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High Road to Culture in Flanders and the Netherlands
Flemish composer Annelies Van Parys is one of the most sought-after contemporary composers in Europe. What makes her talent so unique?
The image of farmers and the countryside in Flanders and the Netherlands has been teetering between positive and negative for decades. Why? And how much wiggle room do farmers have today?
Into the Open is a new performance by Voetvolk. Read this portrait from 2019 of unconventional dancer Lisbeth Gruwez, composer Maarten Van Cauwenberghe and their company Voetvolk.
Pim Lammers offers us an insight into Gerrit Schouten’s Model of the Memorial of J.F. de Friderici from 1812.
In her debut novel "Ongehoord" (Unheard) Pascale Petralia tells the story of how a victim gradually becomes ensnared in the net of someone obsessed. And no one can save her.
Artificial Intelligence opens new ways for language research. You can program a bot to write sonnets like Shakespeare, and one day we might be able to converse with someone from the 16th century.
In the 19th century, rabbits from Flanders became a popular source of cheap meat for the poor of London. They came by boat, so they called them 'Ostend Rabbits'.
The British have a longstanding love affair with the Duffel coat. It is named after the cloth made in a small Flemish town, though it is hard to establish a link between the town and the coat.
Loss of their mother tongue among children of Syrian refugees in Belgium leads to conflicting ideas about their identity.
Maxine Palit de Jongh presents us with an Erard Frères pianoforte from 1808.
From Marcel Broodthaers to Otobong Nkanga, more and more Belgian artists want to cast a critical perspective upon the colonial past in order to influence ongoing debates.
Dutch writer Godfried Bomans died on December 22th 1971. He was one of the first writers to star on television. And though people like to think they know him, he was difficult to grasp.
Jorik Amit Galama wrote a text in response to the painting Farm on the bank of a stream in Gelderland by Wouter Johannes van Troostwijk.
A broad knowledge of languages is important and translations are an essential part of Dutch literature, writes Lotte Jensen in her column.
Teaching material should exhibit diversity, according to policy organisations such as UNESCO. But textbooks for newcomers in Flanders and the Netherlands are lagging behind in diversity terms.
Kiriko Mechanicus explores Girl in a White Kimono, painted by George Hendrik Breitner in 1894.
Having plants in the house is not such a long-standing habit as we might think. Only in the 19th century greenery made its way into our houses.
Since the 1980s improvisational theatre has seen an impressive uptake, in the Netherlands and Belgium. The competitive nature ensures improv’s lasting popularity.
Erasmus was a man with great ambitions and who took orders from no one. But his succes also had its drawbacks, unveils a new biography.
The overgrown Campo Santo cemetery clings to a low hill in the Ghent suburb of Sint-Amandsberg has been described as the Flemish Père Lachaise.
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen made its depot fully accessible to the public. It delivers a special experience in a new architectural icon.
Sumai Yahya gives us a look at an Etruscan vase made by Manufacture Impériale de Sèvres in 1858.
De Afwijking by debutant Dries Muus is a beautiful coming-of-age novel against the backdrop of an urban football environment.
We join Marieke Ornelis as she looks at Portrait of a Young Woman, with ‘Puck’ the Dog, painted by Marie-Thérèse Schwartz
Discover some of the weird sports that have developed in or been adopted and grown in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Imaginative content, physical extremes and remarkable links and contrasts have made De Warme Winkel a favourite among theatre critics and audiences alike
Heisteeg, one of the narrowest streets of Amsterdam, has sparked off a furious debate about overtourism.
