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Sandor Somkuti: Budapest 1985. CCBY2.0Sandor Somkuti: Budapest 1985. CCBY2.0

IN PERSPECTIVE 20: BUDAPEST AND FREE SPACE FOR CULTURE

In the series In Perspective, Erik Akkermans looks back and ahead at developments in cultural policy and practice. Today: the 1985 Budapest Cultural Forum and a renewed cold war. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Only a short time before, intense discussions between Warsaw Pact and NATO countries on security, disarmament and free cultural... 

image from macacos by Julieta Bacchin

Intersections, encounters and coming home in Holland Festival 2024

The 77th edition of the Holland Festival presents innovative international performing arts with more than 40 productions and over 380 artists at 21 different venues in Amsterdam. The opening takes place on Thursday 6 June with a special programme in the Gashouder, where Stravinsky's iconic Sacre du printemps will be accompanied by a film by Evangelia Kranioti, and Caroline Shaw's Music in... 

Blue Hour by Matzer, pr image by Karin Jonkers

Liliane Brakema directs Alejandra Theus in musical performance Blue Hour

From 29 February to 29 May 2024, Blue Hour tours the country. A woman searches for a way through a nearly devastated world with her baby. Liliane Brakema directs Alejandra Theus in a musical theatre performance inspired by Cormac McCarthy's Pullitzer Prize-winning novel The Road. The premiere of this co-production by MATZER Theatre Production and &Brakema Productions is Friday, March 1,... 

still from the teaser for Stuntkont.

The best shit show in years comes from Rotterdam

It seems that at the inset performances of Maas Theatre&Dans' latest, 'Stuntkont', a few schools have already complained. Classes even walked out. Logical perhaps, at least for adult school teachers who can't take poop-and-pee jokes. Children from 6 to 106 can only laugh really hard at them. So poop-and-pee jokes turn out to be more amusing than I myself expected. At least when they are made... 

Sensitive and scintillating: Sholeh Rezazadeh's beautiful new novel is one not to forget

After her acclaimed and award-winning debut novel The sky is always purple, Sholeh Rezazadeh impresses again with her second book. I Know a Mountain Waiting for Me is a tender, delicately sensitive and sumptuous novel. Stunningly sensitive It is hard to believe that Iranian-born writer and poet Sholeh Rezazadeh (1989) has only lived in the Netherlands since 2015. Her command of language and manner of... 

Illustration © Mart Veldhuis 1920x1080

Exhibition Other people's guilt at the NUT - Open house and theatrical talks at Berlin Square

From Wednesday 6 to Friday 15 March, you will find a special exhibition at the NUT studio (Berlijnplein, Utrecht). Other people's debt explores the world of debt through the lens of visual art. One in five households in the Netherlands faces money problems. Unfortunately, help often comes only when debts are already sky-high. In Andermans... 

MS-FUSION Donaukanal, Vienna, photo Rainer Prohaska

Liquid Becomings will be the 2024 European Pavilion

The winning proposal of the European Cultural Foundation's open call to design and host The European Pavilion 2024 was announced at a press conference at The New Institute in Rotterdam on 14 February. An independent jury unanimously chose the proposal Liquid Becomings from the consortium led by the independent artists' collective espaço agora now, consisting of... 

ZID Theatre puts 'Change/Change' centre stage at ExploreZ Festival 2024

Twelve days full of inspiration, connection, diversity and excitement for a wide audience Amsterdam, 15 February 2024 - ZID Theatre presents the ninth edition of the multidisciplinary and international ExploreZ Festival in Amsterdam. From 7 to 18 May 2024, visitors can enjoy twelve days of a rich mix of theatre, music, dance, workshops and artist talks, with the theme 'Change/Change'.... 

From left to right: Alida Dors (photo: Mark Bolk), Hella Jongerius (photo: Nick Ballón), Erik van Lieshout (photo: Suzanne Weenink), Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer (photo: Stephan Vanfleteren) and Manon Uphoff (photo: Céline Simons).

New members for the Academy of Arts

The Academy of Arts gets five new members: Alida Dors, Hella Jongerius, Erik van Lieshout, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer and Manon Uphoff. Members of the Academy of Arts are artists from across the arts. The new members will be installed on 28 March 2024. Members of the Academy of Arts have proven themselves in their profession and want to make a... 

Floris Kortie on Podium Klassiek's new webpage

TV Sunday night is fun again for people who don't like farming and baking. 

The old domain of VPRO, established in decades of Meticulous and Desperate Simplism, Tegenlicht and Zomer- dan Wintergasten, languished for quite a while. Viewer terror fragmented the safely elitist offerings. BNNVARA searched for a tone and didn't find it. Cultural omnivores like yours truly could no longer turn on the TV to 2 with impunity and then, after an evening of content, turn it against... 

Jonas Staal (left) during his speech. Audience members from left to right: neske Beks, Charles Landvreugd and Karin Amatmoekrim. Photo: Wijbrand Schaap

Becoming a member of NSC? - Academy of Arts stage of desperate search for engagement

"The vote for Wilders may be a dissenting vote, but apparently explicit racism is not a dealbreaker for all those people. That's terrible for someone of colour." In the stately Trippenhuis, seat of the Academy of Arts, this high word from Karin Amatmoekrim sounded extra emphatic. She was responding from the stage to a late-arriving audience member, who felt that "we... 

