Margarita Production
Margarita Production, an ‘alternative management office’ based in Brussels, recently celebrated its 10th birthday! And on this occasion they published a retrospective catalogue of their work over the past decade, featuring a wide range of materials to illustrate the various projects they’ve worked on in theatre, dance and more. I took care of the translations and the proofreading for the catalogue.
Eddy Merckx at Sportimonium
To mark the centenary of the Tour of Flanders, an exhibition entitled ‘On the wheel of Eddy Merckx’ has been launched at the Sportimonium museum in Hofstade-Zemst, on the outskirts of Mechelen to the north of Brussels. The Sportimonium is a member of the Olympic Museums Network. The exhibition focuses on Merckx’s career, but you can learn about the highlights of cycling history and the memorable career of Eddy Merckx in an interactive quiz and an activity game on a tablet. More info on the exhibition website. I worked on some of the English translations.
Boris Vian’s L’écume des jours
I read in a recent issue of the TLS (22 February) that the director Michel Gondry will soon be releasing a film version with Romain Duris and Audrey Tautou of Boris Vian’s 1947 novel L’écume des jours. The novel, J.C. informs his readers, was translated by Stanley Chapman in 1967 as Froth on the Daydream and by John Sturrock in 1968 as Mood Indigo, which is the title that will be given to the English version of the film. I don’t know which translation is better. I’m not particularly fond of the former which is too literal and kind of meaningless (perhaps like the French title, for that matter?), but the latter seems too remote from the original. A third translation, by Brian Harper, was published by Tam Tam Books in 2003 and was entitled Foam of the Daze. It’s closer to the original than Mood Indigo, and catchier than Froth on the Daydream, but I’m not still not quite sure what it means. J.C. also informs his readers that the English translation to be published by Serpent’s Tail to coincide with the release of the film will be Chapman’s version, although it’ll be published under Sturrock’s title.
Watteau: The Music Lesson
The exhibition Antoine Watteau (1684-1721): The Music Lesson runs at the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels from 8 February until 12 May. I worked on the translation of the English audioguide.You can find more info on the exhibition on the Bozar website. The leaflet below shows a detail of La Partie carrée.
Jules Wabbes, Furniture Designer
Jules Wabbes (1919-1974) is one of the leading Belgian furniture designers of the post-war period. An exhibition devoted to his work is currently running at the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels. The show runs until Sunday 13 January and was curated by Marie Ferran-Wabbes and Iwan Strauwen in a scenography by Jurgen Persijn. I proofread the exhibition catalogue, which is published by A+editions and Bozar Books. I also proofread the short visitor’s guide.
Biennale Interieur 2012
This is the cover of the Biennale Interieur 2012 catalogue. I took care of a lot of the translations into English and into French. Curated by Lowie Vermeersch, the Biennale runs until Sunday 28 October at Kortrijk Xpo.
Words from the Cage aux Ours
Published by the non-profit organisation Constant, Mots de la Cage aux Ours/ Woorden uit de Berenkuil gathers colloquialisms used in and around Place Verboeckhovenplein in the Brussels commune of Schaerbeek (FR) or Schaarbeek (NL). Nicknamed the ‘bear cage’ or ‘bear pit’, this popular neighbourhood is home to various immigrant communities, and the languages covered in the dictionary thus include, besides French and Dutch, Albanian and Arabic, Cameroonian and Chinese, Lingala and Turkish, among others. Besides the ‘dictionary’ section in which the various terms are explained, the book also includes a number of texts on language and the neighbourhood. An English version of these texts is available on Constant’s website. I proofread all the English translations.
XX Models – Young Belgian Architecture
XX Models: Young Belgian Architecture is a small exhibition on Belgian architecture that will run until 25 November at the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels. The exhibition was curated by Marie-Cécile Guyaux and Iwan Strauwen. The catalogue is published by A+editions and BOZAR BOOKS. I contributed a couple of translations, and I also took care of revising the English.
PaTRiCK LeNNoN TRaNSLaTioN 