The seventh edition of De Zondagsschool (Sunday School), hosted by Impakt, focused on contemporary travel experiences. Travel is about discovery, about experiencing something new, and you don’t always have to pack your suitcases to do this. Merriam-Webster defines travel as ‘to go on or as if on a trip or tour’. And thus, you can travel at your own leisure, from the comforts of your own lazy chair. If you would actually like to go somewhere though, you can nowadays travel further than you’d ever imagined, far over the horizon.

Technology plays a major part in these experiences and was greatly represented, but De Zondagsschool kicked off with poetic observations on “the smallest city, or the biggest village”, a place close to home: Utrecht. Ingmar Heytze, Utrecht’s official town poet, has written numerous poems about everything and everyone in the city (or is it really a town?). His poems shed a whole new light on a place I regularly visited for nearly four years, but never really appreciated.

Traveling without going anywhere
David Nieborg, game researcher, also told us we don’t have to travel far to have a good time. We can stay at home even! All we need is the Internet. His presentation was an overview of the evolution of graphics in videogames. From ill-lit, narrow, pixelated corridors, to amazingly realistic views into never-ending fantasy land, the gamer can nowadays travel into games such as Grand Theft Auto IV and re-experience a trip to New York City, or travel from desert straight into permafrost in World of Warcraft. It sounds easy, and the graphics really are astonishing, but this kind of travel misses something. However entertaining the immersion into a videogame can be, I believe the ability to smell, hear and touch are crucial to the travel experience.

Jorrit Brenninkmeijer, radio artist, also represents travel on the Internet, but this kind requires even more imagination. Using a database of purely sounds, on the website SoundTransit, the user can browse destinations to get a sound preview, or can book a transit from one place to another, with up to five (random) stopovers. So put on your headphones, sit back, and imagine what a place looks like from merely hearing people talk, kids play, dogs bark, or waves roll. Questions were raised about the authenticity of the sounds in the clips. Is it necessary to only put sounds in a clip that can be heard at one point in time, in one location to enhance the travel experience? Or can the artist edit sounds, to make them like the audio version of a photo collage in a travel brochure?

Fly me to the moon

Virgin Galactic tourism

By far the most unimaginable, but however completely realistic travel experience must be the one presented by Ronald Heister. Spokesperson for Virgin Galactic, his task at hand is to convince ultra rich people to go on the trip of a lifetime. One that no travel insurance covers, and costs a stunning 200,000 US dollars. You can still be part of the first five hundred people to travel with Virgin Galactic into outer space, for a dazzling four (!) minutes of zero gravity amongst the stars. The test runs have been completed, Virgin Mothership Eve is almost ready to launch the spacecrafts. Soon it will be possible to travel from Sweden (where the nearest spaceport is being realized) to Australia in half an hour. I’d say this is the closest thing we’ll ever get to teleportation!

Intermitting the presentations, several video projects were shown. “The Last Stronghold” (2008) by Frank Koolen shows the viewer how beautiful the world is, but also focuses strongly on all the things we have done and that have occurred that destroy our homes.

Flight Patterns by Aaron Koblin

“Flight Patterns” (2008) by Aaron Koblin is the animated representation of flight schedules over North America. Without using a map as basis, in this animation you can see the outline of the US and Canada appear, purely by the density of the flight network. It’s magical. “Abidin Travels #1” (2007) by Adel Abidin is a promotional video for Baghdad as holiday destination. Over images of destruction and despair, the narrator convinces us of the beauty and greatness of Baghdad. Of what it could have been… “Owner of the Voyage” (2007) by Roy Villevoye and Jan Dietvorst is a video about travel from a unique perspective. Papuan Asmat Pupis tells the interviewers all about his cousins’ trip to the Netherlands, without having been there himself.

All in all, De Zondagsschool #7 presented a very diverse and enlightening view on travel, that made me curious and kind of disappointed about the fact that all I got to do after was sit on an intercity train, going home…

The Netherlands Architecture Insitute (NAi) in Rotterdam teamed up with International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and Mediafonds to host the lecture ‘The Big Picture’,  on January 29th 2009 at NAi.

Three speakers focused on the interaction between architecture and film or video technologies in three presentations. The link between architecture and film might seem farfetched, but during the introduction by NAi director Ole Bouman and IFFR curator Edwin Carels, it became clear that they have become more closely linked in postmodernistic architecture, because architecture is currently more about storytelling than about just designing a building to live or work in. An architectural design now focuses on the full visitor’s experience of working and living. Bouman mentioned also, however, that architectural narrative isn’t new, because there is even animation to be seen in light shining through stained glass cathedral windows: architectural cinematography from the Middle Ages.

