I meet Marek on a chilly afternoon in downtown Brussels. He has spent a few weeks as a writer in residence at Passa Porta House of Literature, and I’m curious to know what his routine has been like while living here. I want to pry into his creative universe. I want know what magic he’s been able to find in the city.

“I want to show you something,” he says, after reflecting on my question for a while. “I believe it’s one of the places that captures the essence of my being here.”

We walk on Rue de Flandre until the traffic light, then cross Rue du Marché aux Porcs. The brown and yellow leaves lie scattered and crushed on the pavement. “This is it,” he says, as we reach the alley of Rue de la Cigogne. “In the afternoons, after working on the manuscript, I would come here for some quiet. Whenever I needed to recharge, this place right here is where I would come.”

The alley is empty. Only a few bicycles stand next to the water pipes, the trees that have crept and followed a trail close to the walls, and Marek looks at all of this as if there lay a secret meaning he wanted to decipher.

During his residency he also enjoyed going out for a run on Antoine Dansaert and up Mont des Arts, past the Place Royal and further into the park where he would try to untangle his thoughts while giving a few laps around, nodding from time to time to other fellow runners.

Marek had been to Brussels before, in 2017, when he attended the Passa Porta Literary Festival and talked about his book Mapa Anny (The Map of Anna). The book is not only a multifaceted portrayal of the main character, Ana, but also an adventurous exploration form. Conceived as a set of stories told from different points of view, The Map of Anna continue to reveal the multi-dexterity of Šindelka as a poet, novelist, and short story writer.

The Dutch edition of Material Fatigue is on the short list for the Europese Literatuurprijs (European Literature Prize). In the Czech Republic it won the prestigious Magnesia Litera Prose Book of the Year Award, and when I ask about the genesis of the book he recounts, as if it were yesterday, how on a sunny day in 2015 he had been playing with his first daughter, a toddler, and the news of a truck with 70 dead people in Austria appeared in the news. All of them migrants.

“I was shocked,” Marek says. “I had my daughter sitting in my lap. She was babbling something, chewing a toy, and we were enjoying our time, feeling happy. And then the news arrived. I thought, How could this be happening in Europe?”

The shock, he continues, only grew when he started to see the reactions in the Czech Republic. “Some people were even celebrating it. That’s how far the media and some politicians had gone. That made me really angry and sad at the same time. I felt I had to do something about it.”

Shortly after, he began interviewing migrants and refugees, mainly from Syria and Afghanistan. But soon he realized he couldn’t possibly write the book as a documentary retelling someone else’s story. He chose to use all of those experiences to inform the novel, to create the fictional world of the two main characters. “Because if someone came to me and asked, ‘What’s the most horrible thing that has happened to you?’ I wouldn’t do it, I wouldn’t tell them. For my novel I didn’t want to use someone else’s suffering just for effect.”

Material Fatigue tells the story of two brothers, fleeing from an unnamed country which is being ravaged by war. They’ve lost their home and family. They’ve lost their sense of direction. Professional traffickers have smuggled them into Europe. At the start of their long journey they get separated. The novel contains passages that suffocate, narrow spaces that push the limits of what many readers can tolerate.

“I’ve received letters from readers saying that they cannot finish the book because they feel claustrophobic,” he says. “I’m totally fine with that. I just wanted them to experience, even if for a short while, what it feels like to be in a place like that. A refugee camp.”

In the Czech Republic he’s faced difficult moments with people who disagree with his ideas. After the success and media attention that followed the Magnesia Litera Prose Book, he received hundreds and hundreds of hate emails. He had to disable the contact form on his webpage.

“There is too much disinformation these days. The Czech Republic accepted twelve asylum seekers in total. Twelve. Where is the Islamic invasion many politicians like to talk about?”

These days the situation in the Czech Republic has slightly improved as many people have realized that the data and information provided by certain politicians was misleading. They wanted to use the migration crisis to their advantage. Fear can be a powerful currency in politics.

Can literature help us understand each other better, the competing emotions and contradictory behaviors each and every one of us is susceptible to?

In the study where he has been working in his latest project, he tells me about someone close to him who, in the midst of anti-migrants campaigns in Prague, decided to buy a gun. “It’s totally crazy, you know, because I know he is a good person. That’s how complex human beings are.”

Despite the current climate of polarization in different parts of Europe and the US, Marek continuous to focus on his work. He remains hopeful. “It might be naive to think that a book can change how people live but that’s what I can do, and so I choose to do it.”

Before I leave his study on the Rue du Vieux Marché aux Grains, I ask him what souvenir will he take with him when he boards the plain for Prague. “A sore throat,” he replies, and we both laugh. “I take with me the feeling of the colorful and lively city Brussels is. People of all cultures and backgrounds live right here in the center of town, which is not the case in the center of Prague, I can tell you that much. Brussels offers a cultural mix in a city that’s unique.”

The post « I take with me the feeling of the colorful and lively city Brussels is » — Marek Šindelka at Passa Porta appeared first on Brussels Express.

All the way to Saty, a village located south east of Almaty, strings of horses appeared left and right of the road, often scattered like insects on the backs of the hills. They grazed in peace, shook their tails and pricked their ears in alert, a spasm sometimes running across their flanks.

In the fall I traveled to the Almaty Region in Kazakhstan to explore some of its natural treasures, learn more about its nomadic ancient traditions. The horizon was clear and expansive, only the velvety plains and the ragged surface of the mountains were constant companions. I felt as if I had landed on a friendly asteroid or a verdant planet in a distant galaxy.

Saty is one of the first villages in Kazakhstan to adopt the model of Community Based Tourism (CBT), in which the village families join efforts with tour operators to offer food and board, entertainment, arts and crafts workshops, all of it conducted by the local community. It’s a way to get everyone involved and develop a sense of belonging and caring for their place of origin. The Kazakh government has invested in the improvement and extension of the highways and roads so that convenient access from cities such as Almaty can bring not only tourism to the region, but also goods and services.

