re going to spend time musing on coup conspiracies, you better believe it’s going to be done in keeping with a certain colour-coded structure. Thus, a red notebook. What else?

Red notebook by Atypyk (€13)
Available from Bozarshop (Brussels)
atypyk.com

04. Teenage angst no more

For as long as we can remember, bloodshot eyes and red spots were as central to our teenager looks as Dr. Martens and ripped 501s. For bleary eyes, Minhavez was the make of choice, never failing to whiten our eyes just in time for afternoon classes or inquisitive dinner with the elders. For the red spots, the perfect miracle remedy somehow eluded us as we painfully saw our faces turn from smooth operator to rough calculator with each year going by. If it were today, however, we’d find solace in Kiehl’s blemish control cream, a now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t kind of magic.

Minhavez eye drops (€4), available in pharmacies.
Kiehl’s Acne Blemish Control treatment (€39)
Available from Senteurs d’Ailleurs (Brussels) and Kiehl’s (Antwerp and Ghent). kiehls.com

05. Death traps

Equally as terrifying as they are beautiful, these carnivorous plants feed off small flies and insects that get lured into their traps. And whilst some species from the exotic jungles of Borneo or Guinea are big enough to gobble up entire rats, these apartment-sized carnivores won’t be turning your living area into the Little Shop of Horrors just yet. Indeed, these imported versions rarely outgrow their pots, although that’s not to say you won’t catch them snapping up a fly or two. You know, just for starters.

From left to right: the venus flytrap (dionaea muscipula), cobra plant (darlingtonia californica) and the rosy sundew (drosera hamiltonii), between €4 and €6.
Available from Velvet Café (Brussels).
velvetine.be

06. The red hiking hood

Come spring, this pullover jacket by favoured hiking and extreme sports brand Napapijri could very well become your new best friend. Part of the label’s Geographic line, which focuses on sportswear and urban pieces, this summer take on their classic Skidoo cut packs a polyamide shell fabric that makes it extremely lightweight, windproof and water repellent. We’ve always been purvey to somewhat of a mix-and-match aesthetic, and this bright but bold hoodie just about does it for us.

Skidoo summer jacket for men by Napapijri (€199).
Available from Napapijri (Antwerp).
napapijri.com

Illustrator Virassamy

“There are three stages in anger,” explains anger management trainer Annemie De Boye. “The first is physiological, where your body prepares to fight something it perceives as a threat. Your temperature rises, breathing accelerates, muscles tense up, your body starts producing adrenaline; these are all autonomous impulses. The second stage is cognitive, as your mind interprets the situation. You start wondering, for example, why your boss is giving you a hard time, again. ‘Why does he never criticise my colleague?’ ‘He must have it in for me.’ This is where the famous tunnel vision comes into play and you focus entirely on your ‘aggressor’. Staying rational becomes more difficult. With the thought process in motion it’s over to the third stage, which is your reaction. Some people nervously click their pen, others tap their feet. As for the people I work with, this is when they snap.”

Before anything, it is important to note that anger is not to be confused with aggression. Anger is part of our behaviour and is not necessarily linked to emotions, whereas aggression is purely emotional and acts as a warning signal. Take a bank robber; he will threaten people, often using violence to scare them into cooperation, yet in essence he acts rationally, as he cannot afford to lose sight of his surroundings. Aggression on the other hand is the result of intense frustration; think ofpeople who start screaming at police officers for giving them a ticket. So what triggers a tantrum? “It comes down to frustrations accumulating and your current level of tolerance; an outburst is the result of one frustration too many.” Anger issues are a sign of our times. Crushed by the constant pressure to perform, countless minor incidents get in our way towards achievement, like unpredictable traffic jams or unreliable alarm clocks. Additionally, elements such as fatigue and an imbalanced lifestyle lower our level of tolerance. At work, more and more people suffer from so-called Office Rage when ‘computer says no’ again. “In addition,” De Boye continues, “elements such as fatigue and an imbalanced lifestyle lower our level of tolerance.”

Office Rage and that stubborn printer…

We are not all destined for therapy, though. “Part of how angry you are as a person lies in your genes. The other part, linked more to frustration, is behaviour we learn from others.” De Boye tends to deal with two kinds of patients: “Perfectionists, who are irritated by the slightest flaws and therefore continuously frustrated, or overly principled people, for whom it’s black or white and who can’t let things go.” Owning up to this lack of self-control is tough – people rarely call on De Boye of their own accord. “Usually employers or family members have – as a final warning – ordered them to seek help.” So what does ‘anger management’ entail? “I teach people how to recognise the signs of an oncoming outburst. Cooling down is an effective remedy, while sports are a good outlet for frustration. Next, think positive; it’s only a dirty coffee mug – not the end of the world. Thirdly, control your actions. Are you pacing? Sit down. Naturally, anger management isn’t something you learn in a day, but I hand people the tools to get there.”

Kamil Uygun, former European Free Fight Champion, confirms that sports can help counter a burgeoning aggressive streak. “It takes a lot to really get me angry, which is something I owe to fighting,” Kamil admits. “Professional fighters are incredibly disciplined; we are obliged to watch our diet and nights out. If anybody knows about self-control, it’s us.” The intense physical exercise is also an efficient way to evacuate built-up adrenaline and frustration. “The ring is not the place to vent your emotions, though,” Uygun warns. “Anger will make you weak.”

See Kamil in action:

Geraldine Laurys, Chief Inspector of the Saint Josse ten Noode police station, spent 10 years on the streets and dealt with aggression on a nightly basis. “Mainly marital disputes, drunken brawls, people with psychological problems. But fighting aggression with more aggression doesn’t work; stay calm but show them you’re not to be messed with, sometimes a sense of humour can do the trick.” Surprisingly, police officers do not receive in-depth training on how to deal with aggression; how well one handles volatile situations depends mainly on personality and common sense. Laureys feels female officers have less trouble calming people down. “A certain form of respect towards women generally still exists. But crime has become more violent. Part of it has to do with the increase in Slavs; due to the hardships they’ve experienced, they have a whole different set of morals. One more dead body is no skin off their nose.”

Another profession to suffer the rage and venom of countless incensed consumers are phone operators. “In one ear, straight out the other – it’s the only way to cope,” admits Silvia Picciau, who has been working in Sony’s complaint department for over three years. “Some people are so worked up, they forget to say hello. Personally, I find the people who don’t listen the worst. We do our best to find a solution but the person on the other end of the line just talks through you – it’s so frustrating.” Not every caller is automatically angry. “Most people just need reassurance. All they want to hear is ‘We understand your problem, this is how we can help’.”” Not all callers are angry, but those who are upset easily resort to verbal abuse. “The names I’ve been called!” she gasps. Her advice on dealing with temper tyrants: “Speak quietly. In order to hear you, they’ll have to lower their voice!”

Visit hipepe.be for more info on Anger Management training.

Als Het Potje Overkookt: Anger Management En Agressiehantering Op De Werkvloer (2010) by Annemie De Boye, Kluwer.

Thomas, Bert and Dries

© Yana Foqué

Name: Bert Huyghe

What was the first thing you did this morning?

I baked a crazy omelette! Ingredients: tomato, cheese, mushrooms, onion and egg.

What’s your favourite older song at the moment?

Southern Man – Neil Young

What would you do on a hot summer day?

Watch the Tour indoors! (Dries Dauwe – Drummer)

Which events in your life where very influential to your music?

For us as a band I think the first “pat on the back” we got from other Belgian bands we looked up to.

What inspired you to make your new album Sensual Dancing?

Older women in our village when dancing to music of their youth. Always very 80s inspired and sensual dances.

Why did you use tape?

Because these songs where very radical and unfinished. They belonged on cassette.

Ping Pong Tactics has been a DIY band ever from the very start. How does the artwork fit into the whole package?

It’s just a part of the music, it all belongs together.

Who would you ask as a guest musician on your next album?

Nobody! Maybe Willem from SAII on drums again when he’s around.

Who can remix/cover one of your songs any day of the week?

(note: this person doesn’t have to be alive or even real)

Phil Spector.

Best musical memory so far?

Mini Netherland tour with just us three, in our van, meeting weird “hollanders”.

Where to next?

US of A.

Do you have a plan B?

This is our plan B.

What can in your opinion never go out of style?

Thank you’s!

How long has About Group, your new band with John Coxon of Spiritualized, been in the making?

It started about two years ago, we were called About but it turned out another band had that name so we changed it.

How did the collaboration come about?

I made a solo album called Rubbed Out and released it on Treader, which John runs, and that had exclusively released improvised music before. He makes a lot of improvised music himself and he played guitar on two of the tracks on that solo album. We played some music and talked about doing a new record with people we were both interested in, and that was Charles Hayward and Pat Thomas. It was really as simple as that.

The improvisational element seems to be the core of this project, what exactly drew you to do this?

It’s a discipline I had not really been involved with, except maybe improvising within song structures. I had never actually made music where the point of it was just to start with no plan. So that was appealing to me, as a way of trying something new. It wasn’t that I felt trapped and I needed to express myself. It is liberating and quite nerve-wracking as well because you don’t know whether anything you make will sound good.

What’s interesting is that you dived in with people you had never played with before. Was it hard hearing and understanding each other as you played?

That’s definitely the challenge for every gig really, but it’s part of the pleasure, too. To find something that works well and listen to each other. The three other members have been improvising for years, so in a way that was the biggest pressure. I felt new to this, whereas they all knew what they were doing to some extent. When we started, the idea quickly changed from being purely improvised to adding in song elements. We’d have a gig and I would say: “I will sing three of my songs at some point in the gig”, but no one knew when that would happen. We were coming out of wild experimental sections and going into very melodic and sombre melancholic songs and when we hit on that – it’s not ground breaking at all, don’t get me wrong – we felt it was quite unusual to put those two things together. That’s what the new album was about.

The album, Start And Complete, apparently was recorded in one day at Abbey Road Studios. What was the energy like? Can you describe the day for us?

It was a really stressful day. Abbey Road is the most prestigious studio and also quite expensive to book. Most people spend months recording an album there and we decided we wanted to have it wrapped in one day. That doesn’t leave much room for error. We started at 11am and finished at 11pm. The songs were completely written, but I had never decided the arrangements and none of the other members had heard them. What’s hard in Abbey Road is the very specific way they like to record. Everyone is far away from each other in the room and fenced off by screens. So most of the time we were in there, I didn’t have any idea if it was going the way it should or if anyone else was happy. But as soon as we finished, we listened to the result and were very pleased with it. The friction coming from the way we recorded was part of what made it work. I feel like it’s one of the best records I’ve been involved with.

Can you describe its sound?

As a band, it’s obviously ever changing. The music is propelled by Charles Hayward’s drumming, which is very complex but sturdy. It’s got a soulful and melodic sound to it, as well as being experimental. This new album is more like a very strange version of a 70s sort of Memphis soul sound. The album is out 18th April and the single comes out 14th March, it’s called You’re No Good.

Like the ESG song?

Yeah, it’s not a cover of that but I love that song. The single is a cover of a soul song that was made by Harvey Averne in 1968, of which Terry Riley did a 20-minute remix – before remixes even existed – the same year. That’s what we’ve covered. But I was thinking of covering the ESG song as well, maybe as a B-side.

What albums/musicians were you listening to whilst writing songs for the album?

John Coxon and I were interested by some early Will Oldham records, when he was under the name Palace. Like Flies on Sherbert by Alex Chilton was an album that we felt captured a real sense of spontaneity in the studio. So we wanted that kind of chaos to be in there.

How does the song writing differ from what you did for Hot Chip?

In some ways it doesn’t differ that much because I wrote a lot of these songs during being with Hot Chip and we even tried some of them. They’re much more close to the ballads that appear on Hot Chip records. I usually write with Joe (Goddard) and some of these I’ve written on my own and left them as simple, unadorned old-fashioned folk songs.

How have the live shows been so far?

We played some gigs at festivals like Meltdown and Glastonbury. It’s been really exciting every time because you’re just constantly reacting very quickly to what’s happening around you. It feels like things are falling away but at the same time forming. I also chose to use a keyboard I’m not that familiar with, so it gave it another additional element of surprise.

Especially after touring for so many years with Hot Chip, performing songs you probably knew by heart and could play blindfolded…

Yeah, like I said in Hot Chip, there’s a joy in repetition but at the same time, there’s also something enjoyable about going against repetition or the idea of a set list.

How has the audience responded so far?

Quite well. At some of our gigs, people came up to us convinced that we knew these songs and that they had been thoroughly rehearsed, which was a bit odd. I also think some people in the audience were a bit confused. There’s no lead instrument, there are long periods with no vocals. I guess that would be different with this new album, whereby we’d find ways of including the songs. We also try and play to audiences where it would hopefully make some sense.

Could you describe the other members?

John Coxon is one of the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable people about music I know. You couldn’t really pin him down to one style, and that’s something I like about him. Charles Hayward is similar in some way. He’s a really solid drummer and is incredibly enthusiastic, optimistic, but also very intense. Pat Thomas is an interesting character, and almost only plays improvised music. He’s an exceptional pianist and really into Sun Ra, and really far out in terms of what he’ll do. He’s got a really infectious laugh too, and a good sense of humour. That said, they’re all, like I am as well, just very serious about what we do.

If About Group were a car, which one would it be?

I don’t know much about cars, but maybe one that is found at a scrap heap and put together from different pieces.

If About Group were a city, which one would it be?

Copenhagen.

If About Group were a movie star, which one would it be?

Elvis Priestley.

If About Group were a colour, which one would it be?

Yellow.

And an animal?

A fox.

About tonight, how do you prepare, if at all, for your DJ sets?

I try and think about what records I like at the moment and which ones go well with each other. It’s difficult to prepare more when I play abroad because I usually don’t know the club or what kind of crowd goes there, so it’s always a bit of a gamble in a way.

What do you hope to give the crowd?

This may be an unpopular idea, but I don’t try to give them a huge amount of something to look at. Lots of deejays now behave like rock stars and get over-excited about what they’re doing. What I’m doing is putting on music and mixing it together. I don’t feel that there is any use in pretending that something else is happening, so I never know if that’s confusing or annoying to people. I find it maybe easier to look more relaxed when I’m doing it with someone else or maybe if I’m drunk as well.

And what do you hope to get back?

I hope that people will show that they’re enjoying it. And I do care. But I don’t feel like I can get involved too much. It’s not like an art show, there is a real point to a deejay being there: to do his best for the crowd to enjoy themselves.

Can you name three tracks that are sure to make the cut tonight?

One that I just got the other day, an old house tune, Follow Me by Aly-Us. I’ll probably play Anansies Dances by Theo Parrish, which I like a lot. I might play one by Sticky, called Stuck To The Floor.

Did you have a little time to walk around the city at all today?

Yes, I spent the day walking around with my wife and daughter. Tomorrow we’ll go to the flea market in the morning, which we do every time we’re in Brussels.

Any stand outs in Brussels a part from that?

I like the cuisine, a lot of Belgian beers, moules frites, the obvious things. There’s a record shop I go to every time called The Collector Record Gallery.

The ready-to-wear collections vary from pretty and commercial to inspiring and conceptual. During five days of shows, established designers – as well as exciting new graduates – are encouraged to test their work on an international audience. Amsterdam Fashion Institute and Mode Arnhem still foster new talent and individual freedom. They are great schools that push students to find their own voice. A great example of this successful approach is Iris van Herpen, a talented designer who lives and works in Arnhem. She presented her first Couture show in Paris last January, gaining rave reviews from selected press and industry insiders. Yes, there is a future for Dutch fashion after Viktor & Rolf.

Jan Taminiau – who also happens to show his work during Paris Couture – was selected for the opening evening and presented two beautiful collections. The first was focused on his more wearable – but still high-end – ready-to-wear pieces, which were sensual and lady-like. His Haute Couture outing was the icing on the cake; with long, gothic silhouettes and reflective fabrics he developed for the occasion. There were glamorous sequins and unusual platforms, giving the models an eerie charm. Jan loves catching light with his clothes and he’s good at doing evening wear in a non-conventional way. His clever mix of handicraft and avant-garde makes him one of the most interesting Dutch designers at the moment.

Jan Taminiau Haute Couture © Peter Stigter

Jan Taminiau Haute Couture © Peter Stigter

Jan Taminiau Haute Couture © Peter Stigter

On a completely different note, Bas Kosters delivered a fantastic show, where club culture met sportswear madness. Think of him as the Dutch version of Bernhard Willhelm: his clashing prints, easy shapes and strong sense of colour give his clothes a raw and pulsating energy. He even performed at the end of the show, singing along and getting slightly carried away, dragging his willing partner across the catwalk. It was a breath of fresh air and a real spectacle. With a thumping techno soundtrack and parade of cool friends walking for him, he definitely stood out from the rest.

Bas Kosters © Peter Stigter

Bas Kosters © Peter Stigter

Bas Kosters © Peter Stigter

Amongst newer talents showing this season, I was impressed with Roya Hesam‘s cuts and confident manner. Born in Afghanistan, but trained at the Fashion Institute in Amsterdam, she came up with a soft line-up of ethereal clothes in delicate tones, using lightweight fabrics and floaty shapes. Even though she was inspired by Polynesia’s nature and its striking landscapes, you could feel her cultural roots in several outfits. It was her first show since graduation and I hope we’ll get to see more of her again soon.

Roya Hesam © Peter Stigter

The progressive side of Dutch society was apparent in the Green Fashion Competition, an exciting initiative focusing on the development of sustainable designer lines. Eight finalists got to present their business plan in front of a selected jury of journalists, political figures and fashion professionals before the actual show took place. Judged on their design skills – as well as their business commitment to sustainable practices – each participant came up with an original concept. The smiling winner was Elsien Gringhuis, who left with a €25.000 cheque to help her grow her fashion line. Her aesthetics were fun and fluid, offering graceful jumpsuits and pastel tones to romantic girls.

Elsien Gringhuis © Peter Stigter

Gomes Esser Design © Peter Stigter

Amsterdam Fashion Week’s strongest selling point is probably its eclecticism, appreciation of young talent and open atmosphere. I would rather like to go again next season. That’s if they want to have me, of course.

Photography Benoît Banisse Art direction and styling facetofacedesign

01. Royal rolls

Toilet paper doesn’t usually get us talking, but that all changed on a recent night out. After having downed one long drink too many, we staggered into the club’s restroom, bleary eyed and tipsy. We were greeted with the usual water closet fixtures and fittings (black tiles, black floors, black seats, the lot) but what really got us grinning was the matching toilet paper. That’s right people, black toilet paper. The initial novelty of our discovery having faded, we pondered what a brilliant idea this actually was. Why, we wondered, did toilet paper always come in the customary white sheets? Surely, it made more sense to censure skid marks by drowning them in a thick layering of black cushioning. Anyway, it does now. And, you know what they say: once you go black you can’t go back.

Renova Black gift pack (€7,51)
Available from Rob (Brussels), ISPC (Ghent) and their online store

02. The black panther

The great thing about a recession (if there ever was one) is having less money to splurge and going back to basics. Whether purist or novice, nothing beats the strength of classics, especially when it comes to trainers. Get rid of all the fancy extras and you’ll end up with a cool shoe that will take you places. The folks at Puma seem to have got the memo when they decided to reissue the Suede classics – based on their 1978 creation – adding extra leather to give it a modern twist. Mixing the old with the new has never made more sense. (PP)

Puma Suede Mid classics (€99,95)
Available from Johnny Velvet (Brussels), Lux (Antwerp) and Zimba (Ghent)

03. Sex smells

When Tom Ford introduced Black Orchid – the first fragrance under his own name – in 2006, he created an instant classic without even knowing it. Ford wanted a glamorous and distinctive scent, breaking away from the minimalism of the 90s and its clinical aesthetic. Encased in its sleek, Art Deco inspired bottle, Black Orchid is bold, heady and sensual, combining notes of sultry woods, blackcurrant and vanilla with sandalwood and truffles. Inspired by the beauty and elegance of the rare flower, the Texan designer dreamed up an elusive perfume, both mysteri- ous and noticeable. Simply put, it’s sex in a bottle. (PP)

Black Orchid eau de parfum by Tom Ford 100 ml bottle (€120)
Available from all good perfumeries

04. Where there’s smoke

Blame it on Louise Brooks, Morticia Adams or Cleopatra, but sorting out the perfect smokey eye has been most women’s – and some men’s for that matter (Jared Leto, can you hear us?) – lifelong beauty challenge. In steps Guerlain’s loose kohl in its Indian inspired case. With its pitch-black intensity and astonishingly long lasting effects (up to six hours), it’s perfect for the waterline inner-lid, the tricky bit being mastering the wand without gouging your eye out and controlling the fallout. Paired with Chanel’s eyeliner duo: a glittery shadow powder on one side and a cake liner – to be smudged dry or used wet for a retro liquid effect – on the other, you’re good to go. Otherwise doomed to wander the earth with what could be mistaken for a decade-long heroin habit or worse, looking like a pre-pubescent emo (no offense, Jared).

Guerlain Terracotta loose powder kohl liner (€32,94) and La Ligne de Chanel (€38,14)
Both available from all good perfumeries

05. I’ll have mine black

Why should anyone settle for boring white rice and mushrooms, sad tan coloured pasta, sesame seeds, potatoes and beans, or the same old red radishes? Perhaps there’s something off-putting about black food, although it often retains a higher nutritious value than its lighter hued counterparts. And if you’re anything like us, with cooking skills that happen to be mediocre, to say the least – these black delights are sure to provide the “wow factor”, where your burnt roast might have failed at impressing guests.

Castagno Bruno pasta “integrale di kamut con spirulina” and beluga lentils, available from Natural Corner.
Dried mushrooms, black beans, and sesame seeds, all by the brand Golden Lilu and available from Kam Yuen Superstore.
Radish, potatoes, Riso Bello Venere black rice, and truffles available from Rob.
Blackberries available from most supermarkets.

Photography Yassin Serghini

From left to right: Black material: volume 01 (00), Drawings (kunsthaus-Bregenz), The valley of the shadow (Gestalten), Catalogue déraisonné (Steidl), Contraband (Steidl)

Drawings – Work comes out of work (2008) by Richard Serra – Kunsthaus-Bregenz

Known for his steel sculptures, Richard Serra’s 2007 retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art cemented his contribution to the world of contemporary art. His career has spanned 40 years and lesser known but just as formidable is his large body of drawings. The exhibition ‘Drawings – Work Comes Out of Work’ displays six series of his dramatic use of black paintstick, a wax-like grease crayon, in all his work. Dense layers of pigmented waxy material cling to the surface, absorbing light and weighing the work down with density and physicality not often seen in pieces of this nature. Large format illustrations and photographic insights into the artist working in his studio add to the penetrating portrait art historian James Lawrence included in this substantive book, celebrating an understated facet of this conceptual artist.

Available from Amazon

Black material: volume 01 (2010) by Robert Knoke – 00

Robert Knoke’s Black material: volume 01 acts more like a “who’s who” of this decade’s cool cats than your average monograph. Fortunate enough to have sat opposite those at the vanguard of contemporary creative practice, the German artist captured their essence with his monochrome and expressionist style, blending markers, grease pencils, ball pens, gloss paint and glitter. Along with reproductions of his large scale drawings, close-ups and views from installations, the book also offers an intimate peek at his atelier and candid shots of his subjects, that range from established icons (Patti Smith, Marc Jacobs, Jean-Baptiste Mondino), avant-garde designers (Rick Owens, Bernhard Wilhelm, Terence Koh), to hipster darlings (Leigh Lezark, The Kills) and underground heroes (Bruce LaBruce, Thomas Hirschhorn).

Available from 00

The valley of the shadow (2010) by Miron Zownir – Gestalten

We deliberately avoid numerous sights of our everyday life. A self-confessed ‘phenomenographer’, Miron Zownir has spent the past 20 years capturing those painful realities we try so hard to ignore or revealing the depths of lifestyles deemed so deviant we cannot fathom their existence. Haunted by childhood memories of post-war landscapes, crippled veterans and mutilated widows, Zownir journeyed across Berlin, Eastern Europe and New York, exposing the true face of society, be it hidden in the dens of counter-cultures or in the broad daylight of our streets. His coarse photographs, carrying an inevitably strong shock factor, could easily be dismissed as sensationalist and gratuitously provocative, if it weren’t for their brutal honesty and balanced subjectivity.

