State-of-the-art robot dances to old reggae
To be seen from Friday 7 September in the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg foyer: this dancing copy by the artist Leonard van Munster. A nice combo of dance, technology, theatre and art, we thought.
Wijbrand Schaap
Cultural journalist since 1996. Worked as theatre critic, columnist and reporter for Algemeen Dagblad, Utrechts Nieuwsblad, Rotterdams Dagblad, Parool and regional newspapers through Associated Press Services. Interviews for TheaterMaker, Theatererkrant Magazine, Ons Erfdeel, Boekman. Podcast maker, likes to experiment with new media. Culture Press is called the brainchild I gave birth to in 2009. Life partner of Suzanne Brink roommate of Edje, Fonzie and Rufus. Search and find me on Mastodon.
Bold p***o on the euro note?
There has been another interesting cultural twist to the 'Europe debate'. Someone has called out that it watermark of the new series of euro banknotes will include a picture of 'the rape of Europe' by the Greek supreme god Zeus. The anti-Europe and anti-Greeks in the various timelines need no more to frame the banking mafia's plot against the European citizen.
Eric de Vroedt: 'Eventually reached Obama too'
Winning two awards in one weekend, that doesn't often happen to a person, not even in the award-winning art world. Eric de Vroedt is a theatre-maker and writer who did happen to one. Entering his final season 'MightySociety' he got the Amsterdam Prize (35,000 euros) and the Prize of Criticism (a statuette), determined by a jury of newspaper reviewers.
'Windfall cuts': bricks saved, people sacrificed
The major research and management consulting firm Berenschot has calculated that, on balance, the cuts to the arts turn out to be not too bad. Client of the study, De Volkskrant, then headlined that big. And indeed, it is kind of good news that the pile-up of cuts (the state 24% less, the provinces 20% less and the municipalities only 9 % less) is so low in net terms. We were surprised for a moment, but when we asked around, we found out
Theatre on demand offers British quality
Lots of bobbing on boards. That's what drama on television is mostly. And actors with weird reverberations in intimate scenes. That too. It is easy to shoot at attempts to bring successful performances to the TV or cinema screen. They almost always make viewers feel that their medium is shooting back 80 years in development. This is also why every attempt by the Dutch Public Broadcasting Corporation to make our fairly highly regarded stage art attractive to a wider audience via TV fails. Theatre or opera on screen is especially suitable for
Cronyism at the Performing Arts Fund?
In the small Dutch art world, it is impossible to put together a committee of experts which is entirely independent. Anyone with knowledge of business also has knowledge of people, or has worked at an institution that is now to be judged. Or works there now. Reason enough, then, for speculation and conspiracy theories.
Edelkoort signals development of animation art better than she thinks
On 12 August 2012, during the worst watched Summer guests-broadcast of all time (343,000 viewers) told trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort about The Johnny Cash Project. A great example of what crowdsourcing can do for creativity: in 2010, everyone was invited to add a drawing to an animated music video to Johnny Cash's latest song. We now know what and who is behind this:
Maastricht on slippery European ice with arts subsidy
Maastricht is going to do things differently. Starting next year, the city council will determine what art is needed, and art institutions will be allowed to submit plans that fit within that framework. If their plans do not comply, they will not get any money. Sounds nice, but the capital of Limburg is treading on thin ice.
Volkskrant fails: not 'region' but Randstad suffers
I would like to take a moment to put this one to you. Quote from this morning's volkskrant, where editor Harmen Bockma makes a valiant attempt to list all the figures of culture carnage, but fails a little in doing so. It also remains difficult to identify the breakdown in the basic infrastructure add to the dropout at the fund, but it is proving altogether difficult to discern what
Tate London has 100,000 members. Fortunately not all of them are active
Martin Barden realises that an old model works, where everyone is always clamouring for new forms. As marketing boss of the Tate museums in London, he created a large network of friends. So that museum has more than 100,000 members. people who feel part of the club, and whom you have to pamper.
Nancy Wiltink: 'a good story has to smell like blood'
People asking for clarity often clamour for "names and (back) numbers", but in classical music, that fuss with names and numbers is precisely why nobody understands anything anymore. So, according to ex-marketer and now storyteller Nancy Wiltink, it's not only about your story, but also whether that story is
Theatre Museum collection to be lost for good
[July update: the 2nd chamber passed a motion instructing the cabinet to save the collection from destruction. Where this is to be paid for, however, is still unclear]
It is now becoming clear where the laissez faire-laissez mourir (let it be done, let it die) policy of Halbe Zijlstra, Martin Bosma and Mark Rutte will lead. Of the dozens of institutions that will close, downsize or die off in the coming months due to vacancy of quality staff, the demise of Theatre Institute of the Netherlands (TIN) is starting to take on very tragic proportions.