Inside a yurt, the traditional nomadic home of the Kazakh nomadic people, I enjoyed typical songs performed by a music teacher from the local school who played the dombra, a traditional string instrument, as well as a dance by young girls and boys. One thing that caught my attention about the yurt was the center of the ceiling which has a circular shape and is called Shanerak. It is, symbolically, the most important part of the dwelling and its shape means union. Union of the family but also of the nation. A family-size yurt can be disassembled in about 2 hours by people familiar with its structure, which has a weight of approximately 350 kilos. The yurt can be transported on the back of either one camel or a couple of strong horses.

It is believed that the horse was originally domesticated by the Scythians, a group of peoples living in this area of Central Asia as far back as the 11th century BC. The Scythians were so deft at horse riding that some scholars have entertained the possibility that the myth of the Centaur, created by the Greeks, found its origin in this part of the world.

At the table I tried the manties (dumplings filled with vegetables or spiced meat), as well as tomato and cucumber salad. There was also Kurt, which is made from dried salty cheese and has a very sour taste. Several kinds of sweets we offered for dessert including irimshik and zhent which are sweets made with a mix of millet flour, curd and sugar.

After dinner, when everyone had gone to bed, I went for a walk near the compound where the cabins stood, and even if the cold air gave me a runny nose, I stopped for a moment under the moonlight and filled my lungs with the smells of the night, a blanket of peace falling over me. Only the murmur of the Chilik river could be heard.

On the voyage I encountered landscapes of sheer dramatic beauty. The turquoise waters of the Kaindy lake with its solitary trees standing like frozen sentinels draw an image I will never forget. Formed after an earthquake in 1887 which destroyed a natural-formed dam upstream, the lake holds a snapshot of nineteenth century Kazakhstan: the trunks of the trees still standing in the middle of the lake’s waters date from a time when the Russian Empire still lay claim to these lands.

Not far from Kaindy, one can also visit the Kolsai lakes. Found only a few kilometers from the border with Kyrgyzstan, the three Kolsai lakes are at altitudes of 1700, 2500 and 2800 meters respectively. One can reach the first one by car and from there, hiking to the second lake would take about two and a half hours. A final stretch of two hours would be needed to reach the final one. Horses for rent are also available on site during the high season.

To reach Saty and the lakes, travelers can either rent a car in the city of Almaty or contact a tour operator. At this time, bus transport services are still being planned and developed. To Almaty I flew via Istanbul where I was able to see the brand new airport. “It’s a city within a city,” told me a flight attendant from Turkish Airlines when I asked her about it. The ceilings are high and stylized, and they look like the inner skeleton of a futuristic beast. During my couple of hours layover, I saw droves of people walking by, shopping for souvenirs, slurping soda, and in the maelstrom of so many passengers plenty had difficulty finding a seat. But despite its monumental size, the place was kept impeccable by the cleaning services team.

On the drive back to the city of Almaty I saw shepherds on horses looking after their sheep. On the face of the hills, they seemed like tiny fluffs of cotton pinned to the surface. Not far from them attentive dogs barked. They ran back and forth like short-tempered foremen. Far away into the distance I saw the silhouette of two solitary horses, and I wondered why they were so isolated from any other string of horses. After a moment I saw one of them raise its front legs and mount the other one. They had become a single shape.

The largest city in the country, Almaty is nevertheless full of trees and green areas. Because Almaty lies at the foot of the mountains, several streams run through the city — the melted snow feeds the Bolshaya Almatinka, Malaya Almatinka and Esentai rivers. There is a legend stating that in the 19th century, men could only get married after having planted a dozen trees. Not for nothing is Almaty also referred to as the Garden City.

On a day trip from Almaty, I visited a Kazakh Ethno Village called The Huns where I was able to know more about the nomadic traditions. I saw horse riders, both men and women, demonstrate acrobatic tricks and traditions. For instance there is Kyz Kuu, or “Girl chasing”, a game where the horseman can either steal a kiss or get a whipping from the horsewoman.

There are also simulated man to man fights while they ride their horses. Travelers can visit the Ethno Village for half a day or spend the night. There are yurtages (yurt + cottage) for those wanting additional comfort, and guests can choose to go on a horseback riding tour, relax in the steam room, follow masterclasses on “how to be a nomad”, or simply wander around and enjoy the sweet fragrance from the apple tree orchards. The juicy Aport, which is a mix of Russian and Kazakh varieties, grows in these fields.

Also on the outskirts of city, I visited a falconry where I learned about the Golden Eagle and why it is the national symbol of Kazakhstan. Nomadic tribes saw the need to protect their herds from the attacks of wolves and began taming and training eagles. Young eagles would be trained to hunt wolves by the neck or at least deter them from getting near the livestock. For centuries the tradition has passed on and thus the eagle symbolizes the nomadic culture of the country.

On the last day, I visited the Green Bazar (Zelionyj), which sits close to the intersection of Pushkin Street and Zhibek Zholy Avenue. Inside I tried dried apricots and figs and different nuts offered by chatty sellers, many of them Uzbek or Tajik, whose hands are always full of dried fruits for every passerby.

One can find pickled vegetables (carrot, peppers, cucumbers) as well as honey and many different kinds of dairy products, including the famous kumis or fermented horse milk. Before leaving I glanced one last time at the stands full of fresh fruits and vegetables all of them streaked by the mid-morning sunlight and I took with me the sounds, the smells, hoping to be back again in Almaty.

The post Discovering the natural beauty and nomadic traditions of Kazakhstan appeared first on Brussels Express.

“The reason why we are making this event is because the voice of each influencer gets amplified so much,” said Behruz Khamzaev, Adviser to the Chairman of the State Committee of Uzbekistan. “Everyone who has a gadget can tell the news these days, and it can be positive or negative. But it’s about embracing different cultures with a positive attitude. Those who embrace different cultures will always be ahead.”

