This week, photographer Erwin Olaf died, aged 64. Just before his 60th birthday, we interviewed him about his work, life and love. Olaf also spoke candidly about his illness, how it forced him to make choices ánd made him milder. 'I am in renewal,' he said. And: 'In my life, I have done everything I wanted to do.'
The hardest part of going back to work after the summer holidays are the holiday stories from colleagues. Or from yourself. That fantastic view, that unique campsite, that beautiful beach, that restaurant where you got the best food in the world for no money, that indigenous people you visited first with your tour bus. That moment of climate embarrassment that you had a few more...
Scored a new bullshit bingo card, today. 'Art must no longer tingle, I quit'. Big headline in a quality newspaper, with below it the terrible story of gallery owner Jeanette Dekeukeleires of Gallery Art Kitchen. The 60-year-old says she is quitting her job because nothing more is allowed. (Read the story here) For instance, she received complaints from young people about the famous PSP poster with that naked woman....
This is a pre-publication from the book The Art of Different, which will be available from 17 January 2023 via the author's site The arts sector is vulnerable, as was unmistakably demonstrated during the pandemic years. It is also clear that these are not just temporary setbacks, but problems of a structural nature. These were already in play before Corona but were anticipated...
For her new novel The Taxman, Ariëlla Kornmehl did not have to look far for her inspiration. From one day to the next, she herself became a protagonist in a story, as it turned out that her tax consultant harboured a silent obsession for her. "When I read all those observations about myself, I was in shock," she says. After the publication
On Monday 16 May, the Safe on the Floor conference took place at Amare (The Hague). This conference was organised to address transgressive behaviour at the workplace in the cultural sector and discuss how to tackle it. The conference was opened by state secretary of culture and media Gunay Uslu. During the opening, NAPK board member Ernestine Comvalius presented...
On nomination by the cabinet, Mariëtte Hamer will become government commissioner for sexual transgressive behaviour and sexual violence. Several incidents in recent years expose a broader issue on which action is required. With the new government commissioner, the cabinet wants to do more to raise awareness and create a safe culture, because intimidation and abuse do not belong in the Netherlands. In doing so, among other things, the culture should...
Minister of State and former chairman of the Council for Culture Winnie Sorgdrager is chairing the committee advising on countering cross-border behaviour in the cultural and creative sector. As previously announced, the council is setting up this committee in response to a request for advice from outgoing minister Van Engelshoven (OCW). The advice should provide insight into what is going on at...
It was supposed to be Ivo van Hove's big break on Broadway. And it was meant to be, but fate decided otherwise. It was announced today via US show news Variety that West Side Story, in Ivo van Hove's modern, raucous version, will not be revived. Despite a jubilant reception and virtually sold-out theatres,...
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.
My story about cultural big earners turned out to be the talk of the town in the cultural sector. Not publicly, i.e. mainly behind the scenes, I was approached. One of the few people who did speak out publicly was Henk Scholten. On Facebook, he responded to a column by journalist Aukje van Roessel about the questions raised by The Hague city council
In the Theatererkrant, 445 theatre makers posted an open letter addressed to Toneelgroep Oostpool, calling on creators and players to stop being afraid and report abuses to https://mores.online/. Summary of the foregoing: there were several complaints of sexual harassment by Oostpool's artistic director Marcus Azzini. An investigation ensued and Azzini...
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...
'I was harassed twice on my way to school last year.' The young actress, barely 15, says it with considerable anger in her voice. It is the morning after the Berlin premiere of the Chilean play Paisajes para no colorear, in which she plays along, with eight peers. That anger was there the previous evening, during the performance that 14...
Two private museums in the Netherlands have made human flesh the subject of an exhibition this autumn. In Bergen (NH) it is about Bare, and in Delden (Ov) it is about Nude. But where one exhibition (at Museum Kranenburg in Bergen) seems to be mainly an ode to the free-spirited 1970s and what happened afterwards, Museum No Hero in Delden puts...
Searching for what I stand for and what path I should take, time and again I come across facts that confuse and amaze me. I live in a country where only a single woman is in De Volkskrant top ten most influential people - in tenth place, that is. Only three out of 100 young Dutch millionaires...
Dutch youth theatre has been awarded the Prize of the Dutch Critics this year. Quite rightly so. That youth theatre of ours is of superior quality, diverse, dares to tell stories and look outside its own navel. It is more than a pity that, as an adult without a child, you don't come into contact with that theatre so often. Many an adult would fervently...
The premiere of the second season of Westworld takes place next week. I got to watch in advance. In case it doesn't ring a bell; Westworld is currently HBO's most popular series after Game of Thrones. Short synopsis: The show is set in the fictional Westworld: a technological Western theme park where the population consists entirely of synthetic androids, which are also...
Good news! The hashtag #metoo has finally led to action. There will be a hotline. The press release came today. 'The performing arts, film and television sectors have joined forces to launch an independent and umbrella hotline for sexual harassment.' This is more unique than you might think. In the performing arts, and certainly in the film and television sector, the situation is disastrous with the...
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