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Follow Van Gogh's footsteps in Drenthe.

On 11 September 1883, Vincent van Gogh disembarked at Hoogeveen train station. Away from The Hague's urbanisation and back to nature. The painter spends months in the area around Hoogeveen, Nieuw-Amsterdam/Veenoord and goes to Zweeloo for a day. He uses his period in Drenthe to unwind and experiment with themes, colours and... 

Amsterdam Museum runs conversational campaign for Golden Coach

The Amsterdam Museum is running an innovative campaign for the exhibition The Golden Coach in collaboration with various agencies and creatives. Sharing knowledge and starting a national conversation about the controversial carriage is the goal. Head of Communications & Marketing at the Amsterdam Museum Maurice Seleky explains why this was chosen: ''The exhibition The Golden Coach tells... 

Ryan van den Akker plays Hiroshima in a child's soul; Voice of Alfred Jodocus Kwak comes to Enschede

At Concordia and the Vestzaktheatre, many performances continue as a live stream. On Saturday 13 March, for instance, Ryan van den Akker (known in musical leading roles such as Cyrano, My Fair Lady, Elisabeth, De Jantjes) will drop by with her performance 'Hiroshima in a child's soul'. A unique, personal narration of a poignant and terrifying story from her childhood. Theatre programmer Ellen Peters: "I find... 

Between heaven and hell: Frank Westerman on our fascination with the cosmos

At the time Covid-19 flattened normal life, Frank Westerman had fortunately already done his research for his new book. To take care of his parents, he was suddenly living 'at home' again for three months, in his boyhood room on the outskirts of Assen. Writing offered him the chance to escape to heavenly realms: Cosmic Comedy is about the human... 

Testament of Herman Finkers: don't brood on this wonderful life

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) was a composer, scientist, writer, doctor, mystic and founder of a convent. So a Catholic nun, but one who did explore female orgasm. The latter paradox resonates, Herman Finkers obviously realised when he wrote the screenplay for 'The Legs of St Hildegard'. Hildegard's description of orgasm read: 'When a woman makes love... 

Drenthe landscape fascinates and enchants in Barbizon of the North

With the storm of publicity, Vincent van Gogh's 'Weeds Burning Farmer' (1883) seems to be the star of the new exhibition Barbizon of the North - The Discovery of the Drenthe Landscape 1850-1950. The centrepiece of the exhibition, as befits a good diva, is still some time away. It is 'fashionably late'. However, a spot has already been reserved. The... 

Art cannot be exclusive enough. At Festival Noorderzon, everyone can experience it for themselves 

Police sirens sound less frequently in Groningen than in a city like Amsterdam. When they sounded last Wednesday night, it was because residents of the premises behind the local art academy, Minerva, raised the alarm. Standing on the roof was not an owl, but an almost naked man shouting that he was going to rob the Coop. Mads Wittermans, the actor in question, had forgotten the... 

These painters had to shape the identity of their country. Drents museum shows result of 19th century pursuit of Italian nation-state.

Antonio Mancini, Lorenzo Delleani and Fillippo Palizzi, who does not know these influential Italian painters? Apparently a lot of people don't. Don't feel guilty, even for many art historians the names don't ring a bell. This is in contrast to Caravaggio, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Bernini and Titian. These artists need little introduction: Italian art, culture and identity are usually drawn from... 

With the Drents Museum back in time to forgotten Nubia- Land of the Black Pharaohs

When one thinks of pharaohs, one quickly thinks of Egypt, the land of pyramids and the Nile. However, south of Egypt - in the Nile region of present-day Sudan - kings and pharaohs also ruled. This area was called Nubia. For a long time, this culture and society was portrayed as a colony of Egypt. Unjustly so. The new exhibition Nubia- Land of the... 

Writer Rachel Kushner: 'All my former friends went down the wrong path' Critical novel about the US prison world

In her novel Club Mars, writer Rachel Kushner shows what the life of an inmate looks like inside the four walls. 'I like to include people in my life who have been made invisible in our society,' she says. No mercy Thousands of women are incarcerated in Chowchilla, the jail that was the model for Rachel Kushner's writing of Club Mars. Kushner's... 

Walking around a bazaar full of exclusive merchandise: new exhibition at Drents Museum on Iran as the cradle of civilisation

The feeling of walking around in a bazaar straight out of one of the fairy tales of a thousand - and - one nights. Your eyes feast; colourful Persian carpets, atmospheric lanterns and exclusive 'merchandise'. With the new exhibition Iran- Cradle of Civilisation, the Drents Museum takes visitors to one of the oldest civilisations in the world. For the... 

