A-mag – Amsterdam Magazine: Vol 2, No. 1

AMSTERDAM MAGAZINE

SIGHTS & SOUNDS ART & FASHION DANCING & DINING COMPLETE LISTINGS JAN & FEB 2014

DUTCH BY DESIGN AS MARCEL WANDERS COMES OF AGE WITH A BLOCKBUSTER RETROSPECTIVE, WE EXPLORE THE DNA OF DUTCH DESIGN – A HYBRID OF PRACTICALITY AND HUMOUR.

Includes tips & trips beyond Amsterdam

Vol 2 NO 1 €2.95

Every corner of the planet is within your reach Together with our partners, we can fly you to just about any destination without any hassle.

So instead of piecing your journey together on your own, choose KLM and we’ll take you straight there. Visit klm.com for more information.

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AMSTERDAM MAGAZINE

A!

VOL 2 N0 1 JAN & FEB 2014

GRAND DESIGNS FOR THE YEAR AHEAD

Bart van Oosterhout editor-in-chief A-mag.

STAY IN TOUCH: iamsterdam.com facebook.com/iamsterdam twitter.com/iamsterdam youtube.com/videoiamsterdam

CONTENTS P.04 WHAT’S NEW?

City confidential: exciting new Amsterdam initiatives, events and venues – including your Top 5 must-do things this issue.

P.08 UP CLOSE The city in focus: Marcel Wanders and the DNA of Dutch design.

P.19 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Amsterdam, plus our critics’ picks of the best exhibitions, concerts and events.

P.31 EAT, DRINK & CHIC Neighbourhood watch: De Wallen, aka the Red Light District; the hottest new shops, the tastiest food trends and our selection of the best restaurants and cafés, old and new.

P.62 CLOSING Amsterdam ABC, your city need-to-know; once upon a time in Amsterdam; top tips from visitors on the way out; colophon & sales info.

P.45 THE A-LIST Agendas at the ready: clubbing to gallery hopping, The A-List is your one-stop, at-a-glance guide to the city’s very best music, theatre (language no problem!), sporting, family and gay & lesbian events and venues. Plus: get out of town with our excursion tips

© CAROLINA GEORGATOU, HTTP://CAROLINAGEORGATOU.COM

2013 has been a remarkable year for Amsterdam. With the celebration of 400 years of canals, which we like to think of as one of the wonders of the world since they were gracefully listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, we were already top of mind for visitors from all over the world. Add the completion of a total makeover for that magnificent jewel box of 17th-century Old Master paintings the Rijksmuseum, as well as the reopening – after eight years of renovation! – of our own little MoMA called the Stedelijk Museum, and you can imagine that our city moved up in all the lists that matter. No need to tell you how big the danger is of a huge rebound. Not so this time around. As we are still rounding off this year with the Amsterdam Light Festival (until 19 January), the next round of one-off Amsterdam events is already in the making. Starting in February, the Stedelijk Museum will showcase the work of someone who could – arguably – be called Amsterdam’s creative genius of the 20th century. ‘Arguably’ because as an artist, Marcel Wanders is conspicuously successful in a business sense.

Like all great designers he has shown an appetite for beautifying every object that surrounds us, from wallpaper to wrapping paper and from sneakers to entire hotel interiors. Luxury brands are waiting in line to commission his work and a whole new generation of trademark Dutch designers have blossomed in his wake. And yet – while MoMA and other prestigious museums added iconic Wanders designs such as the ‘Knotted Chair’ to their permanent collections – none of this was ever exhibited in Amsterdam’s art institutions. No more so. Turn to page 08 for an eightpage survey of how Mr Wanders started the Dutch design renaissance.

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OPENING

What’s new?

jan & feb 2014

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‘#FEELINGMYSELFFFF SO MUCH FUN LAST NIGHT! AMSTERDAM YOU’RE THE DOPESSSST THANK YOU FOR ALWAYS BEING SO GOOD TO ME.’

(in town)

All the latest cultural news plus the fresh new initiatives, events and venues making Amsterdam the place to be.

MILEY CYRUS, AFTER TAKING TO THE STAGE AT THE 2013 MTV EMA.

text Toby Main

An Amsterdam blogger has turned online popularity into literary legacy. The oft-derided national obsession with the lunchtime broodje (sandwich) may be a thing of the past, if expat blogger Vicky Hampton (aka Amsterdam Foodie) gets her way. Her book Working Lunch is manna from heaven for those ‘bored with overpriced ham-andcheese sandwiches and packet soups from the canteen’.

The promise? Fifty magnificent, easy-to-make lunches, for any workplace with space for a chopping board. Eet smakelijk! www.amsterdamfoodie.nl

THE POWER OF PAINT The slums of Brazil, where one in fi ve of the population lives, are known for many things – including crime and poverty – but modern art probably isn’t one of them. Until now. With the World Cup and Olympics both on the horizon, two Dutch artists are helping transform these rundown areas and increase civic pride – with nothing more than a lick of paint. Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn are the masterminds behind ‘Favela Painting’, which sees local youths painting homes and businesses in riotous primary colours. After great success in the Santa Marta neighbourhood, the duo launched a large-scale Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for similar projects and will return to Brazil in spring this year. www.favelapainting.com

UNDER YOUR SKIN From 16 January, The Silence of the Lambs-evoking Body Worlds exhibition, featuring deconstructed human specimens that showcase the body’s various systems in enlightening – and somewhat gruesome – ways, settles into a permanent home on Amsterdam’s Damrak.

Since Gunther von Hagens pioneered the ‘plastination’ preservation process back in 1995, some 36 million people have seen the shows in nearly two dozen countries.

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Damrak 66 www.bodyworlds.nl

© GUNTHER VON HAGENS, INSTITUTE FOR PLASTINATION

‘CLOGS’ ON PAPER

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@KITTUS: ‘IF ANYONE FANCIES HEARING THE MAN WITH THE MOST MORONIC LAUGH IN AMSTERDAM, HE’S CURRENTLY ENJOYING HIMSELF ON A BALCONY OPPOSITE MY HOUSE.’

‘A NIGHT IN #AMSTERDAM WITH ATLAS, FOR MY BIRTHDAY. ’

FRENCH STREET ARTIST CLET ABRAHAM ON BRINGING HIS FAMOUS TROMPE L’OEIL TRANSFERS TO AMSTERDAM’S ROAD SIGNS.

LIVING IN ONE OF EUROPE’S MOST DENSELY POPULATED CITIES DOES HAVE ITS DOWNSIDES…

LAILA SCHOOTS

BUM DEAL

LET’S BE FRANK A new play about the life of one of Amsterdam’s most famous former residents is set to open in April 2014 in a specially-built theatre in the harbour area. And now ANNE, a retelling of the story of Anne Frank, has a leading lady. Twenty-seven-year-old Rosa de Silva, who graduated from the Amsterdam School for Drama and Contemporary Music last year, called the role ‘a huge honour’. Bookings are now being taken, via the website.

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Danzigerkade 5 www.theateramsterdam.com

An iconic Dutch chair design has being resurrected in honour of the 50th birthday of its creator. The distinctive Steltman seat – the final creation of Gerrit Rietveld, whose name graces Amsterdam’s foremost fine arts and design academy – is available in a limited run by Rietveld Originals and prices start at a princely €3,745.

Original versions of the seat have been displayed in the Rijksmuseum. Talk about sitting pretty… www.rietveldoriginals.com

MONUMENTAL NEWS Plans are afoot for a monument to worldwide victims of Aids aside the waters of the IJ. Following similar projects in San Francisco, Vancouver and Manchester, Amsterdam’s Aids Monument will be officially unveiled at the Piet Heinkade on 1 December 2015, to coincide with World Aids Day and the 25th anniversary of the NAMENproject Netherlands Foundation. A consultation is underway to decide on the final design. www.aidsmonument-amsterdam.nl

GET A ROOM The brainchild of Vincent van Dijk, the PR man and blogger so obsessed with this city’s hotel scene that he spent each night of 2010 in a different Amsterdam hostelry, Hotel Night is hell-bent on persuading Amsterdammers to be tourists in their own city for a night by spending the night in one of the 37 (and counting!) participating hotels. Prices have been slashed for the occasion (€55 for a budget room; €120 for five-star extravagance) and there are some real corkers in there, including Marcel Wanders’ off-the-wall Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht (see page 14). Those who don’t have a bolthole in the city can still have a nose around Amsterdam’s premier inns by indulging in a host of events as diverse and distinctive as the hotels themselves, from (American) stand-up comedy at the Hampshire Hotel Rembrandt Square to a masked ball at the Renaissance. A €17.50 ticket gets you access to all.

18 & 19 January www.amsterdamsehotelnacht.nl

jan & feb 2014

OPENING WHAT’S NEW?

‘ISN’T IT BRILLIANTLY REFRESHING HOW EARLY THE DUTCH EAT DINNER? WHEN THEY’RE STILL LAYING OUT THE CUTLERY IN ACHINGLY HIP BARCELONA, THEY’RE HANGING THE CLOSED SIGN ON THE RESTAURANT DOORS OF OLD AMSTERDAM.’

 @LIEKEV: ‘WTF MOMENT IN AMSTERDAM THIS MORNING: I JUST SAW A WOMAN WALKING HER GOAT AND THE GOAT WAS WEARING A YELLOW LEATHER JACKET.’

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BRIT JOURNALIST JULIE BURCHILL.

HEY, ANYTHING GOES…

Amsterdam is known in some quarters as a hotspot of sex, drugs and canals, but did you know that this city is also the birthplace of capitalism?

The seafaring Dutch East India Company (VOC) was the first ever organisation to be incorporated here in 1602, and Amsterdam is also home to the world’s first stock exchange, which still has its home just a stone’s throw from Central Station. Four centuries after it opened, the latter is opening its doors to the public with the new Amsterdam Exchange Experience. Visiting the beating financial heart of the Netherlands involves a journey through history from the very first share to today’s modern electronic trading floor, where every second counts. You can even test your instincts during a realistic trading simulation.

Beursplein 5 www.aex.nl

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TOP 5 to do

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TRADING PLACES

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CONCRETE

JOB ADRIAENSZ BERCKHEYDE, THE COURTYARD OF THE AMSTERDAM STOCK EXCHANGE, AFTER 1668. COLLECTION AMSTERDAM MUSEUM

CHRIS VAN DEN BURGHT

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BAS KOSTERS AFW SS2013

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If you only do one thing in Amsterdam, make it one of our top picks of must-do events, exhibitions, museums, music and more this issue.

1 MARCEL WANDERS:

PINNED UP

In a country of designers it takes a lot to stand out, but Marcel Wanders ranks among the very best – which is why Amsterdam’s pre-eminent museum of modern art and design is hosting the largest ever survey of Wanders’ 25 years as a designer.

1 February-15 June Stedelijk Museum Museumplein 10 www.stedelijk.nl

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2 MERCEDES-BENZ FASH-

4 MUSEUM OF BROKEN

Celebrating its tenth anniversary in exquisite style, Amsterdam Fashion Week sashays into town amid a flurry of air kisses and champagne.

Exploring what’s left behind when love leaves, this exhibition at the Oude Kerk is a history of love gone wrong, full of the detritus of broken relationships – some amusing, others sarcastic and a few plain heart-breaking.

ION WEEK AMSTERDAM

17-27 January various locations www.amsterdamfashionweek.com

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3 REMBRANDT–

AUERBACH: RAW TRUTH The only living artist to be exhibited in the Rijksmuseum has something to say about Rembrandt: see Frank Helmut Auerbach ‘in conversation’ with the ultimate Dutch Old Master.

Until 16 March Rijksmuseum, Museumstraat 1 www.rijksmuseum.nl

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RELATIONSHIPS

Until 2 March Oude Kerk, Oudekerksplein 23 www.oudekerk.nl

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5 TAUBERBACH An award-winning Dutch actress and a master choreographer join forces for an experimental dance production about remarkable survivors.

15-7 February Stadsschouwburg, Leidseplein 26 www.ssba.nl

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’I’M SPENDING EVERY BIRTHDAY IN AMSTERDAM! WE’VE HAD THE BEST AND FUNNIEST WEEKEND EVER X.’

DETAIL FROM WERKMAN, VROUWENEILAND 5, 1942

GEERT VAN DER WIJK

GIRLS ALOUD STAR NICOLA ROBERTS, AFTER A TOE-CURLING NIGHT AT SUPPERCLUB.

PRINTS CHARMING Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum now has the largest collection of work by the remarkable Dutch artist Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman (1882–1945) thanks to a donation from the foundation bearing his name. A member of De Ploeg (‘The Plough’), a group of painters living and working in Groningen, Werkman owned a printing business and designed posters and catalogues for the group, as well as taking part in exhibitions. During World War II, he designed a number of publications for a clandestine publisher criticising the Nazi regime and accompanied the texts with beautifully-coloured druksels, or ‘printings.’ On the eve of Holland’s liberation from German occupation, Werkman’s life came to an abrupt end when he was arrested and executed by firing squad. The donation means that the Stedelijk now holds 832 works by the artist.

Museumplein 10 www.stedelijk.nl

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AMSTERDAM TO PARIS Amsterdam-based Selwyn Senatori has the dubious honour of being Paris Hilton’s new favourite artist.

On a recent trip to the capital the selfie-loving socialite received an original canvas from Senatori, delivered to her suite at the Sofitel Legend hotel. Hilton loved the painting, entitled ‘AMSTERFUCKINGDAM’, so much that she paid the artist an impromptu visit in his studio, whereupon she took delivery of a portrait emblazoned with the slogan ‘I’M SOOO HOT!’

PROJECT RUNWAY Budget airline Ryanair – whose loose-cannon boss Michael O’Leary recently vowed to try not to ‘unnecessarily piss people off’ so much – has made another new year’s resolution: to add Amsterdam to Ryanair’s list of destinations within fi ve years. www.ryanair.com

FULL-SCALE INVESTIGATION Blessed with distinctive iridescent scales, the rare mirror carp is widely considered the fairest carp of them all. However, stocks in Amsterdam’s canal network are said to be diminishing because of the dominance of the ‘common carp’. Enter the Streetfishers, a crack team of carp enthusiasts currently trawling the city’s waterways for the mirrored minority. Once they find an example, they measure, photograph and name it before releasing it back into the waters. According to Rolf Bouman, editor of Vissen (‘Fish’) magazine, there’s a Johan Cruijff fish doing the rounds, as well as a carp named after star striker Marco van Basten.

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PART I UP CLOSE

designer dna

DESIGNER DNA Explore the DNA of Dutch design – a characterful hybrid of practicality and irreverent humour.

BUY IT: MOOOI The home base of design company Moooi (Dutch for ‘beautiful’, but with an extra ‘o’ – for extra beautiful) is housed in a lofty design showroom in the Jordaan.

A carefully curated, joyous chaos, it’s a fully immersive brand experience, from sleek black horse lamps to the spidery ‘Dear Ingo’ chandelier, comprised of angle poise lamps, and the Monster chair (think Chesterfield-like quilted leather with snarling face). Everything exhibits Dutch design’s trademark wit, with more than a dash of Salvador Dalí thrown into the mix. You’ll also find iconic designs and unique interiors from international talent.

Westerstraat 187 www.moooi.com

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As the enfant terrible of Dutch design comes of age, we survey Amsterdam’s world-conquering creativity. text Mark Smith highlights Megan Roberts

I

A MODERN-DAY WARHOL’S FACTORY

nside the sleek white Benthem Crouweldesigned ‘bathtub’ extension to Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum of modern art, plans have been underway for a major industrial design exhibition since the soupedup space reopened in September 2012. The result: a blockbuster retrospective entitled Marcel Wanders: Pinned Up. If you’re not familiar with the name above the revolving door, chances are you’ve already encountered some of Wanders’ genre-straddling output. Perhaps you’ve spent an hour or two in KLM’s airport lounge, sipping from shapely Marcel Wanders-designed glasses.

Perhaps you’re staying at the Andaz Amsterdam Prinsengracht hotel, the former library that Wanders has transformed into an Alice in Wonderland-style tribute to the city that he finds endlessly inspiring. Perhaps you’ve bought a pair of his chessboard socks from British retailer Marks & Spencer. Or paused to try out his bell-bottomed ‘VIP Chair’ in the Moooi store on Westerstraat, the design company of which Wanders is the poster boy and above which he has his creative HQ. It is a modern-day Warhol’s Factory of irreverent design. ‘We hide a lot of the innovation,’ says Wanders. ‘We want to make things that look as if you already know them. There’s nothing that grows old so fast as the new.’

In the words of the New York Times, Wanders is ‘the Lady Gaga of the design world: a constant font of ideas and energy who is

nearly impossible to ignore.’

Or as Ingeborg de Roode, head of industrial design at the Stedelijk Museum and the curatorial brains behind Pinned Up, puts it: ‘Marcel Wanders is the most important designer working in the Netherlands today. He’s the perfect vehicle when it comes to talking about Dutch design and its place in the world.’

DUTCH DESIGN RENAISSANCE As anyone who’s thumbed the pages of Elle Decó will attest, Wanders’ retail reign is by no means the only chapter in the story of the Dutch design diaspora. Hella Jongerius, the minimalist maven responsible for a recent overhaul of KLM’s business-class cabins and the much-copied ‘Polder’ sofa, and Jurgen Bey – he of the iconic tree-trunk bench – are pioneering contemporaries of Wanders.

This relatively tiny country has been punching well above its weight for decades, producing a fine-tuned plethora of cutting-edge designers whose functional-with-a-touch-ofwhimsy work has colonised the shops, office blocks and style blogs of the wider world.

Of course, Wanders et al do not operate in a cultural vacuum. During the immediate postwar period, a deeply held belief that society could be improved by design saw the emergence of ‘Moral Modernism’ in the Netherlands, a design aesthetic concentrated on simplicity, functionality and honesty. As the whole country was redesigned – from elec-

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designer dna

PART I UP CLOSE

Tord Boontje

Jurgen Bey Piet Hein Eek Tejo Remy

1990

1991 1991

1999 1996

2002 2002

a history of Richard Hutten

Tejo Remy Marcel Wanders

BUY IT: FROZEN FOUNTAIN

BUY IT: SCHOLTEN & BAIJINGS This ‘up-and-coming’ design duo (consisting of husband and wife Stefan Scholten and Carole Baijings) have upped and made it in the last few years. Their fresh use of colour and combination of artisanal and digital techniques may just make these two the future of Dutch design – at least, that’s what critics think: Wallpaper* magazine nominated them for designer of the year 2011 and they won the ‘Young Designer Talent’ award at the ELLE Decoration International Design Awards that same year.

Regular collaborations with Scandinavian design company Hay mean you can pick up affordable items – such as two tea towels too beautiful to get dirty – for under €20.

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HAY, Spuistraat 281ABC www.hay-amsterdam.com

The city’s first concept store – opened in 1992 (1985 in a previous location) before a concept store was even a ‘thing’ – Frozen Fountain still holds its own. Housed in a typical Dutch canal house, the stocklist reads like a who’s who of Dutch design. From Piet Hein Eek recycled-wood tables to Tord Boontje’s porcelain, the gallery-shop hybrid (complete with twice yearly exhibitions and rotating original artwork) provides a bleeding-edge survey of contemporary Dutch design. Budget (and suitcase) friendly options include key charms by Studio Job and cerebral salt and pepper shakers fashioned into the heads of Goethe and Schiller – surely a good omen for dinner conversation.

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Prinsengracht 645 www.frozenfountain.nl

11 Maarten Baas Studio Job Roderick Vos

Wieki Somers

dutch design

2004

2005 2005

2005

2006

2013 2010

Scholten & Baijings

Studio Tjep

Hella Jongerius

BUY IT: POLS POTTEN

tronic goods to furniture, from the items on supermarket shelves to the money in people’s pockets – Moral Modernism’s sphere of influence was seen in everything from architecture to typography. It was typography for which the country was primarily famous until the 1980s, when mavericks such as Wanders began to create an evolved Dutch design aesthetic that is more critical, ironic and conceptual.

According to De Roode, the Netherlands’ current design prowess also owes a debt of gratitude to institutions such as the Design Academy Eindhoven – from which Wanders was, ironically, expelled after his first year for ‘thinking outside the box’ – and Amsterdam’s Gerrit Rietveld Academie.

Other breeding grounds worth mentioning are ArtEZ in Arnhem, where fashion icons Viktor & Rolf and Iris van Herpen took their first sartorial steps. On the more technical side, Delft University is where Dutch stars of automobile design were born, such as BMW’s design chief Adrian van Hooydonk and

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Renault’s Laurens van den Acker. Another driving force has been Philips, the technological conglomerate that employs some 450 designers worldwide.

Mindful of the economic limitations inherent in its limited domestic audience, Dutch design schools have long been preparing their students for the rigours of the international market: ‘On an educational level, Holland has always invested in design, aware of its export potential,’ says De Roode. Indeed, in 2005 a report by information research group TNO found that collectively, Dutch designers added €4 billion to the national economy.

Another historical factor in the industry’s success was the fact that, until relatively recently, Dutch design graduates could rely upon public works initiatives and commissions from state-run organisations: ‘Telephone companies and other utilities were staffed by people who valued good design. It wasn’t a hard commercial world,’ says De Roode. ‘There was room for playful experimentation.’

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[WANDERS IS] ‘THE LADY GAGA OF DESIGN: A CONSTANT FONT OF IDEAS AND ENERGY WHO IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO IGNORE.’

Pols Potten, located in an old warehouse on the former docks of KNSM Island, is a breeding ground for Dutch design. This home furnishing emporium is a vendor for international design brands but also a wholesale store for Dutch design. The owner commissions products from a large pool of Dutch designers that are produced in its own facilities worldwide. Pols is the best excuse to head out to this new and architecturally remarkable area of Amsterdam.

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KNSM-Laan 39 www.polspotten.nl

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designer dna

PART I UP CLOSE

‘It’s nice to work in such a cosmopolitan cultural infrastructure.’

A CREATIVE APPETITE The work of veterans such as Marcel Wanders, Hella Jongerius, Jurgen Bey, Maarten Baas and Job Smeets of Studio Job, alongside the latest creations from their next-gen protégés, can be enjoyed or purchased in shops and ateliers throughout Amsterdam.

Moooi, which has expanded in London of late, is quick to absorb the talent of promising Dutch graduates. Two of the most notable design and decor Meccas are Frozen Fountain, still bubbling hot some 30 years after it was founded, and Droog, the archetypal conceptual design collective, founded in the early Nineties, which opened its Hôtel Droog concept store a couple of years ago. Both are open to pitches from talented ingénues.

Renny Ramakers, Droog’s cofounder and director, is in no doubt as to the reasons for her brand’s continued success: ‘Amsterdam is creatively inspiring,’ she says. ‘It’s not necessarily for the reasons you might imagine – the wealth of architecture and art that abounds here – although of course that helps. But for me it’s as much to do with the international crowd in Amsterdam. It’s nice to work in such a cosmopolitan cultural infrastructure.’

The feeling is mutual. As international ad agencies, magazines and start-ups flock to Amsterdam for commercial reasons, they reinforce the domestic appetite for creativity.

So, as you peruse Marcel Wanders’ apparently whimsical ‘snot sculptures’ at his Stedelijk Museum exhibition, bear in mind that his design legacy is nothing to be sniffed at.

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BUY IT: DUTCH DESIGN YEAR Temporarily located in the historic Beurs van Berlage building, Dutch Design Year is a shop-cum-styling studio-cum-exhibition platform, with a constantly evolving collection of products by the upcoming generation of Dutch designers – think pastel-and-neon ceramic clocks

by Elke van den Berg and Femke Roefs; neon-hombre candles by mo man tai; ‘precise as toothpaste; heavy like oak’ ‘Chubby Chairs’ by Dirk Vander Kooij – and a smattering of impeccably curated vintage to round things out.

Until 28 February Damrak 213 From 31 January, also Hemkade 18, Zaandam www.dutchdesignyear.com

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WEAR IT: IRIS VAN HERPEN Van Herpen’s client list – which includes Björk, la Gaga and Daphne Guinness – is a clear indicator that hers is not your average womenswear. Having studied under Alexander McQueen, Van Herpen is truly multidisciplinary and regularly collaborates with architects, artists and sculptors. Eschewing fabric in favour of materials she can build and sculpt with, it was no real surprise when she was an early adopter of 3D printing technology, which she has made her own.

Womenswear: CarmaComa Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 7 http://carmacoma.com Shoes: United Nude Spuistraat 125A www.unitednude.com

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‘RED TREES’ 140 X 190, CAROLIEN WISSING, ATELIER ZAMENHOFSTRAAT

SEE IT: MARCEL WANDERS PINNED UP In a country of designers, it takes a lot to stand out, but Marcel Wanders ranks among the very best. Having risen to fame with his ‘Knotted Chair’, which now sits in the V&A in London and in New York’s MoMA, he’s become something of a global concern, designing everything from hotels to tableware.

Now Amsterdam’s pre-eminent museum of modern art and design – itself something of a design icon, with its ground-breaking ‘bathtub’ extension – hosts the largest ever survey of Wanders’ 25 years as a designer. Featuring well- and lesser-known items from the Wanders oeuvre, some 400 items (including little-known wallpaper, jewellery and package designs) dating from the Eighties to the present demonstrate his extraordinary breadth as a designer.

‘Few designers can boast such a combination of talents,’ says Stedelijk curator of industrial design, Ingeborg de Roode.

1 February-15 June Stedelijk Museum Museumplein 10 www.stedelijk.nl

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WEAR IT: HESTER VAN EEGHEN No inventory of influential Dutch designers is complete without Hester van Eeghen, whose colourful geometric leather shoe, bag, wallet and glove designs manage to be both highly functional and exceptionally, architecturally beautiful. Made of the finest Italian leather and produced in limited editions, a Van Eeghen lets you wear your design savvy on your sleeve. Or arm. Or feet. We especially love the dotty textured bag whose shape evokes another design classic: Arne Jacobsen’s ‘Butterfly Chair’.

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Hartenstraat 37 Hartenstraat 1 Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 32 www.hestervaneeghen.com

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PART I

designer dna

UP CLOSE

THIS RELATIVELY TINY COUNTRY HAS PRODUCED A FINE-TUNED PLETHORA OF CUTTING-EDGE DESIGNERS.

    READ ALL ABOUT IT: MENDO

BUY IT: DROOG Taking humour perfectly seriously since the late Eighties, the counter-intuitively named design collective Droog (Dutch for ‘dry’) has been at the forefront of both firstand second-generation Dutch design, playing a crucial role in promoting it worldwide. First used as a label for the presentation of Dutch designers at the Salone del Mobile in Milan in 1993, it has evolved into a complete brand, commissioning work in the conceptual and playful Droog style.

Although it now has branches in New York and Hong Kong, Droog is more a laboratory and an embassy for Dutch design than a shop.

For the Rijksmuseum’s Rijksstudio project, Droog recently created a series of 3D printed objects inspired by pieces from the state museum’s collection. An online archive of 125,000 images can be downloaded for free to print on your wall or shirt or moped – or tattooed on to your skin.

Something of a Dutch design classic itself (the fittings are built entirely of matte black books, supported by raw steel and designed by Concrete architects), MENDO is stocked to the rafters with the most design-savvy, creative tomes around – from fashion and photography to architecture and graphic design. It’s like walking into the private library of Tom Ford.

Or perhaps Charlotte Gainsbourg...

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Berenstraat 11 http://mendo.nl

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Staalstraat 7B www.droog.com www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/ rijksstudio

SEE IT: ANDAZ AMSTERDAM PRINSENGRACHT The city’s former public library has since 2012 been one of its most desirable hotels. Riffing off the building’s Seventies concrete facade and Amsterdam’s rich 17th-century history, Dutch design wunderkind Marcel Wanders was responsible for the delightfully eccentric interior: think tulip-shaped chairs and Delfttile inspired wallpaper.

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Prinsengracht 587 www.amsterdam.prinsengracht. andaz.hyatt.com

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TASTE IT: DE CULINAIRE WERKPLAATS We’ve had ‘designer’ food – and for the most part, we’ve been glad to see the back of molecular gastronomy and the like. But designing with food? That’s a new one. Operated by Marjolein Wintjes and Eric Meursing, a former fashion and 3D designer respectively, De Culinaire Werkplaats is a kind of food design studio, which incorporates concepts from the design, architecture and fashion worlds into delicious edible art – themes have included ‘water’ and ‘architecture’. And it doesn’t stop there: Meursing once created a wedding dress out of edible rhubarb paper for Amsterdam Fashion Week. If it sounds pretentious, it isn’t.

