Everything in museums, galleries, on roundabouts and village squares, and hanging over sofas. And Marina Abramovic
In the beautiful but overcrowded office of the director of Kunstuitleen SBK Amsterdam, on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, paintings, etchings, gouaches, photographs were everywhere against the wall. And ceramics too. At the meeting table, the entire board of the Federatie Kunst Uitleen (FKU) with whom I had come to meet as intended external chairman. I walked, enthusiastically shaking everyone's hand, around the...
Bosch Parade 2022 is the 9th edition of this extraordinary art event on water with Hieronymus Bosch as its inspiration. This year's theme is 'seduction'. From 16 to 19 June, it promises to be another inspiring cruise of the incongruous through the historic centre of 's-Hertogenbosch, with nineteen quirky artworks in and on the water. For Bosch Parade...
The Silence of Tired Tongues, curated by Raphael Fonseca, features the work of 13 emerging artists born in Brazil. The artworks in this group exhibition convey a sense of 'saudade', which can be translated as a mixture of melancholy and longing. The title of the exhibition is taken from a popular 1972 song by the...
Starting this year, in the form of an election, Jakunst gauges the opinions of artists and art lovers about Dutch media coverage of visual art. To do so, we ask you to express your opinion by answering a few questions. Taking part will cost you two minutes or even less, because to take part,...
Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven of Education, Culture and Science today presented the Johannes Vermeer Prize 2021, the Dutch state prize for the arts, to visual artist Natasja Kensmil. At Het HEM in Zaandam, Minister Van Engelshoven handed over the trophy to Kensmil. Natasja Kensmil was praised by the jury for her work that is healing, edifying and critical at the same time. Minister ...
Mons (Mons), a Walloon pinhead on the French border, became European Capital of Culture in 2015. To everyone's surprise. The city presents its umpteenth major exhibition this autumn and winter: Fernando Botero, beyond the forms. 3 questions are addressed in this story: 1) How does a small city like Mons get all that done? 2) Why never say:...
Even though the satirical programme Jiskefet has not existed for more than 15 years, Michiel Romeyn (66) is still recognised on the street as 'lullo' Van Binsbergen, 'the white nigger' Oboema or office clerk Storm. In Romeyn's existence, the dividing line between life and theatre is fluid. 'I like to disrupt things,' he says. 'We're hopefully not going to talk about Jiskefet after all....
'A beautiful gift to the city'- this is how the Hartwig Art Foundation describes on its website the plan to initiate a new art museum on the Zuidas. It is a private initiative by entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist Rob Defares. The Amsterdam Arts Council has advised positively on the plan, with the municipality deciding soon. It sounds promising: an art hall - there will be no...
Dutch museums, partly due to the recent digital Museum Week, have been able to retain a large part of their audience. There is - reports the Museum Association on its website - a slight turnover though. And the hitherto loyal public will not find their way to museums automatically and to the same extent. But the picture is that the...
What we feared at the beginning of the coronasteun appears to have become reality. The generous support money for culture should also reach the small self-employed in the arts via the institutions, but that is now happening too little. Of course, there are fine examples, such as the large subsidised arts institutions in Groningen and festivals like Boulevard and Holland Festival that support self-employed...
Can anything general be said about a work of art? Do we see the same thing, and isn't a journalist giving a meaning also an act of exclusion for those who think differently? Questions that you actually have to deal with every day in the art journalism profession. Marijn Lems (NRC/Theaterkrant) and Wijbrand Schaap...
Saturday, March 6, the annual Inkspotbattle took place at Concordia. The theme was "Elections (in Corona time)". 10 Dutch cartoonists participated. The only female participant, Renée van den Kerkhof, walked away with the prize. Online visitors could watch the participating cartoonists translate a topical subject into cartoons. An expert jury chose at the end of the...
With 'A monument to the BKR', Fransje Kuyvenhoven has indeed written a tribute in her "history of a high-profile artists' scheme (1949-1987 )". If only because the first hundred pages contain no text, but a chronological showcase of artworks from the BKR. By Karel Appel, Corneille, Constant, Lucebert, Jan Wolkers, Kees van Bohemen, Ger Lataster, Armando, among others. And because there are...
The annual Inktspot Battle will take place on Saturday 6 March from 2.45pm. The battle, which can normally be followed at Concordia in the Inktspot exhibition, will, like last year, take place from the participating political cartoonists' own drawing tables and be broadcast live via Concordia's website. As an online visitor, you can watch as the participating draughtsmen...
For a week or two, the word uncollect has been in my head. An Amsterdam politician suggested selling Roy Lichtenstein's As I opened Fire. Estimated proceeds: 40 to 50 million. With that money, Amsterdam's art sector could be saved and, if there was some left over, work by new artists could also be bought. The politician himself holds...
Even in corona time, there is plenty for a culture consumer to enjoy. Take last week. On Sunday (before the big snow started), my wife and I took a walk to downtown Amersfoort. There, a stall not only sells the city's tastiest Latte, but there are also a few....
A sleek, snow-white art temple in the middle of the Congolese interior. What does that mean? Renzo Martens talks about his new documentary White Cube, and the art project that allows plantation workers to buy back their land. Premiering at IDFA and in Lusanga, Congo.
Experiencing art has been officially declared healthy by the World Health Organisation in 2019. Concordia art lending makes experiencing the positive effects of art accessible to everyone.
So on 18 October 2020, something happened. VPRO's Mondo had suddenly become an upbeat broadcast. And that in these times, when lamentation and mourning over lockdowns and impending bankruptcies dominate everywhere. What was going on?
Since everyone advised him to just give it a try, he signed up with almost a thousand amateur painters to learn the ancient craft of painting in six months and under the watchful eye of Pieter Roelofs, head of Painting and Sculpture at the Rijksmuseum, among others.
The chance of encountering a hedgehog or an (abandoned) nest with eggs in real life is unfortunately getting smaller and smaller with the shrinking area of nature and the extinction of many animal species, but the 'realness' of Helmantel's paintings still lets you enjoy these beautiful phenomena.
Strictly speaking, prioritisation is another word for wielding a saw line, but it feels different. 'Prioritisation within the applicable criteria', as stated on the site, smacks of possible arbitrariness, as nowhere is it indicated which criteria were given how much weight.
A group exhibition conceived by Anna Dasović and curated by Natasha Marie Llorens. Exhibition design by Arna Mačkić and Studio L A.
A school friend was a mountain climber. He was good at it; he never did anything else in holidays. The school friend was tall and so strong that he could pull himself up by one finger. On the first day after the autumn holidays, he told me that another climber in his group had fallen to his death before his eyes. If I remember correctly, he was alive...
'The spontaneous breeze should be planned at least 15 minutes in advance. After all, you have to buy tickets for a block of time. When you enter our venue, you immediately see all the security measures we have taken to protect staff and visitors. There are huge screens to separate the flow of visitors. There's a chance you won't get lost in... this time.
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