When words become weapons, listening is pointless. Frank Westerman at festival Winternachten on negotiating with terrorists.

In the 1970s, a wave of terror swept through Europe. A wave that claimed far more victims in our regions than the Islamic violence to date. During literature festival Winternachten, from 18 to 22 January in The Hague, it is about the struggle for freedom, about us against them. On Saturday afternoon 21 January, Frank Westerman and Mohsin Hamid will discuss the... 

This is guaranteed to make you happy. How artist collective toyism has continued to surprise for 25 years

They have been around for 25 years but are buzzing as if they were founded yesterday. With the creation of a work of art at Eelde airport - to be followed live from today - as well as exhibitions at 25 locations in and around Groningen, the artists of the international artists' collective toyism are celebrating their anniversary. The artists of toyism in Iceland ©Marc Brester/AQM Quirky, original and committed are... 

Your city's future hangs by a steel thread

Does your town suffer from vacancy? Is the city centre poorly accessible? Are you looking for a tourist attraction or a unique logo? A cable car solves all your problems. Your municipality can still benefit despite the great interest from all over the Netherlands in this new means of transport. But above all, don't listen to me, but to everyone before me. Clean and sustainable alternative In Groningen... 

Marcel Möring: 'Only in my study do I feel at home'

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... 

(Un)heard in December: So close the hammers hit your forehead

Each month, in the (Un)heard series, I present extraordinary sound that does not go unnoticed and unsung. In this December edition: Brume, Cinema Perdu, Emanuele de Raymondi, Mark Fell, Zeno van den Broek and James O'Callaghan. Like a vise around the neck Brume - Mother Blast (LP, Grautag) Nicolas Moulin's Grautag label guarantees dystopian soundscapes. Those landscapes the label presents... 

Our actors are burnt out, audiences have lost their way. Save the theatre!

This play is going to cost me a lot of friends, but it needs to get out. After all, the theatre industry is doing badly. And I can see more and more clearly where that is due to. And for once it's not Halbe Zijlstra. Or the VVD, or the population, or the Netherlands in general, or the zeitgeist. And it's not because of Netflix either... 

Legendary cello gets new player: 'Just play it like a bear with socks on'

Recently, Lidy Blijdorp (* 1986) took over the cello of well-known cellist Anner Bijlsma (* 1934). It was his wish for the instrument to be played by her from now on. Via the Netherlands Music Instruments Fund (NMF), the instrument came to her. The maker of this cello is not known. However, it is certain that it originated from... 

Catinka Kersten and Dick van Broekhuizen look on at the placement (author's photo)

Catinka Kersten in Images by the Sea - one year after academy

Museum Beelden aan Zee placed a concrete sculpture by 26-year-old artist Catinka Kersten on the patio at the end of March: 'And everyone held their breath during that fraction of centuries'. It consists of five concrete human figures stacked on top of each other, which appear to be made of fabric. Kersten completed her studies at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague in 2013 with a series of hunting animals in plaster and cotton. The museum, with associated scientific institute and plaster library, is considered one of the figureheads of sculpture in the Netherlands. How did this museum come to choose such a young artist and what does inclusion in its collection mean for her?

Meppelgate! (1) Actress talks up Melle Daamen from New York: Thank God not to Meppel!

What does the canalside have against Drenthe anyway? Now Marieke Heebink again. It started with Yvonne Kroonenberg who, after a visit to Assen, spoke of "Simple people with those classic Drenthe heads, but with expressionless eyes. I walked around there and tried to understand those people in the same way I try to immerse myself in the spiritual life of animals." Afterwards, Kroonenberg rushed to... 

Photo: Wijbrand Schaap

Joop Daalmeijer Marathon (closing): 'But who knows anything about it? They are all generalists sitting there.'

Wijbrand Schaap: 'The amateur arts. I experienced the cuts myself at the Utrecht Centre for the Arts in Utrecht. First, they were heavily cut back there back in 2001 under Leefbaar. They survived that, and now they were just slightly on top...' Marathon interviewAfter the fuss around Melle Daamen's opinion piece on art policy, we... 

Final edition of Springdance closes convincingly with premiere of nonstop intense concert by Meyers, Sehgal and the REDUX ORCHESTRA

For the second time during Springdance, artists and audience share the stage of Utrecht's Stadsschouwburg. REDUX ORCHESTRA, conducted by composer Ari Benjamin Meyers, plays his Symphony X, a pulsating, up-beat (120 p/m) minimal work. Spectators, conductor and musicians - can you just call them musicians? - merge into one big, extremely subtle, participatory choreography of... 

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