Things we do for members and partners.
In 'My Secret City' on Saturday at the Winternachten festival, seven writers recited a story about 'their own hidden city': Mircea Cartarescu, Rodigro Hasbún, Hanna Bervoets, Piotr Ibrahim Kalwas, Olga Grjasnowa, Maarten van der Graaff and Salena Godden wrote about the city they don't see when they walk out the door, but encounter occasionally and unexpectedly. In fiction,...
Whether the end of communism and beginning of capitalism influenced his writing? Mircea Cartarescu, one of Romania's greatest writers, parried the question with a joke. 'That is far too small an event to change my style and novels.' Is this the real life? That is the theme of the literary festival Winternachten this...
It was a beautiful and disarming lecture by Australian-Dutch writer Michel Faber, yesterday at the Friday Night Unlimited of the literary festival Winternachten, in his hometown The Hague. His lecture was on 'Fiction in times of fake'. 'Before I start making lofty statements about literature and what literature is capable of in today's world, I want to be open with...
The positive effects of culture are demonstrated again and again. It is high time the sector used these facts in improving its image. Our western and southern neighbours have boosted the image of culture with a number of successful initiatives. The sports sector is another example of image building that the cultural sector can learn from. There...
Richard Rijnvos (1964) has been house composer of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra since 2011. This has so far resulted in two new pieces: Antarctique, the final movement of his cycle Grand Atlas (2011) and fuoco e fumo from the series la Serenissima (2013). On Thursday 2 and Friday 3 February, conductor Gustavo Gimeno leads the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in its third commissioned work, Amérique du Nord. The...
Auke Hulst (1975) grew up more or less unaccompanied by adults with a brother and two sisters in the hamlet of Denmark in Groningen, on top of the Slochteren gas bubble. His childhood in a Pippi Longstocking house in a forest was the model for his third novel Children of the Rugged Land (2012). And I Remember Titus Broederland is his...
Writers Unlimited could hardly have chosen a more appropriate theme for this year's literary festival Winternachten: Is this the real life? That question will be on many a mind when the new president of the United States is inaugurated on Friday. Fortunately, some eighty writers who do have something meaningful to say about the state of...
In The Horseman, a father lets his daughter from the city go into hiding with her grandfather who lives in the countryside. The girl has a loverboy-like relationship with the leader of a dangerous criminal gang. With his granddaughter's forced stay, not only two generations collide, but also past and present, city and country, man and nature. The only connecting...
Gerard de Kleijn is leaving on 1 February after six years as director at Museum Gouda. The flamboyant, eloquent and erudite director leaves behind a financially and artistically healthy Museum for his successor Marc de Beyer. De Kleijn made the museum more accessible to Gouda residents and art lovers from outside the historic city. In 2016, the museum attracted around 40,000...
Writer Marcel Möring got off to a flying start in literature, with his award-winning novels Mendel's Legacy (1990), Het grote verlangen (1992) and In Babylon (1997). But when Dis, the first part of a trilogy, was published in 2006, literary critics made mincemeat of him. The second part Louteringsberg was also mostly poorly received. Today, Dis appears...
Bart Rutten becomes the new artistic director of Utrecht's Centraal Museum Bart Who? Bart quite an important figure. Bart Rutten was the man behind some great blockbusters at Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum. That he is going to Utrecht after Malevich and Matisse says a lot about the good work of his predecessor Edwin Jacobs. It says even more...
The Dutch film industry announced its annual figures. 2016 was a top year, measured by the once again increased number of cinema visitors. The best-attended film was Bridget Jones's Baby. But the market share of Dutch films dipped to an all-time low.
On Saturday 14 January 2017 at 4.30pm, Splendor will present Splendor Parade 2017 at CASCO Amsterdam. During this afternoon, Splendor members and non-members alike can marvel at the diverse group of Splendor musicians and their musical friends, who will showcase and perform in a wide variety of ways. Splendor is taking it even bigger this year with its own SplendOpeRa: prepared...
