|
|
By NE Admin on 11:28 am
 Untitled by Matt Crasner Brussels Accessible Arts Fair
18:00 – 22:00 Fri, 10:00 – 19:00 Sat, 10:00 – 18:00 Sun, Hotel Silken Berlaymont, 11 blvd Charlemagne
This fair only started in 2007 but has quickly become central to the local art scene. Last year it had over 3,000 visitors. This is a great chance to see and meet some of the city’s up and coming artists and to buy works at fantastically low prices.During the weekend around 30 international artists will show and sell their works – paintings, photography, print and sculptures – priced between €50- €3,000.
The Fair’s Director, Stephanie Manasseh says that the event is for “experienced collectors as well as regular people who want good quality art for their homes. It is for people who want more from the experience of buying art – they want to meet the artist behind the work.”
Artist, Patricia Clendening Buzzerio will be there again this year and she’s looking forward to it, “I like exhibiting there because all the artists are present, unlike a gallery where you don’t see the person behind the painting. I love the variety of people there and it’s a lot of fun”. Another artist who is exhibiting, Matt Crasner said that “I get the chance to make new contacts and to get more exposure for my work. I really find it interesting to meet the buyers and discuss the paintings directly with them.”
By NE Admin on 11:26 am
 It's Tea Time Gu Wenda, Heavenly Lanterns
Dynasty Building, Mont des Arts
This Tea House has been created by an exciting Chinese artist who covered the building with 5,000 lanterns, using his themes of calligraphy and gives something traditional a modern twist that manages to be both western and eastern. Enjoy it from the outside, in its magnificent setting, then go and have a nice cup of tea inside.
By NE Admin on 11:24 am
 When East Met West Europe & Islam: Whose Identity Crisis?
19 Nov, 10:30 – 13:00, European Parliament PHS 5B001
In a continent of diverse cultures how people choose to identify themselves is becoming increasingly important; whether through nationality, religion, language or political outlook. Can these identities mix, are they changing, and which are most important? And is identity in Europe becoming a more complex issue for its citizens?
How are European Muslims reconciling their multiple identities? And what is the basis for a European identity? Does an increase in extremism, euroscepticism, islamaphobia and a move back towards nationalism indicate that people are unhappy with those who identify themselves in different ways?
The British Council host a debate with MEPs, academics and representatives of civil society on all these questions as part of their ‘Our Shared Europe project’. The Director, Martin Rose says, “What we do is to address the cultural damage of the past; and the fractured understanding that our society has of others, they of us, and we of ourselves.
We certainly believe that these dislocations and fractures are major contributors to extremism; but our interest is in healthy, open communication and mutual knowledge as positive ends in themselves, yielding better informed, better tempered societies that accept, respect and welcome each other and are at ease with themselves.”
By NE Admin on 11:21 am
 A Classical Pose In 1996 a dozen idealistic young musicians from the Brussels Conservatory set up Les Muffatti to dedicate themselves to Baroque music and immerse themselves in the period. After several years attracting more members and perfecting their art, in 2004 they gave their first public performance in Brussels under the direction of Peter Van Heyghen.
Their expertise has brought them concerts throughout the world and they have made several recordings, including one CD of achingly beautiful works by Georg Muffat, the influential 17th Century composer who is under recognised today. The ensemble took their name from him. On the 16th November they will be playing at BOZAR, showcasing works by Giuseppe Sammartini.
This promises to be a really special evening as Sammartini’s music is mostly unknown today, and is being performed by those who have mastered it.
By Andy Carling on 1:45 pm Last Friday the Breugel think tank invited Lord Mandelson to speak on the subject of Europe’s future. He blasted the EU institutions as being in need of radical reform and said that EC President Barrosso needed to be very radical in his second term. His biggest complaint was that the EU showed a lack of leadership. In a clear plug for Tony Blair he castigated the EU for picking ’safe, uncontroversial choices’ saying that ‘going for second or even third best candidates would make us all lose out’.
Blair does seem to have dropped out of the running, despite spending the weekend phoning round leaders to gain support, the simple fact is that the S&D Group angrily rejected him, as has all the others. When William Hague said that he wouldn’t want Blair, Labour rounded on him for being unpatriotic and acting against Britain’s best interests.
The whispers in the corridors is that Blair is out but David Miliband is in as high Representative, the post that many would argue is the more powerful of the two top jobs. Labour insiders think that Miliband may not take the position as he is coming under considerable pressure to refuse. Why? Because Brown doesn’t want a by-election.
How is that in Britain’s best interest, Mr Brown? To decline a top job in Europe because you’re scared of losing a by-election shows how desperate a position Labour is in and shows a complete lack of strategic vision.