The WIC is part of a wide initiative by the State Committee of Uzbekistan for Tourism Development to open up to the world and showcase all the natural, historic and cultural attractions that the country has to offer.

Uzbekistan has put in place a free-visa program for 77 countries, and the number will soon grow to 85. “We’ve received 6.4 million visitors this year. A five-fold increase from 2016,” said Aziz Abdukhaminov, Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan.

As part of the WIC, attendants were able to join the Oriental Express, a 4-day journey that would allow them to discover some of the most beautiful cities along the ancient Silk Route: Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand.

Among the influencers were travel vloggers, photographers, Youtubers, beauty bloggers, some of whom have hundreds of thousands, even millions of followers.

“Together you have over 115 million followers, and your content is being viewed over 10 billion times. By being here, in front of you, I feel like I’m talking to the whole world,” said Mr. Abdukhaminov on opening day. “The World Influencers Congress has been made possible thanks to our President, Mr. Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who has embraced the policies of openness and friendship, freedom and creativity.”

On the day of the congress, one of the topics discussed during one of the panels discussions was: How to use one’s social media platform to do good and bring about change in society.

Makeup artist, Sadaf, whose Instagram accounts alone have more than 3 million followers, talked about the importance of empowering women through her social media platform. “Even though I love makeup — ever since I was a kid I was fascinated by it — sometimes I post pictures where I’m not wearing any makeup because I want women to feel happy in their own skin. That’s a very important message for me to convey,” she said.

Given the attention the WIC has generated, five countries have already shown interest in potentially hosting a next edition in the coming years.

“Every day millions of people discover new destinations, new products through social media,” said Saida Mirziyoyeva, Deputy Director of the Agency of Information and Mass Communication of Uzbekistan. “But there’s also social responsibility. And we want to stress that as well.”

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“It’s a topic that has become a taboo for many women,” said Dr. Elan Ziv, CEO and Medical Director at ConTIPI, who came to Brussels to raise awareness about these conditions and present a solution. “If you think about it, suffering from any of these forms of incontinence is difficult to talk about. And not only that, organ prolapse affects the sexual lives of so many women.”

To support the pelvic floor two alternatives have been commonly used. Either a surgery, in which the results are unsatisfactory due to the high rate of adverse events – more than 40% of patients who undergo surgery see a relapse. Or the second option, the current non-invasive mode e.g. using a pessary: a reusable silicone device that is inserted in most cases by a doctor into the vagina. It can be kept inside up to 3 months before being taken out, cleaned and reinserted for another 3 months. This process is often mired with discomfort, discharge and infections, as well as the inability to have intercourse.

“There has not been any innovation in this area for 23 years,” said Dr. Ziv. “And this is a medical condition that affects the quality of life of millions of women all over the world. And that is why we developed this product. A product that can be used by any woman afflicted by pelvic organ prolapse. They can do it in the comfort of their home. Women would no longer need to go to the doctor to have the device inserted or removed. And this is, for me, the highest value of the product: giving women agency over when to use it, and when to remove it.”

ConTIPI has designed a disposable vaginal device which is inserted into the vagina with an easy-to-use applicator. This is done by the user herself, not a medical practitioner. The device may be kept inside the body for up to 7 days, after which the user pulls a string and the device shrinks back to small dimensions, reducing the discomfort to a minimum. The device is then discarded along with the applicator.

“The idea is that the patient goes to the doctor only one time, the very first time, and gets the prescription,” said Dr. Ziv. “From then on the patient can buy it whenever she needs to. There’ll come a time when all she needs to do is order it online.”

This is the second product designed by ConTIPI in FemTech, a high-tech category in women’s health arena. The intellectual property of the first device, which was designed for stress urinary incontinence, was acquired by Kimberly Clark Worldwide and is already available on pharmacy shelves in North America. Their device for POP is ready for the market. “We are really excited to share the news that our product has received the 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for marketing in the US, as well as the CE marking in Europe.”

In the US, the current solution for POP –the pessary– has a cost per patient of USD 420 (EUR 377) to the national health service. For ConTIPI’s new product, Dr. Ziv estimates that the cost of the device will be the same, USD 420, considering a supply of 120 devices a year per patient. “That’s about USD 3.50 (EUR 3.14) per device,” said Dr. Ziv.

As it was the case with their first device and its subsequent sale to Kimberly Clark Worldwide, ConTIPI is open to collaborate with other companies to take its new product to market and reach its full potential. “We are a growing company. We are looking for the right firms with whom we can create partnerships.”

When asked about the environmental side effects of having both a disposable plastic device and an applicator, Dr. Ziv acknowledged that this was one of the main challenges. “Yes, true, that is an issue, the plastic. We’ve thought about it a lot. You will agree that this is a discussion that needs to involve the patient as well because if we produce the device with bio-degradable materials the cost would go up to about USD 10 (EUR 8,97). Are they going to be willing to pay the premium? Hopefully the answer would be yes. And hopefully in the near future we will be able to produce the device with bio-degradable materials that match the current costs.”

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During his second trip, in July of 1959, he visited Brussels. The journey began in Naples and went on to include destinations such as Pompeii, Paestum, Rome, Tarquinia, Venice, Florence, Chartres, Lascaux, Paris, among many others. I became aware of all this last month, when I visited the Mark Rothko exhibition at the Kunst Historisches Museum in Vienna, which showed a selection of works spanning his whole artistic career. From the early, figurative paintings of the 1930’s and 40’s, to his more reflective and abstract canvases of the late 50’s and 60’s. Rothko’s children, Kate and Christopher, were closely involved in the exhibition’s design and some of the paintings were on loan from their own private collections.

At the end of a long hallway, where three of Rothko’s paintings from the late 1940’s were exhibited, I saw a large reproduction of the Queen Elizabeth’s logbook on the wall. Queen Elizabeth was the name of the ship on which Rothko had returned to the United States after his 1959 trip to Europe. “Names and descriptions of alien passengers embarked at the port of Southampton,” appeared at the top. The date of departure was 20th of August, 1959, and the destination New York. With ticket number C.60073, the name of Mark Rothko is typed in capital letters, followed by those of his wife Mell and daughter Kate, all of them reported as being “In Transit from Brussels.” The line intrigued me. Why in transit? I had never known that Rothko had spent time in Brussels. What had he seen and done during his stay?