Available from Amazon

Catalogue déraisonné (2010) by Jean Pigozzi – Steidl

Jean Pigozzi, self-described international businessman, traveller and collector, takes his camera with him wherever he goes. And wherever he goes is usually somewhere glamorous and celebrity-infested. Everyone from Mick Jagger, Tim Burton and Jack Nicholson to Dash Snow, Gilbert & Georges and Roy Lichtenstein make appearances in this heady, good-looking and sometimes frankly hilarious insight into the underbellies of celebrity culture. Gigantic art dealer Larry Gagosian, for instance, is shown to be quite the joker, pulling faces whenever possible. Oh, and there’s also a photograph of Steve Jobs‘ (surprisingly hairy) feet sporting Birkenstocks.

Available from Amazon

Contraband (2010) by Taryn Simon – Steidl

Taryn Simon’s Contraband is a mesmerising visual account of four days spent photographing items intercepted at New York’s JFK airport. Boasting 1,075 photographs, everything from counterfeit American Express travellers cheques, overproof Jamaican rum, purses made from endangered species to pirated Disney DVDs, prohibited sausage and undeclared gold dust is minutely archived. With each and every item seized captured on a white background and playfully set directed, Simon’s approach somehow manages to demystify and categorise an otherwise bewildering array of contraband. Topping our list of intrigues was the unhealthy amounts of erectile dysfunction medication that seems to come through American borders.

Available from Amazon

Photography Merel ‘t Hart

01. A shell for eternity

What is one to do when the family business one has been running for the past century is failing? Make the best of the existing infrastructure and branch out. That’s what the Baeten’s opted for when facing the demise of their family’s woodworks factory – created in 1881, specialising in furniture and grand-father clocks. About 10 years ago, and fol- lowing a drastic decline in sales, they considered different options, settling for coffins, a product that would never run out of demand. The production of coffins in Belgium was initially handled by the town administrations and independent manufacturers but has since become industrialised with three main factories now running the show: Demaco, Funico and Baeten’s Aninco. Employing 35 full-time workers, Aninco produces 100 coffins a day in its 11,000 square meter Limburg-based factory and supplies undertakers throughout the country and in parts of Holland. Offering about 60 to 70 different models in a variety of up to 10 colours, the options are almost endless. Your typical solid wood coffin takes about two hours for production, weighs between 40 and 50 kilograms, and is made of either oak, ayous or tulipwood. Design-wise, traditional coffins are still very popular, although there is a newfound interest in the minimal design and straight lines. As for prices, they vary between 500 euros for the basic models and 5,000 euros for some specific high-end caskets, imported from Italy. A cheaper and lighter alternative (20kg), made of Medium-Density Fibreboard is usually favoured for cremations, the think- ing being that if it is bound to be burned, why spend massive amounts on it? Although, as Jeroen notes, it’s almost absurd considering that whether the coffin is buried or cremated, no one will really get to notice or enjoy the difference.

02. Funeral parlour

In a world defined by its uncertainties (the only constants being death and taxes), accountants and undertakers reign supreme. “Hired to face death for us” – to quote Six Feet Under, the TV show that widely popularised this obscure profession – undertakers will tackle all those subtle tasks, from contacting the administration, printing the announcements, housing and embalming a corpse to providing a hearse (the only legal way to transport a dead body), making the necessary arrangements for an eventual repatriation and scheduling and organising the funeral. This sector started appearing under the form of small-scale businesses in the late 30s, flourishing into an industry that now counts between 650 and 700 funeral homes throughout the country. Most independent outfits are now threatened by wider group acquisitions and Johan Dexters, who presides the Belgian federation of undertakers (Funebra), predicts that in less than a decade, all the small businesses will have disappeared. In 2005, the Sophia group sold all its Belgian acquisitions to Dela, a Dutch insurance group, which now owns 80 funeral homes and four crematoria, leaving it with a 12 percent share of the Belgian market. This obviously constitutes a danger in terms of prices, which vary according to parlours and regions, known to be lower in Wallonia than Flanders. Certain entities offer packaged formulas; others work with customised rates. A new trend that has emerged concerns people who are isolated or have lost contact with their families, and wish to pre-organise their funeral. We all try to avoid the thought of death, yet those working in the sector are reminded of it every single passing second. In the undertakers’ case, the quality of the family will obviously impact the way they react to this situation. “It’s a job like another,” says Johan, who organises about 220 funeral services per year at his Peeraer-Dexters home, a third of which occur between the months of January and March. “It all depends on the client. It’s hard to feel any compassion for a family that is constantly fighting about inheritance and what not. My work just becomes very mechanical, going through motions. If the family shares true pain, then it inevitably rubs off on you. It’s true that we’re always working in a context of grief but to be honest, we also laugh a lot. I’ve discovered that joy and pain are closely linked. People try to reminisce the good times, it’s the only way to cope with the tension and sadness.” There is no obligation to go through funeral homes. That said, dealing with the loss of a loved one is hard enough to handle, making the average 3,500 euros cost of a funeral far from a luxury.

03. Ashes to ashes

While most European countries started building their crematoria in the 19th century, Belgium had to wait until 1904 for its first facility in Uccle/ Ukkel. The church was influential at the time and fiercely opposed to this method. Towards 1963 a first step was made by not objecting to cremation and it wasn’t until 1971 that the country passed its first legislation, finally accepting cremation as a valid alternative to burial. In 2001, a law states that relatives are allowed to have the possession of the remains and bring the urn back home. If that is not the wish, the remains can be placed in a columbarium (a public cinerary urn storage space), buried in a traditional tomb, or scattered in a specific zone of the crematorium estate. Scattering cremated ashes in the wild is currently illegal, yet it is the type of offence that is very hard to control. In 1986, about 20 percent of the deceased in Belgium were cremated. That figure has since ascended to 50 percent. It’s at its lowest in Wallonia (27 percent) and highest in Brussels (65 percent), with Flanders enjoying a middle ground (53 percent). There are currently 12 crematoria in Belgium, with new projects on the way, such as the recently operational Sint-Niklaas facility and the upcoming one in Holsbeek. To Xavier Godard, director of the Uccle/Ukkel crematorium, one can’t justify cremation’s surge of popularity by financial motives only, as he maintains that this method is not systematically cheaper. “There are many reasons, one of which was that a cremation ceremony didn’t have to pass by the church and could be performed in a simple and secular way. The burst of modern families, whose members are often spread across the world, is also an important factor. It becomes difficult choosing one single place where the deceased would remain. Another reason might be that the deceased would not want to burden its relatives with the maintenance of their tomb. There are also spiritual and personal preferences, many people wanting to be purified by fire.” The next step might be resomation, a new method that dissolves bodies in a chemical caustic solution, reducing costs and impact on the environment. The process has been approved in six states of the US, with Belgium making headlines this past summer, when talk of legalising the controversial method surfaced.

04. Six feet under

With the rise of cremation, cemeteries are less in demand. If that shift in trend conveniently minimises the growing issue caused by the lack of burial space, the disappearance of funerary art and monuments – for which people used to pay considerable amounts for and have become a part of our cultural heritage – should be mourned. Now that we have been granted the possibility to bring back the remains of our cherished ones home, it’s almost as though we are reverting to the ancient traditions of in-house mausoleums, or a family graveyard in the garden. With monument production on the decline, specialised marble smiths have become a dying breed, with those still around having branched out in the manufacturing of cremation urns. Many cities face serious space shortages and one can’t help but wonder what will happen when all the cemeteries are full. So far this scenario hasn’t yet occurred in Belgium, where they are state run, meaning ours is one of the few European countries where you can still be buried for free – for a maximum period of 10 years. Beyond that, you either had to renew the “lease” by paying for it, or, as used to be the case, the “expelled” coffins were placed in mass graves. These days they are reburied six meters under the ground. Spaces are not the only elements being recycled. Monuments that are deemed valuable and which are not claimed by the relatives become state property and the counsel has the right to sell them to other families. As for those who chose to “buy” a space, it will be allocated for a certain time but here again, there is no guarantee that the tomb will remain there for eternity. The Laeken cemetery is one of the oldest in Belgium and famed for the beauty of its monuments, which earned it the nickname of “the little Père Lachaise”. Other notable graveyards include the 18-acre park of Schoonselhof or the beautiful and intimate setting of Lasne’s cemetery.

Leave it to cult British promoters All Tomorrow’s Parties to throw the UK’s most hyped night of the year. Supported by Factory Floor, cult post-punk outfit The Pop Group (reformed after a 19-year hiatus) and Steve Albini’s Shellac, Sonic Youth aka “the world’s oldest kids” (as Fact magazine aptly dubbed them) headlined this New Year’s Eve superbill. Talk about the dreamed alternative to those dreaded NYE club nights or messy house parties. And just as we thought we couldn’t possibly love Sonic Youth more, the fact that they chose to open with the obscure 1983 release Brother James – when everyone had their bets riding on Teenage Riot – proved they are still as wonderfully unpredictable as ever.

Kicking off the New Year with a bang

The Pop Group – playing the previous night in Manchester

2. Swans – 25th November, Ancienne Belgique (Brussels)

Experiencing the deafening wall of sound created by Swans’ slow dirges was part of the great joys and pains offered by this past year. Ah, the joy of catching the legendary no wave band live – whose death had been announced 13 years ago – and the pain of enduring the near two-hour long concert without protective earplugs. The no wave outfit has been notorious for playing at ear bleeding volumes. You’d think we would have known better than to show up at Ancienne Belgique unprepared, right? Just imagine your eardrums being gang raped by a dozen screwdrivers and you’re still nowhere near it. Top that with an overcoming sense of nausea, and there you have it: the most intense live experience of the year.

Jim, from their 2010 release My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky

Little Mouth

3. Einstürzende Neubauten – 18th November, Ancienne Belgique (Brussels)

To celebrate their 30th anniversary, the German industrial band packed their tonne of stage gear and embarked on a mammoth world tour aptly titled Three Decades of Einstürzende Neubauten. Comprised of two dates each time, the first night saw a 45-minute show and separate performances by various band members as well as retrospective projections, the following night offering a more traditional Neubauten show. No drilling through the stage here, but a tight and rigorous performance, fascinating array of tools-turned-instruments, high-pitched screams, and carefully timed “stop and go” passages, with an awe-striken audience, silently respecting the breaks during which you could hear a pin drop. Well, at least on the first night.

Seele Brennt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5EEWeFFM0c&playnext=1&list=PL6423CADC5C1E50C4&index=23 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmDu6fmifcI&feature=related

4. The Almighty Defenders – 14th May, Botanique (Brussels)

Garage revival bad kids Black Lips and King Khan and BBQ Show have joined forces to bring us the most hilarious and sacrilegious gospel choir ever. After separate sets at last spring’s Nuits Botanique festival, they shared the stage, all six band members shifting between instruments and vocal duties, reading lyrics from worn out bibles and clad in see-through robes that left little to the imagination. Following the gig, Jared, who plays bass in the Black Lips, confessed that all the men in his family are actual preachers or involved in the church. Is that where the ida of the robes came from? “Nah not really, the guys just thought it would be funny.”

Almighty Defenders play The Ghost With The Most in Toronto

Almighty Defenders – I’m coming home

5. Hole – 5th May @ Brixton Academy (London)

Seeing the re-formed Hole play in 2010 was a comparable experience to seeing The Smashing Pumpkins back in 2008. With new line-ups and the original band dynamics gone, it just feels like watching a one-man/woman show. That said, Courtney Love is by far more entertaining than Billy Corgan, making her London show at Brixton Academy the most hilarious concert of the year. As her Twitter tirades have demonstrated more than once, the woman obviously suffers from a bad case of verbal diarrhea (her account has just been taken offline as a result of this, in case you were wondering). And whilst the songs were average and her vocal aptitudes weak, to say the least, the constant between-tracks banter was pure gold dust.

Courtney having a go at Billy Corgan

Courtney having a go at the “light person”

Courtney having a go at the county of Malibu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0URKsg9_mgo

Courtney having a go at an audience member

Writer Anneke Bokern

Studio Job’s Pyramid Angle © Studio Job

Suddenly, countries that never had much of an influence on the international design scene are developing into major markets. “People here want golden faucets”, an architect friend working in Shanghai once told me. “They’ve had to live with state-administered simplicity for more than two generations. Now they finally have a choice, and they’re not interested in minimal things anymore. They want lots of gold, ornaments, luxury.” Of course one could simply dismiss this as the proverbial bad taste that comes with new money – if it didn’t coincide with a newfound predilection for exuberance amongst designers in Europe. No matter whether the new markets in the east have had a liberating effect on design or vice versa: for a growing number of designers, less is a bore, and the new clientele is a welcome reason for going opulent. “People in countries like China and Russia haven’t gone through a hundred years of Bauhaus. They see with different eyes. They’re freer”, Dutch designer Marcel Wanders, one of the most famous exponents of anti-minimalism, explains. “I’ve always tried to steer clear of so-called good taste, and I love kitsch. Style is an invention of the insecure.” But Wanders wouldn’t be so successful if mere kitsch was all he produced. The trick is to balance sugariness with a dose of recalcitrance. Designers play with decoration, bringing together historic ornaments with rough-and-ready materials or traditional crafts with subversive imagery, trying to fathom the borders between maximalism and tackiness. In 2005 Amsterdam-based Studio Tjep presented its project Destructive Deco, which was in fact an experiment on ‘How deco can you go?’ On a simple veneer lampshade, three pattern layers were laser-etched successively. The laser burned the material, so during the second processing it started to cut into the lamp. Tjep presented the three stages of the lamp in an exhibition. While the first lamp simply featured a floral pattern, the second version was partly perforated. The third one was the most cut-up, the most decorated, and – due to the costly operation time of the high-end laser – also the most expensive. Nevertheless, visitors of the exhibition preferred the second lamp, signalling that more isn’t always better, but some ornamentation can’t hurt.

Studio Tjep.’s Chair of Textures © Tjep.

Studio Tord Boontje’s Allegro-Crescendo’s speakers © Pelle Crepin

Layering is a characteristic strategy in the work of studio Tjep, led by Frank Tjepkema. “Our style emerges when we go into detail”, Tjepkema says. “We like to work with structures, tactility and decoration. If there’s a certain richness to a design, I’m happy.” Although this richness often takes quite modern shapes, Tjep also like to create über-decorated works once in a while, such as the Chair of Textures. The chair, made of several cut-through layers of metal, looks like an oversized piece of jewellery. With two fat butterflies sitting on the backrest and flames licking up one of the legs – ”to add some drama”, as Tjepkema explains – it probably deserves to be called saccharine. Like a lot of Tjepkema’s work, however, it has to be seen within the context of design history. “This is so radically different from what was ‘de bon ton’ in the architectural world for decades and decades: a modernist approach to design in which a sense of detail, crafts and symbolic quality made place for unappealing, depressive functionalism”, he says.

He certainly isn’t alone in advocating this approach, which basically backlashes against the tired paradigm of form following function. But while Tjepkema is rather anti-dogmatic – jumping twinkle-toed from pieces with intricate fairy-tale decoration to very slick, even minimalist objects and back –, others take maximalism a step further. Five years ago, Dutchman Tord Boontje became famous for re-introducing floral ornaments into design. When his flower patterns faced the threat of a shift from trademark to fad, he left them behind, but anti-minimalism still pervades his design philosophy. “My education at the Design Academy in Eindhoven and at the Royal College in London was very much influenced by Bauhaus-ideals”, he recounts. “When designing something in those schools, one never used ornamentation or decoration. But why not? I had the feeling that something was missing in our world. Whenever I visited the Victoria & Albert Museum and saw old embroidery, wood carvings or jewellery, I got really enthusiastic.” Accordingly, Boontje doesn’t only employ a lot of decoration in his work, but also plays with historic references. With L’Armoire, for instance, he created a piece of furniture that looks like something that escaped from a David Cronenberg movie. Besides being just as outrageously curvaceous as it is expensive, the cabinet, made of Dalbergia and Padouk wood and hand-sawn Cocobolo veneer, contains an intricate mechanism, which has to be discovered in order to open its drawers. In essence, it’s a rococo cabinet on steroids.

Studio Tord Boontje's L'Armoire © Studio Tord Boontje

The question is, of course, whether something as extraordinary as this, created completely by hand, can still be classified as design, or whether it’s rather applied art. After all, didn’t Adolf Loos write in his legendary 1908 pamphlet Ornament and Crime that “ornament is nothing but wasted manpower”? Loos, however, lived in a time when machines were barely capable of bending a steel tube, whereas today they can produce remarkably detailed ornaments at the push of a button. A piece of furniture like L’Armoire probably has Loos rolling in his grave, but quite a few of Boontje’s objects, although no less ornamental, are machine-made, wasting no manpower apart from the designer’s. Studded with dainty flowers and insects, and resembling an 18th century still life painting more than a piece of technical equipment, Boontje’s Allegro-Crescendo speakers are the products of a rapid prototyping machine. “I like to compare this to William Morris‘ work”, Boontje says. “During the industrial revolution, factory workers lived in terrible conditions, just like today’s sweatshops. William Morris tried to produce things on a smaller scale and re-introduce craft, in order to achieve higher quality and also to improve the workers’ lives. I try to use new technology in order to re-introduce a higher level of detail into products.”

Besides this quest for quality, meaning and beauty in design objects, another factor pushing the trend towards opulence in design are clients. In recent years, more and more companies that used to be regarded as makers of ultra-traditional, even kitschy products want to work with designers, from crystal glass producer Swarovski to Spanish porcelain figurine maker Lladró. The latter even hired Spanish-born, London-based designer Jaime Hayon as creative director, resulting in several collections of figurines, including the aptly named Re-Deco series. Hayon is probably the first designer to find an appropriate appellation for his over-the-top, colourful and decidedly anti-ascetic style, calling it “Mediterranean digital baroque”. Recently, he designed the interior of the Fabergé Salon in Geneva, where he combined pseudo-traditional round shapes, chandeliers with elegant lampshades and room-high curtains with neutral, silvery colours, creating a space that looks like an updated version of a 1950s Hollywood interior. The only things missing were Cary Grant and Doris Day in his and hers silk dressing gowns.

Jaime Hayon’s Lladro © Jaime Hayon

Jaime Hayon’s Fabergé Salon © Jaime Hayon

Jaime Hayon’s Fabergé Salon © Jaime Hayon

“Believe me – it’s much more addictive to love kitsch than it is to love minimalism”, Hayon says. In contrast with Boontje, he doesn’t take his task too seriously, but sees himself as a kind of court jester. In fact, opulent design is at its most digestible when it has a slightly subversive undertone, like a hint of lemon in cream sauce. In Hayon’s work, it comes in the shape of gaudy colours, clown’s faces and Pinocchio noses. In the work of Antwerp-based Studio Job, founded by Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel, recalcitrance is more literally present – most of all in the imagery. The successful couple creates shamelessly unpractical objects, which often appear kitsch at first sight, but turn out to be rife with a dark, contemporary iconography at closer inspection. For Dutch ceramics manufacturer Royal Tichelaar, they made the Pyramid of Makkum, a surrealist tower of, well, things. How else can one sum up a fence, a pipe, a high-rise coffee pot with filter, a kettle – and gold-coloured steam? A closer look at the blue-and-white decoration reveals an even more idiosyncratic mix of cloverleaves, spoons, syringes, flowers, crucifixes, kitchen utensils, band-aids and safety pins. In a similar way, their Industry furniture feature images of hummingbirds, sea horses, dragonflies, skeletons, tanks, helicopters, hand grenades, gasmasks and fighter planes.

Studio Job’s Cabinet © Studio Job

In the case of Studio Job, the question isn’t just whether their works belong to the realm of design or applied arts, but sculpture also comes into play. Hardly anyone would ever dream of hanging their coat in the Industry closet, just like no one would use one of the Wonderlamps – a series of oversized cast bronze torches, pots, buckets and pipes, fitted with blobby mouth-blown crystal bulbs – to light their living room. Yet while Studio Job’s critics might claim it’s all just expensive trumpery, fans of their objects profess that the pair has crossed-over into the world of art. A few years ago at the high-end fair Design Miami Basel, sheikhs and their wives were roaming around their works with longing looks in their eyes. Ironically, what they were gazing at was a project called Robber Baron: five bronze objects representing factories with golden smoke coming out of their chimneys, with a 500 000 Euros pricetag, which according to the designers “tell the story of the excesses of American nineteenth century tycoons and the current oligarchs from Russia”. Kitsch, design or art? Maybe it’s time somebody came up with an entirely new category.

Photography Yassin Serghini

From top to bottom: Black and white (Steidl), Verses and versions (Harcourt Inc), Yesterday’s sandwich (Phaidon), 7KM (Snoeck), Red star over Russia (Tate), Vania (Gestalten)

Verses and Versions; Three Centuries of Russian Poetry (2008) – Selected and translated by Vladimir Nabokov – Harcourt Inc

Think Nabokov and Lolita is bound to be the first thing you think of. Though he gained worldwide acclaim through his novels, the Russian writer was also a formidable literary critic, chess player and linguistic doyen. Collected for the first time in one volume are Nabokov’s translations of Russian poetry, set along their original Russian versions as well as capsule profiles of the poets, including the greats such as Pushkin, Lermontov and Fet. Not just a mere anthology, this is a master class in the hopes, risks and thrills of translating. Don’t expect perfect facsimiled versions but instead an appreciation of one of Russia’s greatest literary minds executing a passion with the discursive and eloquent style he is famed for.

Available from Amazon

7KM (2009) – Kirill Golochenko – Snoeck

Europe’s largest marketplace lies on 70 hectares of what used to be wheat fields and a waste processing plant, seven kilometres from Odessa. This photographic series captures the workings of this ‘Field of Wonders’ that dates back to the Second World War and which developed from the most famous flea market in the Soviet Union. Documenting the people, commodities and conditions of this rather surreal and remarkable place, Golochenko depicts its streets of containers organised by bright colours and market stalls filled with wedding dresses, inflatable’s and imitation tiger rugs, everything a person could ever possibly need, or not. A celebration of kitsch and post-soviet wonderland.

Available from Amazon

Yesterday’s Sandwich (2007) – Boris Mikhailov – Phaidon

Hailed by many as one of the most, if not the most, influential photographers from the former Soviet Union, Boris Mikhailov’s work has left an indelible imprint on contemporary photography. Famous for his disturbingly honest Case History series, capturing the silent despair and social disintegration following the collapse of the Soviet Union in a full frontal manner, his early work deserves equal mention. The intriguing Yesterday’s Sandwich (1966) series resulted from a simple accident, when Mikhailov inadvertently super-imposed two slides and was fascinated by the outcome. He proceeded to purposely juxtapose nature close-ups, interiors and nudity (a major taboo in the Soviet era), with the intention of celebrating beauty or its absence. The results of his experimentations are suggestive, poetic, ridden with meaning – both abstract and figurative – but mostly, of a breathtaking beauty.

Available from Amazon

Black and White; A Suprematist Composition of 1915 by Kazimir Malevich (2009) – Andrei Nakov – Steidl

The groundbreaking painting ‘Black and White; Suprematist Composition‘(1915) by Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935) is the focus of this little wonder. Recent advances in conservation work mean that scholars are now able to understand this single piece in more detail. Articulated in the Suprematist ‘grammar’ of pure geometrical forms, the painting, along with others by Malevich like ‘White on White’ and ‘Black Square’, envisioned a new art, breaking with traditional form and realism. The book gives readers a peek into Malevich’s vision and conceptualism, placing it in the context of the fermenting political landscape and the wider international art scene of the time. A great synopsis of this abstract masterpiece of the Russian avant-garde, one which would go on to be an inspiration to so many movements in years to come, paving the way for Italian futurists and American minimalists in the 1950s.

Available from Amazon

Red star over Russia (2009) – David King – Tate

A mammoth of a book filled to the brim with posters, graphics and photographs detailing the course of events following the revolution from 1917 until the death of Stalin in 1953. This volatile period saw upheaval, civil unrest, war and the decimation of famine. The 1930s brought Stalin’s Great terror followed by the violent onslaught of the Nazi military machine. Scaling whimsical portraits of ordinary life and famous intellectuals to propaganda-pushing Stalin’s five-year plan, this is a dynamic look at the Soviet Union in its most changeable period. For a book with so many remarkable images, it is crammed full of historical insight. Definitely not just your average picture book.

