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VISUAL

Everything in museums, galleries, on roundabouts and village squares, and hanging over sofas. And Marina Abramovic

How do we reclaim irony from extremists? 

Anyone who sees anything other than irony in the work of the painter Rein Dool, completely unknown to me until now (as the painter also described it in an item on TV), has not been paying close attention in literature and art history lectures. Rein Dool painted a portrait of the then Board of Governors of Leiden University in 1974. We see... 

How can people with a refugee background remember their first place of residence in the Netherlands if there are no longer any traces of this place?

Thousands of Dutch people have memories of a time spent in AZCs across the country, but there is no physical archive of this part of Dutch heritage. How can people with a refugee background remember their first place of residence in the Netherlands if there are no longer any traces of this place? How can we reflect on and dwell on... 

The attack on The Girl with the Pearl Earring is the provisional low point of Instagram madness.

A temperature record will be broken in the Netherlands on 28 October. Yet another, and it is indeed incomprehensible that on this day people still book a plane for a weekend in Barcelona. It is unfortunately also incomprehensible that on this 27th October 2022, a young man sticks his head next to the head of The Girl with the... 

We Want it All now showing at the 5th edition of the ICK-Fest at Meervaart theatre.

After international premieres in Lugano (Switzerland) and recently as the opening of the Romaeuropa festival in Italy, We Want it All can now be seen at the 5th edition of the ICK-Fest at Meervaart theatre. On Saturday 29 October | 21.00h, We Want it All will have its Dutch premiere during the festival. WE WANT IT ALL In a festive... 

The 59th Venice Biennale: there is so much to get behind the big and established names that has fallen away.

One might, when visiting the Venice Arte Biennale 2022, immediately shout 'woke' or 'wokism'. It's not that difficult, since the curator's choices emphasise female and non-Western artists.1 But I would find that too easy and ultimately unjustified. When you try to look fresh - forgetting all the reflections beforehand - it falls... 

New exhibition: To those who have no time to play

Framer Framed presents To those who have no time to play, Amsterdam-based artist Gluklya's (Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya) largest solo exhibition to date, curated by Charles Esche. The artist develops her work with numerous others, including Kyrgyz textile workers, newcomers, musicians and writers. The exhibition includes four objects in space, each with... 

Marte Boneschansker presents: ROUW - Walk through Amsterdam East past places of loss

On Friday 4 November, ROUW, the latest work by theatre-maker Marte Boneschansker, will premiere at Plein Theater in Amsterdam-Oost. ROUW is a walk along places of loss. With headphones on, you follow a carefully mapped out route through the neighbourhood to listen to stories of mourning that correspond to the locations in question. ROUW is about loss. About that... 

KMSKA

KMSKA: Antwerp's 'new' museum: 'a muscle-white spaceship descended through the roof, after which the old building closed again like an oyster.'

Two museums for the price of one. With a Mona Lisa in the making. 20 km from the Dutch border. Which is more beautiful? The building or the collection? Last weekend, Antwerp's Royal Museum of Fine Arts reopened after no less than 11 years. And that resonates far beyond the port city. I walk inside with a Danish art historian,... 

Festive unveiling of Monika Dahlberg's sculptures by councillor Touria Meliani at Framer Framed

Artist Monika Dahlberg has been commissioned by Framer Framed to create two sculptures that will have a permanent place at the entrance of the Framer Framed building. On Thursday 29 September, at 15:45, the work, titled Gatekeepers will be unveiled by Arts and Culture alderman Touria Meliani and district councilor Oost and art and culture portfolio holder Jan-Bert Vroege. During the opening... 

'Sprouting dance on a bed of grass and sedum' - Carefull Art puts Utrecht artists on a very special map

"Over the past two-and-a-half years, I have started making choices. Where ten years ago I thought of going into life as a dance teacher, now the question is: do I really want to? What makes me happy, what do I want to share with the people around me?" For Lotte Willemsma, the first two years of the Corona pandemic were... 

Playing with shapes in first Dutch solo exhibition by Andrea Canepa (Peru)

For her first solo exhibition in the Netherlands, Peruvian artist Andrea Canepa (Lima, 1980) has de Appel's Aula space at her disposal as the venue for her ongoing investigation into the organisation of the physical and social structures, or organisational systems, that shape our daily lives. Canepa shows that although the spatial and architectural parameters of these organisational systems may seem clearly marked,... 

New exhibitions Amsterdam Museum 

Since March 2022, the main location of the Amsterdam Museum on Kalverstraat has been closed due to a large-scale renovation of the museum building, the former civilian orphanage. In the new temporary main location of the Amsterdam Museum on the Amstel (Amstel 51, Hermitage building), the museum will show a new permanent collection presentation Panorama Amsterdam and three changing exhibitions since March 2021. In... 