By NE Admin on 1:25 pm
 Are you cool enough for a room like this? Brussels Expo 13 – 22 Nov
With the financial crisis, many are not moving home but refurbishing their residences. This fair brings together over 300 of the latest and most innovative designs and designers to show what can be done at the cutting edge of home and office decor. From custom paints, to the use of textiles to create a natural rustic environment that still has taste and style, the best of Belgian design is here.
There are also cool restaurants and bars to relax in and look through catalogues and colour charts, to help you plan your new home.
By NE Admin on 1:21 pm
 Aid In Action HungerFREE Women Speak Out, 17 Nov, 17:30, European Parliament, Room ASP 01G2
NGO Action Aid is leading a campaign to get governments to deliver on their commitment to halve world hunger by 2015. Since the Development goals were established in 2000, hunger has risen and an estimated 1 billion people go to bed hungry every night. Action Aid say that hunger is a political problem, stemming from unequal distribution of food and the control of access to resources. At the meeting there will also be films and a photo exhibition of the role of women in fighting hunger and poverty.
Women in poor countries grow more than 60% of the food but own less than 1% of the land. Come along to the meeting to learn more about the campaign and the lives of ordinary women dealing with poverty and hunger.
By NE Admin on 1:17 pm
 I can see right through you Dan Graham, Two Two Way Mirror Half Circles,
Champ de Mars, Rue Trone
This New York artist has an unusual sculpture in this park. Off-centre transparent semi circles face each other. From the outside it is nothing special, but once inside, especially when sunny, it transforms. Your reflections, seemingly holographic, merge and distort giving the experience a slightly halluciogenic feel. Your reflected self merges with the outside and reflections of the outside in a remarkable way.
Not recommended after a few drinks though!
By NE Admin on 1:12 pm
 The nuclear family having a blast Pascal Danz: Blind Spot; Locuslux Gallery, Oude Graanmarkt 57
Danz is a Swiss artist, born in Bangui who is having his first solo exhibition in Brussels. All artists are concerned with sight, but Danz is also interested in the unseen, the missing element that explains.
His paintings often feature people observing something out of our sight, producing mysterious, disturbing and beautiful images, often based on events we all know about, such as nuclear tests, rock concerts or events that have produced iconic images of their own. With a light, etheral touch, we fill in the gaps from our own knowlege and memories.
By NE Admin on 1:08 pm
 It was 20 years ago today... The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 is a turning point in the history of Europe, when not only Germany, but Europe was united and the collapse of communism brought democracy to millions. To remind us of these events and the heroism of ordinary people in the soviet sphere, Focus ’89 presents a fascinating selection of films accompanied by debate with the participation of numerous producers.
The films relive the memory of events and their effects which are still important today. They demonstrate also that unique capability of the cinema to capture the atmosphere of the time, to critically examine society and to explore the depths of lives and hearts.
The festival opens with Andrzej Wajda’s classic Men of Iron and later the films follow different themes, such as ‘nostalgia’, ‘migrations’ and ‘from internationalism to nationalism’, where challenging films, such as Russia 88, which follows a group of neo-Nazi skinheads as they make their own propaganda videos. There are many films from some of the most exciting and interesting directors from eastern Europe along with key speakers, such as Bärbel Bohley, Thomas Brussig and Gábor Demszky the Mayor of Budapest.
More: www.focus89.eu
By Andy Carling on 11:47 am  Patricia Clendening Buzzerio American artist Patricia Clendening Buzzerio had her artistic spirit awakened when she lived in Provence. By taking up a paintbrush she was influenced by her mother, who was a gifted artist in stained glass, and this is evident in her use of colour and light in her work. She describes her style as “letting the sketch underneath, come through. I use a lot of iridescent colours to give the effect of stained glass”. She has a light and infectious manner, that is expressed in her works.
Asked what feelings she wants to bring out in those who see her art, she has a one word answer; “Joy! I want people to feel happy, to really enjoy having one of my paintings in their room”. That said, there are a few paintings that are beyond price. “I remember the first painting I did in Provence, of an old thick walled house. I couldn’t part with it”. Selling paintings isn’t just about money, “Whenever I sell one, I just feel giddy. At one fair, I sold six pieces in one day and just couldn’t sleep because I was so excited”.
Since moving to Brussels she has found the city to be welcoming, “‘The feeling I get here, is the great appreciation of art and it was so acceptable to be an artist, people were very helpful and I keep busy with commissions and exhibiting with friends at events like the Brussels Accessible Arts Fair”. Patricia is a modern artist using traditional themes and is slowly moving away from Provence as she falls under the spell of Brussels and its”traditions, from Art Deco to linen. Linen? “I’m very tactile person and I want my paintings to have lots of texture and I’ve been leaning to the feel and lines of Belgian linen and cross hatching to give the painting this texture.”
