Volume 3, Issue 47
WEEKOF 30 NOVEMBER TO 6 DECEMBER 2006 Inside: Music, Film, Art and Events
FREE EVERY WEDNESDAY
STRAIGHT OUTTA OSDORP POSSE LOOKS BACK DOES A NON-GOD EXIST? PAGE 4 A LYNCH NIGHT OUT PAGE 4 HANS HOF, A DECADE OF DOTTY DANCING PAGE 7 SEVEN UNMARKED GRAVES PAGE 8 SKELETONS COME OUT OF THE CLOSET PAGE 17 HIPHOP’S DUTCH TOUCH PAGE 23
FRANK KOK
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Amsterdam Weekly
ATTACHMENTS Contents: On the cover Def P and IJsblok tell it like it is. Photo by Frank Kok.
Features Does God exist? . . . . . . . . . 4 David Lynch . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Artvertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Windowatch . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Osdorp x 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Hans Hof x 10 . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Unmarked graves x 7. . . . . 8
Going out Short List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Clubs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Gay & Lesbian . . . . . . . . . . 13 Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Death x 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Film. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 The Queen . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Black Soil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Film Times. . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Plus The Glutton . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Eefje Wentelteefje . . . . . . 27
Amsterdam Weekly is a free cultural paper distributed every Wednesday in Amsterdam. Paid subscriptions are available on request. For details, write to info@amsterdamweekly.nl. Contents of Amsterdam Weekly are copyright 2006 Amsterdam Weekly BV. All rights reserved. Winner of 3 European Newspaper Awards Amsterdam Weekly BV De Ruyterkade 106, 1011 AB Amsterdam Tel: 020 522 5200 Fax: 020 620 1666 www.amsterdamweekly.nl General info: info@amsterdamweekly.nl Agenda listings: agenda@amsterdamweekly.nl Advertising: sales@amsterdamweekly.nl PUBLISHER Todd Savage EDITOR Steve Korver ASSISTANT EDITOR Kim Renfrew AGENDA EDITOR Steven McCarron FILM EDITOR Julie Phillips PROOFREADER Karina Hof EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Sarah Gehrke ART DIRECTOR Bas Morsch PRODUCTION MANAGER Aquil Copier PRODUCTION DESIGNERS Rogier Charles, Mattijs Arts SALES ASSOCIATES Haitske van Asten, Alexander Gan, Simon Poole, Justin Rink, Carolina Salazar OPERATIONS MANAGER Monique Gruter OPERATIONS ASSISTANT Desislava Pentcheva DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Patrick van der Klugt DISTRIBUTION INTERN Chris Tian FINANCIAL ADVISER Kurt Schmidt, Veresis Consulting PRINTER Het Volk Printing ISSN 1872-3268 THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS Willem de Blaauw, Anuschka Blommers, Natasha Cloutier, Floris Dogterom, Angela Dress, Willeke Duyvekam, Sarah Gehrke, Matt Groening, Monique Gruter, Arnoud Holleman, Luuk van Huët, Johanna Ketola, Frank Kok, Jeroen de Leijer, Nick Leslie, Guy Patrick Livingstone, Steven McCarron, Kim Renfrew, Jaro Renout, Marinus de Ruiter, Sanstitre, Suzanne Schreve, Niels Schumm, Shain Shapiro, Ernest Utermark and Susan Youssef.
21 LEAVES by Arnoud Holleman
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AROUND TOWN
Oh my God? Theological debate on science, Sint and stroopwafels. By Floris Dogterom The location was apt, the guests well-chosen and the topic—does God exist?—promised a heated discussion. Yet it was an all but lively debate last Sunday, in former Catholic church De Duif on Prinsengracht. Publishing house Nieuw Amsterdam was one of the organisers of the talk, to mark the publication of the Dutch translation of Richard Dawkins’ much-discussed book The God Delusion. In the book, the world-famous evolutionary biologist, demonstrates the proposition that God doesn’t exist and claims that the world would be a better place without religion. Three speakers were given the opportunity to advance a proposition. Philosopher René van Woudenberg explained that he is a man of science as well as believer. He distinguished between the reasons for his belief and the arguments in favour or against the existence of God. Van Woudenberg said: ‘The reasons for my faith are good. I find them in other people’s experiences, encounters with outstanding Christians, books and so on. Besides, I noticed how my faith is working for me.’ Van Woudenberg did not specify how, but went on to say that he didn’t mind that the existence of God still has to be proven. ‘I stick to my principles, even if I can’t take the edge off arguments against God’s existence.’ Then the odd one out took the floor, clergyman and atheist Klaas Hendrikse. Hendrikse said: ‘The non-existence of God is the precondition for my belief in God. This opinion causes atheists to call me a twister, while believers say that I’m an
atheist. Well, I am an atheist, but I would like to introduce the definition of “pure atheism”, as opposed to “intellectual atheism”. Intellectual atheists claim that believing in God indicates an intellectual defect. To me, they are mockers rather than atheists. I, on the other hand, am a pure atheist, a non-theist. I don’t believe in the existence of God in the same way I believe in the existence of a stroopwafel. For the existence of a stroopwafel is limited, and God’s existence can’t be limited. A believer can be an atheist at the same time.’ By this point, Hendrikse was losing this reporter’s understanding, even more so when the pastor added: ‘I don’t believe that God exists, but I do believe that He can happen in people. Incidentally, my point has been proven by the Bible.’ One thing is certain, Hendrikse’s church services must be an intriguing affair for the more orthodox Christians among his flock. Finally, Maarten van Rossem was summoned to defend the proposition that ‘God does not exist. I do not believe.’ Historian and TV celeb Van Rosser lived up to his reputation of ironic commentator; he started by remarking that people, in general, are deeply religious beings, after which he told of his deep belief in Sinterklaas, when he was a kid. ‘It didn’t bother me that Sinterklaas was supposed to ride his horse on the houses’ roofs. It didn’t matter to me how far-fetched that is. That is the essence of faith. It’s the same with the existence of God: it’s that much improbable that it is better to assume that He doesn’t exist.’ Hendrikse reacted to Van Rossem’s talk by saying that Van Rossem had first caricatured faith, and then run it down in to the ground. Hendrikse added: ‘These days, the average believer has a completely different view on religion than Van Rossem displays.’ The debate one would expect to come alive after these statements never took off. Mostly that could be attributed to the event’s organisation. The participants all sat in the front row, facing the stage. Presenter Yoram Stein asked them questions in turns, using one mike for all of them. An elderly man in the audience said
that, when he lapsed from his Catholic faith, he had been thrown upon his own resources and was forced to think more about the meaning of life. The remark earned him a round of applause from the near-capacity audience in De Duif. Stein concluded by asking the audience if anyone’s feelings about religion had been changed as a result of the discussion. Nobody raised a hand.
A Lynch night out The owls are exactly as they seem: moody. By Suzanne Schreve Walking down into the basement of W139, red light creeps up the stairs and the Twin Peaks theme song whispers along the walls. The Black Lodge is the setting for the director David Lynch fan night, where Lynch addicts show their favourite scene and explain to an audience what makes it exceptional. Announcements entice with
‘coffee, black as a moonless night’ and ‘cherry pie that will kill you’. The concept, co-developed by host Gijs Frieling, is a try-out form for making discussions about art interactive. Throughout the night, Lynch’s film-making is dissected by seven people who present their side of the story with individual, pre-selected scenes. About 30 people are sitting in the basement, smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee, wine and beer. The atmosphere lingers on the words spoken by Frieling, who announces the second speaker, Seegers, because Sofia, a Portuguese girl who enlisted online to participate in the programme, hasn’t shown up yet. After two movie scenes, Seegers explains: ‘Lynch didn’t keep to the foundations then adhered to within the film industry. A story used to bring us from one happening to another—a problem is followed by an action, followed by resolution. Lynch doesn’t describe the story in terms of actions, he describes a mood. From all of his films, what I remember most is the mood, not the story [or] plot.’ And it shows, because Seegers had not prepared his part. He initially thought he had selected the opening scenes of Blue Velvet and The Elephant Man, but Frieling had to inform him this was not the case. When a girl quickly walks through the middle aisle to the front, Frieling announces that Sofia has finally arrived. ‘I don’t speak English. I speak a little English,’ she says and takes to the stage. Her chosen scene from Blue Velvet, in which Jeffrey finds an ear, is played again. Sofia, a photography student, starts off by saying she isn’t a huge Lynch fan. Even so, she comes up with some ideas. She begins: ‘Lynch created the Blue Velvet story long before he became director. In that time, he was active as a painter. But Blue Velvet also became his first colour movie.’ Sofia sits cross-legged on the leather chair next to the screen. Every so often she looks down at her notes when she trails off. ‘Jeffrey, when he finds the ear, opens up a gate to another world,’ says Sofia. ‘It’s as if his curiosity kills his innocence because after he finds the ear, his world will change.
The Black Lodge featured twin peaks.
JOHANNA KETOLA
SANSTITRE
Assemble your own personal Jesus.
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I think that using fragments of the body is playing with identity. Will Jeffrey choose to be detective or perverse?’ After the next two speakers, the night takes a weird turn. A self-indulgent art student shows a 10-minute fragment of himself interviewing a professor about the scene discussed 30 minutes earlier. He seems to be the only one really interested, and people walk to the bar for drinks and talk amongst themselves. Next up is the professor himself... Then out of the blue hash-haze that began enveloping the crowd, people snap back to attention as the last speaker, Rutger Emmelkamp, gives a true homage to Lynch’s work. He reads from a written speech: ‘Lynch sabotages the traditional storyline by injecting moments that do not fit the structure. This is not a surrealistic style, which you can decide to like. No, these are doors to side alleys that force us to see from a different point of view. Lynch invites us to reconsider or let go of our conventional ideas on time, identity and truth...’ At the end, with a half-eaten cherry pie left on the bar and coffee burnt to black, Lynch would have been pleased. NADINE HOTTENROTT
Build it and they will buy.
It’s all so surface The Sandberg builds up a million-dollar art facade. By Sarah Gehrke Art is big business. If you want to see the evidence for this statement, then look no further than the Artvertising project at the Sandberg Instituut: the building’s surface, consisting of 16,000 glass panels, is being sold off, tile by tile, to companies and indi-
viduals who want to place their messages on the facade. ‘The original inspiration for the project was Alex Tew’s Million Dollar Homepage,’ explains Teun Castelein, who initiated Artvertising. Tew set up a website with one million pixels and sold each pixel to advertisers for one dollar each. Castelein says he was stunned by the website: ‘not by the concept, but by the aesthetics, the visual overdose it gave me. It’s like a synopsis of the world I am living in.’ Castelein hopes there’ll be a similar
Windowatch
Bloemgracht 117
Click your heels and make a wish.
WILLEKE DUYVEKAM
By Suzanne Schreve
effect when all the tiles are on the building. The aim is visual bombardment, with the images functioning as links in onlookers’ minds. After all, posters, neon signs and billboards have become an integral part of every cityscape. Like it or not, commercial image culture—its brands, logos and messages—has a vital effect on the aesthetics of public space and on the way we perceive our environment and ourselves. Advertising is no longer mere words promoting products. Instead, the visual element predominates and the boundaries between
Kees lives here. He must be in his late forties, because his hair still flickers blond but the lines around his eyes shape more than just smiles. You can tell he is an artist by the diversity and quirkiness of the window—only the hands of a person who’s willing to express his own explorations would create this. Kees speaks from a small wooden chair next to the heater; he is dressed entirely in different shades of red. ‘My art seeps out into the world through this window. It is my public diary, but for a while now I haven’t added anything.’ A high-heeled shoe hangs from a fishing rod above the road. ‘I love women’s shoes. It’s a symbol of femininity, confidence and elegance. I sometimes wear them to get in touch with my female self. This shoe belonged to my friend Cristel. You can tell it has known glorious party days. Underneath, on the street, I drew a circle and wrote ‘wish’ in it. People stand in the circle to make their wish. They actually
commerce and design—or, indeed, art— become blurred. Yet there is one crucial difference here. Unlike Million Dollar Homepage and unlike standard forms of advertising, Artvertising isn’t out for profit. ‘The price we ask for one tile just covers the cost of putting up the message or image,’ says Nadine Hottenrott, one of the artists who’s been working on the project for the past six months. ‘It’s an art project—we want to further the debate on how advertising and logos influence the aesthetics of our environment, and about how public space and architecture function as information submitters.’ This role of architecture is another important aspect of the project. Castelein, an architecture graduate who’s now studying graphic design, says he likes the way the project opens up possibilities for connecting architecture with the more temporal, fast-reacting medium of graphic design. ‘The discipline of stone and concrete is just too slow! It’s also introverted—it just won’t mix with other disciplines. By applying graphic design to the Sandberg’s facade, we’re hoping to challenge this.’ Tiles have also been sold to individuals, so next to company logos, the building will display a range of personal messages, playing with the age-old human desire to express and immortalise oneself on walls. On the Sandberg building, declarations like ‘Tessa loves Niko’ pop up between corporate logos. Reflecting the large variety of images and impressions we are daily exposed to, the whole gesamtkunstwerk will be finished and unveiled on Saturday. Artvertising, 2 December - 2 January 2007, Sandberg Instituut, Fred Roeskestraat 98, 588 2400, www.sandberg.nl/artvertising
come true, people have told me so.’ It’s only when you’re inside that you notice there’s a hole in the window. ‘Someone threw a golf ball just beneath where it says “Trust”. Buddha’s hands used to be turned to the street, but I figured someone thought they were there to catch a ball, so I turned them around. You have to try finding the positive in everything as well as the negative. This incident forced me to work harder at restoring my faith in society.’ Kees quietens and looks down among his possessions. Although the creativity of his window depicts the versatility he has as an artist, what you see is a mere glimpse of what is inside the house. If you do go past his house, don’t be shy—stand underneath the Cinderella shoe. Kees might even spot you while he hangs out of his window singing Frans Bauer songs. If you wish for it, he’ll invite you up for a cup of tea and show you his house full of treasures.
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A dream for some; a nightmare for others. That, in a nutshell, is Osdorp, For some people in Amsterdam the idea that people actually live in Osdorp is astonishing in itself, while the fact that they might even enjoy it is nothing short of mind-boggling. But, in this case—as with any good neighbourhood—it all comes down to acquired taste. With Stadsdeel Osdorp currently celebrating 25 years of sheer urban magic, it is time to chew the fat with two of its more infamous inhabitants, the rappers Def P and IJsblok, his cousin. Eighteen years ago, the pair formed the first Dutch clique ever to start rapping in their native tongue, something that was previously unheard of. Since the boys—now expanded to two cousins and two brothers—all lived in Osdorp, they called themselves De Osdorp Posse. The gang is still very much alive and kicking today, but the question is: are they still true to the old skool? Let the Q&A commence...
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blok launches into a hefty list of relatives and friends who have been burgled recently—some of them twice.] Def P: Obviously, the old Tuinsteden plan failed in more ways than one. But we went to Compton [in Los Angeles] many years ago and, in comparison, Osdorp is a dead calm.
OSDORP BY POSSE Has it been 25 years already? Osdorp Posse’s Def P and IJsblok look back—and forward—on the hood that formed them. BY JARO RENOUT, PHOTO BY FRANK KOK
What were two Amsterdamse lieverdjes doing in Compton? Def P: We have relatives in the States, and I was sent there for a while because things were a bit difficult here. My relatives happen to be black and living in LA. I was seventeen at the time. That’s where I learned about hiphop, about how all that stuff we had been doing—like graffiti, rapping, DJing—were all parts of one idea. IJsblok: It was definitely no Osdorp! In Compton, people could recognise who was firing rounds by the sound of the shots. Def P: In Osdorp you would recognise someone by the sound of their scooter. What about space? Def P: What about space?
Are the Osdorp Posse still living in the old neighbourhood? Def P: I’m not. I moved to the centre a long time ago, basically because I always wanted to live there. I lived in Osdorp for about seven years. But my cousin never left. IJsblok: Never felt the urge. So what’s Osdorp’s main attraction? Def P: There isn’t any. One of the reasons we started Osdorp Posse was out of utter boredom. There was fuck all to do. And as far as I know, nothing has changed... IJsblok: Well... that’s not completely true. Kids can now record their shit in Studio West in Meervaart. We didn’t have any of those things at the time.
got some extra kilos to back it up! Nobody bothers.
How do you rate Osdorp, aesthetically? Def P: It’s functional. I’ve never really considered it ugly. Osdorp just... is. It’s kind of whack, in a way, to be proud of the neighbourhood you come from, because where you come from is just coincidental. IJsblok: Some parts of the neighbourhood have great houses, but you pay the price. I enjoy living there, though. Rent rates are generally pretty reasonable, and I know everybody. It’s easy for me. If someone has a problem with me, he knows I’m gonna meet him sooner or later outside the supermarket or whatever. I can be very persuasive, and I’ve also
Hell, we’ve just had elections. Let’s throw in some major issues. What’s your opinion on the economy? IJsblok: There’s been no developments that I’m aware of. Well, De Meervaart attracts a crowd. But the stadsdeelraad here is traditionally crap. Def P: They would love to get the poor people to leave and have, like, an economic cleansing... IJsblok: Here’s an example: it took them a mighty long time to make a decision about redeveloping Osdorpplein. It was the era of Simon Willing [chairperson of the Stadsdeel at the time]. He was in power for so many years that they
‘In Compton, LA, people could recognise who was firing rounds by the sound of the shots. In Osdorp you would recognise someone by the sound of their scooter.’ started called him ‘the king of Osdorp’. Def P: And everybody knows we are that! Infrastructure? IJsblok: We are very close to four major motorways. You are on your way to anywhere in a jiffy. And there is, of course, the famous night bus service. Def P: There was always trouble on the way home. Drivers were terrified of that route. Last stop, Osdorpplein and the merciless hordes of young drunks with time to kill. Which leads us directly to safety... IJsblok: There’s a tendency towards firearms, more than there ever used to be. And burglary is the latest craze. [IJs-
I mean green, open Osdorp space. IJsblok: That’s disappearing rapidly. Def P: Most of the green pastures of yore are fully developed. There’s not even enough space to properly kill a sheep anymore. IJsblok: They’re about to kick me out of my house. The current six hundred apartments will be demolished, in order to build sixteen hundred on exactly the same spot. So much for space!
What about the people of Osdorp? What are they like? Def P: There’s good folk and there’s assholes, like everywhere, I guess, so Osdorp’s no exception. Although sometimes you do think... IJsblok: The thing about being evicted for me is the fact that I’m gonna miss my Moroccan neighbours. God knows what I get in return... Would the Osdorp exile ever consider moving back at all? Def P: Never. And IJsblok? Is he planning on moving out, seeing as he’s being evicted? IJsblok: I already found a new place. Guess where? Sometimes a grin speaks louder than words.