Extremely imaginative Master and Margarita gets cheering reception on #HF12
Shakespeare had it, Oscar savage had it, Monty Python had it and Simon McBurney has trucks full of it. So it is British and it is called humour, or rather the ability to show the absurdity of life as simultaneously hilarious and deeply tragic. And let that also apply to Russian Mikhail Bulgakov. So his unfinished novel The Master and Margarita has now had to wait almost 75 years for a director like Simon McBurney to turn it into theatre.
Without electric guitars, Bryce Dessner's orchestral music sounds best; Greenwood's 'There Will Be Blood' a highlight of #HF12
It is not usual, but it must be said: the Amsterdam Symfonietta is a tremendously beautiful ensemble. The musicians all look beautiful, they handle their instruments beautifully and they play beautifully. They look alert, active. That helps with being liked, we all know, and that active look is down to their formula: they usually play without a conductor and so have to be incredibly attentive to what is going on around them. Looking dully at the conductor makes you ugly.
Classical musicians: stop thinking in money, think in ideas
Classical music audiences have been declining by 1% a year for 20 years. Structurally. That means that since 1992, 1/5 of the audience has already disappeared, without anything else taking its place. According to Johan Idema, strategist and author of a useful book on new methods for early music, the sector is entirely self-inflicted.
Holland Festival Hangout Monday Live From 22:30
We are live, from half past 10. We talk about a full week of Holland Festival, during which some highs and lows have passed by: John Cage, pole dancing, Marilyn Monroe, you name it. Check back here, or watch directly on our youtube channel. We try to include all reactions.
Blood-soaked Macbeth fits festival theme perfectly but fails to touch #HF12
Imagine Arjan Robben. The much-troubled frontman of the Dutch national team has just seen a brilliant move rewarded with a penalty and he is ready to take it. Up comes a field hand with a new set of adhesive letters for his shirt because the numbers are no longer legible from the stands. Lots of lashing, shirt off, seconds glue. Circumstances, in short. After two minutes, the fielder is gone, the number readable and the referee's whistle sounds. Then try to hit the target.
Dodo Holland Festival journal becomes Dodo Holland Festival Hangout #HF12
We already have one episode on it, and it was of course a huge success, but right at the climax you have to start something new. That's why tonight at 22:30 we have a new thing: The Dodo Holland Festival Hangout. Live, interactive and online. Innovative, in other words, as you know it from us. You know them: those reporter trucks with metres of spaghetti...
"A viral has to have humour"
They can do quite a bit, at Fitzroy. Always fun to attend presentations, as the Amsterdam-based marketing agency showed at the Performing Arts Congress on 29 and 30 May 2012.
Hit in the heart by opening performance by Alain Platel, and then find solace. #hf12
At two-thirds, the lump shoots in to not go out until the end. It happens at every Alain Platèl performance. Heartfelt sobs from the audience, lots of swallowing around you and the inevitable tears welling up like a natural disaster. To call the Flemish choreographer's work predictable because of this is going too far. What he and his company Les...
Opening Holland Festival on twitter and facebook: tenue de wtf, ns-#fail, sublime dance theatre and mozzarella sticks #hf12
[View the story "Opening Holland Festival 2012" on Storify] Opening Holland Festival 2012 On 1 June, the Holland Festival opened at Theater Carré. We were there, saw Platel's C(h)oeurs and tasted the atmosphere. Although it almost went wrong. This is what of it was witnessed on social media Storified by Cultureel Persbureau - Sat, Jun 02 2012 08:37:18...
Unforgettable stage version of Man Without Qualities gets undeserved dessert from Yves Petry #hf12
Maybe it is also just the wrong choice to see part three immediately after the first two parts. Maybe after a day of you or some settling down you will be able to appreciate Petry's text, on its own merits. Imagine a three-star dinner. A sensuous succession of small and medium-sized dishes, prepared with the...
Discussing the value of reviews in the night
We at culture press have nuanced views on reviewing. Once upon a time when there were only newspapers, reviews were fairly unique pieces of writing by people appointed by the newspaper to proclaim The View to its so many hundred thousand readers. Since then, those so many hundred thousand readers have become newspapers themselves, and so have about as many reviewers.
Still 8.5 million needed to get Culture Card back to old level
The culture card has been saved. This is wonderful news, so soon after the rock-hard slap in the face of the schoolgoing youth of the Netherlands that the now outgoing cabinet dealt in 2011. On improper grounds, as the Court of Audit revealed, the negotiators of PVV, CDA and VVD already scrapped during the formation this opportunity for schoolchildren to learn about... at steep discounts.
'Community Art is Slow Art': Margreet Bouwman and Eugene van Erven on the Community Arts Festival 2013 #vvu
Young people from Guatemala, nightingales from Northern Ireland and theatre-makers from the interior of Peru. Just some of the guests at the Community Arts Festival to be held in Utrecht in June 2013. Music, film and theatre with ordinary people behind and in front of the scenes, accompanied by professional artists. What else do they have in common?
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