All about politics, policy, society and how those things relate to culture and art.
These are bleak times. A few days after the opening night of the Movies that Matter festival (MTM) in The Hague, the world was rocked by the attacks in Brussels. For an event that focuses on human rights issues, a sign that the violent consequences of international conflicts seem to be getting closer. This raises the question of whether an audience that is...
In his recent collection Achter het verdwijnpunt, death plays an important role. Poet Frans Budé lost no fewer than four poet friends in a short time and honoured them in verse. The 70-year-old poet himself still writes as avidly as in his younger years: in addition to an occasional collection on the Maas, to be published in May, he wrote poems for the upcoming exhibition...
At five, he started playing the violin, and after only six months he gave his first performance. At 17, he was the youngest participant ever to win the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition. In 2002, Vadim Repin, born in Novosibirsk in 1971, played at Willem-Alexander and Máxima's wedding concert, together with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Three years ago, Repin started his own...
'Write about that!' How many times have I heard or read that as a cultural journalist. From very good and interesting people, of course. People who make beautiful things, too. But also people who assume that I, as a writer on a website, will therefore immediately hop on a train to a remote corner of the country...
It kept me awake one night. About that Radio Kunststof broadcast with Ilja Leonard Pfeiffer. Because, what exactly did the King and Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer say to each other and how does a singing Princess Amalia sound? Listen in. [audioplayer file="https://cultureelpersbureau.nl//wp-content/uploads/2016/03/WA-vs-Pfeijffer-©brechtje-roos-put-into-sound.mp3″] (music- Coralie Clement, recording- Put into Sound)
For one evening, EYE was all about virtual reality. What will remain of VR when the hype is gone we don't yet know. But maybe we will understand the phenomenon better if we stop comparing it to existing media like films or games.
This Daan Roosegaarde is said to have made a huge fool of himself again. In any case, NRC Handelsblad reported that the man, who is under fire for not naming sources, has again committed plagiarism. For his contribution to the DWDD pop-up museum, a wildly successful thing by the world's fastest culture programme, he hung a whole row of seascapes in a room,...
As soon as soprano Miah Persson enters the stage, we hear a loud, electronic crack. Is a branch breaking here, one of composer Michel van der Aa's (Oss, 1970) favourite sounds? Or is it a stone crashing into another after all? Boulders play a major role in his latest opera Blank Out; at the end they crush with thunderous roar
Grzegorz Marciniak, a music maker worth following. And I have been doing so since 2006. That's when I first saw and heard his work performed in The Hague by the then Woof collective. I made contact, it clicked. In 2007, Picca premiered. A work Marciniak wrote for yours truly (recorder solo). And also at my most recent experience, February...
They still exist. Writers who find it hard enough to write a book, and so are happy to leave all the rest to a publisher. They may complain afterwards about poor marketing, minimal payment and guidance, but have no idea how they could do it differently. Fortunately, it is becoming increasingly easy to do things differently...
How far can you go in using Shakespeare's name for a theatre production? Or rather, when does an adaptation of a classic stop being an adaptation, and when should you just come out and say that you have written your own play? And then, if you've reported in your four-year plan that in 2016 you will be doing a Shakespeare...
Last weekend's workshop The Relevance of Dance, organised by Dansmakers Amsterdam and the European Dance House Network, sought to answer the question: What is the relevance of contemporary dance art for audiences? Suzy Blok, general director of Dansmakers Amsterdam, opened the atelier by talking about the desire of production houses to bring dance more to the...
Pierre Audi is the creator of the first edition of the Opera Forward Festival - OFF for short - which is being presented to the public for the first time as part of De Nationale Opera and its 50th anniversary. Opera as an art of inspiration is the supporting idea behind the ten-day festivities. The School During the Pre Launch OFF...
Writing cost him his marriage, he is being shadowed by the secret service and risks being arrested in Angola. But José Eduardo Agualusa, who has a chance of winning the 2016 Man Booker International Prize with his new novel A General Theory of Forgetting, does not hesitate to put down his pen. 'I won't let myself...
I wrote about it a while ago. About all those people who are now barely sustaining themselves on a minimal grant amount from the Performing Arts Fund, and that they have all done a fan-tas-tic job. This is what director Henriëtte Post told me in a conversation sometime this winter. 'Based on their performance, none of the current institutions can get out of...
Is there any reason to buy the magazine 'Boekman 106′? For me, yes, although I should immediately throw a magazine that claims to be the Dutch forum for art, culture and policy into the dustbin for displayed arrogance. After all, with a circulation of only 1400 copies, and appearing four times a year, how can you give yourself such a...
At the 19th edition of the Holland Animation Film Festival, versatility celebrates. From abstract to documentary. Special attention also to the connection between animation and installation art.
Hear about mensch and other animals. Doubt yourself silly and discover the benefits. Cross borders while putting your philosophy biases through the wringer for a while. Food for thought. To be picked up in The Hague. The eternal doubter will miss out on a discount after 16 March, by the way. In other words, on 14 April from 19h-23.30h, the Night of Philosophy for the...
On Monday 14 March, Theatre Rotterdam will present its plans for the upcoming arts plan period. On Thursday 10 March, Bianca van der Schoot already told about it during a public meeting with a class of Utrecht theatre scholars. What became clear from her story is that she has little desire to start bringing world repertoire with the old Ro theatre share in Theatre Rotterdam. She has a lot of...
The Zuiderstrandtheater in The Hague premiered Ballet Blanc on 8 March. It is the new full-length performance by The Dutch Junior Dance Division. The young dancers tour the country with a collage of fifteen short pieces. Blanc is the unifying factor in a fresh mix of classical and modern ballet, with tragedy, poignancy and humour. The juniors...
1. Kwatta, Mariken (youth) The question was not whether Nijmegen youth theatre company Kwatta would ever venture into Mariken van Nieumeghen, but when. The bar was set high with successful previous book and film adaptations, but where the medieval Mariken needs two miracles, Jibbe Willems' adaptation is exciting even without a fall from a great height and the miraculous loosening of iron rings...
Things have been rumbling in the film world for some time: Why is the silver screen so, er, white? And where are all the women anyway? #OscarsSoWhite but also #OscarIsADude! Many people in the industry have already expressed their displeasure at this. At the previous Oscar ceremony, actresses aimed their arrows at equal pay, or rather, the lack of it. This year, many an African-American actor and...
The Jugendstil curls of the famous 'salad oil poster' adorn the logo of the major Toorop exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. And while this choice is recognisable and appealing, there is something to be said against it. After all, the museum is so keen to show other sides of Toorop. And there are surprisingly many of them. The Gemeentemuseum has a history with...
International literary festival Winternachten wants to involve the public more in its programmes next year. 'Audiences increasingly want to have a say,' says director Ton van de Langkruis. 'That can be done in all kinds of ways, we are now brooding on that.' Winternachten attracted some 7300 visitors this year, equalling last year's attendance. Last edition's theme was 'Hello Darkness', and...
In the corridor leading to the airspace, a shabby man stands leaning against the wall. Exhausted, cold, untouchable. It is a young Adolf Hitler, portrayed by Roy Villevoye as the homeless, failed artist he once was. Now he is at Hacking Habitat and full of potential, according to the caption. The art manifestation that has taken possession under that title in...
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