Wild Style

wildstyle1

This is the most eye catching tag I've ever seen. It really looks like that - no photoshopping involved. I think it's for a grafitti shop in Brussels.

Nada

nada sticker close

One of the joys of my aimless wanderings around the city means that I occasionally find something really special. This tiny sticker was tucked under a step and I only saw it because I was putting my bag down.

I haven't a clue what it's about, but it made me smile.

Yesterday's march has also got me thinking. I've often been concerned with nationalism and what the fringes can be like. The Pro Belgium march was without taint of extremism - apart from the 15 right of sensible nutters who were promptly arrested by the cops.

It was a good sense of nationalism, just people who were happy being Belgian.

It's a funny thing, nationality. Each of us has several nationalities, for example I'm British, but I don't describe myself as that, I'm English (recovering nicely by the way - Step One "I am powerless over my Englishness"). Increased devolution in the UK has brought about an English, shall we say, awareness. how will this develop? First indications are that we've recaptured the flag from the Far Right.

I did meet a Belgian friend who said he didn't care if Belgium stayed or went. He's a smart guy, but the concept of not caring about your country is alien to many. I can't imagine a world without Britain.

Maelbeek entrance

maelbeek entrance

This is the exit I use whenever I have to turn up in the office. I love the Benoit faces on the platforms and the collage in the entrance hall, but these squiggles aren't as interesting.

I also liked the graffiti on the lower red wall, as you can't tell if it's part of the artwork or not.

Behind the shutters is a small sandwich bar. Every now and then someone opens one up, but they never seem to last long. The last one was only open 2 hours a day, so I wasn't suprised when it vanished.

Espaces Speculoos

cie1

It's Saturday afternoon, so I went to the Place de la Monnaie to watch the street theater and performers organised by Espaces Speculoos..

The first act was Ben Zuddist and the smallest animal circus in the world, who started out similar to an act I saw last week, but then began to introduce soft toys and the act got more interesting and the finale was a glorious anti-climax that everyone enjoyed. I'll give him 3/5

Next up were Cie Tultetar who had a long routine about the Loch Ness monster. I found it pretty poor to be honest, not very funny, unimaginative and it seemed like a rehearsal, rather than a finished act. 2/5.

A shame because I was looking forward to them, having enjoyed them last year, when they performed The Creature Man. Thankfully their website has a video of this, check it out.

Espace Speculoos

Espace Speculoos

During the holidays, every Saturday, from 14:00 to 16:00, the Place de la Monnaie is host to Espaces Speculoos and a wide range of usually very good street performers strut their stuff for free.

The photo is from last year and shows a wonderful and engaging performer, Tom Oskar

Highly recommended.

But, that's not all. At the same time the Place also hosts the start of the 2007 Brussels World Naked Bike Ride. The organisers haven't asked or received permission for mass nudity so the police could be out in force and it could end up in a riot.

From the Bike website:
On June 27, the authorities of the town of Brussels contacted us by e-mail to mean that the gathering will be able to take place under pretext only the mode of expression of the event, nudity, "would not take account of the codes of conduct of the company in particular with respect to the children." and points out that no formal request for authorization was sent to them, "as that must be the case for any demonstration". They add that "It is not a question to blame the pacifist character which you allot to this event nor even your will to alert the opinion on the dangers of circulation which in addition mobilize largely the Town of Brussels".

I'm not too sure what that means either.

Chapelle Train Station

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Street art found in and around Brussel's Chapelle train station, now also the home of the Recycleart Project that co-ordinated much of the work and host a range of artistic and cultural events.

sketch grafitti

sketch grafitti

I saw this delightful little sketch - around 15cm high - on a wall near St Catherine.

There have been a few like it appearing recently. I've no idea who is behind it. If you know, please tell me.

Sion Parlait

sion parlait stencil

I've been taking a lot of photos of stencils and what's known as 'urban art'. some of it is little more than vandalism, some just confuses me and others have something really interesting or ingenious.

I've had little contact with the artists and the grafitti and stencil scene isn't something I know much about. Indeed it's a little like seeing signs from a different culture, but then again, that's Brussels. So many overlaid and overlapping cultural groups, each with their own history. mores etc that walking through town sometimes feels like simultaneously walking through several different cities simultaneously.

If you know something of the urban art scene, please drop me a line as I'd like to learn more about it.

Ric Hochet by Tibet

hanging from wall mural

There are a great many murals around Brussels and there's even a tour you can take of them all (Info here and a map of the route). For a list of comic art in Brussels look here.

Personally I liked finding them by chance, each one becoming a surprise. Many of them really suit their location, like this one, and use it well. I've usually photographed them close up, but I think I'll go back and take more of them in context.

What a great way to enliven a city. This is why I tried to get one of the Art Cows for outside our house. Sadly this cultural delight was prohibited when my beloved vetoed the plan.

four legs, six strings

Jude called my attention to this funny guy holding a real guitar (probably nailed or glued to the wall). I had to jump over numerous piles of dog shit to take this shot, so you'd better appreciate it (taken on rue des Minimes).

