Author: Marga van Mechelen

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

foto: 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

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 provincial collection is by her, aptly… 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. Foto: 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

The ever-active parks department of the Municipality of Arnhem really outdid itself this year: around the trees on the median of the Bakenbergseweg in Arnhem, a ribbon of crocuses in two colors bloomed around this spring. As creative as it was, it simultaneously confirmed that coloring outside the lines is a human intervention in nature—an… Continue reading To do with Nature

After Sonsbeek 20→24, curated by Bonaventure Ndikung, came to a premature end, the Municipality of Arnhem quickly took the initiative to appoint a new director and establish a new Supervisory Board. The newly appointed director is Orlando Maaike Gouwenberg, who, after studying theater at Utrecht University and attending the Utrecht School of the Arts, enrolled… Continue reading ‘Maidan’ in St. Petersburg