IN PERSPECTIVE 7: Artists and providence

In the series In Perspective, Erik Akkermans looks back and ahead at developments in cultural policy and practice. Today: providence for artists. The office at Noordeinde in The Hague. At the meeting table, all board members had a fixed place. At that spot was a packet of cigarettes of the right brand ready for everyone. The meetings started at the stroke of two o'clock. Around half past... 

IN PERSPECTIVE 6: The meter case and media art

In the series In Perspective, Erik Akkermans looks back and ahead at developments in cultural policy and practice. Today: media art. Aan het Haagse Spui It were tough negotiations. The battle for the meter cupboard symbolised that. The chairman of the Hague Filmhuis, a former alderman, went hard at it. And the board of the World Wide Video Centre & Festival... 

Isaac Israels painting to Amsterdam Museum

Chamber of Commerce donates 'Factory Girls on the Prinsengracht' from 1894 The Amsterdam Museum's collection is being expanded with a special donation. The Chamber of Commerce donated the museum the painting 'Factory Girls on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam' (c. 1894) by the famous Amsterdam impressionist Isaac Israels. Israels' painting hung for many years in the meeting room of the General Administration 

IN PERSPECTIVE 5 - From order and power to student and power - On mergers and discomfort in arts education

"Miss, please give me the minister!". Henk Vonhoff's voice sounded as commanding as it was eloquent as he addressed his secretary over the intercom. Vonhoff was commissioner of the Queen in Groningen, but also chairman of the supervisory committee of the Groningen State University of Applied Sciences, the only college still directly under the minister. We, faculty directors, were at... for the umpteenth time. 

In Perspective #1: Art lending, new opportunities for old ideals

In the beautiful but overcrowded office of the director of Kunstuitleen SBK Amsterdam, on the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, paintings, etchings, gouaches, photographs were everywhere against the wall. And ceramics too. At the meeting table, the entire board of the Federatie Kunst Uitleen (FKU) with whom I had come to meet as intended external chairman. I walked, enthusiastically shaking everyone's hand, around the... 

19 NEW QUIRKY ARTWORKS BY BIG NAMES AND YOUNG TALENT AT BOSCH PARADE

Bosch Parade 2022 is the 9th edition of this extraordinary art event on water with Hieronymus Bosch as its inspiration. This year's theme is 'seduction'. From 16 to 19 June, it promises to be another inspiring cruise of the incongruous through the historic centre of 's-Hertogenbosch, with nineteen quirky artworks in and on the water. For Bosch Parade... 

'Visual arts and the Dutch media' election

Starting this year, in the form of an election, Jakunst gauges the opinions of artists and art lovers about Dutch media coverage of visual art. To do so, we ask you to express your opinion by answering a few questions. Taking part will cost you two minutes or even less, because to take part,... 

Johannes Vermeer Prize 2021 awarded to visual artist Natasja Kensmil

Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven of Education, Culture and Science today presented the Johannes Vermeer Prize 2021, the Dutch state prize for the arts, to visual artist Natasja Kensmil. At Het HEM in Zaandam, Minister Van Engelshoven handed over the trophy to Kensmil. Natasja Kensmil was praised by the jury for her work that is healing, edifying and critical at the same time. Minister ... 

Botero

Why never say, 'Botero, that's that fat-woman painter, isn't it?

Mons (Mons), a Walloon pinhead on the French border, became European Capital of Culture in 2015. To everyone's surprise. The city presents its umpteenth major exhibition this autumn and winter: Fernando Botero, beyond the forms. 3 questions are addressed in this story: 1) How does a small city like Mons get all that done? 2) Why never say:... 

'We're not going to talk about Jiskefet, are we?' For Michiel Romeyn, all of life is theatre

Even though the satirical programme Jiskefet has not existed for more than 15 years, Michiel Romeyn (66) is still recognised on the street as 'lullo' Van Binsbergen, 'the white nigger' Oboema or office clerk Storm. In Romeyn's existence, the dividing line between life and theatre is fluid. 'I like to disrupt things.' Robert Lagendijk and Michiel Romeyn © Carla van... 

New private museum in Amsterdam: a rather brazen action, seemingly fuelled by resentment.

'A beautiful gift to the city'- this is how the Hartwig Art Foundation describes on its website the plan to initiate a new art museum on the Zuidas. It is a private initiative by entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist Rob Defares. The Amsterdam Arts Council has advised positively on the plan, with the municipality deciding soon. It sounds promising: an art hall - there will be no... 

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