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Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll? Italian youngsters have something else on their minds - see Paolo Giordano's new novel.

Bestselling author Paolo Giordano (35) does not shy away from current themes in his new novel Devouring Heaven. Poverty, environmental problems, capitalism, (un)fertility - people in their twenties and thirties have a lot to wrap their heads around. 'I find the fixed life pattern we grow up with strangling.' Devouring the sky Young people who have to find their way in the world and learn to cope with pain, loss... 

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How do you film a hero? A quest in 3 parts.

How do you make a beautiful and personal documentary about a hero? And what if your hero is a filmmaker and has already made beautiful footage himself? How free can you be with your subject matter? For a long time, my problem with IDFA has been that the documentaries are so well behaved, so focused on the subject and not on the medium itself. In... 

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DocLab 2018: improve the world, put on VR glasses.

Slowly but surely, the very latest in virtual reality (VR) is finished and we can start thinking about what you want to show, rather than how. Whereas at the first VR festival I still got whooping headaches from bad glasses, now I can be mesmerised by the beauty of the Amazon or beautiful animations. Movie theatres like Eye... 

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Top art is too expensive to improve the Corso. Do something about it, VVD!

Zundert's flower parade, a piece of unique folk culture (since 1936!) in which the - non-native - Dahlia plays a leading role, had a tough time this year. Due to the drought, there were fewer flowers than other years and so improvisations had to be made by the hundreds of volunteers who, every year, make the village where the memory of Vincent van Gogh is alive and well again... 

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Demise of VVD culture spokesman during budget debate in St Nicholas mood, with surprise for PvdD

A little pity was in order during the debate on the culture budget in the Lower House. Thierry Aartsen, the VVD's brand-new culture spokesperson, still hadn't done his homework and therefore got terrible on his mitre from fellow culture spokesmen in the Lower House. And then also from the minister. Was he allowed to speak around 11... 

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Launch community platform 'Workshop Waterlines'

The province of Utrecht has launched the community platform 'Werkplaats Waterlinies'. This initiative of the Pact of Ruigenhoek is open to anyone working on the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie, Stelling van Amsterdam and other waterlinies. It is a place where you can exchange inspiration, knowledge and ideas, as well as present projects, collaborate and experiment. In short, a place where new connections arise and collectively... 

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GLOW. Eindhoven light art festival seeks depth for the masses

From the corner next to the revolving doors to the outside, he has a great view of the north hall of De Heuvel. The luxury indoor shopping centre in Eindhoven's city centre is bathed in golden glow, while subterranean rumbling sounds from speakers. Above the heads of the crowd, bright light of all colours shines, reflected off bent mirrored plates. Edward Dams has just... 

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Curious: arts sector support institutes turn against plans for new theatre and music sector institutes

There are quite a few petitions floating around these days. The most curious of all petitions was in the digital mailbox today. In it, the existing support institutes in the cultural sector urge the Lower House not to put money into new support institutes. In doing so, clubs such as the Landelijk Kennniscentrum Amateurkunst (LKCA), Cultuur+Ondernemen, and the Boekmanstichting put in a small but... 

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Nude and naked. Two worlds as far apart as Bergen and Delden. (podcast)

Two private museums in the Netherlands have made human flesh the subject of an exhibition this autumn. In Bergen (NH) it is about Bare, and in Delden (Ov) it is about Nude. But where one exhibition (at Museum Kranenburg in Bergen) seems to be mainly an ode to the free-spirited 1970s and what happened afterwards, Museum No Hero in Delden puts... 

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Why The Look of Koolhoven deserves a lot of emulation.

In the last century, we had Teleac. Teleac taught me to play chess. Quite extraordinary for television. Perhaps because I have associated television with 'learning' in that way from a young age, I am thrilled with the series made by VPRO with Martin Koolhoven. It is, for the first time in ages, television that stimulates the mind, that makes you think ... 

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Lukas Dhont on his acclaimed film Girl, about the trans girl who is an ordinary adolescent, and the love of dance

The trans-drama Girl, Belgium's Oscar entry, is on a veritable victory lap. Filmmaker Lukas Dhont on the struggles of trans girl Lara, who is mostly an ordinary adolescent. On his personal struggle with stereotypes, and on his love of dance. "A place on the Oscar shortlist would already be very nice," he says.

