Market socializing

The purpose of visiting the wonderful Brussels markets seems to have shifted from buying  fresh vegetables or roasted chicken to taking the aperitivo, socializing, talking, people watching ...
The lady in the photograph spoke with a British accent.  Even though I could guess her origin,  I asked where she was from and she replied that her husband was German ;).  She did answer my second question totally to the point and  said that it was perfectly ok for me to take her picture and  post it on This is Belgium. 

Academy of Leuven

Last stop on my "end of year exhibitions trip" was the Academy of Leuven. 
Although the photography section usually get most of my attention, I had the privilege of taking a picture of Jan Smets (photo 1) who stands in front of Michael Jackson, his interpretation of the assignment 'tragedies'.
The umbrella man in the second picture was probably just on his way out, into the rain again, when he ran into friends.  I do not think he was part of the show.
http://www.slac.be/

Elections in October

For as long as I can remember I have noticed a link between city works and communal elections. In Belgium the next communal and provincial elections take place in October and I have the impression that it becomes more difficult to take a decent picture in Brussels without having the view impaired. 

Kaat Tilley, a tribute

                                Photo: de standaard.be

I just heard the sad news on the radio of Kaat Tilley, a well known Belgian fashion designer,  passing away today at the age of 52. 

Kaat Tilley who graduated from the Antwerp Academy had her own unique and particular style. She mixed colors, materials, different layers and created dreamy, romantic clothing. She was a very special lady.

According to her personal website "Her views do not adhere to trends rather they reflect more of a life story by mirroring a woman's journey and the lesson learned through living life. Kaat Tilley drives esthetics to the extreme... her world balances between female fragility and strength..."

The fashion community lost one of its creative and very talented members.

http://www.kaattilley.com/frames.html

http://www.flanderstoday.eu/content/dreams-design

http://www.viona-art.com/pages/gothic/fairytale/kaat-tilley.html

http://www.visitflanders.co.uk/discover/flanders/people/fashion-designers/kaat-tilley/index.jsp

Academy of Etterbeek

I pursued my end of the academic year art academy trip and visited the Academy of Etterbeek.
A thorough cleaning job was going on  there in preparation of the exhibition  and open door days this coming weekend.
Els Hattink (picture 1), an accomplished painter and now a photography graduating student, was defending her work, street photography, with a smile and flair to her lecturer Johan Duyck (picture 2 and 3) and photographer Elisabeth Broekaert (picture 3 left), distinguished jury members. 
Work of Elisabeth will be shown in the Fotomuseum in Antwerp during the summer.
http://www.elshattink.net/
Exhibition dates and hours Etterbeek Academy on the website www.rhok-academie.be
http://www.elisabeth.broekaert.com/site.html 
http://www.fotomuseum.be/tentoonstellingen/in_het_vooruitzicht/

From Antwerp to Brussels (car-iphoneography#1)

Always trying to improve my photography skills, I practiced this morning and am showing you what things look like when you hit Brussels via Laeken, coming from highway A12 from Antwerp (and when you simply photograph what you see from your car -; ) 

Academy Anderlecht

 
 
 

Stop 2 on my June Academy trip is the Academy of Anderlecht (Brussels),  one of my very favorite.  Take one step into the door and you breath another world: you enter a captivating place with a special atmosphere, gorgeous old buildings, exceptional teachers (last photo).

Work of graduating photography students was presented to the critical scrutiny of an external jury.  Teun Voeten, a well known Dutch journalist, is shown in picture 3 (man holding book). 
One student painted the floor under a voting booth in the Belgian colors to provide an appropriate context for her slide show on Belgian politics (photo 2).
http://www.academieanderlecht.be/
www.teunvoeten.com

Academy of Ixelles

Since a few years already, during the month of  June I go on a fun trip and visit the various art academies. They open the doors to the public and show graduating students' work. So much talent and fresh work to discover.  I adore visiting as many as I can,  meet students and teachers and ...take pictures.

Last week I visited the Academy of Ixelles/Elsene (in Brussels).

The black and white pictures show work of Novella De Giorgi, in the above picture. She made a series combining movement (cars) with city life. More on her website:

http://novelladegiorgi.carbonmade.com/about

Her work will also be shown from June 28 onwards at Boutique Maelström in Etterbeek http://www.maelstromreevolution.org

Sebab Noureedine  is a painter and photographer and poses in front of his work.

At the left painter Sylvie Carlino

Pazzi's visitors

While some were admiring Pazzi's  (post of June 12) sculptures, others were more into discussing the work. 

Jan Hoet

A favorable wind made this photo end up in my inbox. Again, I could not  NOT use the picture because we are talking about national pride and an international celebrity.  The picture was taken last month in China where Mr Hoet now works as the the curator of the Yinchuan biennial. He is building an exhibition around the theme 'The ego position of the artist'.  I apologize for the quality of the picture but that is what international air travel can do.
"Mr Hoet became known as the curator of the Museum for Contemporary Art in Ghent, which he re-named Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (SMAK). His flamboyant personality and his often intuitive, but always uninhibited comments make him an influential, but also controversial figure in the world of Art. With his immense popularity in the media, unusual for this sector, he created a huge goodwill towards his museum and for modern art in general. The SMAK brought cultural Ghent back to live, with many events outside the museum: he tried to bring art closer to the masses and vice-versa. Chambres d'amis, a renowned project of 1986 literally left the confines of the museum: works of art were conceptualised by internationally renowned artists in private homes and were displayed and performed in that particular space. In a later project the city of Ghent was completely taken over by Art in the concept of Over the edges in 2000 Hoet regularly works as a guest curator for other international art centra, among other Documenta IX in Kassel (1992)"  and as an artistic director  (2003 - 2008) of the Marta-museum in Herford, Germany.
http://www.venus-seminars.net/?q=enroll/seminars/7
http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/news/120513_yinchuan_biennial_jan_hoet_china_art

Pazzi, exhibtion 2012

I wrote last year about Pazzi's first open house at http://whatisbelgium.blogspot.be/2011/06/pazzi.html
She held the second edition last weekend and poses in picture 1 next to her sculpture of the woman with removeable arms. 
http://pazzi.exto.nl/

Belgian beer in Los Angeles

                                    photo: courtesy of Marla

Jenna and her friend Collin photographed by Marla, Jenna's mom, at Wurstküche, "an exotic sausage grill in Downtown Los Angeles Arts District & Venice Beach", serving a large selection of Belgian draft and bottled beers, as well as Belgian fries.

When I saw this picture on Marla's facebook, I just knew the big glasses had to be filled with Belgian beer. 

http://www.wurstkuche.com/

Must

"Must" is located at the corner of rue Darwin and rue Franz Merjay in 1050 Brussels. I walk by the shop regularly and when the weather is enjoyable enough for its door to be open, I do take a moment to chat with the shopkeeper. When I told her about my blog, she was interested in an article and pictures provided they would not show her.  I,  on the other hand, was mainly interested in making her portrait. I showed her a photograph of herself taken through the gorgeous mirror and she approved because she reasoned: "that is ok because you can't see me". Up to you to see whether you agree or not. 
http://www.zone02.be/wca_digi/shop_detail/44/78901/Must-by-Lucia-Esteves.html

People, random (part 2)

To continue yesterday's discussion.... two shots of random people. 
They are in a park and I did not ask their permission. 

City people, random

Hopefully I won't get into trouble but I just love to randomly take pictures of people, some are totally oblivious and some do not like being photographed at all. People are a complex subject and portray, at least in my opinion, better than anything the times and its customs, both in constant and perpetual change and therefore interesting. Do you agree?