You clear your own table and at the end of the set fivecourse vegetarian meal (comprising the freshest seasonal produce) you pay what you think is fair. Design for the people never tasted so good...

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Fannius Scholtenstraat 10 www.deculinairewerkplaats.nl

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jan &feb 2014

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FÉLIX VALLOTTON, BACK FROM THE SEA, 1924. FÉLIX VALLOTTON MUSÉES D'ART ET D'HISTOIRE DE LA VILLE DE GENÈVE, GIFT OF THE SOCIÉTÉ AUXILIAIRE DU MUSÉE, 1929

MARCEL WANDERS, ONE MINUTE DELFT BLUE VASE

BA ADSTERS OP DE RUG GEZIEN, 1910.

STEDELIJK MUSEUM KHARDZIEV CHAGA COLLECTIE

VAN GOGH MUSEUM 

STEDELIJK MUSEUM 

NEW: FÉLIX VALLOTTON. FIRE BENEATH THE ICE 14 February-1 June

STEDELIJK MUSEUM 

NEW: MARCEL WANDERS: PINNED UP 1 February-15 June

Around 60 paintings – many on loan – are displayed alongside some 40 prints from the Van Gogh Museum’s collection to provide an overview of every facet of Franco-Swiss artist Félix Vallotton’s oeuvre. During the 1890s, Vallotton (1865-1928) belonged to the group of artists known as Les Nabis (the prophets), who embarked on a new path.

Their highly decorative style of art was influenced by Gauguin and Japanese prints.

Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum of modern art presents the largest ever exhibition of work by revered Dutch designer Marcel Wanders, acclaimed for his contemporary furniture, interior designs and art direction. Wanders’ most famous works will be on display – including his ‘Knotted Chair’, ‘Lace Table’ and ‘Egg Vase’ – as well as lesser-known wallpaper and package designs.

LAST CHANCE: KAZIMIR MALEVICH AND THE RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE Until 2 February

FREE entrance with the I amsterdam City Card

FREE entrance with the I amsterdam City Card

Don’t miss this major survey exhibition of work by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, who was one of the founding fathers of abstract art. Best known for his pure abstract work, Malevich drew inspiration from a wide range of artistic trends. The exhibition uses oil paintings, watercolours, drawings and sculptures to illustrate the rich variety of styles and disciplines in his oeuvre.

FREE entrance with the I amsterdam City Card

EXPLORE CANAL MUSEUMS WITH YOUR I AMSTERDAM CITY CARD:

MUSEUM WILLET-HOLTHUYSEN 

In 1895 Mrs Willet-Holthuysen bequeathed her 17th-century canal house to the city of Amsterdam in her will, on the condition that it was preserved and opened as a museum. Her wish has been faithfully observed for over a century: the house has been turned into a beautiful museum.

FREE entrance with the I amsterdam City Card

ONS’ LIEVE HEER OP SOLDER 

This hidden Catholic church can be found in a 17th-century canal house in central Amsterdam. It’s the city’s most famous clandestine church. ’Our Lord in the Attic’ offered members of the Catholic faith a place to worship during an era when they were prohibited from doing so in public.

FREE entrance with the I amsterdam City Card

MUSEUM VAN LOON 

The former house of the regent Van Loon family was designed in 1672 by architect Adriaen Dortsman, and the first inhabitant was Ferdinand Bol, a student of the famous painter Rembrandt. In the rooms you’ll find beautiful portraits, impressive furniture and antique silver and porcelain.

FREE entrance with the I amsterdam City Card

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     

From the 17th-century Golden Age to contemporary design, don’t miss these stellar exhibitions.

DETAIL FROM FRANK AUERBACH, PRIMROSE HILL SUMMER SUNSHINE, 1964. COURTESY MARLBOROUGH FINE ART

RIJKSMUSUEM  NEW: REMBRANDT–AUERBACH: RAW TRUTH Until 16 March

In the tradition of special displays of artists inspired by the Rijksmuseum’s collection of Dutch Masters, six paintings by Frank Auerbach (Berlin, 1931) are displayed in dialogue with works by Rembrandt. Auerbach, who was evacuated to Britain in 1939, is considered one of the most important British painterssince the Second World War. Get a €2.50 DISCOUNT on presentation of the I amsterdam City Card

A lot of Amsterdam

ODILON REDON, WOMAN ASLEEP BENEATH A TREE, 1900-1901. © STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM, ST PETERSBURG

HERMITAGE AMSTERDAM 

LAST CHANCE: GAUGUIN, BONNARD, DENIS. A RUSSIAN TASTE FOR FRENCH ART Until 28 February

An exhibition of works by three major late 19th- and early 20th-century artists: Gauguin, Bonnard and Denis. Following on from the Impressionistic period, these artists began exploring new paths with the Nabi artists, inspired by Paul Gauguin. Wealthy Russian collector Ivan Morozov was an important patron for these artists, and his collection is displayed. €3.50 surcharge with the I amsterdam City Card

>

EXPLORE EVERYTHING AMSTERDAM HAS TO OFFER WITH THE I AMSTERDAM CITY CARD. Visit world-class museums, take a cruise through the charming canals and sample the local delicacies – all for free or with a significant discount.

• Free entrance to over 40 museums • Free public transport • Free canal cruise • 25 per cent discount on attractions • 25 per cent discount on food & drink …and more

Discover Amsterdam at a discount.

See right for details.

I amsterdam City Card for 24 hours – €47 I amsterdam City Card for 48 hours – €57 I amsterdam City Card for 72 hours – €67

The I amsterdam City Card is available at Visitor Information Centres, hotels, canal cruise companies and GVB Tickets & Info offices.

For more information, see iamsterdam.com/citycard

jan & feb 2014

PART II 20 22 27 28 29

ENTERTAINMENT

‘AMSTERDAM BECAME FAMOUS IN EUROPE FOR A MIRACLE IN A HOUSE ON KALVERSTRAAT. WHAT WAS ONCE A SHRINE FOR PILGRIMS IS NOW THE LOCATION OF THE AMSTERDAM DUNGEON.’

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MERCEDES-BENZ FASHION WEEK AMSTERDAM HIGHLIGHTS 13 QUESTIONS FILM NIGHTLIFE ESSENTIALS

WILLIAM KLEIN With a career spanning more than 60 years, legendary photographer, cinematographer and designer William Klein had a tremendous influence on photography in the second half of the 20th century. This enormous exhibition sprawls over the entire Foam photography museum and includes photos shot by Klein in New York, Rome, Moscow and Tokyo, as well as examples of his innovative fashion shots.

UNTIL 12 MARCH FOAM Keizersgracht 609 www.foam.nl

Writer Russell Shorto tells us something we don’t know about Amsterdam.

CELEBRATING ITS TENTH ANNIVERSARY IN EXQUISITE STYLE, AMSTERDAM FASHION WEEK SASHAYS INTO TOWN AMID A FLURRY OF AIR KISSES AND CHAMPAGNE.

SMOKE + VEIL, PARIS 1958 © WILLIAM KLEIN

See the future of Dutch fashion design, today.

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PART II ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

amsterdam fashion week

Strike a pose for the city’s top fashion fest

Celebrating its tenth anniversary in exquisite style, Fashion Week sashays into town amid a flurry of air kisses and champagne, bringing the Netherlands’ most innovative designers with it.

BAS KOSTERS, AFW S13

text Claire van den Berg

A MERCEDES-BENZ FASHION WEEK AMSTERDAM 17-27 January, various locations www.fashionweek.nl

few decades ago, uncharitable fashionistas dubbed the Netherlands a sartorial wasteland.

Driven by a characteristic practicality – think: cobbles, perpetual rain and bike-riding – the average Amsterdammer seemed outfitted for whatever the grey skies could throw at them, but rarely for aesthetic considerations. The arrival of Amsterdam Fashion Week (AFW) on the scene in 2004 changed all that.

What started as a local event with a handful of largely unknown designers has expanded into a plenteous platform for Dutch fashion talent, showcasing collections of over

30 designers twice a year.

With a brimming schedule of catwalk shows, pop-ups downtown, presentations, lectures, a bazaar and parties, AFW brings together the best and brightest of Dutch fashion to cumulatively stimulate the growth of the industry. To support young talent (of which there is much; see right) the innovative FASHION Lab programme offers promising designers the use of a wide range of amenities to professionally equip them for an international career.

The aim of Amsterdam Fashion Week has always been to strengthen Amsterdam as an international fashion capital,

and in one respect this has already happened: this season marks the sponsorship debut of Mercedes-Benz – which also underwrites the shows of fashion heavyweights New York, Paris and Milan.

According to general director Rob Zomer, Dutch fashion is currently at the forefront of contemporary avant-garde design. ‘The diversity and cultural innovation in fashion in the Netherlands is huge,’ he says. ‘There is such an abundance of creative talent. Our highly proficient fashion institutions and education system have really helped this development. And I think the Dutch tradition of free

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holland’s got young talent Mattijs van Bergen

Winde Rienstra

MaryMe-Jimmy Paul

MATTIJS VAN BERGEN One of the much-anticipated events this season is the new collection by Mattijs van Bergen.

Since his graduation from the prestigious Central Saint Martins college in London, he has worked in the ateliers of Viktor & Rolf and Giles Deacon. He’s received several international awards as well as a grant of €25,000. With his sensitive eye and love for fabric and form, he’s celebrated for his curvaceous, colourful and freshly feminine designs. Structured but never over-the-top experimental, Van Bergen’s pieces are subtle works of art.

DARYL VAN WOUW

IRIS VAN HERPEN, AFW S11

WINDE RIENSTRA

thought has also been influential in shaping this fashion-forward mentality.’

Zomer’s optimism is certainly borne out by the list of Dutch designers who have showed their work at Amsterdam Fashion Week over the past decade. Internationally acclaimed designers such as Jan Taminiau and Iris van Herpen, noted for their lavish couture creations, both debuted their collections here.

As did Bas Kosters, whose extravagant graphic designs always bring an eye-popping riot of colour to the runway.

Tony Cohen’s feminine, luxurious clothes have also graced Dutch catwalks, alongside

those of Claes Iversen, Daryl van Wouw and the designs of more commercial brands such as Claudia Sträter and Muchachomalo.

With the international exposure that it brings, Amsterdam Fashion Week can well serve as a kick-start to a thriving, international business.

And while it’s true that fledgling talent often uses AFW as a springboard to go elsewhere, who wouldn’t want to be in the audience when the next Iris van Herpen debuts?

And you quite possibly could be. Unlike fashion weeks in London, Paris and New York – and true to the egalitarian Dutch spirit – the Amsterdam

edition is not an invite-only affair. Tickets are available for a limited number of catwalk shows, and for those who miss out, all shows can be viewed live through the Amsterdam Fashion Week app.

The free and publicly accessible Downtown programme, meanwhile, opens the event up to all fashion enthusiasts.

Organised in collaboration with local museums, galleries, clubs and shops, past editions have included street-style catwalk shows, parties, shop launches, film screenings, fashion talks and exhibitions.

Without a doubt, Dutch fashion is in the ascendancy.

Since 2010 Winde Rienstra has had her own fashion label.

Rienstra is an expert in designing ‘slow fashion’, representing all things sartorial in an ecoconscious and ethical way. By using traditional manufacturing techniques, she takes time to ensure quality production. Her outfits radiate creativity and craftsmanship and are, besides fully hand-made, designed with a meticulous composition of materials. Seeking the beauty of essentials, she gets her inspiration from architecture, art and nature. During the last two editions of Amsterdam Fashion Week, Rienstra was a clear favourite with the audience.

MARYME-JIMMY PAUL Constantly pushing the boundaries of shape, texture and colour, designer duo MaryMeJimmy Paul never fail to surprise.

With their pop-inspired sculptural works, they have exhibited alongside Maison Martin Margiela and Prada and their creations have appeared in Vogue and i-D magazine. Creating an eclectic mixture of art, architecture and fashion, their clothes are all about the brightest of colours: strawberry red, fuchsia, neon orange and fluorescent green, leading the audience into a kaleidoscopic fantasy world.

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highlights

PART II ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Frames of reverence

The only living artist to be exhibited in the Rijksmuseum, Frank Auerbach has something to say about Rembrandt.

FRANK AUERBACH, HEAD OF E O W II, 1964, COURTESY MARLBOROUGH FINE ART

text Mark Smith

T

he Rijksmuseum’s collection of work

by Dutch Old Masters has been inspiring generations of artists since the museum first opened in 1885. In that same year, for example, a young Vincent van Gogh spent many hours full of admiration for Rembrandt van Rijn.

Until recently, the German-born artist Frank Auerbach has had very few words for anybody.

One of the least-interviewed artists of a tightlipped generation of post-war painters that includes Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, for the most part he has chosen to let his work do the talking.

Yet Auerbach’s personal story is quite remarkable. Sent to Britain in 1939 by the parents he was never to see again, he spent his childhood in Kent at Bunce Court, a boarding school for Jewish evacuees. On becoming a naturalised British citizen in 1947, he moved to London and went on to become one of the most preeminent British painters still alive today.

He takes for his subjects landscapes within walking distance of his home studio and trusted sitters with whom, like contemporary Freud, he has developed long-term working relationships.

Ahead of becoming the only living painter to have his work displayed at the Rijksmuseum – ‘in conversation’ with those of Rembrandt for Rembrandt–Auerbach: Raw Truth – Auerbach broke his silence to speak to BBC Radio 4 last October.

Referring to his 50-year fascination with the ultimate Dutch Old Master, Auerbach spoke of his admiration for the way in which Rembrandt broke with tradition to paint the unvarnished truth and thus penetrate to the essence of his subjects, something for which Auerbach’s own work has earned plaudits: ‘Rembrandt […] has certain qualities that

LEARNING FROM THE MASTER Like Rembrandt, Auerbach uses thick, sticky paint to build up surfaces, creating an appearance of spontaneity that belies a painting’s careful structure. They share a palette of muted tones yet draw radiance from the earthy colours.

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don’t miss these

make me feel close to him,’ he said. ‘I think of him as […] one of the […] most miraculous draughtsmen of life in motion.’ Auerbach went on to praise Rembrandt’s ability to ‘draw people doing things rather than people posing. One gets a strong sense of life caught on the hop.’

As Jackie Wullschlager, art critic for the UK’s Financial Times, has gone on to point out, Auerbach and Rembrandt are both ‘slow painters, digging deep, working into a canvas the history of its creation as accumulated observations and feelings about an intensely known subject’.

And although they arguably share a certain glorious gloominess, it’s fair to say that Auerbach’s early 1960s Primrose Hill impastos – three of which are displayed at the Rijksmuseum – do not look much like the works of Rembrandt, or at least not on a superficial level. Whereas Auerbach’s landscape work is broad-brush and amorphous, Rembrandt’s equally atmospheric etching ‘The Three Trees’ is a work of miraculous, high-definition detail.

That said, the most thrilling conversations rarely occur between people who are approaching their subject from the exact same viewpoint. This exhibition is an ardent discussion that has unfolded across space and time.

As Auerbach told the BBC of Rembrandt: ‘He was one of the first painters who really moved me. And he’s never stopped being important to me.’

REMBRANDT–AUERBACH: RAW TRUTH UNTIL 16 MARCH Rijksmuseum, Museumstraat 1 www.rijksmuseum.nl

REMBRANDT, THE JEWISH BRIDE, C.1667

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‘Farewell to the End‘ premiered at the Holland Festival – that national arbiter of cutting-edge cultural cachet – in 2012. It started as an ‘on location’ performance where Emio Greco and the dancers of ICKamsterdam – the troupe Greco cofounded with Dutchman Pieter C Scholten and which is rapturously received across the European festival circuit – took the audience on a (boat) trip to the end of the world, inspired by the Fellini classic E la Nave Va. Now they’ve finally come ashore for the theatre version of the play.

If you miss out on this one, you can catch Greco’s work during ICK week in Theater Frascati, 25 February-1 March.

ALWIN POIANA

ADDIO ALLA FINE

 

22 & 23 JANUARY, STADSSCHOUWBURG Leidseplein 26 www.ssba.nl

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AGNES OBEL Her pristine debut album, Philharmonics, was awarded with a gold disc at the Best Kept Secret Festival last summer. Her sophomore offering, Aventine, entered the Dutch top 100 at a highly respectable number five. Now classically trained Danish pianist/ singer Agnes Obel is back in Holland for a performance at the hallowed Concertgebouw, where she’ll perform tracks from both records. Obel writes, plays, sings, records and produces all her material herself, and her fragile songs, which combine classical elements and folk tropes, are beautiful in their simplicity.

4 FEBRUARY, THE ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW Concertgebouwplein 10 www.concertgebouw.nl

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THE FAIRY QUEEN The fact that the big hit of the 1692-1693 theatre season – when Brit monarch Mary I attended a performance, she was apparently delighted – is still performed means that, if you haven’t found any time over the past few centuries, it’s probably time to go and see it now. This semi-opera is loosely based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and consists of a spectacle of song-and-dance numbers plus spoken text. Although The Fairy Queen is a classic, contemporary theatre producers work very well with Purcell’s sparkling music and acclaimed director Paul Koek has even introduced an electronic rock band.

24 FEBRUARY, STADSSCHOUWBURG Leidseplein 26 www.ssba.nl

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PART II ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

highlights

Accidental beauty

An award-winning Dutch actress and a master choreographer join forces for tauberbach, an experimental production about remarkable survivors.

     

text Toby Main photo Chris ven der Burght

A

decade-old documentary about a schizophrenic sexagenarian woman scraping an existence amid the rancid detritus of a Rio de Janeiro rubbish dump is the unlikely starting point for a performance that sees its Dutch premiere in the velvet-seated splendour of Amsterdam’s Stadsschouwburg theatre this February.

And yet Marcos Prado’s film Estamira is where the Den Haag-born actress Elsie de Brauw, famed for her work in the Dutch version of hit TV show In Treatment, has apparently drawn inspiration for her central role in tauberbach, a trailblazing collaboration between one of Germany’s leading theatre companies and a Belgian experimental dance troupe.

Having recently swapped on-screen success for a life treading the boards, 53-year-old De Brauw is currently leading lady of the esteemed Münchner Kammerspiele, under the artistic direc-

tion of her compatriot Johan Simons.

For tauberbach, the Kammerspiele is joining forces with Les Ballets C de la B – dubbed ‘one of the most influential dance theatre companies in the world’ by the UK’s Guardian – that began as the result of a dare in a poky Ghent loft.

Back in 1984, Alain Platel, a 28-yearold Belgian teacher working with disabled children, was urged by an old teacher to catch a ballet by legendary French choreographer Maurice Béjart.

Platel did so, and found it sorely lacking. The pair squabbled until the teacher threw down the gauntlet to Platel: ‘I’d like to see you do better.’ Arguably, that’s exactly what Platel did. The resulting Les Ballets C de la B has become a springboard for dance talents, including that of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.

Throughout his own storied career, Platel has found a rich seam of inspiration in the oeuvre of Johann Sebastian Bach, basing choreographies around

the St Matthew Passion and other works by the towering Austrian godfather of Baroque. For tauberbach, Platel is once again setting to work with his favourite composer, but Bach’s music will this time be interpreted by a cast of singers who are either deaf or hard of hearing.

As for what we may see on stage, Platel’s famously freeform creative process – he spends months improvising with his talent, his creations eventually growing out of this material – means there’s little point in speculating. But the exemplary reputations of the key players suggest it’s a calculated gamble.

According to Platel, the whole point of the exercise is for the performers ‘to explore those areas of their mind yet untouched by civilisation’.

5-7 FEBRUARY STADSSCHOUWBURG Leidseplein 26 www.ssba.nl

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featured artist

don’t miss these

‘I just wanted to make the most beautiful thing that I could imagine. And [new album] Post Tropical was it.’

In War & Peace, Introdans presents two masterpieces about struggle and suppression. The first, No Longer Silent by Robert Battle, is a dynamic choreography with varying tempo, set to music of the Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff, whose work was banished by the Nazi regime. The second piece, The Green Table by Kurt Jooss, dates back to 1932 and consists of eight scenes that together form a touching comment on the futility of war and all its horrors. This is part of the Stadsschouwburg’s Ken uw klassiekers (‘know your classics’) programme, meaning it’s a must-see play and a highlight in the history of theatre.

© INTRODANS PHOTO HANS GERRITSEN

WAR & PEACE

19 JAN, STADSSCHOUWBURG Leidseplein 26 www.ssba.nl



THE RING CYCLE

JAMES VINCENT MCMORROW, SINGER-SONGWRITER Born: 1983 Talent: Irish songsmith whose 2010 debut album reached number one and went platinum. His unique falsetto sound has seen him perform alongside everyone from Al Green to Bon Iver.

Performs: 11 February, Royal Concertgebouw  ‘I’m so proud of [my first] album, but I never longed to be a guy with a guitar. You play these songs live as best you can, and suddenly you’re a folk musician. But the texture of this record is completely different... I found a zip drive recently, which dates back to before I made my first record, and I’d re-recorded every single part of the N.E.R.D album – apart from the vocals – just for the joy of it. I wanted to give this record the feel and movement of the hip hop records that I love.‘

A truly elevated – and bum-numbing – experience: the four operas of Wagner’s magnum opus Der Ring des Nibelungen – Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung – performed in a single week, in the context of the 200th anniversary of his birth in 2013. ‘[The Ring Cycle] is a monument in which the interplay of lines reaches out into the universe,’ said Claude Debussy – high praise indeed. You’ll have to free up some time in your agenda, but The Dutch National Opera guarantees an exceptional experience in which the whole audience will be involved.

29 JAN-14 FEB, MUZIEKTHEATER Waterlooplein 22 www.het-muziektheater.nl

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OLETA ADAMS: THE LEGACY TOUR You can reach her by sailboat, or climb a tree and swing rope to rope, depending on the weather maybe take a sledge and slide down slope… just get to her if you can. It’s more than 20 years since the American soul singer’s biggest hits (like ‘Get Here’) but she’s back on the road for The Legacy Tour. As a preacher’s daughter, Adams was raised singing gospel music, but back in the 1970s producers were primarily interested in disco. Oddly, we have Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, of English new-wave band Tears for Fears, to thank for her breakthrough.

30 JAN, ROYAL THEATRE CARRÉ Amstel 115-125 http://web.carre.nl

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highlights

PART II ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

A history of love gone wrong

A new exhibition in the city’s oldest church explores what remains after love has gone – with some surprising results. text Maxine Knoote

Q The adventures of Cross-Linx

Now in its 13th edition, CrossLinx brings a swirling cacophony of avant-garde music and more to cities across the Netherlands.

text Brandon Hartley

F

or over a decade, the Cross-Linx Festival has helped expose thousands to the wonders of one of the music world’s most impenetrable genres. By employing a ‘Spoonful of Sugar’ approach worthy of Mary Poppins herself, its organisers use silky-sweet rock acts to help the ‘medicine’ of more formidable performers go down.

Over the years, Cross-Linx has meshed rockers including The National with more challenging avant-garde and classical artists like Owen Pallett. This year’s edition, which can be found at both Paradiso and People’s Place, is taking a walk on the wilder side with some of the fest’s most daring acts to date.

Take, for example, Tim Fite.

This Brooklyn-based performer has been compared to Beck. Much like the man responsible for some of rock’s strangest anthems, Fite bounces across genres ranging from folk to hip hop.

My Brightest Diamond will also appear. Fronted by the

classically trained Shara Worden (pictured), who has recorded with indie-rock mainstays like The Decemberists and Sufjan Stevens, the band specialises in an elegant brew of complex instrumentals and lush vocals.

There’s also José González, the Swedish singer/guitarist perhaps best known for his cover of The Knife’s ‘Heartbeats’. It was included in a memorable Sony Bravia commercial that featured over 250,000 bouncing balls tearing down the streets of San Francisco.

However, this year’s highlight is sure to be an epic performance led by Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds. His trademark brand of ambient beats and airy piano keys will be joined by the 22-member Philharmonie Zuidnederland.

As the timeworn cliché advises, get ready to expect the unexpected.

6 FEBRUARY PARADISO & PEOPLE’S PLACE Weteringschans 6-8 & Stadhouderskade 5/6 www.cross-linx.nl

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uestion: what do a faceless garden gnome, a Taser stun gun, a toy caterpillar and a bottle of tears have in common? Answer: they’re all memento mori of a sort, the detrius left behind when love disappears. And they’re all on display at Amsterdam’s Oude Kerk.

When Croatian artists Olinka Vištica and Dražen Grubišic’s own relationship ended, they found some possessions – the CDs, books, crockery – were easy to divide, but what of the more sentimental items?

The love tokens that only held meaning within the context of their relationship?

Vištica and Grubišic had a small doll, which kept one of them company whenever the other went away. After they broke up, it was a constant reminder of what no longer existed.

They quickly discovered they were not alone, and that many other former couples had similar objects they were

loath to throw away but did not want to keep. It is these tsotchkes that are given a second life in the travelling exhibition Museum of Broken Relationships.

The objects on display vary from a wedding gown to a Nokia phone, and from a teddy bear to an axe. Call it a cabinet of animosities, of sorts: a Slovenian woman donated the bowl her husband gave her in which to make bread. He found it erotic to watch a woman knead dough, just like his favourite actress in one of her movies. When the relationship ended, the woman gave up baking bread but kept the bowl, eating only salad out of it until she lost 21 kilos and was ready to start her life anew.

You’ll have to visit yourself to learn the story of the prosthetic leg or the cloth bag of soil...

UNTIL 2 MARCH Oude Kerk, Oudekerksplein 23 www.oudekerk.nl

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13 questions Author, historian and journalist Russell Shorto reflects on a decade spent in the Dutch capital – as he heads home to the USA.



text Megan Roberts portrait Robin de Puy

    

‘You’ll see both recent and distant history here’ 1. WHAT’S YOUR FIRST AMSTERDAM MEMORY? Coming in just after dawn in 2002 or 2003, on a research trip for my first book [The Island at the Center of the World, on the Dutch origins of New York City]. I took a taxi up the Utrechtsestraat.

It felt… 19th century. I was expecting to be in Rembrandt’s town, but it didn’t feel that way.

2. WHAT SHOULD SOMEONE DO WITH A SINGLE DAY IN AMSTERDAM? Starting at Central Station , walk down Haarlemmerstraat – full of unique shops – to the Brouwersgracht , the prettiest canal in the city. Follow the Herengracht to Spui , with its many bookshops and Friday book market. You’ll see recent and distant history here: the Het Lieverdje (‘The Little Darling’) statue is where the countercultural Provo Movement met in the 1960s, and just behind it is the medieval Begijnhof courtyard.

3. WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE A’DAM WORK OF ART? A portrait of Jan Six by Rembrandt . [British historian] Simon Sharma called it the greatest portrait of the 17th century. It is of its time, but the gloved left hand is almost impressionistic.

Rembrandt was playing with concepts of what a painting is.

4. WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE STATUE IN THE CITY? Probably Het Lieverdje on the Spui .

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once a shrine for pilgrims is now the site of the Amsterdam Dungeon.

7. MODE OF TRANSPORT? Bike – there’s no other answer.

8. WHERE’S THE BEST VIEW OF AMSTERDAM? The Okura Hotel again . You see the whole Grachtengordel and early 20th-century city expansion: Amsterdam old and new.

5. IN WHICH BUILDING WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPEND THE NIGHT? The top floor of the Okura Hotel (www.okura.nl) , overlooking the whole city.

9. FAVOURITE AMSTERDAM DELICACY? Herring, which I usually get at Stubbe’s Haring , eaten the Amsterdam way, in a broodje [bread roll] – never dangled into the mouth.

6. TELL US ONE THING WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT THE CITY. It became famous in Europe for a miracle in a house on the Kalverstraat . What was

10. TOP RESTAURANT RECOMMENDATION? I always say Bordewijk, on Noordermarkt . You always get nice food in a fun atmosphere.