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Ten years ago, dance and physical theatre group Hans Hof Ensemble began in rather humble circumstances. ‘We started somewhere between a studio and a pub,’ quips Klaus Jürgens, one of the group’s initiators. At that time, the members were tinkering around with small-scale choreographies in sober rehearsal studios, never actually intending to form a company. But eventually, they somehow crystallised into a small, über-consensus-based, dance-physical theatre group. Andreas Denk, another founding member reflects: ‘Originally, we merged our surnames and called ourselves “denkboljurgensvandoeleman”, but that never fit on the theatre’s billing programmes, so we had to shorten it. Since our group has so much affinity with— and places so much importance on—technical elements in our pieces, we changed it to Hans Hof Ensemble, the name of the group’s original technical director.’ This week, the group is celebrating its decade of dance at the Melkweg. Denk says: ‘We’ve invited dancers from the last ten years to help recycle scenes and highlights from old material, using old decor elements and positioning them on stage in a new way, in a piece called Danke. On the day of the performance, we’ll select fragments from about twelve old creations, then build in certain rules and create an improvisational piece based on those rules.’ This element of surprise runs through the Ensemble’s work; dancers create jarring physical journeys that yank us about in time and defy categorisation. Their work confronts us with familiar things hurtled around in space just enough to throw the audience off kilter and deep into the unfamiliar. Whether it’s honouring four washing machines and a clothes dryer on stage, writhing inside a bathtub behind a star-shaped shower curtain, tending a garden or filming 17 dancers on a mountain top in a Swiss sanatorium, it’s the kind of stuff that makes you smile. Temptasi Island, a work premiered in 2006, is another piece that takes the workaday and transforms it. It was conceptualised by another of the group’s founders, Swissborn Andrea Boll: ‘Temptasi is a piece loosely based on that pathetic reality TV series Temptation Island.’ She explains that seduction, boredom, voyeurism, rage and jealousy play themselves out between two women and a man in claustrophobic living quarters. The only element connecting the three characters is a fascination for Quentin
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subsidy—highly-coveted funding from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science allocated every four years. ‘In Lauf der Dinge,’ says Denk, ‘we staged normal men and women with normal destinies—characters which the public can identify with—and put them in absurd relationships with stone, glass, tables and other pieces of furniture, causing chain reactions of confusion, and which took on a life of its own.’ Commonly described as absurd, the company’s physical theatre style also reveals a bemusement about the human connection. ‘We always want to express different characters and situations through dance,’ says Jürgens. ‘And we like to put abstract things on stage where people can identify with absurd characters who still show a human side.’ When you’re in the driver’s seat and puzzling a piece together, people often imagine a choreographer has found a recipe or a fixed formula which they repeatedly use to create the next successful piece. Not so: ‘Every time the process is different,’ says Boll. ‘The people are different, you’re confronted with different problems—and every piece has problems—so you have to find new solutions. That makes the piece in the end. But there’s never a guarantee you can make a good piece. You have to look at the last piece you made, decide what was good or not so good, and try to make a better or different piece the next time. That’s also part of the motivation. Otherwise, why should I choreograph another work?’ Gloriously uninhibited creatures on stage, all three agree that, artistically, they’ve developed individually and are heading in different directions. Denk is realistic: ‘I want to continue making pieces for the stage and as long as I’m interesting for the public, I’ll keep performing.’ Jürgens, too, wants to continue producing work and performing on stage. For the contemplative Boll, the transition takes on a different hue: ‘I am less interested in staging myself in my own choreography. If I dance, I would like to work with another choreographer or director, and when I choreograph I prefer to stay on the outside. Over the last few years, we’ve all developed into makers. And for me, it is the normal way to go, to shift from mover to maker.’
TEN YEARS AND STILL PIROUETTING Hans Hof Ensemble take the everyday and move it into something magical. BY MONIQUE GRUTER
...honouring four washing machines and a clothes dryer on stage, writhing inside a bathtub behind a star-shaped shower curtain or filming 17 dancers on a mountain top in a Swiss sanatorium... Tarantino’s film Kill Bill, from which scenes are re-enacted on the podium. Always, for the Hans Hof Ensemble, it’s about the sets. The indispensable factor in their maturation is the inclusion of decor and props which Boll explains ‘are used as a language, as a structure in space which has its own set of rules.’ Unlike traditional rehearsal preparations, ‘we use sets from the beginning of the rehearsal process and integrate them into the development or the process of making the piece.’ The cerebral Jürgens adds: ‘Theatre people play a specific role with different levels of subtext and, in modern dance, you have open space without specific movement problems, so there is no neurosis. The moment you literally add obstacles—also in your brain—and make the dance prob-
lematic, only then does it become interesting.’ All three cast members collaborate as choreographers and performers. They’ve extended their vision far beyond pure, mainstream dance to create hyper-charged works that recall the likes of Pina Bausch, Wim Vandekeybus and DV8. ‘We were always a little bit the outsiders,’ reflects Boll, ‘and working with theatrical elements was our specialty. At the right moment, we were at the right place, working with the right people.’ That specialty helped propel the group to something of a trendsetter status in the mid-1990s. They staged their first success in 1996 with Der Lauf der Dinge (The Way Things Go) at Cadans in the Korzo Theater in Den Haag, which later led to structured
Hans Hof Ensemble, 30 November - 2 December, 20.30, and 3 December, 21.00, Melkweg, Lijnbaansgraacht 234A, 531 8181, various prices, www.melkweg.nl
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They were buried in a remote part of the country in seven unmarked graves: four adults, four children. Nobody knows exactly who they were, except that they died in captivity and the authorities refused to divulge their complete identities. It all sounds achingly familiar. Kosovo? No. Friesland. The victims are—probably, since noone knows for sure—six Africans, one Afghan and one former Yugoslav, refugees who died after arrival in the Netherlands, during the ‘intake’ process. They were buried in a quiet cemetery, in the cheapest way, without any headstones. Their graves are mounds of earth with wooden stakes, with inscribed numbers. No names. No dates. No information. Now seven Dutch sculptors and an Iranian-born film-maker are attempting to commemorate these deaths in a respectful fashion, in a ceremony which will take place on 8 December at the town hall and cemetery in Sint Annaparochie, Friesland. Marianne van den Heuvel is one of the sculptors from Stichting Memento Gedenkbeelden, an association of memorial artists: ‘It’s not unusual for us to make grave markers; it’s part of what we do. But this is different. The whole thing about refugees in Holland is something I’m not very proud of.’ Van den Heuvel’s sculpture commemorates a boy who died the day he was born. His parents are still in the Netherlands, in an asylum seekers’ centre. ‘I don’t want to imagine the pain that there is for those parents. It must have been devastating.’ The parents spoke with the artists (via a contact person—it’s difficult to speak directly to anyone inside) They said they were very happy that the works were being made, and asked Memento to keep in mind that it’s an Islamic grave. The artists building the gravestones were frustrated because the government doesn’t want to provide any information about the bodies. Only a minimum of data—name, date of death—was revealed, and getting the responses from the government, the Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst (IND) and the town council was frustrating. But can Memento change anything? Van den Heuvel says: ‘It gives a little warmth in the cold climate which surrounds those refugees. I hope other artists pick it up, because there are a lot of deaths: about seventy asylum seekers die each year. Some bodies go back to their countries, others are buried here. The amount
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pears, an image—like a book—that opens.’ The IND is obviously interested in discouraging refugees from entering the country, but still, it’s unclear what deterrent is represented by not giving appropriate burials to dead refugees. While cost-cutting, immigration deterrence and misunderstandings about Muslim burial customs may go some way towards explaining this policy, a fourth factor in this story may be shame. The Dutch government is ashamed of the refugees, the Gemeente is ashamed of the graves and the Dutch people are ashamed of their government: therefore, it’s easier to put the bodies behind a hedge and try to ignore them. Dutch-Iranian film-maker Farshad Aria wants to make sure that the bodies are not ignored. Through the lens of the artists, his film gives them identities, makes them people with histories. Although Aria fled from Iran to the Netherlands more than a decade ago, and has since carved out a fruitful life in this country, his experiences as an asylum seeker are still vivid: ‘The movie I’m making has one extra dimension: my background as a refugee. It’s about refugees who are just lying there. And I could have been there, too, if I had died during processing.’ Most cultures have enshrined a fundamental right to respectful death, no matter the circumstances or ‘sins’ of the deceased. The US forces in Iraq—hardly a model of decorum—posted a sign saying ‘Respectful Reverence Requested’ at the morgue where the bodies of Saddam Hussein’s sons were on display. So what is an appropriate amount of respectful reverence? According to Annerieke Dekker, press officer of Vluchtelingen Werk Nederland (the Dutch Council for Refugees): ‘The rules for the burials of refugees are the same as for the burial of Dutch citizens who die without money or relatives.’ There’s a basic minimum, extended also to criminals. These rules are unclear, however, she says and ‘can vary from gemeente to gemeente.’ While anonymous graves are not permitted, they are also not expressly forbidden. Thus, technically, the government did not break the law, even if it seems callous not to provide a fitting memorial for every person. Fifty-eight refugees may already have committed suicide this year, though the IND will not confirm numbers. Normally, between 60 and 70 people die each year under the legal protection of the Dutch state. There are only a few anonymous graves. But there should not be any.
SEVEN UNMARKED GRAVES Where do refugees go when they die? BY GUY PATRICK LIVINGSTON
‘It gives a little warmth in the cold climate which surrounds those refugees. I hope other artists pick it up, because there are a lot of deaths: about seventy asylum seekers die each year. Some bodies go back to their countries, others are buried here.The amount they get from the government doesn’t cover a memorial.’ they get from the government doesn’t cover a memorial.’ The project was launched a year ago when Frits Slicht heard about the graves on the radio. Slicht, who had never thought of himself as an activist, was outraged and launched a one-man mission to commemorate these victims of the system. The Bureau Burgerzaken in Sint Annaparochie was relieved to hear that someone was interested in the graves, and helped Slicht to pester the COA—the agency that recieves asylum seekers—and other government services for more information. Slicht’s research has been difficult: ‘We think they were all Muslims. One sixteen year old committed suicide; there’s one man from Afghanistan; there are twins who died the day they were born; there is one person from the ex-Yugoslavia. ‘A lot of people call them “fortune seek-
ers”, and maybe they are in the wrong to be here, but the Dutch who emigrate to Italy or Australia are also fortune seekers: in the end, we are all fortune seekers.’ Slicht then approached Memento and the artists were appalled by the story, agreeing to work on a pro-bono basis. Michel Kuipers is the artist commemorating the twins; his sculpture is symmetrical, made from high-fired, glazed ceramic in Islamic turquoise, with blue and gold lettering. ‘I tried to visually connect with the fact of dying,’ Kuipers says. ‘I find working on memorials very inspiring: people are very close to their own senses. ‘Islamic tradition does not allow for figurative images, so I made a silhouette which is abstract but reminds me of a cloud. This is like someone dying: you cannot grab it, just like a cloud is such that you cannot copy it. It’s an image which disap-
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SHORT LIST
Juhee Toun (Positions), Thursday, agentur
THURSDAY 30 NOVEMBER Photography: The Cabinet Miles Aldridge has an impeccable fashion pedigree. His dad was an art director. He was snapped by Snowdon in the Swinging Sixties. Of course he would become a fashion photographer. He’s taken pictures for all the flash fash rags, and shot campaigns for Longchamp, Rykiel, Herrera, Bvlgari and Hermès. He has also directed pop videos, too, for The Verve and The Charlatans, among others. All of these things shine though in the sexy and unsettling world Aldridge creates in his photographs, and this show at the Reflex foregrounds his magpie approach to genre and period. Aldridge whizzes around in his time machine, snatching up his favourite things: Norman Parkinson’s 1970s rub shoulders with the Roaring Twenties and Louise Bourgeois. And that looks like Sally Bowles. Or is it Norma Desmond? And that really is Marilyn. (Manson, that is.) And, although his colour-drenched pictures are unmistakeably modern, there’s something reassuringly oldfashioned about the way that the clothes—and not mise en scène—remain the stars. (Kim Renfrew) Reflex Modern Art Gallery (Tues-Sat 11.00-18.00). Until 7 January.
Art: Positions Tonight, agentur’s artist-in-residence Juhee Youn unveils two of her typically contemplative yet playful works: ‘Extra Beings’, a video installation, and ‘Outside In’, a video work. The first explores the experience of being a foreigner—Youhee is Korean—in a space occupied by foreigners: in this case, the mainly non-ethnically Dutch community on Witte de Withstraat, where the gallery is located. She captures a window on the outside world— the space’s large window to the street—and in her presentation projects the images of the world passing by, outside agentur. The second part of her exhibition is a personal diary of volunteer experiences at Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. ‘Outside In’ dares to video the sacred Picassos, Chagalls and Mondriaans at the museum, and bestows upon them the humour and levity of introductions by the volunteers who guards these pieces day in, day out. (Susan Youssef) agentur (Thur 18.30-21.00, Fri-Sun 15.00-18.00). Until Sunday.
Book fair: Boekenfestijn Real bargain-book hunters have already been traipsing across the country for years, visiting the Boekenfestijn in hope of picking up newish books at a snip of their retail price. Now they need wander no more, since the four-day event is finally coming to Amsterdam. It certainly isn’t a pretty or peaceful sight: there’s line upon line of tables,
and piles of books so askew that it would drive anyone with OCD pretty crazy. But as you focus and draw a mental plan, you start to appreciate how much content there is—and its low prices. Filled with all the stock publishers need shot of, you can pick up almost anything: novels, classics, comics, computing, science, travel, art, coffeetable titles and much more. Plus, there are huge selections in both Dutch and English. The trick is to plan your trip well to avoid the bulk of the crowds—early morning or late evening are ideal—because there’s nothing more off-putting than being continuously hit in the shins with trailing trolley-baskets. But at least when you get home and compare prices with the online retailers, you should have saved enough to make the aches fade away. (Steven McCarron) RAI, 10.00-21.00, free. Until Sunday.
FRIDAY1DECEMBER Gay & Lesbian: Love Dance One of the best parties is always right at the end of the year. But it’s worth the long wait, as the annual Love Dance, held on World AIDS Day, is a full night’s extravaganza of stars and freaks. This benefit party, official closing off the ‘Take Care—All About HIV’ week, really knows its stuff. This year it’s held with help from the cool people at Rapido, ArtLaunch and Meubelstukken. Apart from DJs Joost van Bellen, Abraxas, and Prosumer from Berlin, there are tons of performances from the likes of house music siren Barbara Tucker, Erwin Olaf, Dominee Gremdaat (Paul Heanen) and... Boney M. Quirky enough for you? Hmmm, then wait ’til you meet Howie, the walking glory hole. Ladies will dive downstairs to Paradiso’s basement, where there are performances by female artists. This night’s key words are ‘wild’, ‘wicked’ and ‘wacky’. In fact, this year Love Dance will be even wilder and more wicked as the guys from XXXLeather transform the side balconies into a sexy cruising zone. All for charity, you understand... (Willem de Blaauw) Paradiso, 20.00, €15.
MONDAY 4 DECEMBER Singer-songwriter: Shawn Colvin Shawn Colvin recently released These Four Walls—her first studio album in five years—and it is a masterpiece that was well worth the wait. Arguably the best of her
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career, the record exemplifies why this singer-songwriter both complements and overtakes her contemporaries, as her soft, country blues coagulate into sounds as forceful and emotive as ever, competing with the earlier material that earned her a number-one hit and three Grammy Awards. Her first release on Nonesuch Records, it blends together summery folk, haunting blues and whimsical vocal intonations that conjure up everything from Loretta Lynn to Nickel Creek. To celebrate, Colvin has taken the album on tour, ending the European leg in Amsterdam tonight. Expect to hear excerpts from the new album, as well as a dusting of older ballads for good measure. Regardless of what she plays—whether it’s the hauntingly powerful new stuff, or Grammy-winning old stuff—Colvin shows that, after five long years, Sunny may finally have come home. (Shain Shapiro) Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 20.30, €12 + membership.
TUESDAY 5 DECEMBER Event: Sinterklaasgala voor Volwassenen If you think Sinterklaas is just for kids/You are surely sadly mistaken/And after a good run in the previous year/The adults will again not be forsaken/Hans Kesting will once more don the robe/No stranger to the art of cross-dressing/He’ll gladly plunge you into his sack/So be careful with whom you’re messing/Deck yourself out in your finest threads/Make sure they’re a festive white, red and gold/The Sint will watch your every move/So be sure to do as you are told/Take a present with you when you go/A poem is no requirement/And indulge in your consuming desire/Covet to your heart’s content/The theme of this year, if you’re interested/Is hubris, the disease of the famous/This night will see the hand-out of the Zwarte Piet Award/For Amsterdam’s biggest ignoramus/So go, get in touch with your inner child/Hopefully the Sint’s mood will be mild. (Luuk van Huët) Stadsschouwburg, 20.00, €15 + present (minimum value €5).
Rock: MC5 The ‘MC’ in MC5 stands for many things, according to the members of the legendary 1960s rock group: ‘morally corrupt’, ‘marijuana cigarette’, ‘Mongolian clusterfuck’ or simply ‘Motor City’. Together with fellow Detroit act The Stooges, they were launched as the raucous alternative to the peaceful pop groups of the Flower Power era. Their 1969 live album Kick Out The Jams still sounds like a monster, but record labels then were afraid to support them in fear of their aggressive revolutionary nature, which was fed by manager and cult leader John Sinclair. Despite lack of success, the MC5 gained god-like status in the punk and alternative music scenes. The three surviving members Michael Davis, Wayne Kramer and Danny Thompson (DKT)—who rejoined in 2003— will share the stage tonight with singers Mark Arm (Mudhoney) and Lisa Kekaula (Basement Jaxx). The big question is, since John Sinclair currently lives in Amsterdam, will he make an appearance as well to solidify the sonic revolution? (Marinus de Ruiter) Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 20.00, €16 + membership.
WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER Chanson: Le Grand Départ French music has always found a niche in Amsterdam; just look at the success of September’s Gainsbourg festival, and the earlier Francophone version of the Nacht van de 45 Toeren. And now, for the first time in Utrecht—instead of our beloved capital—Le Grand Départ features an evening of more of the chanson that actually made it across the Dutch border, from Brel to Bruel, from Piaf to Les Poppys. The festival promises a heavyweight line-up of artists from all over the country, including acts as diverse as Wende Snijders, Ellen ten Damme, Erik de Jong (Spinvis), Michiel Flamman, Jan Rot, the Kinderkoor Mengelmoes and Roos(beef). These— plus many more—will be singing their takes on French favourites. Your maîtres de cérémonie for the evening will be none other than let’s-keep-compiling-the-sameold-French-music-over-and-over enthusiast Vic van de Reijt, alongside radio and television personality Mieke van der Weij. (Natasha Cloutier) Vredenburg, 20.15, Utrecht, €25.
Pop: Danielson The first glimpse of Danielson’s website presents a paraodixical image: you would assume that you had stumbled on some neo-conservative evangelical cult’s online home, rather than a pop band. In some ways, though, both would be correct. Danielson are not a standard collective: they are a family, both fraternally and not, led by Daniel Smith, a religious songwriter who cleverly mixes the church show with the folk show, crafting music that is lovely, whether one believes in Christ or not. Smith’s third album, Ships, is as familial as it gets, adding to the bloodline that includes Sufjan Stevens, Sereena Maneesh and Half Handed Cloud. It crafts a twisted folk masterpiece that highlights the best of both worlds at once: the partying and the praying. A success at mixing spontaneity, unique vocal harmonies, twists and turns and eclecticism, Danielson metaphorically spew an equally uplifting sludge, making them an indie-pop triumph, a revival for the anti-revivalists. (Shain Shapiro) Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 22.15, €6 + membership. Send details and images for listing consideration at least two weeks in advance to agenda@amsterdamweekly.nl.
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Mahala Raï Banda, see Friday
MUSIC Send listing suggestions at least two weeks in advance to agenda@amsterdamweekly.nl
Thursday 30 November Opera: Mozart Operas: Così Fan Tutte This autumn season, De Nederlanse Opera has marked the 250th birthday of Mozart and the pinnacle of his opera repertoire with a weekly rotation of three performances: Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così Fan Tutte. Friendlier to the ears than many operas, and full of humour, they’re in high demand. Few tickets for some performances are still available at the box office. Het Muziektheater, 19.00, €20-€100 Pop/Rock: Dutch Delights Live sets brought to you by Stacey Records. Café Pakhuis Wilhelmina, 20.00, €5 Classical: Ad Libitum Quartet Romanian string quartet performing works by Reger, Beethoven, Stravinsky and Ravel. Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 20.15, €32.50
Tonight they bring new album 7 to Amsterdam, whipping up dramatic cacophonies with characteristic brass and guitar assaults. Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 21.00, €15 + membership
ensemble embrace funky Balkan rhythms, Eastern violin reels, accordions and a large horn section to create a form of folk music filled with charm and energy. KIT Tropentheater, 20.30, €18
Pop/Rock: RobotRock Indie to dance to and electro to rock to; with live sets from Ravage! Ravage! and Hasselhoff. Winston Kingdom, 21.00, €5
Jazz: Misha Mengelberg & Frances Marie Uitti Cutting-edge jazz and contemporary music from the piano and cello pairing. Mengelberg is a Bimhuis regular, while cellist Uitti has gained recognition the world over for her improvisational abilities and use of two bows at one time. Together, these musicians will surely deliver something completely original. Bimhuis, 21.00, €14
World: The Bar at Buena Vista A stage musical sensibility comes along with these performances expected to bring steamy weather to Zuidoost over the next few weeks. But strip away the scripted elements, and on show are the sharpest musical moves from some true legends of Cuban son, as well as some younger discoveries. Age notwithstanding, son is all about dancing, rejoicing and sexiness, so the audiences will be asked to feel the groove and lose inhibitions. Pepsi Stage, 21.00, €32.50/€37.50 Jazz: Trio Rein de Graaff & Gary Smulyan Rein de Graaff’s piano trio are joined by baritone sax player Smulyan, who over the years has played alongside Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Ray Charles and many others. Bimhuis, 21.00, €14 Folk: Hudaki A Ukranian ensemble who perform traditional songs from the Ukrainian Carpathians, telling stories of love and treason, friendship and war. Badcuyp, Eetcafé, 22.00, €8
Friday 1 December Jazz: Lunch Concert Featuring students from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Bethaniënklooster, 12.30, free
Floris Mijnders (Het Orkest) Classical: Het Orkest Performing Hadyn’s Cello Concerto in C and Mahler’s Symphony No.5; conducted by Alexander Vakoulsky and featuring cellist Floris Mijnders. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €20 Rock: Minus the Bear Seattle indie rockers who boast a sophisticated guitar style. Perfect for fans of Death Cab For Cutie seeking something a little less poppy. Support from locals Skip the Rush. Melkweg, 20.30, €10 + membership Folk: Tunng Experimental English folk band who mix sparse and gentle acoustic numbers with electronic and prog elements. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 20.30, €10 + membership Electronica: AUXXX Independent and unconventional sounds from Britain, including Henry’s Phonograph, Alfredo Genovesi and Tom Bugs. A DJ line-up and screenings of surrealist war films complete the programme. OT301, 21.00, €5 Singer-songwriter: Benjamin Winter Melodic pop and acoustic folk from the Amsterdam-based Californian. A release party for the new EP Memory and Forever, the evening is hosted at a pretty special location, with lots of guests lined up for what should be a memorable performance. De Roode Bioscoop, 21.00, €5 Rock: De Kift Theatrical punk is one way to view De Kift, but over the last 19 years they’ve attempted so much and will never fall easily under any one label.
