Author: Marga van Mechelen

At the end of last year, the exhibition Minimal was on view at La Bourse – Pinault Collection in Paris. It was a remarkable exhibition, featuring first-rate works from the Pinault Collection itself as well as from the renowned Dia Art Foundation, of which guest curator Jessica Morgan is director. A special edition of Beaux… Continue reading The Minimal Experience

In the Volkskrant newspaper of January 21, following a tumultuous week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Sander Schimmelpenninck gives the media a cold shower in his column to cool them down from their euphoria about the former prime minister of the Netherlands, now NATO chief, Mark Rutte. He speaks of ‘chauvinistic folklore’ as… Continue reading My Eye on Jan Dibbets

The word ‘Hitweek’, ‘the trade magazine’ for ‘twieners’, the name editor Willem de Ridder came up with, still has a magical ring to it. A weekly magazine, or should we call it a newspaper given its format, which was on sale throughout the Netherlands for thirty cents (“drie dubbeltjes”). Magical because it sums up everything… Continue reading Hitweek’s Fashion

Karesansui (Zen garden), installation with works by Shinkichi Tajiri and Ferdi in the exhibition The Restless Wanderer, Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht (2 December 2023–12 May 2024) Photo: Marga van Mechelen It is not uncommon, after national elections, for commentators to lament the lack of attention paid to certain issues during the campaign. This time, it was climate… Continue reading Rosy and not so rosy images

photo: Lenny Rothenberg No matter how many times you visit the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of World Cultures), it never fails to impress: a futuristic-looking building crowned with its enormous curved roof, an effect amplified by the reflection in the ponds at the entrance. Once inside, however, you have to make a mental… Continue reading Global Fascisms

Tapestry in the background Composition by Madeleine Bosscher (1942) Art with a Capital A—that’s how the Province of North Brabant regards its art collection, which received special attention last summer thanks to exhibitions devoted to the Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz (1930–2017) at the Textile Museum in Tilburg and in ’s-Hertogenbosch. The largest work in the… Continue reading Art with a Capital A

Jonas Staal, New World Summit – Utrecht (2016) BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, i.s.m. Universiteit Utrecht. Photo: Nieuwe Beeldenmakers An influential art historian once said that exhaustion is the reason every avant-garde eventually comes to an end. An irrevocable end, not to be recuperated in some neo-this or neo-that. He was referring to art movements, but… Continue reading Exhausted

(foto: Maarten Sprangh) In theaters, summer begins early. Regular programming has to make way for festivals. They erupt in full force in June. I’m a fan of some festivals—media art festivals, theater festivals, and music festivals—though I usually skip the big pop and choir festivals. Still, over time, something has changed. My interest in the… Continue reading Ring in the Season

German has a unique word for coming to terms with its wartime past: Vergangenheitsbewältigung. A concept that originated in academic circles and was adopted by Federal President Theodor Heuss in the early 1950s. It’s a compound word that often defies easy translation, and because of the specific historical context in which it arose, is usually… Continue reading Processing and Guilt

The image often portrayed of the Netherlands, from just before World War II until about a decade after, is that of a country out of step with the times, in part due to its persistent adherence to a strongly pillarized society. That sacred institution was never completely dismantled. In 1956, the broadcasting system had the… Continue reading The Pillar Stubs in the Media Landscape