More: www.patriciaclendeningbuzzerio.com
By Andy Carling on 11:43 am  The Hero of Av Louise This golden pilot marks the scene of a heroic attack on the morning of January 20th, 1943 from a lone Belgian pilot on a mission over Flanders, diverted his Typhoon without permission and flew low over Brussels and let rip with cannon fire at the Gestapo HQ at 453 Avenue Louise, threw out a Belgian flag and Union Jack and raced home as fast as he could.
Up to 30 Gestapo officers died. The British demoted him for disobedience and gave him the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery.
By Andy Carling on 11:28 am
 Archeology Film Festival International Archaeology Film Festival, Auditorium des MRAH, 10 Parc du Cinquantenaire,Brussels
There’s more to archeology than Indiana Jones and the festival will show the range and diversity of this quest to understand history. There are some debates as part of the festival, discussing the less attractive depictions of their profession as vandals and robbers. Timely, as the Greek government tries to recover the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum. Another major issue is the popularisation of history, by using CGI and dramatisation to bring the past to life.
Do these methods cheapen and debase the science? Can people tell the difference between fiction and fact? all of these issues have a relevance beyond scientific circles and should produce a lively and educational debate.
One film to look out for is Christian Frei’s The Giant Buddhas, a highly acclaimed documentary about the Bamiyan statues that watched over the Silk road for 1,500 years before being destroyed by the Taliban, an event that shocked the world and placed the Taliban beyond the acceptable. We learn more about this event, that took 20 days to achieve and also about the history and culture of the region.
By Andy Carling on 11:26 am  One Hundred Years of Darkness The history of the Congo/Zaire since the Belgian colonisation has been an unending nightmare and the war that has been going on since 1998, costing an estimated four million lives, is largely forgotten and unreported. Award winning photographer, Marcus Bleasdale has just produced his second book, One Hundred Years Of Darkness, with horrifying images of the cost of the conflict to its citizens. In the foreword, author John Le Carre writes, ” The continuing human tragedy of Congo is not a statistic. It is a continuing human tragedy. It is fourteen hundred and fifty tragedies every day. It is countless more than that if you include the orphaned, the bereaved, the widowed, and all the ripples of truncated lives that spread from a single death. It is you and me and our children and our parents, if we had the bad luck to be born into the world this book portrays.
But Congo has one secret that is hard to pass on if you haven’t learned it at first hand. Look carefully and you will find it in these pages: a gaiety of spirit and a love of life that, even in the worst of times, leave the pampered Westerner moved and humbled beyond words.”
More: http://tinyurl.com/neurope58
By Andy Carling on 7:37 pm It has been a long time since the Brussels scene was so abuzz, for nothing livens up the city more that a good session of gossip, intrigue, plotting and scheming, for this is what the EU does best. The long running soap opera of choosing the President is made even better by adding a High Representative into the mix. Oh how we all love going through the matrix, looking for patterns along the lines of, ‘If the President is from the North and large, the HR must be from small and South. Or possibly East’ and so on. The race has been made even more impenetrable by the virtual candidacy of Tony Blair, whose spokesmen are still claiming not to be campaigning as the job doesn’t exist. Meanwhile British diplomats are having more discrete lunches than their livers can stand and articles in the press are appearing, all from Blair’s buddies. Junker announced his candidacy, not directly, but by proclaiming that the EU needed a President who had the very qualities he found in himself. Remarkable coincidence.
But some names are ruling themselves out, sometimes with some considerable wiggle room. Mary Robinson withdrew from a popular internet based campaign and David Milliband was doing all the right things until he suddenly withdrew – via Twitter, how very modern. One can only wonder what sweetener was given to the boy David to drop his bid, done so that he didn’t get in the way of Blair. Could it be the Labour leadership, this winter? Blair is the man to beat and the discussion rages on choosing a global figure or a more modest chairman. On paper, it looks like the HR has the potential to be the more powerful figure, but, being the EU, they still haven’t sorted out what the job description is yet.
But if they want someone who “will stop the traffic in Beijing”, then Blair might be a bit small, a touch tarnished by his past. There is another towering European from a mid-sized country, who has experience in government and would stop the traffic all over the world and he has good relations with the US and a reputation for looking for consensus between party lines. Who should Europe select to represent them? Step forward Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California.
|
About This Blog New Europe is an independent newspaper covering Europe and beyond, from Brussels, in the heart of Europe.
Our blogs take you behind the scenes of the newspaper, and the stories we cover
|