The journey started on June 15th, 1959, when the family sailed, tourist class, on the USS Independence, which seven days later called in at the port of Naples. Rothko had been counting the days to pack his suitcase and leave on vacation. The year before, 1958, he had been working on one of the most important series of paintings ever commissioned to him, The Seagram Murals, which were destined for the restaurant of the Four Seasons hotel. The building had been designed by Philip Johnson and Mies van de Rohe, two of the most renowned architects of the time. Rothko eventually refused to bring the project to completion and broke his part of deal — he gave back the advance in a fit of disgust stating, “Anybody who will eat that kind of food for those kinds of prices will never look at a painting of mine.”

At the Kunst Historisches Museum I was able to see one of the Seagram Murals, currently at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, as well as several of the mural sketches he painted during the preparation period for the commission. Many scholars believe that the style that came to characterize Rothko’s late paintings, including the Seagram Murals, was deeply marked by something that Rothko saw during his first trip to Florence in 1950: Michaelangelo’s Laurentian Library.

Early in his career Rothko had been fascinated by Greek myths, the construction of temples, the origins of European art. At the Metropolitan and at the Modern Museum of Art (MoMA) in New York he sat for hours studying Rembrandt, Vermeer, Miro, Matisse, all of them revered by the native of Daugavpils. The soft brush strokes, the ephemeral vanishing light so characteristic of his canvases are reminiscent of Pierre Bonnard’s work, which Rothko is known to have seen in 1948 at the MoMa. At the Kunst Historisches Museum some of the paintings reveal the undeniable influences, the colors, the motives and the exploration of techniques.

His attitude towards European art changed, however, as attested by what his close friend, the poet Stanley Kunitz, recalled when describing the painter’s “vehemence about the European scene, his flat rejection of it.” This was the mid 1950’s. Stanley Kunitz, who wrote poetry until he was a hundred, was also Jewish and knew Rothko well. Life seemed to have joined the paths of these two talented yet darkened-by-tragedy souls: both of them had grown up without a father — Kunitz’s had killed himself six weeks before Stanley was born, while Rothko’s had died of colon cancer when Rothko was only 10. By the time Rothko boarded the USS Independence in 1959 they had become so close that Kunitz was listed as one of the beneficiaries in Rothko’s will – the others were Rothko’s two brothers, his sister Sonia, Mell’s two sisters, and the sculptor Herbert Ferber.

As time went by, Rothko’s ambivalent attitude towards European art seemed to become more intense. Kunitz recalled him saying, “We have wiped the slate clean. We start anew. A new land. We’ve got to forget what the Old Masters did.”

In Brussels, Rothko met with the Belgian painter and poet, Anne-Marie Levine, who invited him over for dinner. Levine’s father, upon meeting Rothko, suggested that he ought to see some of the great works of art the country had to offer, for instance Rubens, Brueghel, Ensor. Rothko shrugged and declared that he was “not interested in painting.”

Rather than seeing Belgian art, Rothko had a different motivation to come to Brussels: his nephew Kenneth Rabin was living there. Kenneth was Sonia Rothko’s son, who had started a career in the US Foreign Service in 1955. After serving in Canberra and Perth, he was posted to Brussels for a number of years before moving to Manila. It was thanks to the postcards that Rothko had sent to his nephew that a great part of his journey can be outlined — he sent a postcard to Kenneth from Venice indicating he expected to be in Paris on July 15th and shortly after he would leave for Brussels. I found myself wanting to know more about Kenneth Rabin, the house he had lived in, what he had told his uncle about his experience in Brussels. I contacted the Jewish museum, I emailed Anne-Marie Levine, I called the US Embassy but to no avail. All I could find out was that Mr. Rabin had died in 2006 at the age of 81 in Portland, Oregon, the city where Rothko had moved to after leaving Latvia in 1913.

The 10-year-old boy’s first experiences in America were not easy. On the train journey from New York to Oregon, he had to carry a sign around his neck that read, “I don’t speak English.” A few months later his father died. All of these events marked the artist’s view of the world, all of which can be seen in the way he chose to express his wounded sensibility on the canvas. In 1958, during a lecture at the Pratt Institute, he said that the main ingredient of his work was “a clear preoccupation with death, the intimations with mortality.” He was forever interested in the spiritual, in the tragic nature of existence which he understood to be a part of his life.

***

From the second floor of the Royal Library of Belgium I can see pigeons perched on the shoulders of King Albert’s statue. On the esplanade, long-haired teenagers push off from the ground with one foot and gain speed before crouching on their skateboards for a moment, then they jump. The noise bounces off the building nearby. A group of chatty and distracted tourists follows a woman holding an unopened umbrella high in the air. I stand by one of the large windows in the periodicals section of the library with one goal in mind: find out if the Belgian press reported anything on Rothko’s 1959 visit.

Sitting in front of a table equipped with a magnifying glass and a small projector, I look at microfilmed pages of Le Soir newspaper from July of 1959. “Cyclists battle on the 46th Tour de France,” says nearly every front page. I find news of Richard Nixon’s imminent visit to Moscow, the different stages of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie’s trip to Belgium. I read notes about the new slats of wood and paint for the Château Malou in Woluwe Saint Lambert, a report on the shopkeeper in Liege who tried to strangle his wife, the festivities of the Belgian National Day. I read about Fidel Castro’s accession to power in Cuba and the armed conflict in Nyasaland, but nothing about Rothko. About an hour and a half later I give up thinking that either the press didn’t know about his trip or they didn’t care enough about him at the time.