Percussion: Benefit for Sambaband Rhythms of Resistance Rhythms of Resistance are political activists who use samba and carnival music to confront and criticise. Tonight’s programme begins with dinner and acoustic aural refreshment before moving onto a presentation and film screenings. Look especially forward to live sets by Bomba Roja, Zibabu and Caspian Hat Dance. OCCII, 19.00 Pop/Rock: Albert Hammond, Jr Melodic guitar rock by the guitarist from The Strokes. The band’s collective sound is a bit more mellow and sunny, but Hammond’s debut album, Yours To Keep, shines with guest appearances from bandmate Julian Casablancas, Sean Lennon and Sammy James, Jr. Melkweg, 20.00, €13 + membership Heavy: Agresión A farewell show from the DutchVenezuelan metal outfit. Support from Surf Malandros and Image Treason. Melkweg, 20.15, €10 + membership Opera: Die Zauberflöte A grand performance of Mozart’s popular Magic Flute, starring famous German soprano Katarzyna Dondalska. RAI, 20.15, €45-€90 Classical: Members of Dutch Orchestras Performing works by Vaughan Williams and Schubert. English Reformed Church, 20.15, €12.50
World: The Bar at Buena Vista (See Thursday) Pepsi Stage, 21.00, €32.50/€37.50 Rock: 3xLive Guitar-rockin’ live sets from ANumberOne, Dialogue and Dog Called Phenix. Café Pakhuis Wilhelmina, 21.30, €5
Saturday 2 December Classical: Het Sinterklaasavondfeestje A musical festive farce by Erik Lotichius, featuring soprano Mariëtte Oelderik, tenor Boguslaw Fiksinski and baritone Peter Duyster. Bethaniënklooster, 15.00, €12.50 Opera: Mozart Operas: Don Giovanni (See Thursday) Het Muziektheater, 19.00, sold out Americana: Chip Taylor, Carrie Rodriguez Mellow acoustic folk and rich Americana from these two songwriters. Taylor proudly discovered Rodriguez in 2001 and the pair regularly tour together. Tonight they share a band, but perform individual sets. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 19.45, €10 + membership Rock: Balkan Rock Legends Yes, this is their name. An Amsterdam-based group who love to celebrate the sounds and memories of Yugo rock, special guests include Srdan Gojkovic´ Gile and Davor Gobac, with support from Makazoruki and Receiver. Melkweg, 20.00, €18 + membership World: Césaria Evora World-renowned singer from Cape Verde alights in Amsterdam. RAI, 20.00, €57.50/€65 Rock: Subbacultcha! This week playing host to the ‘The Girls Do It Better’ tour, featuring Californian indie pop outfit The Ian Fays with new Dutch band The Cuties. Special guests added just for tonight are the retro gals of the Oops-A-Daisies. De Nieuwe Anita, 20.00, €6 Classical: Ad Libitum Quartet (See Thursday) Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 20.15, €32.50 Percussion: Amsterdam Percussion Group & Terry Bozzio The local group are already renowned for their blistering performances and innovative rhythms, but their new drummer is what’s attracting most attention this time round. Famous for working with Zappa and starring on hundreds of albums throughout his career, Bozzio should help create a special—and noisy— experience. Muziekgebouw, 20.30, €20
Classical: Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest Performing Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D and R Schumann’s Symphony No.2 in C; conducted by Yakov Kreizberg and joined by solo violinist Julia Fischer. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €32.50
Hiphop: Homegrown Hiphop website State Magazine presents the perfect concert for fans of Dutch rap. Performers include Opgezwolle, Jiggy Dje, Tim, Kas, Spacekees and Nina, with the party continuing late into the night. Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 20.30, €17.50 + membership
World: Mahala Raï Banda The latest gypsy sensations from Romania, this young and adventurous
Rock: Kaizers Orchestra The cult Norwegian rockers known for their incendiary live shows are back. Oil bar-
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30 November-6 December 2006 rels, pop, oompah, blues, rock, waltz, tango and Eastern European gypsy music are all a part of their wild recipe. So long as they aren’t mellowing in their old age, fans will go home happy. Melkweg, 20.30, €15 + membership Jazz: Jack DeJohnette/Foday Musa Suso/Jerome Harris Trio Western jazz meets traditional African forms in this trio. Drummer and composer DeJohnette is something of a jazz legend, playing with Miles Davis in the ’60s and ’70s. In more recent times, he founded the label Golden Beams, promoting music from around the world—his first import was the Gambian kora player Suso. Tonight they join forces, with guitarist Harris completing the trio. Bimhuis, 21.00, €20 World: The Bar at Buena Vista (See Thursday) Pepsi Stage, 21.00, €32.50/€37.50
Artery Heavy: Artery Bulgarian rock and metal. Maloe Melo, 22.00, €5 Reggae: Karmakonga Funky roots reggae from the fresh-sounding locals. Pacific Parc, 22.00, free
Sunday 3 December Classical: Piano Quartet Pianists David Kuyken, Helena Basilova, Antal Sporck and Nicholas van Poucke performing works by Schubert, Ravel and Dutilleux. Cristofori, 12.00, €15 Opera: Mozart Operas: Le Nozze di Figaro (See Thursday) Het Muziektheater, 13.30, sold out Opera: Die Zauberflöte (See Friday) RAI, 14.15, €45€90 Classical: Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest (See Friday) Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 14.15, €32.50 Classical: New Masters on Tour With young virtuoso pianist Satu Paavola, violinist Evgeny Sorkin and pianist Ivan Rudin performing works by Mozart, Thalberg, Liszt, Bartók, and Piazzolla. Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 14.30, €23.50 Hiphop: Appletree Café A Blacksoil Festival edition of the laidback hiphop afternoon platform. Bitterzoet, 15.00, free Classical: Elena Dmitrikova The pianist and singer will be performing songs based on poetry by Tchebucheva, Achmatova, Mandelstam and Tsvetayeva. English Reformed Church, 15.15, €10 Jazz at the Monastery: Olthuis & Van Veenendaal & the Mystery of Guests Featuring virtuoso trombonist and improviser Joost Buis. Bethaniënklooster, 15.30, €15 World: The Bar at Buena Vista (See Thursday) Pepsi Stage, 17.00, €32.50/€37.50 R&B: Aventura A live set from the Dominican-American bachata-R&B quartet based in New York. Ghetto Flow, Cache Deluxe and Dominican Music Factory provide support as the event flows into a late night party. The Powerzone, 20.00, €27 Americana: Ezio Acoustic folk and rock. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 20.00, €12.50 + membership Classical: George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra Performing Enescu’s First Suite for Orchestra in C, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5 and Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances. Special guest is Romanian masterpianist Radu Lupu, a star throughout the world. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €37.50 Classical: The Amsterdam String Quartet A proper classical programme as the popular locals revisit works by Haydn, Mozart and Gassmann. Concertgebouw, Kleine Zaal, 20.15, €25 Contemporary: Belgrade Strings Ensemble from Serbia, performing recent works by Ludmila Frajt, Aleksandar Obradovic´, Vuk Kulenovic´ and Isidora Zˇebeljan. Muziekgebouw, 20.30, €15 Classical: Sunday Night Jazz Joining contrabassist René van Beeck and his gang of jazz swingers tonight is singer Lydia van Dam, a powerful vocalist who adapts easily to jazz classics, soaring soul and gentle folk. Cristofori, 20.30, €17.50
Amsterdam Weekly
30 November-6 December 2006 Jazz: Electro Côco A WickedJazzsounds programme offering funk jazz and soul. Sugar Factory, 21.00, €8.50 Jazz: Hank Roberts/Marc Ducret/Jim Black Contemporary jazz led by New York cellist Roberts, with guitarist Ducret and drummer Black. Bimhuis, 21.00, €14 Rock: Living In Oblivion New wave circa ’80s, glam, industrial, goth and trashy noise, with a live set tonight by English Goths Siiiii. Winston Kingdom, 21.00, €5 Hiphop: Mobb Deep Long-running hiphop duo who’ve gradually made the transition from dark, edgy rap to a more commercial sound, most recently signing to G-Unit Records. Hard hitters Pharoahe Monch and Alchemist make up the strong bill. Melkweg, 21.00, €32.50 + membership Pop: Sarah Bettens Radio-friendly acoustic pop from the former K’s Choice frontwoman. Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 21.00, sold out Hiphop: Ty English rapper who was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2004. Promoting new album Closer, he’s presenting a more down-to-earth brand of hiphop than the big-name Americans across in The Max. Melkweg, 21.00, €12 + membership
Wednesday 6 December Chanson: La Grand Départ La belle et la bête join up for a night of French song. See Short List. Vredenburg, Utrecht, 20.15, €25 Classical: Onder Vier Ogen Featuring singer and violinist Herman van Veen and guitarist Edith Leerkes. Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, 20.15, €35 Classical: Gong Linna & Ensemble Contemporary Chinese chamber music led by acclaimed young vocalist Linna. Muziekgebouw, 20.30, €20 Pop/Rock: Razorlight Indie darlings and pop hipsters. Who thought sounding like Crowded House circa 1986 would ever be fashionable again? Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 20.30, €15 + membership Singer-songwriter: Akim Sunny acoustic grooves from Canada, by way of the Caribbean. Winston Kingdom, 21.00, €5 Reggae: Anthony B Fiery, high-energy reggae from the Jamaican star. Melkweg, 21.00, €17.50 + membership Jazz: TryTone Festival Innovative jazz concepts, curated this week by Hilary Jeferry. Bands performing are Minister Kebab, Paul Pallesen & Friends and Spinifex Orchestra. Zaal 100, 21.00, €4 Pop: Danielson Religious folkies with their own cult following. See Short List. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 22.15, €6 + membership
CLUBS Fine, Fine Music (Alamo Race TRack)
Struttin’ Raw funk and soul with hiphop and reggae flavourings. Bitterzoet, 23.00-04.00, €5
cians to improvise while he works the decks. Winston Kingdom, 22.00-04.00, €5
Lionstyle Jungle, ragga and drum & bass, featuring turns by Koldun, Yke, Spud, Part-Time Warrior, Sinistah, Hendrix, Jungle Fever and Jabba. Stubnitz, 23.00-06.00, €5 before midnight/€7
Wednesday 6 December
Acid Is... Old-school acid and electro from Stiffi, VNeal, PruttyBoy, Eric de Man, Crispy J, Schooly Rich, The Problem Child, Frankie D te A and MC Locomotif. Studio 80, 23.00-late, €7.50 DJTRX Label Release Party With sets from Ivan Ice, Rick Snel, Judith Jobse, Smashing Sebastian and Kid Culture. Studio 80, 23.00-late, €10
Saturday 2 December Subversive Renaissance 16 IChiOne in collaboration with Pepa Records presents a hiphop special touching upon drum & bass, dubstep and funky breaks. Stars include Subvert, DJ Juice, MC Louie G, L.O.B. (Life On Bars), DJ Trax, MC Rich Beggar, Pressure and Big Eye. And if you feel peckish, there’s fresh food all night by Basico. Café Pakhuis Wilhelmina, 20.00-late, €7/€14 incl dinner ...is the new... With Mathew Jonson (Vancouver), Richard Parker and Radar. 11, 22.00-04.00, €12 Putsch Featuring DJs Jesse Rose (Freerange Recordings, London/Berlin) and Herr Arter (Putsch). Flex Bar, 22.00-04.00, €8
Monday 4 December
Poptrash Three decades’ worth of rock, electro and hiphop with The Punchout DJs. Melkweg, 23.00, €4
Pop/Rock: Fine, Fine Music An Excelsior Recordings melodic rock special. Confirmed guests include Alamo Race Track, Spinvis, Ghost Trucker and Do-the Undo, but surprises are always possible. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 19.30, €10 + membership
Vreemd Outlandish electro and live performances. Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €7.50
Crackhouse vs Moodelevator Crackhouse guests include Benny Rodrigues, Carlos Valdes, Brent Roozendaal and Aron Friedman. Mood Elevator invites Marc Lansley and Darko Esser, plus there are live sets from Piet van Dongen, Pitto and Ben Berber vs Monokreck. Stubnitz, 23.00-06.00, €12
Headroom Italo disco, electro and techno from DJs Bison Kid, Dirty D.is.ko, Kid Goesting and a live performance by Transformer di Roboter. Club 8, 22.00-04.00, €8
Sunday 3 December Material Girl Latin-tinged house grooves from DJs Benjamin Brown and RoyaListic. Rain, 19.00 01.00, €10
Tuesday 5 December Pop: EP Pop Ten bands emerge from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam’s pop department to show a more frivolous side to the night crowd. Sugar Factory, 20.00, €5
Rock: 3xLive Noise rock and punk from France’s Le Singe Blanc and Gatechien, as well as Uw Hyoptheek Advies. OCCII, 21.00, €5 World: Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars After a screening of Zach Niles’ same-named documentary, the West African refugees who star in the film will get Amsterdam dancing with their specialty sounds of reggae, groove and traditional folk. Melkweg, 21.00, €13 + membership World: T.A.C.T. Aka the Trans-Atlantic Conspiracy Troupe, this lot, with members from Serbia, Bosnia, Poland and the US, specialise in Balkan-influenced jazz. Badcuyp, Bovenzaal, 21.00, €5
Crossfader Hiphop and dancehall favourites. Melkweg, 23.59, €10 + membership
Supernatural Wildstyle With funky grooves from your favourite Supernatural DJs. Sugar Factory, 23.5905.00, €10
Experimental: DNK-Amsterdam Electro-acoustic jam session featuring Galvez, Hayward and Krebs. OT301, 21.30, €4
Rock: MC5/DKT Legendary mop-topped Detroit rockers return. See Short List. Paradiso, Grote Zaal, 20.00, €16 + membership
M.U.L.T.I.S.E.X.I. With the Fanklub DJs out of Antwerp, RFH Delfos and Dig Nampook. Studio 80, 23.00-late, €7.50
Dance Arena Alternative dance, pop and rock. Melkweg, 23.59, €7 + membership
Singer-songwriter: Shawn Colvin Pretty acoustic tunes hugely influenced by Joni Mitchell and Neil Finn. See Short List. Paradiso, Kleine Zaal, 20.30, €12 + membership
Latin Fever Eclectic Latin rhythms from DJs Alex Gee, Freddy and JC Portilla. Panama, 20.00-01.00, €12.50
Monica Electronica (The Infamous Mudclub) The Infamous Mudclub With Zombie Nation, Josz le Bon and Monica Electronica. 11, 22.00-04.00, €12 The Zoo With Frederik Abas, Raymundo and Sir Edward. The Zebra, 22.00-04.00, €10 Knockout Roots reggae with MBA, Vicious and Herbalize-it. Melkweg, 23.00, €13 + membership ¿Que Pasa? Latin-crossover night with reggae, folk, ska, punk and mestizo. Melkweg, 23.00, €7 + membership Freakend! Big beats from the likes of Lucien Foort, Denniz, Skitzofrenix and Franky Rizardo. Panama, 23.00-04.00, €15
GAY& LESBIAN Thursday 30 November CliQue DJ No 5’s plays electro, classic ’80s and funky techno. With fashion catwalk, lounging areas and a happy hour from 01.00 till 02.00. Exit, 00.00-04.00, free
Friday 1 December Insomnia DJ Jerry Black keeps the crowd awake with tribal, electro and club house. Exit, 00.00-05.00, €7; under-21s free until 01.00, then €3.50
Ritmo With DJs Roog, Rishi Romero, Gregor Salto, Sidney Samson, Benny Rodrigues, Andy Sherman, Jethro Angkotta and Rishi Bass. The Powerzone, 23.00-05.00, €12.50 Wild Love With Rishi Romero, Flava, Seb Jean and Lucky Charmes. Sinners, 23.00-05.00, €12
Friday 1 December
Very Pop! An intoxicating mix of cocktails and pop music. Sugar Factory, 23.00-04.00, €5
Westerpakjesavond With DJs Ruby Wax, Groove Society and more. Don’t forget to take along a present for the grabbelton. Club 8, 23.00-04.00, €10
Thursday 30 November
Big band: Jargon A big band for the future? Blending a grand string section with electric guitars, computers and tap-dancing, this elastic ensemble have certainly brought a new twist to the jazz field. Muziekgebouw, 20.30, €17.50
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Radio-Activity With DJs Nuno Dos Santos, Jaco, Wouter, Sandrien and Richard Parker. Studio 80, 21.00, free De Kerk Chilled-out grooves from Sunday residents Rednose Distrikt. Flex Bar, 22.00-04.00, €5 WickedJazzsounds Jazz, hiphop, broken beats, nu-jazz, funk and Afro sounds, as classic vinyl collides with live musicians. Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €8.50
Tuesday 5 December Piet Popcorn’s Dolle Dinsdag Easy-listening bubblegum party with king of kitsch Piet Popcorn. Pacific Parc, 19.00-01.00, free Funky Junkie A wild cross-section of funk sounds from DJ Koldun, who invites a selection of live musi-
LoveDance LoveDance The party of the year, marking World AIDS Day. See Short List. Paradiso, 20.00, €15 10 year anniversary party Help celebrate the bar’s first decade with the aid of performances (all night). Mix Café, 20.00, free until Sunday 3 December Prisoners of SEX Five scenarios, 10 characters, one obsession—sex. Aputheatre presents the world premiere of John Roman Baker’s amusing, penetrating exposé of male sexuality at the beginning of the 21st century. In English. Pleintheater, 20.30, €10 until Saturday 2 December Vrouwenavond Lesbians plus their gay male and straight friends of all genders dance to ‘70s and ‘80s hits. Café Sappho, 21.00-late, free Club Cut: Party Monster Tonight, Club Cut honours NYC’s legendary Michael Alig: small-town boy, flamboyant party promoter and murderer. Door diva Miss B is on hand to ensure that drags and extreme makeovers hand the entry fee to the Aids Foundation Helpdesk. Also with Joke & Meta, Miss Tabitha, The Lesbian Twins, DJs Kathy and Yoav Arnon and Fashion VJ Martin C. Expect nothing less than a disco bloodbath. Sugar Factory, 23.00-05.00, €10
Saturday 2 December Queer Party With food and drinks and performances and DJs. De Peper, 21.00-03.00, free
Sunday 3 December Sinterklaasfeest Seasonal festivities—plus a lottery. Mix Café, 20.00-03.00 Sinterklaasavond The Sint visits the Taveerne to find out who’s been naughty or nice. Amstel Taveerne, 16.00-01.00, free Double Bubble Happy Hour With dance classics, TV tunes and disco from DJ No.5. April, 18.00-20.00, free Live Jazz en Soul Sophie & Pieter’s weekend winddown. Soho, 20.30, free
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Amsterdam Index 2007
Bagging you out
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Amsterdam Weekly
30 November-6 December 2006
Tuesday 5 December
Friday 1 December
Sinterklaas Bingo A Sint’s night special for the regular bingo evening. Queen’s Head, 22.00
Theatre: Grensgevallen (See Thursday) Theater Bellevue, 20.30, €15
Wednesday 6 December Breek de Week Snap the week in two with Mix’s special cocktial shakedown. Mix Café, 20.00-04.00
Silent Screen, see Tuesday
JEAN PAUL LOZOUET
Gay Classic Movies: Yossi & Jagger Eytan Fox’s drama about love between two Israeli soldiers stationed on the Lebanese border. Pathé De Munt, 20.30, €6.25
Comedy: Anuar: Ik ben... (See Thursday) Theater Bellevue, 20.30, €10.50 Theatre: Closer (See Thursday) Compagnietheater, 20.30, €18 Comedy: easyLaughs Comedy improv in English. Two different shows every Friday night. Crea Muziekzaal, 20.30, 22.30, €10, €5 (late night) Music/Theatre: Ahab A new take on the Moby Dick story by theatre group Nieuw West. A collaboration between actress Marien Jongewaard, composer Huba de Graaff and writer Rob de Graaf, the finished product is an energetic, atmospheric and menacing play with memorable live music by violinist Monica Germino and Hammond organist Ere Lievonen. In Dutch. Frascati, 21.00, €12 Festival: Tamtam 06: Wrrrááákk (See Thursday) Various locations, times and prices
Saturday 2 December Theatre: Grensgevallen (See Thursday) Theater Bellevue, 20.30, €15 Comedy: Anuar: Ik ben... (See Thursday) Theater Bellevue, 20.30, €10.50
STAGE
Theatre: Closer (See Thursday) Compagnietheater, 20.30, €18
Theatre: Grensgevallen Based on a novel by Peter Høeg, this piece portrays three children who discover they are part of a risky pedagogical experiment that tries to reintegrate ‘problem children’ into the regular school system. When they try to find out more, things escalate. In Dutch. Theater Bellevue, 20.30, €15 Music/Dance: The Day Dolly Danced A dancemusic-theatre performance with a light globe, 40 white T-shirts and a sentimental singer. Entertainment wins over concept to create a stunning totaalspektakel. Melkweg Theater, 20.30, €10
Nick Ervinck, see Opening
ART
Music/Theatre: Ahab (See Friday) Frascati, 21.00, €12
Opening
Festival: Tamtam 06: Wrrrááákk (See Thursday) Various locations, times and prices
Geroofd, Maar van Wie? Hosted in the Amsterdam theatre that became a Jewish deportation centre during World War II, this exhibition’s focus is on works of art taken during wartime, and later returned, though remaining unclaimed. Hollandsche Schouwburg (Daily 11.00-16.00), opens Thursday, until 4 February 2007
Thursday 30 November Comedy: Anuar: Ik ben... Equipped with a bar-stool and a minidisc player, the new stand-up talent tells stories about himself and the things that happen to him—brutal but charming, and primarily very funny. In Dutch. Theater Bellevue, 20.30, €10.50