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11. FAVOURITE BUILDING? The Huis aan de Drie Grachten, or ‘House on the Three Canals’, at Oudezijds Voorburgwal 249 .

It sits on the corner of three canals and so has three stepped gables.

12. WHAT WAS THE BEST THING ABOUT LIVING IN AMSTERDAM? It’s low – there’s not a single skyscraper in the city, so it’s at a very human level.

13. AND WHAT WAS THE WORST? The weather! You can’t escape the fact that it’s in Northern Europe.

Russell’s new book, Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City , is published by Doubleday. It is available in the American Book Center (abc.nl) and Waterstone’s (www.water stones.com).

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PART II ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

film

Always on the lookout, at De Uitkijk

    

Over a hundred years old and still going strong: bijou and boutique cinema De Uitkijk shows size really doesn’t matter.

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text Bregtje Schudel photo Zlatka Siljdedic

A FILMTHEATER DE UITKIJK Prinsengracht 452 www.uitkijk.nl

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s far as movie-theatre history goes, you can’t go any further back than this: both De Uitkijk (‘The Lookout’) and The Movies on Haarlemmerstraat celebrated their centennials back in 2012, and may officially call themselves the oldest cinemas in the Netherlands – probably even in Europe. Which of the two old-timers really is the oldest is subject to debate: The Movies calls itself the oldest continuously running theatre (De Uitkijk is slightly senior, but stood vacant for a few months in 1929), while De Uitkijk sidesteps the issue by calling itself the oldest existing (art-house) ‘film theatre’.

Suffice to say, they’re both

pretty darn old. The Movies has the more romantic interior; De Uitkijk has the more romantic story as a one-screen art-house cinema, bravely soldiering on for over a hundred years while all around it perished.

Starting life as a warehouse, Prinsengracht 452 became a cinema in 1912, called City Bioscoop, for the more well-todo residents of the Canal District. Down on its luck – and finances – in 1929, the cinema was adopted by the Filmliga, a Dutch film club formed in reponse to government censorship, and was renamed De Uitkijk. Managing director Mannus Franken took inspiration from the avant-garde film

theatres of Paris, in style as well as substance. De Uitkijk was not merely a cinema, but a ‘film theatre’, which featured art, not entertainment.

The collaboration with the Filmliga didn’t last, but Franken’s artistic legacy did. De Uitkijk, now run solely by students, still features high-quality art-house films. With only one screen, don’t expect to see the latest of the latest (Night Train to Lisbon has been screening here since midApril last year, making it one of the longest runs in De Uitkijk’s history) but they make up for it with regular special screenings, from golden oldies (Sundays) to modern classics (every Friday).

29

highlight

nightlife essentials

Our must-see film pick this issue…

The Quay Brothers’ Universum

I

dentical twin brothers Stephen and Timothy Quay (1947) may not be that well known by the general public, but in the world of animation they’re in a league quite their own.

This retrospective at the Netherlands’ most prominent film museum will no doubt prove to be a very peculiar, but also highly satisfying, treat.

Growing up in rural America, Stephen and Timothy began their careers as illustrators. Their work featured in magazines and newspapers but also on music album and book covers (most notably, Anthony Burgess’s The Clockwork Testament).

Although they don’t limit themselves to any one medium – they’ve worked on opera, TV ads and music videos – it was in film that they really came into their own. Drawing inspiration from diverse sources – from Polish propaganda posters to Franz Kafka to Jan Švankmajer (also a big influence on filmmakers Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam) – they create worlds unlike any other. Using mostly stop-motion, they breathe life into inanimate objects that seem to have been assembled from stuff you’d find in a junkyard – empty dolls’ heads, rusty nails, dusty cloth. Their universe is gloomy and surreal, but also sensual, like a Freudian nightmare re-enacted by puppets.

The EYE exposition offers an intriguing selection of artefacts, works from the masters themselves (including some of their miniature dioramas), but also the objects that inspired them, from poster art to specimens from Sir Henry Wellcome’s anatomical collection.

UNTIL 9 MARCH EYE Filmmuseum, IJpromenade 1 www.eyefilm.nl



Club of the month DE NIEUWE ANITA De Nieuwe Anita looks something like an old folks’ home filled with young hipsters: think mismatched flowery couches and bad-taste lampshades. But the imaginative programming – music, cinema, crafting – inspires a cult following, tempting cool kids to venture beyond the centre. Beer is cheap, the crowd is friendly and it’s like going out without leaving home.

Frederik Hendrikstraat 115 www.denieuweanita.nl



DAN BROWN: INFERNO Okay, so it’s quite the highbrow way to relax afterhours, but who can resist spending an evening with one of the most-read writers of our time? Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code became one of the most popular books of all times, selling almost 100 million copies worldwide. Tonight, Brown introduces the fourth book in the Robert Langdon series.

7 January Stadsschouwburg Leidseplein 26 www.ssba.nl



KNOCKDOWN Electro-swing, vintage and retro sounds on a rotating dance floor – plus titillating performances from Amsterdam’s most glamorous burlesque artists, not all of them female. An (affordable) absinth bar and vintage theme – Roaring ’20s to flashy ’40s – will bring the spirit of prohibition and a touch of Bas Luhrmann’s Gatsby to town.

10 January Pand 14, Muntbergweg 14 www.amsterdamburlesque.com



DIRTY DUTCH: BACK TO THE ORIGINAL CORE The internationally acclaimed dance-music phenomenon celebrates a decade in the game. After a sell-out ‘Aftershock’ edition last year, Dirty

Dutch returns to the Bijlmer Boulevard for another night of debauchery and heavy dance tunes. Expect local and international names to join Dutch house legend Chuckie on stage for what is being billed as a blitzkrieg of smoke, strobes and champagne.

1 February Heineken Music Hall ArenA Boulevard 590 http://dirty-dutch.com

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FUTURE SHORTS: WINTER EDITION Fittingly in this former film academy – which was squatted and now has legitimacy as a bone fide cultural centre – OT301 takes a truly international excursion into the world of shorts, with six films from France, Poland, Serbia, Finland and Afghanistan.

4 February OT301, Overtoom 301 www.ot301.nl



HELEMAAL MELKWEG This recurring event takes place four times a year and does exactly as the name suggests, throwing open the whole of former dairy factory Melkweg for an evening of music and performance action. Special guests at this edition include Chinese-Mongolese rockers Hanggai, electro-dub pioneers Dreadzone and Swedish hip hoppers Movits.

15 February Melkweg, Lijnbaansgracht 234 www.melkweg.nl



HOOKERS’ BALL: CALIGULA When a party has the slogan ‘you might get laid but you won’t get paid!’ you know you’re in for a bumpy ride.

This edition, relive the depravity and debauchery under Rome’s most infamous emperor at gay stalwart Church. The good news: the boys-only club opens its doors to all genders and persuasions for one night only.

22 February Church, Kerkstraat 52 www.clubchurch.nl



Craftsmanship for over 60 years Gassan Diamonds

Gassan Dam Square

Gassan Schiphol

Gassan LCA

Singapore Airport Changi

Nwe Uilenburgerstraat 173-175

Rokin 1- 5

Dep. Lounges 1,2,3,4 & Arrivalhall 3

London City Airport

Terminal 1 West

1011 LN Amsterdam, Holland

1012 KK Amsterdam, Holland

Schiphol Airport, Holland

Royal Docks

80 Airport Boulevard

P +31 (0)20 6225333

P +31(0)20-6245787

P +31(0)20 405 9951

London E16 2PX

Singapore 819642

I www.gassanschiphol.com

P +44 207 473 4704

P +65 6214 9775

www.gassan.com

jan & feb 2014

PART III

EAT DRINK CHIC ‘THERE IS SO MUCH CONTRAST IN THIS NEIGHBOURHOOD: IT’S A STRANGE JUXTAPOSITION OF THE LOVELY, THE HISTORICAL AND THE SEEDY.‘

32 37 38 40 41 42 44

31

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH: DE WALLEN COLUMN EATING OUT ON THE MENU GLUTEN-FREE = GUILT-FREE PRETTY THINGS WHAT’S IN STORE

DE OCEAAN DELI In spite of the name, there’s no especial focus on seafood here: rather, this one-stop foodie shop on Zeeburg – which turned ten at the end of last year – dishes up superlative sandwiches (think: egg-truffle salad and veal meatloaf) as well as delicious fresh bodega fare. They also stock tapas, cheese, hams and olive oil, as well as curries and Mediterranean oven-baked dishes to takeaway and heat at home – and of course complementary wine.

C van Eesterenlaan 21-23 www.oceaandeli.nl

‘If you can’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin.’ That’s the basic philosophy of C. COSMETICS & CARE. Caroline, owner of this beautiful shop with spa treatment rooms in the Jordaan area, is convinced our skin benefits from all-natural, organic products. Parabens and chemicals are banished from her store, which stocks only top-notch ingredients from the plant kingdom. Brands include Dr Alkaitis, Pure Altitude, Dr Baumann and superb haircare products by Less is More.

Herenstraat 30a www.cosmeticsandcare.com

MARIE-CHARLOTTE PEZÉ

Amsterdam visitor Alex Hailstone on the diversity of De Wallen.

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PART III EAT, DRINK & CHIC

Neighbourhood watch

neighbourhood watch

DE WALLEN aka the Red Light District

CRISTIAN SANDU, 31 bike rickshaw driver

‘A lot of visitors ask me to drive them to the red-lit windows and coffeeshops – but there’s so much more than that to the Red Light District.’

33

Thanks to the continuing thrust to clean up Amsterdam’s most risqué borough, you could find yourself seduced by culture in the Red Light District these days… text Karin Engelbrecht photos Marie-Charlotte Pezé

From lust to lustre...

A

msterdam’s oldest neighbourhood sits at the medieval heart of the city – and the centre of its international notoriety.

An evening visit to the Red Light District (or ‘De Wallen’ as it’s known to locals, named for the ramparts that were once the city’s first line of defence) has historically been an assault on the senses.

Bathed in a red neon glow and swathed in a cloud of marijuana smoke, bravado-fuelled bachelor parties and red-faced tourists lurched from window to window, where a smorgasbord of scantily clad women touted their wares, catering for every preference and persuasion.

Sex shops, peep shows and live-sex theatres competed for your attention, promising to shock and titillate in equal measure.

To locals, however, legalised prostitution has only ever been one aspect of the area, which forms a distinct contrast to the squeaky clean, UNESCOprotected Canal Ring.

One of the most remarkable things about De Wallen is that it’s almost tranquil by day – the best time to see the 14th-century layout and architecture, to visit the city’s oldest house of worship and see the city’s narrowest alley, the one-metre wide Trompettersteeg. And then, after dark, it’s as if somebody opened the gates to a football stadium after a match.

Despite its history of tolerance and ‘anything goes’ image, rowdy tourists attracted by the implied freedom of the Red Light District sometimes forget that people actually live in the area, and that there’s a dark reality of human trafficking, forced prostitution and money-laundering lurking in the background.

CLEANING UP ITS ACT The Amsterdam municipal council’s Project 1012 (named for the district’s postal code) was launched in 2007 and aims to strengthen the area’s unique character as one of the city’s oldest areas. This includes stimulating its economic upgrade while discouraging crime and corruption, and limiting the zones in which prostitution is permitted. By supporting key projects, renewing infrastructure and taking active administrative, legal and healthcare measures, Project 1012 intends to give the area an image makeover.

The practical aim of the ten-year plan is to reduce the number of red neon-lit windows and coffeeshops by about a third, and create a more appealing cocktail of living, working and nightlife. It will be a full-circle movement for the area, which was home to the city’s wealthiest citizens in the 16th century, and then gradually descended into a drug-riddled hotbed of vice in the 20th.

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PART III EAT, DRINK & CHIC

neighbourhood watch

Left-of-centre art gallery W139 has been providing alternative entertainment on the city’s ‘gay street’ since 1979 .

BROUWERIJ DE PRAEL Located in the area where Amsterdam’s earliest brewery raised its foamy head, this microbrewery uses centuries-old traditions to produce artisanal beer from organic malt and hops grown in the back garden. Head to the nearby tasting room and choose from ten standard beers, ranging from blonde to stout, as well as seasonal brews and special editions – all named for local folk singers. And you can feel a little smug as you sip: De Prael’s brewery is staffed almost entirely by people with disabilities who are ordinarily excluded from the job market. Social action never tasted so good.



Bar: Oudezijds Armsteeg 26 Shop: Oudezijds Voorburgwal 30 http://deprael.nl



CHINATOWN With a history dating back to 1911, Amsterdam’s Chinatown – De Wallen’s closest neighbour – is said to be the oldest of its kind on the European continent. It’s home to many of the city’s best Chinese restaurants, including Nam Kee (Zeedijk 113; www.namkee.net) , recently voted Best Chinese Restaurant in the Netherlands, and Chinese shops such as the outstanding Dun Yong supermarket (Stormsteeg 9; www.dunyong.com) , established in 1959.

35

The historic Oudekerksplein square and the St Anne quarter with its ancient alleyways will become completely prostitution-free, creating a new destination for arts, culture, shopping, dining and living. This, too, is fitting, because the Oude Kerk (literally ‘Old Church’) was the centre of religious, social and economic activities in the medieval city, when it was known as the living room of Amsterdam. Its stripped-back Calvinist beauty and opalescent light are the stuff Dutch masterpieces are made of.

‘Because the alleys are so narrow and the spaces so small, we still have to see which types of businesses will be viable here,’ explains Edwin Oppedijk of Gemeente Amsterdam, Stadsdeel Centrum. ‘It’s learning by doing, using temporary rental permits, until the mix is right. We’re trying to create an environment in which creative new initiatives will thrive.’

If you knew where to look, there were always contrasts to the cliché here. Left-of-centre art gallery W139 has been providing alternative entertainment on the city’s ‘gay street’ since 1979 (Warmoesstraat 39, http://w139.nl) . The Oude Kerk also regularly plays host to art exhibitions (see page 26), including the prestigious World Press Photo. More recently, Red Light Radio has been transmitting from a former prostitution window since late 2010 as part of the clean-up initiative, and has become something of a cultural bastion in the area.

While locals have long come here for a desperate late-night bite, Blauw aan de Wal (Oudezijds Achterburgwal 99; http://blauwaandewal. com)  was long the lone culinary mainstay in an area known for suspicious steakhouses and fast-food outlets. But notable newcomers include the classy ANNA (Warmoesstraat 111; www.restaurantanna.nl) , Korean barbecue restaurant Yokiyo (Oudezijds Voorburgwal 67; http://yokiyo.nl) , the recently renovated De Bakkerswinkel (Warmoesstraat 69; www.de bakkerswinkel.nl)  and Meatballs (Warmoesstraat 15; www.meatballs.nl) .

TAKA A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE Join one of the excellent guided tours of the Red Light District led by the Prostitution Information Centre (€15), which takes you around the neighbourhood and into a prostitute’s working room. The centre was established by a former working girl to open a dialogue about prostitution, and provides unbiased information on the sex industry.



Enge Kerksteeg 3 www.pic-amsterdam.com

ALEX HAILSTONE, 26 & KELLY BROOKS, 19

health and safety consultant & student, from the UK

‘There is so much contrast in this neighbourhood: it’s a strange juxtaposition of the lovely, the historical and the seedy. It’s so strange to see windows with prostitutes all around this very old church. There’s nothing like it in our country.’

JOAQUIM CANTARINHAS, 39 poet

‘The Red Light District has everything, from the very good to the very bad. It’s very inspiring for my poetry; in one year, I wrote three books.’

        



  

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

PATTA Sneaker freaks flock here for exclusive trainers, apparel and accessories from brands ranging from the ubiquitous – adidas, Converse, New Balance, Nike – to the less common, including Rockwell, Ubiq and Patta’s own label.

Since it opened in 2004, Patta has collaborated with various brands on limited-edition footwear and apparel, and today it pretty much defines the city’s streetwear scene.



Zeedijk 67 www.patta.nl

36

neighbourhood watch

PART III EAT, DRINK & CHIC

Once a gambling hall of ill repute, today Mata Hari features a cosy bar with an eclectic décor.

HIDDEN CULTURE One of the hidden gems of the neighbourhood, a classic canal-house façade hides a full-sized Catholic church, which was created after the Alteration (1578), when an official prohibition on the celebration of Catholic mass was issued. Today, it’s known as Our Lord in the Attic, one of Amsterdam’s oldest and most remarkable museums.

Oudezijds Voorburgwal 40 www.opsolder.nl

 METROPOLITAN DELI QUARTIER PUTAIN Aside from its fairly filthy French name, which comes from the song about the notorious district by cult Dutch literary icon Drs P, this pristine coffee bar definitely belongs to the next generation of De Wallen businesses. Slip a token – free with every purchase – into the jukebox to enjoy jazz, funk and hip hop while sipping on quality coffee made on a La Marzocca Strada espresso machine.



Oudekerksplein 4 www.quartierputain.nl

MATA HARI Spy on red-faced passers-by from the comfort of a leather armchair while sipping a beer (Erdinger Weiss, De Koninck, La Chouffe and Zatte by local hero Brouwerij ’t IJ are all on tap) at this laid-back café-restaurant. Once a gambling hall of ill repute, today Mata Hari features a cosy bar with an eclectic décor, which marries art deco with vintage and kitsch. Up the stunning central staircase, the restaurant serves Mediterranean classics (we recommend the antipasti platter and the wild-boar pappardelle).

Oudezijds Achterburgwal 22 www.matahari-amsterdam.nl



Satisfy all your sweet late-night cravings (it’s open until midnight!) at Metropolitan Deli, owned by Dutch food hero Kees Raat. You’ll find the city’s best hot chocolate, house-made gelato in flavours such as lemon cake, rhubarb and blood orange-Campari, and Raat’s renowned chocolate, made from superior quality raw Cuban cocoa beans sourced from smallscale plantations. Bonbons come in flavours such as tomato, coffee, mango and mandarin orange.



Warmoesstraat 135A www.metropolitandeli.nl

PART III

37

EAT, DRINK & CHIC

When in Amsterdam…

After 16 years here, native New Yorker Lauren Comiteau is still working out how to ‘go Dutch’.

MY LIFE AS AN AVERCAMP PAINTING

G Lauren Comiteau is a journalist and writer who has been covering the Netherlands for TIME magazine, CBS Radio and others since 1996. She lives in Amsterdam with her two daughters.

lobal warming has been good to Amsterdam. At least so far, before my low-lying, water-besieged adopted city, like my hometown of NY, disappears into the sea.

But in the meantime, changes in temperature and weather patterns have led to glorious transformations that come close to the four true seasons I enjoyed as a child and missed most of all when I moved here more than a decade ago.

Autumn now sees leaves turn ochre and flaming red, the summer is actually hot enough to enjoy canal-side swimming and over the past few winters, there has been enough snowfall to go sledging (although finding a hill is another matter). Compare that to the traditional two Dutch seasons – cold and rainy and less cold and rainy – and Amsterdam has become something of an outdoor enthusiast’s paradise.

To be sure, complaining about the rain and blustering winds is still a national pastime, especially after you’ve just crisscrossed town on two wheels. A Dutch comedian, while singing the praises of his homeland, once remarked that all the country needs is a roof.

But as early as November, the city was already preparing for the impending winter frost. Pop-up skating rinks now dot the Leidseplein and Museumplein, where gliding to

the backdrop of the Rijksmuseum makes you feel as if you’ve stepped into a Hendrick Avercamp painting. And when your toes begin to freeze, you can hightail it over to the Rijks to check out the 17th-century painter’s notorious winter skating scenes. Except for the costumes, not much has changed.

We may not be experiencing the Little Ice Age of Avercamp’s time, but it has been cold enough in recent years to enjoy the country’s national pastime on the city’s national treasure: skating on the canals. It’s hard to overstate the exuberance with which Amsterdammers watch the mercury levels during the winter months, waiting for them to dip below freezing for four consecutive nights to create ice thick enough to skate on. It’s especially lovely with a glass of glühwein, a mulled warm wine, cradled in mittened hands.

If you prefer to enjoy the view from above the canals, keep your eyes open in January for the 30 light sculptures and projections that will illuminate the city’s canals and its namesake Amstel River during the Amsterdam Light Festival (not that the Skinny Bridge needs any help being picturesque).

And no need to let climate change rain on your winter parade: both the Light Festival and ice rinks use energy-efficient and sustainable methods, meaning you will likely get to enjoy them for years to come. <

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PART III EAT, DRINK & CHIC

EATING OUT

Our top dining options, from firm favourites to precocious newcomers.

text Karin Engelbrecht

BAR BROUW

A

red neon sign on the gleaming white penny-tile wall sums up Bar Brouw’s raison d’être – meat – while custom-designed copper lighting and tables made from old wagon wood lend a fittingly rustic touch to this new Oud West spot. Tapping into a current appetite for authentic American barbecue, organic brisket, pork belly and ribs are slow-smoked for ten hours then served with two sides (choose from coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans and tomato salad). Despite the obvious masculine appeal (tag line: ‘smoked meat and craft beer’), from what we’ve seen, the formula charms members of both sexes. Either way, the space is unfailingly buzzing.

On a recent Sunday night, bearded buddies toasted a new venture, proud parents showed off their babies and a clean-cut American introduced his Dutch friends to ‘beers from back home’. Indeed, there’s an extensive list of American craft beers from breweries such as Anderson Valley, Brew Dog, Anchor and Flying Dog, as well as American bourbon and rye whiskeys. We recommend the butter-soft pork belly, baconstudded baked beans and Heelch O’ Hops beer.

NEW

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

Ten Katestraat 16 http://barbrouw.nl

eating out

 

 



39 trendy DE RUYSCHKAMER This new hotspot takes a textbook page from the casual East Berlin-style café. Its name is a mash-up of its location on Ruyschstraat in Amsterdam Oost and huiskamer, the Dutch word for living room. The café attracts laid-back locals, who tuck into moreish house-made meatballs washed down with one of the 30 bottled brews on offer, before purchasing the vintage chair on which they sit: almost all the furniture is for sale.



RONALD HOEBEN

Ruyschstraat 34 www.deruyschkamer.nl

critic’s choice DE KAS

D

e Kas has delighted diners for over a decade with its unfailing farm-to-table food so fresh it’s grown mere metres away. The set three-course menu is based on the day’s harvest from the onsite nursery and herb garden and other local suppliers, with dishes inspired by the cuisines of the rural Mediterranean. The name, which means ‘the greenhouse’ in Dutch, refers to the restaurant’s location in a former municipal nursery, which was transformed by Dutch designer Piet Boon. The eight-metre-high glass conservatory and spectacular setting in leafy Frankendael Park are the cherry on the delicious cake.

Kamerlingh Onneslaan 3 www.restaurantdekas.nl



classic GREETJE

quick & simple VAN DOBBEN With its creamy ragout interior and golden crust, the Van Dobben croquette has been an Amsterdam institution for 50 years. Grab a classic veal version to go at Eetsalon Van Dobben.

Or try the famous Broodje Kroket, encased in a fluffy white-bread roll.



Ferdinand Bolstraat 53 & Korte Reguliersdwarsstraat 5-9 www.eetsalonvandobben.nl



Head to this historic canal house for a taste of authentic Dutch food, prepared with passion and a contemporary touch. The menu features indigenous ingredients, traditional Dutch garden herbs and beloved Dutch spices, which translates to dishes such as a Beemster hare stew with pearl onions and red cabbage, and crème brûlée with natural liquorice-root extract and liquorice ice cream. It’s all very cosy, with décor reminiscent of an old-fashioned Dutch dining room, including Delft blue tiles, crystal chandeliers, fresh flowers, candles and dark wood throughout.



Peperstraat 23-25 www.restaurantgreetje.nl

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PART III EAT, DRINK & CHIC

ON THE MENU

Three of a kind to suit every taste. text Karin Engelbrecht

deluxe dining

wine bars

tea & cake

&SAMHOUD PLACES

DIVINO

TAART VAN MIJN TANTE

&SAMHOUD PLACES

SOVINE

THE AMERICAN BAKERY

Diners at this two-Michelin Starred restaurant may find themselves torn between watching the chefs weave their molecular magic, appreciating the floor-to-ceiling views or simply eyeing what’s on their plate. The adventurous menu could have you enjoying fish with fruit or chocolate – but whatever you’re served, it’s sure to be delicious.

Amsterdam’s oenophiles already know that this Zuid wine bar is a pretension-free zone, offering over 100 wines by the glass and plenty of free samples from a welcoming and knowledgeable host-owner. But it may be news to them that SoVine recently added sushi to its offering on Friday and Saturday nights, prepared to order by a Japanese sushi chef.

This American Bakery has been serving up its winning cookies and cupcakes to Centrum’s shoppers since 2001.

An ever-changing line-up of limited editions, featuring flavours such as pistachio-cardamom, rhubarb crisp and cinnamon bun, could be their secret to success. The bakery-café is also a source for savoury sustenance, including daily specials.

SEGUGIO

BUBBLES & WINES

TAART VAN MIJN TANTE

Risotto devotees flock to this elegant Italian for its luxurious take on the classic Milanese dish, which is rich and savoury, al dente without being chalky and obligingly oozing – or what the Italians call all’onda: ‘with a wave’. The menu also features pork fillet with lardo di Colonnata and chestnut sauce, mezzelune pasta stuffed with oxtail and sage and vanilla panna cotta.

On one of Amsterdam’s oldest streets, just a champagne cork’s popping distance from Dam square, sits a low-slung wine and champagne bar, which attracts a circle of connoisseurs with an impressive wine list. Featuring some 400 bottles, 50 are available by the glass. If undecided, order a wine flight, whereby you sample a selection of products from a particular region.

Popular De Pijp hangout ‘My Auntie’s Cake’ uses traditional Victorian techniques, a dash of camp and a touch of kitsch to create their famously avant-garde cakes. Settle into a retro chair in the bubble-gum pink interior and sink your teeth into a Chocolate Slut Pie or get into some Monkey Business, a rum-raisin banana cake with mascarpone and pecans.

Oosterdokskade 5 www.samhoudplaces.com

Utrechtsestraat 96 www.segugio.nl

Amstelveenseweg 152 www.sovine.nl

Nes 37 www.bubblesandwines.com

Eggertstraat 1 & Rokin 128 www.dedriegraefjes.nl

Ferdinand Bolstraat 10 www.detaart.nl

LE RESTAURANT

DIVINO

DE LAATSTE KRUIMEL

If you’re looking for old-fashioned pampering, impeccable service and the finest food, head to this dependable Michelin-Starred establishment, where the succession of powerful and often astonishing flavour-and-texture combinations is sure to impress. At a recent meal we enjoyed a silky langoustine tartare starter and meltingly tender slow-cooked beef.

This cosy wine bar will keep drawing you back with its produce sourced from small organic farms in Italy. Choose from dozens of wines available by the glass, such as La Prendina Pinot Grigio Bianco, 2012, Lombardy (€4) or Brunello di Montalcino, Claudia Ferrero 2007, Tuscany (€12.50). We recommend the mixed plate of Italian cheese and charcuterie.

This teacup-sized bakery and café close to hectic Kalverstraat offers old-time favourites such as quiche, cheesecake and scones, which are tasty down to the very last crumb – hence the name.

The chef’s locavore approach ensures that no food mile is wasted, with the majority of the (mostly) organic, seasonal ingredients sourced from suppliers in the region.

Tweede Jan Steenstraat 3 www.lerestaurant.nl

Boomstraat 41A www.wijnbardivino.nl

Langebrugsteeg 4 www.delaatstekruimel.nl

on the menu

41

GLUTEN-FREE = GUILT-FREE Beating the broodje mafia.

A

fter sugar, fat and then carbs, gluten (found in wheat, barley and rye) is the new nutrition no-no – especially during this ‘new year, new you’ period. But those opting out of the two-pieces-ofbread club in Amsterdam can find it tricky to navigate in a sea of wheat flour. Adherents will be happy to hear that more and more establishments now offer gluten-free options, from gluten-free cupcakes at The American Bakery (see left) to gluten-free beer at Bar Brouw (see page 38). Create your own plate from the grilled vegetables and colourful salads displayed on Buffet van Odette’s bar or assemble your own salad at SLA, where you can choose from four leafy greens, five sugar-free vegan dressings and various vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, cheeses, legumes

and gluten-free grains – including the suddenly ubiquitous quinoa. Enjoy gluten-free pasta at Spaghetteria and gluten-free pizza at De Italiaan or treat yourself to a gluten-free high tea at Beter & Leuk.