Arin Keshishi & the Marmoucha Orchestra

Be taken on an extraordinary journey. Arin Keshishi, the virtuoso bassist and artistic director of the renowned Marmoucha Orchestra, unveils "Self-Reflection: The Live Experience" Self-reflection of masterful bassist and artistic director of the Marmoucha Orchestra. In this edition, we highlight Arin Keshishi, an exceptionally talented bassist and the new artistic director of the Marmoucha Orchestra. His... 

Christiaan Pieter van Eeghen, Henriette de Vries (1877-1942), 1890 - Amsterdam Museum Collection

Amsterdam Museum presents exhibition on urban renovator Van Eeghen

The Amsterdam Museum on the Amstel will host the exhibition The Amsterdam of Piet van Eeghen: How a merchant changed the city from 29 March to 30 June 2024. The nineteenth-century businessman and philanthropist Van Eeghen left his art collection to the city and is now part of the Amsterdam Museum's collection.... 

Turbulent Greek history. 'Niki' by Christos Chomenidis is a captivating family chronicle

In his award-winning novel Niki, Greek writer Christos Chomenidis tells the turbulent story of his mother and her family. But above all, he tells the reader about 30 years of troubled Greek history.Family chronicle With the captivating family chronicle Niki, awarded the Prix du Livre Européen two years ago, Greek writer Christos Chomenidis (1966) tells two histories: that of his mother Niki and... 

Writer Javier Zamora ©Apollo Fields

Writer Javier Zamora fled motherless alone from El Salvador to the US as a child: 'Only now do I sometimes feel happy'

When he was nine, Javier Zamora (33) travelled with the help of people smugglers from El Salvador to the United States, where his parents had been living for several years. For two months, he had no contact with his family and no one knew where he was. The deep marks this journey left only healed two decades later, partly through the writing of his memoir Solito.... 

After the End

A performance by Marmoucha featuring the dynamic duo of The Pig Factory, Mohammed Azaay and Karim El Guennouni. In a world of shadows and contrasts, Christiaan and Ali, each coloured by their own beliefs, are diametrically opposed. Their life experiences and circumstances have shaped their views and behaviour. Theatre-makers Mohammed Azaay and Karim El Guennouni take on a refreshingly outspoken and entertaining... 

The dark backrooms of the mind. Masterfully Philippe Claudel dissects human behaviour in his new novel 'Twilight'

In his new novel Twilight, Philippe Claudel dissects man's dark motives as usual. French author Philippe Claudel does not have an overly cheerful view of man, as his compellingly told novels show. Twilight is the latest shoot on the impressive tree of his oeuvre, and fits in seamlessly. As he did in previous novels such as Grey Souls (2003), The Report of Brodeck (2007)... 

Fourth edition of exhibition Collecting The City: Stories about Heron Forest, The Seafront and Museum around the Corner

From 23 February 2024 to 5 January 2025, a new edition of Collecting the City will be on show at the Amsterdam Museum on the Amstel. For the fourth time, museum and city join forces to bring stories of Amsterdam into the limelight. This time, the participating partners are Kazerne Reigersbos, Ongekend Zeedijk and Museum om... 

In Perspective #19: The Branch and the Blossom

In the series In Perspective, Erik Akkermans looks back and ahead at developments in cultural policy and practice. Today: cultural education in primary education. Ambitions of a new cabinet Spring 2003. The sun began to shine a little more and branches began to blossom. Here presented the metaphor that could serve as a title for the report that... 

Why the Culture Council's Design Thinking is going wrong

The 'Access to Culture' advice presented by the Council for Culture on Friday 25 January 2024 is causing quite a stir. The newsletter we wrote about it on Substack was eagerly received, even though it did not ask, let alone answer, all the questions raised by the advice. Since, at 230 pages, it has also become a rather voluminous document, it... 

Writer Federico Falco

Digging in the earth to dispel grief. The Plains is a beautiful, wistful novel by Federico Falco

In The Plains by Argentine writer Federico Falco, a writer returns to life in the country after breaking up with his lover. This makes for a beautiful, wistful novel about grief, origins and the nature of life itself. 'No single word tames grief. No word dispels it. No word can truly express it.' Those thoughts... 

Three performances by and at ZID Theatre in Amsterdam's Kolenkit neighbourhood during the National Theatre Weekend on 26, 27 and 28 January 2024

ZID Theatre creates multidisciplinary performances with very diverse talents, while also being a stage for these performances and for productions by other like-minded creators. We have therefore decided to open our doors for the second time for the nationalNational Theatre Weekend. What can you see at ZID? On Friday 26 January (8pm): the premiere of two performances: Circles by Issam... 

Access to culture; Towards a new system in 2029

People do not have equal access to culture in the Netherlands. This is because the supply of culture varies greatly from region to region. Also, artists or cultural institutions do not yet have an equal chance of financial support everywhere. There are calls for change from the cultural and creative field. Therefore, at the request of the State Secretary for Culture and Media on 26 January, the Council for Culture... 

Cinedans FEST '24

Cinedans exists 20 years! The anniversary edition Cinedans FEST '24 will take place from 20 to 24 March at Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam as well as online from 20 to 31 March on Cinedans WEB.For five days, Eye will be all about the international dance film with special highlights and premieres, including the arrival of special guest Celia Rowlson-Hall who will perform a... 

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