Available from Amazon

Vania (2010) – Vania Zouravliov – Gestalten

Child prodigies never fail to spark interest, but in Vania Zouravliov’s case, it feels as though the body of work has managed to surpass the myth. The son of a painter and an art teacher, Vania dabbled around from an early age and counted international exhibitions and several television appearances by the time he turned thirteen. His remarkably detailed drawings are surreal and haunting portrayals of idealistic and ethereal beauty tinged with darkness. Morbid overtones of death, decay and decadence seep and overwhelm the dreamlike states, which resonate through much of his work. With influences ranging from his native Russian folklore and art to Japanese illustration and pop art, Zouravliov delivers an intriguing body of work in this monograph. Layered with dark motifs that are reminiscent of silent movies, “Vania” is thrilling, alluring and definitely disturbing.

Available from Gestalten Online Store

Photography Toon Aerts

Vladimir Kazakevicius, 55. Teaches legal Russian translation and ancient Lithuanian grammar at the Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB)

Born and raised in Vilnius, Vladimir lived in Riga, Moscow and Warsaw before moving to Belgium about thirty years ago. He finds it hard to pinpoint the essence of Russian physical attributes, but definitely recognizes distinct characterial traits such as a strong dose of nonchalance and a tendency not to take futile matters too seriously, along with a great sense of curiosity and appetite for knowledge. If his long hair and Rasputinian beard may give away his origins, he feels his most Russian feature is without doubt his complete devil-may-care attitude towards life.

Nina Hansch, 69. Human resources consultant

Although she has lived in Belgium since she was ten years old, Nina is firmly rooted in her Russian heritage. Like many of their compatriots, her parents fled the country after the revolution, settling in Prague, where she was born. When the Communist regime spread its wings even further, they migrated further West to Belgium, as political refugees. A head-hunter for foreign corporations who wish to establish themselves in Russia, she spends one third of her time there and loves their generosity and true sense of hospitality. On a professional level, she points to Russians’ lack of initiative and fear of responsibilities, their fatalism being a direct consequence of the authoritarian regime that prevailed for decades.

Vadim Vosters, 31. Visual artist

Born in France, Vadim is only one-third Russian, although his close relationship with his grandmother – who was from Slavyansk – has forged his strong bond with the country’s culture. Fascinated by her tempestuous life, working in camps and later fleeing the country, he even wrote a biography about his grandmother when he was younger. He remembers growing up with traditional cuisine and the Orthodox Easter celebrations being a way bigger deal than Christmas. Inheriting a lot of pre-war books from his grandmother, he incorporated a heavy portion of their images in his artwork. His most Russian traits are definitely his name, melancholy and way of partying.

Dima Soroko, 22. Film student at INRACI

Dima was born and raised in Chernigov, Ukraine, and came here three years ago, after his mother married a Belgian. Born in 1988, his passport states that he is Soviet, which he fully identifies to. Even though he returns to his homeland once a year to see his family, he has no plans of moving back there. He doesn’t miss much, save for the general post-Soviet spirit and open-mindedness, although he does sport a tattoo on his arm that spells “tenderness” in Cyrillic. An act of sweet nostalgia, all of his memories from home being linked to the tender moments of his childhood that he wants to remember.

Pauline Gorelov, 29. Textile designer

Having lived in Belgium most of her life – she was ten years old when her parents left Russia during the perestroika – Pauline doesn’t feel any particular sense of belonging. If anything, she considers her most Russian attribute to be her lack of tact, and one she likes the least. She did develop a skill for spotting two things in the streets: Ladas (her father used to buy second-hand models) and fellow Russians (from their walks to their haircuts). That said, she hasn’t seen much of both in the last ten years. The cars have all disappeared and as for her compatriots, their singularity has faded since the country opened up.

Lily Ageva, 52. House maid

Originally from the Caucasus region, Lily has been living in Belgium by herself for the past eleven years. Born in Gudermes, a Chechen town, her bold move was prompted by the problems resulting from the perestroika. She hasn’t returned there yet, due to passport issues. She doesn’t really miss her homeland that much though, having found a new life here in Belgium – she socialises with many Russians from the local community. She recognizes Russians when she sees them, but has a hard time figuring out exactly how or why, reminding us that there is not one typical Russian face, but as many as its various regions.

The portfolio is a photographic carte blanche given to a photographer whose work we like. The idea being to give the possibility to emerging talent of seeing their work published on the magazine’s pages. Up to 8 pages at that.

Two conditions. One, the work submitted must somehow or the other relate to an edition’s given title. Two, the work must exclusively be created for the magazine’s pages.

Interested ? First thing to do is email your most recent work (a PDF portfolio of no more than 8 pages including your full name and contacts details) to wewrite@thewordmagazine.be, with ‘Portfolio submission’ as a title. If we see a fit, we’ll be in touch within a week.

In the meantime, and in order to get your inspiration going, our 2011 editorial calendar can be found below. Get to know our albums, get a sense of what’s on our mind for each colours throught the keywords and, by all means, do already start pitching ideas.

Photography Ulrike Biets

Dan Klein, 30, singer and songwriter

Lead singer and keyboard player for Belgian band Vismets, Dan just spent his summer tirelessly touring the country as well as France following the May release of their debut album “Guru Voodoo”. The band ended the tour with a bang at a sold-out AB Box gig.

We sort of expected a rock n’ rolla to stock up on beer and crisps at the local night shop, but Dan led us to the Japanese supermarket instead. No booze, no junk. Just raw fish and gallons of green tea… “I once lived off nothing but Japanese food for about six months. If I had to spend a month in a bunker, that’s all I’d need.”

From left, clockwise: seaweed salad, wasabi crackers, Yukimi Daifuku mochi ice cream, Minori sushi rice, Yakinori Tokusen (roasted seaweed sheets), Genmaicha (green tea combined with roasted brown rice), Asage Nama miso soup and fresh salmon.

All available at Super Store Nagomi
119 Chaussée de Vleurgatsesteenweg
1000 Brussels
+32 (0) 2 648 59 11

Kim Peers, 33, model and stylist

She’s been the face of high-end brands such as Prada, YSL, Guerlain, and has walked the runways from Paris to Milan for the past decade. Kim now devotes her time to her first baby, born this past September.

Supermodels that actually eat… Shocker, right? Yet Kim’s extremely health conscious selection was actually based on precise calculations of the human body’s nutritive needs and the idea that a month in a bunker could become a spiritual quest. “I only picked things I really like and that could remind me of home. In order to remain sane, I allowed myself a few goodies: cake during the first days, then one coke for each following week.”

From left to right, top to bottom: Oxfam bio coke, Allos Amaranth tropical muesli, Allos Amaranth fruit muesli, bio apples, breakfast cake with cherries, breakfast cake with raisins, Horizon peanut butter, Abinda pâté, Florentin hummus

All available at Het Natuurhuis Bioshop
29 Otto Veniusstraat
2000 Antwerp
+32 (0) 3 233 23 56

Vincenzo Regine, 31, chef

Vincenzo settled at the Bocconi’s restaurant seven years ago, where he became head chef. He recently left the five-star Hotel Amigo’s restaurant to take on the direction of Via Lamanna, a 1400sqm lifestyle space on avenue Louise/Louizalaan, dedicated to Italian haute cuisine and set to open early December.

Could a man who cooks for a living get turned off by his kitchen’s stove? Certainly not. In fact, all Vincenzo wants in his bunker is a dish he cooked straight after picking his ingredients at the morning market: a roasted pheasant filet with mushrooms and pumpkin. “I want to treat myself and eat the entire dish on the first day. I’ll just read The Perfectionist, Bernard Loiseau’s biography, during the following 29.”

From left, clockwise: pheasant filet, thyme, raisins, pumpkin, chanterelle mushrooms and thinly sliced bacon

Pheasant purchased at the Good Meat butcher and vegetables from the Horeca 2000 grocer, both located at the Brussels morning market (only open to shops, grocers and restaurant owners)
Quai des Usines/Werkhuizenkaai
1000 Brussels

Nike's varsity jacket

The talk, given by self-styled consumer culture detective (you got to love the title!) Jason Fulton (a 10 year Nike veteran and now a freelance working for the likes of Converse, Diesel and Red Wing), was a little heavy on the usual buzz words (you know, ‘connecting’, ‘social media’, ‘fast-paced’ and the likes) although some interesting bits of wisdom were nonetheless given. Here’s a rundown of some of the key facts that stood-out:

• The varsity jacket is over 1/2 century old
• The word varsity is actually an abbreviation of the word university
• The jacket first made its appearance in 1865, when the Harvard baseball team needed a way to distinguish itself from other Ivy league universities
• The jacket quickly made its transition to mere sportswear (after baseball, american football also made it an essential match-day style to rock
• The jacket was always owned by the team, and not by the individual. Indeed, after match day, it was to be returned to the team.
• When, in 1952, the term teenager was coined, the varsity jacket came to epitomise ‘teenager cool’ as a way for groups of teens to distringuish themselves in some sort of grouped individuality.
• In the 1980s and 1990s, the jacket became a staple of street and, more specifically, hip hop culture (for more on this, get yourself a copy of Jamel Shabazz’s excellent book Back in the Days)
• Today, the historical significance of the jacket is evidenced by the amount of brands – Bathing Ape, Patta and Supreme, to name but a few – that have brought it back into the collective consciousness of style soldiers from Tokyo to Tel-Aviv.

There you have it, the history of the varsity jacket in eight bullet points.

Words and photography Vincent Duraud

Liv Vaisberg

Nicolas Buissart

Liv Vaisberg and Nicolas Buissart (who took part in our Follow the Guide exhibition with his much-loved Mayonnaise bracelet), a Belgo-French pair, are the founders of Charleroi Adventure, a quirky concept tour paying tribute to the city’s most desolate and overlooked landmarks. The first stop will drop you right on the tracks of a ‘ghost subway line’, which was built before the authorities realized it was hardly used. Lunch is enjoyed aboard an empty plane, before heading to a slagheap from which one can admire a never-ending landscape of (partly abandoned) factories and warehouses, some of which have now been rehabilitated and are run by art collectives. The guides will point out the fake neon palm trees that clash with the diffuse greyness; they will drive through ‘the most depressing streets in Belgium’… And they will do it all with nothing but love.

The ghost metro line

The ghost metro line

One of the many slagheaps of the region

The view from the top of a slagheap

Charleroi Adventure is now about a year and a half old and has grown to attract an unexpectedly eclectic crowd. “I first met Nicolas at a gallery opening in Antwerp,” co-founder Liv recalls. “When he told me that he was from Charleroi, I said ‘great, take me there!’” Her enthusiasm wasn’t what Nicolas had been used to in the past, so he took her on a personal tour two weeks later. Liv fell in love with the post-industrial landscape of the city and saw in it a promising potential for the future. Liv further explains: “We decided to organize these ‘safaris’ around the city, but initially envisioned them as an art performance”. In order to attract attention, they chose to adopt a provocative stance; unapologetically admitting it was “for the media stunt”. At first, the Charleroi Adventure website was only available in Dutch, English and German – despite the fact that French is the official language of the region – and, to this day, it opens with the statement that Charleroi is the ugliest city in Europe, as proclaimed by a recent Dutch poll. The pair was aware this would shock the residents of the city and more generally the entire country… And it worked: they benefitted from a wide media coverage – appearing on BBC, The Guardian or France Culture to name but a few – before the safaris had even started.

Nicolas and Liv present these safaris as a ‘voluntary art project’. At first there wasn’t even any organisation to speak of, just a small van and big ideas. Then they started doing tours specifically targeting amateur photographers, and this gave the project even more scope. “We’ve seen posh Dutch couples climbing up the charcoal hill in their Tod’s shoes or professional photographers coming along”, adds Liv. She had always wanted to organise tours around industrial areas such as the Ruhr region in Germany and Nicolas was keen on placing his hometown firmly on the map. Yet similarly to the colonialist connotation which safaris carried in Africa, these urban tours have been met with a great deal of negative reactions. “Yet to me,” says Liv, “Charleroi possesses an industrial heritage worthy of UNESCO. At first, people did not realise that we actually like this city and are not trying to ridicule it. When there’s an interesting festival taking place, we take our visitors there. Many cities like Berlin or Leipzig have used art in their industrial areas and, in doing so, have emerged stronger yet.” In that respect, they believe they have managed to help the city, as demonstrated by the recent creation of art residency Hotel Charleroi, or the fact that three music videos were shot there since. They even created T-shirts specially for the occasion, which say “Ik hou van Charleroi’, i.e. ‘I love Charleroi’.

© Jack Moyersoen

© Jack Moyersoen

Before seeing its supremacy challenged successively by the radio, television and the Internet, printed press held the undisputed monopoly on providing news and entertainment. Following the Second World War, dozens of newsstands, also elegantly known as “booths”, flourished all over Brussels. Posted on the sidewalks of the city’s busiest streets, these small aluminium and glass boxes provided the passers-by with a large selection of newspapers and magazines. In 1980, their total number peaked at 52. Today, with the development of independent newsagents, the Press Shop franchise and the shifting pattern towards an increasingly digital con- sumption of information, Brussels’ 11 remaining newspaper kiosks owe their survival to a handful of faithful customers and the inherent nostalgia and sympathy that these iconic and minuscule fortresses inspire. However many Belgians still enjoy purchasing their news bites from these cube-shaped print providers, working in one doesn’t seem to be an option anymore. The booths are now having a hard time finding a local owner. The prospect of working 12 hours a day, six days a week to earn the same amount you’d get on the dole understandably sounds like a bad deal. As a result, newsstands are now mostly occupied by courageous Vietnamese natives who more often than not barely speak a word of French or Flemish.

Philomène Heymbeeck, Maurice's surviving sister, posing in front of the booth their mother kept from 1944 to 1985 © Jack Moyersoen

To make matters worse, the crisis seems to have also hit one of the capital’s most cherished symbols of the press’ past golden era: Maurice’s newspaper kiosk on Place de la Monnaie/ Muntplaats, silenced and barricaded like a mummy in purgatory. Pierre Heymbeeck, better known as Maurice, was a true figure in downtown Brussels. His death a few weeks ago at age 78 has left many of his newspapers and customers orphans of their favourite newsagent. A true hardworking Brusseleer with a vintage sense of what customer service should be, his regulars were systematically greeted by their surname and eventually, a joke. Such was his popularity that he had clients still buying their gazettes from him even though they hadn’t lived or worked in the neighbour- hood for years. “He loved his job dearly,” sighs his surviving 73-year-old sister, Philomène. Retired nine years ago from working at a print shop, this still vigorous single lady should know. She’s dedicated most of her life’s spare time to helping out her family’s kiosk business. “We are a dynasty of newsagents,” she asserts proudly. “My grandmother was already selling newspapers in the streets of Brussels over 100 years ago. She used to call it ‘den tournai doon’ as she was not allowed to stay at the same place because the permit given by the city of Brussels stipulated ‘mobile street vendor’. I also remember my mum carrying around a ‘Metropole Hotel’ bag made with old bed sheets, stuffed with the current issues of the French newspaper L’Intransigeant. She made a living by selling them to tourists. It was hard work and she often stayed out in the streets until midnight.”

© Melika Ngombe

© Melika Ngombe

During the occupation in 1941, the Germans built two newsstands made of glass and aluminium on Place de la Monnaie/Muntplaats. In these politically uncertain times, virtually everyone was hungry for news and the Germans were also looking for ways to spread their propaganda. From then on, the ‘booths’ started to spread all over Brussels. Philomène’s mother saw an opportunity to sell more kinds of newspapers and magazines in a somehow less hostile environment. In 1944, she settled in the one right on the corner of Rue de l’Evèque/Bisschopstraat and turned it into a family affair. Nelly, Philomène’s sister, remembers: “Everyday at five am, our dad would walk to Rue du Persil/Peterseliestraat with a handcart to pick up the daily papers from the distributor and wheel them back to the kiosk. He would then open it from six am to 10am, at which time our brother Maurice would take over until 10pm. This routine would go on everyday of the week including public holidays. On Sundays, the kiosk was closed but it didn’t stop Maurice from working. He would go out on the streets around the Bourse/Beurs area to sell Les Paris Turfistes (a sport results newspaper) and Les Sports (which would go on to become La Dernière Heure) on the Parvis Saint-Gilles/Sint-Gillis Voorplein. By the 50s, newspapers and magazines were starting to become a big thing. Newspapers had up to five editions per day, and it wasn’t uncommon to sell 1000 copies of Le Soir.”

© Melika Ngombe

© Melika Ngombe

If all their hard work and dedication never really paid the Heymbeeck family big dividends, their booths did win a contest rewarding the highest sales of the ‘Pourquoi-Pas’ newspaper on several occasions. “That’s how Maurice won his first television set,” remembers Philomène. An eloquent speaker, intelligent and with a knack for jokes, Maurice turned newspaper sales into an art but, most notably, a genuinely human experience. His social skills, coupled with the hands-on experience he gained, led him to take on his own kiosk in 1972, right next to his mother’s. He went on to guard his prized square meter spot for the rest of his life. Hot in the summer, cold in the winter, these exposed urban workplaces are not for the faint-hearted. Inside you can barely turn around, and your vision is limited to the tiny unobfuscated open window through which the clients pop their head in to communicate. Thankfully, Maurice had nothing but friends in the neighbourhood. He could always count on the nearby café to let him use their bathroom and offer him a coffee. At night, while he was away, the bouncers of the ‘La Gaité’ nightclub kept an eye on his kiosk to prevent vandalism. Maurice was born in an era when Brussels was still a village with values of courage and dedication, and that vibe beamed around him through the Monnaie/ Munt square. Small businesses throughout the capital shut down everyday, but with the demise of Maurice’s booth, it is the entire downtown Brussels which lost a part of its soul.

Here are some pictures of the last remaining kiosks, courtesy of our photography intern Melika.

© Melika Ngombe

© Melika Ngombe

© Melika Ngombe

© Melika Ngombe

© Melika Ngombe

© Melika Ngombe

© Melika Ngombe

Photography Jochem Thyssen and Vincent Duraud

© La villa hermosa

In fact, thanks to a certain journalist by the name of Jean Claude Defossé, Belgium has become pretty well known for them. He launched a TV-show in 1986 called “Les Grands Travaux Inutiles”(GTIs), where he would track down and inform the population of new examples of defective, unfinished or pointless public works around the country that were sucking up ridiculous amounts of their tax money. Exhibits aplenty. There’s a solitary railway bridge in the midst of a field in Varsenare, which was built especially for the never-constructed motorway Calais-Zeebruges. Price tag: 2.62 million Euro. Charleroi’s metro network is another good one: out of the eight lines planned, only three have been built so far, with only one and a half actually in use – pretty remarkable considering its construction started back in the 70’s.

The railway bridge in Varsenare © Jochem Thyssen

The railway bridge in Varsenare © Jochem Thyssen

The railway bridge in Varsenare © Jochem Thyssen

The railway bridge in Varsenare © Jochem Thyssen

The railway bridge in Varsenare © Jochem Thyssen

The railway bridge in Varsenare © Jochem Thyssen

The railway bridge in Varsenare © Jochem Thyssen

The railway bridge in Varsenare © Jochem Thyssen

Charleroi’s abandoned metro network © Vincent Duraud

Charleroi’s abandoned metro network © Vincent Duraud

Charleroi’s abandoned metro network © Vincent Duraud

Charleroi’s abandoned metro network © Vincent Duraud

Charleroi’s abandoned metro network © Vincent Duraud

Before the third state reform in 1988, when the regions became responsible for their own budget, many of these GTIs were a consequence of Belgium’s “waffle iron” politic, meaning that when Flanders was granted subsidies for a certain project, Wallonia would receive an equal sum for a similar project and vice versa. Whether or not such a project was deemed a necessity remained irrelevant. “Giving the regions financial authority luckily did lead to a certain decrease in GTIs,” Defossé explains. “But we can’t only blame them on budget division. A lot also comes down to megalomaniac engineers and politicians.” Besides enjoying the prestige that comes with developing big projects, engineers receive bonuses in parallel with the amount of cement used and will justify the need for these works. Sometimes it just comes down to bad planning, like the bridge near Ypres that simply ends mid air, as the government later decided not to extend that part of the A19 highway after all. “I’m all for public works,” Defossé stresses, “but they need to be useful.”

The Ypres bridge that ends mid-air © Jochem Thyssen

The Ypres bridge that ends mid-air © Jochem Thyssen

The Ypres bridge that ends mid-air © Jochem Thyssen

The Ypres bridge that ends mid-air © Jochem Thyssen

The Ypres bridge that ends mid-air © Jochem Thyssen

The Ypres bridge that ends mid-air © Jochem Thyssen

It’s true that these projects cost an arm and a leg. Yet often, even ministers don’t know what they’re signing up for. All it takes is a Machiavellian or incompetent engineer, who, when presenting a project, doesn’t quite get the budget right. “Take the Strépy-Thieu boat lift,” Defossé reminds us. “It was supposed to cost 5.5 billion BEF. Fast-forward 20 years and they’d – surprise, surprise – gone a little over budget. Though official numbers spoke of 24 billion BEF, a professor at the university of Mons had calculated 114 billion BEF would be a more accurate sum. There are less GTIs nowadays, as we’ve become more responsible,” he concludes, “The next step is to be able to hold people accountable for them.”

The Strépy-Thieu boat lift © Jochem Thyssen

The Strépy-Thieu boat lift © Jochem Thyssen

The Strépy-Thieu boat lift © Jochem Thyssen

The Strépy-Thieu boat lift © Jochem Thyssen

Photography Toon Aerts

Criminals and potential dangers are concealed by darkness. The fear of the unknown is magnified by the restriction of our sense of sight, leaving the bravest among us far more vulnerable. The streets are deserted, the world is creepily silent, and we are left alone to face our own mortality. No one will hear you, no matter how loud you scream. The concept of rough life-choices, and therefore rough jobs, has haunted us since first brainstorming this issue. Quickly, the idea of night-workers crept in as we couldn’t help but wonder how these people’s experience of society and the city they live in might be altered by their nocturnal shift hours. After hunting down the capital’s night owls and spending time with them – struggling to keep our eyelids open in the process – we were surprised, to say the least. Not that we were expecting pill-popping and booze downing head-cases or gun-wielding homicidal maniacs, but all five of the individuals we tagged along with seemed genuinely grounded, passionate about their jobs and far less drained than we ever could have imagined. Pretty much all right, really. They all concede that the nightfall in the city attracts a different fauna, but also paint a different picture than what popular culture might want you to believe. Whether it involves driving others around, warranting general safety, providing your after-hours essentials, saving lives, or baking that fresh loaf of bread just waiting for you as the new dawn arrives, our night timers get on with their middle-of-the-night routines with the same ease as your regular nine-to-fiver. That is not to say that the graveyard shift, as it is sombrely referred to, comes with no compromise or jeopardy to ones physical and mental health. Centuries of evolution have conditioned mankind to nurture a biological clock expecting activity during the day and sleep at night. Technological and scientific progress might fool us into thinking we’ve surpassed the laws of nature, but it sometimes wouldn’t hurt to reassess that fantasy. Sunlight is still the primary energy source for life on this planet and its disappearance has dramatic impacts on the physiology, morphology and behaviour of almost every living organism. The health hazard linked to irregular schedules is now a proven fact. Off-kilter hours affect the circadian rhythm and cause hormone levels to go haywire. Working several nights back to back is as harmful, especially during winters, as it can lead to total daylight depravation. After conducting research in the Saint-Pierre/Sint-Pieter University Hospital’s sleep lab, hormonal anomalies in the blood samples of those working three nights in a row could still be detected up to three weeks later. The medical staff proceeded to adopt a system whereby night-shifters would have a day off following each shift, as the night off of “normal” sleep helped eliminate detrimental effects. Yet this system is still marginal and most workers adopt a steady routine of night labour. Much as they may adjust to their nocturnal lifestyle, the irreplaceable soothing virtues of a good night’s sleep remain to be matched. Daytime workers head home and benefit of several hours to unwind and distance them- selves from their professional environment. Most graveyarders have no choice but to hop right into bed with their curtains drawn, carrying that stress and tension. On the bright side, most of them point out that even though their social lives suffer, they get to spend more time with their children, and those who work long shifts understandably benefit of more days off than an average nine-to- fiver. The workplace enjoys a noticeably more laid-back atmosphere, since the higher tiers of hierarchy would never subject themselves to this reversed schedule. As for the human aspect, it is drastically different too. The lack of people around reinforces the bonds created between colleagues and third parties. The night-shifters we met almost unanimously claim they are pleased with their lifestyle and wouldn’t have it any differently. Some have been courted with daytime positions but they declined those offers without any regrets. You might not ever see these men but, trust us, they own the night.

