All about politics, policy, society and how those things relate to culture and art.
What does the canalside have against Drenthe anyway? Now Marieke Heebink again. It started with Yvonne Kroonenberg who, after a visit to Assen, spoke of "Simple people with those classic Drenthe heads, but with expressionless eyes. I walked around there and tried to understand those people in the same way I try to immerse myself in the spiritual life of animals." Afterwards, Kroonenberg rushed to...
We are moving too fast. Politics moves too fast, the news moves too fast, and no one takes the time anymore to spend a quiet time listening to a piece of music, reading a thick book, or listening to and watching slow art for 36 hours at the Bruges Concert Hall. So the concert hall in Bruges is organising a festival with...
On Monday 27 October, "The Culture Congress" took place. A cleverly chosen name that suggested that this congress was unique in its kind and that there was a big organisation behind it. All the more surprising that this was only the first edition. And that the initiative came from one person. During his opening speech, Job Gerlings took us through...
After years of concerts in the 'Red Box' on the A2, AVROTROS' De Vrijdag van Vredenburg on Radio 4 returned to the centre of Utrecht last summer. The new TivoliVredenburg was built entirely around Vredenburg's former Great Hall, renowned worldwide for its fabulous acoustics. Many a tear was shed at the reopening. To a new hall belongs...
'The experts have written an inspiring guide, which demonstrates the importance of good music education and also makes clear which steps need to be taken to achieve this. The experts spoke to representatives of primary education, teacher training institutes and the cultural sector. The guide has broad support. Like the experts, I believe that good music education is a responsibility of...
A small miracle did happen, in recent months. The result of that miracle can now be found in letter Jet Bussemaker, minister of OCW, sent to the chamber yesterday. And actually, it is not one miracle, but three. We list them for you. 1: The art world pulls together. Artists often find actors...
Of course it is ok, that cultural and creative summit we had here. Bussemaker could suddenly talk at a high level again and art suddenly appears to matter again. After all, the creative industry is also about art again. Even if it is just our old art, because at such a conference with those Asian countries, of course, it is usually about...
This month marks two years since 14-year-old schoolgirl Malala was gunned down by a Taliban fighter in Pakistan for standing up for her right to education. Two years later, 10 October 2014, Malala, now a 16-year-old schoolgirl, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It was not her first award, nor was it her first (thank you) speech. All...
In the presence of WAKVN*), our culture minister Jet Bussemaker gave a speech to other culture ministers today. It was about creative industries, as a conference on that is now under way in our country. Exchange of knowledge between Asian culture ministers and the Netherlands is already quite unique. For the Netherlands to drop the word 'art' in a meeting on the creative industry is thereby...
When De Wereld Draait Door shows live ballet on air, there must be something going on. And indeed, dancer Marijn Rademaker announces that he has been appointed principal with the Dutch National Ballet. That's no mean feat. He is considered "the best Dutch ballet dancer in the world today".
The Nobel Prize for literature and the Netherlands, it is an unhappy marriage. Not only is Nooteboom, after Mulisch, passed over time and again, on television it is also poor. Yes, on DWDD, people in their fifties trot out to sing the praises of Bob Dylan, but that's it. Of course, Dylan did not become the new laureate, nor the Haruki Murakami, also popular in our country, but the French writer Patrick Modiano.
With a new government in Belgium, the debate on art subsidies has also erupted there. The issue there is only 0.7 per cent of the national budget. The cut of a mere 10% is less substantial than in the Netherlands under the PVV's noose, but the arguments are the same. Though they are often better articulated. Josse de Pauw, international...
The post on facebook that dominated my timeline today: the spontaneous concert at NS station Amsterdam Centraal, taken from the NRC's website (link: http://www.nrc.nl/muziek/2014/10/09/hoe-drie-artiesten-onverwacht-samen-optraden-op-adam-cs/ For several weeks, this station has had a piano on which anyone can play. A playful action by the NS to make waiting more fun. This leads to surprising situations. Like this one in which a pianist...
"Theo van Gogh tried so hard to be an enfant terrible that we almost forgot that he was one of the Netherlands' most creative and productive filmmakers." I wrote this for the GPD papers on 2 November 2004, after an editor called me with the terrible news of the filmmaker's violent death. Soon, that murder was exactly ten...
This post should have been a video. I was planning to go into my garden with the ipad, to tell you, in the company of my dog Rufus, how important video is in contemporary art communication. And not a good, beautifully shot and rap edited video, but wonky, home-made, not very to-the-point video. Which is very personal though....
Forty roofless hotel rooms, and then hearing your own story back as you see yourself reflected in the distant ceiling. Or: walking behind a guide through the Lombok district of Utrecht, while being provided with an overload of extra information on your headphones. About your guide. Or not. About yourself. Welcome to the universe of Dries Verhoeven, since a small...
We can make a long story short. September and early October are raining awards. Every performing art form celebrates its own party. Theatre does it with Theo and Louis, cabaret with the Poelifinario, a Cricket is awarded somewhere, and then you have the Musical Awards and of course the Swans and the Dioraphte Prize. You can already feel it hanging: there...
While all of us at the Stedelijk were dwelling on Arnoud Mik's more than impressive work, realising it was new, we forgot to look elsewhere. On our own screen, that is. Because on Youtube, Twitch and more platforms like that, it's happening right now. That's where pimply adolescents with...
Scene 1 - Expectations The main hall of film theatre 't Hoogt was filled with people from the film sector on Wednesday afternoon at the invitation of the Film Fund. The subject of the meeting is the chronically low attendance of more artistic Dutch films. This has been the case for a long time, by the way, and not only in the Netherlands. Should new avenues be explored? Should expectations be...
With five nominations, the comedy Aanmodderfakker by Michiel ten Horn most likely to win Golden Calfs. Including those for best film, director and screenplay. Close on his heels, incidentally, are
How to visit an art museum? Johan Idema, consultant, cultural entrepreneur and advocate of innovation in the art world, has written a book about it: 'How to visit an art museum'. He thinks there is room for improvement and change. And that after reading his book, people will experience their museum visits differently and especially better. And of course: that museums will also have the...
“Iedereen heeft tegenwoordig een computer op zak (smartphone of glass) waarmee je per persoon over behoorlijke rekenkracht en communicatie technologie beschikt. Die rekenkracht en technologie kun je inzetten, om ge–augmenteerde elementen aan het entertainment toe te voegen.” Zomaar een reactie op een vraag. Van een theater. Omdat dat theater vooruit wil kijken: Hoe ziet het theater van de toekomst eruit? Die vraag…
For seven years, Thea Derks worked on her biography of Reinbert de Leeuw. And it did not go unnoticed. Except for the reaction of the person portrayed, unanimously rave reviews and soon a second printing. Rightly so, because the book offers an indispensable description of modern music in the Netherlands, with many composer portraits and an understandable leading role for Reinbert de Leeuw.
Two new records in one day? Thirty years after Purple Rain? That involuntarily evokes memories of the days of Guns 'n Roses and Bruce Springsteen in the early 1990s. Back then, Prince was still under contract to Warner, but his quarrels with that company were notorious. Four records in a single year went way too far for Warner at the time, as did triple albums....
At the presentation at the Netherlands Film Festival of the Louis Hartlooper Prize for Film Journalism will not be handed a Golden Calf, but a Black Mirror. In ancient times a tool for viewing, now a token of appreciation for a contribution to written film culture.
Members of various film trade associations will designate the winner. Some believe there is no such thing,
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