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Sunday 3 December Theatre: Grensgevallen (See Thursday) Theater Bellevue, 15.00, €15 Festival: Tamtam 06: Wrrrááákk (See Thursday) Various locations, times and prices
Monday 4 December Music/Dance: Monday Match A dynamic monthly event in which a dancer invites a musician (or vice versa) to form the basis of a unique improvisation lab. With the invitation of even more guests onto the stage, original one-time works will be born left and right. Curated by Paul Selwyn Norton and Theo Nijland. Bimhuis, 20.30, free
Nick Ervinck The young Belgian multimedia artist combines technological ingenuity with creative experiments, resulting in striking sculptures and mesmerising 3D animations. De Brakke Grond (Mon 10.00-18.00, Tues-Fri 10.00-20.30, Sat 13.00-20.30, Sun 13.00-17.00), opens Thursday, until 14 January 2007 Positions Playful video works by agentur’s artist-inresidence Juhee Youn. See Short List. agentur (Thur 18.30-21.00, Fri-Sun 15.00-18.00), opens Thursday, closing Sunday
Amsterdam in terms of visual art, photography, design and applied arts. Each year the show pivots on one discipline—or a combination of various disciplines— and works are acquired from it for the Stedelijk Museum collection. This year’s guest curator is Maxine Kopsa, freelance curator and associate editor of the contemporary art magazine Metropolis M. Stedelijk Museum CS (Fri-Wed 10.00-18.00), opens Friday, until 11 March 2007 Paul Haworth: Be Their Forever An explosion of paintings, drawings and music about faith, hope and love. English artist Haworth writes a music fanzine called Homelovin’ and hosts the ‘Love Paul’ show on Radio Patapoe. His first exhibition in Amsterdam is what he calls a ‘self-help painting show’, attempting to respond to today’s overdose of images and influences by including a large variety of styles and references in his art. Chiellerie (Wed-Sun 14.0018.00), opens Friday, closing Thursday Fumus Fugiens The former Pathological Anatomical Laboratory (now SMART) is explored and deconstructed. See article on p. 17. SMART Project Space, opens Saturday, until 13 January 2007 Koen Delaere New paintings by the artist from Tilburg. Aschenbach & Hofland Galleries (Wed-Sat 12.00-17.00), opens Saturday, until 21 January 2007 Spool II A multimedia exhibition featuring adventurous sound and film installations and live performances. Artists include Semiconductor, James Beckett, Pleix and Richard T Walker. Consortium (FriSun 14.00-18.00), opens Saturday, until 31 December
Festival: Tamtam 06: Wrrrááákk (See Thursday) Various locations, times and prices
Terry Rodgers: The Apotheosis of Pleasure Paintings showing a hedonistic vision of the upper classes. Torch Gallery (Thur-Sat 13.00-18.00), opens Saturday, until 13 January 2007
Tuesday 5 December Dance: Silent Screen Double bill of hugely acclaimed works by Lightfoot León (Silent Screen) and Jirí Kylian (Toss of a Dice), as performed by the Nederlands Dans Theater. Het Muziektheater, 20.15, €18-€32.50
Abubakr Ayubi New paintings. Beeldend Gesproken (Mon-Fri 09.00-18.00, Sat 14.00-17.00), opens Sunday, until 16 December
Music/Theatre: Ahab (See Friday) Frascati, 21.00, €12 Closer Theatre: Closer Patrick Marber’s hugely successful play, performed by Het Nationale Toneel. Compagnietheater, 20.30, €18 Festival: Tamtam 06: Wrrrááákk Styled upon Aeschylus’ tragedy Oresteia, and its ever-valid themes of guilt, atonement and revenge, Tamtam festival continues this week. Alongside the Toneelgroep Amsterdam’s headline-grabbing performances of one of the oldest plays in the world, Stadsschouwburg will resonate to Rouw Siert Electra, Eugene O’Neill’s 1931 play based on Oresteia, as well as films that have revenge at their core. Variations of the Greek tragedy will also be shown in smaller theatres around town. See www.toneelgroepamsterdam.nl. Various locations, times and prices
Festival: Tamtam 06: Wrrrááákk (See Thursday) Various locations, times and prices
Wednesday 6 December Ballet: Nutcracker & Mouse King During the Christmas season Het Nationale Ballet performs the fairy-tale piece Nutcracker & Mouse King. The festive old favourite is given a Dutch twist in this interpretation by Wayne Eagling and Toer van Schayk, playing out the story in an Amsterdam canal-house around 1810. No matter the setting, audiences love the music by Tchaikovsky, performed here by the Holland Symfonia. Het Muziektheater, 20.15, €40/€50
Verborgen Verhalen Verborgen Verhalen Tied in with the IDFA film festival, this collection of eight photo documentaries includes works by Kors van Bennekom, Henk Braam, Wilma van de Hel, Wil van Iersel, Leo van der Kleij, Karin Krijgsman, Jutka Rona and Rolf Versteegh. Melkweg Galerie (Wed-Sun 13.00-20.00), opens Thursday, until 17 December
Music/Theatre: Ahab (See Friday) Frascati, 21.00, €12
Beelden van Zwartboek An exhibition on set photography, storyboards and other ephemera documenting the creation of Paul Verhoevens’ wartime drama. Filmmuseum (Daily 13.00-17.00), opens Friday, until 8 January 2007
Festival: Tamtam 06: Wrrrááákk (See Thursday) Various locations, times and prices
Just In Time The annual Municipal Art Acquisitions exhibitions allow for an overview of cultural activity in
Museums Botanical Prints Beautiful watercolour and ink drawings by Anita Walsmit Sachs, a botanical artist at the Nationaal Herbarium of the Universiteit Leiden. Hortus Botanicus (Mon-Fri 09.00-17.00, Sat, Sun 10.0005.00), closing Friday Koninklijke Prijs The annual arts prize sponsored by the Royal Family is back. This year the four artists whose paintings have made it through to the final are Antione Berghs, Wouter Kalis, Lucy Stein and Anneke Wilbrink. Gemeentemuseum (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.00), Den Haag, closing Sunday Tino Sehgal A presentation of recent acquisition Instead of allowing some thing to rise up to your face dancing bruce and dan and other things, a live performance piece. Stedelijk Museum CS (Fri-Wed 10.00-18.00), until 10 December
16 Trent Parke Considered one of the most innovative and challenging young urban photographers of his generation, Parke now moves into colour. The exhibition presents an exciting opportunity to see how the Australian artist best known for his black-and-white images responds to a more pigmented view of the world. Foam (Sun-Wed 10.00-17.00, Thur, Fri 10.0021.00), until 10 December Alex Kals: Les Quartiers Nord de Marseille Inspired by French hiphop, Alex Kals’ fascination with Marseille’s dangerous northern suburbs resulted in a photographic series about youths living in a hopeless situation, where crime often seems the only way out. Foam (Sun-Wed 10.00-17.00, Thur, Fri 10.00-21.00), until 14 December The Clouds Are More Beautiful From Above Guido van der Werve’s two films are concerned with ardent ambition that is doomed to failure. Number Six couples Van der Werve’s characteristically sombre narrative with romantic classical music, and Number Seven charts an experiment in which a rocket is used to shoot a meteorite back into space. Stedelijk Muse-
Amsterdam Weekly um Bureau Amsterdam (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.00), until 31 December
masterclass. Foam (Sun-Wed 10.00-17.00, Thur, Fri 10.00-21.00), until 7 January 2007
Inside Iran An overview of Iranian painter Khosrow Hassanzadeh, whose works focus on political and social developments in his home country, and demonstrate a critical approach towards both Iranian state propaganda and Western prejudices about the Muslim world. Tropenmuseum (Mon-Fri 11.00-17.00, Sat, Sun 13.00-17.00), until 7 January 2007
Pierre Bernard: Erasmus Prize 2006 Marking the award of the Erasmus Prize 2006 to the French graphic designer Pierre Bernard, this collection features over sixty posters and other works by the artist. Stedelijk Museum CS (Fri-Wed 10.00-18.00), until 7 January 2007
Night Garden This exhibition, in the form of a sub-technical indoor garden, links new technology, nature, contemporary art and its consumption. Visitors can expect to be transformed into a cybernetic nocturnal animal, build robots at a garden robot production studio, wander through a digital alter-garden, learn the science of mating calls, experience psycho-chemical garden furniture and eat at a restaurant prototype that serves over 30 sorts of sprouted micro-greens. Mediamatic (Thur-Sun 18.00-23.00), until 7 January 2007 13th Joop Swart Masterclass: ‘Risk’ The best of the participants from the prestigious World Press Photo
The Vincent 2006 Showcasing works of the five nominees for The Vincent van Gogh Biennial Award for Contemporary Art in Europe. Stedelijk Museum CS (FriWed 10.00-18.00), until 14 January 2007 Who Can I Trust? An exhibition on the persecution of homosexuals in Germany between 1933-1945 and in the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation. Verzetsmuseum (Tues-Fri 10.00-17.00, Sat-Mon 12.0017.00), until 14 January 2007 KK Outlet To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Amsterdam communication agency KesselsKramer, the Kunsthal is presenting a retrospective of the agency’s self-willed works. Kunsthal (Tues-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), Rotterdam, until 14 January 2007
30 November-6 December 2006 If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution The famous quote by anarchist Emma Goldman is the departure point of this travelling visual arts collection. This year’s programme borrows from the language of dance, music, theatre and archived visual material to create a series of performances rethinking the representation of women today. De Appel (Tues-Sun 11.00-18.00), until 14 January 2007 Le Nouveau Siècle Work of contemporary artists inspired by and presented in the stately mansion on Keizersgracht. Museum van Loon (Wed-Mon 11.0017.00), until 15 January 2007 Room for Advertising Companies, governments and cultural institutions are becoming increasingly inventive in utilising public space for their products and services. Posters and billboards have always been around, but enormous banners and projected images, for example, are becoming increasingly obtrusive. Here, ARCAM stimulates visitors to consider questions such as: what does the city do with advertisements? And what do advertisements do with the city? ARCAM (Tues-Sat 13.00-17.00), until 27 January 2007 Picasso: Master of Line In 1930, the world-famous artist began working on a series of prints commissioned by the Paris art dealer Ambroise Vollard. The series spans seven years and is one of the key works of Picasso’s oeuvre. Here the complete set of 100 works, known as the Vollard Suite, can be seen in the Netherlands for the first time. CoBrA Museum (TuesSun 11.00-17.00), until 4 February 2007 The ‘Jewish’ Rembrandt In recent centuries a romantic myth has developed suggesting Rembrandt had a special bond with Jews. This exhibition will attempt to separate any such facts from fiction. Joods Historisch Museum (daily 11.00-17.00), until 4 February 2007 Erik van Lieshout: This Can’t Go On (Stay With Me) An overview of the Rotterdam artist’s commentary on modern life in all its varieties, expressed in installations, films, drawings and paintings. Van Lieshout’s newest film, Rock, is shown in a drive-in cinema that has been erected in the museum’s hall. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Tues-Sat 10.00-17.00, Sun 11.00-17.00), Rotterdam, until 4 February 2007 Facts, Fictions and Stories The first solo exhibition in the Netherlands by the South African photographers Adam Broomberg (1970) and Oliver Chanarin (1971), featuring their most recent work, Chicago . This collection shows various aspects of the war and propaganda in Israel, as well as the series Mr. Mkhize’s Portrait, which casts a glance at South Africa 10 years after the end of apartheid. Stedelijk Museum CS (Fri-Wed 10.00-18.00), until 25 February 2007 Anton Rooskens A tribute to Anton Rooskens (19061976), co-founder of the CoBrA movement and one of the Netherlands’ leading post-war experimentalists. This extensive exhibition features painterly highlights from his body of work. CoBrA Museum (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.00), until 25 February 2007 Vincent van Gogh and Expressionism The first show to highlight the impact of Van Gogh on German and Austrian expressionists. Between his death and the outbreak of World War I, Van Gogh’s paintings came to symbolise ‘international’ and ‘modern’ art, and he was more popular in Germany than anywhere else. Van Gogh Museum (Mon-Thur, Sat, Sun 10.00-18.00, Fri 10.00-22.00), until 4 March 2007 Collectors in St Petersburg A celebration of the cosmopolitan nature of early 20th-century St Petersburg, when the city was so prosperous that its art scene flourished and expansive collections were born. This exhibition introduces four key collectors from the period, each with their own preference for a particular school, country or period, be it ‘old masters’ or contemporary art from the mid-19th century. Hermitage Amsterdam (Daily 10.00-17.00), until 11 March 2007 French Passion During the early 20th century, private collectors in the Netherlands acquired many masterpieces by painters including Monet, Daubigny, Cézanne and other famed French artists. This exhibition provides an overview of the pieces united at the time. Centraal Museum (Tues-Sun 11.00-17.00), Utrecht, until 11 March 2007 Bodies Something of a controversial exhibition, though undoubtedly also hugely popular as it tours the world, Bodies is one anatomy lesson you won’t forget. Making use of dissected corpses in a range of poses, real foetuses and a large selection of human organs, the collection aims to educate and remind us how remarkable the human body is. Just be careful you’re if on the squeamish side. See article on p. 17. Beurs van Berlage (Thur-Sat 10.00-22.00, Sun-Wed 10.00-18.00), until 15 March 2007 Behind the Curtains Fifteen innovative architectural designs by Willem Jan Neutelings and Michiel Riedijk, whose expressive buildings are icons within cities that are appreciated equally by tenants and passers-by. Museum Hilversum (Tues-Sat 11.00-17.00, Sun 12.0017.00), Hilversum, until 6 May 2007
Amsterdam Weekly
30 November-6 December 2006
17
ERNEST UTERMARK
Death is all the rage this season.
Two exhibitions explore death in all its gory glory. One of them even uses real corpses stripped to their bare bones.
RIGOR MORTIS IS DE RIGEUR By Luuk van Huët If your motto on art appreciation is: ‘I don’t know much about it, but I know what I like!’ you will probably also be prone to equating the works of CoBrA with those of your own four-year-old toddler. But seriously, if you look at the Old Masters, you might come to the disturbing conclusion that our forefathers had a pretty jolly way of dealing with the grim reaper. Skulls litter their paintings, often adorned with tiny butterflies, or urchins blowing soap bubbles with a spine-chilling nonchalance. Art history, that favourite subject of desperate housewives and academic underachievers alike, discredits the idea that our predecessors were psychopathic loons, calling this death obsession the ‘vanitas motif’. Basically, the bubbles and butterflies are there to illustrate the fleeting, tenuous nature of life in those days, when lifesavers like antibiotics and modern medicine were unheard of—along with personal hygiene and plumbing.
Proving, however, that our fascination with snuffing it hasn’t diminished in our enlightened times, is the appearance of two exhibitions which deal with demise: Fumus Fugiens at the SMART Project Space and Bodies at Beurs van Berlage. Smoke into nothingness SMART’s Bianca Visser maintains there’s no connection between the two shows: ‘We’re currently located at the old pathology lab, which is housed at the AMC, and when we did research on the history of our current location, we chanced upon the idea for this exhibition.’ That the vanitas concept plays a role is acknowledged by Visser, who says: ‘One of our artists was inspired by historical scientific works from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in which the anatomist Frederik Ruysch classified species. Besides plants and animals, he also listed “monsters”, which were just deformed people or children with birth defects. His still life with babies’ skeletons was inspired by that.’
Visser explains where the name of the exhibition came from: ‘The title is Fumus Fugiens, which is Latin for “transient smoke”, smoke that dissolves into nothingness.’ The nine contemporary artists participating in the exhibition were chosen for their familiarity with the subject and present all new projects. Visser describes some of the show’s highlights with gusto: ‘Well, there’s Irene Kopelman, the artist from Argentina, who I’ve already mentioned, who’ll create a skin-like wall from which the deformed bodies that Ruysch wrote about will emerge. Teresa Margolles, from Mexico, travelled to the Mexican town of Juarez, the site of a killing spree aimed at women for over ten years now. She has spoken to family members of women who were victims, as well as young women who live in fear. These women donated clothes to Margolles, clothes drenched with the smell of fear which actually dissolves into human fat cells. She proceeded to wipe our windows with them, so the smell of desperation lingers in the exhibition. She also visited some of the sites where the victims were found and recorded the ambient sounds that were the last sounds these women must have heard before they died.’ Plasticised If you can compare an exhibition to a rock band, then Bodies is the Rolling Stones. Not because it’s a bunch of stiffs, but because the show has gone all around the world to stadium-like audiences. Besides popping up in Miami, New York
and even Sin City, the exhibition has landed at Beurs van Berlage. Bodies describes itself as a mixture of anatomy, art and education, and consists of actual human bodies that have been preserved by removing the skin and extracting the moisture and fat, then injecting them with a mixture of acetone and silicone. The bodies have been put into poses and have been selectively dissected to show various organs, muscles and other sinuous tissues. The exhibitions health and education ambitions are met by giving special attention to the anatomical representations of carcinogenic lungs, obesity and dementia and other aliments. Alas, it was ailing flesh which prevented me from attending the opening of Bodies on 24 November. And so, while I wrestled in my sickbed with my very own intimations of mortality, writer and general gorehound Steven McCarron attended, promising to return with incisive insights (not to mention a few ideas if I did not, indeed, make it through the night). ‘I felt the exhibition was fairly interesting, but I didn’t feel like I was leaving with a whole new understanding of how the human body works,’ McCarron told me later. ‘They obviously intend it to be educational, and while it’s very visual, I don’t think you’re going to learn a great deal more about human biology without reading more literature. They did have some “experts” on hand in a couple of room, but from what I saw, everyone was steering clear of them.’ Even squeamish types who go wobbly-kneed at the sight of blood may still want to gather their gall (bladders) and attend, as McCarron attests: ‘Personally, I wasn’t shocked by it. There seems to be an aura of suspense around the exhibition and some people did look genuinely nervous walking into the building. I was actually more surprised by how unreal the bodies looked, and because they weren’t encased in glass, I had thought the bodies in the opening room were just models. It’s nice that you can get so up close to them and many people really were almost prodding them, but it’s weird that any curious little kid can escape the clutches of their parents and go pulling on tendons or nerves before anyone stops them.’ And the best part of the show, says McCarron, doesn’t even involve the titular bodies, per se: ‘The bits I enjoyed most were the room showing the arteries of various body parts, and also the foetuses. The latter comes with a warning, and I can see why some would be sensitive to it, but there’s nothing abominable in there. In fact, I probably found this to be the most educational room in the exhibition, as you really get a sense of foetal development—much more so than looking at photos in a book.’ Ah yes, from death springs birth. Fumus Fugiens, 5 December-2 February, SMART Project Space (Tues-Sat 12.0017.00), Arie Biemondstraat 101-111, 427 5951, www.smart projectspace.net; Bodies, until 15 March, Beurs van Berlage (Sun-Wed 10.00-18.00, Thur-Sat 10.0022.00), Damrak 277, 530 4141, €20, www.bodiesamsterdam.nl
Free tickets!
