deBuren

The Flemish-Dutch House deBuren (“the neighbors”) presents beauty and wisdom of the Low Countries, and offers a platform for debate about culture, science, politics and the society in Flanders, The Netherlands and Europe. It is a place where artists, journalists, academics and politicians get the opportunity to voice their thoughts.

Beauty and wisdom of the Low Countries

In 2004, the Flemish and the Dutch governments together took the initiative of founding the Flemish-Dutch House deBuren as a cultural institution and as a space for debate and reflection. deBuren is a space where listening and talking are equal aspirations. From heart of Brussels, deBuren offers a forum for art, culture, society and politics of the Low Countries and Europe.

deBuren organises exhibitions, encounters, debates, lectures and seminars on a wide range of topics. The activities are made for a broad audience and mainly free of charge. The audience always gets the final say. We also stimulate the virtual debate and keep a tap on topical matters via commentaries by a variety of authors and graphic columnists.

Thinking Europe

Because of the social significance of cultural diversity, it is important that the European countries inform each other about and confront each with their culture. One of the core assignments of deBuren is therefore creating a platform for debate about Europe and to inform the European citizens through presentations and lectures. You can find activities with an European dimension here.

Missed it

While visiting this website, you‘ll discover at once a treasure of information. Every activity is accompanied by a textual-, audiovisual and/or audio report, which can easily be downloaded as vod- or podcast .

Radio Books 

One of the oldest traditions in the world is storytelling. Radio Books are audio stories of approximately 30 minutes long. They were written and read aloud by more than 100 Dutch and Flemish authors on commission of deBuren. The Radio Books never appeared in print, but you can download the audio stories on www.radioboeken.eu, free of charge!
In order to spread the culture of the Low Countries as far as possible, many stories are translated to French, English and Spanish. Is there a better way to get to know the literature and the language of Flanders and the Netherlands? Don’t forget to check the small but enjoyable collection of Radio Books for children.

citybooks

Read, listen to, watch, and download city portraits on www.city-books.eu. On commission of the Flemish-Dutch House deBuren, artists from different countries travelled to interesting cities and stayed there for a fortnight to create exclusive city portraits. The collection of their stories, photos and videos makes for fascinating citybooks. The citybooks are not published on paper - you can only visit them on the website. You can download these texts, e-books, podcast, pictures, and video’s free of charge!
At the moment this project is still in a pilot phase, but it's a beautiful work in progress. We are sure the project will shape up to create an extensive artistic network of the ‘United States of Europe’. Travel without moving.

deBuren expands

Invasive renovations of the 19th century building in Leopoldstraat and fundaments for new developments are planned in the near future. The result will include extra boardrooms, information spaces, a new reading room and an auditorium. The newly developed building will enlarge the current building and will be delicate and robust, distinctive and in harmony with the existing building at the same time.

In the meantime the organization leads a nomadic live. The 11 employees keep office in Brussels and present the program everywhere, and in collaboration with other cultural partners in the Low Countries. 

History

deBuren is a logical continuation of the close cultural collaboration between Flanders and The Netherland in the past decennia. In 1980 both governments decided to register their collaboration with regard to the language in the ‘Verdrag inzake de Nederlandse Taalunie’ (Treaty concerning the Dutch Language Union). Fifteen years later they closed a broader cultural treaty, which led to the founding of the ‘Commissie Cultureel Verdrag Vlaanderen-Nederland’ (Commission Cultural Treaty Flanders-The Netherlands). Because the importance of the European Union increases, they decided to select Brussels as the place where Flanders and The Netherlands want to present themselves as a region linked by language and culture within the cultural diversity of Europe.

deBuren is subsidized by the ‘Vlaamse Gemeenschap (Ministerie van Cultuur)’ (Flemish Community  (Ministry of Culture)) and the Dutch government (Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).