The law enforcer

Works as a “three-shifter”: the first day from 7am to 7pm, the second from 12pm to 10pm and the third from 7pm to 7am, followed by two days off. Receives a night premium, though less significant than the weekend and public holiday bonus.

Geert Beck is a police superintendant at the Amigo precinct, located right in the heart of central Brussels. He’s been working odd shifts for the past 27 years but it’s a case of being upside down for as long as it feels right. “You never know what the night will bring. You start with a blank canvas and watch it unfold, minute by minute.” He’s downing his 20th cup of coffee since the morning. “The hardest hour is without a doubt four am. Fatigue kicks in, inspectors get tired and nervous, they’re not robots you know. People who come in are edgier too. During the day they report a theft or a crime that took place while they were sleeping, whereas at night, they have often been direct victims and are therefore in much more of a state.” The golden rule he has learnt over the years is to remain calm. Relativity is important. A plastic bag containing a rope lies on his desk. It’s the noose from a suicide that happened earlier in the day. Next door, an old lady in an impoverished state is being interrogated. It’s the third time she had been arrested for shoplifting that week and has defecated herself. When constantly subjected to such sights, humour and a certain sense of detachment become a necessity. “I used to patrol at night years ago. It was a singular experience. The streets are empty, making it easier to drive, but they attract different crowds.” Yet Geert admits one of his biggest challenges is finding solutions to certain situations. “What do you do when a family of refugees presents itself at the front desk at 11pm? Or if a victim doesn’t speak any of the national languages? Translators are on call, but they’re not always eager to jump out of bed to come to the precinct. The truth is though, life does not end at eight pm”.

The city’s chauffeur

Works from 7pm to 7am, five days a week. The salary is on par with dayshift as there are less taxis at night, but also fewer clients.

Alain is a 63-year-old taxi driver who’s been cruising through the capital’s streets for the past 16 years. “I initially saw it as a short-term fix after losing my job but then realised working at night was not that bad. I attempted working days because, let’s face it, man is a diurnal animal. We need and crave natural light. But it was far more stressful between traffic jams, strikes, protests, or simply finding myself stuck behind a garbage truck.” Clocking up about 250 km per night and 100.000 km per year (versus your average Joe’s 15.000 km) naturally makes safety a sizeable issue and getting car insurance absolute hell. “You see foolish moves drivers wouldn’t ever dare attempting in broad daylight: driving through red lights, engaging in one-way streets, having a go at dangerous manoeuvres… Obviously alcohol doesn’t help. I avoid accidents everyday.” And that’s without counting assaults and aggressions that, sadly, occur more often than you’d think. “Still, I love the freedom and human contact that comes with the job. The cab is a sealed bubble in which strangers open up, assuming they won’t ever see me again. It can get heavy at some points, and I have no other choice but tersely remind clients I am neither their father nor their shrink.” Awkward confessions aside, he also picks up his fair share of fabulists. “A guy once introduced himself as a secret agent. He was on a mission in a bar I suppose. His advice was priceless. Now I know that if a KGB vehicle ever follows me and overtakes my car, I have to duck down to avoid their Kalashnikov’s bullets!”

The all-night grocer

Works from 10pm to 6am six nights a week. Does not receive a salary increase for working nights.

If you’re the type to run errands around five am, chances are you already know Hameed. He’s posted in one of the very few night shops of the capital that stays open around the clock, on Rue du Midistraat, just off the Bourse/Beurs. Hameed is 40, moved to Belgium from Pakistan five years ago, and has been working in night shops ever since. The job doesn’t involve much, apart from stocking up the aisles and serving customers, but fatigue usually sets in around five am. That’s when he’ll share a Red Bull with whomever he is working with. Tonight it’s 31 year-old Jatinder, who’s also from Pakistan. Their English is fairly basic and their French and Flemish even more limited, making it hard for them to understand what’s going on, tough they clearly seem very amused and completely un-phased by the loud or staggering oddballs they face on a daily basis. “I go back home once a year for a full month, but I prefer life here,” he admits, even though working the graveyard shift was far from being a choice. “I enrolled in unemployment offices, waited, but nothing ever came up.” Despite being well aware his health is at risk and actually feeling it, he’s a happy man. “I love Brussels, it’s really safe here,” – a surprising statement given his line of work. Never robbed? Never attacked? “No, the police station is right down the road, it’s not dangerous.” Compared to his previous life, in the politically unstable province of Punjab, where he used to work on construction sites during the day, this compares to a walk in the park.

The lifesaver

Works from 8pm to 7 am, on a one-night on/one night off basis. Receives a night- premium.

Luc began working in the Saint-Pierre/Sint-Pieter University Hospital’s night division more than 30 years ago. “I discovered a whole new world. One that can be brutal, at times despised and of which very little is known,” he recalls. For the past 24 years, he’s been in charge of coordinating all the institution’s night divisions. The brutality that comes with the central location of the hospital and the eclectic population surrounding it is obviously noteworthy. “Receptionists might sit behind bulletproof windows, the verbal abuse they are subjected to demands nerves of steel. There was a time when I was afraid to walk in certain hallways,” remembers Luc of the old days, when no security was in place. “People rolled in and out of the facility just like that.” The situation got really bad about 15 years ago, leaving the nurses no choice but to rally and demand the implementation of an external security firm. Millions of Euros were invested and the hospital now employs a total of 46 guards. “General safety might have improved but there is a very busy nightlife around the hospital, one that encapsulates all the troubles of the city – unemployment, violence, drugs, crime, rape, and homelessness. On certain weekends, the cleaning team must still remain constantly posted at the reception to wipe the blood seeping from gunshot or stabbing victims.” Yet as hard as the job sometimes appears to be, it’s a choice Luc swears he never regrets. “The night always feels too short and I rarely get tired because I’m always busy. I don’t know if one can say you ever really get used to it, but I love what I do.”

The baker

Works from 8pm to 4am, six days a week. His night bonus adds up to about an extra 300-450 Euros per month.

One of the city’s most surprising gems is the Au Vatel bakery’s atelier, which fully operates all night long in order to supply the neighbouring European quarters, hotels and the capital’s public transport network, but most notably has the particularity of being completely open to the public. People in the know creep in through its dodgy crack-tiled entrance on Rue Général Lemanstraat for some fresh bread and pastries, made available at the oddest of hours. A true night owl, 40-year-old Abdel has been working there for the past seven years. He used to be a nine-to-fiver at Sibelgaz but that didn’t suit his sleeping pattern. “When I worked at the office, I went out a lot and would only sleep two or three hours.” Now he’s upgraded himself to five. Fatigue is there, but he’s learnt how to deal with it. The colourful and laid back atmosphere in the factory helps. All six workers constantly crack jokes at each other. As for the contact with the customers, it is drastically different, too. “They’re way more funny at night and especially on weekends. Most of them start rolling in as of three am. Some even linger for half an hour. I love it. We have a blast. This would never happen during normal hours. People are much more inhibited and contrived.” Au Vatel used to be an easy target for hold-ups (even though the cash till never contained more that a hundred Euros at best), but those days are long gone. “I’ve never witnessed anything of the kind since I’ve been here.” For someone who is clearly very fond of the city at night, he obviously misses it. “When I’m not working, I just sit around in cafés. I get a kick from watching the rest of the world get on with their jobs.”

Photography, fashion & art direction KKGB

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/14235264[/vimeo]

The Warriors

Left to right, top to bottom: Byram Model’s Own — Jérémie wears Tank top “Le Fabuleux Marcel de Bruxelles”, Sheep skin vest Costumart, Jeans and boots Model’s Own — Selwyn wears Jeans Diesel, Zipped boots Sacha — Raphael wears Jeans Denham from RSRV — Ezekiel wears Jeans Diesel, Lace up boots Boss Orange — Enzo wears Jeans Denham from RSRV, Tee shirt and Trainers Model’s Own — Idrissa wears Jeans Closed, Lace up boots Sacha — Jurgen wears Jeans Diesel, Chains Model’s Own, Boots Sacha, Leather vests and batons Costumart

The Lizzies

Marjolijn wears Vest Mais il est où le soleil?, Dress Patrizia Pepe, Belt (worn as a necklace) Ikks, Necklace Nico Taeymans, Clutch and cuff Delvaux, Bracelet and necklace (worn as a bracelet) & ring Swarovski, Booties Robert Clergerie — Sandrine wears Sweater dress Natascha Stolle from Hunting & Collecting, Belt Model’s Own, Feather headband Costumart, Necklace Marion Vidal, Bracelet & ring Thomas Sabo, Necklace (worn as a bracelet)& Bracelet Longchamp, Clutch Model’s Own, Boots Rog Willer — Sabrina wears Dress h&m, Necklace Marion Vidal, Belt Patrizia Pepe, Feather headband Costumart, Ring Melody Eshani @ Kakkoiiiro, Bag Gucci − Khloe wears Tee shirt h&m, Leggings Filles à Papa, Necklace and bracelet Marion Vidal, Shoes Model’s Own − Louise wears Tank Ikks, Leggings and clutch Filles à Papa, Necklace Marion Vidal, Wedges Robert Clergerie − Julie wears Cardigan Hoss, Top Jean-Paul Knott, Leggings Patrizia Pepe, Feather bracelets Mais il est où le soleil?, Clutch Model’s Own, Shoes Robert Clergerie.

The Fixies

Leon wears Cardigan Tommy Hilfiger, Shirt Essentiel Homme, Shorts épisode, Hat Costumart, Trainers JoJo’s —Xavier wears Vest éric Bompard, Tee shirt Vandenvos, Shorts épisode, Socks and shoes Model’s Own —Yoann wears Shirt Tommy Hilfiger, Trousers Lacoste, Trainers Model’s Own —Romain wears Cardigan Lacoste, Trousers Céline Collard, Shirt and shoes Model’s Own —Hannibal wears Cardigan “Le Fabuleux Marcel de Bruxelles”, Shirt Tommy Hilfiger, Trousers Hugo by Hugo Boss, Cape Model’s Own, Trainers JoJo’s.

The Hockey Jocks

Pedro wears Jacket Onitsuka Tiger, Tee shirt Superdry, Jeans Levi’s, Trainers Nike —Nicolas wears Jacket Levi’s, Cardigan Boss Green, Jeans h&m, Tee shirt and Sneakers Onitsuka Tiger— Joe wears Jacket l.o.g.g., Polo Onitsuka Tiger, Shorts Model’s Own, Trainers Converse —Karim wears Jacket épisode, Tee shirt Nike, Jeans Filippa K, Trainers Nike —Rokko wears Jacket Nike, Hoodie Superdry, Tee shirt Nike, Trousers Bellerose, Sneakers Diesel.

The Circus

Hyun wears Blazer Costumart, Tee shirt Filippa K, Trousers Essentiel Woman, Necklace Uto Pia, Brooch “La mouche à deux culs” from Lez-arts-cachés, Trainers Perso —Ilyas wears Woman blazer and Tee shirt h&m, Trousers épisode, Necklace Uto Pia, Shoes Sacha —Jean-Baptiste wears Jacket Closed, Woman’s top h&m, Pants épisode, Necklace Uto Pia, Brooch “La mouche à deux culs”, Bracelet Model’s Own, Stick Costumart, Shoes h&m − Deborah wears Lamé vest Costumart, Trousers épisode, Necklace Uto Pia, Shirt Model’s Own, Socks Rue Blanche, Boots Sacha —Yves wears Vest Diesel, Tee shirt Filles à Papa, Trousers Rue Blanche, Necklace Uto Pia, Shoes Model’s Own —Minh wears Perfecto Agnès b. Femme, Tank top “Le Fabuleux Marcel de Bruxelles”, Trousers épisode, Necklace Uto Pia, Suspenders Costumart, Trainers Fago.

And here are the picture you weren’t supposed to see…

KKGB is

Photographer Gabriele Trapani
Photographer’s assistant Basile Cuvelier
Art director Nam Simonis
Fashion Amarande Angely, Brunel Mintona
Hair & make up Orla McKeating & Miaou and Eileen Caytan@cestchic.be with Redken
Video Federico Zanghì
Editing Matthieu Becker
Casting & Executive Production Soumaya DanceMachine

Thanks to

Tamarind Foods, La Fabrique 22A, Belinda Cordier from C’est Chic, Fred@CutMe, Nico & Yoann from Reservoir Shop, Marie-Pierre Duquenois, Cristina Damman & Costumart

And all the gangs

The Warriors: Jurgen, Idrissa, Ezekiel, Selwyn, Enzo, Jeremie, Byriam, Raphael
The Lizzies: Sabrina, Marjolijn, Julie, Sandrine, Louise, Khloe
The Fixies: Xavier, Romain, Leon, Hannibal, Yoann
The Hockey Jocks: Joe, Karim, Rokko, Nicolas, Pedro
The Circus: Jean-Baptiste, Hyun, Minh, Ilyas, Deborah, Yves

Photography Sarah Michielsen

1. Saab 900i 16v

Year 1991, Purchased in August 1991, Price 610,000 Belgian francs (approx.€15,000)

A word from the owner “The only extra option is the rooftop which needs to be opened by hand. Other than that, the car is already very complete: heated driver and passenger seats, windshield wipers on the head lights, an air cabin filter, back window heating system, etc…”

With thanks to the Saabclub Belgium (saabclub.be)

2. Citroën DS 21 electronic injection

Year May 1971, Purchased in 2001,Price 35,000 French francs (approx.€5,300)

What won the owner over “The car’s design, the cultural context it enjoyed during its 20 years of service, the drive and the many movies it was featured in, such as ‘The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob’ (Gérard Oury, 1973) or ‘Going Places’ (Bertrand Blier, 1974).”

With thanks to the DS-SM club Belgium (dssmclub.be)

3. BMW M635 CSI E24

Year January 1985, Purchased in 2005, Price €25,000

A word from the owner “What is there to say about BMW? Until recently, the brand had a soul, a unique style – one that got lost during the Christopher Bangle (BMW’s former design chief) period, but which is slowly coming back. Up to 30 years ago, BMW drivers used to salute each other at red lights.”

Below are some shots of the owner’s impressive BMW collection.

© La villa hermosa

C’est arrivé près de chez vous (Man Bites Dog), by Rémy Belvaux, 1992

Misère au Borinage by Henri Storck and Joris Ivens, 1933

Pour vos beaux yeux (For Your Beautiful Eyes), by Henri Storck, 1929

From the 1930s on, the filmmaker’s predilection for social issues had a lasting impact on the history of Belgian cinema. The Dardenne brothers are obviously Henri Storck’s most illustrious heirs – they even paid him a public tribute in Cannes when awarded the Palme d’Or for their film Rosetta (1999). In just seven films, including two Palmes d’Or, the brothers from the Liège/Luik region have become the masters of social and realistic cinema, exploring themes such as illegal immigration, unemployment, and exploitation. Henri Storck is also present, this time as an actor, in Chantal Akerman‘s masterpiece, Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975). The film depicts the meticulous and alienating schedule of a young widowed mother who prostitutes herself to supplement her income. The more than three-hour long movie focuses on actions deemed insignificant, such as peeling potatoes, and is recorded in real time. These scenes function in fact like a time bomb: Jeanne, disturbed by a simple shift in her schedule, kills one of her customers with a pair of scissors.

Trailer Rosetta, by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 1999

Trailer L’Enfant (The Child), by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2005

The potato peeling scene from Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, 1975

Monstrosity and banality appear again and again as two sides of the same reality which Belgian cinema strives to show. As for human perversity, Strass (Vincent Lannoo, 2002) is probably the most shocking example after C’est arrivé près de chez vous. The only Belgian movie made in compliance with Lars von Trier‘s Dogme95 manifesto portrays a despicable theater teacher, imbued with vulgarity and violence. In the burlesque vein, the characters of Camping Cosmos (Jan Bucquoy, 1996), from porn actress Lolo Ferrari to singer Arno, are just as politically incorrect. More recently, Ex-Drummer (Koen Mortier, 2007) tells the raw story of three losers united by their respective handicap to form a heavy metal band. If more poetic universes exist (remember the dancing flowers in the social housing of Toto le Héros, Jaco Van Dormael, 1991) attachment to marginal subjects remains a constant. Through this apparent harshness, signs of hope also arise, such as in Les Convoyeurs Attendent (Benoît Mariage, 1999) which ends with the dancing celebration of the new year 2000. In the end, the lesson of Belgian cinema might be : despite the “Helaasheid der dingen” (to borrow the title of young filmmaker Felix van Groeningen‘s latest masterpiece), chances of success still exist.

Strass by Vincent Lannoo, 2002

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC3srNktZ6k

Camping Cosmos by Jan Bucquoy, 1996

Ex Drummer by Koen Mortier, 2007

De Helaasheid der dingen (The Misfortunates) by Felix van Groeningen, 2009

Photography Jochem Thyssen

Zebra Bar, Place Saint-Géry 33 Sint-Goriksplein 1000 Brussels

Café Kafka, Rue De La Vierge Noire 6 Zwarte Lievevrouwstraat 1000 Brussels

A L'Imaige De Nostre-Dame, Impasse des Cadeaux 3 Geschenkengang 1000 Brussels

A L'Imaige De Nostre-Dame

A L'Imaige De Nostre-Dame

Gecko Bar, Place Saint-Géry 16 Sint-Goriksplein 1000 Brussels

Au Soleil, Rue du Marché au Charbon 86 Kolenmarkt 1000 Brussels

Au Soleil

Au Soleil

Le Pantin, Chaussée d'Ixelles 355 Elsense Steenweg, 1050 Brussels

Le Pantin

Le Pantin

Free University of Brussels (ULB), Avenue Franklin Rooseveltlaan 50 1050 Brussels

Free University of Brussels (ULB)

Free University of Brussels (ULB)

Free University of Brussels (ULB)

Free University of Brussels (ULB)

Free University of Brussels (ULB)

Free University of Brussels (ULB)

Free University of Brussels (ULB)

Free University of Brussels (ULB)

Sadly, the folks at the Lokerse Feesten didn’t seem to grasp the concept. Despite carrying a valid photo-pass, our photographer – who shoots on film – was not allowed at the front-stage because the camera was “not big enough”. No, really. The security team made a life mission of preventing any spontaneous contact between artists and mere mortals, including members of press, and quickly got onto our case. We’re not going to bore you with trivial details, but it ended with us being declared persona non grata and being subsequently evicted from the site in a completely unnecessary hostile fashion. Our photographer’s right hand was stabbed along the way by what was no more than a glorified steward posing as a security agent, visibly affected by the kind of self-importance that reminds us of a certain experiment. Her hand required surgery and will be paralyzed for at least two weeks. Now you tell us Robbie, was that really necessary?

Photography Ulrike Biets

Here’s some of the material we were able to get despite our limited access. It would be a shame not to share something that (questionably) deserved shedding blood for.

After a hilarious two-hour show where he was beheaded, hung, stabbed by a sword, skewered in a nail-filled coffin, impaled by a giant syringe, rolled around in a wheel chair and beaten up, Alice Cooper was in high spirits and even smelled surprisingly good.

Hygiene is obviously not something his camp take lightly and even the truck and tour bus crew had their own private toilets.

We caught Air’s Jean-Benoît Dunckel after their gig and gave him a camera. He digged the idea and promised to send it back with their tour adventures.

M.I.A.’s current tour features three “vocalists” dressed in customized burqas that stand and dance on stage during the entire gig. They’re actually random girls that are picked up in every city. Their mics are on mute and the headgear conveniently conceals the fact that they do not know the lyrics.

For her Belgian stop, the singer asked lingerie designer Muriel Scherre from La Fille d’O (pictured right) to hook her up with three models. It’s a shame they were covered from head to toe since the girls were obviously banging hot and so was the underwear.

Remember him? He was one of the redheads featured in the controversial Born Free video, directed by Romain Gavras. It turns out White Boy, as he is nicknamed, is also a dancer and has the sickest moves we’ve seen in a while.

M.I.A. invited all the ladies in the crowd to join her but (surprise, surprise) the security team did everything they possibly could to prevent the stage invasion from happening. Annoyed, the singer refused to perform the next song until she was sufficiently surrounded.

Some lucky girls made it, one of which Natalie (in the white t-shirt), who posed as a rock star in our current issue’s fictitious breakthrough band.

Why even bother printing out a set list if you’re going to ignore it anyway? “She’s always fucking it up completely”, moaned a confused White Boy, who never quite knew when it was his cue to jump in and show off his moves.

Paul Weller is dubbed the “Modfather”. We’ll simply refer to him as the “Silver Fox”.

The Horrors‘ frontman Faris left the festival with one of our disposables. We’re hoping to get it back if he makes it at Kurt + Kelly’s Dark Decades exhibition, opening later this month and which will feature some of his drawings.

Pete Doherty vs. the Throw Away Project: Round II. We managed to catch him before the Babyshambles gig and asked him about our camera. He actually remembered the story. We gave him a new one and he promised he’d send it back. Given he also looked pretty loaded this time, we won’t be holding our breath.

The one thing that didn’t suck about this festival was the free of charge Baywatch pinball machine.

Here’s one of the charming goons we had the privilege of encountering. We’ll see who gets the last laugh…

The disarming femme enfant Uffie admitted to us she enjoys pretending to not understand a word of French, that way she can secretly eavesdrop all ongoing conversations in the press area.

Lola Olafisoye, singer of Chrome Hoof, certainly has what it takes to be Grace Jones’ little sis – crazy as hell, but full of humour. Here she is on her way to the stage, where her band is about to give one of the most impressive concerts of the entire festival.

The only element capable of outshining their music was the mad wardrobe donned on stage.

Atari Teenage Riot is back! Anno 2010 Alec Empire, CX Kidtronik and Nic Endo stirred up the public with their digital hardcore – which stands for an ear blowing sound and phenomenal boost of energy. This gig was (rightfully) many peeps’ absolute highlight at the festival.

Atari Teenage Riot’s front man Alec Empire posing for us right after the gig.

The outer space monsters from Gwar certainly know how to entertain an audience. As if their ridiculous outfits weren’t enough, they went on to chop Hitler’s penis on stage, beheaded the Pope, skinned a Taliban terrorist and sodomized Jesus…

After a Gwar gig, one is bound to be covered in blood and semen (fortunately fake).

Giacomo, singer from rock band Romano Nervoso, enjoyed every second of it.

The dudes from Monotonix are authentic madmen. Here, singer Ami Shalev attempts poking his own eyes with the metal sign. During the concert, a member of the audience went on to call him a monkey – He made sure to correct that person by pointing out that he is in fact a Neanderthal.

The band ended up playing outside of the tent, because they constantly moved all of their instruments, in all directions, even from bottom to top – At certain moments, every band member was up in the air, even the drummer and his drum kit.

We ran into Dim, the leadsinger from Belgian band Driving Dead Girl – who opened the festival Saturday afternoon – well on his way to become completely wasted, courtesy of Jack Daniel’s.

New Young Pony Club pose with towels after their gig. They were a little bit sad they couldn’t linger more to check out the other bands playing at the festival.

Otto Von Schirach and Jimmy Edgar share a bottle of whiskey behind the scenes in between their two gigs. Otto is a complete nutter and it turns out Jimmy is not only a skilled DJ, but also a revered fashion photographer – which explains his frenzy when he saw my vintage camera. We obviously gave him one of our disposables to shoot away. Stay tuned!

For some reason, Luuk from Shameboy was very keen on badmouthing the girls from Flemish band K3.

Here are The Subs arriving at Dour, self-promoting their hit single by wearing a tawdry t-shirt from The Pope of Dope.

The boys’ pumping beats and raw energy was so infectious that it lead the crowd to go bananas. Some even tried to pull down the pants of singer Papillon while he stage dived – without any success.