What I do wind up finding in the Royal Library is the catalogue of Rothko’s exhibition at the Centre for Fine Arts (Palais des Beaux Arts) in January of 1962, the same exhibition that Rothko had gone to set up himself in 1961 at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. A review article in Le Soir dated Tuesday January 9th, 1962, complains about the size of Rothko’s paintings stating that for American artists, painting those “skyscraper-like” canvases was in their genes.

The opening page of the Palais des Beaux Arts catalog acknowledges the generous support of John de Menil, the Franco-American businessman and philanthropist who a couple of years later would commission the artist’s final major project: The Rothko Chapel in Houston.

Towards the end of the 1960’s Rothko began to suffer from depression, a condition that would worsen because of his heavy drinking. On the night of April 20th, 1968, he suffered an aneurysm and was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. At the emergency ward the doctors detected high blood pressure, early signs of cirrhosis. The painter had suffered a “dissecting aortic aneurysm,” they determined. The days that followed were laden with anxiety and fear. Rothko became paranoid. His poor health coupled with the mood swings caused the relationship with his wife Mell to deteriorate and on January 1st, 1969, the couple split up for good. A little over a year later, on the morning of February 25th, 1970, his body was found in a pool of blood in his 69th street studio in New York. He had taken his life.

At the Kunst Historisches Museum I sat in front of one of the Seagram Mural sketches and admired the colors for a long while. Ruby and burgundy bleeding in and out of each other. I couldn’t stop staring at it. In the silence of the room I thought of Stanley Kunitz’s poem, The Artist, which he wrote after the death of his friend:

His paintings grew darker every year.
They filled the walls, they filled the room;
eventually they filled his world –
all but the ravishment.
When voices faded, he would rush to hear
the scratched soul of Mozart
endlessly in gyre.
Back and forth, back and forth,
he paced the paint-smeared floor,
diminishing in size each time he turned,
trapped in his monumental void,
raving against his adversaries.
At last he took a knife in his hand
and slashed an exit for himself

The post 60 years ago the painter Mark Rothko visited Brussels appeared first on Brussels Express.

On June 28th, 2019, the third phase of development of the port, Tanger Med 2, was launched. Tanger Med 2 includes two new container terminals with a capacity of 6 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) containers, which is twice the capacity of Tanger Med 1. “In only seven years, from 2007 to 2014, we saw the 3 million TEU container capacity at Tanger Med 1 being used to its limit,” said Rachid Houari, Director of Tanger Med Port 1 and 2. “We’re the closest point to Europe here in Tanger Med and so that means the ships don’t have to deviate very much from their route. That’s an extremely competitive advantage for a port in Africa.”

According to Mr. Houari, the importance of Morocco for the European Union (EU) as a trade hub and gateway to Africa is likely to increase with the opening of the Tanger Med 2. This will not only magnify the exchanges between the two continents but also develop the local economy and foster job creation, which could be instrumental in curbing irregular migration to Europe in the long run.

Connected to 186 ports in 77 countries, Tanger Med is not only a gateway bridging Europe and Africa but also a global logistics hub. Containers shipped from Tanger Med can reach the Middle East in 9 days, North and South America in 10 days, and Asia in 20 days. Every year an estimate of 1 million new vehicles are exported, plus the transit of 7 million passengers and 700,000 trucks via the Passenger and Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro) Port in Tanger Med.

Up to now, most of the container traffic has been trans-shipment traffic. “Ships with up to 2,200 containers are unloaded here at Tanger Med 1 and Tanger Med 2,” said Rajae Elayachi, responsible for container activity at Tanger Med Port Authority. “Huge ships like these cannot call in at most ports in Africa. The containers have to be transferred to smaller ships.” Tanger Med 1 is operated by APM Terminals and Eurogate whereas the recently inaugurated Tanger Med 2 will be operated by APM Terminals and Marsa Morocco.

To remain attractive as a trans-shipment facility, a port must offer efficient unloading and loading of containers. Tanger Med has made significant investments both in cutting-edge technology and in developing the skill set of their employees. “The movements a crane can do, on average, is about 29 or 30 per hour, with some port operators in China being able to offer up to 40 crane movements per hour,” said Mr. Houari. “At Tanger Med 2 the current number of movements is 32. We want to bring it up to 40 as well.”

The successful development of Tanger Med port has contributed to position Morocco in the international maritime scene, allowing the North African country to rise from the 83rd to the 17th rank worldwide, according to the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The import-export activity conducted at Tanger Med represents an overall traffic valued at 317 billion dirhams (approximately 30 billion euros) in 2018.

Tanger Med Free Zone comprises an industrial hub for more than 900 companies representing a yearly export turnover of over 7,5 billion euros in sectors such as automotive, aeronautics, logistics, textile and trade. All this industrial activity has generated more than 75,000 jobs. “One of the reasons why we decided to open operations in Morocco was because we were able to develop and keep our skilled workers,” said Julianne M. Furman, General Manager Europe for EXCO Automotive Solutions. “We’ve seen many of them grow professionally with us. They want to stay here and evolve in their careers.” Via Tanger Med, EXCO ships products to 35 different customers in 115 destinations, most of which are located in Europe. More than 2,000 employees are currently working for EXCO at the Tanger industrial hub.

A company setting up operation in the Tanger Med Free Zone must export a minimum of 85% of its production. In exchange, they benefit from several customs advantages, such as having to do less paper work when receiving raw materials which would be used in the value-added processes before the final export of the product. “With over 900 companies in the industrial zone, you can imagine there is an important ecosystem therein,” said Mr. Houari. “In addition to that, there is no tax on profits for the first five years.”

In the years to come, Tanger Med will continue its dynamic evolution through a new investment program of 9 billion dirhams (850 million euros). The program aims to provide the logistics solutions needed to support the growth of Moroccan exports, particularly in the industrial and agricultural sectors, as well as the successful deployment of the industrial park Mohammed VI Tanger Tech City.

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European Inventor Award finalist, Professor Patrizia Paterlini-Brechot, has turned that quest into her life’s purpose. “Early in my career one of my patients died of pancreatic cancer within months of being diagnosed. I was devastated, I nearly gave up science. But then I decided to dedicate my career to find a way to safe people’s lives.”

