In the dead of night on 9-10 June, the restored Golden Coach was hoisted over the roof of the Amsterdam Museum in a wooden box. A special and spectacular moment that took place in the middle of the night because the tram lines had to be shut down for this major operation. Everything went well and the Golden Coach was lifted last night....
We are a bit done with sex, drugs & rock'n'roll in culture. At least, not in what is presented through our galleries, film screens and venues, but in how that comes about. Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven has asked the Council for Culture for advice, and the Council is going to set up a commission to do so. This was just announced via...
'To strengthen the position of self-employed workers, a regulation could be revisited that would make it easier to enter into several short-term contracts throughout the year with interim retention of benefits.' There is a lot of useful stuff in the Culture Council's advice published today, but this sentence made me the happiest. Not so happy yet...
Today I must write about A.L. Snijders, the totally idiosyncratic inventor of the Very Short Story. I have admired his work ever since I discovered it through Vrijstaat Austerlitz (1997-1999), a literary magazine that ran for only four issues. Those are probably the best literary magazines, the fewer issues they cover the better. Arjan Witte and Tommy Wieringa, two of the founders...
For the exhibition of the anniversary programme Vive le Cinéma! Art & Film, Eye Filmmuseum and the Rotterdam Film Festival invited five filmmakers to create work for the three-dimensional space. Intriguing installations that play with camera and viewer, image and meaning.
Swart Gat/ Golden Age (Dunguu olo - katibo-ten) is a theatrical installation about Amsterdam's slavery past and Maroon culture from Suriname. The concept is by Tolin Erwin Alexander, Berith Danse and designer Bartel Meyburg. The theatrical installation, which has lost none of its urgency, has been further finished and will start again in summer 2021! From 17 June (19 June...
England is closed. The culture minister happily reports that artists can tour Europe again, as long as they do not go outside Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. We've always taken an ambitious approach in negotiations on touring artists, including in my meeting with @AbidRaja last month. Delighted that our new trade deal with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein will allow musicians, performers...
There are reasons not to live in Belgium, but yesterday I was intensely longing for an evening with my southern neighbours. After all, they have 'testing for admission' in the cultural sector just a little better regulated than here. When I attended a 'testing for access' performance in Antwerp, there was a tent in front of the theatre entrance where I walked in, with a time appointment, a...
Theatre Festival Boulevard 's-Hertogenbosch will take place from Thursday 5 to Sunday 22 August 2021. The 37th festival edition features over 120 different performances, concerts, performances and installations in theatres, at unique locations and in the Zuiderpark. We also move into the night with Fomo Fatale, club nights with steaming sounds. The Zuiderpark serves as a new, spacious festival heart, including the...
For the fifth edition of Theatre on Tour, Concordia and Wilminktheatre and Muziekcentrum Enschede are looking for location theatre makers. In the festival programme, we have reserved two special locations: the Redemptorist Park, on the border between the Netherlands and Germany, and the quay of the Enschede Rowing Association Thyro. On 18 and 19 September, Concordia and Wilminktheatre and Muziekcentrum Enschede will organise for the fifth...
The busiest year ever in the career of word artist Babs Gons (49) gets its crowning moment with the publication of her first book of poetry, Do it anyway. A debut that, for Gons herself, feels more like a farewell than a beginning. 'For a performer like me, paper as a form is very definitive.' Erosion and sprawl Do it anyway is called
Choreographer Ernst Meisner (1982) is artistic coordinator of the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company and artistic director of the National Ballet Academy. As a former dancer, he knows that you have to get out of the rehearsal studio, onto the stage. That's why he makes sure his dancers and dancers-in-training keep dancing in front of an audience as much as possible, even if the performances are online because of corona. 'I...
The Amsterdam Museum will open its doors on Saturday 5 June after a closure of more than six months. From Saturday, visitors can revisit the museum at its primary location on Kalverstraat and the Amsterdam Museum wing of the Hermitage. On 1 July, Museum Willet-Holthuysen will also open after major maintenance. Visitors can visit the Amsterdam Museum in addition to its permanent offerings...