Here’s a glimpse of what can be soon expected with our Throw Away Project

Hotel Pantone

© Serge Anton - Pantone Hotel

© Serge Anton - Pantone Hotel

Topping our list is the recently opened and buzz-worthy Hotel Pantone. Designed by Michel Penneman and architect Olivier Hannaert, the spanking new boutique hotel establishes itself as a temple for the colour-conscious, and whose aim is to allow guests to experience the city through a lens of colour. Each floor showcases a distinctive hue, mixing colour therapy and design. The 59 rooms and suites use one of seven Pantone colour palettes, ranging from tranquil and aquatic to daring and fiery: earthy/rich (chocolate), daring/fiery (fuchsia), vibrant/intense (orange), cheerful/warm (lemon), captivating/esteemed/silky (pink), fresh/eager (green) and tranquil/exotic/exhilarating (aqua).

Place Loix 1 Loixplein
1060 Brussels
+32 (2) 541 48 98
www.pantonehotel.com

Odette en Ville

© Odette en Ville

© Odette en Ville

Monochromatic amateurs will probably feel more comforted by the black and white palette of the Châtelain/Kastelijn’s Odette en Ville. This boutique hotel, set in an Art Nouveau townhouse, offers eight rooms dominated by black, featuring a flat screen TV, gas flame fireplace, and punctuated by lilac coloured bed, candles, and a white marble bathroom, featuring a notably huge bathtub. The library offers a selection of art books and a black and white TV with Fellini movies on rotation. Extremely popular is also the hotel’s restaurant, renowned for its fine French and Belgian cuisine. The ideal place for a business lunch or for bringing a date whose favourite Stones song is Paint It Black.

Rue du Châtelain 25 Kastelijnsstraat
1050 Brussels
+32 (0)2 640 26 26
www.chez-odette.com

Tenbosch House

© Tenbosch House

© Tenbosch House

Those looking for something with flair and willing to skip the boutique hotel trail now have an option thanks to the Tenbosch House. This intimate guesthouse breathes serenity in these two revamped late 19th century town houses. The seven spacious suites – all complete with balconies or terraces – have original mid-20th Century Scandinavian furniture complementing the uncluttered gallery-like interiors. With an ever-changing art collection, the Tenbosch House operates as a gateway to the Brussels’ art scene. The interior of each suite has been curated by the Swedish Catharina Eklof, offering guests a perfect fix of Scandinavian style and contemporary art.

Rue Washington 131-133 Washingtonstraat
1050 Brussels
www.tenboschhouse.com

The Amigo Hotel

© Amigo Hotel

© Amigo Hotel

When it comes to top-notch service and absolute luxury, it doesn’t get any better than the Amigo. A thirty seconds walk from the Grand Place/Grote Markt, the hotel is as central as could be. Being greeted by the uniformed doormen is bound to make you feel like a million dollars, and the highly knowledgeable concierge staff is famed for its helpfulness. The 173 rooms all have a unique customized twist, with nods to Belgian trademarks ranging from surrealist painter Magritte to comic book hero Tintin. The Bocconi restaurant lives up to the standard of luxury the hotel offers, and which has now become the ultimate destination of well-known politicians as well as A-list celebrities.

Rue de l’Amigo 1 – 3 Amigostraat
1000 Brussels
+ 32 (0) 2 547 47 47
www.hotelamigo.com

The Dominican Hotel

© The Dominican Hotel

© The Dominican Hotel

Housed in what used to be a Dominican Abbey in the 15th century, the hotel enjoys a prime location right behind opera house La Monnaie/Het Munt, right in the city’s vibrant centre. The original stone floors and sweeping archways provide the authentic finishing touches to the stylish interior. Lingering lunches in the peaceful courtyard are a must and the swanky lounge bar, boasting a great cocktail selection and an elegant à la carte menu, makes it the perfect place for those looking to impress a date.

Rue Léopold 9 Leopoldstraat
1000 Brussels
+32 (0)2 203 08 08
www.dominican.be

Pictures by Ulrike Biets

The one and only Pharrell, listening to his iPod as he exits his ride to get into the dressing rooms. The iPod actually contained all of N*E*R*D‘s brand new top-secret material. No one was allowed anywhere near it, save for two very lucky journalists.

Pete Doherty posing minutes before Babyshambles‘ concert. We handed him a disposable camera to play with, more on that right here.

We hitched a ride with him in the shuttle driving the band to the main stage. Pictured here is a glimpse into the life of an artist constantly surrounded by photographers and fans.

Cypress Hill‘s Sen Dog took a five minute break from the show for some herbal relief with French girl band Plastiscines.

Julian Casablancas showing off his guns before his gig. We’re guessing the singer ditched his trademark leather jacket because of the heat. He did however make sure to put it back on when he got on stage.

Turntable masters Birdy Nam Nam‘s victorious group-hug following their mad show. We rarely saw so many hands up in the air – they might be French, but these boys sure know how to throw a party.

Here’s the ever so stylish Charlotte Gainsbourg exiting the stage after her concert.

Being fashionable involves sacrifices, such as wearing leather pants despite the scorching heat…

Alice Glass posing before the Crystal Castles gig. We handed her a disposable camera after taking this picture. When we asked about it two hours later, she was too cracked out to even remember having it in the first place.

Crystal Castles’ gig as seen straight from the mosh pit. Hair was pulled and punches were thrown in order to protect the camera and get this shot.

The Midnight Juggernauts after their gig, with drummer Daniel Stricker holding one of our disposable cameras. Their whole summer being packed with dates throughout Europe, the US and Australia, we’re really hoping they’ll send it back with their exotic tour adventures.

We caught Adam Green after his gig having a drink at the artists bar. He professed his love for Brussels and the Ancienne Belgique then bummed a cigarette off us so we stepped outside with him.

Despite almost passing out from the heat, he still asked for some Ketamine. We couldn’t help out. When quizzed about the substance’s effects, he simply answered “it’s like you’re on TV maaaaan”.

John from HEALTH, wiping his gear after rocking it onstage.

BJ, HEALTH’s drummer, was kind enough to get on board with our newly conceived “Throw Away Project”. Check out the boys’ snapshots here.

Jona of YACHT didn’t leave much in his dressing room after leaving the festival, except this used towel and dirty underpants.

Here’s the disposable camera Jamie Lidell gave back to us. Check out the pictures his girlfriend took of him during his show here.

Words Renasha Khan

Delecta

© Sarah Eechaut

The Delecta first opened its doors in 2001, although current owner Coralie Rutten – dubbed “La Biche” – took the place over in 2007. This bar-come-eatery has since become the “place to be” every Thursday night, when skilled DJ’s spin their favourite tunes to an audience composed of neighbourhood regulars as well as the city’s writers, musicians, graphic designers, actors and the likes. The Delecta’s wide selection of dishes has won the hearts and minds of its loyal clientele. And while the mix platter of meats, cheeses and grilled vegetables served with toasts is the most in demand, it’s the to-die-for chicken burger, served only during weekends, that keeps us coming back every time.

Rue Lannoy 2 Lannoystraat
1050 Brussels
+32 (0) 2 644 19 49

L’épicerie Fine de la Senne

© Sarah Eechaut

Valérie and Christian opened this savoury deli and gourmet kitchenette in August 2004, nestled in the pedestrian street linking Boulevard Anspachlaan to Rue du Marché au Charbon/Kolenmarkt. Famed for its wide selection of fresh vegetables and anti pasti, L’épicerie also plays host to the odd exhibition or two (Valérie’s doing) whilst always playing a pleasant selection of tunes, courtesy of Christian. Aptly named after the 19th century river flowing underneath it, L’épicerie is without a doubt the team’s favoured downtown lunchtime den.

Rue du bon Secours 4 Bijstandstraat
1000 Brussels
+32 (0) 2 502 24 26
www.epiceriefinedelasenne.be

Yamato

© Renasha Khan

Renowned as one of the best Japanese restaurants in the city, authentic Ramens and Gyoza are the stars at this tiny hole-in-the-wall style restaurant. Yamato’s distinction means that it’s overwhelmed with customers and paired with the diminutive space, you’ll most definitely have to wait unless you’re there before opening hours. If anything though you’ll know its worth it. Frequented by the Brussels Japanese expat community as well as those on visit here you’ll be assured of the quality of the food on offer.

Rue Francart 11 Francartstraat
1050 Ixelles
+32 (0) 2 502 28 93

Canterbury

© Renasha Khan

The Canterbury is a stalwart in the Brussels fine dining scene. Perfectly positioned in the idyll of the Ixelles/Elsene ponds, this brasserie specializes in traditional cuisine. Famous for its americain, it’s only fitting that Bill Clinton is regularly brought here during visits to the capital. The combination of fines wines, impeccable service and the quality of the food make the Canterbury the epitome of urbane dining.

Avenue de l’Hippodrome 2 Renbaanlaan
1050 Brussels
+32 (0) 2 646 83 93
www.lecanterbury.be

Mirante

© Renasha Khan

Nestled in the depths of central Brussels, surrounded by brasseries offering tourists menus, Mirante shines like a beacon of authenticity. Hailed as the best pizza joint in the city, this is the place to go for freshly made pasta, characteristic Italian charm and a heavenly slice. The restaurant boasts a genuine stone oven so you see your pizzas being made and the specials include veritable Italian regional delicacies, which change everyday. The brilliantly bizarre décor adds to the quirky appeal of this neighborhood gem. Beloved by locals, you’ll only need the olives, bread and quality olive oil that meets you on arrival to understand why.

Plattesteen 13
1000 Brussels
+32 (0) 2 511 15 80

Mapp Store (Men and Women)

Clothes and accessories by the likes of Alexander Wang T, Peter Jensen or Opening Ceremony are not the only things one can find in the Mapp Store. One of the only addresses that truly deserves the ‘concept store’ tag in the capital, it also stocks carefully selected books, magazines (Mapp introduced us to the wonderful SUP magazine), CD’s, vinyl’s, and regularly schedules exhibitions by up-and-coming local artists, hosts the odd party for a hot DJ’s album launch, or even performances by artists and dancers. If that wasn’t enough, the Mapp Studio also offers creative services that range from stylist consultancy to sound design. Part-owner Emmanuel is a true believer and will always have a good suggestion for you. He recently encouraged us to buy Neon Indian‘s Psychic Chasms and we’ve been listening to it ever since.

Rue Léon Lepagestraat 5
1000 Brussels
+32 (2) 551 17 67
www.thisismapp.com

Own (Men and Women)

© Sarah Eechaut

The brainchild of Thierry Rondenet and Hervé Yvrenogeau, Own began as a brand in its own right, growing over the years into a multi-brand store whose pickings reflected the owners’ functional and straight-lined aesthetic. A magnificently designed boutique – rather cunningly pitting wood stage sets against mirror panels -, its selection speaks of experienced buying on the part of the owners. Brands include office favourite APC, the newly brought-in Acne as well as Whyred, Raf by Raf Simons and Atelier 11.

Place du Jardin aux Fleurs 5 Bloemenhofplein
1000 Brussels
+ 32 (0) 2 217 95 71
www.own.be

Balthazar (Men and Women)

© Sarah Eechaut

Muriel Hervy Balthazar and her daughter Gaëtane’s multi brand emporium situated on the cusp of Ixelles’ Avenue Louise and La Cambre’s green spot is an intimate, spacious and unpretentious affair. Striking a perfect balance between the sure-shot (Comme des Garçons, Paul Smith and John Smedley), the basic (Filippa K), the original (Erotokritos) and the surprising (Ghent-based Men’s brand 7days), the offering is, in the words of co-buyer Joy Debauve, “timeless but with a twist, an undefined originality not found elsewhere.” (Karen Van Godtsenhoven)

Avenue Louise 294 Louizalaan
1050 Brussels
+32 (2) 647 77 37
www.balthazarstore.com

PH (Men)

© Sarah Eechaut

Patrick Henderiks’ Boutique PH’ is nestled within the quaintly vibrant retail village of Rue de Namur/Namsestraat, the upward street linking the city’s upper side to its lower counterpart. Opened eight years ago, the boutique affords a dramatic interior style, complete with glass ceiling and contrasting black mirrors and counters. Patrick sees his store as uni-brand, saying the unique selection forms a continuum, similar to his personal ‘indirect collection’. A personal collection boasting tag names not elsewhere available in Brussels: Maison Martin Margiela, Jil Sander, Costume National, Dior Homme and Balenciaga. Probably the city’s best kept secret.

Rue de Namur 68 Namsestraat
1000 Brussels
+32 (2) 548 39 78
www.phstore.com

Icon (Women)

© Sarah Eechaut

Huddled within an 18th century townhouse, Icon carries a selection of brands as diverse as the customers that step in – from Japanese and American tourists to Flemish townsfolk, young hipsters and old French ladies. Michèle Bogaert, owner and buyer, is over the moon with Helmut Lang’s collection. Other brands available in the store include Phillip Lim, Isabel Marant, Citizens of Humanity, Acne, Humanoid and Alexander Wang. (KVG)

Place du Nouveau Marché aux Grains 5 Nieuwe Graanmarkt
1000 Brussels
+32 (2) 502 71 51
www.icon-shop.be

La Centrale Electrique

As its name aptly suggests, the contemporary art centre is housed in a former power plant. Design aficionados counting the days until September can satisfy their crave with Fighting The Box (until 3rd October), an exhibition celebrating the relationship between designers and their industry. Your chance to see 20 Belgian designers (among which Marina Bautier, Sylvain Willenz, Xavier Lust or Nathalie Dewez) who open their “box”, confess about the design challenges they face and unveil the association between the creative approach and industrial production.

Place Sainte-Catherine 44 Sint-Katelijneplaats
1000 Brussels
+ 32 (0)2 279 64 52
www.lacentraleelectrique.be

Baronian Francey

Opened in 2002 by two well-known figures of the art world (Albert Baronian and Edmond Francey), Baronian Francey has a knack for finding the best new talent, unrelentlessly nurturing and championing it through solo exhibitions, liaising with international galleries and museums as well as creating a historical archive for each of its protégés. Make sure to catch Xavier Mary’s Over Game installation (pictured above) before the gallery closes for the summer on 17th July.

Rue Isidore Verheydenstraat 2
1050 Brussels
+32 (0) 2 512 92 95
www.baronianfrancey.com

Galerie Sans Titre

Drawing its name from a timeless habit recurring amongst uninspired artists, the “untitled” gallery has hosted solo exhibitions by international emerging artists such as Ninar Esber, Ane Graff, Sarah Westphal, Rui Calçada Bastos (pictured above) as well as group shows of local young talent and certified names like Richard Kern or Lee Ranaldo. Opened just over a year ago, the Galerie Sans Titre has established itself as one of the compulsory stops of the Canal district’s flourishing art scene and our favourite address when it comes to exciting, experimental and avant-garde work.

22 Boulevard Barthélémylaan
1000 Brussels
+32 (0) 2 513 35 32
www.galeriesanstitre.be

Wiels

It was about time the capital of Europe had its own proper contemporary art centre. Therefore it’s no wonder the highly anticipated Wiels generated a fair amount of buzz when opening in 2007. The likes of Mike Kelley, Luc Tuymans, and Ben Cain have displayed their work in the in the former Wielemans-Ceuppens brewery since, confirming the success and necessity of such an institution. Currently showing are Rehabilitation (until 15th August), a group exhibition by young artists exploring modernist architecture and design, and Wangechi Mutu’s My Dirty Little Heaven (until 12th September), which we reviewed last week.

Avenue Van Volxemlaan 354
1190 Brussels
+32 (0)2 340 00 50
www.wiels.org

Aeroplastics

© Aeroplastics

Jerome Jacobs provoked quite the stir by opening a gallery in an old building of the upmarket Stephanie Square area in 1998, when the main trend was to occupy vast, disused warehouses along the sides of the canal. Purposely drawing attention to the bourgeois aspect of art collections that others were seeking to dismiss, Aeroplastics offers visitors a refreshing alternative to the standard – if not trite – white cube aesthetic. Summer exhibition The Alchemy of Delusion (until 14th August) introduces the work of Pat Andrea, Ion Bîrlàdeanu, Martin Kasper and Wolfe von Lenkiewicz amongst others.

Rue Blanche 32 Wittestraat
1060 Brussels
+32 (0) 2 537 22 02
www.aeroplastics.net

Moeder Lambic

© Moeder Lambic

You finally made it to Brussels, world capital of beers. It would be criminal to pass on a pintje. For a taste of the real deal, Chez Moeder Lambic is where you want to head to. You have two addresses to pick from: the most recent and bigger one on the Place Fontainas Plein (pictured above), or the original – and our personal favourite – tavern in the heart of Saint-Gilles/Sint-Gillis, opened more than 25 years ago and flaunting the kind of motto (Beer is the answer) we can only raise our glasses to. Favouring quality over quantity, the place only serves artisan beers. And don’t even dare ask for a Jupiler or a Kriek, or the very knowledgeable (perhaps even snobbish at times) staff will laugh at you. But then again, you wouldn’t go to the city’s finest steakhouse to order a Big Mac, would you?

Rue de Savoie 68 Savoiestraat
1060 Brussels
+ 32 (0) 2 544 16 99

Place Fontainas 8 Fontainasplein
1000 Brussels
+ 32 (0) 2 503 60 68

www.moederlambic.eu

Fontainas

© Fontainas

The Fontainas exudes a certain je ne sais quoi that makes us want to listen to dreampop on a sunny terrace while sipping a violet flavoured cocktail. Don’t ask us why, it just does. It’s the kind of oasis of peace you’ve been looking for after a draining run through the city’s downtown, sucking on those last ounces of strength left in you as you wander through the cobblestoned pedestrian roads behind the busy Anspach Boulevard. Very popular with the local gay and lesbian community, this cute little café ticks all our boxes: great location, decent music, friendly atmosphere, lovely terrace, yummy juices and tasty nibbles. Sundays also sometimes play host to Lady Jane’s Catclub.

Rue Marché au Charbon 91 Kolenmarkt
1000 Brussels
+ 32 (0) 2 503 31 12

Booze ‘n’ Blues

© Ulrike Biets

Whether it’s the hectic mix and match interior, the vintage jukebox, owner Eddy’s impeccable taste in music and legendary aloofness, his submarines (a shot of schnapps in a glass of beer) or the “colourful” bathroom, we just can’t get enough of this place. We already raved about it in last year’s Heritage Issue (making it the issue’s institution) and still don’t tire of sending every single person we meet to our favourite boozer, even though Eddy probably hates us by now…

Rue des Riches Claires 20 Rijke-Klarenstraat
1000 Brussels

Madame Moustache

© Madame Moustache

Born a few months ago, Madame Moustache Et Son Freakshow has rapidly become the name on everyone’s lips. You’ll find this eccentric modern day cabaret on the lively Place Sainte-Catherine/Sint-Katelijneplaats right where the now defunct Los Romanticos held its frenzied salsa nights. Hosting wild gigs as well as DJ sets, its knack for garage, rockabilly, 60’s rock and coldwave have filled a void that was oh too deep in the capital. Those less keen about going nuts in front of a teddy band can always enjoy the chilled out vibe of the lounge area. If you’re in the area on a Wednesday night, do pop in to catch their weekly “Back To The Grave” garage fests. Expect polka dot dresses, tattoos, pointy shoes and raven bowl cuts.

Quai au Bois à Brûler 5-7 Brandhoutkaai
1000 Brussels
www.madamemoustache.be

Café Bonnefooi

With a different DJ set or gig scheduled for each day of the week, the Bonnefooi knows no boring nights. The clientele is as eclectic as the musical programming so you never really know what you’ll be getting yourself into. Open from 5pm to 5am, the Bonnefooi has become our favourite place to crash after a gig at the Ancienne Belgique or once the downtown bars have called the last drink.

Rue des Pierres 8 Steenstraat
1000 Brussels
www.bonnefooi.be

Le Tigre

One of the latest additions of the trendy Place Flageyplein, this small café has the kind of understated charm that made it an instant favourite amongst the team. Relatively quiet during the day, it’s the perfect spot for a chilled out drink with the family or an informal business meeting. At night, the street terrace packs up with locals that are eager to escape from the Flagey madness.

Rue de la Brasserie 117-119 Brouwerijstraat
1050 Brussels

What does it take these days to hype yourself through to breakthrough point? We ask four industry insiders to give us the skinny on making it in music, politics, art and the tabloid press.

Writer Hettie Judah + Anonymous, photography and video KKGB

Behind most hot new stars there’s a breakthrough story – a discovery myth packed with coincidence, lucky breaks and raw talent. The juicy waitress, whose polyester-clad charms catch the eye of a Hollywood producer as she passes cherry pie across the counter. The uncompromising band that storm into the office of the label head with their demo tapes and get signed on the spot for sheer audacity. The publicity-shy artist, discovered near starvation in his garret, who has his entire portfolio snapped up by a major collector. The fearless politician prepared to risk his party career for a cause he truly believes in.

There are few things that keep the celebrity-loving public dreaming more effectively than the notion that you can miraculously become famous and successful without needing to do anything so undignified as try. In part, it’s because we all get to share in the myth – every waitress can dream of being spotted, every pub band hold onto the belief that one day, they too will be rewarded for staying true to their roots. The breakthrough myth allows us to ignore the machinery that keeps us so well fed with next big things and makes sure that we’re always ready for more. Magazines from Grazia to Time depend on a steady stream of new stories – be that the latest young designer, an artfully concocted piece of celebrity gossip or a political scoop – to fill their pages every week. Journalists, scouts and talent hunters are on a constant heat-seeking mission, ears cocked for a tell-tale buzz that will lead them to the next breakthrough.

Catch them when they’re tired, cynical, and fatigued insiders from every industry will disclose the well-trodden path that will carry someone from struggling obscurity to next-big-thingitude. The common line is that no-one knows anything – whether in the art world or the music industry, it seems that an astonishing number of the supposed front-line taste makers are guided by herd instinct rather than taste or intelligence. One music industry correspondent scathingly described the entire A&R world as a flock of sheep, incapable of independent opinions and always ready to stampede towards whatever new act the herd had managed to hype up within its ranks.

Looking and acting the part is the first step to breakthrough, whether that means airing your stroppy good looks in the right Berlin bars to send shivers round the art world, or rolling up your shirt sleeves and growing your hair long enough to be anointed a crusading political maverick. The perfect embodiment of style over substance is the now familiar breed of indeterminate female celebrities that keep the popular press so well supplied with fleshy front-page snaps. Qualifications for this kind of breakthrough include the ability to get photographed falling out of doll-sized clothes, the willingness to undergo major surgery in order to stay on the front pages, and a ruthlessness about your personal life that can translate the most intimate encounters into headline news.

Celebrity is infectious, and grows exponentially with every connection – whether you’re a young designer of questionable talent who becomes best friends forever with the top model of the moment, an aspiring TV presenter who buys herself credibility and column inches dating the singer of an indie band, or an ageing pin-up who boosts her recording career by marrying a high profile politician. Hanging out with famous people is one of the easiest ways to generate buzz for your breakthrough. Being admitted into the circle of fame acts as an endorsement: if the famous people think that you’re good enough to be famous, well, who are the rest of us to argue? For all our desire for discovery myths, part of us knows that we’re being sold to, and our enthusiasm for novelty can quickly become tainted by suspicion. We purify ourselves through our tendency to yank new stars off their pedestals as fast as we put them up there. Breakthrough may be easy, but to stay hot you need people to like you – the ruthless aggression, arrogant posturing and flexible morals that propelled you to fame are not necessarily well suited to maintaining your position in the public affection.

The alternatives are to genuinely become that thing that you’re pretending to be – a talented artist, a real actress, a musician who can write – or to have such control over the relevant sectors of the press that you can effectively manufacture and maintain an entirely fictional public persona. For a musician, model or artist it helps to start dating the editor of a magazine, in politics you can control the flow of information to selected journalists (unless you’re in Italian politics, in which case you can buy the newspaper and threaten any journalist who steps out of line with actual bodily harm.) For an illustration of how fragile fame is after a successful breakthrough, try leafing through a few out-of-date magazines and see how many names stay the course. It makes you think, really, whether it might not be more noble to dream of being a flash in the pan or a one-hit wonder than to put all the tiresome effort into actually making it for real. Better a speedy breakthrough and even speedier retreat, perhaps, than hanging around to remind everyone that you’re yesterday’s news.

The hot new band

Samuel: All clothes Model's own. Nathalie: T-Shirt Petit Bateau, jewellery Véritas. Vincent: blazer Brunel Mintona. Timothy: All clothes Model's own.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/12833235[/vimeo]

Timothy: All clothes Model's own. Samuel: All clothes Model's own. Vincent: blazer Brunel Mintona. Nathalie: T-Shirt Petit Bateau, jewellery Véritas.