Go to www.amsterdamweekly.nl and click on off the wall logo to win tickets to one of these nightlife events. To advertise your club night or concert, contact Justin Rink at 020 522 5200 or Justin@amsterdamweekly.nl. The next page appears on 20 December.
30 November-6 December 2006
Galleries Afstudeerprojecten Academie van Bouwkunst Students of the Academie van Bouwkunst present their graduation projects. Included are the recently announced nominees for the annual ARCHIPRIX, an award presented to the most talented design graduates. Zuiderkerk (Mon 11.00-16.00, Tues-Fri 09.00-16.00, Sat 12.00-16.00), closing Saturday Leslie Browne: Rise Reggae- and hiphop-inspired paintings and photos. Suzanne Biederberg Gallery (Wed-Sat 14.00-18.00), closing Sunday Krijn de Koning in the Zuidas Working with Virtueel Museum Zuidas, this site-specific installation by De Koning includes his proposals, drawings and maquettes for transforming uninteresting sites into pleasant entrances to the Zuidas area. Platform 21 (Thur-Sun 12.00-18.00), closing Sunday YiP Photographs by a selection of the Netherlands’ top contemporary artists. The images will be auctioned off on 8 December at Odeon, with all proceeds going to the organisation Young in Prison. Studio Apart (Wed, Fri 10.00-18.00, Thur 10.00-21.00, Sat 12.00-17.00), closing Sunday David Blackmore: Detox A photography documentary about the usage of blue UV lighting in semi-public spaces, such as public toilets. While the artist was drawn to the vibrancy of these vivid azure spaces, which provide a compelling sensation of calm and tranquility, it’s in stark contrast to their original intent to block intravenous drug abuse within these spaces. Gallery Vassie (Tues-Sat 12.00-18.00), until 9 December With the First Totters Oil paintings by Victor Man. Annet Gelink Gallery (Tues-Fri 11.00-18.00, Sat 13.0018.00), until 9 December
Amsterdam Weekly between nature, culture and technology. What happens if the three come together? Is the difference between nature and technology still recognisable or do they merge into each other? Montevideo/Time Based Arts (Tues-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 17 December Exhibition #3 Drawings and mural paintings by Elena Davidovich (Belarus), prints, drawings and live art by Dick Tuinder (US), mural drawings by Jantien Jongsma and floor sculptures by Wouter Klein Velderman. W139 (Tues-Sun 13.00-19.00), until 17 December Holy Grail Works by duo Tomas Adolfs (NL) and Monica Tormell (Sweden), and David Jablonowski (DE), playing with modern and classical ‘holy grail’ myths. Horse Move Project (Fri-Sat 14.00-20.00), until 17 December Le Dernier Cri Exclusive silkscreen prints from Pakito Bolino, Ota Keita, Reinhard Schneibner, Fredox, Stumead and some 40 other graphic designers associated with the Marseille group. Het Illuseum (Sat, Sun 15.00-20.00), until 21 December Andreas Gefeller: Supernatural Large-scale abstract photographs by the German artist. Dubbelbee Galerie (Wed-Sat 12.00-17.30), until 22 December Living Room 2 An interactive installation based upon huge wall drawings by interior designer Matali Crasset—winner of the Designer Prize 2005 at Salon du Meuble of Paris—in collaboration with the artists Petra Mrzyk and Jean-François Moriceau. Maison Descartes (Mon-Thur 10.00-18.00, Fri 10.00-17.00), until 22 December Pablo Pijnappel Photography. Galerie Juliette Jongma (Wed-Sat 13.00-18.00, first Sun of month 14.00-17.00), until 23 December Happy Hour Group exhibition featuring works by Jan Pieter Fokkens, Daniel Hofstede, Sander Reijgers and Jasmijn Visser. De Praktijk (Mon-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 23 December Much Ado About Nothing Mixed works by Matthias Hoch, Edwin Zwakman, Ilya Rabinovich and Lea Asja Pagenkemper. Akinci (Tues-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 23 December
Self-Deception Self-Deception A light installation by Marc Schoneveld. De Kijkkasten (Daily), until 13 December Transitions Part two in the series De Kleur van Iran. Photography by Hengame Golestan, who was one of the first female photographers in the country, and Newsha Tavkolian from the new generation of Iranian photographers. De Levante (Wed-Sun 13.00-17.30), until 10 December Redux Featuring works by Piet Dirkx, Sef Peeters, Hans van den Ban and Roger van Hout. P/////AKT (Thur-Sun 14.00-18.00), until 10 December De Salon An annual tradition wherby resident artists get to show off their latest works from various disciplines within the visual arts. New this year was an invitation to the British artist association The London Group, so eight talented Brits are found leading the way. Arti et Amicitiae (Tues-Sun 13.00-18.00), until 10 December Oud-West vanuit de lucht Aerial photography of Amsterdam Oud-West by Mirande Phernambucq. The images are displayed in windows around Bellamyplein, remaining lit daily until midnight. Bellamyplein (Daily), until 12 December Can’t Join Us A photographic portrayal of the dreamworld of two Majorettes. Witte de Withstraat 89 (Wed 13.00-17.00), until 13 December Militant Bourgeois: An Existentialist Retreat Following his experiments last June, Chris Evans is back to present the second part of his Militant Bourgeois concept, this time on a patch of land in the middle of a dual-carriageway road. The aim? To question whether subsidised art can be worthwhile. See www.smba.nl. Transformatorweg, until 15 December Lu Luo Recent paintings and works on paper. Chinese artist Lu Luo draws inspiration from traditional Chinese theatre and opera, recreating the highly-detailed and colourful costumes in two dimensions with materials such as rice paper, traditional prints, ink and acrylic paints. Galerie Krijger + Katwijk (Wed-Sat 12.0018.00), until 16 December Transformerhouses: Urban Renewal in the Indische Buurt This exhibition comes as a response to the current urban renewal taking place in the Indische Buurt, presenting research into urban transformations and six projects by artists and architects. 66 East (FriSun 14.00-18.00), until 16 December Natural Habitat Artists explore the boundaries
Sibylle Eimermacher: House_in_space Drawings and paintings from the German-born artist, recently nominated for the Koninklijke Prijs voor Vrije Schilderkunst. AYAC’S (Fri, Sat 13.00-17.30), until 23 December Guilliaume Bijl Installations from the Antwerp artist. Lumen Travo (Wed-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 23 December Raw Footage/Scapegoats A solo exhibition by Groningse multimedia artist Aernout Mik, this two-part video installation focuses on the experience and depiction of war, showing how normality and extremity become interwoven in wartime situations. bak (Wed-Sat 12.00-17.00, Sun 13.00-17.00), Utrecht, until 24 December Wendell Gladstone New paintings rendering both the natural and the fantastic in landscapes dotted with animal and human life, and often hybrids of the two. Artspace Witzenhausen (Thur-Sat 12.00-18.00), until 30 December Natuurlijke Chemie Outdoor exhibition showcasing the natural techniques used by Leentje van Hengel on textiles and clothing. A total of 28 cases will display her work along the route between De Waag and Nieuwe Hoogstraat. Sint Antoniesbreestraat (Daily), until 3 January 2007 The Cabinet Fashion photographer Miles Aldridge’s strange and cinematic world. See Short List. Reflex Modern Art Gallery (Tues-Sat 11.00-18.00), until 7 January 2007 Benoît Hermans: Objets troublant, Objets troublés Solo exhibition of paintings by the Maastricht artist. Galerie Ferdinand van Dieten-d’Eendt (Thur-Sat 11.0018.00), until 7 January 2007 Manfred Wirtz While Romania is on the cusp of joining the EU, this photographic essay ties in with the winter festival in Maramures, detailing a daily existence in a remote province where life remains sheltered from external influences. Shirdak (Mon-Fri 11.00 -17.30, Sat 10.00 -17.00), until 7 January 2007 Iconography I A series of large format canvases representing two famous 19th-century French saints. This is the first of a two-part exhibition tackling the issue of the centrality of images in the making of a collective religious identity, and the politics of perception and identity. Motive Gallery (Wed-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 13 January 2007 Gé Karel van der Sterren: Point of view Recent works by the Amsterdam artist whose paintings are renowned for their vivid colours and exuberant paint use. Galerie Fons Welters (Tues-Sat 13.00-18.00), until 13 January 2007
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Friday 1 December Symposium: Change the Dream A one-day event organised by a growing DIY movement, exploring the catastrophic environmental challenges we’re facing. To reserve tickets email lsonneveld@human-treasures.nl. De Roos, 09.00-17.00, €75 Technology: Bright Live A futuristic lifestyle expo focused on technology, design and style. If you’re a trendsetter or early adopter, this is the place to try out the latest gadgets and pick up neat ideas for DIY projects that will dazzle your friends. Westergasfabriek, 10.00, €7.50-€15 Book fair: Boekenfestijn See Thursday and Short List. RAI, 10.00-21.00, free Book presentation: Design’s Delight An interview with graphic designer Jan van Toorn about his new book on communication design. In English. Platform 21, 17.00, free
Saturday 2 December The Classroom with Grayson Perry
EVENTS Thursday 30 November Book fair: Boekenfestijn Cheap books. See Short List. RAI, 10.00-21.00, free Lecture: The Classroom with Grayson Perry With the English Turner Prize-winning artist. Moderated by Marjan Boot of the Stedelijk Museum. Gerrit Rietveld Academie, 17.30, free
ADDRESSES 11 Oosterdokskade 3-5, 625 5999 66 East Sumatrastraat 66, 06 4475 4773 agentur Witte de Withstraat 27a, 0641 487675 Akinci Lijnbaansgracht 317, 638 0480 Amstel Taveerne Amstel 54, 623 4254 Amstelkring Oudezijds Voorburgwal 40, 624 6604 Amsterdams Historisch Museum Kalverstraat 92, 523 1822 Annet Gelink Gallery Laurierstraat 187-189, 330 2066 De Appel Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 10, 625 5651 April Reguliersdwarsstraat 37, 625 9572 ARCAM Prins Hendrikkade 600, 620 4878 Arti et Amicitiae Rokin 112, 624 5134 Artiplus Gallery Sarphatistraat 730 ArtOlive Polonceaukade 17, 675 8504 Artspace Witzenhausen Hazenstraat 60, 644 9898 Aschenbach & Hofland Galleries Bilderdijkstraat 165C, 412 1772 Aula UvA Singel 411, 525 4791 AYAC’S Keizersgracht 166, 638 5240 Badcuyp 1e Sweelinckstraat 10, 675 9669 bak Lange Nieuwstraat 4, Utrecht, 030 231 6125 De Balie Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10, 553 5151 Beeldend Gesproken Borgerstraat 102, 612 1847 Bethaniënklooster Barndesteeg 6, 625 0078 Beurs van Berlage Damrak 277, 530 4141 Bijbels Museum Herengracht 366-368, 624 2436 Bimhuis Piet Heinkade 3, 788 2150 Bitterzoet Spuistraat 2, 521 3001 De Brakke Grond Nes 45, 626 6866 Café Pakhuis Wilhelmina Veemkade 576, 419 3368 Café Sappho Vijzelstraat 103, 423 1509 Centraal Museum Nicolaaskerkhof, Utrecht, 030 236 2362 Chiellerie Raamgracht 58, 320 9448
26th Mega Record and CD Fair You know that band that you love? The one you always look for first whenever you go into a record shop, hoping to see that one rare item missing from your collection? Well, chances are it’s here, and for only one euro. So sharpen those CD-hunting skills and seek and destroy! Oh, and if you’re a real music freak, there’s tons of vinyl, a poster fair and a punk exhibition about The Damned. Jaarbeurs, Utrecht 09.00-18.00, €11 Symposium: Re-Reading Rembrandt For those left feeling that the past 11 months of Rembrandtjaar has resulted in lots of ‘let’s look at pretty paintings’ without hosting any contemporary analysis or debate, this may be the conference for you. The allday programme features world-renowned scholars, each uniquely evaluating Rembrandt as both a historical figure and the name for a group of artefacts with which our own time has yet to come to terms. See www.hum.uva.nl/asca. In English. Aula UvA, 09.30-18.00
Club 8 Admiraal de Ruyterweg 56B, 685 1703 CoBrA Museum Sandbergplein 1-3, Amstelveen, 547 5050 Compagnietheater Kloveniersburgwal 50, 520 5320 Concertgebouw Concertgebouwplein 2-6, 671 8345 Consortium Veemkade 570, 06 2611 8950 Crea Muziekzaal Turfdraagsterpad 17, 525 1400 Cristofori Prinsengracht 581-583, 626 8485 De Peper Overtoom 301 Dubbelbee Galerie Gerard Doustraat 142-144, 623 2884 English Reformed Church Begijnhof 48, 624 9665 Exit Reguliersdwarsstraat 42, 625 8788 Filmmuseum Vondelpark 3, 589 1400 Flex Bar Pazzanistraat 1, 486 2123 Foam Keizersgracht 609, 551 6546 Fotogram Korte Prinsengracht 33, 624 9994 Frascati Nes 63, 626 6866 Ferdinand van Dieten-d’Eendt Spuistraat 270, 626 5777 Galerie Fons Welters Bloemstraat 140, 423 3046 Galerie Jos Art KSNM-laan 291, 418 7003 Galerie Juliette Jongma Gerard Douplein 23, 463 6904 Galerie Krijger + Katwijk Lange Leidsedwarsstraat 198-200, 627 3808 Gallery Vassie 1e Tuindwarsstraat 16, 489 4042 Gemeentemuseum Stadhouderslaan 41, Den Haag, 070 338 1111 Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fred Roeskestraat 96, 571 1600 Heineken Music Hall ArenA Boulevard 590, 0900 300 1250 Hermitage Amsterdam Nieuwe Herengracht 14, 530 8751 HJS Studio Bellamystraat 47-49, 412 1510 Hollandsche Schouwburg Plantage Middenlaan 24, 531 0340 Horse Move Project Oosterdokskade 5 Post CS Hortus Botanicus Plantage Middenlaan 2A, 625 9021 Het Illuseum Witte de Withstraat 120, 770 5581 Jaarbeurs Jaarbeursplein 6, Utrecht, 030 295 5911 Joods Historisch Museum Jonas Daniel Meijerplein 2-4, 531 0310 De Kijkkasten Sint Nicolaasstraat KIT Tropentheater Mauritskade 63, 568 8711
Book fair: Boekenfestijn See Thursday and Short List RAI, 10.00-18.00, free Art/Music/Film: Right About Now A collaboration between IDFA and Made in da Shade. A screening of the Spike Lee documentary Right About Now forms the core of this event (starting at 16.00), but there’s also DJs, art exhibitions, poetry and live music for good measure. The only catch: capacity is limited to 120 for the day programme, otherwise officially opening at 21.00. Sugar Factory, 15.30-00.00, €15/€7.50 excl documentary Dining/Music: Eten met Muziek Stichting Veko, an organisation promoting ecologically sound and animal-friendly dining, is behind this busy programme serving up a melange of food and live music. Performers include Thirly (Berber songs), Sinar Bulan (Balinese dance), De Oosterburen (jazz) and Panta Rhei (world music). Zaal 100, 16.00, €4 for music, €10 for dining, €12.50 for both Lecture: Inter-discipline or Non-discipline? Up for discussion are various interpretations of the so-called interdisciplinary approach in contemporary art and its position within other disciplinary knowledge systems. Reservations recommended. In English. bak, Utrecht 16.00, 20.00, €2.50 for individual elements
Sunday 3 December 26th Mega Record and CD Fair See Saturday. Jaarbeurs, Utrecht 09.00-17.00, €11 Book fair: Boekenfestijn See Thursday and Short List RAI, 10.00-18.00, free Dance: Sporadic Movement Do you ever feel the urge to move? This improvisation jam invites anyone who is interested in dance to do just that, making whatever movements you feel like. HJS Studio, 12.0017.00, €5
30 November-6 December 2006 & DVD of Imaginary Media, De Balie presents an intimate yet spectacular programme which plays with the concept of ‘imaginary media’. Researcher Richard Barbrook will speak about the imaginary future of artificial intelligence and the very real cold war agenda hiding behind these imaginations, and after a preview of the DVD, Peter Blegvad—a collaborator with the likes of John Zorn and Faust—will be performing live. In English. De Balie, 19.30, free Discussion: Women Inc Weekly discussion programme dealing with women’s issues. In Dutch. Pakhuis de Zwijger, 20.00, free Art/Music/Performance: Accidental Monday An art party with live music and real people. There’s sound and film from the Celluloid Guru’s, glam rock from the Bastards of Glitter and much more Monday mirth. Sugar Factory, 21.00-04.00, €5
Tuesday 5 December Tour/Dining: Sinterklaas Speculaas Moonwalk Enjoy a Sinterklaas evening with a twist. In this tour through De Pijp, you’ll learn all about Sint traditions, culminating in a three-course meal at Saskia’s Huiskamer (included in price). And don’t forget a kleine cadeautje (of maximum value €2) for a friend or fellow participant. To reserve a place email info@fullmoonwalk.nl. Meeting point at Taart van m’n Tante, 18.00, €35 Event: Sinterklaasgala voor Volwassenen The Sint comes to town and this time, it’s strictly for grown-ups. See Short List. Stadsschouwburg, 20.00, €15 + present costing at least €5
Wednesday 6 December
Book/DVD presentation: The Evening of Imaginary Media In conjunction with the publication of the Book
Quiz: MusicMind? Think you know everything about music? Think you can spout your knowledge at the drop of a hat, even in high-pressure situations? Then this new quiz night may be for you, and if you can find some worthy mates to be at your side, you might even walk away with a cash prize. Sugar Factory, 19.30, €15 for competing teams
Kunsthal Museumpark, Westzeedijk 341, Rotterdam, 010 440 0301 De Levante Hobbemastraat 28, 671 5485 Lumen Travo Lijnbaansgracht 314, 627 0883 Maison Descartes Salle André Citroën, Prinsengracht 644A, 531 9500 Maloe Melo Lijnbaansgracht 163, 420 4592 Mediamatic Post CS, Oosterdokskade 5, 638 9901 Meervaart Meer en Vaart 300, 410 7777 Melkweg Lijnbaansgracht 234A, 531 8181 Melkweg Galerie Marnixstraat 409, 531 8181 Melkweg Theater LIjnbaansgracht 234A, 531 8181 Mix Café Amstel 50, 420 3388 Montevideo/Time Based Arts Keizersgracht 264, 623 7101 Motive Gallery Elandsgracht 10, 330 3668 Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Museumpark 18-20, Rotterdam, 010 441 9400 Museum Hilversum Kerkbrink 6, Hilversum, 035 629 2826 Museum van Loon Keizersgracht 672, 624 5255 Muziekgebouw Piet Heinkade 1, 788 2010 Het Muziektheater Amstel 3, 625 5455 Nederlands Architectuurinstituut Museumpark 25, Rotterdam, 010 440 1200 De Nieuwe Anita Frederik Hendrikstraat 111, 06 4150 3512 OCCII Amstelveenseweg 134, 671 7778 OT301 Overtoom 301, 779 4913 P/////AKT Zeeburgerpad 53, 06 5427 0879 Pacific Parc Polonceaukade 23, 488 7778 Pakhuis de Zwijger Piet Heinkade 179-181, 788 4444 Panama Oostelijke Handelskade 4, 311 8680 Paradiso Weteringschans 6-8, 626 4521 Pathé De Munt Vijzelstraat 15, 0900 1458 Patronaat Zijlsingel 2, Haarlem, 023 517 5858 Pepsi Stage ArenA Boulevard 1, 0900 0194 Platform 21 Prinses Irenestraat 19, 344 9449 Pleintheater Sajetplein 39, 665 4568 The Powerzone Spaklerweg, 681 8866
De Praktijk Lauriergracht 96, 422 1727 Queen’s Head Zeedijk 20, 420 2475 RAI Europaplein 22, 549 1212 Rembrandtplein 44, 626 7070 Reflex Modern Art Gallery Weteringschans 79A, 627 2832 Rembrandthuis Jodenbreestraat 4, 520 0400 Rijksmuseum Jan Luykenstraat 1, 674 7000 De Roode Bioscoop Haarlemmerplein 7H, 625 7500 De Roos P.C. Hooftstraat 183, 689 0081 SBK KNSM-eiland KNSM-laan 307-309, 620 1321 Shirdak Prinsengracht 192, 626 6800 Sinners Wagenstraat 3-7, 620 1375 SMART Project Space Arie Biemondstraat 107-113, 427 5953 Soho Reguliersdwarsstraat 36, 422 9936 Stadsschouwburg Leidseplein 26, 624 2311 Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam Rozenstraat 59, 422 0471 Stedelijk Museum CS Oosterdokskade 5, 573 2911 Stopera Waterlooplein 22, 551 8117 Stubnitz Odinakade, NDSM-werf Studio 80 Rembrandtplein 70, 521 8333 Studio Apart Prinsengracht 715, 422 2748 Sugar Factory Lijnbaansgracht 238, 627 0008 Suzanne Biederberg Gallery 1e Egelantiersdwarsstraat 1, 624 5455 Taart van m’n Tante Ferdinand Bolstraat 10, 776 4600 Theater Bellevue Leidsekade 90, 530 5301 Torch Gallery Lauriergracht 94, 626 0284 Tropenmuseum Linnaeusstraat 2, 568 8200 Under the Grand Chapiteau Next to ArenA, 621 1288 Van Gogh Museum Paulus Potterstraat 7, 570 5200 Verzetsmuseum Plantage Kerklaan 61, 620 2535 Vredenburg Vredenburgpassage 77, Utrecht, 030 2862286 W139 Oosterdokskade 5, sixth floor, 622 9434 Westergasfabriek Haarlemmerweg 8-10, 586 0710 Winston Kingdom Warmoesstraat 129, 623 1380 Zaal 100 De Wittenstraat 100, 688 0127 The Zebra Korte Leidsedwarsstraat 14, 330 5266 Zuiderkerk Zuiderkerkhof 72, 552 7987
Monday 4 December
30 November-6 December 2006
Amsterdam Weekly
4 Elements
FILM Edited by Julie Phillips.This week’s films reviewed by Floris Dogterom (FD),Angela Dress (AD),Sven Gerrets (SG),Laura Groeneveld (LG),Andrea Gronvall (AG),John Hartnett (JH),Luuk van Huët (LvH),JR Jones (JJ),Terri J Kester (TJK),Steven McCarron (SM),Marie-Claire Melzer (MM),Mike Peek (MP),Reece Pendleton (RP),Julie Phillips (JP),Jonathan Rosenbaum (JR) and Bregtje Schudel (BS).All films are screened in English with Dutch subtitles unless otherwise noted. Amsterdam Weekly recommends.
