Holland cries out for culture

Last Saturday there was a demonstration in Roterdam against the VAT increase on Art and Culture in combination with cuts in grants to cultural institutions.  The call for culture and against aridity was finally literally to be heard loud and clear. For me it was a great opportunity to photograph people in a crowd.

The husband of the doll

On the Coolsingel, the artery of the shopping district of Rotterdam, is a statue that always makes me smile. It is  not easy to fathom though. Nimble is the man on his pedestal. Is he dancing? Has he taken a running start and is he ready to fly? For a statue there is much movement.

Although the body is quite lifelike, the head looks clownish. Yet I do not think it was the intention of the artist to depict a clown image. The caricaturistic face radiates with satisfaction, but in a crazy manner. It reminds me of the shoppers who rush from shop to shop to buy clothes and stuff that they do not need.

Anyhow, I think Thomas Puckey, a Brit who works in the Netherlands since 1978 as a sculptor and teacher, did a great job. He made a piece of art, that I not only love, but I also like about the meaning. Not every artist succeeds in this…

tinyMusic@home

On Saturday December 4 tinyMusic returns to the familiar environment of a living room. Host  Jan Willem and Hostess Floor make their home at Graaf  Florisstraat 44 available as a special stage for two Dutch acts, Dyzack and Grizzly Adams.

Since the 90s, the Hague musician Dyzack is well known as a guitar wizard and idiosyncratic singer-songwriter. A new album titled Una Sun? will see the light on December 10. It means: “What is this?” in Inuit , which is exactly what the composer thought after 3 months recording when he listened to the final result. The music is made for the show “Greenland” by Vis à Vis theater. You could see this album as a soundtrack, a trip across Greenland or an opportunity to listen to while reading a good book by the fireplace.

Grizzly Adams from Utrecht makes music that is good to listen to in the cosiness of a living room. The music on the album that was released earlier this year, Hombre Grande, fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the dark days before Christmas. It reminds me of a bit of Nick Cave and contains warm melancholy of the gloomy men of Tindersticks.

Check www.tinymusic.nl for more information and for ticket reservation. It’s best to make early reservations, not only will it save you 2 € per ticket,  the number of seats to this event is very limited.

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previous blog about tinyMusic: http://wp.me/punIp-wJ