Samuel: All clothes Model's own. Timothy: All clothes Model's own. Nathalie: T-Shirt Petit Bateau, jewellery Véritas. Vincent: blazer Brunel Mintona.

To make a buzz band you need to look the part: emaciated to the point of collapse in jeans as skinny as drinking straws, your hair weighs more than your head and is so directional in cut that you must become accustomed to viewing the world through one eye. On the feet – Converse or beaten up brogues. Over the t-shirt – a leather jacket held together by ambition alone. One member must be of semi-aristocratic heritage with a monthly allowance to fund your start up (and pay for your drugs). You’ll also need a manager (to pay for your drugs when the monthly allowance dries up), and a handful of hazy long-haired Bambi-limbed girls to follow you everywhere, have sex with occasionally (and pay for your drugs). Lurk around Shoreditch on a daily and nightly basis creating a ‘scene’. (‘Scenes’ are what A&R men care about. None of them would know a half decent band if it stood up in their pint). Creating a scene couldn’t be easier. Affiliate yourself with another band: perhaps you could share a drummer or a bass player: as long as there is a skein of a recognisable sonic hook to your output then voila, you have your scene. Next, make a record on an obscure label and coerce the next Gavin Turk or Jake Chapman to make a video that will cost twice as much as was budgeted for, take light years to edit, you will hate and no one will ever see. And now we come to our nirvana – the launch party. Cultivate some contacts in the world of fashion. The Holy Grail in this world is Alexa Chung. Get someone who knows someone who is a friend of her make-up artists to invite her to your launch party. If she, oh hallelujah, actually turns up, manoeuvre her near the sound system and get her to press a button and then you can say that Alexa Chung DJ’d at your launch party and honey, you have arrived. (“Lady Parker”)

The celebrity politician

Suit, tie and shirt Café Costume

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/12832821[/vimeo]

Suit, tie and shirt Café Costume

Suit, tie and shirt Café Costume, shoes and briefcase Weston

“If you are not on television or radio” the head of a big research group said to me the other day, “you are dead.” Nowhere is this stomach-churning bullshit more true than in the political world. At party conferences old school friends have begged me to put them on the television, offering to say or do pretty much anything so they can to get 15 seconds of face time on the magic lantern. The media you need to deal with are of course changing fast; the two biggest recent hits from the Palace of Nonentities – the European Parliament – were YouTube sensations; both of them Europhobes. Dan Hannan and Nigel Farage delivered speeches and soundbites perfectly suited to a three minute attention span. Being media savvy and media friendly is however a necessary but not sufficient condition for political success. It really does help if you are clever. Not too clever. Too smart and you quickly receive the kiss-of-death label ‘wonkish’ or ‘nerdy’ (see: British Foreign Secretary David Milliband, oh-so-yesterday’s man). But to get to the top you need to know the basics of contemporary history, politics and economics. Nobody else does, but some smart-alec journalist will catch you out pretty fast if you don’t (see: Sarah Palin). Finally, to make it – and here we are talking about the big time, not about time-serving in the Assemblee Nationale or getting a peachy number in the Food Standards Agency – you need to be mad. Not so much that people are concerned for their safety when you are around, but mad so that you are ready to sacrifice everything, everything – your family, your health, every last scrap of dignity – in pursuit of high office. In 1993 Nicolas Sarkozy, then mayor of a prosperous suburb of Paris, walked into a school where an explosives laden lunatic had taken a bunch of children hostage and negotiated the releases of the boys and girls. That’s the kind of madness you should aspire to. So, ask yourself, as you step up to the base of the greasy pole, do you feel lucky, punk? (“Deep Vote”)

The Artist

All clothes Model's own

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/12832458[/vimeo]

All clothes Model's own

All clothes Model's own

There’s a scene in Basquiat (1996), Julian Schnabel’s brilliantly cornball biopic, where the doomed artist asks his slacker pal how long it takes to get famous. “Four years,” is the reply. Nowadays, particularly if you want the short, meteoric career, you can do it in two. First, get noticed: be tall, good-looking (artworld people are, on average, 68 percent prettier than anywhere outside of fashion, not that all of them are outside of fashion), and have a weird, striking name (hello, Tris Vonna-Michell) and exotically mixed heritage. If possible, be an ex-model (Matthew Barney, Rosson Crow). Make your art comfortingly retro, yet complicatedly so, e.g. paintings that recall Paris in 1919 crossed with New York in 1958, or films that look like ‘60s documentaries but don’t make any sense. If you haven’t been tapped by a hot, youth-obsessed gallery like New York’s Team or London’s Herald Street at your MA degree show (oops!), forget sending jpegs and begging letters. Instead, move to Berlin – it’s losing its edge, but you’ll probably discover which low-rent enclave artists are decamping to next – and hug the bar in Keyser Soze until loudmouth bragging about your radically dematerialised aesthetic strategy and/or willingness to stand drinks for anyone who resembles a curator (thick square glasses or, if you’re curatorial kingpin Hans Ulrich Obrist, Mekon forehead) puts you in a biennale and gets you written about in frieze or Kaleidoscope. Then, keep making the same artwork over and over. Be the fill-in-the-blank guy/girl; defend your corner. Hire young, hungry assistants, who’ll not only make your work but have the ideas too. (You’ll have stolen your first, fame-creating idea from someone smarter but uglier.) Finally, when you feel your moment fading, announce you’re making a feature film with your new pals James Franco and Courtney Love. Two years? At most. (“Gaston de Latour”)

KKGB is

Video Federico Zanghì
Editing Matthieu Becker
Photographer Gabriele Trapani
Art direction Nam Simonis
Stylists Amarande Angely /Brunel Mintona
Hair & make up Orla McKeating at C’est Chic

Writer Marcus Barnes, photography Charlotte May Wales, additional research by Renasha Khan

In 1994 we fell in love with a new sound that we had never heard before, it was Jungle music and we couldn’t get enough. After hearing a few tunes on the TV we were hooked and we needed to hear more … it was almost instinctive when we turned the radio on and searched the FM band for some more Jungle. And we found it straight away. At the time the two biggest stations were Rush FM and Kool FM – we would have arguments at school about which was the best station. Without those stations we never would have known about all the different tunes, DJs, MCs and producers of that era – they opened our eyes up to a whole new world. In 2010 some of these stations are still on the airwaves, but what does the future hold with the likes of live streaming on the internet, podcasts and advances in technology that now allow almost anyone with a computer to be a DJ/broadcaster ?

Mini-documentary on Rush FM, Part 1

Part 2

In the mid to late 80s, the burgeoning house music scene was growing fast and its exponents needed an outlet to play their new music – main-stream stations weren’t providing it, and so, inspired by the famous Radio Caroline, they set about finding a way to set up their own stations and play what they wanted to hear. Preceded by stations like Transmission One, based in Ladbroke Grove, which played early Hip-Hop (the real, early UK stuff), these DJs and MCs took inspiration from a radio station on a boat and took to the rooftops of London’s tower blocks to get their music out there to the followers. Accused of being funded by drug money,blamed for interfering with the radio frequencies of the emergency services …and of course for playing what was referred to as ‘devil music’ by some, the early pioneers of pirate radio faced a huge struggle to establish themselves.

Insiders of the Pirate Radio Scene in london give their insights

Kool FM is considered to be THE premier pirate radio station. Broadcasting for over 18 years, they have not only established themselves as London’s leading pirate station, with a name that is now known all over the globe but they have also helped to establish some of the Jungle/Drum ‘n’ Bass scene’s best known DJs and MCs. DJ Chef has been playing on the station for the last few years, getting his big break in 2004, when he appeared in a guest slot. The East Londoner sees a direct link between the early ’soundboys’, the owners of reggae soundsystems, and the evolution of illegal broadcasters. With a distinct lack of underground Caribbean music being played on commercial stations, Chef explains that the soundboys needed a way to play the music they wanted to hear, and so the legendary Station FM was born. One of the very early pirates, Station played host to a variety of Caribbean music -Roots – that was a far cry from the pop-style reggae that was being played on the mainstream stations.

DJ Chef explained that, in this day and age, it’s possible for anyone to become a DJ and, thanks to the Internet, anyone can broad-cast their music to a global audience without much effort. But, in the early days of pirate in London you had to know somebody who was already involved in the scene to even be able to get behind a set of decks. The technology was very hard to come by and expensive – Chef was only able to have access to a pair of Technics 1210s because he had a friend who was the first in the area to pick some up. The whole thing was very much a closed market, a specialised area where being in the know was pretty much the only way to have access to the scene. To be able to get onto a pirate radio station took a hell of a lot of leg work, not just meeting people but working hard to establish your name, to let people know you could play a credible set, you had the skills and knowledge to be able to hold your own on one of the top stations. All this helped to create a strong, thriving movement – a close family of broadcasters, DJs, MCs, producers, promoters and a highly appreciative, dedicated audience. If you were a fan of Jungle, Hardcore, Acid House, Techno, Rave and everything else in between then the only way to get your fix of what was happening within these underground music genres was to tune into a pirate station. Kool FM and Rush FM were initial rivals however, proving just how close the community was, they broadcast from the same tower block, in rooms next to each other.

Chef tells us that Kool’s godfather, the legendary Eastman, says the station is all about community – built up over nearly two decades on the airwaves. It’s the ‘Underground Heartbeat’ of the scene and always will be. So much so, that he says if Kool FM was offered a legal licence, he would accept it, but still maintain a pirate separately. Citing Kiss FM as a prime example of a pirate that has gone legal and been watered down, Chef sees the difficulty of maintaining a legal station (financial costs, advertising, bowing down to major labels and so on) as detrimental to the station’s original ethos. Stations like Kool FM and Rinse FM have helped some of their scenes’ biggest stars on the road to success DJ Brockie, MC Dett, Ragga Twins, Navigator, Mampi Swift, Trace, Ryme Time, Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Tinchy Stryder, Tinie Tempah and many others first found fame through pirate radio and are now at the top of their game. Creating the foundation of a music community that is so particular to illegal radio in the UK.

An old school jungle set from Kool FM with DJ Brockie and MC Det

Tinie Tempah, Pass Out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaBi_vdDqsE&feature=related

Chef himself not only DJs in clubs and on radio, but he also works with young people in Newham, East London to teach DJ skills and producing. He recently established a radio station at the Newham Academy, so a new generation of people are gathering the skills to be able to broadcast. This is all done with the aid of UStream, a relatively new internet concept which allows users to broadcast live audio and video from their PC, Mac or iPhone. And this is where it gets interesting; the website is almost like a multimedia version of Twitter – you sign up and you can deliver a live DJ set to your followers from your bedroom, or even from the club you’re playing at. Which Chef often does. Not only that, but you can connect to other social net working sites, like Facebook, Bebo, Myspace and Twitter, and update your status to tell all of your friends/acquaintances that you’re broadcasting. On top of this, every live stream can be archived and watched over and over by thepeople who subscribe to your channel. If anything signals a move away from pirate and into a whole new world of individual broadcast via the internet, then UStream appears to be the beginning of something new and exciting, if utilised in the right way. Still relatively new and untapped, UStream offers the kind of possibilities that were unheard of just five or 10 years ago. Imagine taking a mobile phone with you to a club, and being able to broadcast your entire set via that phone… and of course, away from the live club aspect, it offers the chance to be able to DJ from your bedroom and broadcast across the globe.

But Chef reminds us that the established stations will still hold a certain resonance and respect, and up-and-coming DJs will yearn to play for them. Even now he gets multiple requests from DJs for a chance to play on Kool FM because it offers the kind of prestige that money and new technology just can’t buy. The demand to play on pirate radio is still there, and will not dissipate until there is a legitimate replacement for it. On top of this, having so much at the tip of your fingers creates a kind of laziness, an apathy that didn’t exist when technology was harder to come by. With so much at their disposal, youngsters can dip into whatever they want, try it for a while and, if they don’t like it, move on to the next thing. Grime music being a prime example – the genre exploded in the early 2000s, everyone was an MC or a DJ and kids were producing music on their Playstations. It created a few stars, some of whom are still around today, but just as quickly as it appeared and all the free space on the FM dial was full of Grime stations, it dropped off. The youngsters becoming bored of it, or finding something else to do. Chef believes pirate radio will continue to exist, despite the speed at which technology is growing and allowing anyone to become a broadcaster. It has been passed down through generations, a London culture which has never really translated to other cities or countries around the world, thanks to London’s very special mix of migrants and indigenous people.A city that has created Jungle/Drum ’n’ Bass, Dubstep and is unrivalled in its diehard mentality towards its specific cultural movements.

Across the water, pirate radio may not have had the impact that it did in London, but it has still had its role to play. Chef mentioned a brilliant story about a DJ from Austria who came to London at the height of the Jungle explosion- found some pirate stations during his time here and was so inspired he went back home, bought some equipment and set up his own station in the mountains, broadcasting tapes he’d made. France once had a large pirate presence, with socialist-run stations running for several decades before they were legalised. Most Pirate radio stations in The Netherlands are based in the countryside and play a kind of Dutch folk music that has a niche audience; although rural, rather than urban, just as in London, these stations are born out of a need to play music that the mainstream just doesn’t cater for. Pirate radio station Radio Tonka provides political commentary and has a roster of dedicated and loyal DJs, playing a varied mix of Jazz, Punk, 80s New Wave, Flamenco, and Hip Hop. Founded15 years ago, Tonka initially broadcast every night between midnight and four am. They started out in various places including the Hague, but moved into a more legal realm five years ago. They are now broadcasting on the wavelength of another local (funded) radiostation, Denhaag FM, six days a week.

Back in London, the Flex FM Team were also on hand to fill us in on London’s pirate scene, they see pirates on the FM frequency as provoking a kind of nostalgia amongst its listeners – that familiar ’snap, crackle and pop’ instills a kind of warm feeling unlike the synthetic sounds of a live internet stream. Losing reception is all part of the fun.

Over the last few years the rave scene has seem something of a comeback, with illegal warehouse parties way out in Essex becoming an almost regular occurance, and of course, with this, plenty of old school radio listeners have got back into it, picking up where they left off and searching the FM band for a bit of old Hardcore or Jungle. Where else can you find it but pirate radio? The team behind Flex FM believe that the airwaves should not be owned, Government control oppresses the freedom of music – legal stations have very little room to really play what they want at any time of the day. Pirates allow artists who may be overlooked by the mainstream to get their music out to the people who matter. There’s an almost diehard mentality amongst the Flex FM Team, an acknowledgement that their scene needs to continue to stay alive – the thrill of the chase comes into it too. Working undercover to evade capture from the DTI, getting your aerial up, finding a good location or pulling up to a car that’s actually tuned into their station is all part of the excitement of pirate radio. No amount of technology can replace that.

So, will the Internet take over? Pirates are already on the wane, but as long as there is an active audience and a willing amount of participants, illegal FM stations will always be in existence. The internet has its plus points and no doubt offers a whole new world of possibilities, but the grassroots and the foundations will, hopefully, always be in the pirate movement.

Photography Ulrike Biets

Thanks to Rolo Tomassi for letting us hop on their tour bus.

01.

Production, pocket-sized

The ever-growing portability of music production and performance is clear. Many musicians-especially DJ’s-can throw the majority of what they’ll need for an upcoming show in a bag, jump on an Easyjet flight from Berlin to wherever, and entertain eager listeners by the hundreds. The Play Station Portable—or PSP—helped to revolutionise portable entertainment, combining into one tiny object the services previously offered by both gameboys and home entertainment systems. And now, PSP and Rockstar games (and hip-hop producer Timbaland) have united to create the new program Beaterator. It is not just a video game, but a musical tool, a means to produce tracks electronically, professionally and portably. It’s a pocket studio.

Sony (€ 69,99) sonycenter.be

Beaterator (€ 12) rockstargames.com/beaterator

02.

Hard-as

Berlin-based Uslu Airlines’ nail varnish appeals to us on so many levels – every shade is named for an airport code – LAS (Las Vegas, USA) is a chunky blue glitter, WWI (WoodieWoodie, Australia) is cerise, while KNO (Knokke, Belgium) is appropriately old gold – the colours are ace, and they produce special varnish for DJs. So far they’ve collaborated with Headman (ZRH, pale blue), Ed Banger (PSG, lime green), Rollerboys (JMK, lilac) and Fetisch (THF, metallic steel – named in loving memory of Berlin’s Tempelhof). It seems almost a waste to lavish such care on fingers in an era when they’re more likely to be tapping the keys of their computers during a set than touching actual vinyl, but we must admit that we’re dead jealous.

USLU Airlines nailvarnish, (€ 21) available at Princess Blue (Antwerp) and Colette (Paris).

usluairlines.com

03.

You were saying ?

It seems ironic that a career in music can do such damage to the very organ that allows you to hear, but take it from us – the downside to heavy gigging in your 20s is damaged hearing in your 30s. Made-to-measure earplugs can cut out ambient noise when you listen to your iPod, or let you sleep on the tourbus. They block hazardous noise, but allow you enough hearing to have a conversation, and are (apparently) comfortable enough to wear all the time. Molded from rapid-setting silicone, the earplugs are produced and tested in just one 20 minute session, ensuring that your ears don’t go the way of Pete Townsend’s. Hello? Hello!

Sonomax bespoke headphones (€ 95+VAT) including fitting and testing.

astbelgium.be

04.

Freak Out Requiem (I-IV)

There’s pretty much nothing that we can say about Krautrock that wouldn’t get some nit-picking obsessive chasing after us with an arm-length list of corrections (the suggestion that Krautrock attracts nit-picking obsessives is probably enough to get the antagonistic ball rolling). So we’ll keep it brief. This is a book about late 1960s-70s West German experimental music, coming out of the commune movement, influenced by radical electronic composer Stockhausen, free jazz and general futuristic craziness. Not a genre so much as a diverse movement (the British press came up with the Krautrock tag), championed in the UK by DJ John Peel. Proponents may or may not include Faust, Can, Amon Düül I, Popol Vuh and Neu!. This looks at Kraturock’s roots and influence, with great visuals and contributions from muso bods including that unbelievably cool chick from Add (N to (X)), which, frankly, does it for us.

Krautrock, Cosmic Rock and Its Legacy (2009) by Ed Nikolaos Kotsopoulos – Black Dog Publishing

05.

Teen dream hygiene

The sanitary fixtures of the summer festival circuit are enough to reduce the toughest of bands to squeaking hysteria – and frankly, who among us hasn’t been psychologically scarred by the sight of mountains of ick rising above the level of the toilet seats, and the total absence of loo paper and washing facilities? No tour bus should be without ample supplies of bog roll, and a stack of Imodium to make sure that you don’t cut through your supplies too fast. Lack of washing facilities can (kind of, just) be made up for with wetwipes and antibacterial wash – tourbus etiquette also demands we mention that your FEET also need to be washed. And your socks changed. No, really. They do.

Wetwipes, handgel, lavatory paper and Imodium available in all good pharmacies.

06.

We don’t recommend doing this

As every classy barkeeper knows, the correct vessel in which to serve a Vodka Red Bull is a disposable plastic glass. No straw, no ice, no umbrella. Classy barkeepers, to be honest, are pretty snotty about Vodka Red Bull – usually it’s easier to purchase to the two fluids separately then mix them yourself – but we’ve discovered that it does have a name (‘Birch’, apparently, although ‘Heart Attack’ was cited as an alternative), which makes it a proper cocktail, no? Definitely not big, or cool, or clever. But for the purposes of documentary accuracy, we felt compelled to include it in our tourbus lineup.

Absolut Vodka and Red Bull, both available in nightshops across Europe. Prices may vary.

Photography Merel ‘t Hart

Located on Place Flagey, right beneath the cultural centre Le Flagey, its huge corner windowed façade and even bigger terrace have made the café impossible to miss. Calling it a local institution would be an understatement, and few would dispute the idea that Café Belga singlehandedly managed to put the Flagey district back on the map. “There was clearly a political and communal will to renovate the area and its urban space. So I guess it seemed like the perfect timing to invest in it,” explains François, who’s been managing the café for the past seven years. Created by Frédéric Nicolay (who else?), it bears the characteristic attention to detail familiar from other favourites like Tavernier, the Zebra or the Walvis; warm wooden interior with a carefully studied ancient/authentic feel, stylish design, counter service, pleasant tunes, free gigs, healthy snacks, and outdoor seating.

Undoubtedly the biggest and busiest, the Belga’s terrace located on the Place Sainte-Croix / Heilig Kruisplein and facing one of the Ixelles ponds is ideal to enjoy some rare UV rays while people watching. Regulars will pack onto the terrace at any cost, even if it means venturing out in nearly polar temperatures or sitting on the floor when all the chairs are occupied. Who ever said having a drink was meant to be relaxing? During peak hours, it’s a battle. Get ready to queue and fight for a table; if you manage to make it, the sense of victory will be a reward in itself. Fortunately, the staff is very helpful, with more barmen than there are bar women . “Being a huge and busy place, the work gets physically intense. I’d love to have more women on the staff, but it’s hard finding girls who are able to keep up.”

Open from 8am, Café Belga take on multiple identities over the course of the day. Early birds flock in for a quick coffee before work, others chose to begin the day with a satisfying breakfast or attempt to cure a hangover with one of the heavenly fresh juices. Come lunchtime, you can bring yourself up to date with the day’s newspapers while eating one of the salads served in a trademark glass. Catch up with a friend over a cup of tea in the early afternoon before hitting that first beer during the after-work slot, when the place gets flooded with students, creatives working in the area (global advertising agency Publicis has its offices above) and Schuman’s Eurocrats.

Depending on the day of the week, you can discover a great jazz band, dance the night away during wild DJ sets or even be lucky enough to catch the exclusive showcase of some special guest: in 2008, Moby performed a 45-minute acoustic gig for free and at his own request, the only condition being that there would be no publicity. Brussels word of mouth was efficient enough to deliver an insane crowd squeezed into the café, rapidly filled beyond capacity, and spilling on to the square and streets of the area.

Moby’s acoustic rendition of Natural Blues in Café Belga

[youtube width="567" height="420"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ul4uz9vtzo&feature=related

We Are All Made of Stars and Slipping Away

[youtube width="567" height="420"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGRsqJSRarw&feature=PlayList&p=327A90B177503E99&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=31

During the summer, the terrace morphs into an open-air theatre, screening movies within the Brussels Film Festival programme. At closing time, generally around 2 or 3am, the peckish ones, knackered on Belga cocktails of vodka, Canada Dry and violet syrup crawl to the square’s legendary fritkot (an institution in itself) conveniently located right across the street.

From a Belgian perspective, it’s a miracle that a place with no indoor smoking or table service has thrived so long after its novelty factor has worn off. The smoking ban has not had a negative effect on the business, thanks to the heated terrace and provision of blankets: if anything the café has managed to attract a wider and more family-friendly clientele as a result. As for the counter service, it was first initiated at Nicolay’s Saint-Géry cafés, and shook the clients’ habits. Although widely accepted now, the concept is still not the most popular, but François remains convinced it is a necessity. “People may not be very pleased about standing at the bar to order, but considering the size of the place, they’d have to wait five times longer if we were to bring drinks and food to their table. The situation would become unmanageable and prices would inevitably rise.” However, some still find it hard to stomach, the main argument being “why should I pay twice as much for a beer as I would in a supermarket if I have to get it myself anyways?” Fair enough. But at the end of the day, you’re not paying for your actual drink. You’re forking out to gorge on the café’s atmosphere, watch the people, and be part of the institution.

Opened on June 18th in 2002, Café Belga was a revolution in the quiet Place Flagey / Flageyplein. A few decades back this was a lively neighbourhood with local businesses, activities and a village-like intimacy. The central esplanade was home to a weekly street market, the annual Bouglione circus, a Portuguese party, parades, and neighbourhood parties. However it all died out, thanks, among other things, to intrusive and apparently endless road works. “I was extremely excited and immediately drawn to the place,” reminisces Elleni, who has been living on the square for the past 25 years. “It was magnificent and very new. The café offered a lot of concerts, jam sessions, but also attracted a very bobo and fauxhemian crowd. It doesn’t really bother me per se, but has truly changed the atmosphere and the identity of the neighbourhood. It feels weird thinking I live somewhere that’s now become hip.”