Festivals Black Soil Filmfestival See article on p. 23. Bitterzoet IDFA See last week’s issue and www.idfa.nl. De Balie, Filmmuseum, Filmmuseum Cinerama, Pathé City
New this week 4 Elements Documentarist Jiska Rickels portrays the
four elements by linking each one to man’s efforts to use—or fight—them. Each element has its own landscape, atmosphere, language and protagonists, hard
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Flags of Our Fathers
workers making a living in the face of adversity. Earth is represented by a coal mine, water by crab fishermen in the Bering Strait, fire by firefighters in Siberia and air by a crew of astronauts in training. Narration and dialogue are in Russian, English, German and Kazakh, with sparing use of subtitles; but in this beautiful, thoughtprovoking film, the challenge to the audience is amply repaid. (TJK) 100 min. Het Ketelhuis, Rialto Flags of Our Fathers Perhaps only the clout of director Clint Eastwood and co-producer Steven Spielberg could have brought us a movie about how the most inspirational photo of World War II—four GIs raising the flag at Iwo Jima—was mendaciously exploited to sell war bonds. It’s a noble undertaking, and Eastwood is stylistically bold enough to create a view of combat based mainly on images that are clearly manufactured. (As with Saving Private Ryan, the movie’s principal source is The Big Red One, whose director, Samuel Fuller, actually experienced the war.) But this film is underimagined and so thesis-ridden that it’s nearly over before it starts. With Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford and Adam Beach. (JR) 132 min. Pathé De Munt
Flushed Away A collaboration between DreamWorks Animation and Aardman Features, this delightful computer animation is less twee than Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, with more action. A posh pet mouse (voiced by Hugh Jackman) is booted down a Kensington sewer to an underground replica of London where he helps an intrepid rat (Kate Winslet) battle a loathsome gangland toad (Ian McKellen). Bill Nighy and Andy Serkis are the toad’s dim henchmen, and Jean Reno is hilar-
ious as Le Frog, leader of some inept Gallic ninjas. But they’re all upstaged by the Greek chorus of stem-eyed slugs, who emit sound effects and chirp pop standards with insolent glee. (AG) 82 min. Het Ketelhuis, Kriterion, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt Ice Cream, I Scream Also known as Dondurmam Gaymak. In a small Turkish town, Ali sells ice cream, struggling to survive the competition from his larger competitors. When the bad kids of the village steal his motorbike, he sets out to investigate. Director Yüksel Aksu used small-town amateur actors for this comedy of a modern Don Quixote. In Turkish with Dutch subtitles. 115 min. Pathé ArenA Le Petit Lieutenant Xavier Beauvois’ fourth film (2005) is an unusual police drama, made with a documentarist’s eye for real-life detail. A young police officer is assigned to the team of commandante Vaudieu (Nathalie Baye); together they attempt to solve the murder of a homeless Parisian. In French with Dutch subtitles. Filmmuseum The Queen See review on p. 22. 97 min. Cinecenter, The Movies, Pathé ArenA, Pathé Tuschinski La Tourneuse de pages A young, working-class girl with a talent for the piano sees her chance at further education ruined by the thoughtless arrogance of a well-known concert pianist. Ten years later, she goes to work for a lawyer who turns out to be the husband of the woman who changed her life. A taut thriller with a strong performance from Déborah François as the embittered Mélanie. In French with Dutch subtitles. 85 min. Cinecenter, The Movies
Five-Word Movie Review
TOADS AND SLUGS IN TOILET Flushed Away Het Ketelhuis, Kriterion, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt,
Still playing 13 (Tzameti) Don’t stick your nose into someone
else’s business may be the moral of his noirish blackand-white thriller by director Géla Babluani. In this accomplished and tense debut film, an impoverished immigrant (George Babluani) stumbles upon a route to riches when he overhears his employer discussing a get-rich-quick scheme and acts to intercept. Only he doesn’t know the full story, instead following a series of step-by-step instructions that sends him travelling across country with strangers closely on his tail. The set-up is lengthy but carefully calculated, making the macabre plot twists all the more enjoyable. In French with Dutch subtitles. 93 min. The Movies After the Wedding Jacob Petersen has dedicated his life to helping street children in India. When the
Amsterdam Weekly
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30 November-6 December 2006 In a time of trauma even QEII needs some TLC.
Public grief or a stiff upper lip? In Stephen Frears’ new movie they’re just two different roads to power.
REGINAVERSUS THE PEOPLE'S PRINCESS By Angela Dress All the action in Stephen Frears’ The Queen takes place within a few days in 1997 after the death of Princess Diana in Paris. Queen Elizabeth II is besieged by a hysterically grieving public and an unprecedentedly hostile media. We seem to see the laddish, New Labour modernising ways of the newly elected Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) pitted against the stuffy, archaic protocol of
orphanage he heads is threatened by closure, he receives an unusual offer from Danish businessman Jørgen who offers him a donation of four million dollars. There are, however, certain conditions: not only must Jacob return to Denmark, he must also take part in the wedding of Jørgen’s daughter. This proves to be a critical juncture between past and future and catapults Jacob into the most intense dilemma of his life. In Danish with Dutch subtitles. 120 min. The Movies, Pathé Tuschinski, De Uitkijk All the Invisible Children Most collections of short stories suffer from the same mysterious ailment: the ideas are laudable, but the quality varies. All the Invisible Children, a collection of seven stories about the plight of children in the face of war, criminality and poverty, isn’t an exception. The few strong and haunting pieces, like Emir Kusturica’s Blue Gypsy and Spike Lee’s Jesus Children of America, are eclipsed by more pretentious chapters, such as Jordan and Ridley Scott’s Jonathan or the overtly sentimental Song Song and Little Cat, from Face/Off director John Woo. Thrown together they make a mediocre medley. (BS) 116 min. Rialto An Inconvenient Truth This souped-up slide show by former US Al Gore is brought to you in full LectureVision, as the man bashes you over the head with statistics, pictures, scientific facts and cute computeranimated polar bears to make you understand the importance of his mission. Gore is out to save the world from global warming and Uncle Al needs you! If you’re already in the know, it might be a sermon to the converted, but that doesn’t detract from the importance of this documentary and how it inspires people—maybe even you—to make a difference. (LvH) 100 min. Kriterion, The Movies, Pathé De Munt Babel In a North African desert, two bored boys herding goats decide to try out their gun. The shot causes a chain reaction that changes the lives of an American couple (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett), a rebellious, deaf teenage girl in Japan and a Mexican au pair caring for two American children. According to director
the British monarchy. This polarised, class-based narrative then resolves itself into a story about the interdependence of the constitutional monarchy and the elected political leader. Public and political opprobrium eventually force the Queen to allow a state funeral and make her tribute to Diana on live television, all of which is anathema to the stoicism and stiff-upperlip tradition of the British ruling classes. In contrast, Blair and his advisors accu-
Alejandro González Iñárritu, this is the third film in a trilogy that began with 21 Grams and Amores Perros. It’s all about relationships, love in the midst of adversity and communication. In many languages with Dutch subtitles. 142 min. Cinecenter, The Movies, Pathé ArenA, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski
The Black Dahlia The Black Dahlia Brian De Palma’s adaptation of James Ellroy’s novel has dazzling camerawork and a convincing film noir feel. But for all its beauty, the film never grips you. Much of the acting (Josh Hartnett as the young cop, Scarlett Johansson as the femme fatale) is mediocre, and if the film is a little hard to follow, it’s because it doesn’t want you to notice that the story is not moving in any surprising direction. (MP) 120 min. Pathé De Munt Borat Borat, the third-best reporter of Kazakhstan, is sent on a noble mission to America, where he must learn some important lessons from this prosperous, advanced country. Yet Borat’s bluntness and political incorrectness soon reveal a nation that isn’t all that enlightened. It’s hard to know what exactly to make of Borat, another imaginative alter-ego of Sacha Baron Cohen, who also created white rapper Ali G. Some may find his insolent behaviour towards his ignorant victims shocking; others will find it hilarious. Either way, you’ll leave the theatre utterly exhausted. (BS) 84 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé City, Pathé De Munt Casino Royale Blond, very blond. A lot of fans were left gasping for air after Daniel Craig was tapped to come shake—not stir—things up as the new James. But Mr Craig does a wonderful job bringing Bond back to basics. This start-over does takes some time getting
rately gauge the emotional temperature of the public and he makes his famous saccharine speech in which he hails Diana as ‘the People’s Princess’. The Queen makes use of real contemporary footage of the Princess in her various guises: Diana posing, Diana laughing, Diana hugging AIDS patients/landmine victims/her children. We also see the sea of ‘floral tributes’ at the gates of Buckingham Palace after her death. Seeing this footage reminds you of just how weird it all was. The English academic Jacqueline Rose has commented on the strangely coercive nature of the public grieving in the wake of her death: if you weren’t seen to be mourning then somehow you were a lesser person. But the film doesn’t address this. Rather, Diana’s death functions as the axis around which the protocol of the monarchy is forced to rework itself in order to retain and consolidate the loyalty of its subjects. As Blair remarks whilst watching the
used to, but after the last few instalments, that’s a small price to pay for the pleasure. (SG) 144 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé City, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski El Custodio Ruben (Julio Chávez) works as bodyguard for the Minister of National Planning (Osmar Núñez). His life consists mostly of waiting for the Minister, and the unequal relationship between them is a clear metaphor for Argentina’s corrupt society. Doors are literally shut in the face of Ruben, who has no access to the places the Minister goes, nor, for that matter, control over his own life. Meanwhile, the Minister doesn’t seem too concerned with his country, as he entertains guests on his ranch and visits his mistress. This could be the recipe for a powerful film, filled with tension, but Ruben’s life is shown in long, static cameras shots—tedious. Still, there are occasional brilliant visuals, such as when he is dismissed by the Minister and literally fades away. Sharper editing could have made this movie magnificent. In Spanish with Dutch subtitles. (MM) 95 min. Rialto
The Departed Director Martin Scorsese’s latest finds him once again in top form and at home in his favourite subjects: the underworld, money and clan loyalty. The Departed is based on the 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs and set in Irish-Italian South Boston. Mob boss Frank Costello (an exuberantly evileyed Jack Nicholson) runs the show; Matt Damon, as Costello’s police department mole, alternates between a poker face and a winning smile. But the police have their own double agent, Leonardo DiCaprio, whose slow disintegration is at the heart of this drama about doubling and deception. (JH) 152 min. Pathé ArenA, Pathé City, Pathé De Munt, Pathé Tuschinski L’ Enfant endormi Zeinab (Mounia Osfour) lives in an isolated hamlet in northern Morocco. Like most of the women in her village, she is waiting for the return of her husband, an illegal immigrant working in Europe. The wait is shared by her unborn child, which she by traditional magic allows to ‘sleep’ until her man returns. The sleeping child symbolises the postponement of her own dreams in Belgian-Moroccan director Yasmine Kas-
Queen’s TV performance: this is how to survive. The monarchy adapts to the emotional climate of the country, while Blair unleashes an impassioned salvo directed at his own press secretary, Alistair Campbell, in which he bemoans Campbell’s cynicism and defends the Queen’s lifelong devotion to her duty. Clearly both of these about-faces were made in the name of political survival. There are striking contributions from the supporting cast: Sylvia Sims is a marvellously grouchy Queen Mother, while Helen McCrory as Cherie Blair has the best line of the entire film when she refers to the Royal Family as ‘freeloading, emotionally retarded nutters.’ However, it’s Helen Mirren’s astonishing sexappeal-suppressing portrayal of the monarch that holds the film together. In contrast to the less-than-credible Alex Jennings, who plays Prince Charles, Mirren turns the problematic task of portraying a public figure who is still alive into an uncannily believable performance. The Queen does not come out resoundingly in favour of either the royal family or the government in this whole affair—although a slightly weaselly Blair highlights the dignity of the monarch, so you do suspect a sneaking sympathy there. This may seem out of kilter with Frears’ broadly left-wing tendencies; yet it may not matter where the sympathy— if any—lies. More than anything else, his film is a masterclass in the deployment of political expediency for the purpose of the acquisition, consolidation and retention of power. Helen Mirren rules. The Queen opens Thursday at Cinecenter, Pathé ArenA and Pathé Tuschinski.
sari’s acclaimed 2004 debut. In French, Berber and Arabic with Dutch subtitles. 94 min. Filmmuseum
Forever Forever Heddy Honigmann’s latest film documents the life of the Parisian cemetery Père-Lachaise. But the filmmaker can’t seem to make up her mind whether to make a film about Proust (one of the cemetery’s residents), a statement on art versus mortality, or a portrait of the living visitors. Her quiet style of filming, using long shots and a static camera to allow the action to unfold, has worked well for her in the past, when you felt she had a connection with the people she filmed. But in Forever, none of these approaches brings the talented Honigmann onto familiar ground. In French with Dutch or English subtitles. (MM) 95 min. Het Ketelhuis, De Uitkijk Frozen Land This Finnish combination of Magnolia and Pulp Fiction shows us a downward spiral of violence and grief that begins when irresponsible youngster Niko prints out a fake 500-euro note and tries to use it. Each time the note is passed to a new person, the situation gets worse. The ingenious thing: you can’t really tell when exactly director Aku Louhimies shifts into darker gear—until you find yourself suffocating in intense human drama. The oppressive cinematography will confirm your prejudices about Finland: it’s very cold and very white indeed, and the snow is just there to make up for the colour of its inhabitants’ souls. In Finnish with Dutch subtitles. (MP) 130 min. Filmmuseum Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek/Crusade in Jeans An English-language film, with a largely Dutch cast, of Thea Beckman’s beloved Dutch children’s book. Fifteen-year-old Dolf (Joe Flynn) misuses a time
30 November-6 December 2006
Amsterdam Weekly
23 The future of Nederhop is looking up.
Three Nederhoppers get the superfly-onthe-wall treatment in a documentary with brains and street cred.
