All about politics, policy, society and how those things relate to culture and art.
Ola Mafaalani and relatability. They don't go together. On Thursday 3 September 2015, the artistic director of the Noord Nederlands Toneel was allowed to open the theatre season with a speech, the State of the Theatre. She did so in a way we could have actually expected from her, but which nevertheless struck like a bomb. It will hopefully be talked about for years to come...
Museum Escher in het Paleis has acquired an unknown early work by M.C. Escher. The museum announced this today. In the print, a depiction of the Italian town of Montecelio, the famous graphic artist experimented with a variety of techniques. The museum is delighted. Because it's not every day you find an unknown but important Escher anymore. It must have been quite a marriage,...
Just after the end of the Early Music Festival, the Gaudeamus Music Week, the Mecca of cutting-edge notes for seventy years, starts in Utrecht. Five nominated composers under thirty compete for the coveted Gaudeamus Award, previously won by now established composers such as Unsuk Chin, Yannis Kyriakides and Michel van der Aa. For the second year, the...
Nederlandse Reisopera, Madama Butterfly (opera), 3 September to 10 October Dutch sopranos are like footballers. They fly halfway around the world, but are only rarely seen in their own country. Take Annemarie Kremer, nominated in Germany as 'Sängerin des Jahres'. The Nederlandse Reisopera is taking her all over the Netherlands in the role that brought her world fame: the title role of Madama ...
Mad Max: Fury Road gets FIPRESCI Grand Prix. Action spectacle favourite with international film critics.
Golden Calf nominations announced. Professionals choose the smaller film in new procedure.
Robbert Dijkgraaf, the exact scientist with the flux-de-bouche of a great orator, kicked off the traditional Paradiso debate on Sunday 30 August in an extremely cool Paradiso. The Amsterdam pop temple was packed with guests and press, and expectations were high: could the debate really become a conversation this time, instead of the now somewhat threadbare...
There is turmoil in the performing arts. This is because Culture Minister Jet Bussemaker has implemented a couple of motions from the opposition. The minister has also ignored the advice of the Council for Culture for a more balanced budget distribution. So, after much agitation on social media, we received a letter on Friday 28 August 2015. From the festivals, addressed to the minister,...
Previously, he created the show Being Arthur for Kameroperahuis Zwolle, in which the famous knights of the round table travel across the country by coach. On Friday 4 September, during the Stadsfestival Zwolle, you will sail by boat to the premiere of his latest opera, Ik Vertrek. A love couple leaves the hectic world behind and returns to nature, where...
Gerard de Kleijn, chairman of the Amsterdam Arts Council since 2010, will not complete his second term, which was due to end in 2018. Today, he announced his departure from 1 January 2016. That is two years earlier than intended. It has to do with the Amsterdam city council's choice for a new system of cultural subsidies, in which the role...
At the Amsterdam Compagnietheater last night, the Amsterdam Prize of the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts was awarded. A 020 party, then, where 'tout art and culture' festively dressed up to put their own cultural gems in the limelight. The biblical torrential rain outside by no means stopped AFK director Clayde Menzo from sketching a sunny future picture of Amsterdam's cultural life in 2020. Old...
On Tuesday afternoon, 25 August, Hans van Beers (Eindhoven, 1941) passed away. He was an important figure in our cultural life, his curriculum is seemingly endless. Among other things, he was alderman of culture in Den Bosch, co-founder of Pinkpop, chairman of the Mondriaan Fund, interim director of the Stedelijk Museum, director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the VPRO and the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music, board member...
From 22 November, the five-part NTR series ADO danst can be seen. This is not the first time football and dance have merged. Surely the most famous example of football and dance is Schijnbewegingen: an NOS film by Piet Erkelens and Pim Marks about the similarities between the two different worlds. They showed this through interviews with...
Utrecht is fast overtaking Amsterdam as cultural capital. Centrally located and easily accessible by train, bus, car, bicycle or on foot, and blessed not only with a host of beautiful churches but also with the imposing TivoliVredenburg, it attracts more and more music lovers to its city centre. For over three decades, it has hosted the Festival of Early Music,...
Olson Lamaj runs a gallery with three friends: from their own money and in their spare time. They have to because it is the only way to give young, contemporary Albanian artists a chance. Lamaj studied photography in Milan and fine art in Florence and now earns his money as a graphic designer. He speaks to me after working hours
How next for boards in the cultural sector? Supervisory boards are under considerable pressure following publications about possible failed supervision at Rotterdam's Wereldmuseum, Grand Theatre in Groningen and recently again from Rotterdam's Het Nieuwe Instituut. Previously, similar reports appeared about De Utrecht Games and the Groninger Museum, among others. In practically all cases, the cases involved a Council...
Citroën lovers always got warm feelings at the sight of Rotterdam's new central station. Because indeed, that shark's mouth, with or without beach balls in front of it, is somewhat reminiscent of the iconic French car brand's logo. Well. As it turns out, the comparison goes further. Back deep in the 1960s, there was a Citroën pavilion in Monte Carlo in southern France. Citrophile...
Groningen, that part of the Netherlands where the earth moves. I should know, with family in epicentre Loppersum. But nothing beats Groningen, especially during Noorderzon, the festival that combines theatre, music, literature and much more for ten days. Here are our five tips. Do you have any other tips of your own? Report them in the comments! Employee of the Year,...
If anyone can give a good picture of cultural development in Albania, it is Vincent van Gerven Oei. This Dutch philosopher and artist has lived in the country for five years and, as an insider and outsider, therefore has a strong opinion. I meet him at café Bukowski in a hip entertainment district of Tirana. When the embassy told me about Van Gerven Oei...
It was cold in Den Bosch on Sunday 16 August and it rained as if it were not August but November. Not the ideal weather for the closing night of festival Boulevard. It was, however, an atmospheric setting for some installations and the performance 'Hello fear' that were on my programme. The installations were hidden behind the Mariapavilion (Tramkade's emergency location) and despite the...
Europe's last cultural secret, is how Albania is also known. Mainly because the small Balkan country was shielded from the rest of Europe for a long time: until the communist totalitarian regime fell in 1991. How does such a change affect its culture? I become fascinated by this question during my holiday and speak to a number of people. Including our own ambassador, Dewi from the...
Bathed in sweat and applauded by audience and musicians alike, conductor Antony Hermus leaves the stage on Sunday 17 August after the final concert of the NJO Muziekzomer. He has every reason to be pleased, as the performance of Richard Strauss' Ein Heldenleben at Theatre Orpheus in Apeldoorn sparked that it had a nature. The tricky piece jumps into six...
The annual Summer Expo at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag is open to submissions from amateurs. But in the end, as many as 70% of the entrants turn out to have attended an art school, and even 80% of the selected entries were made by professional artists. With two guests, I visit the Summer Expo. Museum visitor Rob van Berlo picks his favourites. Gallery owner Nena Milinkovic I ask the same,...
the atmosphere It is 30 degrees in Den Bosch. People with headphones on clap for something we, the passers-by, do not see. At a shopping centre, girls with masks roll on the ground. There is commotion everywhere. Festival Boulevard is in full swing and the whole city seems to join in. The terraces are full and the mood is high. I make my way...
Thursday 20 August sees the start of the annual Orlando Festival again in Kerkrade. Established in 1982 by cellist Stefan Metz, this event has been luring young musicians to Rolduc Abbey for over three decades to train in musical practice. Named after the then renowned Orlando Quartet, the festival traditionally pays close attention to strings, but other instruments are not forgotten either....
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