Besides upping Flagey’s cool factor and directly contributing to its considerable property boom, Café Belga has catalysed a boom of trendy bars like Bar du Marché, Nexx, Le Tigre, Irish pub De Valera’s, or artsy Café Murmure. One has to hand it to Mr Nicolay. The man has always been a visionary with an unmatched talent for revamping the city’s neglected and seedy areas with his bars and restaurants. Just look at his latest ventures like the Bar du Matin, opened less than two years ago on Place Albert / Albertplein in Forest / Vorst, or the Café Modèle, bordering the canal in Molenbeek. It doesn’t take a psychic to predict that these distressed areas are well on their way to become the capital’s next hot spots.

Café Belga
Place Eugène Flageyplein
1050 Brussels
Tel: +32 (0) 2 640 35 08

Everyday from 8am to 2am except Fridays & Saturdays from 8am to 3am
Kitchen open from 9am to 4pm

Writer Hettie Judah, illustrations Marcel Ceuppens

War is heavy metal

George Gittoes’ documentary Soundtrack to War explores the profound integration of music into the daily lives of Americans serving in Iraq. The iPod has allowed music to become omnipresent, and servicemen and women have become ingenious in wiring up tanks and other vehicles to speaker systems that play music from their MP3 players. Gittoes’ interviewees explained how they used to metal and rap music to psych themselves up to enter an environment in which – they felt – it was more than likely someone was going to try to kill them.

Many of Gittoes interviewees also composed and performed music while in Iraq, as a form of catharsis or self-expression. Servicemen performing freestyle for the camera noted wryly that the ‘tough guy’ street scenarios and gunplay described in commercial rap music were nothing compared to the horror of their own experiences of combat. One young soldier explained that he had begun composing gore metal songs shortly after having to remove the badly damaged body of a friend from a vehicle that had gone over an IED. While they distinguished between the ‘fantasy’ aspect of the music they listened to, and the hard reality of their service experience, the power of the music seemed, if anything, enhanced by its proximity to actual violence.

[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7548006816297243731#[/googlevideo]

Complementary ground is covered by musicologist Jonathan Pieslak in his recent book Sound Targets, for which he interviewed army personnel about their relationship with music. Sergeant First Class C J Grisham explains the transforming power that music had on him: “War is so ugly and disgusting…. It’s an inhuman thing. It’s unnatural for people to kill people. It’s something that no one should ever have to do, unfortunately someone does. And we happen to be that someone sometimes. And so listening to music would artificially make you aggressive when you needed to be aggressive.”

While Gittoes’ documentary looks at music as a form of escapism and self-expression, Pieslak goes further in exploring the root of certain forms of music’s association with violence and warfare. He traces, in particular, the way that heavy metal became first the genre of choice for action sequences in movies, then in video games – (“It’s just great music to game to. Especially if you’re pounding someone’s flesh in or crashing someone’s car, nothing beats heavy metal,” notes Steve Schnur, of EA Worldwide video games), eventually becoming the soundtrack of choice to American army recruitment ads.

Music used in this way allows the listener to psych him or herself into a ‘role’ – in creating a soundtrack to actual action it feeds into the fantasy persona, allowing both a sense of personal power and an edge of unreality. The power of fantasy can become very specific. C J Grisham describes blasting Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries from his truck during one attack in Baghdad, specifically evoking the famous helicopter attack from Apocalypse Now to simultaneously psych up his own soldiers and intimidate the Iraqi forces.

Let the bodies hit the floor

According to Pieslak, metal’s appeal functions on a number of levels. Its fanbase in America corresponds to a significant social demographic that the army recruits from – young white working and lower middle class males. Because of its use in the entertainment industry, it has associations with power, excitement and chaotic force. He also analyses the timbre and rhythms of some of the tracks most popular with the soldiers, and notes that they have a literally warlike sound. Examining the structure of Slayer’s Angel of Death he notes; “because these rhythms are articulated in ways that resemble gunfire, soldiers may feel empowered by the music that, for them, evokes the sounds of combat.”

Slayer’s Angel of Death

The empowerment experienced by soldiers while listening to heavy metal and rap music has also been turned outward, transforming the aggressive power of the music into a literal weapon. This took place notably at Fallujah in 2004, when military strategy for retaking control of the city involved bolting speakers onto the outside of the Humvees’ gun turrets and pounding out loud, relentless music to disorientate and exhaust the Iraqis as the soldiers surrounded the city. Since the music was being used as aggressive noise, the choice of the tracks used was left up to the soldiers on the ground and included AC/DC, Eminem and Guns n’Roses.

“Soldiers experiences have shown the transformative effect of music in combat preparation, and timbre has the power to bolster confidence and motivate listeners outside of themselves.” Pieslak concludes. “Paradoxically, the sound can irritate, frustrate, and psychologically break people down. It appears that metal, and to a slightly lesser degree rap, have the dubious distinction of being capable of both psychological effects,”

Listen for new weapons

In Sonic Warfare, Steve Goodman describes how a related strategy was used in the so called Urban Funk Campaign in the early 1970s during the Vietnam war, using helicopter mounted devices known as sound curdler systems. The curdler emitted high-decibel sound, rather than music specifically, and was also used in a strategy called Wandering Soul in which the voices of ‘ghosts’ of Vietnamese ancestors were broadcast above the treetops at night, to psychologically disconcerting effect.

Goodman also suggests that the British Ministry of Defence used “a device called the Squawk Box… during the troubles in Northern Ireland for crowd control.” The box, mounted on a Land Rover, would produce ultrasonic frequencies that when combined were “intolerable to the human ear, producing giddiness, nausea, or fainting or merely a “spooky” psychological effect.”

Goodman (better known as Dubstep artist Kode9) assumes a direct link between sound as a form of entertainment and sound as a form of oppression, regularly making reference to the “military entertainment complex”, but away from the deep theory and philosophy of academia, the connection between the two seems more like furiously dark irony than sinister cahoots.

Lost in music

While working on their album Heligoland, Massive Attack approached a number of artists whose work they admired to create short films to accompany an album track of their choice. Among these were Oliver Chanarin and Adam Broomberg whose photographic work over the last decade has often examined the complex position of the photographer in depicting human suffering. Having recently completed projects in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the duo initially proposed using the track Saturday Come Slow for a film about US Drones (remotely piloted planes).

Massive Attack’s Saturday Come Slow, featuring Damon Albarn

Massive Attack put them in touch with the human rights charity Reprieve that is currently running a campaign called ZeroDB to end the use of music in torture.  CIA run facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Morocco and at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba use extremely loud music to break down detainees. Those who have been through it explain that the relentless barrage has horrific psychological effects – they literally felt that they were losing their sanity.

“Massive Attack are very committed to ending capital punishment”, explains Ollie. “They started talking to us about the use of music in torture, they introduced us to Ruhal and it went from there.” Ruhal Ahmed is former Guantanamo Bay detainee who was submitted to interrogation techniques using high volume music – in the film of Saturday Come Slow he describes being short-shackled and blasted with cold air for up to two and a half days at a stretch with the constant sound of heavy metal music being interspersed with episodes of physical violence and intimidation.

Whereas metal had been used by the US soldiers for its supposed power as intolerable  – even diabolical – foreign music, this is clearly not the root of the devastating effect that it had in this instance. “Ruhal is an English kid; that music wasn’t a cultural barrage,” explains Ollie. “It was familiar – eventually that music becomes something completely abstracted.

Tracks used in this kind of interrogation have included music by Aerosmith, Rage Against the Machine, AC/DC, Metallica, Eminem, Nine Inch Nails, Britney Spears, Drowning Pool and even tunes from the kids’ shows Sesame Street and Barney. Ollie explains that Clive Stafford Smith, the founder of Reprieve was unable to get the American military to admit to using music in torture so filed a copyright infringement lawsuit to make them pay for the use of Eminem.

The Cambridge University professor interviewed in Saturday Come Slow explains that the nature of the music used in torture is less a factor than the volume and quality of the sound – distortion from cheap speakers used at top volume was likely to be more of an irritant than the music itself, and continued exposure to noise at high volumes can cause permanent damage to the ear.

Chopped Liver‘s Adam Broomberg and Olivier Chanarin’s Saturday Come Slow

The film specifically focuses on the effects of sound and vibration on the human ear, but Ollie still finds it hard to divorce the notion of music as noise from music as something created and expressive. “Music is something that we all associate with joy or pleasure,” he explains. “That transformation is so horrifying – that the beautiful thing becomes something intolerable.”

Sound Targets: American Soldiers and Music in the Iraq War, Jonathan Pieslak (Indiana University Press, 2009) – Available here

Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect and the Ecology of Fear, Steve Goodman (MIT Press, 2010) – Available here

Michel Tabachnik, photographed by Melika Ngombe

So it came as a little surprise to find that Michel Tabacik, charismatic conductor and musical director of the Brussels Philharmonic – het Vlaams Radio Orkest, didn’t exactly fit the bill as far as conductors go. Yes, he is fierce-looking, intense and stern in the same manner a high court judge might be, although his absorbing and firing personality makes him the perfect contender to ensure his philharmonic remains relevant with today’s short attention spanned audiences. To somewhat paraphrase one of our current fetish sentences, Tabachnik’s heart is in the past, his feet in the now and his mind firmly geared to the future.

“We have to play normal repertoire (similar to the Cinematek playing the classics), we have to play new creations or commissions and we have to initiate collaborations (pairing, for example, a dance company together with the orchestra)” says Tabachnik when asked how a year’s program is devised. Although a single theme might be used to underpin an entire season’s program and helps lend it some consistency, he is deeply conscious of the need to mix the old, the new and the original: “Every season, we have to find a way to reinvent ourselves and raise the level of excitement. Local competition being so fierce (there is at least one, if not two, concerts every night), we need quality, imagination and an interesting selection of guest artists to attract the public.” So the conductor doesn’t merely conduct then. He envisions, invites, calculates, champions, programs and educates too.

Photography Melika Ngombe

But how does one become a conductor? Is there a graduate course in wand-wielding wizardry? Is it a calling, or a talent anyone can pick up? “Bernstein used to say that you are born a conductor” says Tabachnik somewhat approvingly, although the reality of climbing the echelons to being a conductor is a far less abstract affair. You first go to the conservatory, learning an instrument (Tabachnik took up the piano) then go to master classes with a conductor (Tabachnik did three years with French conductor and composer Pierre Boulez, going on to become his assistant). “You cannot simply decide to be a conductor” he states, affirming that “to communicate sound through gesture is a special gift.” Indeed it is…as is the art of understanding what the heck is happening on that front pedestal. How does the uninitiated take his first concert in then? “You need to think broadly in terms of civilization, and the specificities of ours. People have to come to our concerts with a good knowledge of music, and an urge to be inspired.”

Illustration la villa hermosa (www.lavillahermosa.com)

Music and fashion have always gone hand in hand but the relationship between these two worlds has been tightly reinforced these past years. Blame it on Hedi Slimane and his obsession with the British indie scene that emerged during the noughties or on the decline of the record industry, various partnerships and synergies are flourishing everywhere. Bands turn to fashion for lucrative deals and brands view these emerging artists as a new way of attracting young customers and revamping their image. Burberry suffered a serious brand image downfall in the nineties, but pulled itself back up thanks to Christopher Bailey’s arrival. Scoring top British names alongside hot new talent and heavily drawing from the nation’s promising musical scene for its advertising campaigns was an instant success and has become a trademark. The clip for their new perfume, aptly named The Beat, had Agyness Deyn dancing and jerking to “Got Ma Nuts From A Hippy” by the Fratellis. The Scottish band had managed pretty well so far, but performing in front of the fashion world’s crème de la crème in London at the 2007 launch of the new scent surely didn’t hurt in terms of exposure and popularity.

Aggy swinging to the Fratellis:

The Fratellis performing at The Beat’s release party in Koko, London:

A while later, a surprisingly similar looking version of Jon Fratelli, although younger and prettier, could be seen in The Beat for Men’s campaign. 20-year-old George Craig had been featured in Burberry’s previous and current ads, and is now the brand’s new it-boy. He’s walked the show in Milan, recorded a voiceover segment for the TV clip, even picked up the Menswear trophy on behalf of Burberry’s creative chief officer Christopher Bailey at the 2008 British Fashion Awards. Guess what… He’s got his own band, called One Night Only. Bailey found them online and apparently really liked George’s look. Their music is heavily featured on Burberry’s website and they performed at the Burberry day extravaganza held in New York last year. Whether in the music industry or modelling business, this simple kid from north Yorkshire is now worth solid gold. The band’s endorsement may be cringe-worthy (they are now practically a walking billboard for the brand) but it has offered them the kind of publicity their record label never could.

The Beat for Men, featuring Kristian Walker (Last Gang), Will Cameron (Blondelle), George Craig (One Night Only), Jonny Epstein (band manager), Alex Pettyfer (model and actor)

Sam Riley channeling Ian Curtis once more in Burberry’s Fall 08 campaign

Collaborations and the exploitation of the band’s image can take various other forms. Franz Ferdinand recently recorded an exclusive song for the latest campaign of Dior’s Lady Rouge bag, with vocals from current face Marion Cotillard, yet they do not appear in its promotional video clip. The Glaswegian band’s involvement with that particular French house is not that surprising considering its bond with Slimane, the former creative director of Dior Homme. He confessed Alex Kapranos figures amongst his favourite persons to dress, and for a while all of his models looked like clones of the Franz Ferdinand front man, channelling both the band and the brand’s angular, sharp and skinny aesthetics.

Marion Cotillard and Franz Ferdinand’s Eyes Of Mars track for Dior:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ief8o5LH7Ig

Hilfiger Denim teamed with hipster darlings The Virgins in an attempt to reinforce its New York street cred, shooting the band “playing” in front of the Brooklyn Bridge for last years Spring campaign. The same brand had Mark Ronson, then a young rising DJ in the Big Apple, posing in a recording studio for one of their ads a decade ago. He can now be seen playing his guitar and cuddling his chérie Joséphine de la Baume in black and white shots for the latest Zadig & Voltaire campaign. The Parisian brand has always positioned itself at the crossroads of fashion and music. Now it has launched it’s own music label, set to promote young artists. How long until the rest of the fashion land jumps on that bandwagon?

Mark Ronson, the current face of Zadig & Voltaire

Sean Lennon and his girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl for Zadig & Voltaire’s Fall 2009 campaign

In an Absolut world you’re with the band. Or how drinking Swedish vodka can provide the illusion of hanging out with Wolfmother

The Virgins for Hilfiger Denim:

Additional research by Timothy Palma

Emmanuelle, style icon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aRuWJi9T20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaFFH8NEPUc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCsE5ty2d-o

Utterly cringe-inducing dance scene (we’ve all been there):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkAwWAvQduA

Oh! It’s warm is here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjIltgaU0Zg

Who doesn’t have a recumbent bike in their office?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU8MI9ottUQ

And here is the piece we ran with in our March-April 2010 edition:

An icon of liberated sexuality for over half a century, Emmanuelle has been the subject of the most successful series of skin flicks ever made. Her name became a by-word for blue movies and her imitators travelled the earth and beyond, from the Italian sexploitation gorefest Emanuelle and the last Cannibals to the Emmanuelle in Space series. She has inspired fashion collections, chair designs and satire aplenty, but beyond the free love and exotic locales, who is the real Emmanuelle?

Writer Hettie Judah, Illustration Steve Jakobs

“Emmanuelle aime les caresses manuelle et buccales…Emmanuelle aime les intellectuels et les manuels…” Serge Gainsbourg, theme to Goodbye Emmanuelle

First released in a clandestine pressing in 1959, Emmanuelle carried neither the name of its author nor its publisher, it was just Emmanuelle a novel centring on a bored clique of expats wiling away their life in Thailand on a diet of sports, saphism, intrigue and passion-dampening erotic philosophy. The eponymous heroine is a nineteen-year old with a genius for sex (and a time-consuming masturbation habit) who is inducted in the ways of the new eroticism – a doctrine of free love that abhors the banal and routine.

The Parisian publisher Eric Losfeld purportedly received the manuscript in a hefty parcel with a Bangkok postmark. He split it into two separate books – Emmanuelle and L’Anti-Vierge –but despite receiving considerable attention in the alternative press, restrictive obscenity laws kept both books underground until 1968.

In its official version, Emmanuelle appears as the work of Emmanuelle Arsan, purportedly the nomme de plume of Marayat Rollet-Andriane, the Thai-born wife of a French diplomat. Marayat kept details of her identity deliberately vague, saying that everything that needed to be known about her was to be found in her writing.  What biographical information there is gives her date of birth as 1940, which would have made her 17 in 1957, when the manuscript arrived from Bangkok. There has since been considerable speculation that the Emmanuelle Arsan writings were largely the work of her husband Louis Jacques Rollet-Andriane. Certainly the long conversations on moral sexuality at the heart of the book read more like the rationalising of a free-living middle-aged diplomat than his teen bride.

Never the less, Marayat associated herself fiercely with the character of Emmanuelle: a slight, full-breasted figure with waist-length black hair and precocious physical allure. As the first Emmanuelle movie went into production, Sylvia Kristel recalls ‘Emmanuelle Arsan’ as being so horrified with the director’s choice of casting that she refused to meet her; “She is the heroine of her own book,” recalled Kristel. “It’s her story. She is Eurasian, dark-haired, short, an emancipated woman before her time. I am tall, pale, docile, with strict morals, shaped by my religious education. She comments that Emmanuelle would never have brought her partner to the set. She would have devoured the crew and the natives with contagious nymphomania.”

Sylvia Kristel back in her Emmanuelle heydays...

In the end, of course, it is the lean, fair Utrecht-born Kristel who won Emmanuelle. The strong-willed beauty queen – who became the lover of Belgian intellectual Hugo Claus when he was 45 and she 22 – was condemned to spend her life identified with this single character, to which she had not even been allowed to give a voice. Her relationship with Claus pre-dated the Emmanuelle films (although he encouraged her participation in them) – and it seems significant that it was perhaps the only ‘pure’ relationship that she had with a lover. The intoxicating character of Emmanuelle dominated all the rest. “Men have loved my body,” she wrote recently. “I have been their fantasy, but I’ve seen few hearts. My fans were faceless, and I didn’t belong to myself….I wanted to be big when I was nothing but a child. I wanted to be looked at and that’s all that ever happened.”

Through a life scarred by alcoholism, cocaine addiction, exploitation and bad relationships, Kristel time and again found herself wooed by men unable to separate her from her most famous role. Even in her 50s, recovering from major surgery, she was treated like public property, a walking emblem of liberal sexuality submitted to intimate questions about orgasm on French TV shows.

Sylvia Kristel today...

It has become a cliché to describe the original 1974 Emmanuelle movie as tame by modern standards – what is much more striking, in fact, is its coupling of force to female enjoyment. While the women happily toy with one another and masturbate openly, most of the penetrative sex seems to be initiated in circumstances little short of rape. Watching the film you can see a vista of ‘when a woman says ‘no’ she means ‘maybe’’ thinking and date rape rolling out in its wake. Emmanuelle may end the movie as a sexually liberated woman, but she attains this status via enforced pain and humiliation. Matters are not helped by the fact that Kristel so rarely looks as though she’s having a good time – her faked orgasms have an edge of disgust to them, and certainly in the later films, she has an absent demeanour assisted by her hearty uptake of coke and champagne.

The free-loving ethos is shattered in the third movie by marital jealousy – the new erotic philosophy that provides the series with its raison d’etre is implicitly discarded and normal service resumed. But while the sexuality of the film is very much of its time, the book is genuinely transgressive, with a lingering fascination with childhood sexuality that leads to some unforgettable pronouncements – “The erotic woman is the one who, at snack time, calls her son and tells him to make a sperm sandwich for his little sister.”

While the books are almost an exercise in sexual philosophy strung out between physical diversions, the films communicate this new libertinism via the lush exoticism of their locations (Thailand, Hong Kong, the Seychelles) and artful mise en scène. Both the first two films were made by fashion photographers, the first by the Dutch-born Just Jaekin, the second by Francis Giacobetti, whose softcore aesthetic was honed on the Pirelli Calendars, and who was also responsible for the iconic publicity stills from the first movie. With wardrobes raided from Balenciaga and beyond, it’s not surprising that the style of the films has had a particular influence all of its own. Everything from Sylvia Kristel’s haircut, to the heavy kohl eye makeup to the rattan furnishing to the peek-a-boo eveningwear became a cultural reference. The Emmanuelle style has influenced fashion collections (notably from Veronique Branquinho) and is still visible on women of a certain age. Unlike Sylvia Kristel, of course, the generation of copycat Emmanuelles really did choose to align themselves with an image of sexual hedonism and availability – and thus perhaps most deserve the title of the real Emmanuelle.

Writer Nick Amies, additional online research Timothy Palma.

Back in the late 1960s, British dancehalls were filled with young, working class white skins and their West Indian neighbours decked out in immaculate clothes and hot-stepping to the sounds of reggae, ska and rocksteady brought to their ears by a small subsidiary of Island Records called Trojan. Formed in 1967, Trojan Records came into its own a year later when businessman Lee Gopthal took the helm. Gopthal recruited a number of iconic Jamaican producers such as Lee Perry, Bunny Lee and Clancy Eccles, as well as fostering a host of new talent from Britain’s burgeoning reggae scene. A year later, Trojan started releasing its own material, tasting mainstream success with the Upsetters’ Top 5 smash Return of Django in 1969. Hit singles followed from Jimmy Cliff and the Harry J All Stars, and a British number one, Double Barrel by Dave Barker & Ansel Collins, in the spring of 1971.

The Upsetters – Return of Django

Dave Barker & Ansel Collins – Double barrel

Jimmy Cliff – The Good Good Old Days

Trojan’s rapid rise had much to do with the embracing of the direct, unpretentious approach of Reggae by the skinheads. Perversely, while the skins helped Trojan to scale the heights, the label’s mainstream success and increasingly sophisticated sound ultimately alienated its skinhead fanbase.

As well as racking up hit singles, the label continued to showcase virtual unknowns from Jamaica including Dennis Brown, Gregory Isaacs, and a certain Kingston-based vocal trio called Bob Marley & the Wailers.

While its commercial power began to tail off in the mid-70s, Trojan continued to showcase emerging talents from the Caribbean. By the turn of the century, Trojan had found its new niche in the market as a purveyor of classic, vintage Jamaican sounds.

We page-perfected the label in our Skin Issue, giving it the exposure and merit it deserves. Here, we select some of our favourite tracks coming out of the label’s jukebox

Harry J All Stars – Down Side Up

John Holt – You Baby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyXbOktwvjc

Ken Boothe – Everything I Own

Toots & the Maytals – Johnny Cool Man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrntbL2Q41I

Inner Circle – We ‘A’ Rockers

Take a look at some of the “virtual unknowns” showcased by Trojan.  Perhaps you recognize a name or two?

Dennis Brown – How could I let you get away

Gregory Isaacs – Reasoning With The Almighty

images courtesy of Trojan Records

Photography Charlotte May Wales

Dover Street Market still feels fresh as new despite being around for half a decade, making it one of the best, if not ultimate, shopping addresses in our book.

Let’s face it: shopping can be an absolute drag, even for the most athletic among us (and particularly if you’re wearing 6-inch heels). Sure, department stores are convenient – and easier on the Jimmy Choos – but while they’ve simplified the game, they’ve also killed the fun. The brand and designer’s visual identities are wiped out in favour of a uniform, sleek, if not sterile, atmosphere, and before you know it, you’re suffocating on the stench of consumerism pushed to the max. The billboards carrying artist Barbara Kruger’s slogans: “I shop therefore I am” – “you want it, you buy it, you forget it”: that Selfridges displayed in its windows for the launch of its 2007 Boxing Day sale summed it up with a chilling dose of irony.

Comes the curious case of the Dover Street Market. The six-storey shop located in London’s Mayfair district, created by Comme Des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo and her husband Adrian Joffe, does not look like any other place in the world. It operates as Comme’s London flagship store, stocking all ten lines as well as its perfume range, yet offers a cutting-edge selection of other high fashion brands as well as more challenging independent designers. Often compared to Colette, it almost makes the Rue Saint-Honoré’s temple of cool look mainstream. Dover Street is not a department store, and dismisses the trendy label of concept store. And even though the price tags are not for the faint-hearted and there’s a fair chance haggling won’t go down too well, the ‘market’ appellation seems to be the most fitting one. Kawakubo envisioned this project as a tribute to Kensington’s iconic market and has always professed her love and fascination for bazaars all over the world. The goal was to channel their energy and disorder in order to create what she describes as “beautiful chaos”.

