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Nieuws

bIKe Theaterwerkplaats De Rest

Zaterdag, 18 juni 2011, werd op Het Grote Restfeest, de afsluiting van het cursusprogramma van Theaterwerkplaats De Rest, de installatie bIKe geopend. Fietsend op een oude omafiets hoor je verhalen van jongeren uit de Gemeente Stichtse Vecht die dagelijks kilometerslange trajecten fietsen tussen huis en school. Je hoort waar ze zich mee bezig houden, wat ze onderweg zien, en je kan je eigen ervaringen als ‘kilometervreter’ inspreken. Die zullen onderdeel uitmaken van de tweede fase van het project, bIKe Live.
 

De installatie is onderdeel van een driejarig traject rond de kilometervreters en is in 2011 regelmatig op straat opgedoken in Stichtse Vecht! In 2012 werkt De Rest aan een vervolg op basis van alle verhalen over fietsbelevenissen die de jongeren hen hebben toevertrouwd.

 

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Arts in Conflict

  • Iran, Madonna, art?

    woensdag 15 februari 2012 11:10:43

    With media headlines on Israeli fans of Madonna asking thier government to postpone bombing of Iran till after Madonna’s concert in Tel Aviv I had to think of a mail from Kirsten Heshusius, a Dutch artist, who worked and continues to work in Iran, which I received last week. One could say she was provoked by the one sided stories on Iran in the Western press to just go there and have a look herself. Unlike most others, she did actually leave to look around in Iran. Why? To bring closer what seems far away. To find similarities rather than differences. She made a performance on her first encounters with Iran, its’ history, its’ people which took her to Oerol, one of the Netherland’s finest festivals. Readers of this blog who understand Dutch might wanna see a glimpse of that performance here. But the idea of diving into Iran didn’t stop there. Living the title of her performance “When you eat something here that contains salt, you will keep coming back” she continued her project. Since 2011 in cooperation with Edd Vossen, see what they are up to here. Now this isn’t an extraordinary thing to happen – artists diving underneath the radar of media coverage of certain countries, debunking certain attitudes or even countering propaganda. But what strikes me in most of the outcomes of various of these endeavours is the focus on socalled normality. Whereas politics apparently need antagonistic sides, artists look for common ground. And more often than not a certain nostalgia plays a role in these projects. A nostalgia for better times. For times in which Iran wasn’t one of the few remaining axes in that Bush proclaimed Axis of … well, you know. The times before the 1979 revolution. As various as possible these artefacts came to my mind instantly. The enchanting stories by Eefje Blankevoort in her book “In secret everything is possible here”, the collection of materials she collected for the IISG. The sounds on the recently published CD “Rangarang – Pre-revolutionary Iranian pop“  by the golddiggers of Vampisoul.  Some of the tracks are available for listening at soundcloud . And the found footage items at the great blog Shahrefarang, including this series of pictures of martyrs in everyday city life. Don’t all these examples show how art plays a simple role? A role of bringing people back to normality when the surroundings are absurd. Offering some breathing space. Not that the Israeli Madonna fans are likely to become advocates for Iran, but perhaps they should have a look at some of the blogs mentioned here, just to realize we all smoke cigarets….

  • Old dizzy Europe as a fresh untold story or a mellow hallucination

    donderdag 9 februari 2012 15:31:28

    Comixiade is an international network of artists with a focus on graphic narratives and comics. The project is an initiative of the Dutch cultural organization Platform Spartak and developed further in many different European countries, connecting scenes of designers, animators, writers, poets, book-binders, political activists, storytellers, dissidents and actors. The central figure is a Tintin-like journalist called Osvald. He is a quirky and somewhat sleazy asthmatic. Like Europe itself, he has dabbled in many things – from music to journalism. But he remains an inquisitive dreamer. This helps him to cope whenever he wakes up in a new, usually anonymous, location. Whether it’s in an airport, bus-stop, alley, public square or shopping mall, the always slightly dazed Osvald is driven to constantly re-invent his identity and memories through the people and stories he encounters. For over a year, Comixiade has been organizing international gatherings of young artists. During these so-called ‘comic jams’, they were given one week to turn a number of comic scenario’s into comic strips, working together using their individual styles, learning and getting to know each other in the process. The stories reflect on current events but with a special approach: sometimes melancholic, mostly abstract and often multi-layered and confusing. Take for example the tales about Serbian show-monkey Sami, vegetable-vendor Mechmed or the melancholic Russian lady Tatiana to see what Comixiade is all about. Meanwhile, at home, many more comic artists create their own stories about Osvald and his pet pig, Carmen. These stories are being published on www.comixiade.org but will also be published in a book, which will be Comixiade’s final project in 2012. However, the production of this book still needs extra funding, so Comixiade started an IndieGogo crowdfunding campaign. Read all about it here and and donate here, and help Comixiade fullfill it’s deepest wish: a gorgeous labyrinthical book!

