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O Mensch by Nono C.
Antwerp’s got a new contemporary dance company: Nono C. I was lucky to be able to attend their premiere of ‘O Mensch’ at Kievitsnest. The venue is a former church that was turned into a local cultural center. The match between the place and the dance piece couldn’t be better. One light beam. A hooded ...
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Vila Madalena
Meet my type of hood: Vila Madalena. It’s already been called ‘the Brooklyn of São Paulo’: street art, galleries, vintage shops, artsy bars and restaurants – you name it, they have it. I only had a limited amount of time but I managed to do quite a lot. First stop: the famous graffiti street ‘Beco ...
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Café Costume x The Broken Circle Breakdown
Real gentlemen: they’re rare but we found them at a vernissage in the Café Costume boutique in Ghent. Ghent’s gents are a species of their own. Even in a smart suit they never lose their stylish nonchalance. The reason for our trip to Ghent was the opening of the exhibition of Thomas Dhanens, the set ...
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Brazil: Big City Life
Oh, Brazil… I have to admit I like the country even more than I expected I would. I’ve never seen such impressive views and cityscapes in whole of Europe. Everything is bigger and although it’s hard to tell exactly why, you feel you’re in a different continent. Rio de Janeiro is such a remarkable city. ...
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Sex, Feasts & Gossip
No, people, I’m not talking about the Playboy Mansion, but about Japan a 1000 years ago. In the beginning of last millennium the aristocracy of Heian Kyo (Kyoto nowadays) created their own little isolated world and went completely decadent. Still, compared to the rulers in the West, they did it in a most refined and ...
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My favorite city on a ring
My friend Benjamin van der Zalm is a great jewel designer. I’m such a big fan of his new idea that I asked him if we could do a little shoot with this wonderful ring. It is a hand forged silver ring, combined with the latest laser marking techniques. With extreme precision is the center ...
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A Berlin vibe in Antwerp
In Aanmaak is a collective of motivated artists & designers. You can find them in their cool studio & gallery located in a quiet neighborhood of Antwerp. Their creative group consists of all kinds of artists, from graphic designers to architects. They want to give other creatives the chance to work on a project in ...
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Bouge B
The last-minute call of Julie to ask me to come to Bouge B, the contemporary dance festival at deSingel, was one of the highlights of last week. We saw ‘Solos Bach & Gould’, created and adapted by Federica Porello and danced by Albert Quesada and Petra Söör. The source of inspiration was the performance of ...
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It’s a small world with tiny people
Are you wondering what all these people are looking at ? It is the art work from the artist Slinkachu. You can visit his microcosmos on 5 different locations in Antwerp. One of these locations is around my corner. So I couldn’t resist having a quick look during my study break. I already saw his ...
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Helmut Newton
I have a confession to make; I adore going to Paris, even when it is only for one day. Yesterday I went with my good friend Bart. When I showed his this video about the Helmut Newton exhibition in Grand Palais; he immediately said, let’s go! (Great having these kind of friends!). I ...
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Biutiful
Best things often come unexpected. That’s what happened when Julie and I discovered Biutiful on our way to Caffè Internationale, which is also in the Volkstraat in the South District of Antwerp. We were instantly drawn into the cute new shop with its beautiful prints. The clothes would certainly brighten up your wardrobe and the ...
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Street Art
When a little birdie told me about this art project near my house, I had to check it out. I’m a big fan of street art. An artist can really send out a message with these kind of projects. That’s why I decided to share this with you guys. I don’t know who the artist ...
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Love Fests
I was really feeling the love last days. I attended two film festival in Belgium, of which the first is the Festival International du Film d’Amour de Mons. The FIFA Mons presented a Brazilian film called O Abismo Prateado (The Silver Cliff) by Rodrigo Teixeira. The Brazilian Embassy was invited so my boss, his husband ...
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The Universe of Irina Schmitz
Antwerp is bursting with young, talented creatives and Irina Schmitz is definitely one of them. She showed her paintings during the young talents platform Re Issued at Kissinger. Irina: “I don’t want to give only one single interpretation to a painting. What looks like a monkey for one person, can look like an insect for ...