The overall raw and unfinished look of the premises: bare ceilings, concrete walls, coarse wood and plastic film covering the elevator’s buttons: put it light years away from the clean and polished interiors of the neighbourhood’s designer boutiques. There are eccentric touches, like the cashpoint machine hidden in a giant hut in the middle of the room, antique dealer Emma Hawkins’ exquisite collection of Victorian stuffed birds and rare animal skulls at the entrance, and tongue in cheek plays on random every-day objects, such as the vending machine that sells Dover Street Market label t-shirts for £25 a pop, or the big portacabins that serve as fitting rooms (trust us, trying on garments in one of those is truly disarming). It’s all topped off with an atmosphere of creative tension spilling from the eclectic stall designs, and the singular sense of style and laid back attitude of the staff, that make them look more like Factory hangers by than busy bee salespeople.

The anti-glam aesthetics are no shocker to those familiar with Comme Des Garçons shops and philosophy, but the novelty here is in the direct collaboration with the other brands involved. Artistic freedom and creative control are offered to designers like Alber Elbaz for Lanvin, Phoebe Philo for Celine or Nicholas Kirkwood, allowing them to direct their own space. In return, Dover Street Market is granted limited edition ranges and exclusives like the Peter Jensen collection and Charles Anastase’s ethereal drawings.

Constantly renewing the space, Dover Street Market undergoes a biannual makeover named Tachiagari, meaning ‘start’ or ‘beginning’ in Japanese. The store is closed for a few days during which all the installations are revamped and new designers introduced. This spirit of perpetual evolution creates excitement among its loyal customer base and it’s now traditional to find an army of fashion cognoscenti queuing outside before each re-opening.

If we were to play one of our favourite games and imagine we were obscenely rich for the day, a pair of Cutler and Gross vintage shades, Bibi’s rings made of prehistoric mammoth ivory, a lifetime guaranteed leather bag courtesy of Bedouin, and a whole lot of Rodarte, Pierre Hardy, Hussein Chalayan, Comme des Garçons, Givenchy, Giles, Ann Demeulemeester, Behnaz Kanani, Giambattista Valli, Bess jeans and Proenza Schouler could all easily find their way into our shopping basket. For now we will just indulge in a veggie pie by Rose Bakery’s organic open kitchen on the top floor, the latest issue of Monocle magazine and a Comme Des Garçons Play striped knit.

Thankfully the visual treat is free. One of the most intriguing areas is the world archive; pieces collected by Michael Costiff from around the globe, from African masks and tribal jewellery, to communist memorabilia. Magazine geeks will thrill to the Idea Books corner, a simple table and chair surrounded by Angela Hill’s jaw dropping collection of vintage magazines, vanished cult fanzines and old art books. The basement stocks enough gems to make any street wear junkie or sneaker fetishist’s head spin in a fraction of a second.

We were lucky enough to be allowed a guided tour before opening hours in order to take shots, and caught a designer presenting his new collection of handmade denim, limited to one hundred pieces, to the team of sales assistants. Sessions of this kind were frequent, we were told, and essential for the creator to pass along the knowledge and love invested in the product. This passion and attention to detail on the part of everyone involved seems to be a kind of key to Dover Street Market.

Adding to the mix is the aura of mystery around the place, sacredly guarded by everyone involved. There is no advertising, buyers refuse to comment on their modus operandi, Kawakubo is notoriously media shy and when she or her husband grants an interview, they remain carefully elusive, reluctant to define the Dover Street Market philosophy. The stubborn secrecy and vagueness could be perceived as presumptuous and almost become annoying, if not for its irreproachable result. The idea is that each individual that comes to the store is meant to make up his or her own answers and interpretation of what it’s meant to be. Dover Street Market is different to everyone. Kind of like a David Lynch film, only with nicer clothes.

With additional research by Angélie Berhault

Tavi Genvinsion – now aged 13, she began her blog at the tender age of 11. A self-confessed recluse with an ackwardly astute fashion consciousness, her blog Style Rookie racks the readers (up to 50,000), the magazine coverage (nothing less than the Damien Hirst-designed cover of POP‘s August 2009 edition, as well as the cover of Love‘s September 2009 issue) as well as the front row positioning (everyone from Dior to Marc Jacobs). She tweets @TaviGevinson.

Tavi with designer Yohji Yamamoto

Bryanboy – hailing from Manila (in the Philippines),bryanboy is the closest the fashion world gets to Perez Hilton territory. Aged 22, the former web developer started his blog at 17 and now gets bags named after him (Marc Jacobs’ BB ostrich bag) as well as advertising campaigns styled after him (the fashion rumour mil has it that Fendi‘s 2006 campaign was a faint reference to the pretty boy’s eponymous picture perfect pose). He tweets @bryanboy.

Bryan Boy

Tommy Ton – somewhat more edgy and understated, 25 year old Tommy Ton’s blog has carved out such a distinctive (visual) niche for itself that he’s recently been asked to document the streetstyles of the fashion world’s various capitals for Style.com. Based in Toronto (Canada), you could say Tommy’s one of the rare bloggers the print industry has actually embraced, rather than merely celebrated (he’s been awared a fair amount of editorial pages, but his contribution to print remains as a photographer for, amongst others, US and Teen Vogue). He tweets @JakandJilBlog.

Scott Schuman – when you mention New Yorker Scott Schuman’s name, words like ‘pioneer’, ‘visionary’ and ‘genius’ start popping up. A fashion industry insider who decided to go awol after 15 years in the business, Schuman began his blog out of sheer passion (or, depending on how you look at it, obssession) for the everyday folk’s style sensitivities. His eponymous blog The Sartorialist has defined a new era in fashion voyeurism, with something of a military-esque viguour. He tweets @Sartorialist.

Scott Schuman

Susie Bubble -Susie Lau (the 26 year old Londoner behind Susie Bubble) launched her beloved blog back in 2006. Part visual wish-list, part informed commentary, her online diary (updated up to three times per day) now clocks up an impressive (though unverified) 10,000 hits per day, landing her the enviable position as Dazed Digital commissioning editor. She tweets @susiebubble.

We just got off the phone with a (rather amazingly, quite efficient and on-the-ball) gent from the Belgian Post (apparently, we have our own account manager) who was kind enough to notify us that, due to a fuck-up at the Ixelles/Elsene sorting house (the idiots don’t seem capable of sending a truck in the right direction, meaning over 1,000 copies of The Skin Issue, which had diligently and hastely been packed away by our interns Angélique and Timothy first thing Tuesday morning, somehow ended up in Liege), our beloved subscribers will now have to wait until tomorrow (for the lucky ones) or even Monday (for the more unfortunate ones) before they get to, well, get underneath our skin. We are terribly sorry for any inconvenience caused (we know you guys like to end your week on a Word note) but it is well and truly out of our power.

This isn’t to say that our respect for Rudy, our local postman, has dimished. Quite the contrary: he is the perfect embodiment of a neighbourhood postman (chatty, smily and even a little flirty with the street’s older women) and we only wish he could instill a little of his profesionalism and loveliness on his colleagues back at the depot.

In the meantime, you might already see the new issue appear on the streets of the capital today and tomorrow whilst Antwerp, Ghent, Leuven and Brugge will be served Monday and Tuesday. And for those who can’t wait to know what Skin meant to us, here’s a little taster of things to come.

To put it in the words of the game’s creator: “…The game is to be played as often as you can, in order to be prepared for any kind of disaster. The game is to be played with anything you can lay your hands on as a pawn. You just have to feel that this button or sipping top or whatever you use has the potential to represent you and save the earth. Best played with two or three survivors. You’re free to decide what to do with them when you reach the centre square and win the game.”

Monopoly it ain’t. Then again they say love is the new green…

Illustrations Félicie Haymoz, photography Aggloweb

A pawn of choice

The domino was covered in shiny tacky stickers. When it fell on the "I love you" sticker, she had to kiss all of us. Love conquers all... yet she sort of lost the game.

That's my blue bird of paradise car! I came second, thanks to its powerfull non-toxic engine.

The five of us were full of Christmas cake and eager to win the race...

The winner of the game, the Red Horse gave a vigorous speech about how wooden toys would overcome and save the earth.

This is a good demonstration of how to hide under the table when you cross the TWISTER path on number 36. Also, you'll need a huge stack of chocolates to eat when arriving in the Swiss Shelter.

Photography Yassin Serghini, Art direction Melisande McBurnie, Defacto model Lalita Davis

The shot we ran with

For Amazon links:

Design Revolution (Thames & Hudson), Remake it Home (Thames & Hudson), Birth of the Cool (Prestel Publishing), Like Lipstick Traces (Dokument Press), Men in the Cities (Schirmer/Mosel), 60 Innovators Shaping our Creative Future (Thames & Hudson), Tatoo Book (Maurizio Carraini)

Tryouts

And more tryouts

Musical creativity and drug addiction are dark but inevitable bedfellows, but the skewed stimulation of getting fucked-up long-term tends to end in either death or dry out. So what happens to twisted talents when they try to go straight?

Writer Randa Wazen, Illustrations Bruce Tsai, Video research Maren Spriewald

Intoxication; my inspiration

Alongside love and death, drugs have inspired some of modern music’s greatest moments. The Velvet Underground’s I’m Waiting for my Man depicts a situation anyone who’s ever dealt with a punctuality challenged dealer is well familiar with, and the subject of Heroin speaks for itself. Lou Reed, who penned both tracks, is now clean and writes albums about morality whilst former bandmate John Cale admits that cocaine and alcohol disrupted his work and he lost his sense of humour. Nowadays, the sixty-seven year old has kicked drugs and booze completely and works out in the gym. Some of the 1960s most iconic anthems pay tribute to psychedelic substances, from Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit, through the Beatles’ Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to Jimmy’ Hendrix’s timeless guitar classic Purple Haze. Syd Barrett paid tribute to Albert Hofmann, who was the first to synthesize LSD in Pink Floyd’s Bike – a reference to the chemist’s ride back home after having ingested the substance for the first time as he was tripping without knowing it. Spiritualized’s frontman Jason Pierce never made his drug habit a secret; a disc by his former band Spacemen 3 was titled Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs To, and a special edition of Spiritualized’s 1997 album Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space was packaged to resemble a prescription pills box, complete with dosage indications.

The Velvet Underground’s I’m Waiting for my Man:

The Velvet Underground’s Heroin:

[dailymotion]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x544r5_the-velvet-underground-heroin_music[/dailymotion]

Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EntBFYOPIcE&feature=related

The Beatles’ Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds:

Jimmy’ Hendrix’s Purple Haze:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIvs4j4IniA&feature=related

Pink Floyd’s Bike:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN-j9H0nIDs

Get clean, get rich

Sobering up has helped some bands make the leap from cult cool to stadium rock star status. Indie darlings Kings of Leon had been around for a decade before finding a massive mainstream following a few years ago. The Followill tribe, composed of brothers Caleb, Nathan, Jared and cousin Matthew, confessed to a heavy cocaine addiction – to the point where some of them wore lipstick in an attempt to cover it up. They kicked their habit, then recorded their third album Because of the Times with a new polished sound that had mass appeal. The following record Only by the Night was a worldwide hit (their tunes were on such heavy rotation last year that if we hear Sex on Fire one more time, our heads might explode).

Under The Bridge, The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ most famous single, was an account of Anthony Kiedis’ drug days that started when he was barely 12. Kiedis cleaned up just in time for the album Californication, which also saw the return of John Frusciante – finally free from a lengthy heroin addiction that had him inches away from his deathbed. The album marked a clear shift in the band’s musical style and was their most commercially successful to date. Courtney Love’s tabloid fame almost eclipsed the three critically acclaimed albums she released with her band Hole. Her first solo album came out while she was still undergoing rehab and was a major flop. Back in 2005, during 3 months in a lock down rehabilitation clinic, she wrote 8 songs later christened ‘The Rehab Tapes’. Re-recorded with various celebrity friends the album, now titled Nobody’s Daughter, has been mooted for release since 2007 but due to various technical problems looks likely only to appear this year. Several autobiographical tracks like How Dirty Girls Get Clean and The Depths of My Despair were leaked to considerable enthusiasm, and it still looks like this could be Love’s best shot at reclaiming her reputation.

Kings of Leon’s Sex on Fire:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFwKpqXnLcI&feature=related

The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Under The Bridge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG2DGDndKmg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLQJSJe48Hs&feature=related

Macrobiotic shhhhhtimulation

Eighties synthpop duo Soft Cell came back in 2002 after an 18-year hiatus with the album Cruelty without Beauty. Marc Almond and David Ball’s earlier albums seemed directly influenced by the drugs they were taking at the time. Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret was their MDMA album, The Art of Falling Apart was drenched in an acid vibe and This Last Night in Sodom can qualify as their amphetamine masterpiece. When asked what his drug of choice for the fourth opus was, Almond simply replied “Evian water and macrobiotic food”. Initially terrified of losing his creativity without being under the influence, the singer considers his sober years to be the most fruitful period of his life. After a lifetime spent exploring the limits of his own sanity (including phases of such darkness that he burnt down his own recoding studio) the godfather of dub, Lee “Scratch” Perry, recently quit weed at the age of 70. He explained in an interview that he wanted to find out if “it was the smoke making the music or Lee Perry making the music. I found out it was me and that I don’t need to smoke.”

Trent Reznor suffered from serious writer’s block while battling a drug and alcohol addiction following his second album, ominously titled The Downward Spiral. Trent went to rehab, felt super, and shared it with the whole world on With Teeth. Mind altering substances were always a major no-no for Fugazi frontman Ian MacKaye. He famously sang “I’ve got better things to do than sit around and fuck my head, hang out with the living dead” in Minor Threat’s 1981 song Straight Edge. The song spawned the movement of the same name whose enthusiasts believe in a life of abstinence and sobriety.

Minor Threat’s Straight Edge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEdykxTPmaw

Minor Threat’s Ian MacKaye on documentary American Hardcore:

All creativity aside, drugs can seriously mess up another key factor: technique. Slash of Guns n Roses confessed that he’s one hell of a better guitar player since he’s been sober. Some assets on the other hand can never be retrieved. Take Whitney Houston, whose addiction to cocaine and marijuana saw her fade away from the spotlight and caused irreversible damage to her vocal cords. Houston’s long awaited comeback album I Look to You just didn’t have that old Whitney sound.

Clean and a little too serene

While certain accounts of drug days and rehab can be very deep and moving, others just fall into cliché, such as ex-Suede frontman Brett Anderson’s eponymous post-rehab solo album. Iggy Pop, once famous for his onstage antics and lyrics about beating his brain with liquor and drugs, has now become a health freak, doing tai chi every morning and releasing soft-spoken jazz records. Mick Jagger, who gave up drinking, drugs and partying in the early 00’s, released his fourth solo effort Goddess in the Doorway in 2001. Despite critical praise, the audience did not seem too receptive; neither was fellow Rolling Stone Keith Richards, who dubbed it “Dogshit in the Doorway”.

Much has changed in the studio environment too. While some epic recording sessions in the sixties turned into drug and alcohol fuelled fests of chaos, these days they’re more likely to be dealt with in a fast, sterile, and business-like fashion. If the new modus operandi hasn’t affected the actual quality of the music, it sure has killed most of the juicy stories and legendary myths surrounding it. The rehab tendency has also affected the romanticized image of the tormented artist. For where there is addiction, there usually is pain and suffering – which when creatively expressed, has been the source for much art – something the audiences feed off voraciously. As Jagger wisely put it, “who wants to listen to a load of songs about `I’m rich and happy’”? But then again, who wants to see their idols die choking on their own vomit?

First off, the six photographs we ran with in The Morning After Issue. Then, the unprintable ones…

And now for those you weren’t supposed to see….

With a piece on how going cold turkey affects talent (put together by Randa), a photography feature on taking the first metro of the morning (as captured by Ulrike), a look into some of the most outrageous apocalyptic claims ever made (written by Nick Amies), a guide to preparing for a binge (developed by a Coast), a sit-down with Lacoste artistic director Christophe Lemaire (who talked to Hettie), a day-to-day documenting of the rotting effects time going past has on your morning fry-up (painstakingly photographed by Sarah) as well as a realisation that the dealers have indeed outsmarted the boys in blue (made by Alex), The Morning After Issue most definitely lives up to its name.

Add to it our Car Special – with illustrated car tests by Pierre-Philippe and a visit to Imperia - and let’s just say we’re chuffed with our first 100 pages of content for this new decade.

This first edition of 2010 also comes with some changes on the design side: a slightly wider grid to allow for more content on each page, the introduction of tags (yes yes, like those you see on blogs) and other print-online crossovers (most of the magazine’s content will now be brought to life on the blog so stay tuned) as well as an even bolder spine. Oh, and our eponymous Post-it page has been replaced…

Back from the printers on Friday, subscribers will get it first, with the rest of you having to wait until next week. (Subscription information an distribution points here)

“Funny story, when we were doing the shoot, two guys from the heating company came to do a standard check, but Zoe was  almost fully naked, so I had to hide her. I opened the door with my camera in my hands, and the guys thought I wanted to shoot them for our wall of fame (we take pics of all the guests and put them on a wall) so I started shooting the guys, while Zoe was still in the closet. Afterwards they took so long, so we snuck outside into the elevator, right at the moment the guys were ready to leave…with the elevator of course. Welcome to the house of fun, I guess they will be back soon! Oh, and I also tried the shoes on Ioan (my boyfriend), and the Isabelle l’enfant chain on the cat. And we phoned Veronique Branquinho with her shoe.”

Allo Veronique

Veronique Branquinho shoes

Isabelle l'enfant

Isabelle l'enfant

Isabelle l'enfant

Zoe in the elevator

Zoe in the elevator

All books available from Amazon:

Studio Culture (2009) by Tony Brook and Adrian Shaughnessy – Unit Editons

Antwerp Street Style (2009) by Jens Mollenvanger – Ludion

Bibliographic (2009) by Jason Godfrey – Laurence King

Oil (2009) by Edward Burtynsky – Steidl/Corcoran

American Power (2009) by Mitch Epstein – Steidl

Born in the Streets (2009) – Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain

This Book is Elektronic (2009) – Ludion

Photography Yassin Serghini, Art Direction Melisande McBurnie

Photography Yassin Serghini, Art Direction Melisande McBurnie

Photography Yassin Serghini, Art Direction Melisande McBurnie

Photography Sarah Eechaut

Over two months after, it’s high time to refresh your memories and remind you of the interactive design exhibition we organised early September with a three minute video directed by Gaetan Saint-Remy of Sep Stigo Films. The three opening nights were as good a success as we had hoped for (this being our first truly “Word” event), with close to 650 people coming to say hello and no suicides, emergency room visits nor DIY disasters to speak of (although we did get the odd drunk trying to slap a lawsuit on us for being hit by a paper plane).

Dance moves, envelopes, business cards and perfect songs. The three days (and the rest of the month for that matter) had somewhat of a kindergarten feel to it, with cissors and felt pens the weapons of choice.

Photography Yassin Serghini

Photography Sarah Eechaut

Thanks again to all the exhibiting artists for taking part: Félicia Atkinson, Atypyk, Base Design, Nicolas Buissart, Benoit Deneufbourg, Sarah Eechaut, Face to Face, Damien Hirst, Félicie Haymoz, Hvass & Hannibal, Label Architecture, Anais Massini, Pleaseletmedesign, Robin Renard, David Trubridge, Sylvain Willenz, Wallpaper Magazine.

Sylvain Willenz and Félicie Haymoz (Photography Sarah Eechaut)

Damien Hirst (Photography Sarah Eechaut)

Hvass & Hannibal (Photography Sarah Eechaut)

Sarah Eechaut (Photography Sarah Eechaut)

And an extra special dose of thanks to the following people for their unremitting assistance putting on the show: Melisande McBurnie, Rena Smith, Yassin Serghini, Benoit Berben and Lea Munsch.

See you all next year for Follow the Guide part two….

Edited by Brussels-based journalist Guy Dittrich, the guide continues in its quest to, as he puts it, “give the design-savvy traveller a snapshot of the best of the best a city has to offer.”

Confirming its reputation for shining a new light on citites you thought you knew, the guide casts  a wide – and very sharp – eye over Brussels, with Guy (who is also responsible for the guide’s Prague, Frankfurt and Munich versions) digging deep into the city’s arteries to reveal his pick of design, architecture, travel, culture, food and retail outposts worth a nod. The ususal suspects are all present (Chez Moeder Lambic‘s cellar for example) as are rather more daring inclusions (Ingo Maurer‘s lighting for the Atomium to name but one). Combining its customary mix of arresting photography, crunchy wordbites and useful tips, the W* guide remains one of the most exhaustive directories available to the city-hopper and, although really meant for the Prada-totting traveler, will also appeal to locals seeking to re-discover their city’s cool-factor.

Make sure to tag along to Sterling Books this Friday 4th December 2009 from 19h00 to get a first peek at what made the pages, and what didn’t…

Wallpaper* City Guide Brussels, available from Amazon

An inside spread showing a view over Brussels

A map of Brussels gets the W* touch

Dissecting Brussels by districts

An inside spread with essential information

The Wallpaper* City Guide Brussels'cover

Lots of cakes, lots of ideas ( photo: Veerle Frissen)

Three issues back to back – November, December, January – by the time we came to brainstorm the third one, we needed a mountain of sticky pastries in the middle of the table to get our poor, tired, brains kick-started.

After all the attention they got for their Japanese series on our blog, we HAD to invite Arnaud and Adrien, and they ended up being the only men at the table; jeez, I’ve only been editor one month and it’s already become a chick-fest around here!

Arnaud, Adrien, Ulrike (photo: Veerle Frissen)

January is going to be The Morning After issue, which lead to some pretty base trains of thought – the absolute worst-ever morning after stories (most of which seemed to involve pee  and/or amnesia), the most embarrassing-ever late night text messages (most of which seemed to involve sex), the freakiest before-after photo stories (none of which would have made it onto the pages of Flair.)

Hettie-the-editor makes that tricky more caffeine /more sugar choice (photo: Veerle Frissen)

We finally forgot all the gross stuff long enough to get down to the business of serious content, and laid down some the treats that are in store for you in January; what happens to a band’s musical output once it goes through rehab? Has being watched by Facebook changed the way we behave on a night out? Who takes the first metro of the morning? What happens to doomsday cults when the apocalypse fails to happen when predicted? How many days does it take for a full English breakfast to go really mouldy? How do you get your space ready for the morning after an almighty binge?

Meli, keeping us grounded (photo: Veerle Frissen)

Loads to get working on – too many ideas, too little time – we’re already tempted to cancel Christmas to make sure this issue gets to you super perky and looking fresh for the morning after.

Obama checks out the brainstorm notes (photo: Veerle Frissen)

In the print edition that is. On The Blog, anything goes, anything…

Here are some gems from our Nano Issue

Papa Dax (from the “Itsy Bitsy Rider” article)

We interviewed Papa Dax, a Honda Dax fanatic who also happens to be president of Antwerp’s Dax Association. The article being about motorbikes, we thought it slightly weird to publish a picture of him sitting on a counch. But we still love the picture, so here you have it.

Antwerp's illustrious Papa Dax (photography Sarah Eechaut)

Nanocyl’s Big Bags (from the “One for the nation” article)

The world of scientific research is extremely competitive, and consequently secretive. Photographer Sarah Michielsen and myself got a first-hand taste of this when visiting Nanocyl‘s facilities in Sambreville, Belgium. After being allowed to photograph everything except the company’s reactor, we left the company compound feeling pretty smug, having captured as much as we had wanted to. The only request from the company was that we’d show them the feature before going to print. We obliged, then all hell broke loose. “Could you use this word instead of that word?”, “Could you not say this?” and “Could you use our pictures instead of yours?”. Like we suddenly became the company’s pet little copywriter overnight. Truly shocking.

We’d love to show you the email exchanges (with a HR executive, nothing less! You’d think a company so intent on curtailing the freedom of press would have its own PR officer), but that could get us in quite a legal pickle. Next best option is to show you the picture they didn’t want us to publish – not because they were sensitive. No, because some suit simply didn’t like them.

Nanocyl's Big bags - 50kg bags used to ship their Carbon Nanotubes in (photography Sarah Michielsen)