By now, we are a little surrounded by voting guides and electoral compasses. There is one for every area of policy. What to vote for if you have a beating heart for art? The Correspondent gave a nice little overview the other day. It showed that art is indeed a hobby of mainly left-wing parties, at least when it comes to subsidised art. Art...
A prelaunch of the Opera Forward Festival OFF [hints]From 18 to 31 March at De Nationale Opera (formerly the Muziektheater/Stopera)[/hints], among other venues, was organised last night at Amsterdam's new society Sexyland. I was impressed. Pretty surprising. Opera Nopera Disclaimer: the author of this one is not an opera director. The last two operas I saw were both by Philip Glass (the true...
Brief summary. On Wednesday afternoon, I went to the presentation of the important award (actually two: audience award and jury award) called Code Cultural Diversity Award. I did not see a single fellow journalist(s). What I did see were lots of professional advocates speaking on behalf of people who were barely present themselves in the Galaxy. NB: the author is of Aruban-Chinese-Dutch descent and in no way wants to undermine the urgency of the issue of diversity...
Shimmering. Wondrous, ferocious. Poetic, powerful. Creative and humorous. Musical. Engaging. Layered. Spirited. A few days after my concert visit, words like these keep bubbling to the surface. And even though the Eef van Breen Group (EvBG) with Chapman for President is a typical case of 'especially go there', 'hear for yourself' and 'cannot be described', I'll make an effort. In the beginning My...
During the big January cleaning in my private museum, I rediscovered the book released in 2007, on the occasion of the Music Building on the IJ, which opened two years earlier. I had forgotten that it came with a CD with four pieces on it. The fourth piece is a recording of the opening speech given by Jan Wolff [hints]former director IJsbreker, more than twenty...
The Berlinale claims to be the most political film festival, but are we much wiser from the label 'political cinema'? Django, about the legendary Django Reinhardt, opened the 67th edition.
The Jurriaanse zaal in de Doelen is the setting for a Masterclass by French filmmaker Olivier Assayas (1955), an old friend of the International Film Festival Rotterdam. His is the following typical quote: 'Filming the face of an actor is, in my opinion, the most powerful thing cinema is capable of. If the frame is right, if...
Something with straight lines and planes and primary colours. We all get that far with De Stijl. But did you know that there was also Style music and that a mechanical figure danced to that, er, Style? Let's get things straight before the Mondrian to Dutch Design exhibition season begins. 1. Mondrian was not the big man of De Stijl Piet...
There are those, including in the arts, who still think the world has not changed for good. Who suspect that a vote for a culture-friendly party will at a stroke turn back the clock eight years. Those people will wake up after 15 March to a new world, even if the Netherlands has suddenly chosen whether or not...
Belgian writer Annelies Verbeke cleverly combines seriousness and absurdism in her new collection of short stories Halleluja. The collection once again makes clear why the Belgian writer has sometimes been called the 'diva of the short story'. Like all her work, the new collection Halleluja contains, in addition to a more serious touch, plenty of funny, absurdist and sometimes even surrealistic situations and...
The positive effects of culture are demonstrated again and again. It is high time the sector used these facts in improving its image. Our western and southern neighbours have boosted the image of culture with a number of successful initiatives. The sports sector is another example of image building that the cultural sector can learn from. There...
Writers Unlimited could hardly have chosen a more appropriate theme for this year's literary festival Winternachten: Is this the real life? That question will be on many a mind when the new president of the United States is inaugurated on Friday. Fortunately, some eighty writers who do have something meaningful to say about the state of...
Dissatisfied with the city's art policy, visual artists are leaving Amersfoort. Not physically, but with their work. In the coming year, they will exhibit together in numerous places in the Netherlands. They largely leave their own hometown behind. They have little faith in the municipality's newly developed cultural vision. Why? You can read about that below. And also that their own...
Gerard de Kleijn is leaving on 1 February after six years as director at Museum Gouda. The flamboyant, eloquent and erudite director leaves behind a financially and artistically healthy Museum for his successor Marc de Beyer. De Kleijn made the museum more accessible to Gouda residents and art lovers from outside the historic city. In 2016, the museum attracted around 40,000...
His two internationally successful novels Oorlog en terpentijn (War and turpentine) and De bekeerlinge (The convert) take Stefan Hertmans around the world. But the social side of life it clashes with his desire for solitude. Six life questions to Flemish author Stefan Hertmans. 'When I am alone, I find myself.' 1. What is your recurring dream? 'For fifty years, I have had to...
In contemporary dance, artistic leaders are often in place for decades, at least in the Netherlands. This week, Leo Spreksel announced his departure from Korzo, as of September 2017. After 29 years, the director and programmer of dance at the theatre and production house in The Hague is calling it a day, because "in the Netherlands, commercialisation pushes away the voice of artists: procedures and formats are...
Geert Wilders was quick off the mark, after the attack in Berlin, posting a photoshopped picture of Angela Merkel with blood on her hands. The message was all too clear. Even more opportunistic and shocking was the list posted half a day later by Martin Bosma, media and culture spokesman. Bosma's tweet included a list of names. Caption "These...
Het Veem is a small but important theatre and unofficial production house overlooking the Houthavens in Amsterdam. The house has long been home to internationally operating contemporary performing arts. A place where the artist and his or her experimental work are still central. Since Anne Breure became director in 2014, it bears the addition House of Performance. With...
For his documentary on the refugee issue, Guido Hendrikx chose an unusual form. In a schoolroom in Sicily, a teacher played by an actor confronts the migrants with the hard facts about Europe.
During her lifetime, Astrid Lindgren received almost seventy-five thousand letters from fans all over the world. The creator of headstrong characters such as Pippi Longstocking, the Lionheart Brothers and Ronja the Robber's Daughter was at least as headstrong herself. This is clear from the voluminous biography This Day, One Life. Back to Näs, where Astrid Lindgren grew up and still lives on. Playing, playing, playing...
I tell you here why you should go to see Parsifal, and not even just because of the object by Anish Kapoor that plays a part in it. And you could also go to theatre one day, by the way. With The Girls. Fel theatre by our very best theatre company (according to Americans). The National Opera, Parsifal (opera) Four years ago, I attended Pierre Audi's...
The 2016 Autumn Consultation. This annual evening of debate around burning issues in the film industry revealed above all that the industry is far from being on the same page.
Yesterday, the chamber made €10 million available for the arts. This brings the tally of government cuts to at least €190,000,000 still. This hard-won extra is the last thing that could be asked for. Everyone agrees, the new system has been definitively embraced. The protest has made itself redundant now that the compromise has been made. And what have we got...
In 1975, jazz musician Misha Mengelberg and artist Wim T. Schippers organised Een behoorlijk kabaal (Quite a racket) at Amsterdam's Mickery Theatre. For a week, they explore the different meanings of a concert in 'inimitable musical theatre'. Jacqueline Oskamp chose it as the title of her recently published book describing Dutch music history of the past century. Sad conclusion: there is...
The National Opera & Ballet is among the showpieces of Dutch cultural policy. And rightly so. Like the Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Rijksmuseum, the opera and dance company is among the absolute world's best. That comes with a price tag. A hefty price tag. In the case of The National Opera: €24,420,000, in the case of The National Ballet: €6,950,000. Soon there will be a...
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