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Lights in the city
Last sunday I went to Ghent with a friend to see the festival of lights. This is the second time that Ghent is the stage for all different kinds of light installations. I made a short film with some of my favorites and others who caught my attention. Unfortunately my Nikon 1 isn’t the perfect ...
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Dulce: Divas, Drugs and Desires
I finished this wonderful Brazilian literary work, called Whatever Happened to Dulce Veiga? by Caio Fernando Abreu. (Original title: Onde Andará Dulce Veiga?) It was simply a pleasure to read this book, with its glamourous and anti-glamourous characters clashing on every page. The main story line is about a music journalist in São Paulo, who ...
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From the Royal Ballet to Kissinger
Saturday I went to see Sleeping Beauty with Leila. We both really love to go to the ballet. Of course it wasn’t allowed to take pictures during the show but I took one before it started . We had such great seats. As Leila said , you could smell the hairspray of the dancers. ...
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Art ’n Bloom : the reunion
The fashion edition of Art ’n Bloom at the Bloom hotel in Brussels was a great occasion to see two Belgium-based designers whom I love: Marko Galovic and Juliette Bogers. I know Marko Galovic and his perpetual other half Tanja Beljanski from Showroom Les Belges 2010 in Paris. You can see the little video report ...
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Art ‘n Bloom : accessories
These designers showed their accessories at the 7th edition of Art ‘n Bloom. In all the rooms on the first floor of this lovely hotel were designers with their work. It took us a couple of hours to visit every room. We really liked the initiative, all different kinds of visions together at one place ...
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Electric Feel: Incorporations
Incorporations, the Afro-Brazilian contemporary art exhibition at the Centrale Electrique / Elektricitetscentrale, was so powerful. All my senses got extremely stimulates with video projections, soundscapes, touchable installations, several food-inspired artworks and even a project with a lot of strong alcohol (smell included). The “trompe l’oeuil” of a tiny person in water was quite convincing, actually. ...
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Taking it to the streets
If you’re hearing Rio de Janeiro and you automatically think about nothing but carnival, beaches and samba… too bad for you! The exhibition ‘A Rua’ is taking you to the streets and even to the favelas of Rio to show you its roughness and creativity. The city is holding a mirror to itself and the ...
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Need Some Space
Going to the Europalia.Brazil exhibition “Art in Brazil” was just a joy. The exquisite selection of Brazilian contemporary artists of the last 60 years was incredible. Their diversity is vast, but they have one thing in common: the research about the concept of space. One of my favourite works is a “tridimensional” by Henrique Oliveira. ...
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Cannibals and Brazilian bulges
Working for the Brazilian Enbassy in Belgium has given me the opportunity to participate in one of the biggest cultural festivals in the world: Europalia. With Brazil as this edition’s focus country, Europalia has created over 600 cultural events from the 4th of October till the 15th of January 2012. Because of the enormous scale ...
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Manga Dance: TeZukA
Just to be clear: this picture wasn’t taken during the TeZukA performance, but during this year’s La Cambre fashion show. Nevertheless I think it’s suitable. Ok, back to business! The contemporary dance performance TeZukA by Eastman, the new dance company of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, is definitely in my top 5 of best dance performances ever. ...
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Soyez Les Bienvenus
It’s the end of a busy week and I wanted to go for a drink at a special bar called De Zomerfabriek. During the summer the city organizes a lot of events to entertain their inhabitants. They call it the summer of Antwerp. The bar is located in an old factory in my neighborhood Zurenborg. ...
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Four artists, one vernissage
Last Friday was arts day. My destination: the vernissage of Papier Carbone. The Antwerp-based (work)shop of young Dutch fashion designer Juliette Bogers was transformed into an exhibition where her own pieces were in dialogue with two product designers and one photographer. I’m a big fan myself of Juliette Bogers’ work and apparently her taste when ...