Listen to the best-listened-to Culture Podcast now

Linda Huijsmans and yours truly catch you up in half an hour on what matters in the art world. From now on, biweekly on this channel, and of course you can listen via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google, you name it. You can find the whole rundown here. And we also have a call at the end. For someone who will help us raise funds for... 

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'Film works wonderfully motivating for children.' Booster for film education - on its way to a permanent place in the classroom

Until now, film education has mostly been a grab bag of initiatives. But now that the minister mentions it in her policy plan and extra money has been allocated, new steps can be taken. Towards a permanent place in the classroom? We ask Florine Wiebenga, head of education Eye, and Jeroen Stultiens, Film Teacher of the Year.

PODCAST! We, Man. Frank Westerman's fascinating latest book uncovers our own unexpected history

Once upon a time, someone was the first. The first to walk upright, to use his front legs for something other than walking. But who was that, and what did the first human focus on? Frank Westerman takes on that question in his latest book. In a fascinating journey that starts in Leiden, and ends in Flores, or maybe actually in the Mediterranean.... 

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WO-MAN in theatre: 'Crazy actually to link 'power' directly to 'masculine'.'

One of the sources of inspiration for director Ingrid Kuijpers was a film about a certain kind of flatworm. It has also found a place in her performance WO-MAN. Flatworms are hermaphroditic animals. Mating amounts to a fight over which of the two gets fertilised. Kuijpers: ,,The one that manages to get the other pregnant has won. If you get pregnant... 

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Jan van de Putte: 'My work is about conquering music'

Dutch composer Jan van de Putte (b. 1959) invariably crosses the boundaries of music. Hesitant starts, silence, wide gestures and explorations of our subconscious are as natural in his score as resounding tones. Last autumn, he published his four-part song cycle set to poetry by Pessoa, in which he aptly stammers the Portuguese poet. On 8 November, his latest composition, Cette... 

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Tosca as reality soap at Dutch Reisopera

The theme of Puccini's 1900 opera Tosca is of all times. A cocktail of passionate love, political rebellion, lust and betrayal is centred around the person of Floria Tosca. Director Harry Fehr presents this story as a reality soap, with implicit commentary on our selfie culture. A nice find, but it is questionable whether it can bring the drama to life... 

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The Lower House has become youth art. This is how the first five million of the Culture Budget dissipates

A thousand schoolchildren a day in the House of Representatives. No less than that. That's what Culture Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven wants. Costs 4.8 million. Money that you will actually pay through your theatre ticket, the library book, the museum ticket. Because real art could have been made from that 4.8 million. It is a big question why the compulsory Second Chamber visit has to be paid for from... 

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Camilla de Rossi in NTRZaturdayMatinee: three centuries late premiere

After years, my ranting about the invisibility of female composers is beginning to bear fruit. Thanks in part to the #MeToo movement, composing ladies are also finally being taken seriously and performed. The NTRZaturdayMatinee is even making them a spearhead of its programming this season. Last Saturday, it performed the world premiere of Salto di Saffo by Calliope Tsoupaki (1963). She composed this double concerto for pan flute, recorder... 

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'Such a love between those two, why shouldn't it be?' Jaap Robben writes in 'Zomervacht' about a mentally disabled boy.

His parents worked in an institution for mentally handicapped people, so Jaap Robben spent many an hour as a child putting curlers into boxes. It formed the seed for his novel Zomervacht. 'I wanted to write an exciting book with a disabled person as one of the main characters, because you hardly ever read about that world.' Four years after his highly successful... 

Read More "'Such a love between those two, why shouldn't it be?' Jaap Robben writes in 'Zomervacht' about a mentally disabled boy.

Two more than deserved awards for 'the Netherlands' only truly innovative theatre'

Would it happen after all? Would Liesbeth Coltof's dream really come true? For 36 years, she made theatre in which the age of the audience played no role. On Saturday 6 October, she received the Oeuvre Prize from the Association of Theatre Directors (VSCD) from the hands of Hedy d'Ancona. In doing so, she surpassed Ivo van Hove. The internationally breakthrough leader of the... 

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Sharp rise in volunteering in Dutch museums #fairpractice

The chances of being helped in a museum by someone standing there unpaid, purely for her fun, have increased considerably in recent years. This is especially true for museum shops, museum cafés and cloakrooms - in short, anything related to commercial activities and operations. This is evident from a closer examination of the rather jubilant 2017 figures, which the Museum Association... 

Read More "Sharp rise in volunteering in Dutch museums #fairpractice

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