The Low Countries. Jaargang 14

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Association

 

This fourteenth yearbook is published by the Flemish-Netherlands Association ‘Ons Erfdeel vzw’, with the support of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (The Hague) and the Flemish Ministry of Culture (Brussels).

The Association ‘Ons Erfdeel vzw’ also publishes the Dutch-language periodical Ons Erfdeel and the Frenchlanguage periodical Septentrion. Arts, lettres et culture de Flandre et des Pays-Bas, the-bilingual yearbook De Franse Nederlanden - Les Pays-Bas Français and a series of books in several languages covering various aspects of the culture of the Low Countries.

 

The Board of Directors of ‘Ons Erfdeel vzw’

 

President:

Herman Balthazar

 

Managing Director:

Luc Devoldere

 

Directors:

Greetje van den Bergh

Jan Bosselaers

Marcel Cockaerts

Jan Desmyter

Bert de Graeve

Cecile Maeyaert-Cambien

Aad Nuis

Frits van Oostrom

Adriaan van der Staay

Ludo Verhoeven

 

Honorary President:

Philip Houben

 

Address of the Editorial Board and the Administration

 

‘Ons Erfdeel vzw’, Murissonstraat 260, 8930 Rekkem, Flanders, Belgium

T +32 56 41 12 01, F +32 56 41 47 07

www.onserfdeel.be, www.onserfdeel.nl

 

Head of Administration:

Bernard Viaene

 

Administrative Secretaries:

Adinda Houttekier / Hans Verhaeghe

 

Aims

 

With The Low Countries, a yearbook founded by Jozef Deleu (Chief Editor from 1993 until 2002), the editors and publisher aim to present to the English-speaking world the culture and society of the Dutch-speaking area which embraces both the Netherlands and also Flanders, the northern part of Belgium.

 

The articles in this yearbook survey the living, contemporary culture of the Low Countries as well as their cultural heritage. In its words and pictures The Low Countries provides information about literature and the arts, but also about broad social and historical developments in Flanders and the Netherlands.

 

The culture of Flanders and the Netherlands is not an isolated phenomenon; its development over the centuries has been one of continuous interaction with the outside world. In consequence the yearbook also pays due attention to the centuriesold continuing cultural interplay between the Low Countries and the world beyond their borders.

 

By drawing attention to the diversity, vitality and international dimension of the culture of Flanders and the Netherlands, The Low Countries hopes to contribute to a lively dialogue between differing cultures.

 

ISSN 0779-5815

ISBN 90-75862-79-2

Statutory deposit no. D/2006/3006/1

NUR 600/612

 

Copyright © 2006 ‘Ons Erfdeel vzw’

Printed by Die Keure, Bruges, Flanders, Belgium

Design by Luc De Meyer (Die Keure)

 

All rights reserved. No-part-of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior permission of the copyright holder.

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The Low Countries

 

Cover:

Marijke van Warmerdam.

Shower. 1995.

Schiphol Station.

Photo courtesy Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam

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TLC 14

2006 The Low Countries

ARTS AND SOCIETY IN FLANDERS AND THE NETHERLANDS

Published by the Flemish-Netherlands Association Ons Erfdeel vzw

 

 

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Editorial Board	Advisory Committee
Chief Editor:	E.M. Beekman, Amherst, ma, usa
Luc Devoldere	André Brink, Cape Town, South Africa
	Christopher Brown, Oxford, United Kingdom
Deputy Editors:	Bram Buijze, The Hague, The Netherlands
Dirk van Assche	Ian Buruma, London, United Kingdom
Frits Niessen	Patricia Carson, Ghent, Belgium
Reinier Salverda	Jan Deloof, Zwevegem, Belgium
	Theo D'haen, Leuven, Belgium
Secretary:	Bruce C. Donaldson, Melbourne, Australia
Filip Matthijs	Charles Ford, London, United Kingdom
	Amy Golahny, Williamsport, pa, usa
Members:	Jaap Harskamp, London, United Kingdom
Saskia Bak	Adrian van den Hoven, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Anton Korteweg	Jonathan Israel, Princeton, nj, usa
Bart van der Straeten	Frank Ligtvoet, New York, ny, usa
Hans Vanacker	Gitta Luiten, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
	Martin Mooij, Capelle a / d IJssel, The Netherlands
	Paul R. Sellin, Los Angeles, ca, usa
	William Z. Shetter, Bloomington, in, usa
	Johan P. Snapper, Berkeley, ca, usa
	Kees Snoek, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
	Paul Vincent, London, United Kingdom
	Leo Vroman, Fort Worth, tx, usa
	Rudi Wester, Paris, France
	John Willemse, Pretoria, South Africa
	Michael J. Wintle, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
	Manfred Wolf, San Francisco, ca, usa
	Joanna Woodall, London, United Kingdom

 