BUFFET VAN ODETTE Prinsengracht 598 http://buffet-amsterdam.nl SLA Ceintuurbaan 149 http://ilovesla.com SPAGHETTERIA Van Woustraat 123 http://spaghetteria-pastabar.nl DE ITALIAAN Bosboom Toussaintstraat 29 www.deitaliaan.com BETER & LEUK Eerste Oosterparkstraat 91 http://beterenleuk.nl

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PART III EAT, DRINK & CHIC

pretty things

PRETTY THINGS Purses at the ready: these tempting stores will have you reaching for your credit card. text Zin (Famke & Floor van Praag)

HUTSPOT ROZENGRACHT

>

NEW IN TOWN

WHAT: Huge De Pijp hipster hangout Hutspot (named after a stodgy Dutch dish of mashed potato and greens, often served with boiled sausage) has opened a second branch in the Jordaan.

Hutspot offers upcoming creative talents their own shop within a shop – like a cool-kids’ department store – which results in three floors of fashion, interior decor, vintage furniture, art books (by local-hero bookshop Mendo) and a café. A lot of the items are handmade or one of a kind, although it’s rounded out with fashion from

established brands such as Mads Nørgaard, Amatør and Deus Ex Machina.

INTERIOR: Measuring 900sqm, this brand new ‘concept store’ is even larger than the first one.

Hutspot decor is simple and raw, consisting mainly of concrete, wood and recycled steel. The wall of framed butterflies and table covered with various taxidermy contributes to an eccentric feel.

MUST HAVE: Hard to choose, but the handknitted scarves by Granny’s Finest (€130) are a sustainable, socially conscious choice to keep

you warm this winter – they're knitted by actual grannies – and the beautifully framed feathers (€55) are a key contemporary decoration piece.

CONCLUSION: Dead butterflies, snow-washed jeans and vintage cabinets: Hutspot effortlessly mashes them up into a department store of good (hipster) taste.



Rozengracht 204-206 & Van Woustraat 4 www.hutspotamsterdam.com



43

classic VAN HIER TOT TOKIO Entering Van hier tot Tokio (‘From here to Tokyo’) is like visiting a museum of Japanese antiques – only everything is for sale.

Founded almost 25 years ago, Van hier tot Tokio carries exclusive items imported directly from Japan: think beautiful folding screens, altar cabinets, kimonos, lacquer bowls and musical instruments.

for sneaker freaks



& Rozengracht 184 Prinsengracht 262 www.vanhiertottokio.com



OQIUM Located near Dam square, new sneaker store Oqium offers special-edition Nikes and sportswear. The shop specialises in high-top basketball shoes, but stocks performance trainers and ‘lifestyle’ sneakers as well. The limited editions – from retro-style Air Force 1s through Patrick Ewings to Air Jordans and the futuristic looking LeBron 11s, which combine all the latest Nike technologies in one shoe – sell out predictably quickly. The shop’s name is a sneaky reference to the high you get from exclusive sneaker shopping (the ‘q’ is in fact a mirrored ‘p’).

Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 262 www.oqium.nl



cheeky THE HOUSE OF PLEASUREMENTS Not your everyday lingerie shop, this lavishly decorated boutique specialises in things to get you ‘in the mood’. Besides beautiful lace underwear and cutesy baby doll negligees, they offer naughty boudoir accessories such as belts, whips and masks. Brands include Stella McCartney, What Katy Did and Von Follies by Dita Von Teese – and they also stock some tantalising toys as well.



Herenstraat 29 www.pleasurements.com

   

44

PART III EAT, DRINK & CHIC

what’s in store

WHAT’S IN STORE Fashion-forward style – for him (M) and her (F).

   

text Zin (Famke & Floor van Praag)



 THE CLOAKROOM (M)

VANS (M/F)

The Cloakroom’s mission is to make the life of the modern man easier. After the success of the webshop – which offers fashion advice and a personal-shopping style quiz – they recently opened a bricks-and-mortar store in De Pijp. In it you’ll find a live-andkicking personal shopper who knows exactly what you’re looking for. Brands vary from Ben Sherman and Velour to Tiger of Sweden.

Originally a skater brand, Vans continues to inspire a devoted following among other ‘youth culture’ groups as well. The Amsterdam flagship store is located in the Nine Streets and houses both action-sport footwear and apparel lines.

The shop is also the place to score Vans’ famous limited-edition collaborations that range from Liberty to Hello Kitty.

Eerste van der Helststraat 1D www.thecloakroom.nl





Runstraat 19 www.vans.eu

URBAN OUTFITTERS COLLECTIVE SPACE (M/F) Although the name suggests otherwise, Collective Space is dedicated to just one fashion brand: Tiger of Sweden. It’s a good choice, since Tiger has perfected Scandinavian minimalist fashion and offers a range of well-tailored items, from suits to jeans, for both men and women.

It’s taken for ever, but finally the casual cool collection of Urban Outfitters has landed in the Netherlands. Three floors of affordable fun fashion, gadgets, vintage vinyl, home accessories and shoes make it almost impossible to leave this store empty-handed.



Kalverstraat 31-33 www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk



Wolvenstraat 31 www.collectivespace.nl

LIKE THIS (M/F) SAMSØE & SAMSØE (M/F) Founded in 1991, Danish fashion brand Samsøe & Samsøe, only recently opened its first brand store in the Netherlands. In the Utrechtsestraat shop you’ll find the brand’s clean-cut designs, with perfect tailoring and minimalist detailing. The store also stocks shoes and accessories to complete your Scandinavian-chic look.

Utrechtsestraat 34 www.samsoe.com

Dutch fashion brand Like This offers high-quality clothes that stand out for their unique patterns and contrasting colours. The attention to detail gives each item an elegant yet edgy look. The shop also stocks accessories, cool books and perfumes.

Westerstraat 70 http://likethis.nl





ORSON + BODIL (F) The womenswear label by Dutch designer Alexander van Slobbe, launched in 1988 and famous for a modernistic design approach. Orson + bodil has stayed true to its roots, using handicraft techniques and producing in small, limited editions in the Netherlands.



Herenstraat 38 www.orson-bodil.com

EXOTA (M/F) Exota, in the Nine Streets, is a classic.

For more than 25 years it has maintained a signature style of casual, colourful fashion. The flower-print wrap dresses and Fifties-inspired knitwear are local favourites. Besides international brands, Exota sells its own vintage-style King Louie label and Petit Louie for kids.



Hartenstraat 10 (female/kids) Hartenstraat 13 (male/female) www.exota.com

PART IV

THE

jan & feb 2014

45

FESTIVALS/MUSIC/ EXHIBITIONS/CLUBBING/ STAGE/FAMILY/SPORTS/ GAY & LESBIAN

>

BLIK/GAZE © ARNOLD SCHÖNBERG, 1910. COURTESY ARNOLD SCHÖNBERG CENTER, WIEN

For complete listings, see www.iamsterdam.com

SCHÖNBERG & KANDINSKY: ARTISTIC REVOLUTIONARIES Primarily known for his revolutionary atonal music, Austrian composer Arnold Schönberg was also a prolific artist, and many of his works are on display here for the first time in the Netherlands. Influenced by artists such as Russian painter and theorist Wassily Kandinsky, Schönberg’s works have a decidedly abstract style. This exhibition also illuminates the reciprocal nature of influence: for example, Kandinsky painted ‘Impression III (concert)’ immediately following a concert of Schönberg’s music in Munich in 1911. In an audiovisual twist, the exhibition introduces fragments of Schönberg’s operas alongside the artworks.

UNTIL 16 MARCH Jewish Historical Museum Nieuwe Amstelstraat 1 www.jhm.nl

46

PART IV THE A-LIST

FESTIVALS & EVENTS FESTIVALS

separate performances covering his oeuvre. A host of creative extras will also be organised, framing his effect on modern music.

Sun 19 Jan, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Piet Heinkade 1, www.ives-ensemble.nl.

Various times & prices

CANAL FESTIVAL WINTER SPECIAL The Amsterdam Canal Festival returns with a new series of classical performances during the Amsterdam Light Festival.

A total of six candlelit concerts BREAK A LEG FESTIVAL are planned, in which talented Street-style dance festival feaguests curate their perfect musical winter night, showcasing turing a crew competition, oneon-one battles, master classes, inspirational classical music at showcases, DJs, live art and an some of the city’s most iconic urban art market. Enter your locations. own crew (minimum four) or Thur 2, Wed 8 & Thur 16 Jan, various locations, www.gracht head along and watch the dancers battle it out in the hip hop, enfestival.nl. 20.30, €19.50 krump and house categories.

MERCEDES-BENZ FASHION Sun 19 Jan, De Meervaart, WEEK AMSTERDAM Meer en Vaart 300, www. studiowest.nl. 11.00, €10 Held twice each year, this international fashion event not JUMPING AMSTERDAM only brings together the cream An annual highlight on the of the international fashion Dutch equestrian calendar scene, but also reaches out drawing the world’s best riders, to the general public with its DOWNTOWN programming. including Olympic champions.

Jumping Amsterdam includes The successful Fashion Weekshow jumping and dressage end returns this year, taking competitions, shows, evening place on the streets around the entertainment, an exhibition ‘Fashion & Museum District’ area and various bars and – Beethovenstraat, Cornelis restaurants.

Schuytstraat, Van Baerlestraat Thur 23-Sun 26 Jan, RAI and PC Hooftstraat. More than Amsterdam, Europaplein, 60 stylish events will take place in the ’hood, including pop-up www.jumpingamster dam.nl.

Various times & prices stores, exhibitions, fashion shows and themed walking IMPRO AMSTERDAM tours. Don’t forget your credit Featuring world-class improv cards! See page 20.

Fri 17-Mon 27 Jan, various lo- actors from all over the globe, cations, www.fashionweek.nl. this international improvisation theatre festival celebrates its Various times & prices 19th edition this year. AlongWHISKY WEEKEND side the main performances, AMSTERDAM there are late-night shows, workshops, impro talks, an Peaty, oaky, creamy, smoky – open stage and an after-party those are just a few words to to top it all off. describe whisky like a pro at the Tue 28 Jan-Sat 1 Feb, sixth edition of this event. TickCompagnietheater, ets include a welcome whisky Kloveniersburgwal 50, with souvenir glass and a bottle www.impro-amsterdam.nl. of water. Take a break from Various times & prices nosings and tastings (expect a small surcharge for the more GRAUZONE exclusive whiskies) to light up a cigar in the basement, sample The multidisciplinary festival returns to take over the whole whisky-friendly cheeses and of Melkweg with the best in other Scottish products.

Fri 17 & Sat 18 Jan, Posthoorn- new-wave music, art and film.

Grauzone links the heyday of kerk, Haarlemmerstraat 124126, www.whiskyamsterdam. the 1980s new-wave movement with artists currently breathing nl. Various times, €37.50 new life into the genre. And NATIONAL TULIP DAY it’s a genre with plenty to offer, spanning a large musical specIt’s as synonymous with the trum offering everything from Netherlands as windmills and synth-pop, electro and cold/ cheese, but while the tulip remains one of Amsterdam’s most darkwave to post-punk, death/ goth rock and more. notable icons, few visitors get to Headliners at this edition experience the flower this early include Peter Hook & The in the year – apart from at the Light, Lydia Lunch and Flower Market. But National Chris & Cosey.

Tulip Day should bring some Fri 31 Jan, Melkweg, Lijnmuch-needed colour to a cold baansgracht 234A, www.

January weekend, with visitors grauzonefestival.com. €39 invited to a huge temporary garden on Dam square where CHINESE NEW YEAR they can pick their own blooms.

In 2014, Chinese New Year Sat 18 Jan, Dam square. falls on 31 January. While it 13.30, free may still be a bit chilly outside, CHARLES IVES FESTIVAL there’ll be plenty of partying to warm things up. Festivities In collaboration with the traditionally take place around Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ and the historic Nieuwmarkt Non-Fiction Amsterdam, the neighbourhood, so look out for Ives Ensemble hosts its own impromptu parades, fireworks celebration of American modand hot and tasty Asian foods. ernist composer Charles Ives.

This one-day festival celebrates Fri 31 Jan & Sat 1 Feb, various locations. Various times, free Ives and his works with three

Highlight festivals

EKSTEEN IN ART, CUESTA & HABETS FROM SERIES ARABICA

REALISME This annual art fair welcomes a huge range of renowned galleries, from the Netherlands and abroad, as they present works by Dutch and international artists working in various mediums within the figurative and realistic genres.

With lofty claims of being the only art fair dedicated solely to figurative art, Realisme showcases established artists with a respectable oeuvre as well as young up-and-comers breathing new life into the genre. Thur 16-Sun 19 Jan, Passenger Terminal Amsterdam, Piet Heinkade 27, www. realismeamsterdam.com. 11.00-19.00, €12.50

AMSTERDAM LIGHT FESTIVAL The Amsterdam Light Festival puts the beautiful city centre and its canals in the limelight. Centred on the theme ‘Building with Light’, this second edition features a canal cruise and walking route taking in this year’s selection of spectacular illuminated artworks. Until Sun 19 Jan, various locations, www. amsterdam lightfestival. com. Various times & prices POP ARTS FESTIVAL Contrary to what you may expect, the annual Pop Arts Festival presents the latest developments in the world of international puppet and object theatre, dance, mime and visual artistry. Celebrating its fifth anniversary in 2014, the festival hits town with an extended ten-day edition spread over the three festival locations (Theater Bellevue, De Krakeling and Ostadetheater), staging grotesque puppet shows and bizarre animations.

Sat 1-Sun 10 Feb, various locations, www.popartsfestival.nl.

Various times & prices BACH DAY The Bach Day returns to Utrecht and Amsterdam for its fourth edition. Featuring a packed day of performances by talented musicians including Bach’s suites for cello and sona-

CIRC/US See 55-year-old Carolien doing a trapeze act for the first time, or blind Nasrin regain sight in the dark.

Together with professionals, amateur artists from Amsterdam-Noord use live performance, dance, music and video to tell personal stories. 4-12 Jan, Dansmakers Amsterdam, Gedempt Hamerkanaal 203-205, www. dansmakers.nl. Various times, €7.50

by promoting refreshing combinations of indie and classical music. Headliners at the 2014 edition include José Gonzáles and Ólafur Arnalds, both of whom will be accompanied by the philharmonie zuidnederland. Other names already announced include My Brightest Diamond and Dutch superstar harpist Lavinia Meijer. Also look out for the festival’s Music Mining programme – a festival within a festival that sees the audience led to intimate concerts in unexpected spots such as underground corridors and cellars. See page 26.

Thur 6 Feb, various locations, www.cross-linx.nl. Various times & prices AMSTERDAM SALSA FESTIVAL It may still be a bit chilly outside, but you’re sure to feel the heat at the seventh edition of this annual event. Presented by the Meininger Hotel, the festival promises three packed days of dance workshops, performances by Dutch and international dancers and a blowout theme party on Saturday night.

Come dressed as a superhero, then show off your sizzling new dance moves!

Fri 7-Sun 9 Feb, Rhone Congress & Party Centre, Rhoneweg 12-14, www.amster damsalsafestival.nl. Various times & prices HELEMAAL MELKWEG This recurring event takes place four times a year and does exactly as the name suggests, throwing open the whole of former dairy factory Melkweg for an evening of music and performance action (helemaal means ‘all’). Special guests at this edition include Chinese-Mongolese rockers Hanggai, electro-dub pioneers Dreadzone and Swedish hip hoppers Movits.

Sat 15 Feb, Melkweg, Lijnbaansgracht 234A, www.melkweg.nl. 19.00, €10

HOMEMAKERS’ FAIR Having sprung into life in the 1950s as an opportunity to sell various homewares to Dutch tas for viola da gamba, as well housewives, the modern-day as young talent labs for up-andversion of the Homemakers’ coming Bach devotees.

Fair has thankfully diversified Sun 2 Feb, Muziekgebouw aan beyond vacuum cleaners and ’t IJ, Piet Heinkade 1, www. kitchen aids. These days, fashoudemuziek.nl. Various times ion, beauty, food and drink, and & prices entertainment all play leading roles at this huge event.

BEETHOVEN EXPERIENCE Sat 15-Sun 23 Feb, Amsterdam Beethoven’s five piano concerRAI, Europaplein, www.huis tos are amongst the most perhoudbeurs.nl. 11.00, €19.50 formed works in the classical NINE MONTHS FAIR repertoire. At this festival, the Orchestra of the Eighteenth For five days, Amsterdam’s Century shows that despite cavernous convention centre being ingrained in performance is transformed into a paradise culture, these concertos can for (prospective) parents. For still sound immensely fresh and years, the Nine Months Fair has surprising. been welcoming parents from Wed 5-Fri 7 Feb, Muziekgeall walks of life as they look for bouw aan ’t IJ, Piet Heinkade baby-related inspiration, from 1, www.muziekge bouw.nl. nursery decorating ideas to 20.15, various prices baby clothes and more.

Wed 19-Sun 23 Feb, AmsterCROSS-LINX FESTIVAL dam RAI, Europaplein, www.

This annual, multi-city festival negen maandenbeurs.nl. Varistraddles musical boundaries ous times & prices

47

jan & feb 2014

MUSIC/POPULAR & JAZZ NEW YEAR CONCERT A host of Dutch jazz greats are shaking off their hangovers and getting together for an evening that’s ‘All Ellington’. Like the orchestra of Duke Ellington himself, this group is composed of very different musicians who each have their own unique style.

Fri 3 Jan, Bimhuis, 20.30, €18 HOLLAND GOT SOUL A party vibe to start the year off.

Big-voiced Dutch chanters Sharon Doorson, Shary-an, Amber Gomaa, Clayton Peroti, Luna Mae and Jordy van Toornburg team up for classic Motown, soul and even R&B from the ’90s.

Sat 4 Jan, Melkweg, 20.00, €15 NEW ROTTERDAM JAZZ ORCHESTRA The energetic big bang from the Netherlands’ other jazz city is teaming up with cellist Ernst Reijseger – famous for his exceptional playing, which brings together classical music, jazz and folk.

Sat 4 Jan, Bimhuis, 20.30, €18

EDWIN A late-night jazz session from the surprisingly catchy Rotterdam jazz quartet.

Sat 18 Jan, North Sea Jazz Club, 23.30, free

Choice pop & jazz

down a slope… just get to her if you can. It’s more than 20 years since the American soul singer’s biggest hits, but she’s back on the road. See page 25.

Thur 30 Jan, Royal Theatre Carré, 20.00, €19-€44

PARADISO CHOIR DAYS It may be a modern-day pop temple but Paradiso was originally a church. So it’s fitting that every January the entire venue gets turned over to every type of choir imaginable, resulting in approximately 140 performances.

Sat 18 & Sun 19 Jan, Paradiso, 11.00, €3 LATIN CROSSROADS The latest in this series exploring the joy and diversity of Latin-influenced music is led by percussionist Jaime Rodríguez (Colombia) and special guests.

Sun 19 Jan, Bimhuis, 16.30, €10 MAROON FIVE Hyped-up power-pop from the American pop/rock band that turned into an international sensation against all odds, packing giant tunes like ‘Move Like Jagger’ and ‘One More Night’.

Mon 20 Jan, Ziggo Dome, 19.30, €39-€45

AMY SPEACE + JENS LYSDAL NATURALLY 7 Speace is an earnest Baltimore These American dudes do a singer-songwriter with a Lucinda capella with a difference. Mixing Williams-style lilt to her voice.

R&B with beatboxing and loops, She started off as a Shakethey create thick bursts of soul spearean actress but has gained and pop with only their voices – a increasing recognition for her al- trick that’s proven successful at bums. Lysdal is a Swedish-Dan- shipping records as well as dazish bluesy songwriter. zling audiences.

Wed 8 Jan, Paradiso, 20.00, €8 Mon 20 Jan, Paradiso, 20.30, €20 HILARIO DURÁN TRIO FUN LOVIN’ CRIMINALS Already a veteran of the Cuban jazz scene before he migrated Stick ’em up punk, ’cos the Fun to Canada, Durán is renowned Lovin’ Criminals have re-formed. for being able to ‘make a piano These ’90s kings of funky sound like an orchestra’. A rock’n’roll made their name with wicked Latin jazz maestro, he’s the album Come Find Yourself teamed up with bassist Roberto and won over the Tarantino genOcchipinti and Mark Kelso. eration. These days they seem to Thur 9 Jan, Bimhuis, 20.30, €20 prefer mugs of tea and dog-walking to the gangster world, but MARIA MENDES they’re still good for a laugh.

Sultry jazzy fado works are the Tue 21 Jan, Melkweg, 19.30, €24 speciality of this Portuguese SON LUX songstress. In this seated concert you can check out songs from her New York-based songwriter album Along the Road.

Ryan Lott has made a name for Sat 11 Jan, People’s Place, himself with electronic-driven 21.00, €16 pop that connects in a similar way as the music of Grizzly Bear KADEBOSTANY and Sufjan Stevens.

Undeniably catchy electro pop Wed 22 Jan, MC Theater, with a heavily stylised dark ’80s 20.30, €13 vibe. Headed by the mysterious SPINIFEX producer Kadebostan, new album Pop Collection has seen the This flexible jazz ensemble integration of vocalist Amina. admits to loving a bit of metal, Wed 15 Jan, Paradiso, 20.00, €9 noise and world music. Tonight they present their new album.

BABYSHAMBLES Thur 23 Jan, Bimhuis, It’s been surprisingly quiet on the 20.30, €16 Pete Doherty front of late – at NBE AFRICA least, in a dramatic sense. Back to music, the former Libertine The Netherlands Wind Ensemhas rebooted Babyshambles and ble is always keen to discover their raggedly fun guitar pop. music and musicians from other For once the media chatter even cultures. This season they’re exseems to be all about their tunes. ploring African music, performWed 15 Jan, Paradiso, 20.30, €25 ing live with the superb Ethiopian singer Minyeshu, who blends CHE SUDAKA traditional African rhythms with Summer party tunes from the a contemporary sound. boisterous Barcelona boys, Podium Mozaiek, Thur 23 Jan, known for an explosive concoc- 20.30, €15-€17. Also at Muziektion of mestizo, ska and reggae. gebouw aan ’t IJ, Thur 30 Jan, Sat 18 Jan, Melkweg, 20.30, €14 20.15, €35

CONNAN MOCKASIN He’s one of indie-pop’s quirkiest characters at the moment. Previous visits to Amsterdam saw him invite the entire audience on stage (which was sadly feasible), and another saw the creation of an impromptu catwalk for the audience to showcase their talents (including backflips). Weird psychedelic pop is his main deal, but new album Caramel is a ludicrous attempt to create the cheesiest sub-Barry White soul record in decades – somehow, it works.

Fri 31 Jan, Paradiso, 19.00, €11

MICHAEL BUBLÉ Canada’s modern-day king of swing and big-band schmaltz has become a world star since his breakthrough a decade ago. The clean-cut and sharp, brassy productions are perfect for arenas of this scale, and Bublé is a master of wowing the ladies in the audience – be they in the first row or the last – as he rolls through his hits and numerous pop standards. Sun 19 Jan, Ziggo Dome, 20.00, €64-€89

GRAUZONE FESTIVAL Step back into the 1980s for the new-wave and post-punk sounds that caused a storm in that era. Pete Hook plays New Order is the headliner, revisiting the earliest works of the electro-pop pioneers.

Fri 31 Jan, Melkweg, 18.30, €39

HANLEY BANKS

POPULAR & JAZZ

MOGWAI Loud-quiet-loud has been the favoured Mogwai template for around 18 years now. Some records are louder than others and last year they went extra-quiet when they soundtracked French zombie TV show Les Revenants. But now the Scots are back with their eighth proper studio album, Rave Tapes, blending slow symphonic songs with atmospheric electronics and volcanic eruptions of distortion and drones that are best experienced in person.Thur 30 Jan, Paradiso, 20.30, €25 LANTERNS ON THE LAKE It’s a rare thing, but this Newcastle-based indie-rock band recently released a superior record to their debut. Signed to Bella Union, Until the Colours Run mixes sweeping and symphonic post-rock guitars with the sweet vocals of singer Hazel Wilde.

Fri 24 Jan, Paradiso, 22.00, €12.50 BENJAMIN HERMAN QUARTET One of the most famous Dutch sax players on the circuit, Herman is an exceptional bandleader, be it in his big band (New Cool Collective) or the more intimate quartet.

Sat 25 Jan, Bimhuis, 20.30, €18-€22 DWELLE Detroit soul singer Andwele Gardner has been spreading

BILL CALLAHAN The deadpan baritone of American singer-songwriter Callahan is pretty much without comparison. Since starting out under the pseudonym Smog, he’s paved a trend-defying path in precise songwriting with a lo-fi alt-country twinge. These days he’s renowned for a richer sound, dripping with classy orchestral accompaniment, though his eerily calm voice continues to stand centre stage. He’s here touring his 15th album, 2013’s Dream River. Mon 10 Feb, Paradiso, 20.30, €19.50 soulful songs for more than a decade, as well as producing many other artists. Ten years after the release of Subject, his breakthrough album, he’ll be revisiting the integral tracks that cemented his music career.

Sun 26 Jan, MC Theater, 20.30, €20

SINAS-PETITE A late-night live session from this eight-piece jazz outfit who love to mix in waves of Balkan, Afrobeat, cumbia, reggaeton, ska, funk and dance.

Sat 1 Feb, North Sea Jazz Club, 23.30, free POLIÇA American synth-pop stars who keep finding new ways to throw together contemporary R&B and indie-rock. They also have an outstanding live reputation.

Tue 4 Feb, Melkweg, 19.00, €16 SATELLITE STORIES Heavily melodic indie-pop from the youthful Finnish guitar band, reminding of acts like The Wombats and Two Door Cinema Club.

Thur 6 Feb, Bitterzoet, 21.00, €12 ANAMANAGUCHI Like Beastie Boys fought for the right to party, this hyperactive Brooklyn crew are coming around a couple of decades later to mix up Nintendo-inspired chiptunes with rock and pop.

Fri 7 Feb, Melkweg, 20.00, €11

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB Folky English indie boys with an impressive sense of melody. On the go for around seven years already, whether they’re being MEGAN NICOLE acoustic or noisy, they always YouTube can break you in big demonstrate a clear pop ethic. style these days. Following hot on This tour marks the release of the heels of Birdy, this pop songtheir fourth album. stress with hundreds of millions Mon 10 Feb, Melkweg, of video views is now learning 19.00, €16 to step out in front of regular BIRDS OF CHICAGO audiences.

Sun 26 Jan, Melkweg, They’ve been described as 19.30, €15 Caribbean country and it may actually be fitting. Featuring OLETA ADAMS Allison Russell of the group You can reach her by sailboat, or Po’Girl and singer-songwriter climb a tree and swing rope to JT Nero, their acoustic numbers rope, depending on the weather live in the country/soul/folk maybe take a sledge and slide realm. Yet their sunny harmo-

48

PART IV THE A-LIST

MUSIC/POPULAR & JAZZ THE BEARDS 2013, Arthur is pegging himself as a serious soulful songwriter In Australia they love a good capable of troubling the pop beard. So much so that when charts around the world. groups of bearded men come together, they’re often applauded Mon 24 Feb, Melkweg, 19.30, €25 MAXÏMO PARK by strangers. This is why these WARPAINT They rose through the Britpop four hirsute blokes opted to form ranks alongside chums like the Hypnotic indie-rock from the a band called The Beards and Kaiser Chiefs, Editors and Franz write inspirational numbers like all-girl Los Angeles quartet. The Ferdinand – and all four have Fool, their debut album, saw ‘You Should Consider Having Sex managed to remain surprisingly them topping polls the world with a Bearded Man’. successful on the live circuit even over in 2010 and 2011. Now Sat 15 Feb, Sugar Factory, when new albums don’t quite they’re finally ready to unleash 19.30, €12 catch fire. a follow-up, which is cunningly ST VINCENT Tue 11 Feb, Melkweg, 19.30, €16 self-titled.