Professor Paterlini-Bréchot has developed a quick, non-invasive method that can find a single circulating tumor cell in a 10-millilitre blood sample – the equivalent of roughly one in 50 billion blood cells. “It’s a daunting task,” she said. “It’s like finding one person in a world the size of seven planet earths.”

Diagnosing many forms of cancer at an early stage is a challenge. Lung cancer, for instance, is detected at an early stage only 15% of the time. The consequence being that the risk of developing secondary tumors, or metastases, somewhere else in the body increases substantially.

Paterlini-Bréchot was nominated for the 2019 European Inventor Award for her patented invention, ISET (Isolation by SizE of Tumor cells). In the ISET test, blood is diluted and inserted into a small plastic cartridge containing a microscopic filter, which works under the same principle as a coffee filter. The cartridge is then inserted into a machine that performs the filtration. Smaller blood cells pass vertically through the filter’s pores leaving any larger blood cells (circulating tumor cells) retained within the filter, a process that takes roughly 15 minutes. Any rare cell found to be malignant is labelled as a circulating cancer cell.

“When the time comes and I look back at my life, I want to believe I have done all I could to save and improve patients’ lives,” said Paterlini-Bréchot.

Inventions like that of Professor Paterlini-Bréchot’s, as well as all the finalists for European Inventors Award, have an enormous social and economic impact. Reports generated by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) show that the contribution of Intellectual Property to EU’s GDP reached 5,7 trillion Euro in 2016. Intellectual Property Intensive (IPR) industries accounted for 82 million jobs across the European Union.

In 2018, businesses and inventors filed a large number of patent applications at the EPO, with all the five top filing regions (Europe, US, Japan, China and Korea) showing increases.

The European Inventor Awards offers recognition to those scientists, researchers, inventors, and business minded people who have spent long hours chasing a dream. “For an inventor there’s nothing more motivating than hearing someone say to you, “This can’t be done,” said Esben Beck from Norway, finalist in the SME category.

It’s an intrinsic drive for them, the fuel that gets them to try and fail, try and try and fail again. “The patent of my invention allowed me to bring my idea to a much larger market,” said Rik Breuer, winner in the SME category. “This is what excited me, to see my idea make a difference in the world.”

Determining a true invention is not an easy process. One of the key responsibilities of the EPO is to make sure that a request for a patent is in fact something new, something that has not been reported on or invented elsewhere. To accomplish that, the EPO works in teams of at least three evaluators who determine whether a new patent is granted or not. Several tools, such as Patent Translate, are used to make this searching and validating process as thorough as possible. “Patent Translate provides free, multilingual access to an extensive and fast-growing collection of information on state-of-the-art technology,” said EPO President, António Campinos.

Besides the social and economic aspects, the selection criteria used for the European Inventor Award takes into consideration the inventions that have a significant positive impact on the environment. For Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre, finalists in the Non-EPO Countries category, the plastic crisis presented a challenge to create a sustainable, high-performance and economically viable packaging alternative. They have invented a new class of degradable biomaterial made from mycelium (fungi found under the soil, called mycelia) which can be moulded into almost any shape.

40% of plastic produced today is used in single-use packaging, which is immediately discarded once it has served its purpose, often ending up in landfill or in our seas. The mycelium is fed agricultural waste at room temperature and harvested every four to six days.

“Our motto has always been: Sustainability first,” said Eben Bayer. “We wanted to create alternatives to the products that consume an enormous amount of land and water. And I believe all inventors should take the environment into consideration when developing a new idea.”

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Meanwhile, at the Astana Opera, acting President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, exercised his democratic right to cast his vote and responded to questions from local and international media.

“We are committed to involve the youth in the decision-making of our country,” he said. “Today is an important day for our country as the whole world witnesses the unfolding of a democratic process.”

More than 8,000 polling stations were deployed across the country to accommodate for the nearly 11 million Kazakh citizens eligible to cast their vote on Sunday, including 1.5 million new voters who have turned 18 since the last election in 2015.

In the capital, despite the constant drizzle, thousands of people stood in line, plenty of them with their children, before entering the voting booths.

“I’m impressed by the organization of the electoral process here,” said Valeriu-Andrei Steriu, a member of the Romanian Parliament and observer in Nur-Sultan. “I noticed facilities for both, hearing- and seeing-impaired people. Definitely something to be learned from in other parts of the world.”

The Central Asian nation invited more than 700 international observers to witness the historic day, including 350 from the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE/ODIHR), and 350 from other international organizations, such as the Central European Initiative (CEI), the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

“We have not noticed any abnormalities in any of the polling stations we visited,” reported Mr. Simon Kozaidze, Member of the Georgian Parliament and observer in Nur-Sultan. “If there were any issues we would of course include them in the protocol and minutes of our reports.”

Another observer, Mr. Daniel Alan Witt from the US, noted that no foreign cyber intervention had been reported. « We asked the parties and the candidates, ‘Do you have any concerns about foreign interference?’ And they said no. Given what’s been going on in the world, you’ve got to be vigilant. But no one was expressing concerns. »

On Saturday June 8th, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Roman Vassilenko, spoke with the international press about the importance of the elections as the young nation continues its building process via democracy. “For us it’s important that all the people in Kazakhstan exercise their right to choose who their leader is.” He talked about the “multi-vector” foreign policy he expected to see after the election, with continued good relations with the country’s “near and far” neighbors. When asked about the main challenges ahead he said, “It’s not a country without its flaws and difficulties – we all know about them – for example corruption, lack of development in rural areas. These ought to be the areas of focus for the government.”

On Sunday, some peaceful demonstrations took place in the cities of Almaty and Nur-Sultan. When asked about them, the candidate representing the business community, Ms. Daniya Yespayeva from the Zhol party, said she did not yet know the origin of the demonstrations but that she supposed they were linked to social and economic mobility in the country. “I hope the next president, whoever it turns out to be, addresses this issue,” she said.

