There is a bit of a buzz about Daan Roosegaarde. Again, we might say, because Daan Roosegaarde, it turns out, cannot be described as a creator of original work, but as someone with a rather remarkably sensitive antenna for other people's ideas. Which he then presents as his own work. From the article in the Volkskrant on this, one and...
Young artists, filmmakers, musicians, writers and other new thinkers are drowning in the effects of the Corona crisis, as a cry for help from Jett Rebel in de Volkskrant again showed. Assignments are falling away and there is little room for new initiatives. A whole generation of creative talents seems to be lost in jobs in the hospitality industry or at the GGD. The European Recovery Fund...
With his opinion piece in the Volkskrant, he drew the ire of gein manufacturers like Bert Brussen and Hans Teeuwen. In no uncertain personal attacks, 'Suck My Dick Zijp' was accused of having a 'gender-neutral rotten head', which showed that 'woke' people had no humour. Reason for the woke nerds, Marijn Lems and I, aka the...
Godfried Bomans died half a century ago. Almost immediately afterwards, the Netherlands' best-loved writer sank into oblivion. It is time for a reappraisal of Bomans' literary work and even his political views. I delved into the archives, also looking for the few traces of Bomans in Amersfoort. First some round figures. Seventy years ago, he delivered a lecture...
Rather unexpectedly, it was announced this week that cultural and entertainment venues will be test sites for reopening society next month. It came rather out of the blue, as everyone was still working on petitions and other pleas to reopen cultural buildings. After all, they have their corona protocols in place there better than the Albert Heijn on my corner....
Stage poetry is usually held in lower esteem than written poetry. While stage poets can touch so powerfully. Only during the Night of Poetry, every year in Utrecht, do we honour the performers among the poets. Then it's back to the 'jokers' who can rhyme, as was recently written about Ingmar Heytze in a podcast announcement. Spoken Word, the...
Wopke Hoekstra, would-be boss of the Netherlands, stood last week on the ice of an ice rink that was closed to all but Sven Kramer. Because of Corona. The CDA frontman received a justified storm of criticism. After Grapperhaus, the country's second top executive who thinks his own rules only apply to others. Last week, Laura van Dolron, played...
Weismann strikes me as too brilliant and intelligent a director to throw himself into an adventure that could break him for good. An alpha male, a big ego, it was well known. And couldn't keep his paws off young women.
'Writing this book has made me realise that I cannot prepare my children for the world in which they will be adults. I cannot teach them now what they will need later in a society that does not yet exist.'
Every dancer is nostalgic. Heroes or icons of the dance world are given a special and honourable stage place in the inspiration of young dancers, of choreographers and also of the public. So too Koert Stuyf and Ellen Edinoff, and their Contemporary Dance Foundation.
Disturbing reports, over the past few days, in various media. First, there was Patrick van IJzendoorn in De Volkskrant, who observed that life had moved away from London's business heartland. I saw a few confusedly delighted reactions come along from friends on my cultural timeline. After all, the article made a clear connection between the closure of museums and theatres and the...
On Monday 29 June, the Lower House will discuss the advice of the Council for Culture. An advice that, as the Volkskrant rightly noted on Friday 26 June, receives much more criticism than previous advice. In doing so, the newspaper reaffirms what we already wrote down immediately after its release on 4 June: there is a total lack of transparency, a...
An artists' protest in Albania deserves extra attention. Especially as EU accession negotiations resume. Indeed, the protest action is impressive and offers a view of EU accession from an interesting perspective. That of a people who are committed to democratic values, who value their own history and culture, who do not want to give way to...
The new year often starts with new insights and resolutions. A critical reflection can then help. We were therefore delighted to read the Volkskrant of 2 January, in which columnist and theatre critic Merlijn Kerkhof concludes that in 2020, he wants to enjoy all that the Netherlands has to offer in terms of culture a bit more often outside 020. And that is only right,...
As an intro, the percussionist of orchestra the prize of honour played a cadenza of air beats. When he unexpectedly gave a cutting blow on his snare drum, everyone was startled. Thus, with Bewegung ohne Bewegung for cello and ensemble by Jan van de Putte, opened the anniversary concert of the ensemble founded in 1979 by Wim Boerman. Last year,...
Real writers debut before the age of 30, some publishers say, but there are also publishers - and authors - who do not care about such conventions. Fortunately, because Niets is gelogen (Nothing is Lied), the debut novel by art historian Sacha Bronwasser (b. 1968), who is also a former art critic for de Volkskrant, is a great read. A book in which art, looking and feeling play a leading role. Funeral map Main character is...
This weekend, there was some fuss on Twitter. Something about a Nazi comparison that didn't quite work out. Now there is quite often a fuss on Twitter because of a Nazi comparison that doesn't quite work out, but this time it concerned one of our cultural figureheads. Kees Vlaardingerbroek, artistic director of the NTR Saturday matinee and former head of programming at the Rotterdam...
Some critics thought the opening performance of Festival Noorderzon in Groningen was so bad it made you cry. Others were less negative. Those certainly have a point. But then you have to look beyond what you are used to. When Bear, the hero of Noorderzon 2019's opening show, is imprisoned in a tower, he laments his fate through an eloquent yet sad...
That you cannot shamelessly treat a black man as a rutting primal beast and a faceless object for your unlimited lust fantasy as a white woman? Seems logical to me, but for Angélica Liddell, world-renowned performance artist, it is typical of the new puritanism that threatens free art. She now brings The Scarlet Letter to the Netherlands, a theatrical performance that is rather...
Recently, Kees Vlaardingerbroek, programmer of the NTRZaterdagMatinee published a plea against what he calls 'identity politics' in music. 'Bach was not a woman and not Western. So what?" reads the headline. In the subtitle, we read: 'If a composer is not a woman or Western, then it no longer fits into the classical canon.' Quite boldly put, because in any concert brochure you will find...
As good and fluent as writing poems and songs was for him, everyday life fell on him with difficulty. Writer Willem Wilmink grew into a folk hero of Twente, but remained a child at heart, according to the biography by literary critic Elsbeth Etty. 'Someone who, according to his best friend Herman Finkers, couldn't even hold a pair of scissors.'
'I work five nights a week and so I have to find out specifically when I can go to a concert. Sometimes I take time off for it. And then they do say, "hey, are you going to a concert again already?", and I say, "of course I'm going to a concert again". But I don't think it's extreme either.' Petra Gerritsen is process expert
'How many realities can we handle? For me, that is the theme of 2018. Those ladies from North Korea who were cheering, for example. But it was also in Halbe Zijlstra who had lied about Putin's dacha.' Greg Nottrot, theatre maker from Utrecht, had set out for this year to create an end-of-year performance that would capture the zeitgeist well....
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...
'Culture is about stimulating, fraternising, challenging. Then there is no difference between corso and ballet.' Says Thierry Aartsen on Friday 16 November in the Volkskrant. Thierry who? Thierry Aartsen, the one who will be speaking on culture at the VVD in the coming months. In the coming months? Yes, because VVD culture spokesmen are usually appointed for one or two debates, after which...
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