Mon 24 Feb, Paradiso, Fresh from her duets tour with JAMES VINCENT 20.30, €18.50 David Byrne, the massively talMCMORROW ented St Vincent is stepping out ALAIN CLARK This soulful Irish singer-songwith her regular band once more writer has been on a steady rise to showcase her latest pop tricks.

The Dutch soul-pop specialist since releasing his debut album Sat 15 Feb, Paradiso, 19.30, €16 has announced plans to share Early in the Morning in 2010. tracks from his new, fourth alELLIE GOULDING Hard touring saw him playing to bum – some of which are already bigger audiences on every round, gaining radio momentum. AlGoulding’s modern pop sound and now with its follow-up seeways an Amsterdam fave, expect has seen the Brit storm up the ing the light of day at the start of plenty of warmth and good vibes, charts and into bigger venues.

2014, he’s stepping out on one which are definitely welcome in Mixing up pop, dance, alternaof Amsterdam’s grandest stages.

February. tive and folk influences is her See page 25.

Fri 28 Feb, Paradiso, current thing, aided by big-name Tue 11 Feb, Concertgebouw, 19.30, €20 collaborations with Skrillex, Cal20.00, €18-€32.50 vin Harris and Tinie Tempah.

ADDRESSES Sat 15 Feb, Heineken Music THE DEEP DARK WOODS Bimhuis Hall, 20.00, €32 Should grungy Canadian icon Piet Heinkade 3 SUZANNE VEGA Neil Young ever pop his clogs, http://bimhuis.nl rest assured that there’s a legion Bitterzoet American songstress Vega had of young Canadian peers ready to her biggest hits in the late ’80s Spuistraat 2 carry the torch. The Deep Dark www.bitterzoet.com and early ’90s (‘Luka’, ‘Tom’s Woods sound like a folky Young Diner’, etc), but she’s remained a De Duif on the surface, but catch them Prinsengracht 754 steadfast writer over the years, as live and you’ll be washed away by well as an enchanting performer. http://deduif.home.xs4all.nl their rootsy jam sessions.

Heineken Music Hall Sun 16 Feb, Paradiso, 20.30, €25 Wed 12 Feb, Paradiso, ArenA boulevard 590 DREAM THEATER 21.30, €8.50 www.heineken-music-hall.nl MC Theater Prog-rock bands don’t die, their TWENTY ONE PILOTS Polonceaukade 5 facial hair just gets more coifThis American duo went down www.mconline.nl fured over the decades. Dream a storm at the last Lowlands Melkweg Theater are a long-running festival, mixing up folky MumLijnbaansgracht 234A hard-rock and metal variant of ford-style pop with more synthy the prog circus with 12 albums to www.melkweg.nl quirks and even a bit of rap.

North Sea Jazz Club their name (excluding numerous Thur 13 Feb, Melkweg, 19.00, €15 Pazzanistraat 1 live releases).

Mon 17 Feb, Heineken Music GARY NUMANA Hall, 20.00, €55 There are few things as romanDAMIEN JURADO tic as taking your significant other to a Gary Numan show An intimate church performance on Valentine’s Day. One of the from the Seattle folk-pop singer original pioneers of new wave, who is a regular visitor. mascara-wearing pop fans of any Tue 18 Feb, De Duif, generation could easily drop in 20.00, €17.50 for greatest hits like ‘Cars’ and FRANK TURNER & THE ‘Down in the Park’.

SLEEPING SOULS Fri 14 Feb, Melkweg, 19.00, €30 A punky poet-turned-folky trouBIRDY badour – possibly a Billy Bragg Birdy is a teenage vocalist who for a younger generation. With soared to fame back in 2011 after his new band he’ll be playing her cover of Bon Iver’s ‘Skinny tracks from new album Tape Love’ captured the hearts of Deck Heart. thousands (most importantly Wed 19 Feb, Melkweg, those of the programmers at 20.30, €17.50 CHARLES IVES FESTIVAL BBC Radio). Since then, she’s reRUTH KOLEVA interpreted songs by Fleet Foxes, Amsterdam’s Ives Ensemble The National and Phoenix, earnA fresh blast of nu-soul and is hosting its own celebraing her tons of fans all over the pop from the young singer from tion of American modernist world, who’re now adapting to Eastern Europe. Bassist Richard composer Charles Ives her switch to original material.

Bona has described her sound as (1874-1954). Regarded as Fri 14 Feb, Paradiso, ‘smooth and intimate’ and now the ‘American original’, the 19.30, €26.50 she’s showcasing her new record. compositional advances of Thur 20 Feb, North Sea Jazz HELEMAAL MELKWEG Club, 21.00, €10 Charles Ives proved tough for The multipurpose venue opens the audiences of his age. His BOOTSY COLLINS up its halls for a night of fun. experimental music began to Look out for Inner Mongolian The midsummer jam sessions find recognition following his folk punks Hanggai, who like of George Clinton and his funk death, however, and it condrinking beer so much they often cohorts have become a fixture in tinues to cause shockwaves in play their ‘Drinking Song’ multi- Paradiso, but this appearance by contemporary classical music ple times in one set. Then there’s the god of funk bass is a real treat. the samba soul of Lilian Vieira, Fri 21 Feb, Paradiso, 20.30, €33 to this day. Sun 19 Jan, Muzthe rap of Uberdope and club iekgebouw aan ’t IJ, 12.00, JAMES ARTHUR dub pioneers Dreadzone.

14.00 & 17.30, €21 Sat 15 Feb, Melkweg, 19.00, €10 Winner of the British X Factor in

nies and rhythms certainly have more than a dash of Caribbean in the mix.

Mon 10 Feb, Paradiso, 20.00, €9

www.northseajazzclub.com Paradiso Weteringschans 6-8 www.paradiso.nl People’s Place Stadhouderskade www.peoplesplaceamsterdam.nl Podium Mozaiek Bos en Lommerweg 191 www.podiummozaiek.nl Royal Concertgebouw Concertgebouwplein 10 www.concertgebouw.nl Royal Theater Carré Amstel 115-125 www.carre.nl Sugar Factory Lijnbaansgracht 238 www.sugarfactory.nl Ziggo Dome ArenA Boulevard 61 www.ziggodome.nl

CLASSICAL LUNCH CONCERT Weekly series in Het Muziektheater, presenting a diverse range of operatic, choral and classical works every Tuesday in the venue’s foyer.

Every Tue, Het Muziektheater, 12.30, free NOORDERKERK CONCERTS From September through May, Amsterdam’s Noorderkerk hosts a one-hour classical concert every Saturday afternoon.

Every Sat, Noorderkerk, 14.00 NEW YEAR CONCERT 2014 The Netherlands Wind Ensemble blows off the effects of last night’s party celebrations with a music programme that aims to astound. Classical meets world music with special guests and new young talents.

Wed 1 Jan, Concertgebouw, 14.00, €20-€44.50

Choice classical

PARADISO ORCHESTRA Comprised of top players from the city’s classical scene, the Paradiso Orchestra has built up a reputation for its enticing but more informal performances in this historic pop temple. For this concert they’re breaking out Paradiso’s Philharmonic Jukebox.

Visit their Facebook page in advance and have your say on what classical greats from the past 400 years should be performed. Thur 20 Feb, Paradiso, 20.30, €22.50

HÄNDEL’S MESSIAH Baroque specialist Pieter Jan Leusink and his acclaimed Bach Choir and Orchestra of the Netherlands revisit Händel’s Messiah.

As renowned as the oratorio is, the orchestra and choir will take the audience back in time as they revisit the Dublin ‘edit’, which premiered in Ireland in 1742.

Sat 4 Jan, Concertgebouw, 19.30, €50-€55 VAN SWIETEN SOCIETY Specialists in ‘old’ music, the ensemble kicks off the new year in festive fashion with a new concert series. Take a trip back in time for works by the likes of Beethoven, Schubert, Haydn and Boccherini.

Sun 5 Jan, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, 15.00, €21 SCHÜTZVESPER The Vocaal Kerkmuziek Ensemble performs works by Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672).

Sun 5 Jan, Oude Kerk, 18.00, free ASKO|SCHÖNBERG + SLAGWERK DEN HAAG Taking existential inspiration from ‘silence & chaos’, the contemporary ensemble and percussive troupe is joined by the choral power of Cappella Amsterdam for a programme that features music by György Kurtág and Jan van de Putte. Both seek silent inner spaces in their music and explore the chaos within.

Thur 9 Jan, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, 20.15, €27 ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW ORCHESTRA Iván Fischer takes the lead as he continues a musical adventure through Beethoven’s symphonies. This programme sees them reach Symphonies 6 & 7, ranging from pastoral meditation to a 19th-century equivalent to rock.

Thur 9 & Fri 10 Jan, Concertgebouw, 20.15, €30-€120 WELTKLASSIK Every second Friday of the month the Amsterdam City Archives presents a classical recital.

Fri 10 Jan & Fri 14 Feb, Amsterdam City Archives, 17.00 SLAGWERK DEN HAAG Revisiting Steve Reich’s Drumming, a core piece of this percussion ensemble’s repertoire.

Dating from 1970, this minimalist work was inspired by the composer’s visit to Africa and became the first ‘masterwork’ of the minimalist era.

Fri 10 Jan, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, 20.15, €27 NETHERLANDS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA Leading this seasonal programme is Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending and Elgar’s wintry Serenade. The remainder is classic Viennese, with Haydn’s Abschied Symphony and Mozart’s 13th Piano Concerto.

Sun 12 Jan, Concertgebouw, 14.15, €18-€48 MATANGI QUARTET This young string quartet has grown into one of the Netherlands’ most reliable ensembles over the past decade and has per-

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MUSIC/CLASSICAL formed around the world. This afternoon’s programme is titled ‘Russian Winter’.

Sun 12 Jan, Amstelkerk, 15.30, €16 VIENNA PHILHARMONIC A former chief of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly returns to Amsterdam with the Viennese maestros and violinist Leonidas Kavakos. The programme includes Sibelius’ Finlandia and Violin Concerto in D, and Bruckner’s Sixth.

Mon 13 Jan, Concertgebouw, 20.15, €60-€159 NJO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The fantastic students of the Dutch Orchestra and Ensemble Academy present a European programmed titled ‘The Wild East’, touching on works by Janácek, Bartók and Prokofiev.

Tue 14 Jan, Concertgebouw, 20.15, €18-€48 ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW ORCHESTRA Swedish maestro Herbert Blomstedt leads the orchestra to revisit three works by Brahms, including his Third Symphony – previously performed by the RCO with Bernard Haitink in 2010.

Wed 15-Fri 17 Jan, Concertgebouw, 20.15, €22.50-€95 AN EVENING OF TODAY 2 Making use of all available spaces, the Nieuw Ensemble invites the new wave of musical talents to reflect upon contemporary Amsterdam. The work of talented young composers is at the heart of the evening, which promises to be colourful, creative and memorable.

Thur 16 Jan, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, 20.15, €27 NETHERLANDS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA The programme ‘Into the Light’ includes Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto and Elgar’s Serenade.

Sat 18 & Mon 20 Jan, Concertgebouw, 20.15, €18-€48 LUNCH CONCERT & TOUR Free performance in collaboration with the Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds. (Paid) tours take place beforehand.

Tue 21 Jan & 18 Feb, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, 12.30, free BOOMING CHINA: SHANGHAI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Reminding that there’s more to Chinese classical music than pianist Lang Lang, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra is celebrating its 135th anniversary on the road. Long Yu conducts and violinist Ray Chen guests.

Wed 22 Jan, Concertgebouw, 20.15, €40-€55 AAA: THE HUMAN BODY The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Xian Zhang and joined by Swedish clarinettist Martin Fröst. Over two nights they’ll look at old and new works.

Thur 23 Jan (21.15) & Fri 24 Jan (20.15), Concertgebouw, €22.50-€45

JUILLIARD QUARTET semble will perform unplugged, on the floor of Paradiso.

Founded 60 years ago at the Wed 5 Feb, Paradiso, 20.15, Juilliard School in New York, this €13.50-€25 world-famous quartet boldly covers the classical spectrum. In this ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW performance they mix up some ORCHESTRA Webern and Schubert with the Dutch premiere of Jesse Benja- Mariss Jansons is back in control of the RCO for a performance min Jones’ String Quartet No.3.

Sat 25 Jan, Muziekgebouw aan with pianist Yefim Bronfman. As well as classic Sibelius, Stravin’t IJ, 20.15, €33 sky and Strauss Jr, it includes the THE NORTH NETHERLANDS Dutch premiere of Lindberg’s SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Second Piano Concerto.

Thur 6 & Fri 7 Feb, ConcertgeWith roots dating back to 1862, bouw, 20.15, €22.50-€75 the oldest symphony orchestra in the Netherlands drives south to perform works by Rossini, Saint- JOHN ADAMS & PHILIP GLASS Saëns and Berlioz in Amsterdam. Minimalism at its most beautiful.

The Residentie Orkest performs Conducted by Stefan Asbury.

Glass’s Violin Concerto and Sat 25 Jan, Concertgebouw, Adams’ Harmonium.

20.15, €32-€40 Sat 8 Feb, Concertgebouw, THOMAS HAMPSON BEETHOVEN EXPERIENCE 3 14.15, €30-€35 The renowned baritone channels Beethoven’s five piano concertos are among the most love songs tonight. Accompanied ROTTERDAM PHILHARMONIC performed works in the classical repertoire. Yet despite ORCHESTRA by the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, being so ingrained in music culture, the Orchestra of An evening of classical storytellthe programme includes the the 18th Century will set out to show that these conworld premiere of Brahms’ Vier ing, including Dukas’ L’apprenti certos can still sound immensely fresh and surprising sorcier, Shostakovich’s Piano ernste Gesänge, reworked for during this three-day festival. Their secret is authenticConcerto No.2 and rounded off baritone and string orchestra by by excerpts from Prokofiev’s D Matthews. ity. Founded in 1981 by Frans Brüggen, they present Romeo and Juliet.

Tue 28 Jan, Concertgebouw, old music in a stunning way via their authentic period Sat 8 Feb, Concertgebouw, 20.15, €30 instruments, electrifying performance style and the raw 20.15, €32-€40 chemistry between orchestra and soloist. Wed 5-Fri 7 ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW Feb, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, 20.15, €35 MELNIKOV & FRIENDS ORCHESTRA Dipping his skilful fingers into a Semyon Bychkov conducts and number of pies, Russian pianist French cellist Gautier Capuçon ERARD ENSEMBLE Melnikov performs three con(20.15) & Sun 2 Mar (14.15), guests for Shostakovich’s Cello certs with special guests today.

Concertgebouw, €50-€75 Concerto No.1. Then it’s SchuThe Erard Ensemble specialises They include the likes of violinist bert’s Ninth Symphony, which in romantic classic music perEASTERN TRACKS according to Schumann’s famous Isabelle Faust, flautist Laura Pou formed on authentic instruments and trombonist Gerard Coste. pronouncement is of a ‘himmlisand includes string soloists from A multimedia storytelling perSun 9 Feb, Muziekgebouw aan ’t formance featuring baritone che Länge’ (heavenly length). the Royal Concertgebouw OrIJ, 14.30, 16.30 & 20.15, €27 Majestic and lyrical sound qualichestra, the Radio Philharmonic Henk Neven and mezzosoprano Marjolein Niels, recreating the ties go hand in hand.

Orchestra and the Netherlands JANINE JANSEN PERFORMS atmosphere of an old Persian Wed 29-Fri 31 Jan, ConcertgePhilharmonic Orchestra, plus SZYMANOWSKI teahouse with a musical journey bouw, 20.15, €22.50-€75 pianist Edward Janning.

The star violinist is set to share through One Thousand and One Tue 18 Feb, Amstelkerk, ZAPP 4 the stage with the Royal ConcertNights.

20.15, €18 gebouw Orchestra for three days Wed 26 & Thur 27 Feb, ConClassical, jazz and rock are set MUSIKFABRIK to showcase Szymanowski’s First certgebouw, 21.00, €15-€25 to furiously collide in this programme titled ‘Poetic Dynamite’. Violin Concerto – a truly modern The contemporary German RIAS KAMMERCHOR + love letter to the instrument.

The quirky string quartet is setensemble juxtaposes a selection ENSEMBLE RESONANZ ting up with jazz guitarist Anton Wed 12 & Thur 13 Feb (20.30), of works by Frank Zappa with Sun 16 Feb (14.15), ConcertgeA contemporary music proGoudsmit and Czech multi-inJohn Cage’s Credo in Us, Seven, bouw, €22.50-€95 strumentalist Jan Rokyta. and Edgard Varèse’s Ionisation. gramme showcasing the sounds of Estonia and Latvia. UnsurFri 31 Jan, Muziekgebouw aan Thur 20 Feb, Muziekgebouw CONCERTGEBOUW CLASSICS prisingly, Arvo Pärt plays a key ’t IJ, 20.30, €27 aan ’t IJ, 20.15, €27 CELEBRATES LOVE role in proceedings, including REINBERT DE LEEUW ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW Yip, love is unavoidably in the air Adam’s Lament. But there’s also BIRTHDAY CONCERT ORCHESTRA at this Valentine’s concert. Works work by Peteris Vasks, Tõnu

by Chabrier, Chausson and Kõrvits and Lepo Sumera.

Dutch composer Reinbert De Hungarian conductor Iván Saint-Saëns form the romantic Thur 27 Feb, Muziekgebouw Leeuw celebrates his 75th birthFischer returns to the Amsoundtrack. The performance is aan ’t IJ, 20.15, €33 day in the way he knows best: sterdam stage to conduct on stage with the Radio Philhar- by Het Gelders Orkest and vioBeethoven’s more ‘abstract’ linist Yossif Ivanov. monic Orchestra. Monumentum Eighth and ‘superhuman’ Ninth ADDRESSES Fri 14 Feb, Concertgebouw, pro Gesualdo by Igor Stravinsky symphonies.

20.30, €35-€95 Amstelkerk opens the festivities, followed by Thur 20 & Fri 21 Feb, ConcertAmstelveld 10 world premieres of Boogman’s gebouw, 20.15, €30-€120 NETHERLANDS CHAMBER www.stadsherstel.nl Raving and De Leeuw’s own Der ORCHESTRA RUSSIAN CONNECTIONS Amsterdam City Archives nächtliche Wanderer.

With a programme titled ‘Kiss Vijzelstraat 32 Sat 1 Feb, Concertgebouw, The Netherlands Philharmonic of Fire – Aspects of Love’, there www.stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl 14.15, €30-€35 Orchestra and cellist Leonard are some obvious clues of what Het Muziektheater Elschenbroich go Soviet for NETHERLANDS CHAMBER to expect here. But there will also Tchaikovsky’s Entr’acte & Wals Waterlooplein 22 ORCHESTRA & NATALIA be surprises thanks to Spark, a www.het-muziektheater.nl from Eugene Onegin, KabalevGUTMAN classical ‘band’ with a distinctive sky’s Second Cello Concerto and Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ sound and performance style.

Piet Heinkade 1 The renowned Russian cellist Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. www.muziekgebouw.nl returns to Amsterdam for a pro- Includes a new piece written for Sat 22 (20.15) & Sun 23 Feb the occasion by Dutch composer Noorderkerk gramme that includes Rossini, (14.15), Concertgebouw, Chiel Meijering.

Noordermarkt 44 CPhE Bach, JS Bach and Verdi. €18-€48 Fri 14 & Sat 15 Feb, Muziekgewww.noorderkerkconcerten.nl Sat 1 Feb, Concertgebouw, BACH CHOIR AND bouw aan ’t IJ, 20.15, €38 Oude Kerk 20.15, €18-€48 ORCHESTRA OF THE Oudekerksplein 23 NETHERLANDS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA UNPLUGGED NETHERLANDS www.oudekerk.nl CHOIR Paradiso Members of the Netherlands An authentic Mozart festive Vocal renditions of Renaissance Weteringschans 6-8 Chamber Orchestra, led by spectacle featuring the likes of www.paradiso.nl Gordan Nikolic, are joined by the masters: Josquin des Prez, Orlan- Vado, ma dove?, Krönungsmesse do di Lasso and Antoine Brumel. and ending on his final compoRoyal Concertgebouw Tim Kliphuis Trio for Rossini’s Sun 16 Feb, Muziekgebouw Concertgebouwplein 10 fifth sonata and the only string sition: Requiem. aan ’t IJ, 20.15, €27 www.concertgebouw.nl quartet written by Verdi. The enSun 23 (19.30), Fri 28 Feb

Choice classical

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PART IV THE A-LIST.

EXHIBITIONS & MUSEUMS RUSSIAN ATELIER ON THE AMSTEL As the Netherlands-Russia year draws to a close, this exhibition celebrates the work of a ESCHER MEETS ISLAMIC ART selection of acclaimed Russian Examining the more obscure artists, living and working in influences on Dutch artist the Netherlands.

MC Escher. Even some of his Hermitage Amsterdam, biggest fans may be surprised until 5 Jan to learn that works of several FAS CHILDREN: Islamic painters helped inspire ALLARD DE WITTE Escher during his much-celebrated career.

Dutch photographer Allard de Tropenmuseum, until 5 Jan Witte spent four years charting the lives of children suffering ETERNAL EGYPT from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome EXPERIENCE (FAS). Also featuring film More than just an exhibition, material and works by 30 FAS the Eternal Egypt Experience children, this touching exhibiinvites visitors on a multimedia tion offers a personal look into journey of discovery into the the lives of children with the vast history of Ancient Egypt. condition.

At the heart of the experience Melkweg, until 12 Jan is Culturama, an impressive THE LONGEST CANAL multimedia show featuring nine one-metre-high screens offering The city celebrated 400 years a 180-degree panoramic view of the Amsterdam Canal Ring of proceedings. Major exhibits in 2013 and more than 1,000 from the museum’s own Egypchildren got in on the action tian collection will be on display, to create a canal of their own including a mummy, beautifully – more than 400 metres long. painted sarcophagi, reliefs and Comprised of the individual sophisticated bronzes. creations by the aspiring young Allard Pierson Museum, artists, the canal is on display until 5 Jan in the museum courtyard.

Amsterdam Museum, FOTOSTUDIO MERKELBACH until 12 Jan Expansive photography exhiVAN GOGH AT WORK bition from the renowned portrait studio of Jacob MerkelThis far-reaching exhibition bach (c1913-1969). Don’t miss is the culmination of seven the photo of famous Dutch en- years of fastidious research into chantress and spy Mata Hari.

Vincent van Gogh’s oeuvre and Amsterdam City Archives, development as an artist. More until 5 Jan than 200 paintings, works on paper, sketchbooks and letters LAWRENCE WEINER:

by Van Gogh and his peers WRITTEN ON THE WIND offer new insights into the A sweeping exhibition of work fascinating creative processes

by American artist Lawrence behind the artist’s paintings Weiner – best known for his and drawings. contributions to the world of Van Gogh Museum, until conceptual art in the 1960s.

13 Jan Featuring 300 drawings ART AND NEUROSCIENCE: completed by Weiner over the COURSES COLLIDE course of 50 years, Written on the Wind takes visitors on a The worlds of art and science trip through Weiner’s career, unite in this exhibition comoffering them a glimpse at the bining neural images produced gradual evolution of his style. by both artists and scientists.

Stedelijk Museum, until 5 Jan In an age when it’s possible to tap into someone’s brain MONDRIAN IN AMSTERDAM and create a graphical rep1892-1912 resentation of the neurological Mondrian, one of the earliest comings and goings, Courses members of the Dutch ‘De Stijl’ Collide examines how the movement, returns home to visual arts are responding to Amsterdam. Featuring more the prospect of being able to than 60 works, this exhibition unfold a mind. showcases some of the Dutch De Brakke Grond, until 19 Jan artist’s lesser-known paintings, SUSPENDED HISTORIES prints and drawings, produced during his time in Amsterdam Modern art exhibition explorbetween 1892 and 1912. ing the relationship between Amsterdam Museum, the Dutch East India Company until 5 Jan and the Van Loon family across the 17th and 18th centuries.

NEW LIGHT ON With featured artists all hailHUNDERTWASSER ing from the exotic locales Presenting the early and perthe Netherlands traded with haps somewhat forgotten Hun- centuries ago, each work shines dertwasser. In the late 1950s a light on the history of Dutch and early 1960s, Hundertwastrading and the Van Loons’ ser lived in Japan, where he legacy while also reflecting studied Zen Buddhism and their creators’ backgrounds and applied its philosophy to his nations of origin. work. This early work is charMuseum van Loon, until acterised by endless circular 20 Jan and twisted lines and horror MADE IN COMMONS vacui. For Hundertwasser, the straight line was ‘godless’.

A collaboration with the Cobra Museum, until 5 Jan KUNCI Cultural Studies

TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS

Choice exhibits

BACK FROM THE SEA, 1924

DAILY BREAD Exploring how our food is produced, documentary photographer Henk Wildschut (1967) spent a year visiting both large-scale and organic pig and chicken farmers, a fish farm, a dairy certifying agency, greenhouse farms, laboratories, a seed improvement company and a chips producer, recording what he saw. The results are diverse and often surprising, showing just how removed humans have become from the food they consume. Rijksmusuem, until 7 Jan

FÉLIX VALLOTTON: FIRE BENEATH THE ICE Exploring the work of Franco-Swiss artist Félix Vallotton (1865-1928), a leading figure in the Nabis (Prophets) movement. The highly decorative style of these young, avant-garde artists was influenced by Gauguin and Japanese prints. Around 60 of Vallotton’s paintings are displayed alongside some 40 prints from the Van Gogh Museum’s collection to provide an overview of every facet of Vallotton’s oeuvre. Van Gogh Museum, 14 Feb-1 Jun

Center in Yogyakarta, this variety of styles and disciplines group exhibition features work in his oeuvre – from the thin by ten artists and artists’ collec- brushstrokes of impressionism tives living in the Netherlands to the geometric elements and Indonesia. of cubism.

Stedelijk Museum Bureau Stedelijk Museum, until 2 Feb Amsterdam, until 26 Jan MING: EMPERORS, ARTISTS & MERCHANTS IN PRIX DE ROME 2013 ANCIENT CHINA de Appel proudly presents Journey on a breathtaking odwork by the four artists nomiyssey into China’s distant past nated for this year’s prestigious with this exhibition dedicated Prix de Rome art prize: Christo one of the country’s most tian Friedrich, Falke Pisano, illustrious dynasties. In collabRemco Torenbosch and Ola oration with China’s Nanjing Vasiljeva. Following adjudica- Museum, the church offers vistion by the international jury, itors a glimpse of an exclusive Falke Pisano was announced as collection of original Ming-era the winner in early November. artefacts that includes calligrade Appel arts centre, phies, porcelain crafts and luxuntil 26 Jan ury items originally designed for the Imperial Court.

PAULINA OŁOWSKA: AU De Nieuwe Kerk, Until 2 Feb BONHEUR DES DAMES SHTETL IN THE CITY Featuring boundary-defying pieces that combine collages, Subtitled ‘Antwerp Through drawings, media and even neon the Lens of Dan Zollmann’, lights, this is the first exhibition this photography exhibition

by Polish artist Paulina Oowska displays the results of the to be organised in the NetherBelgian snapper’s quest to lands. Oowska is considered capture the life and times of by many to be one of the most the Hasidic Jews in his home fascinating artists of her gener- city. Zollmann’s prize-winning ation. Her works borrow images photographs provide a unique from Eastern European and insight into the predominately American pop culture in order hidden social environment of to explore the concepts of femithe followers of this devout nism, consumerism and design. branch of Judaism.

Stedelijk Museum, until Jewish Historical Museum, 27 Jan until 2 Feb

University of Amsterdam Special Collections, until 9 Feb ERASMUS OF AMSTERDAM After delving into the life and times of Erasmus, Dutch artist Neel Korteweg produced a series of works dedicated to the legendary philosopher: modern-day paintings of a medieval humanist and religious reformer.

Biblical Museum, until 17 Feb GAUGUIN, BONNARD, DENIS: A RUSSIAN TASTE FOR FRENCH ART The Hermitage Amsterdam turns its attention to three major late 19th- and early 20th-century artists. Paul Gauguin was a shining example for Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis, who were united with other artists under the title ‘Les Nabis’. This extensive exhibition displays the work of the Nabi artists alongside paintings and drawings by their predecessors, contemporaries and immediate successors. Also look out for The Modernists and More, a sub-exhibition featuring photographs taken by Laurence Aëgerter during the previous Matisse to Malevich exhibition at the museum.