According to news agency AFP, several protesters were detained, as well as some journalists who were later released. After casting his vote, Mr. Tokayev replied to the media, “I believe presidential elections are not meant to be a battleground. They are not an excuse for confrontation.”

There were a total of seven candidates running up for the Presidency of Kazakhstan. The preliminary exit polls in the early hours of Monday morning showed Mr. Tokayev with 70.13% of the votes, and Amirzhan Kossanov in second position with 15.39%.

Updated: June 10th

On the morning of Monday, June 10th, the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan held a press conference for local and foreign media to present the preliminary results of the Presidential elections held on Sunday June 9th.

The members of the committee reported on the number of polling stations (more than 8,000 across the country). They also provided details about all the facilities offered in different polling stations to ease the voting process fo physically impaired Kazakh citizens.

Preliminary voting results per region (oblast) and major city were provided, candidate by candidate. A list of all the requests for information and clarification received by the CEC were also noted and briefed upon.

The same day, in the afternoon, acting President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, welcomed the media in one of the rooms of the beautiful Presidential Palace or Ak Orda. He began by congratulating the other six candidates.  “I am committed to a mandate of truth for the next five years, » he said, in front of more than 100 journalists. He was grateful to the international observers who had witnessed the many aspects of the election process in Kazakhstan.

When asked about the countries involvement in China’s Belt and Road initiative, Tokayev noted that China would not be able to develop the project without close collaboration with Kazakhstan.  “We are open and we are promoting foreign investment, » he said. « We have 300 billions of investment from abroad. In July there will be an important meeting with investors. The business climate is good”.

Mr. Tokayev  finished the press conference by stating that he planned to conduct an open communication policy holding Q&A sessions with the media as frequently as possible.

The President’s first trip abroad will be to Kyrgyzstan on June 14th, followed by a trip to Tajikistan on June 15th.

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A few meters ahead, on Uwenberg 16 stands the villa where on the 9th of October, 1936, the novelist and playwright Herman Teirlinck moved in with his family. In the garden I find Sigrid, who smiles and waves at me good morning. “Come, let me show you the writers’ terrace,” she says.

The two-story house overlooks the valley of the Senne river and beyond, tall lazy windmills spinning their turbines far into the distance; the reddish-brown walls of the castle of Beersel is visible amid the branches of the ash trees. “Not only the house is protected and considered a heritage site, but also the garden,” explains Sigrid, as we walk down the slope towards the writers’ terrace. “Here he would sit with his friends and drink a glass or two of Lambic or Geuze beer, which as you know, are brewed precisely in this area.”

The view is stunning, a large canvas painted by Bruegel. For a moment I imagine Herman Teirlinck sitting here, his feet propped up on a chair, dashing off his thoughts in a scrapbook, a glass of cold beer close to his lips. “He formed the Mijol Club,” says Sigrid. “A club where artists and decision makers would meet and discuss topics of importance. They used to gather here and also at the restaurant down the street, the 3 Fonteinen. It still exists.”

The conception of the Villa was Teirlinck’s, but he also benefited from advice by world-famous designer, Henry Van de Velde, who by then had become part of the extended family – his son, Tijl, had married Herman’s daughter, Nele. It was in this house that Teirlinck penned many of his masterpieces, including Zelfportrait of Het galgemaal, Het ivoren aapje, Bij mijn venster, among others. “I studied Zelfportrait of het galgemaal at university but my favorite is the collection of essays, Ode aan mijn hand,” says Sigrid.

After Teirlinck’s death in 1967, the house was rented out to the municipality of Beersel and it functioned as a museum, becoming a space where a lot of cultural activities took place. The museum remained open until 2013, a time when the authorities decided to sell the property. The decision was met with discomfort among the community of writers and performing artists and they expressed concern over the fact that the house might no longer be the cultural center it once was. “I used to come here as a child,” recalls Sigrid. “My father taught Teirlinck’s works at university, back when the Catholic University of Leuven had a campus in Simonis. For us, as well as for many people in Belgium, this house has a lot of significance.”

Together with Hugo de Greef, the creator of Kaaitheater in Brussels, Sigrid founded a not-for-profit organization (ASBL/VZW) with the aim of keeping the house as a cultural center for future generations. The financial investment required to maintain the house was substantial and they had to find sources of funding, which eventually came in the form of support from arts-sponsor Gino Coorevits, as well as from the Culture and Immovable Heritage Agency of Flanders (Onroerend Erfgoed). All of this was only possible thanks to Sigrid’s and Hugo’s relentless efforts and vision, which is already bearing fruit: the process of restoring the Villa back to its heyday has begun.

Since the end of 2017, the Herman Teirlinck House has hosted a series of literary events with well-known Belgian actors who have read not only from the works of Teirlinck, but also other contemporaries of his, such as Marguerite Yourcenar, Maurice Maeterlinck, and Stijn Streuvels, to name a few.

“It is a pleasure for both the audience and the actors,” says Sigrid. “For the audience is a moment of joy to sit and enjoy the musicality of the texts. Most of them probably haven’t been read to since they were children. And the actors are so excited. It’s an opportunity for them to get reacquainted with the work they have studied and practiced.” Herman Teirlinck was not only an accomplished novelist and essayist, but also a pioneer in the field of performing arts. In 1946, he created the Studio of National Theater in Antwerp, which later became known as the Studio Herman Teirlinck; he was also director of the Ter Kameren/La Cambre school in Brussels until 1950. He was the founder and director of the Nieuw Vlaams Tijdschrift, and his advice was sought after by the Belgian Monarchy, namely by Albert I, Leopold III, and Baldwin.

Besides being a venue for literary events, the second floor of the Teirlinck house will be used in the future as a residence for writers and performing artists.