Dutch composer, producer, singer and performer Thomas Azier will be artist in residence at TivoliVredenburg in August 2021. Over four days, he will play four different concerts in four different venues. The talent of Dutch composer, producer, singer and performer Thomas Azier is actually too big for our little country - which is why, from the age of 19, he also bivouacked a lot in...
For five years, writers Maartje Wortel and Niña Weijers walked endless laps through the Oosterpark every day. When that suddenly came to an end, Wortel was suddenly confronted with herself in a big way. 'I didn't feel I had anything to hold on to anymore'. Cheerfully waving, Maartje Wortel (38) approaches, a full bag of groceries in hand. 'Not handy no, for a walking interview,' observes...
Gerardjan Rijnders is considered one of the great theatre innovators of the post-1969 Dutch theatre field. Because he became personally involved in Aktie Tomaat and the Maagdenhuis occupation as a teenager, he is the ideal person to shine his light on current emancipatory developments within the theatre field. In the first part of the conversation, we talk...
'Are we ready? Yes. Is everything ready? No, far from it, because it is all very complex. But in the end the jubilation now prevails, because until a week and a half ago we didn't even know if we were allowed.' In this Nerd podcast, Emily Ansenk, director of the Holland Festival for the second year, tells Marijn Lems and Wijbrand
The Holland Festival kicks off on 3 June with Rudi Stephan's performance Die ersten Menschen by De Nationale Opera, a stream of async at the Park Avenue Armory by Ryuichi Sakamoto and Stephen Nomura Schible, and the first episode of the podcast Soft Valkyrie by David Kanaga. State government permission Last week, the Holland Festival received permission from...
Sometime in 2022, if you can again, please go to a theatre where you can see 'Sadness is the thing with feathers'. There you can watch and listen to Jesse Mensah's phenomenal talent - if he hasn't won the Song Contest before then - and experience the magic that sticks to Jacob Derwig. Forget, before then...
What does culture visit after corona look like? The topic came up regularly on this site in recent months. I myself wrote two personal contributions on it. Now that cultural institutions may almost reopen their doors, the crystal ball is giving way to reality. In my article on 'the promise of the empty hall', I noted a reluctance to...
An ode to grief. If pain is made into something superficial, can sadness still exist as a connection between people? Spread the sadness - a miss election of tears is an ode to sadness. A tear-jerking performance about shaping your own pain and appropriating someone else's. About how suffering affects your identity and sadness leads to...
Dutch pianist/composer Matteo Myderwyk will be artist in residence at TivoliVredenburg in June and July 2021. Over three weeks, he will play four different concerts in four different venues.* Matteo Myderwyk was trained as a classical pianist, but decided to throw off all musical rules and laws after the conservatory. His goal: to make music in the moment. That's how he ended up...
With its closing chapter, the International Film Festival Rotterdam celebrates its 50th anniversary from 2 to 6 June. And the celebration of cinema. At least online. But whether audiences can experience the real festival feeling again in the theatres is far from certain. Opening film is The World to Come.
Five authors have a chance to win the 2021 Golden Noose, the award for the best suspense book. The nominees are: René Appel - Overschot (Ambo|Anthos) Bernice Berkleef - Bloedsteen (The House of Books) Toni Coppers - De moord op Arno Linter (Manteau) Hugo Luijten - Undercover. All or nothing (Lannoo) Saskia Noort - Bonus child (The House of Books) The five nominees...
'The book is a declaration of love to Niña, I dedicated it to her unborn child.' Writer Maartje Wortel (38) lived right by Amsterdam's Oosterpark until recently. Her friend and fellow writer Niña Weijers lived on the other side. For five years, they walked laps of the park together, sometimes several times a day. In The Groove, Carrot tells about...
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