CAN WE JUST CALL IT HIPHOP? By Jaro Renout The Black Soil International Hiphop Film Festival is showcasing the eagerly awaited documentary Dutch Touch, a full-length celebration of the state of hiphop—NL-style. In it, director Ulrike Helmer follows three players of different stature and style over the course of a year. Brainpower is cast as the fully arrived professional, the DuvelDuvel collective represent raw shit from Rot-
machine and gets sent back to the 13th century, just in time to get caught up in the Children’s Crusade. Veteran director Ben Sombogaart seems to have had trouble getting this international production right; the result is uneven, though entertaining. At least it’s a chance to see a movie starring both Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves) and the venerable Belgian character actor Jan Decleir. Het Ketelhuis, Pathé ArenA, Pathé City, Pathé De Munt Ladies in Lavender Charles Dance’s 2004 directorial debut features Judi Dench and Maggie Smith as the ageing and unmarried Waddington sisters who share their quiet lives together in 1936 Cornwall, but suddenly find their daily routine abruptly disturbed by the appearance of an unknown and strapping young man (Daniel Brühl) whose body has washed up on the shore. (JH) 103 min. Pathé Tuschinski Leef! Director Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen (who died just after the film’s release) and screenwriter Maria Goos made this pedestrian drama sbout Anna (Monic Hendrickx), a woman in her forties facing crises in her work and marriage. It’s a lesser film than their earlier success Cloaca. In Dutch. (SM) 108 min. Rialto
Little Miss Sunshine In this offbeat comedy, a
fractious family of misfits piles into an ailing VW bus and sets off for California so the youngest (Abigail Breslin) can compete in a children’s beauty pageant. This isn’t much more than a glorified sitcom, but it
terdam, and Jay Colin embodies the struggling young artist from Amsterdam Zuidoost. The contrasts are stark. While Colin is waiting for his first record deal, Brainpower is in New York collaborating with Jaycee from the Ultramagnetic MC’s, rapping in English like there’s no tomorrow. In comparison, rapper Duvel stands out as a soft-spoken, intelligent and contemplative artist. Meanwhile, the trials and tribula-
tions of an up-and-coming crew are foregrounded when DuvelDuvel member Rein de Vos can’t make it to an important Lowlands gig because there’s no babysitter for his beloved dog Missy. (Perhaps this is mere coincidence, but shortly after Dutch Touch had finished filming DuvelDuvel decided to call it a day.) This is a film made with passion: passion for the game, for the truth and for the players. Helmer has always been inspired by street culture, with short documentaries about The Roots, the legendary Rawkus label and Dutch masters Postmen under her belt. A street cred background like this helps make Dutch Touch into an important film, since similar documentaries were made from a distance, by music journalists who clearly had no affinity with or knowledge of the subject and its lifestyle. Watching the film, however, you sometimes can’t help but wonder if
every shot is absolutely necessary. Who wants to watch Brainpower eat pizza, or look at gritty city snaps with serious faces staring into an urban distance? It looks the look, but this cut ’n’ slash visual style has been done before—and done better. While fans will want to watch every minute, non-connoisseurs will likely take these moments as an opportunity to wander off to the loo, or buy some more popcorn. Yet that would be their loss, since among the longueurs lurk some mighty fine surprises—such as the unlikely collaboration between Jay Colin and ’70s sex crooner George ‘Rock Your Baby’ McCrae—and some essential lessons. For example, it might come as a surprise to those whose only knowledge of the street has come from 50 Cent videos that the amount of intelligence, consciousness and goodwill on the Dutch scene is great enough to make D66 wiggle with embarrassment. Another surprise is the ways in which the film’s stars stray far from established rockumentary antics—there’s hardly any booze involved; everybody seems to be just drinking fruit juice. Is hiphop becoming the healthy alternative? By far the biggest portion of the film shows the artists on stage—logical, since that’s where it all goes down. And where the sound lags, the raw energy kicks in, just as it should. The fight for the right to party continues. And, as this documentary shows—at least in part—this is only the beginning. Dutch Touch, 1 December, 19.00, Bitterzoet, Spui 2, 521 3001, www.blacksoil.com, general release from 14 December
Special screenings Alice Czech animation master Jan Svankmajer combined live action and stop-motion to make a slow, spooky version of Alice in Wonderland. This may not be his best, but go anyway: if you’ve never seen a Svankmajer film, you haven’t lived. In English. (JP) 86 min. De Nieuwe Anita Der Anwalt des Herzens German silent melodrama from 1927 starring diva Lil Dagover. With live music as part of the Cinema Concerten series. Filmmuseum Heaven This film can be regarded as the last word from Krzysztof Kieslowski, as delivered by German film-maker Tom Tykwer (Lola rennt) and true to the latter’s own manner. Working with his usual co-writer, Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Kieslowski was planning a trilogy loosely inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy when he died, and the script for Heaven was reportedly the only one close to completion. After the police refuse to heed her accusations, an English teacher in Turin (Cate Blanchett) plants a bomb in an office building to destroy a drug dealer she holds responsible for the death of her husband. Her plan goes awry; held for questioning, she insists on speaking English, and the young police officer (Giovanni Ribisi) who offers to translate her testimony immediately falls in love with her. Closer in some ways to the more Hitchcockian (and therefore Catholic) aspects of Kieslowski’s oeuvre than most of his other late works, this is fluid, suggestive, yet open-ended storytelling—part thriller, part love story, part ethical inquiry. This is Tykwer’s most assured picture to date, and like much of Kieslowski’s best work, it qualifies simultaneously as engrossing narrative and philosophical parable. In English/Italian with Dutch subtitles. (JR) 96 min. Kriterion Honour of the Dragon Thai martial arts star Tony Jaa and director Prachya Pinkaew follow up their
entertaining, fight-heavy Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (2003) with this virtually identical action pic. A young villager (Jaa) is dispatched to rescue his family’s elephant from a ruthless mob boss who, for obscure reasons, has smuggled it to Australia. This is a low-budget affair short on plot and long on action, which is swell whenever Jaa’s involved in a fight sequence; but the steady accumulation of unnecessary diversions (like an embarrassing mudbath striptease) makes this pretty tough to sit through. In dubbed English with Dutch subtitles. (RP) 109 min. Filmhuis Griffioen Jules et Jim François Truffaut’s 1961 film about a ménage à trois isn’t quite as racy as it used to be but remains a classic of the nouvelle vague. In French with Dutch subtitles. 104 min. Rialto Little Otik Animated film (2000) from Czech genius Jan Svankmajer, plus rarely shown short films. See Alice. With English subtitles. 132 min. Het Illuseum Mary Abel Ferrara ostensibly traces the spiritual journeys of its trinity of main characters, played by Forest Whitaker, Juliette Binoche and Mathew Modine. It’s a tricksy, confusing work which uses the film-within-a-film device to unite all three, but then baffles the viewer by splicing in footage of real-life religion experts, religious imagery and news footage, all played against out-of-kilter voice overs. Its main messages are crashingly obvious: women are either Madonnas or whores, children are vulnerable and God moves in mysterious ways. Each of the characters act out these themes in their own lives, but in all it amounts to a shocking, dissatisfying reduction of religious ideas and issues. (AD) 83 min. Cavia N’oublie pas que tu vas mourir In this 1995 film, , directed by and starring Xavier Beauvois, a student
diagnosed HIV-positive, goes on a Baudelairean bender, sinking so low that he even goes to Holland to score. In French with Dutch subtitles. 121 min. Filmmuseum Nord The 1991 debut of young French directer Xavier Beauvois, who also plays the role of the teenage son in this autobiographical tale of family unhappiness. In French with Dutch subtitles. 99 min. Filmmuseum Nuovo Cinema Paradiso Also known as Cinema Paradiso. Get out your hankies, film fans. The Filmmuseum has chosen Giuseppe Tornatore’s sentimental ode to the pleasures of the movies as Cinerama’s last-ever screening. In Italian with Dutch subtitles. 121 min. Filmmuseum Cinerama Rotterdam Film Course Under the title ‘Between Dreams and Reality: The Visual Logic of (Post) Surrealist Cinema’, the course will feature a number of short films created between 1930-2002, as well as full screenings of David Lynch’s Eraserhead and Jan Svankmajer’s Conspirators of Pleasure. Rialto Starkiss: Circusmeisjes in India Dutch documentary from 2003, about Indian girls who are trained as acrobats after their parents sell them to the circus. In English/Hindi with Dutch subtitles. 77 min. Filmhuis Griffioen Unveiled A woman (Jasmin Tabatabai) forced to flee her native Iran after being exposed as a lesbian seeks political asylum in Germany; when her petition is denied, she disguises herself as a man to work illegally in a small-town factory. Andrea Maccarone’s drama begins on an urgent note, then detours from the larger story about human rights to pursue a sluggish romance between the Iranian refugee and an unsuspecting female coworker. In German and Farsi with Dutch subtitles. (AG) 97 min. Kriterion
24 deftly dramatises our conflicting desires for individuality and an audience to applaud it. (JJ) 102 min. Kriterion, The Movies, Pathé Tuschinski Maybe Sweden Five friends rent a house in Spain for a holiday. They plan to have a quiet read—until they find a Muslim African refugee in their garden. Each of the friends reacts differently to this ‘invasion’: one likes the idea of a multicultural society but refuses to share the bathroom, another is glad to have more players for a football game, while yet another finds a role for herself as do-gooder. Politically engaged films often suffer from one-dimensional characters, but this feature debut from director and scriptwriter Margien Rogaar is complex and assured. In Dutch. (MM) 85 min. Kriterion
Nachtrit Cool film about a taxi driver who gets caught
up in the Amsterdam taxi war of 2000. Dennis (Frank Lammers) takes on a huge debt to finance his own taxi permit. Little does he know that a new law is about to come through that will make his permit absolutely worthless. With good acting, great dialogues and a convincing sex scene, the film makes perfect use of the darker side of the city. In Dutch. (LG) 104 min. The Movies Ober Absurdity reigns once again in Alex van Warmerdam’s latest feature, a hysterical tale about the many bizarre misfortunes of a waiter named Edgar (played by the director himself), who also happens to be the main character of a manuscript in the
FILM TIMES Thursday 30 November until Wednesday 6 December. Times are provided by cinemas and are subject to last-minute changes. Film times also at www.amsterdamweekly.nl. De Balie Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10, 553 5151 IDFA Fri-Sun. Bitterzoet Spuistraat 2, 521 3001 Black Soil Filmfestival Fri-Sun. Cavia Van Hallstraat 52-I, 681 1419 Mary Thur 20.30. Cinecenter Lijnbaansgracht 236, 623 6615 Babel daily 15.45, 18.45, Thur-Tues also 21.45, Sun also 11.15 Ober daily 16.30, 19.30, 22.00, Sun also 11.00, 14.00 Perfume:The Story of a Murderer Wed 21.45 The Queen daily 16.00, 19.15, 21.45, Sun also 11.00, 13.45 La Tourneuse de pages daily 16.15, 21.45, Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 19.30, Sun also 11.15, 14.00. Cinema Amstelveen Plein 1960 2, Amstelveen, 547 5175 Flushed Away (NL) Sat, Wed 13.30, Sun 11.30 Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek (NL) Thur 15.00, Sat, Wed 15.30, Sun 13.30 Ober Thur-Sat, Wed 20.30, Sun 16.00. Filmhuis Griffioen Uilenstede 106, Amstelveen, 444 5100 Honour of the Dragon Thur, Fri 21.00, Tues 19.00 Starkiss: Circusmeisjes in India Thur, Fri 19.00, Tues 21.00. Filmmuseum Vondelpark 3, 589 1400 Alice in Cartoonland 2 Sun, Wed 13.45 Der Anwalt des Herzens Sun 16.00 Enfant endormi, L' Sat, Mon-Wed 19.30 Frozen Land daily 21.30, Thur, Sun also 19.00 IDFA Thur-Sat Iron Island Fri 19.30, Mon, Wed 17.30 N'oublie pas que tu vas mourir Mon 21.45, Tues 22.00 Nord Sun 21.45, Wed 22.00 Le Petit Lieutenant Thur-Sat 21.45, Thur also 19.30, Sun-Wed also 19.45 Suske en Wiske: De Duistere Diamant Sun, Wed 14.00 Zwartboek Fri, Sat 19.00, Sun, Mon, Wed also 17.00. Filmmuseum Cinerama Marnixstraat 400, 623 7814,
Amsterdam Weekly making. Reality and fiction coalesce even further when the badgered Edgar complains to his creator about all his mishaps and demands restitution. In Dutch. (BS) 97 min. Cinecenter, Cinema Amstelveen, Het Ketelhuis, Kriterion
turns into a clunky kid in real life. Gondry’s inventive lo-fi aesthetic is always appealing, as are the two leads, Gael García Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg. In Spanish/English/French with Dutch subtitles. (LvH) 105 min. Kriterion
Pretpark Nederland Director Michiel van Erp explores a weird phenomenon the Dutch call ‘leisure time’. According to some, the Dutch are maniacally battling the boredom that lurks in every corner—whether it’s by attending a women’s magazine day out, shopping in giant mall Batavia Stad or watching the Gay Parade. It’s refreshing to have a Dutchman self-reflect on habits without getting exploitative or malicious. The film is a bit overlong, yet it never gets boring. And apparently that’s what Dutch life is all about. In Dutch. (BS) 90 min. Het Ketelhuis
Shortbus Director John Cameron Mitchell and cast go all the way in his second feature after cult classic Hedwig and the Angry Inch. But behind all the real masturbation, penetration and ejaculation lies a moving story about three individuals and their search for (sexual) fulfillment. Mitchell’s message is clear: sex shouldn’t be taken too seriously. That would take all the fun out of it. He manages to pair sincere emotions with real sex and still be considered mainstream. Will this mean the end for the adult entertainment industry? (BS) 102 min. Kriterion
Rize Documentary about radical hiphop dance in
Taxidermia This new film by Geörgy Pálfi (Hukkle) follows three generations of a strange family: the grandfather practises bestiality, father competes in eating contests and son is a taxidermist who decides to stuff himself. Pálfi says he wanted to use the imaginary language of porn and horror to answer basic questions about human identity. Bring your barf bag. In Hungarian with Dutch subtitles 91 min. Rialto
LA’s South Central by David LaChapelle. (JJ) 84 min. Melkweg Cinema
The Science of Sleep Michael Gondry’s latest flick is a bit more lightweight than his previous efforts, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The Science of Sleep is a rumination on love and longing, in this case the love felt by the dopey Stéphane for his lanky neighbour Stéphanie, which he expresses by presenting all kinds of inventive doodads for her. While Stéphane is a cocksure and confident dude in his cardboard-riddled dreams, he
IDFA Thur-Sun Nuovo Cinema Paradiso Sun 20.30. Het Illuseum Witte de Withstraat 120, 770 5581 Little Otik Wed 19.30. Het Ketelhuis Haarlemmerweg 8-10, 684 0090 4 Elements daily 17.30, 19.30, 21.30 Flushed Away daily 16.15, 20.15 Forever daily 21.45 Into Great Silence Sat, Sun, Wed 12.45 Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek/Crusade in Jeans Thur-Sun, Tues 16.30, 19.00, Sat, Sun, Wed also 13.45, Mon 16.30, Wed also 19.00 Ober daily 21.45 Het Paard van Sinterklaas Sat, Sun 11.45 Pretpark Nederland Sat, Sun, Wed 15.45 Het Schaep met de vijf pooten Sun 15.00 Wild Romance daily 18.00 Zwartboek Sat, Sun, Wed 13.30. Kriterion Roetersstraat 170, 623 1708 An Inconvenient Truth daily 18.05 Buddha's Lost Children daily 16.00 Flushed Away Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues 17.50, Sat, Sun, Wed 14.00 Heaven Mon 22.15 Little Miss Sunshine daily 20.15 Maybe Sweden Fri-Wed 16.15 Ober Thur-Sun, Tues, Wed 22.15, Sat, Wed also 14.15 The Science of Sleep daily 19.45, Thur-Mon, Wed also 22.00, Fri, Sat 0.00 Shortbus Fri, Sat 0.15 Sneak Preview Tues 22.00 Thank You for Smoking Sat, Sun, Wed 17.50 Unveiled Sun 13.00. Melkweg Cinema Lijnbaansgracht 234A, 624 1777 Rize Tues, Wed 20.00 Sierra Leone's Refugee All-Stars Tues 20.00. The Movies Haarlemmerdijk 159-165, 638 6016 13 (Tzameti) Fri, Sat 23.30 After the Wedding daily 19.15, Fri-Wed also 17.00, Sun also 12.30 An Inconvenient Truth Sat, Wed 15.30, Sun 11.30, 13.30, 15.30 Babel daily 16.15, 19.00, 21.45 Flushed Away (NL) Sat, Sun, Wed 14.30, Sun also 12.45 Little Miss Sunshine daily 17.30, 19.30, 21.45, Fri, Sat also 23.45 Nachtrit Fri, Sat 0.30 The Queen daily 17.15, 19.45, 22.00, Sat, Sun, Wed also 15.00, Sun also 13.00 La Tourneuse de pages daily 21.30, Sat, Sun, Wed also 14.45 Wallace and Gromit:The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Fri, Sat 0.00. De Nieuwe Anita Frederik Hendrikstraat 111, 06 4150 3512, Alice Mon 20.30. OT301 Overtoom 301, 779 4913 Renaissance/The Corporation Sun 20.30. Pathé ArenA ArenA Boulevard 600, 0900 1458 Afblijven Sat, Sun, Wed 13.20, Sat, Sun also 10.55 Baas in Eigen Bos Sat, Sun 10.10, 12.15, 14.20, 16.20, Wed 13.15, 15.20, 17.20 Baas in Eigen Bos (IMAX) Sat, Sun 10.30, 12.45
30 November-6 December 2006
Wallace and Gromit:The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Aardman rules. (LvH) 85 min. The Movies
We Feed the World This documentary, which was shown at last year’s IDFA to both critical and public acclaim, looks at various aspects of the food industry, all of which have been affected—not to say deformed—by globalisation. The segment showing the life cycle of chickens might cause you to toss your cookies, but the whole film will help you question the sanity of our global economy, which does seem to revolve around money after all. This makes the final interview with the CEO of Nestlé, in which he makes an utter buffoon of himself, into an effective cathartic moment. Time to go organic! (LvH) 96 min. Rialto
fast-talking spokesperson for the tobacco industry who earns his pay making black look white. (JJ) 92 min. Kriterion, Pathé Tuschinski
Wild Romance With his greased quiff and tight leather pants, singer Herman Brood was the ultimate marketing concept: the boys wanted to be like him, the girls lined up to sleep with him. In Jean van de Velde’s biopic, Daniël Boissevain does a good job of evoking the self-proclaimed rock ’n’ roll junkie: half sweet, sentimental man, half big, selfish kid. But the real star of the movie is Marcel Hensema as Brood’s manager, Koos van Dijk, with his high energy and don’t-worry-I’llget-us-out-of-this approach. Wild Romance is not so much about the life and times of Herman Brood as it is about how his manager succeeded in keeping his unruly star on the right track—most of the time, that is. In Dutch. (FD) 103 min. Het Ketelhuis
Babel Thur-Tues 21.25, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 12.10, 15.15 Borat daily 17.50, 19.50, Thur-Tues also 12.40, 15.35, 22.00, Sat, Sun also 10.35, Wed also 21.50 Casino Royale daily 20.45, Thur-Tues also 13.30, 14.15, 15.05, 16.45, 17.30, 18.15, 21.30, Thur-Mon, Wed also 20.00, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 12.00, Sat, Sun also 11.10, Sat also 10.20, Wed also 12.50, 16.00, 19.15 Crash (2005) Tues 13.30 The Departed daily 14.45, 18.00, 21.15, Sat also 11.25 The Devil Wears Prada daily 19.00, 21.45, Thur, Mon, Tues also 13.00, 15.50 Flushed Away Thur-Tues 19.30, 21.40, Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 12.20, 14.25, 16.35, Sat also 13.05, 15.15, 17.25, Wed also 21.55 Flushed Away (NL) Thur, Mon, Tues 12.35, Fri-Sun 12.50, 15.10, 17.10, Sat, Sun also 10.40, Wed 12.10, 14.10, 16.10 Happy Feet Wed 12.10, 14.35, 17.00, 19.25, 21.50 Happy Feet (NL) Wed 12.45, 15.10, 17.35 Ice Cream, I Scream daily 16.15, 18.40, 21.10, Thur-Mon, Wed also 13.45, Sat, Sun also 11.15 Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek (NL) Fri-Sun, Wed 13.05, 15.50, Sat, Sun also 10.25 Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek/Crusade in Jeans daily 15.25, 18.10, 21.00, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tue also 12.30, Sat, Sun, Wed also 12.35, Sat, Sun also 10.00 De Mierenmepper Sat, Sun, Wed 13.35, 15.40, Sat, Sun also 11.05 The Queen daily 15.40, 18.05, 20.15, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 13.20 Sneak Preview Tues 21.00 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre:The Beginning Thur-Tues 17.40, 19.40, 21.50, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 13.10, 15.20 Zwartboek 21. Pathé City Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 15-19, 623 4570 Borat Mon, Tues 15.00, Mon also 17.30, 20.00, 22.00, Tues also 17.00, 19.10, Wed 20.00, 22.10 Casino Royale Mon-Wed 16.30, 20.30 The Departed Mon-Wed 17.45, 21.00, Mon, Tues also 14.30 The Devil Wears Prada Mon, Tues 16.00, 18.45, 21.30 Flushed Away (NL) Wed 15.00, 17.30 Happy Feet Wed 16.15, 18.45, 21.30 Happy Feet (NL) Wed 15.15 IDFA Fri-Sun Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek/Crusade in Jeans Mon-Wed 15.30, 18.30, 21.20 Sneak Preview Tues 21.10. Pathé De Munt Vijzelstraat 15, 0900 1458 Afblijven Sat 12.20, 15.00, 17.40, Sun, Wed 16.20, Sun also 10.40, 13.30, Wed also 13.40 An Inconvenient Truth Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues 13.45, 16.05 Baas in Eigen Bos Sat 10.30, 12.45, 15.05, Sun 11.40, 14.00, 16.25, Wed 12.00, 14.10, 16.20 Babel Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 15.00, 18.10, 21.20, Thur, Fri, Mon-Wed also 12.00, Sat 10.10, 13.15, 16.35, 19.50, 23.10, Sun also 11.45 The Black Dahlia Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 21.30, Sat 23.15 Borat Thur-Tues 17.25, 19.45, 22.05, Thur-Sat, Mon, Tues also 12.45, 15.05, Sat also 10.30, Sun also 13.05, 15.15, Wed 12.10, 14.15, 16.25, 18.45, 22.10 Casino Royale daily 13.30, 14.30, 17.45, 20.30, 21.00, Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed also 16.45, 20.00, Thur, Fri, Sun-Tues also 13.00, 16.15, Sat, Sun 10.15, 11.15, Sat also 12.45, 16.00, 17.00, 19.15, 22.30 Children of Men Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 18.55, 21.35, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 12.25, 15.40, Sat 20.20, 23.05
The Departed Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 20.40, Thur, Fri, Sun-Tues also 13.55, 17.15, Sat 12.15, 15.45, 19.15, 22.45 The Devil Wears Prada Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 18.40, Sat 17.25, 20.20 Flags of Our Fathers Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 18.15, 21.10, Thur, Fri, Mon, Tues also 12.10, Thur, Mon, Tues also 15.10, Sat 19.45, 22.45 Flushed Away Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 12.30, 14.45, 17.05, 19.35, 21.55, Sat 10.00, 12.05, 14.15, 16.35, 18.55, 21.10, 23.30, Sun also 10.20 Flushed Away (NL) Fri, Sun, Wed 16.00, Sat 10.35, 12.45, 15.00, 17.15, Sun also 11.15, 13.40, Wed also 13.45 Happy Feet Wed 12.15, 15.00, 17.40 Happy Feet (NL) Wed 12.50, 15.30, 18.00 Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek (NL) Fri 13.40, 16.40, Sat 10.00, 12.40, 15.30, Sun 11.30, 14.20, 17.15, Wed 13.00, 16.00 Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek/Crusade in Jeans Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 12.05, 14.55, 17.55, 20.50, Sat 10.40, 13.35, 16.30, 19.25, 22.25 Het Paard van Sinterklaas Fri, Wed 12.15, Sat 10.50, 13.25, 15.55, Sun 12.00, 14.30, Wed also 14.35 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning Thur, Fri, SunWed 16.55, 19.20, 21.45, Thur, Mon, Tues also 12.00, 14.10, Fri also 14.50, Sat 18.20, 20.35, 22.50 Yossi & Jagger Wed 21.00 Zwartboek 21. Pathé Tuschinski Reguliersbreestraat 34, 0900 1458 After the Wedding daily 18.50, Thur, Tues also 12.45, Fri also 12.30 Babel daily 21.15, Mon-Wed also 18.00 Casino Royale daily 14.00, 17.15, 20.45 The Departed Thur-Sun 13.00, 16.30, 20.00 The Devil Wears Prada daily 18.30, Thur also 16.00, Fri-Sun also 15.40, Mon-Wed also 21.30, Mon, Tues also 12.30, 15.30 Flushed Away (NL) Sat, Sun, Wed 12.00, 14.15, 16.30 Happy Feet (NL) Wed 13.00 Ladies in Lavender Thur, Tues 13.30 Little Miss Sunshine daily 21.45, Thur, Mon, Tues also 15.45 The Queen daily 16.30, 19.00, 21.30, Thur, Sat, Sun, Tues, Wed also 13.45 Thank You for Smoking Thur-Sun 17.00, 22.00 Zwartboek Fri-Sun 12.30, Mon 14.30. Rialto Ceintuurbaan 338, 676 8700 4 Elements Thur 20.00, Fri-Wed 19.15, 21.15, Sun also 11.15, 16.15 All the Invisible Children daily 19.30, Sun, Wed also 15.15 The Cave of the Yellow Dog Sun 13.45 El Custodio daily 22.00 Garpastum daily 21.30, Wed also 15.30 Harvest Time daily 20.00, Thur, Sun-Wed also 18.15, Sun also 16.30 Into Great Silence Fri, Wed 16.15, Sat, Sun 13.15 Jules et Jim Sun 11.00 Leef! Fri 16.00 Mijn eerste leraar Sat 16.15 Rotterdam Film Course Fri 10.00 The Story of the Weeping Camel Sun 12.00 Taxidermia Fri, Sat 23.10 We Feed the World Thur, Fri, Sun-Wed 17.45, Sun also 13.00. De Uitkijk Prinsengracht 452, 623 7460 After the Wedding Fri-Wed 19.00, 21.15 Forever Thur, Sat-Tues 17.00 The White Planet Wed 15.00, 17.00.