Have Your Portrait Drawn

portrait

Well this is from the Lily Day celebrations. I wandered down to petit Sablon where there plenty of stalls selling the fake ethnic and other stuff. There are a couple of guys who will draw you. We had our son drawn one year on his birthday and he loved it, so it's a nice idea once in a while.

What I liked about this was the contrast between the delicate black and white drawings and the really strong colour of the announcement board.

Unexpected facade art

I catched this today, just opposite the building where I earn my daily bread. Yesterday this facade protection at the corner of Rue des Colonies/Kolonienstraat and Rue de la Chancellerie/Kanselarijstraat was virgin white. Overnight some unknown artist produced this work of art. The photo does not do this any justice, the real experience is overwhelming...

Update: the unknown artist has been identified as street artist BONOM (his initials were just around the corner); see also his flickr group.

Place St Katherine

Cafe Chairs

There's a lovely square opposite Bourse with some cool bars and a bohemian feel.

I'm going there today, because it's hosting the Pispotten Festival.

There will be over 20 groups, theatre acts, readings and other acts all performing on the theme of public toilets and hygene. The event is calling for more free public toilets.

It's free, starts at 1pm and I'll be there.

Mmmm Coffee

java-shutter

I loved this globe, painted on a trendy cafe's shutters, especially the added red arrow pointing at Belgium and saying 'You Are Here'. You've got to look for bad coffee in this city and even the Quick does a decent cup.

There's a Tea Room next to Anneessens that does a lovely 'revive the dead' cup that works for me, but Zoe doesn't like it at all.

So, where should I go for coffee? Who does the Best in Brussels?

Nasreddin Hoca

hoca-side

This statue is in honour of the legendary satirist, punster and joker Nasreddin Hodja His stories are legendary. Here's one about this statue:

One day Nasreddin Hodja got on his donkey the wrong way, facing towards the back.
- "Hodja," the people said, "You are sitting on your donkey backwards!"
- "No," he replied. "It's not that I am sitting on the donkey backwards, the donkey is facing the wrong way."

Interrupted Service

drunk_graffiti

This piece of urban art, found on a wall near St Catherine's illustrates what many of the Mannekin Pics team were up to last night. We attended a 'blog meet' of various reprobates, including many from our blogroll.

Thankfully we all survived it, though holding it in O'Farrells during happy hour seemed to set the tone of the evening.

Normal service will be resumed tomorrow.

Tram and Mural

mural-and-tram

This is one of Brussels' famous murals, depicting cartoon figures. This one is Marcel Marlier's character 'Martine'. Passing by is one of our new trams. They're faster, smoother and quieter than the old ones.

They're also as dull as ditch water. Instead of the bright yellow and blue we get grey and beige. A somewhat uninspiring combination. It also makes them hard to spot, something you would want to do.

Anyway, enjoy the scene

Asterix Mural

asterix-mural

Belgium may be the land of Tintin, but my favourite has always been Asterix and I was delighted to see this mural, in a school playground, depicting our heroes, smashed to the gills on their secret potion about to get medieval on some hapless Romans.

Truly inspiring for any school is this mix of drugs and violence!

Painted Building

Painted Building

Yesterday I wandered around the canal and then into Molenbeek for the weekly market. On the way I took a detour to photograph this remarkable building. I just love the comic book murals that are dotted all over the city, but this takes things one step further. I'm all in favour of anything that brings colour and imagination into the city.

The market was fun, but with an Arabic feel to one end and a Flemish feel to the other. It was massive and I gave up wandering through the narrow, crowded streets after a while.

A La Bonne Fortune

Hands on the Wall

This is about 2 meters high on a wall of a Chinese health shop and it depicts the meanings of the various lines. I'm not one for a lot of this type of stuff, but I used to do Tai Chi and it really was beginning to work. I also think Taoism is interesting and something that I really should pick up again.

There is a reason for choosing this photo today, because I'm off this morning for a job interview. Even better, it's for an interesting job, one that involves using open source approaches to networking schools, teachers and pupils as well as lots of Web 2.0 stuff.

Translation: It's doing lots of cool and innovative stuff with computers that will inspire collaborative learning. Please wish me la bonne fortune!

Join Mannekin Pics!

I'm also happy to gaze into my palms and see that Mannekin Pics has a bright future. I would like to thank the people who have joined so far and have made this a much more interesting place.

We're always looking for more people to join us - all you have to do is send me an email. and i'll send you an invite.

We ask that people follow two rules:
1. The photo is taken in Brussels or it's environs
2. Some text accompanies the photo.

That's it. Please remember we're looking for diversity. This isn't the place for 'best' photos, just pictures you like, find interesting or are informative. You don't need to be a 'good' photographer or have expensive equipment.

The more people join in, the better the site will be.