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Contents

	With warm regards from foreign parts
11	Luc Devoldere
	Explore your Prison
12	From Ypres to Verdun: Not the memory, but the spectacle...
	(An Extract from Geert Mak's ‘In Europe’)
15	Raf de Bruyn
	Arrival & Departure Travelling to and from the Low Countries
26	Jellichje Reijnders
	The Adventurous Endeavours of Joost Conijn Potentialities of Autonomous Travel through Life
35	Luc Devoldere
	Barefoot and on horseback to the Mongols, whom we call Tartars The Mission of a Flemish Monk
46	From Turpan to Kashgar: The bus is not suitable for foreigners
	(An extract from Adriaan van Dis' ‘A Barbarian in China’)
48	Michiel van Groesen
	Portrait of the Traveller with Burin and Printing Press The Representation of Dutch Maritime Expansion in the De Bry Collection of Voyages
56	From Africa to Africa: The Return of a Dead Traveller
	(An Extract from Frank Westerman's ‘El Negro and Me’)
58	Manfred Sellink
	Out and about with Bruegel
65	Filip Luyckx
	Christoph Fink's Travel Accounts Aesthetics of the Contemporary Worldview

 

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72	Anton Korteweg
	Notices to Travellers
	Poems by W.J. van Zeggelen, Nicolaas Beets, Jopie Breemer, Richard Minne, Jacqueline E. van der Waals, Jan van Nijlen, M. Vasalis, Bergman, Miriam Van hee, Ingmar Heijtze and Menno Wigman
86	Derek Blyth
	A Road Less Travelled The Road to Antwerp Beach - A Journey along the N1
93	Filip Matthijs
	Even at Home I am not a Tourist
102	Gerard van Westerloo
	The Dutch Raise their Voices
107	Marieke van Rooy
	Perfectly Happy in Vinex-Land
115	Carl Devos
	Blood or Soil A Stroll through Belgian Absurdistan
121	Piet Chielens
	The End of a War National and Private Monuments Commemorating the Great War in Flanders
136	Ingeborg Walinga
	Self-Willed or Superfluous? Art in Public Space in the Netherlands
144	Patrick T. Murphy
	Borremans' Circus
150	Lutgard Mutsaers
	Hit the Road Bands in Search of an Audience Abroad
157	Louis van Dievel
	Joost Swarte, Knight of the Clear Line
163	Frank Hellemans
	The Tao of Literature Life as it is, according to Patricia de Martelaere
	Two Extracts from ‘The Unexpected Answer’ by Patricia de Martelaere

 

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172	Hans Aarsman
	Mystery on the March On Dirk Braeckman's Photos
177	Ad Zuiderent
	Doing the Fosbury Flop Gerrit Krol's Literary High-Jump
	Two Poems and an Extract by Gerrit Krol
189	Johan de Smet
	One Only Has Oneself Fernand Khnopff, a Belgian Dandy in European Symbolism
197	Vic Nachtergaele
	A Beacon for Europe Emile Verhaeren 1855-1916
	Four Poems by Emile Verhaeren
206	Emile Wennekes
	Loud Chords and Calm Moments Louis Andriessen, Composer
211	Peter Karstkarel
	Leeuwarden: Triumph and Tragedy
221	Gary Schwartz
	Yes, But Rembrandt as an Unstable Medium
227	Bart van der Straeten
	‘Nothing worthwhile ever happens, except maybe some acts of consolation’ Literature according to Herman Brusselmans
	Two Extracts by Herman Brusselmans
238	Peter de Bruijn
	‘Cast off the names that others had applied’ On the Poet Gerrit Achterberg
	Two Poems by Gerrit Achterberg
247	Klaas van Berkel
	The Unexpected Popularity of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek
253	Such is our proud, though oft-diluted, Dutch heritage
	(An extract from John Updike's ‘A Letter to my Grandsons’)

 

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Chronicle

Architecture

264

Marieke van Rooy

A Sea of Models

The Second International Architecture Biennial in Rotterdam

Cultural Policy

266

Hans Vanacker

Forever Curious

The Mondriaan Foundation

267

Rudi Wester

‘We pay too much attention to ourselves’

The Netherlands and International Cultural Policy

269

Frits van Oostrom

Soundly Based, but not Set in Stone

In Search of a Canon to be Cherished

Dance and Theatre

272

Koen van Kerrebroeck

Ben Benaouisse or the Art of Remembering

Language

275

Derek Blyth

Of Rabbits and Queens

The Hardship and Bliss of Learning Dutch

276

Reinier Salverda

‘Good butter and good cheese is good English and good Frieze’

Frisian Language and Culture today

History

280

Hans Cools

The Dutch Reformation Revisited

282

Erwin Joos

One Foot in America

Antwerp and the Emigrants of the Red Star Line

Literature

285

Annette Portegies

Clio Offside?

University of Groningen Opens Biographical Institute

287

Elsbeth Etty

Fate Decided Otherwise

Henk van Woerden (1947-2005)

 

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Music

288

Lutgard Mutsaers

Never Sell Out

More than 25 Years of The Ex

290

Mark Delaere

The Listener's Contribution

Composing according to Joachim Brackx

Science

293

Dirk van Delft

A Coffee-Cup Full of Helium

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853-1926)

Society

296

Ewald Pironet

A Truck Every Three Seconds

Antwerp and the Deurganckdok

298

Willem Breedveld

Citizenship is the Highest Office

Job Cohen, ‘European Hero’

Visual Arts

300

Veerle Windels

The Passion of Creating

Christophe Coppens, Designer Artist

302

Frank van der Ploeg

Harmony

The Conciliatory Figurativeness of Matthijs Röling

306

Dirk van Assche

Three Museums Working in Harmony

The ‘Vlaamsekunstcollectie’ Project

309

Filip Matthijs

Short Takes

318

Contributors

319

Translators