Thank You for Smoking Aaron Eckhart plays a
30 November-6 December 2006
Amsterdam Weekly
You can’t beat meat Café De Klos Kerkstraat 41-43, 625 3730 Open Daily 17.30-23.30 Cash, PIN At a party just a couple of weeks ago, one of my foodie informants enthused to me about what he considered to be the best spare ribs in town. I smiled, watching his eyes light up as he described how good they were. Ah yes: everyone has a special rib joint for a hunk o’ flesh at a decent price. When the Glutton learnt that Rita Verdonk’s VVD got the—aherm—chop from voters, like a lamb to the slaughter, muttonheaded, I decided to cruise off to Kerkstraat to hustle up some serious flesh to celebrate the silly moo’s defeat. My inner carnivore roared for sticky fingers and succulent meat juices. Café De Klos is internationally famous, especially among travellers celebrating their return to Amsterdam at this international meat-ing place, which has been plying its trade for 35 years. If you are vegetarian or an animal rights activist, however, I suggest you go elsewhere—meat and beer comprise the bill of fare. When I entered this cosy joint bursting with hot funky music and lively atmosphere, I was struck by the colour of the brown walls. They made me think of all the meat that had been grilled here over the years of the aromatic smells rising from the hotplates of the drooling customers. The smoke from chargrilled steaks, chops, poultry—but
THE UNDERCOVER GLUTTON The smoke from char-grilled steaks, chops, poultry— but particularly the house speciality, spare ribs—had permeated the walls. The very best kind of bruin café. particularly the house speciality, spare ribs— had permeated the walls. The very best kind of bruin café. The black-T-shirt-wearing staff are playful,
charming and attentive. No wonder the place has continued for as long as it has, in its prime location. Greedily, I requested if I could gluttonise
25
by having a half-portion of smoked and a half of regular ribs. My big, beefy waiter grinned: ‘Why not?’ I watched the action unfold around me. An elderly man sat down with a younger one. Daddy and son? (I know it’s rude to stare, but my insatiable appetite for these things was whetted.) What did they order? What did the large Scandinavian party order? I would have found out, had my ribs not arrived at that moment. Was the chef taking the piss out of me? There must have been a mistake! I’d requested one portion, not double. They were enormous, a heroic amount needing Herculean effort to consume and could easily have fed a family of four. They smelled great: char-grilled, hot and very inviting. They were accompanied by sliced raw onions—to counteract the meat’s grease—a crisp salad, two sauces—whisky and garlic mayo—and a basket of baguette. I groaned as I savaged them. The flesh was soft, moist and very good. My imagination flashed images of Tarzan beating his hairy chest, and Fred Flintstone tucking into barbequed dinosaur, while tribes turned Bible-quoting missionaries on a spit. My table manners dropped to an all-time low, but happily, plenty of paper napkins and moisturising towelettes were provided. Once again the Glutton had met his match. He was totally defeated and there was no way he could finish. So he left, with tail between his legs, and a hot takeaway doggy bag to faithfully guide him home. Were they the best ribs in town? Well, that’s open to speculation. When I think ‘ribs’, I think of Café de Reiger, but Café de Klos is certainly a heavyweight title contender. Like another macho meathead once said: I’ll be back.
Amsterdam Weekly
26
WEEKLY CLASSIFIEDS Ads are free, space permitting. They will be posted both to the paper and online. Guaranteed placement is available for a small fee see our website for details. Ads may be published in English, het Nederlands or whatever language is best for you to communicate your message. How to submit an ad: via our website at www.amsterdamweekly.nl, by fax at 020 620 1666 or post to Amsterdam Weekly, De Ruyterkade 106, 1011 AB Amsterdam. Deadline: Monday at 12.00, the week of publication. AD OF THE WEEK SANSKRIT You don’t have to restrain your desires or be able to hold a conversation in Sanskrit to be a saint. See essentialmeditation.org. Well, who knows, one or two words in Sanskrit may help you get a date with your favorite goddess or god...
HOUSING OFFERED AMSTEL RIVER Ground floor, 2room apt, internet, DVD, UPC Film Net, fully and classically furnished. Best location on Amstel River. Beautiful view. Available starting first week of Dec for 3 months or eventually longer. €900 all incl. One month deposit. Call 06 1294 1029. STUDIO APTon edge of Jordaan. Furnished, €700 + 1 month deposit. Mobile: 06 1294 1029. HOUSEBOATHouseboat to rent from1 Dec-15 Jan. A’dam Center, 4 rooms, central heating, ADSL, cabel TV, grand piano etc near Jordaan, Centraal Station. Call 625 0087 or email greeneburton@cs.com. CENTRAL APT TO LET2-bedroom
apt in Zeeburg, 10 min by tram to CS. €1150/mth. If interested call Mags on 419 8188 after 20.00.
in 2 years. Call or text him at 06 4200 0893 or me at 06 4101 5093.
good prices, for yoga, dance, etc. 06 4194 2207.
BEAUTIFUL HOUSE PIJPGround floor, huge! 2-story, 3-bedroom, sunny, fully furnished, WiFi, yard, luxury. 6 months. €2500/mth. Available 5 Dec. Call 06 2180 4937.
FLAT NEEDED SOON 2 guys looking for 2-bedroom flat in A’dam Centre or West. Semifurnished/furnished. Move-in date 1 Dec. Maximum willing to pay €1250. Reply to gordino1@hotmail.com.
ENGLISH SPEAKERS Which native English speakers want to help dynamic company at Leidseplein with expansion in UK. You will call computer experts in UK and help us set appointments with them. Great job for student. Flexible hours. We’re not a call center. Please email tselman@guidion.nl.
HOUSING WANTED ROOM WANTED International student looking for room to rent from end Jan to end June. Am from South Africa but live in Scotland. Am friendly, tidy & easy-going. Looking for room near transport to Wibaustraat/Weesperplain. Would consider anywhere b/w Amstelveen and Wibaustraat. Email bianca.peel@gmail.com. ROOM/APT WANTED Swedish student looking for home, at most €400 and preferably in city center. Marcus: 06 4528 4560 or wilen@hotmail.com. ROOM FOR FRIEND My friend needs place to live. He is a 24 y.o. topturner. Great guy, responsible, not at home often and will finish his studies with-
HOUSING TO SHARE SEEKING ROOM accommodation to rent in friendly household in A’dam. Phone 06 4891 9505. LOOKING FOR ROOM Quiet clean CDN student seeks room in flat share. Non-smoker, reliable. €400/mth max excl deposit. Thanks. shainshapiro@ gmail.com. ROOM FOR RENT in A’dam. Call 06 2057 6375 and ask for Elena. SIMPLE ROOM WANTED Charming Celt, 40, philosopher, poet and painter seeks simple room in A’dam in relaxed mature household. Jack: 06 1488 9377.
OTHER SPACES STUDIO TO HIRE by the hour at
WORK OFFERED
SAVE MY BOAT! I’ve got €50 for the one(s) who can pull my more than half-sunken boat (including engine) out of the water and put it on the mainland. Plus to carry the engine to my balcony (2nd floor, 2-min walk). Boat is 4m long and made of light material. Please contact monaklein1@ yahoo.com. ART PROJECTFemale faces wanted. Max age 25. Small pay available. Contact s.celmare@hotmail.com or 692 7596. FANTASTIC WRITER Part-time staff writer/text editor wanted for Fantastic Man magazine, the men’s style journal based
in A’dam. Excellent writing skills in English required, plus suitable work experience in editing and interest in fashion and style. Please contact the publishers at info@fantasticmanmagazine.com. WEBDESIGNER WANTED Who can build me a nice website in Flash? I have €600 to spend. Please mail to our1anall@hotmail.com.
30 November-6 December 2006 COLOURFUL HOME FURNISHINGS Recently opened bright & colourful little home furnishings store. Many nice home accessories for yourself or for a gift. Opposites Attract, Marnixstraat 65D, 612 2605, Open Tues & Thur-Sun.
flyers, posters, advertising. Email dizzy.design@graffiti.net or call 06 2816 3169.
BABY BUNNY FOR SALE Very fluffy and sweet. Only €15. Call 06 4519 4329 or email helena274@hotmail.com.
VOICE ACTOR Need a voiceover for your next project? Visit www.voicetake.com.
WORK WANTED
SERVICES
NEED PART-TIME JOB!I am Portuguese and speak fluent English, some Dutch and Spanish. Am an experienced computer user, and also have some experience working in horeca. If you think you have a part-time legal job for me, contact Nuno in prodiraptor@hotmail.com or 06 4580 8773.
ENGLISH MAN WITH VAN can help with removals big or small, in or outside of country. Reasonable rates, quick service. Contact Lee on 06 2388 2184 or isabelleandlee@planet.nl.
WORK WANTED Female who wants 2 use her brain, not her body 2 earn money! Experienced database & office manager, website designer & secretary needs good-paying job with supportive environment. Please only sincere inquiries. Contact sindel1967@hotmail.com. BABYSIT/IRONINGExperienced au pair in A’dam looking for side jobs in weekends (babysit/ironing/cleaning). References available. Please contact 06 4648 4886.
FOR SALE WINEUnique South African qualitywines.Pricesrangefrom€4.95€15.75. We do B2B and B2C wine tastings. Website www.coza.nl or email info@coza.nl.
BEST MOVINGSERVICE IN TOWN Driver with van (10m3) or truck (40m3) available. Plus extra moving men, hoisting rope and elevator. Any combinations possible. Call Taco on 06 4486 4390, email info@vrachttaxi.com or check out www.vrachttaxi.com. FRED'S PET CARE Friendly dogwalker with references, available from 07.00-20.00 to take care of your pets. Also possible to keep them during the day and overnight. Reasonable rates. Just call Fred on 06 1649 1359.
VISUAL SHOUT!Creative graphic designer, photographer and web designer for any visual communication work! Just check out www.namelesspace.com.
HEALTH & WELLNESS THINKING ABOUT THERAPY? Heighten your quality of life and improve your relationships with the help of a native English speaking therapist. My 20 years of professional experience and understanding can help you better cope with feelings and sort through stressful thoughts. Sagar: 06 4626 5412. PERSONAL COACHINGSlender You relaxation for body and mind. Fine-tune your conditioning and maximise your figure. Personal coaching for people with medical or health issues. 1 hour Slender You = 7 hours traditional work out! Slender You is located on Heverleestraat 1. Call 669 6641 for more info.
NEED A STUNNING WEBSITE? Experiencedwebdesignerbuilds professional,uniquesitesforvery reasonable prices. Online links to past projects available. Contact Jordan:jordangcz@yahoo.com, 06 3034 1238.
PILATES STUDIOFully-equipped Pilates studio with Reformer, Cadillac, Wunda Chair and Spine Corrector. Improve your strength, flexibility, posture, body awareness and more! Visit www.pilatesamsterdam.nl or call 06 2893 2706. Private lessons only, from fully certified instuctor.
CREATIVE & PRINTINGservices offered: business cards, T-shirts,
POLE DANCINGWORKSHOP It’s a girly thing. Dance school in
A’dam specialised in pole dancing classes & workshops. Whether it’s a private gathering for the girls, wedding celebration or wild moment out, our bachelor parties are designed to provide a unique experience. www.sexyinstructors.com. VEG COOKING CLASSES Plantbased, organic cooking courses from a NYC natural foods chef. Various themes such as amazing grains, traditional Italian vegetarian and healthy sweets. Visit www.justnosh .com, contact joslyn@justnosh.com or 06 2509 2117. BRITISH BEAUTY THERAPIST 25 years experience. cidesco, babtac, anbos, laser hair removal, adv electrolysis, Brazilian waxing: P8N8 oxygen skin care, antiage facials, gift vouchers etc at McTavish Hair Salon, Quellijnstraat 80, (De Pijp) A’dam. Call 06 4079 9921 or visit www.lindayoungaesthetics.com. HEALER,life coach, yoga teacher and reiki healer available for all types of sessions. Visit www.empowerall.eu or call 06 5210 1547.
HOME IMPROVEMENT RENOVATING? If you are thinking about renovating your house or office and don’t want to spend a lot, call us on 06 1512 8587. PAINTER + HANDYMANI’m available to paint inside and outside +lendahelpinghandyhand.Reasonable rates. Lots of practical and professional experience. Good references available. Call now! Dacho: 06 4275 6045.
Amsterdam Weekly
30 November-6 December 2006 BOAT HANDYMAN WANTED to fix boat. Small 4m canal boat, needs de-watering, cleaning, new rain shield, and if possible fixing of motor. Call Rick on 06 2723 5380.
COMPUTERS NEED HELP WITH YOUR MAC? MAC-lover helps you with basic setups, minor troubleshooting, install, networking, basic MAC lessons, setting up programs, MS Word, QuarkXpress, etc. Help with purchasing the right MAC, call Sagar at 779 1926. PC HOUSE DOCTORSpecialised in virus/spyware removal, H/W, S/W repair, data recovery, wireless, cable/ADSL installation and computer lessons from friendly and experienced Microsoft professional for reasonable price. Contact Mario at 06 1644 8230.
MASSAGE 3 KINDS OF MASSAGE Relaxation, tantric or chakra healing. More information at http:// frankiko.boysnetwork.com, email f27036@hotmail.com, or mobile 06 2022 4973. MASSAGE in central A’dam.
27 fidence and songwriting skills sessions. Call 06 5210 1547 or visit www.dvoradavis.com.
Friendly setting, good rates. Different types offered: one to help you breath more easily, one for legs and feet, relaxing back massage to relieve tension, or combination of all three. For details see http://massageams.spaces.live.com or contact massage_hotmail.com or 06 2159 1867. NEED GREAT MASSAGE?Offering excellent therapeutic massage at great location in De Pijp. Check out our website at www.acupressure.nl and contact Liza@acupressure.nl.
COURSES PIANO LESSONS Piano Studio Groenburgwal. Husband and wife team, Dutch/American, have openings in their teaching studio.10 years experience teaching piano to expatriate families at the American School in The Hague. All ages and levels welcome. Call 624 0602. YOGAYOGA.NLoffersHatha,Iyengar and Vinyasa Flow classes. Daily morning and evening, in English,inA’damclosetoJordaan. Also classes in the weekend: 3 on Sat as well as monthly Sun
PERSONALS
workshops. Visit www.yogayoga.nl or call 688 3418. EXCEL COURSE Am looking for someone to help me get up to speed with Excel spreadsheets & formulas. Can you help? Call 06 5586 1806. TRANSFORMATIONAL HATHA YOGA for all levels in Oud -West. Yoga postures, meditation and relaxation. Tel 612 1236 or visit www.yogatha.nl. LIRISH MUSIC WORKSHOPSuitable for all young musicians, age 10-18. Min 3 years playing experience necessary to enroll. Date: Sat 16 Dec from 10.00-13.00.
Venue: Prinseneiland 283, A’dam. Cost: €25. For enrollment/information please contact isabel.watson@gmail.com or 320 3239. ANIMATION/VIDEOWanna learn Photoshop/Premiere/3dsmax?! I teach at your own PC videoediting/3danimation/photoediting. Beginners and more experienced people are welcome. Friendly hourly rate. animationfarm@hotmail.com. DANCE LESSONS in English for children & adults. Beginning to professional. Free trial lesson. Tel 644 2431.
LANGUAGES IMPROVE YOUR DUTCH Link Taal Studio, a professional way to learn Dutch in private & small groups, starting every week, Vijzelgracht 51-55. For more info contact 06 4133 9323 or linktaalstudio@ gmail.com. SPANISH PRIVATE lessons (€20/hr) or group lessons (€15/hr) offered by Spanish native teacher. Qualified with long experience. New groups starting now! All levels. Call 06 2167 3901.
MUSICIANS SONG & DANCE WORKSHOP
Swinging with your voice. In this workshop we experiment and improvise with voice and movement. Through improvisation of sound, rhythm, melody, text and movements you create your own song. Call 419 8389. STEM IN BEWEGINGWorkshop zang en beweging. Iedereen die nieuwsgierig is naar de mogelijkheden van stem, zang & beweging en die op zoek is naar diepgang in het werken met de stem. info@steminbeweging.nl of 419 8389. VOCAL COACHINGSinger songwriter offers vocal coaching/con-
SEEK CORRESPONDENCE Imprisoned single black male: lonely man, 43, 5’11”, 190 lbs. Never married, no children. Seeking correspondence w/ lively, open-minded & understanding female for genuine friendship, possibly more. Will send photo. Write c/o: Charles Russel #726548, WSR (C~ 206), PO Box 777, Monroe, WA 98272, USA. LOOKING FOR DATECharming, well-educated man, living in central A’dam and with many interests is looking for a romantic, good looking, slim girl (1930 y.o.) with g.s.o.h. Mail to amsterick@hotmail.com.
ANNOUNCEMENTS KNITTING MACHINE WANTED Student looking for affordable second-hand knitting machine or somewhere I can have access to one. Please contact me at madi4657@hotmail.com. FRIDAY NIGHT CURRY Monthly event for avid curry lovers
in A’dam center. Each event offers different banquet menu and guests gets the chance to taste authentic regional cuisine from India, Sri Lanka & Thailand. For more information check out www.abfabdining.com. RESFEST The Dutch MIX needs volunteers in A’dam (8-10 Dec) for various jobs. We offer insight into workings of super creative and exciting Film and Digital Arts Festival, and chance to see international screenings and events for free. Info: www. dnerve.com and email production@dnerve.com. BIRTHDAY PROJECT If it’s your birthday then I would like to get in touch with you for non-commercial art project. I need you on your birthday, but only for about 10 min! I will be happy to hear from you! Please email birthday.project@yahoo.com. GREGORIAN CHANT Want to sing Gregorian chant? Men and women welcome. Check out www.gregoriaanskoor.nl or come and listen on Sundays at 17.00 in the Nicolaaskerk near Centraal Station.