The Council for Culture is the statutory advisory body to the government and parliament in the field of culture and media. The council is independent and advises, solicited and unsolicited, on current policy issues and subsidy applications. The council aims to make opinions with vision and boldness; opinions that make a difference and contribute to a rich cultural life. In accordance with Article 11, third...
Every year in early January, a beautifully printed booklet falls through my letterbox. This tradition of Kopper Monday has almost been lost. Only some small printing companies still send their relations a Kopper edition. What exactly is it, and why is it so special? Copper Monday is the first Monday after Epiphany (6 January). Traditionally a holiday for the guilds. The...
It is easier than ever to produce and distribute your own videos. Every minute, more than 300 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube. Is this gigantic amount still manageable? No. The video platform has become too big to continue to exist smoothly. By Nuno Blijboom There is no better source for cat videos, bullying vloggers and gaming youngsters
Johan Gijsen has been elected Utrechter of the Year. The organiser of the Le Guess Who? Festival succeeds FC Utrecht owner Frans van Seumeren (2015) and athlete Dafne Schippers (2014). The election for Utrechter van het Jaar was held by the AD Utrechts Nieuwsblad. Six columnists selected ten nominees who could be voted for. Gijsen founded Le Guess Who? in 2007....
It's quite unfortunate. Ruth Mackenzie is moving into even higher realms. She has made the past two editions of the Holland Festival considerably more refreshed and modern, and so it stands out. Paris beckons. Ruth Mackenzie has been nominated by Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, as Directrice Artistique (artistic director) of Théâtre du Châtelet, effective 2019. This means Ruth Mackenzie will direct the festival's...
The five nominees for the CCD Award 2017 are Hamlet by ZEP Theater Productions, Festival Mundial, Ongekend Bijzonder Festival 2016, Project Old Skool by Stichting Gebouw 52 and the Van Abbemuseum. The public can cast their votes from now until 18 January 2017 via this link. The jury will take the public vote into consideration. The prize of €5,000 will be...
Towards the end of the year, we are inundated with lists. The best CDs, the best books, the performances you shouldn't have missed, etcetera. In this sea of choices from reviewers and other opinion makers, one post stands out, from opera critic Olivier Keegel. He started a veritable petition to prevent Karlheinz Stockhausen's 'Aus Licht' from being performed in June 2019,...
In The Hague, they think it's a waste of money. Let them. Here are seven performances that were more than worth 'that sin'. Mona, Ariadne, Mariken, but also breathtaking circus theatre, a secret marriage, genre-transcending satire and the greatest set ever. Mona, NTJong (youth theatre/drama) 1. It is the biggest pitfall of the age indication in theatre performances. Put 6+ and you...
Tjeerd Posthuma: 'Millennials, people of my generation, can handle disappointments very badly. I wanted to write a book about a little boy who had a lot going on in his life and was already coping badly with setbacks at a fairly young age. That idea evolved into the perspective of his older sister, who is jealous of her little brother but who herself is not so...
Five art experiences will always stick to this bizarre year for me. And one thing really scared me. Whether the worst is now behind us? At least the most extraordinary is still on view until 5 February 2017. A chronological overview of what was unbelievable, unthinkable, inconceivable, unbelievable and perhaps untrue. Much of it, by the way, will be in 2017...
In contemporary dance, artistic leaders are often in place for decades, at least in the Netherlands. This week, Leo Spreksel announced his departure from Korzo, as of September 2017. After 29 years, the director and programmer of dance at the theatre and production house in The Hague is calling it a day, because "in the Netherlands, commercialisation pushes away the voice of artists: procedures and formats are...
Chris Keulemans visited the 5D InHuis Festival and was deeply impressed by what people with disabilities managed to achieve in theatre. Here is his report, for under the Christmas tree. About humour without pity, and totally unexpected displays of muscle. - Was Thomas born that way? - Well, I don't think he cut his legs himself... The jokers...
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