Hermitage Amsterdam, until 28 Feb STREET FOOTBALL: PANNAS & AKKAS Featuring 46 new works by Dutch photographer Guus Dubbelman, this lively exhibition delves into the world of modern street football: truly a way of life for many youngsters in Amsterdam.

Imagine IC, until 1 Mar PARIS! PARIS! Quirky exhibition devoted to wonderfully designed advertising fans from the City of Light. Created between 1900 and 1940, the fans were once used to promote Parisian cafés, casinos and an assortment of luxury brands.

Museum of Bags & Purses, until 2 Mar WILLIAM KLEIN With a career spanning more than 60 years, Klein’s work had a tremendous influence on photography in the second half of the 20th century.

Foam, until 12 Mar FONG LENG: FASHION & ART Extensive exhibition of work by Dutch-Chinese fashion designer and artist Fong Leng.

See page 64.

Amsterdam Museum, until 16 Mar REMBRANDT–AUERBACH: RAW TRUTH Acclaimed British post-war artist Frank Auerbach ‘in dialogue’ with Rembrandt.

See page 22.

Rijksmuseum, until 16 Mar

KAZIMIR MALEVICH AND ATLAS DER NEEDERLANDEN THE RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE Part of celebrations to mark A major survey exhibition of the second centenary of the work by Russian artist Kazimir Kingdom of the Netherlands, Malevich, one of the founding this exhibition focuses on the SCHÖNBERG & KANDINSKY: ARTISTIC REVOLUTIONARIES fathers of abstract art. The 600-map strong Atlas der exhibition uses oil paintings, Neederlanden to examine how Exhibition illuminating the watercolours, drawings and the Netherlands grew into the pivotal relationship between sculptures to illustrate the rich country it is today.

Russian artist Wassily Kan-

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EXHIBITIONS & MUSEUMS NINA YUEN Magic and nature, her father and teenage students, artist Joe Andoe and feminist author Simone de Beauvoir all play TITANIC: THE ARTIFACT a role in Nina Yuen’s recent EXHIBITION work. The Hawaiian artist disThis spellbinding exhibition plays a selection of new video devoted to the ‘unsinkable ship’ works, sculptures and phopromises to take visitors back tographs in which she blends in time with authentic artefacts everyday household rituals from the doomed cruise liner and (imagined) memories with that sailed into history on a historic facts to create an alterfateful night in April 1912. native (dream) world.

Amsterdam Expo, until de Appel arts centre, 11 May 8 Feb-13 Apr dinsky and Austrian composer Arnold Schönberg.

Jewish Historical Museum, until 16 Mar

THE DARK CHAPTER Family-oriented exhibition looking at the history of the slave trade from a maritime perspective, focusing on the dramatic story of a slave ship called the Leusden – a boat which sank without a trace in Suriname in 1738 with many slaves on board.

Het Scheepvaartmuseum, until 31 Aug BARBIE’S BIRTHDAY BASH Barbie was introduced to the Netherlands in 1964 and the Museum of Bags & Purses celebrates her golden jubilee with an exhibition devoted to the doll’s quintessential fashion choices.

Museum of Bags & Purses, 21 Jan-4 May MARCEL WANDERS: PINNED UP The largest ever exhibition of work by revered Dutch designer Marcel Wanders, acclaimed for his contemporary furniture, interior designs and art direction. See pages 8-15.

Stedelijk Museum, 1 Feb15 Jun HEINEKEN’S AMSTERDAM 150 years ago, Gerard Heineken acquired De Hooiberg brewery and went on to build a new brewery on Amsterdam’s Stadhouderskade four years later – laying the foundations for the all-conquering multinational and to a certain extent, Amsterdam as we know it today. This exhibition explores how the famous founder of one of the world’s most successful beer brands also played an important role in the development of the city.

Amsterdam City Archives, 7 Feb-11 May ASCO NO MOVIES Intriguing insight into the world of Mexican-American artists’ collective Asco, active on the streets of Los Angeles from 1972 until 1987. The group became famous for their radical, low-budget theatrical activities known as No Movies, performed in public at sites of recent social or political upheaval, such as the scene of a recent shooting or police intervention. While their aesthetic had more than a hint of glam-rock, their agenda was far more radical. de Appel arts centre, 8 Feb13 Apr

THE GIJS+EMMY SPECTACLE Survey exhibition of fashion and jewellery created by renowned husband and wife design team Gijs Bakker and Emmy van Leersum between 1967 and 1972.

Stedelijk Museum, 22 Feb3 Aug

ONS’ LIEVE HEER OP SOLDER (OUR LORD IN THE ATTIC) This clandestine church in a 17th-century canal house attic dates back to the Reformation, when Catholics were not permitted to practice their faith in public. See page 36.

REMBRANDTHUIS The house that Rembrandt called home for nearly 20 years boasts an impressive collection of drawings and paintings by the Old Master himself, as well

official receptions. When the palace is not being used by the royal family, it is open to the public. Visitors can explore the magnificent interior and discover the rich history of the building. There are occasional special exhibitions.

STEDELIJK MUSEUM The museum’s permanent collection is now on display in the beautifully restored historical building, with fixed spots for highlights such as ‘The Beanery’

by Edward Kienholz and works

Choice exhibits

PERMANENT EXHIBITIONS ANNE FRANK HOUSE Prinsengracht 263 is where Anne Frank lived in hiding with her family for more than two years during World War II. Now converted into a museum, it contains a sobering exhibition about the persecution of the Jews and persecution in a wider context.

EYE FILM MUSEUM Cinematography museum home to an internationally renowned collection of films covering the whole history of cinema, from the first silent movies to the latest contemporary productions.

ZASJRIKWA AND EDRESE, KUABTSJARA, ABCHAZIË, 2009 © ROB HORNSTRA / FLATLAND GALLERY

GOLDEN YEARS: ROB HORNSTRA’S RUSSIA Dutch photographer Rob Hornstra has been working together with filmmaker Arnold van Bruggen since 2009 to document the region of Sochi in Russia: site of the 2014 Winter Olympics (already the most expensive Olympic Games ever). This exhibition of his touchingly honest illustrative photographs shows the different shades of a region caught between war and tourism. Along with photos from the Sochi series, look out for a large retrospective of works snapped in Russia during the last decade.

Huis Marseille, until 9 Mar

GEELVINCK HINLOPEN HOUSE A decadent canal-side mansion as by his contemporaries. The showcasing 17th-century patrician wealth, located on the Rembrandthuis is also home to 290 of Rembrandt’s etchings Golden Bend of the grandest – a near complete collection – canal of all, the Herengracht.

Highlights include ornamental and an alternating selection is on permanent display. gardens as well as sumptuous themed salons.

RIJKSMUSEUM HET GRACHTENHUIS After a decade of unprecedent(MUSEUM OF THE CANALS) ed renovation, the Rijksmuseum finally showed off its new A tribute to the Canal District, (and old) look in April 2013. with multimedia exhibitits Visit the state museum and showing how the engineering embark on a journey through marvel was built on swampland during the 17th-century Dutch art and history from the expansion.

Middle Ages and Renaissance right up until the 20th century.

HORTUS BOTANICUS Not to be missed For nearly four centuries, Amsterdam’s Hortus Botanicus has HET SCHEEPVAARTMUSEUM (NATIONAL MARITIME regaled visitors with its lush MUSEUM) greenhouses and exotic plants.

Originally founded in 1638 to The National Maritime Museserve as a herb garden for the um comprises a series of small city’s doctors and pharmacists, exhibitions exploring various it’s one of the oldest botanical elements of maritime life gardens in the world. through history. Moored outside is the Amsterdam, an exact MUSEUM VAN LOON replica of a famous Dutch East The Van Loons belonged to India Company ship. the city’s governing elite, and KONINKLIJK PALEIS were among the founders of (ROYAL PALACE) the mighty Dutch East India Company back in 1602. With The Koninklijk Paleis (Royal much of its original interior Palace) on Amsterdam’s Dam intact, the museum collection square is one of three palaces comprises paintings, antique still in use by the Dutch royal furnishings and objects d’art. family. It is used for state visits, award ceremonies and other

by Willem de Kooning and Andy Warhol. Half of the ground floor displays the best pieces from the design collection.

TROPENMUSEUM The ‘Museum of the Tropics’ has eight geographically themed permanent exhibitions and an ongoing series of temporary presentations, including both modern and traditional visual arts and photographic work.

WILLET-HOLTHUYSEN MUSEUM The only completely period furnished canal-side house in Amsterdam open daily to the public, with a remarkable collection of Golden Age art and silverware.

ADDRESSES Allard Pierson Museum Oude Turfmarkt 127 www.allardpiersonmuseum.nl Amsterdam City Archives Vijzelstraat 32 http://stadsarchief. amsterdam.nl Amsterdam Expo Gustav Mahlerlaan 24 www.amsterdamexpo.nl Amsterdam Museum Kalverstraat 92 http://amsterdammuseum.nl Anne Frank House Prinsengracht 263-267

www.annefrank.org de Appel arts centre Prins Hendrikkade 142 www.deappel.nl Museum of Bags & Purses Herengracht 573 www.tassenmuseum.nl Biblical Museum Herengracht 366-368 www.bijbelsmuseum.nl De Brakke Grond Nes 45 www.brakkegrond.nl Cobra Museum Sandbergplein 1 Amstelveen www.cobra-museum.nl EYE Film Museum IJpromenade 1 www.eyefilm.nl Foam Keizersgracht 609 http://foam.org Geelvinck Hinlopen House Keizersgracht 633 http://geelvinck.nl Van Gogh Museum Paulus Potterstraat 7 www.vangoghmuseum.nl Het Grachtenhuis (Museum of the Canals) Herengracht 386 http://hetgrachtenhuis.nl Hermitage Amsterdam Amstel 51 www.hermitage.nl Hortus Botanicus Plantage Middenlaan 2a http://dehortus.nl Huis Marseille Keizersgracht 401 www.huismarseille.nl Imagine IC Frankemaheerd 2 www.imagineic.nl Jewish Historical Museum Nieuwe Amstelstraat 1 www.jhm.nl Museum Van Loon Keizersgracht 672 www.museumvanloon.nl Melkweg Lijnbaansgracht 234A www.melkweg.nl De Nieuwe Kerk Dam square www.nieuwekerk.nl Ons’ Lieve Heer Op Solder (Our Lord in the Attic) Oudezijds Voorburgwal 40 www.opsolder.nl Rembrandthuis Jodenbreestraat 4 www.rembrandthuis.nl Rijksmuseum Jan Luijkenstraat 1 www.rijksmuseum.nl Royal Palace Dam square www.paleisamsterdam.nl Het Scheepvaartmuseum (National Maritime Musuem) Kattenburgerplein 1 www.hetscheepvaart museum.nl Stedelijk Museum Museumplein 10 http://stedelijk.nl Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam Rozenstraat 59 www.smba.nl Tropenmuseum Linnaeusstraat 2 www.tropenmuseum.nl University of Amstredam Special Collections Spui 21 www.bijzonderecollecties. uva.nl Willet-Holthuysen Museum Herengracht 605 www.willetholthuysen.nl

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53

jan & feb 2014

CLUBBING/NIGHTLIFE CLUBBING ASPIRATIONS Headlining this eclectic mix of classic club sounds is Chicago’s Amir Alexander, who we expect to spin a blend of everything funky, deep and American. Also on the bill are Damiano Von Erckert and Shadee.

Wed 1 Jan, DOKA, 07.0015.00, €17

Leeds producer Happa playing his bass and techno beats. Pariah and Clouds, two more ambassadors of forward-thinking club music, are also on the bill. Local support comes from Matthias Bottmann.

Fri 17 Jan, DOKA, 22.0004.00, €15

Choice clubbing

COSMIN TRG & EFDEMIN ALL NIGHT LONG It’s unclear how these two forward-thinking DJs will fill the AWAKENINGS NEW YEAR’S night – either with solo sets or DAY SPECIAL playing B2B – but one thing is for sure: you won’t hear any An early start for one of the mind-numbing party bangers. longest running bad-ass techno events in town. The sweet line- Efdemin’s productions live in the no man’s land between clinical up includes DJs who like to go deep: Berghain’s maestro Marcel house and techno, while RomaDEKMANTEL NEW YEAR’S DAY Dettmann; Russian super-star nian-born Cosmin TRG is big on The most exciting party people in town take it easy with Detroit-esque melodies.

DJ with a love for Dutch westa largely local line-up, including Colors head honcho CinSat 18 Jan, Trouw, 23.00, €18 coast electro Nina Kraviz; and naman, German house jock Gerd Janson, Intergalactic British-Amsterdammer Dave TROUW OP ZONDAG Clarke, as well as Ben Klock, Ben FM CEO Interr-Ference from The Hague, Prosumer, Boris Sims and Len Faki, who all know Derrick May is commonly seen Werner, San Proper, Makam, Tom Trago, Juju & Jordash as one of the innovators of Dehow to punish a dance floor. (live), Elias Mazian, Mark Du Mosch and the Dekmantel troit techno, America’s abstract Wed 1 Jan, Gashouder, 17.00Soundsystem. Our absolute number one tip is Legowelt and funky take on the German 05.00, €47.50 (pictured), a geeky Dutch producer whose latest acid, wave electro-pop sound pioneered by and electro cuts came out on the super-hip NYC imprint HARDCORE CLASSICS Kraftwerk. Tunes like ‘R-Theme’, 1992-2002 LIES Records. Wed 1 Jan, MC Theater, 16.00-06.00, €29 ‘Nude Photo’ – and especially ‘Strings of Life’ – are still widely Back in the early Nineties, a played by DJs around the world bunch of Rotterdam ravers started making brutal beats with today. Local support comes from the excellent Dekmantel-assoa Roland 909 drum machine, accompanied by ‘hoover’ sounds ciated DJ Makam, who’s known for his sets jam-packed with coming out of a Juno synth – all anything 4/4 and soulful. at a staggering 180-plus BPM. Sun 19 Jan, Trouw, 18.00, €20 Dutch hardcore, aka gabber (or ‘gabba’ if you’re from the UK) LAURENT GARNIER was born. This line-up includes He may be a bit of a blast from some of the biggest names in the past, but it’s always good to the Dutch hardcore business hear classic beats spun by the (Human Resource, Buzz Fuzz, artist who made them. There’s a Gizmo, Bounty Hunter, Ruffneck and Promo) and one inter- good chance you’ll hear Garnier’s HORIZON CONGO NATTY – JUNGLE early club hits like ‘Acid Eiffel’ national star: the legendary US Trevor Jackson is a designer, REVOLUTION 2014 or ‘Astral Dreams’, which came producer Omar Santana. a conceptual artist and a North London producer and out under his own name. Later Wed 1 Jan, The Sand, 19.00classics such as ‘The Sound of 05.00, €25 DJ in one, rooted in 1980s toaster Michael West, aka the Big Baboo’ are also expectwave, electronic body music Congo Natty, aka Rebel MC, FORMAT AFTER, AFTER, ed. Nuno dos Santos and Jan and breakdance/electro. To has never stopped producAFTER NYE van der Lugt warm up for the understand why we’re so ing his reggae-infused bass master.

With New Year’s Eve on a Tuesexcited about this gig, go lines and breakbeats, and Thur 23 Jan, Trouw, 21.00, day, you’ve just got to be quick check out the amazing Metal continues writing lyrics to €22, €12 before 22.00 to pull yourself back together Dance compilation he did go with his sounds. Also seby Friday because there’s still X-QLUSIVE more techno bangers waiting for for the Strut label; it’s full of lecting are Axel Savage and When Dutch hardcore’s heyyou. Local jocks Shinedoe, Juan excellent weird and clinical Dutch breaks connoisseurs day was over, fans of brutal Sanchez, Dewalta (live), Makcim beats that make you wiggle. Chaos and L-Dopa. Jah man! electronic dance music needed and Limon do the job.

Fri 24 Jan, DOKA, 22.00Fri 7 Feb, Melkweg, 21.00, something else. From the late Fri 3 Jan, AIR, 23.0006.00, €13.50 €48.50 1990s onwards, the genre that 06.00, €10 is now know as hardstyle slowly KNOCKDOWN! gathered an enthusiastic fan Boogie to old-school electro and base. Much more cheerful than your idea of dance-floor fun, Mr edition of Dirty Dutch at HMH. Dutch hardcore, hardstyle is Barck may well be your man.

Chuckie’s signature sound other vintage sounds, courtesy of consists of high-pitched bleeps, DJ Dionysos and friends, at this still centred on a pumping bass. Sat 25 Jan, DOKA, 22.00, €12, Headliner tonight is Dutch hot€8 before midnight Latin percussion rhythms and a former ‘doordraai chinees’ – a no-nonsense approach to partymerry-go-round Chinese restau- shot producer Fabian Bohn, aka TROUW OP ZONDAG ing hard. After Chuckie’s profile rant. The DJ booth still revolves. Brennan Heart. The support list is almost endless: Code Black James Holden’s sets are more rose internationally with remixes Fri 10 Jan, Pand 14, 23.00(Australia), Isaac, Luna, Atabout atmosphere and melody for Michael Jackson and David 07.00, €10 mozfears, DV8 (live), Outbreak than beats, percussion and Guetta, Dirty Dutch eventually DIMITRI & MALAWI (Australia, live) and more. rhythm. During last summer’s branched out with events in Sat 25 Jan, Heineken Music set at Dekmantel Festival, Hold- New York, London, Glasgow and You can’t go wrong with Dimitri Hall, 21.00, €48.50 en left house and techno behind Mykonos. But tonight Chuckie Kneppers. One of the early jocks altogether when he played returns to – as he likes to call at Amsterdam’s legendary RoXY OBSCURA the wonderful ‘Don’t Stop the it – ‘the core’. club, he was always known to Alex Barck rose to fame as part Dance’ by Roxy Music’s Bryan Sat 1 Feb, Heineken Music Hall, mix melodies, not beats. The 22.00, €49.50 hard-to-find mixed compilation of Jazzanova and gained further Ferry. Warming up for Holden respect by filling the A&R posiare Jorn Liefdeshuis and Static Tracks Volume 1 explains SKRILLEX TAKEOVER tion of Munich’s excellent Sonar Patrice Bäumel. it all. Support comes from AmKollektiv record label. Barck’s Sun 26 Jan, Trouw, Call him the Avicii of dubstep; sterdam’s Malawi and Auntie sets are highly diverse and ed21.00, €20 this man has really taken the Flow (Kompakt, Glasgow). ucational, including new wave, genre to a pop level, and while Sat 11 Jan, Trouw, 23.00, €15 DIRTY DUTCH – BACK TO Sixties’ folk, disco, jazz, techno its popularity is clearly fading, THE ORIGINAL CORE RAVAGE and hip hop tunes. Don’t expect Skrillex is still very active and It’s been ten years since Clyde present. ‘Wild For The Night’, DOKA is the scene of a night of to be jumping up and down like last year’s collaboration with cutting-edge leftfield electronics a madman or woman, but if the Sergio Narain, better known as funky variety of slow dancing is DJ Chuckie, presented the first A$AP Rocky, was a killer, and to this eve. With 16-year-old (!)

see this man mix up the poppy with the dark, and the dirty with the clean in such a tiny venue as Bitterzoet should be a treat.

Wed 19 Feb, Bitterzoet, 23.30, €18 AVICII The biggest name in EDM reached true pop star status in 2013, thanks to smash hits like ‘I Could Be The One’ (with Ricky Romero) and ‘Wake Me Up’ (featuring Aloe Blacc on vocals).

The man is openly hated by ‘underground’ DJs, but there’s no denying this Swede knows how to craft a catchy tune.

Sat 22 Feb, Ziggo Dome, 19.00, €47.50 SCHMECK PONY Somehow still relatively unknown as a DJ among the general clubbing crowd, Detroit’s Ryan Elliott has gained a cult status among his colleagues.

As a true music lover, Elliott doesn’t understand or care about why he should stick to specific musical genres. He’s known to spin anything from Brian Eno’s avant-garde material through to Trus’Me’s sleazy house and I:Cube’s indefinable future beats.

Sat 22 Feb, DOKA, 22.0006.00, €13.50 OBSCURA Fanatic crate digger DJ Format’s signature spinning style is a festive mix of soul, funk, rock and hip hop. Check out the mixed compilation FabricLive 27 to get a good impression of what he sounds like behind the decks. The second headliner for tonight is Palm Springs DJ Day, aka Damien Beebe. Beebe is part of Stones Throw Records’ inner circle and has worked extensively with Aloe Blacc and Clutchy Hopkins. Expect to hear him play an eclectic blend of soulful beats.

Fri 28 Feb, DOKA, 22.0006.00, €12, €8 before midnight ADDRESSES AIR Amstelstraat 24 www.air.nl Bitterzoet Spuistraat 2, www.bitterzoet.com DOKA Wibautstraat 150 www.doka-amsterdam.nl Gashouder Klönneplein 1 www.westergasfabriek.nl Heineken Music Hall Arena boulevard 590 www.heineken-music-hall.nl MC Theater Polonceaukade 5 www.mconline.nl Melkweg Lijnbaansgracht 234A www.melkweg.nl Pand 14 Muntbergweg 14 www.p14.nl The Sand Mekongweg 5 www.thesand.nl Trouw Wibautstraat 127 www.trouwamsterdam.nl Ziggo Dome ArenA Boulevard 61 www.ziggodome.nl

54

PART IV THE A-LIST

STAGE THEATRE, DANCE & COMEDY COMEDY: BABY I LIKE IT RAW! Boom Chicago gets back to basics: pure, improv-driven comedy. Expect a scene or two and some current events commentary, but above all, expect no holds to be barred.

Every Tue, Wed & Thur, Boom Chicago, 20.30, €22.50 COMEDY: EASYLAUGHS This international comedy group performs a hilarious, hi-octane, completely improvised show at the recently renovated Crea Café every Friday night. There’s also an early-bird show, guest performers from around the world, various formats and open podiums.

Every Fri, Crea Café, 20.00 & 21.00, €5-€10 COMEDY: INTERNATIONAL COMEDY Friday night is international night! These weekly all-English comedy shows are for those who prefer their jokes delivered in the international language of laughs. Expect a fast-paced evening with global appeal. Past guests have included the likes of Tom Rhodes (US), Steve Hughes (AUS), Lewis Black (US) and Gina Yashere (UK).

Every Fri, Comedy Theater in de Nes, 20.30, €14 COMEDY: BADABOOM This new weekly event in the smaller upstairs theatre is a breeding ground for upcoming Dutch and international comedy talents (with a bit more emphasis on local Dutch comics).

Every Fri, Boom Chicago, 21.00, €15

Britten used this tale of a young man who rebels against a military lifestyle as a public statement of his deeply held pacifist beliefs, embracing a rich sonic palette that reaches from avant-garde to Balinese gamelan.

Sat 11 Jan, Stadsschouwburg, 20.30, €10-€37.50

company ISH continues its collaboration with Vocaallab in DJ Moz’ART. It’s set to be a fabulous celebration in which magical classical melodies are mashed up with DJ electronics, hip hop, urban dance and ballet.

Sun 19 (16.00) & Mon 20 Jan (20.00), Stadsschouwburg, €12.50-€27.50

PERFORMANCE: NOITE DO FADO DANCE: ADDIO ALLA FINE This ‘next generation’ of fado (FAREWELL TO AN ENDING) artists brings along both traThis recent Holland Festival ditional fado as well as new choreography by Emio Greco works. Performers include Car- and Pieter C Scholten has now

Highlight comedy

GREG SHAPIRO PRESENTS TOM RHODES The stand-up star of the old-school Comedy Central channel returns to the Netherlands to share more laughs.

Rhodes, a popular American comic – now shorn of his ’90s grungy locks – splits his time between stand-up, radio/podcasting and travel writing. And with plenty of shared Amsterdam history between local comic Shapiro and Rhodes, there’s even more room for jibes and silliness – at the expense of each other and Dutch culture.

Sun 26 Jan, Boom Chicago, 20.30, €16.50 los Leitão and Filipa Cardoso.

Thur 16 Jan, Meervaart, 20.15, €22

been adapted for theatres by ICKamsterdam. The energetic work is inspired by the 1983 film E la Nave Va by the Italian director Federico Fellini, in which the crème de la crème of the art world take a boat trip to say their final farewell to the biggest opera singer of all time.

See page 23.

Wed 22 & Thur 23 Jan, Stadsschouwburg, 20.00, €15-€30

COMEDY: SHOT OF IMPROV COMEDY: SUPERBURGER Shot of Improv sees the entire In his new solo show, AmerBoom Chicago cast take to ican-Amsterdam comedian the stage, so the laughs are guaranteed to keep on comin’. Greg Shapiro takes on the issue of double nationality – or as he Completely different each week, it’s a show that starts big calls it ‘MND: Multiple Nationality Disorder’. He finds himself and never slows down. trying to prove his loyalty to Every Sat, Boom Chicago, his adopted homeland but at 22.30, €14 COMEDY: STAND-UP the same time realises he is still REVOLUTION DANCE: WAR&PEACE / NO blatantly an American.

LONGER SILENT Fri 17 Jan, Boom Chicago, Comedy Central brings its pop22.30, €16.50 ular TV show to the stage in Introdans presents Amsterdam, with three interWar&Peace, an old and new DANCE: FATHER FATHER national comedians supplying masterpiece that focuses on The groups Don’t Hit Mama the laughs: Martin Moreno, struggles and oppression, and Hip Hop Huis Rotterdam Lance Patrick and Alfred taking inspiration from the team up for a physical, urban Robles.

1932 anti-war choreography Fri 24 Jan, Boom Chicago, The Green Table by Kurt Jooss. production that takes inspira22.30, €25 The American choreographer tion from the role of the father figure.

Robert Battle also presents OPERA: DER RING DES Fri 17 & Sat 18 Jan, MC No Longer Silent to music by NIBELUNGEN Theater, 20.30, €13.50 the Czech composer Erwin As part of the celebrations of Schulhoff, whose work was DANCE: ID the 200th anniversary of the banished by the Nazi regime.

Vincent Verburg goes in search birth of Wagner, De NederSee page 25. landse Opera has been revisThur 9 Jan, Stadsschouwburg, of the identities and differences between three male bodies. iting its legendary stagings of 20.30, €10-€35 Sat 18 Jan, Meervaart, The Ring of the Nibelung for OPERA: OWEN WINGRAVE 20.00, €10-€15 the final time in this guise – individually and as an entire Opera Trionfo and the Nieuw PERFORMANCE: DJ cycle. During this final stretch Ensemble join forces for the MOZ’ART you can experience the entire first theatrical performance Following recent successful epic in (almost) back-to-back of Benjamin Britten’s Owen crossover productions, dance performances: Das Rheingold Wingrave in the Netherlands.

(29 Jan & 7 Feb), Die Walküre in the fight for common ide(31 Jan & 9 Feb), Siegfried (2 & als, Danton and Robespierre 11 Feb) and Götterdämmerung spiralled into a relationship of (5 & 14 Feb). See page 25. suspicion and disagreements.

Wed 29 Jan-Fri 14 Feb, Het What will one man do to reach Muziektheater, various times, his goal? Much of the play is €15-€140 (per performance) lifted from historical documents and touches on themes DANCE: BEATING BACH / of responsibility, revolution APP ME and power. The performance is Beating Bach is a vibrant cho- in Dutch with English surtitles. reography accompanied by a Thur 13 Feb, Stadsschouwcellist and DJ, whereas APP Me burg, 20.00, €20-€32.50 is a blend of ballet, urban, jazz and folk, taking cues from the PERFORMANCE: BIG! MEN! DRUMS! influence of social media.

Fri 31 Jan, Meervaart, Circle Percussion, the founding 20.30, €5-€10 fathers of the Dutch theatre percussion scene, are still going DANCE: HOW LONG strong after 40 years of poundIS NOW? ing rhythms and sharing their It was initially created as a succinct humour. This anniverlocation performance after sary theatre tour sees the quarchoreographer Conny Janssen tet break out the big guns. took inspiration from the Fri 14 Feb, Meervaart, words ‘How Long is Now?’ 20.15, €25 seen scrawled on a Berlin wall.