  • War photography

    woensdag 25 januari 2012 15:13:05

    Still on show in FOAM, Amsterdam’s photography museum, till the 5th of February: Stanley Greene. He is a war photographer. And was active in regions such as Chechnya, Iraq, Rwanda and Sudan. Besides being a photographer he also is one of the founders of NOOR . At show in Amsterdam is not only his work, but, surprisingly enough, pics from his private life as well. The burden of working in such intense circumstances as war photographers do surely has consequences for private lifes. Everybody who has seen the documentary War Photographer on James Nachtwey’s life knows so. In the book and project Black Passport Stanley Greene offers us an insight in his life and his doubts concerning his work. And that reminds me of a story I read last week. Dutch photographer Roel Visser published a story on the why and how of conflict photography. Why would we want to see that? Why would newspapers want to publish that? Why would photographers go out and take those pictures? All arguments in favor of taking, publishing and seeing those papers revolve around the question of raising awareness, of “stories that the world needs to know”. And hell, argues Visser, that argument has been the same ever since. And the world did not yet become a better place for all of us. In the North war photography shocks us, yes, but than reaffirms us in our comfort zone. War photography than becomes kind of ‘disaster porn’ – satisfying our need for news fixes. War photography than becomes a cynical business. A business of cynicism Renzo Martens touches upon in his project Enjoy Poverty. Click, see and decide for yourself. By the way, if you want to elaborate on questions like these. Next week Friday, 3rd of February, FOAM organizes a night with Stanley Greene, Teun van der Heijden and Arnold Karskens. These professionals talk about the idealism of photographers, the addiction the work provokes, and the perception of the audience of their work.

  • Art of revolution II

    donderdag 17 november 2011 23:02:06

    Lebanese singer and underground hero Zeid Hamdan is coming to the Netherlands. Last summer Zeid caused some waves when he was arrested by Lebanese authorities  for a song he posted online more than a year ago. It seemed as Lebanon, a country ‘escaping’ many of the Arab Spring unrest, wanted to make up. As you can see in this beautiful timeline of the Guardian Lebanon saw none of the unrest surrounding countries had to face. But of course, they had more than their share over the last decades. In the song General Suleiman is kindly asked to step down. Well, apparently he wasn’t planning on doing so. Zeid Hamdan will be performing in  Amsterdam where cultural centre de Balie is  hosting a great weekend programm on the Art of Revolution II. Check here for his performance. And here for some other parts of the programm. De Balie’s website announces the weekend as follows: The second weekend of December De Balie presents in cooperation with Dancing on the Edge a versatile festival with cutting edge, contemporary art and culture from the Middle East. Curator Neil van der Linden also presents a great programm of clips and storytelling on the saturday afternoon. Don’t miss out on this festval…

  • Eastern Neighbours

    woensdag 19 oktober 2011 15:37:56

    Since a few years Utrecht, homebase to this blog, has the luck of having the Eastern Neighbours Film Festival taking place in this town. Intention of the main organizers Aleksandar Velinovksi, Rada Sesic and Mak Kapetanovic was to bring those countries not yet in the EU into focus by presenting the best films of these eastern neighbours. One can say they did make quite an appearance on the festival scene: suddenly the LHC cinema was bustling with languages that were not spoken so loud in this little town. One could hear all Jugoslav accents, smoking was a logic thing and the concerts by amongst others Fatima Spar connected all present. In the words of the festival organizers: ”We feel that cinema brings people closer to each other, makes them understand each other’s culture better and deeper, gives an inside view into the mentality and history of our neighbours, makes us appreciate and enjoy each other genuinely.” With Western European countries closing the borders again, and at some points acting against the Schengen Agreements allowing EU members free travel within the Schengen countries, it is necessary to have cultural artefacts such as films stating people there are just as here: people. Policymakers do have the same urge and some official conferences were called together – to no avail it seems. Now that the Iron Wall is no longer there, the differing historical backgrounds do play a role. According to the article Seven circles of European memory the European nations still need to develop a common story, a shared history. One country that deserves some special attention in these matters is Turkey. Since decades the country is an associate memberstate of the EU, but never did it become a full member. This reluctant approach pushed elites in Turkey to develop stronger ties looking east- and southwards. Now with Turkey’s economy booming the EU needs to come to terms with a feeling of ‘ooops, something went wrong here’. In addition to this the Netherlands and Turkey share 400 years of diplomatic ties in 2012. In this perspective as well – it might be the right country to put in focus at this years’ festival.

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    T. +31(0)30 239 38 90
    F. +31(0)30 239 38 91
    info@vredevanutrecht.nl