All posts filed under: Antwerp

Saving Banksy

I can be short about this one: the Banksy exhibition ‘The Art of Banksy’ (last week still in Amsterdam, now in Antwerp) is a tourist trap. If you are really into Banksy, there are other options. Do not believe the hype that it’s a must-go exhibition, whatever the media or the so called experts try to make you believe. The entire setting is wrong. Brick or ‘arty-farty’ wallpaper to present ‘street-art-for-galleries’, cardboard & fake stencils plus to indispensable spray cans to ‘show’ how Banksy works, hardly any original street work and above all, a ‘street-art-for-the-masses vibe. We visited the expo (helàs!) in Amsterdam and could not get out fast enough. Compare it with eating a cheap pizza in a bad Italian restaurant and thinking that you visited Rome. Got the picture? Don’t get me wrong. I love Banksy and his work. We visited Dismaland (twice), Bristol, Calais & London, to see his work. Because let’s face it, the best place to see a Banksy is still in the street, were it belongs. It’s not easy to find some originals, …

The fabulous Fosbury & Sons workplaces

We all know the feeling. A last minute meeting in another town and no place to go. Yes, there are the horrible hotel lobby’s near the highway with expensive parkings, uninspired ‘design’ and bad coffee, or you join the local hipsters in a crowded & noisy coffee bar. Or take the new co-working spots: Nice, sometimes, but closed at 6 pm, no parking and not open for the typical nomad who rarely stays at one place fix. When traveling you do find great places to meet, brainstorm & work. Together with others, in a contemporary setting, with good coffee, healthy food and free wifi. Sometimes you pay for your workstation/meeting room like at Citizen M Hotels (London), and sometimes you work for free plus a drink (like in the lobby of the hip & happening Ace Hotel (Shoreditch London). Why was it so hard to find something inspirational in my region? Till I got a phone call from my friend Maarten Van Gool, a colleague from my advertising past. He had big news: he started together with partner Stijn Geeraerts and  project developer Serge Handcart of …

Dries Van Noten_Inspiration walk in his creative master mind.

After a great first edition in Paris in 2014, the exhibition of one of Belgium’s most creative, loved by all ànd successful fashion designers has ‘landed’ in Antwerp. The Momu (Antwerp’s own fashion museum) invited Dries Van Noten to set up a second edition of his inspiration show and as we all know, a home run in your home town is always most rewarding. The nice thing is that the exhibition is not a copy of Paris, but a next step. With new insights, exciting inspiration work from Dries his heroes and influencers, a beautiful setting and a core selection of all Dries’ 25 collections over the years. I had the privilege to walk trough the exhibit with a collaborator of the Momu who worked with Dries personally on this show. She knew how the process evolved and how Dries was intensively creative engaged.

An Instagram look back at 2014, part 1 FOOD.

Peas with goat cheese snow at Souvenir in Ieper. 2015 has kicked off, but it happens these days that I think back about the things that were great last year. What better than have a scroll trough all my Instagram posts of 2014 and take a trip trough memory lane…. I must admit, looking at these moments, it was a good year. Why not share the best of my Instagram memories? I went trough all the great trips I made last year, the restaurants I visited, the wonderful work collaborations and the unforgettable art shows and exhibitions I went to. Here they are. It’s a selection, a best of.