OPERA: OPERASTORY The work itself plays with the idea that the present is no A lively afternoon of popular more and that time speeds up arias, duets and surprising and slips through the fingerscenes from a variety of operas. tips. It’s accompanied by a viSun 16 Feb, Meervaart, brant live soundtrack by Dutch 14.30, €14-€19 rock band Alama Race Track.

PERFORMANCE: ROTUNDA Sat 1 & Sun 2 Feb, Stadsschouwburg, 20.0, €15-€30 The first full-length by The New Zealand Dance Company, PERFORMANCE: Rotunda features the powerful TAUBERBACH collision of a live brass band The starting point for this faswith the raw beauty of concinating collaboration between temporary dance. Created by les ballets C de la B (Ghent), the company’s artistic director, NT Gent and the Münchner Shona McCullagh, in collaboKammerspiele is the Brazilian ration with the NZDC dancers, documentary Estamira, which musician Chris O’Connor and is about a schizophrenic womwith celebrated singer-songan who lives on a scrapheap writer and composer Don and who has developed a McGlashan as musical director, unique way of communicating.

Rotunda brings to life the Other sources of inspiration world of the bandstand as an include music by Bach sung by iconic symbol of New Zealand deaf people and arias by community.

Mozart. See page 24.

Tue 18 Feb, Stadsschouwburg, Wed 5 & Thur 6 Feb, Stads20.30, €10-€32.50 schouwburg, 20.30, €10-€40 PERFORMANCE: THE OPERA: BOOM! AMSTERORIGINAL TRIBUTE TO THE DAM IS AN OPERA BLUES BROTHERS Since November, the world-re- Unsurprisingly, this is a blast nowned Dutch National Opera through the past of Jake and has broken free of the MuziekElwood Blues, the comic duo theater, its typical venue, and originally played onscreen stormed the streets of Amsterby John Belushi and Dan dam to perform works influAykroyd. This comedy show enced by composer Richard recreates the style of the cult Wagner’s Ring Cycle. The latest film, blasting through all of instalment is set to take place the renowned soul and R&B in 24 shops and boutiques in numbers with a lively West the city’s hip Bos en Lommer End sheen. district. Artistic director AnThur 20 Feb, Meervaart, thony Heidweiller tells us that 20.15, €24-€29 music students will perform DANCE: PROGRAMME 3 songs penned by a local female writer and inspired by an aria Nederlands Dans Theater 1 from Wagner’s cycle. ‘We hope returns with a trio of works that people will want to know by illustrious choreographers more about the whole story,’ León & Lightfoot, Goecke and he says. Each two-minute per- Kylián. The intensely personal formance will take place twice Heart’s Labyrinth (1984) by every hour.

Kylián is set to short expresSat 8 Feb, Bos en Lommerweg, sionist compositions by We13.00-16.00, free bern, Schönberg and Dvorák; León & Lightfoot are creating THEATRE: DANTON’S a new work; while Goecke preDEATH sents his Garbo Laughs.

Danton’s Death is a dramatiThur 20-Sat 22 Feb, Het Muzsation of the events leading to iektheater, 20.5, €15-€48 the beheading of Georges DanCOMEDY: AMSTERDAM ton – one of the architects of the French Revolution – by his ENGLISH COMEDY NIGHTS one-time friend Maximilien de This new monthly feature preRobespierre. Initially friends sented by the Boom Chicago

55

jan & feb 2014

STAGE

FILM FAVOURITES

crew brings the best internaso, they give physical voices to tional stand-up comics to the three heroines of Italian opera: city. Each show will include Violetta from La Traviata, four or five sets and be entirely Giovanna from Giovanna in English. d’Arco and Desdemona from Fri 21 Feb, Boom Chicago, Othello.

22.30, €12-€15 Thur 27 & Fri 28 Feb, Frascati, 20.30, €19 OPERA: THE FAIRY QUEEN COMEDY: DA BOUNCE Already a highly adapted verCOMEDY NIGHTS sion of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for The renowned Da Bounce this interpretation, the Nation- Comedy Nights crew sets up for al Reisopera has joined forces another night of raucous laughs with the Veenfabriek and di- in Amsterdam. Each session inrector Paul Koek. He considers vites a handful of comics from The Fairy Queen to be a celethe US and UK, plus special

Highlight theatre

FRUITVALE STATION Is there such a thing as ‘sensible’ violence? The killing in Fruitvale Station (of Oscar Grant III by a transit cop in Oakland, CA) may be as senseless as it gets. This devastating drama – based on true events – features a stellar performance by Michael B Jordan (Chronicle, The Wire).

Direction: Ryan Coogler Release: 2 January

ALL IS LOST Robert Redford gives new meaning to the word ‘taciturn’ in this low-key drama about a man (Redford) who gets shipwrecked on the Indian Ocean.

The amount of dialogue is negligible excepting one very well earned expletive, which rhymes with ‘duck’.

Direction: JC Chandor Release: 16 January

ENOUGH SAID

NT LIVE: CORIOLANUS Screened live from London’s Donmar Warehouse, Shakespeare’s searing tragedy of political manipulation and revenge stars Tom Hiddleston in the titular role and Mark Gatiss (Mycroft in the BBC’s Sherlock) as Menenius. This production – with Donmar’s artistic director Josie Rourke at the helm – has some serious cultural clout. And in a city where English theatre is a rarefied treat, €12.50 is a bargain price, and the art-deco Tuschinski is always a pleasure. Thur 30 Jan, Pathé Tuschinski, 20.00, €12.50 bration of life and transforms it into a colourful spectacle with numerous characters, in which tormentor and elf servant Puck is accompanied by an electronic rock band.

See page 23.

Mon 24 Feb, Stadsschouwburg, 19.30, €12.50-€45 DANCE: ROCCO In this performance by ICKamsterdam, dancers become boxers and boxers become dancers. They challenge each other in a boxing ring with telling blows, nimble footwork and virtuoso tactics. The dancers represent brotherly love in all its facets: the good and the bad, the devil and the angel, the androgynous and the incestuous. The work is based on the film by Luchino Visconti: Rocco e i suoi fratelli.

Tue 25 & Wed 26 Feb, Frascati, 20.30, €19 PERFORMANCE: DOUBLE POINTS: VERDI In this operatic dance performance, choreographers Emio Greco and Pieter C Scholten of ICKamsterdam breathe new life into the prima donnas of Giuseppe Verdi, born 200 years ago last year. In doing

Dutch guests and MCs. Fri 28 Feb, Meervaart, 20.00, €20-€25 ADDRESSES Boom Chicago Rozentheater, Rozengracht 117 020 423 0101 www.boomchicago.nl Comedy Theater in de Nes Nes 110, 020 422 0033 www.comedytheater.nl Crea Café Nieuwe Achtergracht 170 020 5251 400 www.crea.uva.nl Frascati Nes 63, 020 626 6866 www.theaterfrascati.nl Meervaart Meer en Vaart 300 020 410 7777 www.meervaart.nl MC Theater Polonceaukade 5, 020 606 5040 www.mconline.nl Het Muziektheater Amstel 3, 020 625 5455 www.het-muziektheater.nl Pathé Tuschinski Reguliersbreestraat 26-34 www.pathe.nl Stadsschouwburg Leidseplein 26, 020 624 2311 www.stadsschouwburgamsterdam.nl

Julia ‘Christine’ Louis-Dreyfus and the late great James ‘Soprano’ Gandolfini don’t seem like the most likely of onscreen couples, but that’s the whole point. We can’t all be like Brad and Angelina.

Enough Said shows us that love is sloppy, awkward but still pretty darn wonderful.

Direction: Nicole Holofcener Release: 16 January

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Speaking of mismatched couples, what to think about Benedick and Beatrice, Shakespeare’s famous bickering couple in Much Ado About Nothing? Joss Whedon (Buffy, The Avengers) gives us a stylish yet laid-back interpretation – filmed at his own California home.

Direction: Joss Whedon Release: 16 January

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB Matthew McConaughey’s transformation from Hollywood heartthrob to gritty, gutsy and grimy character actor is nothing short of miraculous. His excellent turn as homophobic Texan hustler Ron Woodroof – who is diagnosed with Aids – may even win him an Oscar.

Direction: Jean-Marc Vallée Release: 23 January

ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE Disenchanted by human society, vampire rock star Tom ‘Loki’ Hiddleston reunites with his one great love, Tilda Swinton, in this newest feature by Jim Jarmusch. Yes, you read that correctly: Jim Jarmusch made a vampire movie! Mia Wasikowska co-stars as Swinton’s annoying little vampire sister.

Direction: Jim Jarmusch Release: 6 February

THE MONUMENTS MEN True story: during WWII a platoon was asked to go into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi baddies. The goodies are played

by George Clooney (who also directed), Matt Damon, John Goodman and Bill Murray.

Need we really say more?

Direction: George Clooney Release: 13 February

12 YEARS A SLAVE Sadly also true: in antebellum America, a free black man (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is abducted and sold into slavery. The title tells you the rest. Harrowing historic masterpiece from the director of Hunger and Shame.

Also with McQueen regular Michael Fassbender. Another strong Oscar contender.

Direction: Steve McQueen Release: 20 February

HER Spike Jonze took his time, but it’s well worth the wait. The director who gave us a portal into John Malkovich’s head, now gives us a real heartfelt love story between lonely writer Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) and his virtual personal assistant (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).

Direction: Spike Jonze Release: 27 February

NEBRASKA Alexander Payne (About Schmidt, Sideways) has a soft spot for his leading men, no matter how flawed or misguided. His latest creation, Woody (Bruce Dern, Best Actor at Cannes), a pensioner who thinks he has won a million dollars, may be his best yet.

Direction: Alexander Payne Release: 27 February

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PART IV THE A-LIST

KIDS & FAMILY ATTRACTIONS AMSTERDAM DUNGEON Brings 500 years of history to life with 11 shows, seven actors and one terrifying experience.

Rokin 78, www.thedungeons. com. Open daily 11.00-17.00; €21, ages 5-17 €12.50

KINDERKOOKKAFE At the ‘Kids Cook Café’, children (ages five to 12) do absolutely everything to help run the restaurant, including cooking, serving, bar-tending, tidying up and running the cash register.

Vondelpark 6B, www.kinder kookkafe.nl. Open daily 10.0017.00; various prices

advertorial

Highlight Artis

AMSTERDAMSE BOS KLANKSPEELTUIN (AMSTERDAM FOREST) (SOUND GARDEN) Amsterdam’s largest park and The Klankspeeltuin is unlike recreational area is home to a any other playground. Children goat farm (with a petting zoo), between the ages of seven and a Pancake House, a ‘FunForest’ 12 learn how to compose music climbing park, a vintage tram, a using all sorts of sound installabotanical garden and a rowing tions and computers during this lake. Bicycle, canoe, kayak and interactive workshop. Parents/ pedal boat rental are caretakers are not present duravailable. ing the workshop, but get to hear www.amsterdamsebos.nl the compositions at the end.

ARTIS ROYAL ZOO Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Piet ANNE FRANK HOUSE Welcome to Artis Royal Zoo: the first zoo established in the Heinkade 1, www.muziekge This is the hiding place where bouw.nl. Wed & Sun, 15.00Netherlands and located right in the centre of Amsterdam. It Anne Frank wrote her diary 16.30; €8.50 is a place where nature and cultural heritage come together; during World War II. Suitable a place where stories have existed since 1838 and where MADAME TUSSAUDS for children over ten. new stories are created daily. Experience them for yourself.

AMSTERDAM Prinsengracht 267, www.anne Admire the tropical fish in the Aquarium – one of the many frank.org. Open Mon-Fri, Sun Step into the amazing world historical monuments at the Zoo. Travel through time in the 09.00-19.00, Sat 09.00-21.00; of Madame Tussauds. The colPlanetarium. Enjoy the giraffes. See them gallop amongst the €9, ages 10-17 €4.50 lection of wax figures includes plenty of pop-culture heroes: zebra, springbok and oryx. Walk through the historical Bird ARTIS ROYAL ZOO pose for photos with the likes of House and study the numerous species of free flying birds.

Artis celebrated its 175th birthDavid Beckham, Justin Bieber Be amazed by the diversity of animals that share the tropical day last year. Admire the tropand Beyoncé. forest in the renovated Forest House. Surround yourself by ical fish in the Aquarium and Dam 20, www.madame hundreds of fluttering butterflies in the Butterfly Pavilion. travel through time in the Plan- tussauds.nl. Open daily 10.00Stroll through the historical park with its centuries-old trees etarium. See giraffes galloping 18.30; €22, ages 5-15 €17 and a multitude of plants. Every leaf, every tree, every animal, amongst the zebras, springMIRANDABAD POOL boks, oryx and wildebeests. every building and exhibit tells its own story – everyday anew.

Plantage Kerklaan 38-40, Subtropical swimming pool Together they tell the big story of nature and her meaning to www.artis.nl. Open daily complex with a beach, palm society. A greater understanding of nature leads to greater 09.00-17.00; €18.95, ages trees, several indoor and outdoor respect for all living things. The Zoo’s greater story is a story 3-9 €15.50 pools and wave machines. Other about ourselves. amenities include squash courts, HORTUS BOTANICUS a solarium and a restaurant.

EXPERIENCE ARTIS ROYAL ZOO At 375, Hortus Botanicus is one De Mirandalaan 9, www. of the oldest botanical gardens mirandabad.nl. Various times Discover its stories. Artis is open to the public every day, but in the world. This refuge from & prices on Saturdays and Sundays at 11.00 a.m. it’s possible to particthe bustle of the city features ipate in an English guided tour. Come listen to the many stoONTDEKHOEK a palm house and a butterfly ries of the oldest and most famous zoo in the Netherlands.

(DISCOVERY CORNER) greenhouse, four bee hives, temporary exhibitions and a Capture the imagination at this SCIENCE CENTER NEMO 1945. The museum’s dedicated café. Ask about the children’s truly unique science centre. Kids Junior building shows young programme, which includes a can choose from more than 30 Introduces young and old to the visitors (ages nine-14) how four special biodiversity catalogue. experiments including how to world of science and technolpeers lived during wartime.

Plantage Middenlaan 2A, develop photos in a darkroom, ogy. Five floors are filled with Verzetsmuseum, www.verzets dehortus.nl. Open daily 10.00- make crisps from a potato, conexhibitions, theatre and more.

17.00; €8.50, ages 5-14 €4.50 struct a sailing boat and make Hear, feel and see how the world museum.org. Open Mon, Sat & scented soap. The entry fee cov- works: everything is interactive. Sun 11.00-17.00; Tue-Fri 10.00ICE*AMSTERDAM 17.00. Adults €8, ages 7-15 €4.50, ers the entire day and you can Oosterdok 2, www.e-nemo.nl. under-sixs free A perfect winter outing with take home whatever you create.

Open daily 10.00-17.00; €13.50 friends and family of all ages, For children aged four to 14.

WOESTE WESTEN TROPENMUSEUM JUNIOR ICE*Amsterdam promises Burgemeester Röellstraat 145, PLAYGROUND to be the ideal place to enjoy www.ontdekhoek.nl. Open WedFocused on non-Western culKids can dig, climb, play in the some typical Dutch wintertime Sun 10.00-17.00 (Tue & Thur by tures, the interactive exhibits sand, explore and check out the fun. Come along for a spot of appt only); €8, children €10 here introduce children to new frogs and bugs that call the park skating or simply to watch the cultures in a playful way that PANCAKE BOAT home. Most days a supervisor is action and take in the magical sparks their curiosity. present, meaning kids can play atmosphere. Warm up with a A cosy boat, all-you-can-eat panLinnaeusstraat 2, www.tro freely while parents kick back. drink or snack at the charming cakes and a view of Amsterdam’s penmuseum.nl. Open Tue-Sun The playground is always open, wooden chalet next to the ice canals make the Pancake Boat a 10.00-17.00; various prices even when the supervisor is not rink. Skates available to rent. great activity for all ages.

TUNFUN there. In the winter months, Museumplein, www.ice Ms van Riemsdijkweg t/o 38, special activities packed with amsterdam.nl. Open daily www.pannenkoekenboot.nl.

TunFun is an indoor paradise for adventure, hot chocolate and 10.00-20.00, €3 Various times & prices children under 12. Under adult supervision, kids can enjoy hours campfires are on offer. Check the JAAP EDEN ICE-SKATING SCHEEPVAARTMUSEUM site for dates and times. of active, creative and advenRINK (NATIONAL MARITIME Westerpark, www.woestewesten. turous fun in a huge 4,000m2 MUSEUM) nl. Playground supervisor is Amsterdam’s largest and bestindoor playground. known ice-skating centre, with Boasts a variety of exhibitions Mr Visserplein 7, www.tunfun. present Mon & Tue 12.00-18.00, Wed-Sun 11.00-18.00 a 400-metre outdoor rink designed just for kids. Moored nl. Open daily 10.00-18.00; (open October to April), an just outside the museum, the adults free, ages 1-12 €8.50 indoor rink and a beginners’ Dutch East India Company ship VERZETSMUSEUM JUNIOR EVENTS corner. Facilities include a res- Amsterdam is a hit with visitors taurant, showers and lockers. of all ages.

The Dutch Resistance Museum WINTER WESTWAARTS Don’t miss the disco skating Kattenburgerplein 1, details the history of the Dutch every Saturday evening. www.scheepvaartmuseum.nl. resistance in World War II dur- A collaboration between Podium Radioweg 64, www.jaapeden.

Open daily 09.00-17.00; €15, Mozaïek and the Amsterdam ing the country’s occupation by nl. Various times & prices ages 5-17 €7.50 Germany from May 1940 to May District of West, this diverse cul-

tural event returns with a special winter edition featuring music, theatre, dance, cabaret and a whole host of fun for the entire family – all in a large tent located in the beautiful Erasmuspark.

In addition to the performances, there’ll be plenty of workshops to get involved with, such as clay modelling and baking.

Wed 1-Sun 5 Jan, Erasmuspark, www.westwaarts.com. 13.00, free ICE SKATING RINK ON THE LEIDSEPLEIN Every year, the Leidseplein city square transforms into a winter wonderland with an ice skating rink, festive lights, a small Christmas market and food stalls that serve up typical Dutch treats. If you don’t have your own skates, you can rent them.

Until Sun 5 Jan, Leidseplein, www.ijsbaanamsterdam.nl.

Open Mon-Fri 10.00-23.00, Sat & Sun 10.00-00.00; €2.50 SUNDAY MARKET A great day out for the whole family! Artists, designers and craftspeople flog their wares and delicious food and drink is on offer to fuel your shopping frenzy. There is always some form of entertainment or crafty workshop on and plenty of kids’ clothing and toy stalls to browse through.

Sun 5 Jan & 2 Feb, Westergasfabriek, Haarlemmerweg, www.sunday market.nl. 12.0018.00; free WESTERGASFABRIEK WINTER PARC Younger skaters are invited to twirl around the rink during the day and come evening it’s time for the grown-ups to hit the ice. Located next to the rink, Pacific Parc’s Winter Restaurant is the perfect place for warming up and refuelling after all the activity outside. Ice skates are available for hire for €5 or take to the ice with your own skates for €2.50 (no speed skates).

Until 5 Jan, Pacific Parc, Polonceaukade 23, www.pacific parc.nl. Open daily 10.0022.00; €2.50 WINTER CIRCUS AMSTERDAM A mixture of old-and-new performance techniques, this festive circus sees acrobatics and plate-spinning alongside the likes of a trickster dog and Ukraine’s eye-dazzling Laserman. The circus park in the foyer is the perfect place for the young ones to pick up some new circus skills, as well as soak up the merry atmosphere.

Until 5 Jan, ArenA Boulevard, www.wintercircusamsterdam.nl.

Various times, €15-€49 WORLD CHRISTMAS CIRCUS This blast of holiday-season family fun sees one of Amsterdam’s grandest theatres revisiting its original purpose as a circus theatre. All the traditional entertainments are represented, from trapeze play to clowning around, courtesy of world-renowned clown, Bello Nock.

Until Sun 5 Jan, Royal Theatre Carré, Amstel 115-125, web.carre. nl. Various times, €15-€64

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jan & feb 2014

SPORTS The event includes show jumping and dressage competitions, LOCATIONS shows, evening entertainment, FRIDAY NIGHT SKATE ICE*AMSTERDAM an exhibition area and a host of bars and restaurants.

Get your skates on for the A perfect winter outing with weekly Friday Night Skate, an Thur 23-Sun 26 Jan, Amsterfriends and family of all ages, institution in Amsterdam! De- dam RAI, Europaplein, www.

ICE*Amsterdam promises jumping amsterdam.nl. Variparting from the Vondelpark, to be the ideal place to enjoy ous times & prices the skating routes take in all some typical Dutch wintertime areas of the city, allowing you fun. Come along for a spot of SOCIAL SQUASH NITE to skate in places where you skating or simply to watch the Squash City host a Social wouldn’t on your own. action and take in the magical Squash Nite every last Friday Every Friday, atmosphere. Warm up with a of the month: an evening of Vondelpark Pavilion, drink or snack at the charming squash and socialising open to www.fridaynightskate.com. wooden chalet next to the ice all. Meet new faces, work up 20.30, free rink. Skates available to rent. a sweat on the court and cool Museumplein, www.ice ROLLERDISCO down with a drink at the bar amsterdam.nl. Open daily Organised by roller-skating fa- after the action. No registra10.00-20.00, €3 tion needed, just turn up on natics Skate Dance, this rockin’ JAAP EDEN ICE-SKATING the night. and rollin’ night resolutely RINK Fri 31 Jan & 28 Feb, Squash proves that disco ain’t dead, baby! So get your skates on (or City, Ketelmakerstraat 6, www.

The Jaap Eden is Amstersquashcity.com. 18.00, €12.50 hire a pair for the night) and dam’s largest and best-known ( free for members) enjoy a night of roller skating, ice-skating centre, with an disco and funk boogie. outdoor 400-metre rink (open FRIDAY NIGHT RUN Sun 2 Feb, Club Lite, Jan van October to April), an indoor NIEUW-WEST Galenstraat 24, www.clublite. one and a beginners’ corner.

The District of Nieuw-West nl. 19.30, €8 Radioweg 64, www.jaapeden. gets in on the evening running nl. Various times & prices FRIDAY NIGHT RUN action with their very own KLIMHAL AMSTERDAM Organised by the Phanos ath- Friday Night Run organised by letics association every second the AAC athletics association Klimhal Amsterdam is the perFriday of the month, this free every last Friday of the month. fect place for the beginner and group running event is open to The route varies each week and the advanced climber. Its main both recreational and more se- there are two groups to join: wall is 21 metres high, with a rious sportsters. Beginners can one departing for a 30-minute climbing surface of more than join in the 40-minute run at a run and another that takes on 2,300m2 and a bouldering slower tempo and there’s also the more challenging one-hour area of 250m2. variant. the standard one-hour run.

Naritaweg 48, www.klim Fri 31 Jan & 28 Feb, Sportpark Fri 10 Jan & 14 Feb, Olymhalamsterdam.nl. Various Ookmeer, Willinklaan 7, www. pic Stadium, www.friday times & prices aacamsterdam.nl. 19.30, free nightrun.nl. 19.30, free DE KLIMMUUR AJAX V FC VONDELPARKLOOP Rock climbing in the centre of GRONINGEN A sporting event for the whole Amsterdam. Enjoy a fun and One of Ajax’s most celebrated family, the Vondelparkloop safe event for beginners, or a players of recent years, Luis weaves through the famous more challenging climb for Suárez (now of Liverpool FC) experienced rock hoppers. Varpark in Amsterdam, followmade the move to Amsterdam ing the main pathways to ious courses are available. after a season at Groningen. distances of up to 10km. Part Dijksgracht 2, www.deklim Thur 6 Feb, Amsterdam of the charm of the event is muur.nl. Various times ArenA, ArenA Boulevard 1, its accessibility, so even if you & prices www.amsterdamarena.nl. don’t fancy a run, come along KNIJN BOWLING 20.45, various prices and support those taking part!

Celebrating its 40th jubilee Ten-pin bowling for everyone: AJAX V SC HEERENVEEN this year, there’s also a special suitable for family events, 50+, The ‘Super Fresians’ make 10km ‘Light the Night’ run on beginners or competitive playthe eve of the main event. The the trip from the north of the ers. One of its most popular country for this Eredivisie Vondelparkloop is the first occasions is Disco Bowling event in the ‘Rondje Mokum’ match, providing the chance to – every Friday and Saturday (Amsterdam Circuit) – a series see football stars both young night from 23.00 to 00.30. and old(er). Ex-Ajax player of seven running competitions Scheldeplein 3, www.knijn (and arguably one of the best held at various spots in Ambowling.nl. Various times & footballers of all time) Marco sterdam throughout the year. prices Sat 18 & Sun 19 Jan, Vondel- van Basten is now in charge at LASERCITY AMSTERDAM park, www.vondelparkloop.nl. sc Heerenveen: home to one of this season’s top scorers, Alfreð Less painful than paintballing, Various times & prices Finnbogason. but certainly no less fun, the AJAX V PSV Sun 16 Feb, Amsterdam laser gaming adventures on ArenA, ArenA Boulevard 1, No strangers to the upper echoffer here are perfect for large www.amsterdamarena.nl. elons of the top Dutch division, and small group outings. The 16.30, various prices this club from Eindhoven is 600m2 playing area, near the currently finding it difficult to National Maritime Museum, is AJAX V AZ emerge from mid-table. Foralso the biggest laser gaming mer Dutch international Philip Legendary Ajax manager Louis centre in the region.

Cocu is the man charged with van Gaal took AZ Alkmaar all VOC-kade 14, www.laser the way to league cup success guiding PSV to more gamenamsterdam.nl. Various in the late Noughties, and with solid results. times & prices Dick Advocaat at the helm Sun 19 Jan, Amsterdam SKI INN AMSTERDAM since October 2013, they’re not ArenA, ArenA Boulevard 1, doing too badly at the moment www.amsterdamarena.nl.

It’s not quite the Alps, but either. Ajax lost 3-2 when the whether you’re looking to warm 16.30, various prices two teams met earlier in the up for a winter vacation or just JUMPING AMSTERDAM season and will be looking to curious to try your hand at a ensure they don’t leave empty spot of skiing or snowboarding, Celebrating its 55th edition handed again when they face you can do just that in the heart this year, this international AZ on home turf. equestrian event is an annual of Amsterdam. The indoor highlight on the Dutch eques- Sun 23 Feb, Amsterdam ArenA, rolling slopes of the Ski Inn are Amsterdam Boulevard, www. trian calendar that never fails adaptable for all skill levels. amsterdamarena.nl. 14.30, to draw the world’s best riders, WG Plein 281, www.ski-inn.nl. various prices including Olympic champions.

Various times & prices

EVENTS

SLOTEN GOLF COURSE Straight down the middle!

This nine-hole golf course on the outskirts of Amsterdam features both wooded and water areas. Head on to the fairway or practice your swing at the driving range. Club hire available.

Sloterweg 1045, www.golf baansloten.nl. Open Mon-Fri 08.30-18.00, various prices

a delightful glass of bubbly in the lounge afterwards. They also offer facials, body massages and manicures.

Van Baerlestraat 45, www. theoriginal-drfish.nl. Various times & prices SAUNA DECO AMSTERDAM Sauna Deco is highly regarded in Amsterdam as one of the few places in the city centre

Highlight sports

GLOWGOLF AMSTERDAM Practice your putting skills in an unlikely scenario – in the cavernous basement of an Amsterdam bar, wearing 3D glasses and surrounded by psychedelically glowing obstacles exploding from the darkness. The theme of this weird and wonderful 15-hole glow-in-the-dark course is ‘Back to the Future’. Prins Hendrikkade 194, www.glowgolf.nl.

