From 14th to 17th of March, This Is Antwerp will host a four day bootcamp in our Belgian port city. Discover Antwerp Through Experience (D.A.T.E.) will investigate how creative entrepreneurs shape the city and the city shapes them. With D.A.T.E.Lab being the apotheoses of the week. This Is Antwerp looked for and found 13 participants (the Antwerp 13) to discover the city, its creative scene and meet their local counterparts. We asked our Locals to research the Antwerp 13, so we can introduce them to you. Today, we present you Anna Küfer, Shirin Mirachor, Sean Santiago and Alicja McCarthy.
Anna Küfner from Berlin is active at (CFL), a community shedding light on the relationship between humans, nature and food. CFL’s website is a dynamic eye-catcher full of insightful articles with always a pinch of humor. I believe she couldn’t arrive in Belgium on a better moment than during ’40 Dagen Zonder Vlees’ (40 days without meat), an event to create consciousness about the impact of our eating habits on the environment.
As a passionate foodie myself I am eager to show her the tasty side of Antwerp!
‘Do you get me?’, Shirin Mirachor wonders daily. This stylish Dutchie from Amsterdam is the creative brain behind , an online magazine where individual stories tell the story of our time. She touches sensitive subjects such as feminism and white privilege. Or on a –at first sight- funnier note, she made muslims and hipsters change clothes.
She doesn’t only gives her critical point of view, but visualizes it. Almost every article is accompanied by a video delving deeper into the story and creating a bigger picture.
I’m sure she’s already acquainted with Antwerp as it is only a two hour train ride from Amsterdam, therefore it’ll be interesting showing her the lesser touristy sides of our town. She’ll feel at home in neighborhoods such as Borgerhout oan Antwerpen Noord, where creative start-ups, galleries and other arty initiatives pop-up like mushrooms.
Antwerp being Europe’s fashion capital and all, it’s not surprising wanted to ‘date’ Antwerp! He’s a stylish fella from the US, working as a design editor & creative consultant. He has built an impressive career balancing strategy and creative vision for clients and collaborators such as Chanel, H&M and Elle Décor - just to name a few. Furthermore he’s the founder of Cakeboy magazine, a bi-annual queer arts and culture journal.
With a modest 87.3k followers on Instagram he is a fashion role model to many fashionita’s. Undoubtedly he’ll feel most at ease in Antwerp’s fashion district.
London-based Alicja strikes me as an outgoing type of girl. As Editor-At-Large for the online magazine , she has travelled across the globe forging relationships with creators, makers and designers. The award-winning magazine explores the intersections between art, design, lifestyle and travel.
The website features an elaborate article about the world’s best coffee bars. As Antwerp has the largest coffee storage of the world, I was surprised that it was nowhere to be found in the article. I’m sure that’ll change that after her visit!
breathes art. Whether he’s interviewing illustrators or painters for his podcast or reviewing exhibitions. He's genuinely interested in every kind of art. Ranging from graffiti to contemporary art. If you check out his blog , you’ll notice he’s also very urban oriented. He writes about cultural events, art fairs, exhibitions and fashion. On top of that, he knows his way around the social media and he’s an editorial strategist.
All this makes him the perfect candidate to ‘date’ Antwerp, a city where art, fashion and music lurk behind every corner.
:: Cinema Zuid / FOMU :: 2000 Antwerp :: 14-17/03/2016
Text by Eva Janssens
Pics by This Is Antwerp