Night at the Museum…

For the 10th time the first Saturday of November is Museum Night or N8 [Nacht = Dutch for night]. In 42 museums in Amsterdam and 10 other spots around town over 200 extra performences will be held, as diverse as theater performences to specialised guide tours or behind the scene looks.
More information on the N8 [...]

Museum of the Month?

I’ve always taken it for granted finding modern art in this building, it is not a museum but a University Hospital. The AMC accommodates the largest permanently exhibited collection of Dutch visual art of the period after 1945.

Even “the junk” hanging from the ceiling of the Feet Hall is art.
The basis for this was laid during [...]

Stoopid…

I totally forgot I had a ticket to the theater tonite.
In Dutch we call that a B-lul, or more specified in my family they call it that.
Okay it was not that expensive and maybe I can get a seat for another night since I emailed them during the performance, and if that doesn’t work I [...]

Dutch and the City

From Harlem to Brooklyn and Broadway to Amsterdam Avenue, the Dutch influence on New York City life is all around you. The Dutch and the City not only share a history; today groundbreaking Dutch designers, fashionable artists and innovative architects continue to inspire many New Yorkers. As you walk around the city, you’ll find Dutch [...]

QETC…

This season the Queen’s English Theatre Company will bring you, when you’re in Amsterdam, The History Boys by Alan Bennett.
Performences will take place on October 1st to 4th, October 21st to 25th and December 2nd to 6th, 2009 at the CREA Theater.
Synopsis of the play:
The action of the play takes place in Cutlers’ Grammar School, Sheffield, [...]

Exhibition at the CIA

The Conrad N. Hilton Library on the campus of  The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is featuring the art of Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Wayne Thiebaud, and Tom Wesselman. A new exhibit, “Popping into Art: How Changes in Food Consumption Influenced Pop Art in the 1960s,” looks at food’s effect on the pop art movement [...]

Rembrandt Life Size in Amsterdam

For the first time in history Rembrandt’s complete oeuvre will be on show. By making use of the latest digital techniques all 317 paintings, 269 etches and the most relevant of Rembrandt’s drawings can be marveled at. Even mutilated and lost works have been reconstructed for this exhibition. This unique overview has been compiled by [...]

One week ago…

in a land far, far away… my vacation ended.
Chicago And Beyond – My Vacation 2009 can be found on Picasa. From the original 805 photos over 400 ended up in this file. Have a look and give a comment.

Art in the valley…

I just finished the day with a delicious dinner, more about that later. Today was a day of culture and art, we came down from the mountain to the valley, in this case Ashville [NC]. At Pack Place Arts & Education Center we visited the Ashville Art Museum, in the same building there’s a Health [...]

It’s almost OPEN…

Hermitage to open June 20, 2009
Inaugural exhibition At the Russian Court presents more than 1,800 treasures from St Petersburg
From June 20th 2009, 10 a.m., a major new European cultural destination, the greatly expanded Hermitage Amsterdam, will welcome visitors to its elegantly restored 17th-century building in the historic heart of Amsterdam. Founded to bring the [...]

To The Sea Side…

Panorama Mesdag is a cylindrical painting, more than 14 meters high and 120 meters in circumference. The vista of the sea, the dunes and Scheveningen village was painted by one of the most famous painters of the Hague School, Hendrik Willem Mesdag. It is the oldest 19th century panorama in the world in its original [...]

Cathedral of Culture…

Pierre Cuypers [1827-1921]
The architect P.J.H. (Pierre) Cuypers: famed and maligned. He enriched the Dutch landscape with dozens of churches, designed “Centraal Station” and the “Rijksmuseum” in Amsterdam, and restored a considerable number of buildings, among them the medieval castle “Kasteel de Haar” near Utrecht. His architecture and views remain controversial, because he took a standpoint [...]

The show must go on…

I planned to go to the Rijksmuseum here in Amsterdam, the main building should be open to the public between 12 and 16.00 hours, this is the part that’s been renovated but won’t be open till 2013. I totally forgot that on this final weekend of opening the ‘Cultural Season’ starts with free performences all [...]

Matinee Idol…

At the end of June I would go to see ‘Andre Rieu in Concert’, alas having been forced to take a rest at that time I sold my ticket and got fully reimbursed.
For the first time in 22 years the Bolshoi Ballet and Orchestra will perform their Russian classics Swan Lake and Spartacus here in Amsterdam at [...]

Amsterdam Hidden Treasures #5

In this series there’s also part 1, 2, 3 and 4
FASHION & DESIGN
Dedicated to design
For the whole month of September, the city of Amsterdam is dedicated entirely to design.
Around the archipelago
In the area surrounding the IJ waterway, the great body of water behind Central Station, there has been considerable development over the last [...]

Amsterdam Hidden Treasures #4

Go here to part 1, part 2 or part 3
CITY HISTORY
Secret sculptor
Over the last years many sculptures have sprung up across the city; however no one knows by whom. In the darkness of the night and without warning, the ‘anonymous artist’ erects his/her sculpture. A bronze female bust in front of the Oude Kerk [red [...]

Amsterdam Hidden Treasures #3

Go here for part 1 or here for part 2
PERFORMANCE:
New York opera
From December 15 through April 26, 2008, eight opera productions will be shown live from New York City in the Pathé Tuschinski. The Pathé cinema is working in collaboration with one of the most distinguished opera houses in the world, the New York Metropolitan [...]

Hidden Treasure – Rembrandt House

Today, next to a visit to the gym, I stretched my 1 km walk even a bit further. This time not on the treadmill but in a museum. Last year, somewhere in December, I met an acquaintance from way back when, the time I still worked for a living, and over coffee we found out [...]

Amsterdam Hidden Treasures #2

Part 2 of Amsterdam’s Hidden Treasures, for part 1 go here.
ART:
The Shooting Gallery
Walk along the street between the Kalverstraat and the Begijnhof, and you will discover fifteen massive paintings—just out there in the open!
Biblical garden
The Biblical Museum, housed in two canal-side properties dating from 1662, boasts an impressive art collection and a hidden treasure [...]

Amsterdam Hidden Treasures #1

A wealth of culture is revealed in 2008 with the theme year, ‘Amsterdam Hidden Treasures’. Pioneered by the Amsterdam Tourism & Convention Board (ATCB), the theme enables visitors from the Netherlands and abroad to discover the lesser-known attractions of Amsterdam. The theme year will delve into four domains: art, performance, history and fashion & design. [...]