We are seated at a table in what I imagine was the dining room where Teirlinck would entertain guests until late at night, bringing bottle after bottle from his cellar, stepping outside to light a cigarette and watch the moon in the horizon. I’m taking notes of my impressions when Sigrid points at something across from her. “Do you see that lectern? It was made by sculptor Koenraad Tinel, he created it for us. It is very special for us to have it here and use it during our readings.” A book entitled, Liberated at last (2013), describes Tinel’s long-time friendship with Holocaust survivor, Simon Gronowski.

As I prepare to take my leave, Sigrid mentions one more of Herman Teirlinck’s legacies: The Arkprijs van het Vrije Woord (Ark Prize of the Free Word), which was created in 1951 under Teirlinck’s oversight to reward those who dare stand for the rights of freedom of expression. This year the award winners are Anuna De Wever and Kyra Gantois, for their joint efforts in creating the Youth For Climate initiative. The ceremony this year is to take place in Antwerp, in a Gallery called De Zwarte Panter. “But the idea is that from next year on the ceremony happens right here,” says Sigrid. “The house where Herman lived.”

More information about the House of Herman Teirlinck available here

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The former Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to US President Trump spoke on Friday May 24th at the XVI Eurasian Media Forum in Almaty, Kazakhstan, during a panel discussion entitled: Crisis of Trust – Global Power Balance. Wearing hiking shoes and frayed khaki pants, Bannon affirmed that the political elites had “gutted” the working class people for decades. “People around the world are saying ‘We’ve had enough.’”

When asked about the trade spat between the US and China he stated that China had no real leveraging power to negotiate with the US. “Companies like ZTE and Huawei, we can take them out of business in 30 days.”

Before flying to the the Central Asian country, Bannon met with right-wing and populist leaders in Europe with the goal of forming a unified nationalist European movement. “I see the rise of nationalism as something positive,” he said. “It unites people.”

An immediate refutation came from Mark Siegel, Head of NYU’s Center for Global Affairs. ”Nationalism is not meant to unite, it’s meant to divide. It’s an ideology of us versus them. How can that be positive?” He went on to explain that there are valid reasons why people are concerned about immigration but that it all comes down to “economical factors.” He stressed that it is unproductive to use fears triggered by xenophobia and racism for the purpose of boosting popularity among voters.

For Mr. Siegel it is difficult to articulate a meaningful statement about current US Foreign Affairs policy because “there is none.” He criticized President Trump for pulling out from many international agreements, including the nuclear deal with Iran, which required large amounts of time and effort by several countries. “He just ripped it up,” Siegel said, and added that he’s not surprised that these days many countries fear entering into any kind of negotiation with the US when there is a high risk that the President “will just walk away.”

Former British politician and hardliner Brexiteer, George Galloway, blamed the EU institutions for much of the problems faced by the working class in England. “Why would someone in the rust-belt of England vote for the status quo? The EU club and its elites are done.” But he remained vague, seemed almost at a loss, when it came to specify what EU legislation had affected the UK. “I’m a working class person, more or less like Steve Bannon. We’re tired of the elites.” He seemed to enjoy giving the same line as an answer, which he repeated several times, saying that the EU doesn’t care if the “workers’ lunch is stolen by China.”

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, a former EU Commissioner, conceded that reforms were indeed necessary within the EU institutions, namely: a qualified majority instead of a unanimity vote, and a smaller Commission, but she was firm when refuting Galloway’s argument stating that, “It was the UK policy not the EU policy that had made the people in the rust-belt worse off.”

Among the participants the opinion was divided regarding Bannon’s presence in the Eurasian Media Forum. Some applauded Kazakhstan’s long-standing will to create spaces for debate, as well as the Forum’s organizers’ vision for bringing speakers from both sides of the political spectrum, hoping to bridge differences and foster dialogue. But others expressed mixed feelings, even concern. “It’s offering him a platform to amplify his populist ideas,” said a German journalist who preferred to remain anonymous. “It’s a very noble initiative by the leaders of Kazakhstan to have a forum like this and try to fight the forces of polarization. But if one side is already convinced of its ideas and does not even try to listen, what do you accomplish? It’s a very fine line.”

The Eurasian Media Forum was first held in Almaty in 2002, in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C., and over the course of its sixteen editions it has hosted more than 7,000 participants from over 60 countries, a formidable success for the Forum’s organizers. This year, Kazakhstan Minister of Information and Social Development, Dauren Abayev, read President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s address to the attendants. President Tokayev’s words expressed that one of the threats the world faces is unauthorized access to digital data and the waves of disinformation which have proved a destructive influence on electoral processes. “I am committed to a fair and democratic election,” read Mr. Abayev, “and I therefore welcome the representatives of the mass media to the elections that will take place on the 9th of June.”

Throughout the three day event journalists from the world over posed tough questions to the panelists but at no time was the weight of silence felt as uncomfortable as when Eurasianet correspondent, Joanna Lillis, brought up the fact that the authorities had been blocking internet access to users. ”What is the point of holding a conference on the media without discussing this,” Willis asked.

One of the panelists, Alexander Aksyutits, Head of Salem Social Media, failed to see any problem because “everybody knows about the use of VPN’s,” while Natalia Antelava, CEO of Coda Story in Georgia, thought it was an important question and wished to see some of the local journalists say more “about the situation in Kazakhstan.”

During another session entitled Consumption Crisis, an unflattering light was cast over Europe in terms of environmental protection when Jazmín Acuña, Editor of El Surtidor in Paraguay, mentioned that El Chaco region is under great pressure from farmers who want to expand their grasslands to export meat to Europe. “The threat is two-fold,” said Acuña. “Europe wants to buy not only the meat but also the wood from the felled trees.” She went on to explain that the situation in El Chaco has entered a perverse cycle because the products are being presented to European importers as having followed the necessary regulations but in truth the regulations related to sustainability in Paraguay are “from a different era” and are in urgent need of revision.

During the Eurasian Media Forum several Masterclasses were offered by experts in the field covering topics such as Environmental Journalism, Film Production, Mobile Journalism (MoJo), among many others.

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