Culture Press does things differently. We bring you professional journalism, but don't put a pay wall around it. Instead, we ask you, the reader, to decide for yourself what these stories are worth to you. Want to post a general donation? You can: Contribute to Culture Press!
'And then I had to recognise that too: that you cannot live, cannot grow, without experiencing a wrong friendship.' That is the conclusion drawn by Elisa, the protagonist of Silvia Avallone's new novel A Friendship. Many people will probably recognise it, that attraction to a friend or girlfriend who is not actually right for you or right for you, but...
A light-hearted and delicate little book on yoga is what French author Emmanuel Carrère intends to write. By this, he does not mean the glorified form of gymnastics that so many practise, no, he is talking about the sacred yoga that leads to calming the mind, to serenity and pure perception of what is. Al also goes after...
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:...
'A sorcerer's apprentice? It is really not the case that Josef Fuchs could and would single-handedly bend an entire application process to his will. That is pertinently untrue and I even find it damaging to his person.' Nina Hiddema reacts vehemently to our article on Josef Fuchs' remarkable job title, and the change in it. Hiddema explains: 'I am...
Ko van den Bosch once founded the ruthless theatre company Alex d'Electrique and theatre would change permanently because of him. They made punk theatre and because there was very little video anyway, the myths about trays of shit and actors attacking each other with chainsaws are more numerous than it actually occurred. I have long thought that in a...
Troy is rather hot, this year. The Hague has just premiered Trojan Wars, an insane marathon performance (5 hours), with 35 actors for 40 roles and a text that, apart from being by Homer, is very clearly by Peer Wittenbols. Who I admire boundlessly. A review by colleague Peter Olsthoorn can be read on this site....
Back Home, the new novel by Spanish writer Jesús Carrasco (49) is not only a portrait of a family and two generations, but also a portrait of Spain itself. 'Today's literature gives social groups a voice they didn't have before.' Three years of work and two complete novels ended up in the dustbin before Jesús Carrasco wrote his new novel Back...
We spend much of our lives saving our asses. You'd better be a bit cheerful about that, because life isn't manufacturable anyway. These are no small life lessons that René Geerlings, the new boss of Rotterdam-based Maas Theatre and Dance, deploys in his first play as artistic director. Still...
Dance and ballet, drama with gory atrocities and clattering emotions, imaginative lighting, set and costume effects and, above all, enthusiasm bursting forth. HNTjong's 'biggest production ever' with 30 actors for 50 roles is overwhelming. Thanks also to the corona crisis: the National Theatre had to postpone the performance for a year and a half and lift it over two summer holidays, with all the misery...
Theatre and film have close ties. Many classic plays have been filmed. One of the merits of Ivo van Hove and Jan Versweyveld is that they have reversed that relationship. Film as the starting point for their performances. Their radically innovative work is the starting point for the exhibitions - designed by themselves - about theatre about film about theatre. In 13 venues...
With Orkater, I grew into theatre as a student. In the house here is the DVD box with Alex van Warmerdam's first seven delightful films, which I still watch back regularly, now together with the youngest generation learning and enjoying. Then I smile daily at the spines of his curious books, such as the fine collection of poetry 'I created the world'....
During the Netherlands Film Festival, Joris Hoebe (New Noardic Wave) and Guido Franken (CineSud) launched the new network organisation Screen Talent NL. A network that ultimately aims to inspire and support talent and film activities in all regions of the Netherlands.
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....
Last Monday, 20 September, the Nederlandse Reisopera presented its programme for the upcoming season. The speaker was Josef Fuchs, who was introduced as the company's new artistic director by its general director a.i. Nina Hiddema. A festive occasion, which caused slight surprise in the small gathering (a few journalists and some colleagues). In an interview (below...
'Him, dammit. Do I need to be any clearer?' With those words from the irascible photographer Alessandro Pavia, who appoints orphan boy Antonio as his new assistant, a new life begins for the protagonist of the novel Antonio's Eye by Raffaella Romagnolo. Antonio Casagrande, already almost 12 and blind in one eye, had almost given up hope of ever making orphanage Pammatone...
Admittedly, I was never a fan, but how I hated those planes last night. I was walking through a dark, nocturnal forest between Lage Vuursche and Hilversum. Where, in the silence, I could have listened extra carefully to creaking twigs, shuffling insects, whispering trees and the occasional owl, I mostly heard how happy we all are that after corona we have another...
'It really is the case that at some point the dead come back to look for you, and then you have to have dinner with them.' Italian writer Marta Barone (34), who records these words in her novel Sunken City, experienced this first-hand when she lost her father Leonardo, now a decade ago. Barone grew up at...
Secrets is the title of Italian writer Domenico Starnone's (78) latest novel. But actually, as far as he is concerned, the secret is not what the story is about. 'It is about the fear we feel for the other, because the other always remains, under whatever circumstances, the ánder.' Human behaviour Domenico Starnone's finely crafted, concise novels...
If either parent is not firmly on their feet, how does that affect an entire family? That is what Een goede moeder (A good mother), the new novel by Jan van Mersbergen (50), is about. The story is based on the past years of his own life. 'It wasn't supposed to be a reckoning.' Adventure novel Two years ago, he said that at 50, when he was...
There are some people, who would prefer to tinker all day with soldering irons and circuit boards. I once had such an uncle who sometimes did not entirely safe things with a 220-volt electric train, so I limited myself to battery-powered Lego. That you can also do something with electronics and music was, of course, already known, but what I saw in...
Last weekend's #unmuteus parades might lead you to believe that, as soon as the weather allows, the cultural world will be out of its misery in less than no time. The tens of thousands who took to the streets are quickly populating the halls again, and with a little more water with the beer, and slightly more expensive mints, the night and event industry - which is also there for the...
Art, and certainly avant garde art, thrives on the frayed edges of society. Especially in the second half of the 20th century, industrial heritage and as yet unrenovated urban foam were the places where art could escape the norms of the ruling class. The NDSM wharf in Amsterdam North, Hall 4 or the Submarine Wharf in Rotterdam, Ceramique in Maastricht, Sterrebos in...
'As for many people, the theatre festival really does mean something. Like the Fringe, it is impossible to imagine without it. I've been able to make artistic friendships there, I've been able to have arguments there, I've met people who I thought were adversaries who turned out to be comrades-in-arms. Because there are not only performances, there is...
Plays often end in chaos. An overturned liquor cabinet, a blood blade among royals, we are used to a few things. Jetse Batelaan's latest play, baroque and sharper than he showed before, also ends in beauty, but then that is actually the beginning. Indeed, the ending is sterile and stripped of any life. But that is where the performance begins. The artistic director of...
'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...
English (UK) 
Nederlands 
Français