Even Lucebert no longer impresses

YXIE has been shot down. It may not be big national news, but it is yet another of those many glaring examples that show how bleak the wind is blowing through the cultural landscape.

YXIE, the word comes from the mind of poet-painter Lucebert, one of the artists of the COBRA movement. It was also to be the name of a new centre for word, image and sound in Alkmaar. Not only was it to house Lucebert's collection, but also the Provadja film house and theatre, which had long been struggling with cramped accommodation. A brilliant idea actually. In this way, the ideas of Lucebert, who died in 1994, would become the source of inspiration for a fresh and lively new cultural centre, which with some ingenuity could even derive international allure.

Until last night. "A black day for culture in Alkmaar," concluded PvdA party chairman Paul Verbruggen after talking his way through the whole evening but nevertheless seeing that the city council was going to draw a line under YXIE. Mind you, this was not the first time the council had voted on YXIE. In 2008, the plan developed in close cooperation with then culture councillor Hans Meijer had actually been approved by the city council. Generous sponsorship contributions had been secured, the work was put out to tender, the site was made ready for building, and a handsome collection of works by Lucebert has since been commissioned by an anonymous donor.

All that, plus a plea from unsuspected quarters, namely by a representative of the business community, could not prevent the new political reality from asserting itself harshly yesterday. With a new college of B&W taking office since March 2011, a new wind is blowing. The parties that doubted the financial viability of YXIE three years ago now have a majority and, with a controversial research report to back them up, did not even allow themselves to be persuaded to take a breather. The grocers saw their chance to assert their power. It was as if Lucebert, with his famous line 'everything of value is defenceless', had already foreseen all this.