Various times & prices where you can still go to completely relax. Enjoy its lounge rooms, pleasant atmosphere THE CITY STREET SPA and all the facilities you require for a day of luxury. And British expat Chantal Naughtas you can guess from its on’s powder blue boutique spa name, the sauna is styled in is a favourite with the city’s Canal Belt clique and discerning historic and beautiful art deco pieces, transporting its guests expats, but the aestheticians to a bygone era. at this urban retreat make Herengracht 115, www.sauna everyone feel welcome. The deco.nl. Various times & prices OPI Pedicure (€53, 60min) soothes tired shopping feet, the SENTO SPA AND aromatherapy massage (€80, HEALTH CLUB 60min) rubs stresses away and Are you looking for a fitness the ‘non-surgical facelift’ (€95, centre and health club in 60min) performs miracles. the heart of Amsterdam? At Prinsengracht 764, Sento you can find complete http://thecitystreetspa.com professional supervision and KOAN FLOAT personal training for every requirement. Enjoy the spa If gently submerging yourself in warm salt water sounds like and beauty facilities or go for a swim in the pool. heaven to you, then head to Marnixplein 1, www.sento.nl.

Koan Float in the city centre.

Various times & prices Here you can leave the real world behind as you expeSPA ZUIVER rience the tranquillity of a floatation tank or a wide varie- Completely unwind and enjoy the comfortable surroundings ty of massage sessions. and luxurious treatments of Spa Herengracht 321, www.koan Zuiver, located on the edge of float.nl. Various times & prices the Amsterdamse Bos (AmsterTHE ORIGINAL DR FISH dam Forest). With facilities inThis might sound a bit fishy, cluding saunas, baths, hammam treatments, relaxation chambut Amsterdam’s Dr Fish is bers, sports, swimming pool the newest trend in wellness and dining and hotel options, treatments. The feeling of fish it’s perfect for anyone looking to nibbling at your hands and feet may feel a little strange at relax and recharge. Please note: clothing is not obligatory at this first, but you’ll soon discover mixed-gender spa – except on just how relaxing it is. It’s the Tuesdays. ultimate treatment for clean, Koenenkade 8, www.spazuiver. soft hands. And to round off nl. Various times & prices the pampering, you are served

WELLNESS

58

PART IV THE A-LIST

GAY & LESBIAN REGULAR EVENTS SAMEPLACE: MEN ONLY With a maximum of one article of clothing per party-goer – and no minimum – it’s not hard to work out what might happen next...

Every Mon, Same Place, 20.00, €5

Shock and more. And if you price of one at Taboo bar. Plus, want to become a star yourself, every month, you’re eligible to the open stage is there for you win a DVD package. to shine.

Wed 1 Jan & 5 Feb, Pathé de Every Fri, Lellebel, 20.00 Munt, 21.00, €10

(Z)ONDERBROEK F*CKING POP QUEERS Every Friday and Sunday night Fucking Pop Queers advertises and every first Saturday of the itself with the tagline ‘It’s Fun! month, drop all your pretences It’s Pop! And it’s sooo Gay!’. and dance without pants at This ego-free irreverence is club Church in Amsterdam. also present in the whimsical The dress code is strictly enthemes and the cheeky mix of forced: briefs and jocks are dance-floor fillers and fluffy NAKED SWIMMING welcome; swimming trunks, pop songs. boxers, sports shorts or going Sat 4 Jan & 1 Feb, Sugar FacThe Marnixbad pools contain tory, 23.00, €12.50 much less chlorine than most – commando are also permitted.

Board shorts, Bermudas or which is good news since you’ll FIGHT CLUB other streetwear prohibited. be exposing your sensitive bits.

Every Fri & Sun, Church, For guys into wrestling, (kick) Every Tue, Marnixbad, 21.00, various times, €10 boxing, fighting, trampling and various prices other contact sports – with apGAY PUB CRAWL TUESDAY BLUESDAY propriate dress code. Men only.

Does exactly what it says on Sun 5 Jan, Church, 16.00, €10 Sameplace café hosts a club the tin, taking in ‘Gay Street’s night with a special focus on LET US BE BI blues, soul and contemporary finest drinking establishments.

Every Sat, departs Taboo, An evening especially for music. While there’s no en20.00 couples and bisexual men and trance fee, you are asked to women. spend at least €10 at the bar IT’S SHOWTIME FOLKS Thur 9 Jan & 13 Feb, Same when you’re a single man, or It’s show time almost every Place, 21.00 the same amount if you’re night at Lellebel, the most a couple.

NETHERBEARS AT THE outrageous drag show bar in Every Tue, Same Place, 21.00 QUEEN’S HEAD town, but Saturdays are espeBLUE cially fabulous, with the bar’s Bi-weekly get-together by most glamorous stars coming Netherbears, the ‘slightly less Kooky clubbing with Amstertogether for a supernova of stocky’ bear men (according to dam’s drag supremo Jennifer cabaret fun. their website).

Hopelezz. Drinks are just Every Sat, Lellebel, 20.00 Sun 12 & 26 Jan, 9 & 23 Feb, €2.50.

The Queen’s Head, www.nether Every Thur, Church, 22.00, €5 BUBBLES & BITES bears.nl, 19.00 DRINK & COCKTAIL Free bites from 17.00-19.00, GARBO FOR WOMEN EVENING and cheap bubbles – just €2.50 – in pink or white.

Single ladies strut their stuff Every Thursday, enjoy a Every Sun, Prik, 16.00 at this regular ladies-only mouth-watering cocktail at meet-up, celebrating its ninth drag show bar Lellebel on the DOUBLE HAPPY HOUR anniversary in 2014. corner of Rembrandtplein.

Because why wouldn’t you Sat 18 Jan, Strand West, Relax in the pleasant company 18.00, €8 of your hostesses Miss Saphira, want to start the working week with a hangover? Line up for Electra Shock, May ButterFURBALL bargain-priced cocktails cream and Ginger G-Spot. Get and shots.

The Amsterdam hairy men a taste of Sugi’s Mojito, May’s Every Sun, Taboo, 18.00 dance party for the butch and Mango or Electra’s Sunrise… bears. With DJs Bramsterdam And yes, those are cocktails, LADY GALORE’S and Big General. For men and cheeky.

DRAG NIGHT transmen only.

Every Thur, Lellebel, 20.00 Come and join Lady Galore Sat 18 Jan, Church, 22.00, €10 THE PONY CLUB and her wonderful assistant HORSEMEN & KNIGHTS Annie Alcohol along with If you want to quit horsing some guest performers and Big willy gay sex party. Dress around and get serious about surprises. code: naked or underwear. starting the weekend on Every Sun, Amstel Fifty Four, Drop ’em and if you measure Thursday (and who doesn’t?), 20.00 up, entrance is free. you couldn’t ask for a better Sun 19 Jan & 16 Feb, The place than The Pony Club.

SUNDAY CAROUSEL Warehouse, 15.00, €8 Three floors of DJs spin an Be transported to exotic climes energetic mix of pop, disco, LADZ: WINTER WHITE with Arabian and Turkish house and electro alongside EDITION performances to lift your spir- music courtesy of old and new Ladz is the men-only gay its. Arrive before midnight and divas from Lellebel, with Miss Rini leading the charge. dance party for lads, scallies, get in for free.

Every Sun, Lellebel, 22.00 skaters, gabbers, sneaker- and Every Thur, Club NYX, 23.00, sportswear boys. There’s a €5, free before midnight strict dress code: sneakers are THANK GOD IT’S a must, full sportswear and FRIDAY tracksuits are encouraged – ONE-OFF and this edition, it must Celebrate the weekend with EVENTS be white. tunes, nibbles and drinks.

Sat 25 Jan, Church, 22.00, €10 After a week of hard work, GAY MOVIE NIGHT unwind with a drink, some EROTIC CHILL-OUT PARTY snacks and tunes by the Nurse your hangover in the resident DJ. dark, while enjoying a screen- Erotic party for couples, ladies, Every Fri, Engel van Amstering of the gems of gay cinema. transvestites and a select group of single men. If you wish to dam, 17.00, free Whether it’s the latest film by attend, make sure that you Pedro Almodovar, Gregg Araki THANK GODDESS, visit the Sameplace website or John Cameron Mitchell, IT’S FRIDAY work from an upcoming direc- (www.sameplace.nl) and check Welcome the weekend with tor or a classic gay film, you’re out the dress code, the rules of conduct and apply for a reslive performances and an sure to catch the best LGBT ervation, which is absolutely open stage. Start the weekend movies in great company. required for this party. celebrations with your hostess You’ll be welcomed half an Sun 26 Jan & 23 Feb, Same Miss Sugi La Ri accompanied hour before the screening with Place, 16.00, €30 for by stars such as Ginger G-Spot, a drink and after the film, you single men May Buttercream, Electra can enjoy two drinks for the

LGBTQ OOSTERPARK AND LGBTQ CAFE Low-key neighbourhood drinks in the east of the city.

Fri 31 Jan & 28 Feb, Eden

ADDRESSES Amstel Fifty Four Amstel 54 www.amstelfiftyfour.nl Church

Highlight gay

BEAR NECESSITY – 6 YEAR ANNIVERSARY The biggest and most popular party for bears, hairy hunks, beefy boys, cubs, otters, their lovers and everyone else is known for its relaxed atmosphere where people come to enjoy themselves to high-quality music by resident stars and international guest DJs. Since its launch in early 2008, Bear Necessity has expanded to host regular parties in London and Antwerp, and also makes visits to Cologne, Barcelona and Madrid.

Sat 1 Feb, Odeon, 23.00, €15 Amsterdam Manor Hotel, 21.00, free FLIRTATION This edition of girls-only dance event Flirtation, which caters to an open-minded female audience, boasts a mix of music styles: house, pop, house, R&B, hip hop, Soca, Zouk and more.

Fri 7 Feb, Panama, 23.00, €17.50 XXX LEATHER Get out your chaps and polish your pleather for this fetishist’s wet dream. The dress code is as you might imagine.

Sat 8 Feb, Church, 22.00, €10 HELLO POZZUMS Sexy party exclusively for HIV-positive men. In the words of the founders Richard Keldoulis & Anne Rodermond of club Church: ‘People with HIV are still being discriminated in the nightlife and cruising scene. HIV-positive men want a party where having HIV is the norm, where there’s no stigma attached to it.

Club Church wants to create a space where HIV-positive men can feel physically uninhibited, where one’s HIV status doesn’t create any kind of obstacle.’

Sun 16 Feb, Church, 16.00, €7.50 HOOKERS’ BALL: CALIGULA When a party has the slogan ‘you might get laid but you won’t get paid!’ you know you’re in for a bumpy ride. This edition, re-live the depravity and debauchery under Rome’s most infamous emperor.

Sat 22 Feb, Church, 22.00, €12.50

Kerkstraat 52 www.clubchurch.nl Eden Amsterdam Manor Hotel Linnaeusstraat 89 www.lgbtqoosterpark. blogspot.com Engel van Amsterdam Zeedijk 21 www.engelamsterdam.nl Lellebel Utrechtsestraat 4 www.lellebel.nl Marnixbad Marnixplein 1 www.hetmarnix.nl Club NYX Reguliersdwarsstraat 42 http://clubnyx.nl Odeon Singel 460 www.odeonamsterdam.nl Panama Oostelijke Handelskade 4 www.panama.nl Pathé de Munt Vijzelstraat 15 www.pathe.nl Prik Spuistraat 109 www.prikamsterdam.nl The Queen’s Head Zeedijk 20 www.queenshead.nl Same Place Nassaukade 120 www.sameplace.nl Strand West Stavangerweg 900 www.garboforwomen.nl Sugar Factory Lijnbaansgracht 238 www.sugarfactory.nl Taboo Reguliersdwarsstraat 45 www.taboobar.nl The Warehouse Warmoesstraat 96 www.warehouseamsterdam.com

59 THE FIRST 40 SUBSCRIBERS TO A-MAG THIS ISSUE GET 2 X TICKETS TO HERMITAGE AMSTERDAM + POSTER

giveaway WITH YOUR SUBSCRIPTION SIX G GET F A-MA R U O O Y S E O ISSU ERED T JUST IV R DEL OR FO GET 2 X IT DO AND ERM 5 €17.9 TS TO H RDAM. E E TICK E AMST be at AG Subscri rvice agse com a-m erdam. t s m @ia

HERMITAGE AMSTERDAM Imagine yourself a Russian tsar in the Amsterdam annexe of the 18th-century St Petersburg Hermitage. Until the end of February the Hermitage Amsterdam turns its attention to three major late 19th- and early 20th-century artists, in Gauguin, Bonnard, Denis: A Russian Taste for French Art. Paul Gauguin was a shining example for Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis, who were united with other artists under the title ‘Les Nabis’. This extensive exhibition displays the work of the Nabi artists alongside paintings and drawings by their predecessors, contemporaries and immediate successors.

Subsequently, the museum presents Expedition Silk Road, featuring treasures from the archives about the long-vanished civilisations along the legendary Silk Road.

Amstel 51 +31 (0)20 530 8755 www.hermitage.nl

Mail & win IN! L & WETS I A M ICK 2 X T H TEA G + HI

ENTRANCE & HIGH TEA FOR TWO AT TASSENMUSEUM

1000 QUESTIONS ABOUT AMSTERDAM

With a collection of over 4,000 bags and purses, the Museum of Bags & Purses provides an incredible, historical overview of the history of the Western ladies’ bag. Spread over three floors and starting with a bag dating back to the 16th century, the collection includes bags from Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Hermès. The lavish high tea will make your visit even more festive, with loose-leaf tea, savoury delights, sweet treats and of course scones with clotted cream and jam. The high tea needs to reserved in advance, before 31 March 2014.

Email us at a-mag@iamsterdam.com for your chance to win.

How many bicycles are there in Amsterdam? Who is the owner of the Rijksmuseum?

Where is Rembrandt van Rijn buried? These are just a few of the questions in the new, informative and bilingual book titled 1000 Questions about Amsterdam / 1000 Vragen over Amsterdam. Each question has three possible answers, to add a game element to it and enlarge the interaction between users. It brings the history and culture of the city to life, in a fun and easy way. Available and to order in most Amsterdam bookshops.

Herengracht 573 +31 (0)20 524 6452 www.tassenmuseum.nl

IN! L&W I A M 5X KS BOO

www.1000vragen.nl

60

beyond amsterdam

THE A-LIST

BEYOND

A’DAM

‘THROUGH KHAN’S SHOCKINGLY IMAGINED CHAOS WE’RE DRAWN INTO THE CREATIVE MAELSTROM FROM WHICH ART IS BORN.’ SEE IF YOU AGREE WITH THE UK’S GUARDIAN, AT HOLLAND DANCE.

Get out of town for these don’t-miss attractions beyond the city limits.

DANCER LEONARD MICKELO. PHOTO JASON CAPOBIANCO

text Maxine Knoote

MARKEN So picture-perfect it’s like stepping into a 17th-century Dutch landscape painting. Historic Marken, with its characteristic green houses, was an island in the Zuiderzee until 1957, when it was connected to the mainland by a dyke. The isolationist days are still evident, in both the locals’ distinctive dialect and the traditional dress still worn by some inhabitants.

GETTING THERE: From Central Station, bus 311 takes around 45min.

NAARDEN-VESTING This small city is located in the middle of the ‘Het Gooi’ area, which is known for its historical charm, the wealth of its inhabitants and the characteristic large villas. Although the whole area is pretty, Naarden-Vesting, part of the ‘larger’ town of Naarden, is especially nice because it takes you back to the Middle Ages.

Naarden-Vesting is a star-shaped fortress, complete with fortified walls and a moat, which were used to protect inhabitants from external threats – including the Spanish.

You can relive this history in the Vestingmuseum, or take a walk on the Wallen – not to be confused with the infamous Amsterdam Wallen...

GETTING THERE: From Central Station, train to Naarden-Bussum; then bus 151. Total journey time around 55min.

HOLLAND DANCE Presenting dance companies from all over the world, the Holland Dance Festival is the largest of its kind in the Netherlands.

This two-yearly festival makes The Hague the centre of the international dance world for three weeks, with an unlimited range of styles – from urban dance to classical ballet, modern dance and tango. Highlights include British-Bengali choreographer Akram Khan’s iTMOi (in the mind of Igor), and the Ballet National de Marseille’s Titanic, an imposing spectacle inspired by the most famous shipwreck of all time.

25 January-16 February Various locations, The Hague http://holland-dance.com

GETTING THERE: From Central Station, trains to The Hague take around 45min.

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MUIDEN IS A HISTORICAL TOWN RENOWNED FOR ITS TEXTBOOK RED-BRICK CASTLE, THE MUIDERSLOT, WHICH WAS THE LOCATION OF THE 17TH-CENTURY LITERARY CIRCLE FORMED AROUND POET AND HISTORIAN PC HOOFT.

‘[I AM AMAZED TO REPORT THAT] A YOUTH, A DUTCHMAN, A BEARDLESS MILLER, COULD BRING TOGETHER SO MUCH IN ONE HUMAN FIGURE AND EXPRESS WHAT IS UNIVERSAL.’ SEE IF POET AND DIPLOMAT CONSTANTIJN HUYGENS WAS RIGHT ABOUT REMBRANDT’S WORK, AT THE TEYLERS MUSEUM

SCHELP (CONUS MARMOREUS), 1650

HTTP://MUIDERSLOT.NL

INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM

THE 100 MOST BEAUTIFUL REMBRANDTS

COBRA ART PRIZE 2013 Awarded biennially to an artist living in the Netherlands who makes innovative and experimental work, the fifth Cobra Art Prize recipient is design collective METAHAVEN. Founded by graphic designers Vinca Kruk (Leiden, 1980) and Daniel van der Velden (Rotterdam, 1971), key features of METAHAVEN’s work are a commitment to contemporary network culture and an emphasis on transparency and visibility. Turning design into a power tool to push forward social change, their work includes a collection of scarves and T-shirts supporting WikiLeaks.

18 January-16 March Cobra Museum, Amstelveen www.cobra-museum.nl GETTING THERE: From Central Station, buses 170 or 172 take around 45min.

Today regarded as one of the history of art’s greatest figures, Rembrandt’s critical reputation has not always been so exalted. At times reviled for his loose style and risqué subject matter, at others regarded as the greatest artist of all time, the oldest and first museum in the Netherlands reconsiders the Old Master’s critical position, displaying 100 of his finest etchings – as chosen by members of the public.

Until 19 January Teylers Museum, Haarlem www.teylersmuseum.eu

GETTING THERE: From Central Station, trains to Haarlem take around 15min.

Holland’s biggest international film festival is definitely worth leaving Amsterdam for.

The Rotterdam staple has presented the best innovative indie film fare since 1972, and this year’s theme is The State of Europe, as a prelude to the European elections next year.

Festival director Rutger Wolfson explains: ‘Peace and prosperity, the two main forces that have driven Europe, are still relevant today but feel worn out. Film can make European identity and ideas visible and recognisable for large audiences.’ Confirmed films include Claire Simons’ docu-fiction Gare du Nord, which addresses those Europeans who are not always seen as such, because they came from elsewhere.

22 January-2 February Around Rotterdam www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com

GETTING THERE: From Central Station, trains to Rotterdam take around an hour.

62

need to know

CLOSING

NEED TO

KNOW

Transport to tipping, your ABC of navigating Amsterdam.

illustration Qamar van Leeuwen

THE AMSTERDAM & REGION DAY TICKET This ticket entitles you to unlimited travel in Amsterdam and the surrounding region – day and night – on bus, tram and metro for 24 hours. Included within the region are great tourist attractions including historic Haarlem, industrial heritage highlight Zaanse Schans, North Sea beaches and the bulb region around Flora Holland auction centre – and of course, your journey to and from Schiphol Airport. A ticket costs just €13.50 and can be purchased from Visitor Information Centres, GVB, EBS and Conexxion ticket points.

TAXIS To keep traffic flowing at peak efficiency, there are REGULATED TAXI RANKS across the city – including outside Central Station and on Leidseplein. REGULATED FARES have also been introduced. These are listed below for a regular, fourpassenger taxi.

Maximum start price: €2.83 Maximum price per kilometre: €2.08 Maximum price per minute: €0.34 For more information, see www.taxi.amsterdam.nl

USEFUL PHONE NUMBERS In an emergency (police, ambulance, fire) CALL 112 To report theft or other petty crimes, CALL 0900 8844 For non-urgent medical advice CALL 020 427 5011

CANAL CRUISES There’s nothing like seeing Amsterdam from the water, and canal cruises are among the city’s most popular attractions. There are a host of companies with departure points across town and commentary in a multitude of languages, providing everything from hop-on, hop-off services mooring at all the key attractions to romantic dinner and evening cruises. www.iamsterdam.com

63

PUBLIC TRANSPORT An extensive network of trams, trains, metro and boats connects Amsterdam’s neighbourhoods. Disposable OV-CHIPKAARTEN, which have an inbuilt chip, can be used on all forms of transport and may be purchased or topped up with credit at locations across the city – just don’t forget to check in and check out or your card may be invalidated. TRAMS and BUSES are the most common forms of public transport within the centre, while TRAINS and the METRO are efficient for travelling longer distances. Behind Central Station, FERRIES transport passengers across the River IJ to the north of Amsterdam – completely free of charge.

VISITOR INFORMATION CENTRES For information and to book excursions, visit one of the Visitor Information Centres in Amsterdam:

COFFEESHOPS Coffeeshops are permitted to sell UP TO FIVE GRAMS OF CANNABIS TO ANY PATRON OVER THE AGE OF 18. All hard drugs and the sale/purchase of soft drugs on the street are strictly illegal and punishable by law.

Note that smoking regular tobacco in a coffeeshop is illegal.

Tel: +31 (0)20 702 6000 Open Mon-Fri 09.00-17.00 info@iamsterdam.com www.iamsterdam.com http://twitter.com/Iamsterdam VISITOR INFORMATION CENTRE CENTRAL STATION* Stationsplein 10 (across from Central Station) Open Mon-Sat 09.00-17.00; Sun 10.00-17.00 VISITOR INFORMATION CENTRE SCHIPHOL AIRPORT Schiphol Airport, Arrivals 2 at Schiphol Plaza Open daily 07.00-22.00 VISITOR INFORMATION CENTRE LEIDSEPLEIN* Leidseplein 26 Open daily 10.00-17.00 until mid-January; from mid-January Last Minute Ticket Shop service still available but no Visitor Information *Last Minute Ticket Shop

TAX-FREE SHOPPING

BIKES Most locals swear by their bikes as the best – and often their only – means of transport. With 400 kilometres of dedicated bicycle paths, it’s not hard to see why. Bike rental companies are located across the city.

Just follow these simple rules to remain safe: STAY IN LANE: use the right-hand bicycle lane FOLLOW THE RULES: adhere to all traffic signs and lights INDICATE: always signal before turning LIGHT AT NIGHT: it is illegal to cycle without lights in the dark WATCH OUT FOR TRAM TRACKS: cross them at a sharp angle LOCK UP: bike theft is prevalent; always chain up to a bike stand DON’T IMITATE THE DUTCH: Amsterdammers are notorious for breaking the rules. Don’t follow their example!

Non-EU residents are eligible for Value Added Tax (VAT) refunds on purchases made within the European Union. In the Netherlands, VAT is 21% and the minimum spend is €50. There are three ways to reclaim your VAT: • Shop only at retailers affiliated with Global Blue, ask for a tax-free cheque and then reclaim the VAT at their desk at Schiphol Airport: WWW. GLOBAL-BLUE.COM • Shop wherever you like, save your receipt and reclaim the VAT online or at the VAT Free service desk at Schiphol Airport: WWW.VATFREE.COM • Visit Customs before leaving the EU to get your receipts stamped, then send them back to the shop for a full VAT refund

64

CLOSING

THEN AND NOW

then & now

1974

As Fashion Week struts into town, the Amsterdam Museum takes a catwalk down memory lane to survey the sartorial style of an iconic Dutch designer from the Seventies.

FONG LENG – FASHION & ART

Until 16 March Amsterdam Museum Kalverstraat 92 www.amsterdammuseum.nl

PAUL HUF

Back in the psychedelic Seventies, Studio Fong Leng on the super-swish PC Hooftstraat was a Mecca for the city’s fashionistas. Design diva and It girl about town Fong Leng was (in)famous for her quirky designs and dazzling fashion shows. She’s pictured here – in her own designs, of course – with close friend Mathilde Willink (1938-1977), wife of painter Carel Willink. Mathilde cut a striking figure on the streets of Amsterdam in Leng’s outré creations until her untimely death (under suspicious circumstances) at age 39.

65

NEXT ISSUE IMAGINE FILM FESTIVAL



MAR & APR 2014

From sci-fi to cult, anime to fantasy and horror to experimental: the Imagine Film Festival celebrates its 30th edition.

5 DAYS OFF A kind of Valhalla for electro fans – 20,000 of which descend on the city’s stalwart music venues each year. Past editions have been graced by the likes of Daft Punk, The Gaslamp Killer and Dizzee Rascal.

KISS OF THE DAMNED

EYE Film Museum 9-18 April

various locations 5-9 March



HAMLET VS HAMLET

Stadsschouwburg 17 & 24 March; 8 April



JAN VERSWEYVELD

ALI MOUSAVI

In a reinterpretation of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, Toneelgroep Amsterdam presents Hamlet pursuing his ambitions and fighting his fears until he comes face to face with himself.

MURMEL MURMEL The ultimate language-no-problem theatre, Dieter Roth’s play contains only the single word ’murmel’ – but is no less powerful for that.



Stadsschouwburg 1 & 2 March

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL: KOOZA Another new year, another behemoth of a Cirque du Soleil production. An adrenaline rush of acrobatics, Kooza brings the troupe’s most talented performers to the Amsterdam ArenA.

The boundary-blurring interdisciplinary cultural festival returns, paying court to both dance and film.



Parkerterrein P2 13 March-13 April

CINEDANS

EYE Film Museum 12-16 March

66

CLOSING

ON THE WAY

OUT

We asked people leaving Schiphol Airport for their Amsterdam advice.

on the way out

FEMI ONASANYA, 37

from Nigeria, financial analyst ‘Shabu Shabu in De Pijp is a great Japanese restaurant with an all-you-can-eat menu. The sushi is always fresh and the atmosphere is really nice.’

text & photos Marie-Charlotte Pezé

SANDRO SCHNEIDER, 28 & ANIL JAGMOHANAINGH, 39 from Germany, work in real estate & IT

‘If you’re looking for an authentic Thai restaurant, the food at Bird on the Zeedijk is phenomenal.’

SARAH BLACKMAN, 25 & JOHN COXON, 26 from Newcastle, UK, civil servant & teacher ‘It’s really cool to visit the Anne Frank Museum after you’ve read the book. It puts everything in context, gives life to the story. A very moving and informative experience.’

CAROLINE KOHLHAUPT & GINA GRASSMANN

from Vienna, Austria, just finished law studies & works in the theatre ‘We went to Zandvoort, and it was lovely, even in the winter. It’s a short train ride away and makes for a really nice daytrip.‘

MARCOS RODRIGUEZ, 38

from Spain (works in Cape Town), doctor ‘Madame Tussauds is a fun way to spend an afternoon.

The wax figures are very realistic.’

editor-in-chief Bart van Oosterhout art director & basic design Loes Koomen designer Zlatka Siljdedic copy editor Megan Roberts staff photographer Marie-Charlotte Pezé cover illustration Marcel Wanders contributors Claire van den Berg, Karin Engelbrecht, Brandon Hartley, Maxine Knoote, Qamar van Leeuwen, Toby Main, Bregtje Schudel, Mark Smith, Zin (Famke & Floor van Praag) listings EdenFrost (Tamar Bosschaart, Steven McCarron & Dave Nice), Christiaan de Wit sales 020 702 6100 / sales@iamsterdam.com

The Quay Brothers’ Universum

Exhibition & film program eyefilm.nl/Quay

The Quay Brothers’ Universum 15.12.2013 / 9.3.2014 Daily: 11am - 6pm Friday: 11am - 9pm

The Quay Brothers’ Universum Quay Brothers, Street of Crocodiles, BFI National Archive (UK)

Exhibition & film program eyefilm.nl/Quay

The Quay Brothers’

World of Brands

De Bijenkorf department store.

A truly inspirational and luxurious shopping experience since 1870.

The premium department store offers the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most exclusive brands, such as Louis Vuitton, Hermès and Gucci. Visit our flagship store in Amsterdam on Dam Square or find out more at deBijenkorf.nl/english