Shivers down your spine
It were these medieval cathedrals that formed the starting point for Alison Griffith’s lecture on the immersive view. Griffith is professor at Baruch College at the City University of New York and author of the book ‘Shivers Down Your Spine: Cinema, Museums, and the Immersive View’. Her lecture focused on the history of the immersive experience.  From the upward gaze in a medieval cathedral to the omnipresent visual experience of the 19th century panoramas (such as the Panorama Mesdag in the Hague) to the powerful IMAX movie, Griffith draws parallels between architecture and the experiences of awe, the ‘wow’ factor, and the hovering between reality and fiction that these buildings or installations induce in their visitors.
While cathedrals were built in a way that center the viewer firmly onto the ground, panoramas and IMAX movies put the viewer right in the middle of the visual scene. And although cathedral paintings and ornaments and panorama paintings are still images, as apposed to IMAX which makes use of impressive, gigantic moving image technologies, the response in the viewer is the same: the shivers down the spine. Griffiths mentions that there are instances recorded of panorama visitors fainting or falling ill with motion sickness because they were so overwhelmed by the images around them. It is the size and design of the building hosting the visual images that create the immersive experience. From the cathedral to high tech movie installations, they give us the opportunity to be elsewhere, without going anywhere.

Chasing the audience
While these visual experiences still demand the spectator to travel to them, William Boddy, also professor at Baruch College at the City University of New York, focused in his lecture more on the video technologies that are brought to the viewer.  With the rise of mobile video, and people getting used to watching films on a 2-inch screen, people are less prone to visit the traditional movie theatre, and therefore traditional businesses in the film theatre industry have started seeking income elsewhere.
Boddy gave examples of various applications of mobile video technologies, usually combined with advertizing. He mentioned CBS Outernet, a company that hosts specialized television channels throughout the United States, such as Autonet, a channel that is broadcast at five thousand locations and reaches 2.5 million viewers.  More products have been introduced over the past years, such as shopping trolley touch screens with personalized shopping lists and response to voice input queries, and the Adwalker, a fully interactive digital bodypack, with games and advertisements, worn by females, because women are less threatening when approaching potential customers. Whether these applications could be the success their manufacturers anticipate remains to be seen. A most impressive application of bringing the commercial visual experience to the customer, is the holosonic billboard. It is a giant advertisement that can speak to people using an isolated sound beam targeting a specific area near the billboard. All these applications of mobile media redesign urban space, and make us wonder whether the abundance of media exposure will still allow for the existence of traditional media and film theatres in the future.

A new perspective
Michael Naimark, research associate professor at the University of Southern California, has focused in various research projects on how our image of the world is represented through photo and video technologies.  If we all took a photo of the scene at the same time, our interpretations of the photographs would be more or less the same. Yet there are very many angles, view points and external factors which make each photograph unique.

Representation of the world exists through different media. Maps and models, photos and geotags (as used in Flickr), and panoramas and moviemaps are just a few. Applications like Google Earth try to create an objective image of the world. Using people’s input in generating street views and 3D models -  but banning any artifacts that leave historical or personal traces – the images in Google Earth seem strangely desolated. Cars can be seen, the people inside are invisible. Several projects Naimark and his colleagues have collaborated in try to reverse this development, by leaving footprints behind in Google Earth, or by fitting dozens of (amateur) photographs taken from different angles, at different times, into a 3D panoramic picture of a certain landmark. This makes it a most subjective but at the same time generic image of the landmark in question.  By leaving ourselves out of the pictures and videos, we try to preserve an objective representation of the world, but at the same time we are distorting reality. Examples of Naimark’s work can be found at www.naimark.net.

From three different perspectives, the lectures focused on the architecture of the world through sound and vision. Numerous factors play a role in how we perceive the world around us, and what we do to escape from it. ‘The Big Picture’ was an enlightening view into these processes.

My report of this event was published on Virtueel Platform’s website: “The Future According to the Hot100″. Photos are by William Maanders and Anne Helmond.

The website for “Hello Creative World”, a conference on entrepreneurship in arts and creative education, informed me this event would “show a diversity of interactive tours, challenging climbs, relax cabins, physical training, exciting landscapes, and plenty of opportunities to share your knowledge and experience with a wide variety of Art Schools in Europe”. So, all prepared for an expedition, I arrived at the Dutch Design Center in Utrecht, a former furniture factory. Red and yellow ribbon led me to the Zagerij, where I was invited by the crew into a conference setting, beautifully decorated by artwork hanging from the ceiling. My visitor’s badge, very appropriate, was a Swiss army knife. I was very curious what this day had in store, because my background is not in arts. My drawing has never exceeded that of a ten year-old, and I would not consider myself very creative. I do have an interest in arts and education, and looked forward to hearing different voices and learning new things.

“Hello Creative World” was the result of the project ECCE (Economic Clusters of Cultural Enterprise), which aims to encourage the development of creative SMEs in various regions in Europe. The program started with a screening of the animation “A Fantastic Piano Lesson” by Ton van Rijswijk, which is – fortunately I might say – available on YouTube. A welcome speech by followed, in which the importance and exceptionality of the Faculty of Arts and Economics was explained by Derk Blijleven, dean of this faculty. Peter de Haan of Vrede van Utrecht, which provided funding for the event, explained that arts and culture have always been very important for the city, and they aspire to make Utrecht Cultural Capital of Europe, in 2018.

Keynote Speeches
First of two Keynote speakers, was Anamaria Willis, CEO of CIDA (Creative Industries Development Agency) in the UK. Her speech was perfectly suitable for this event, because her theatrical appearance and enthusiasm were very infectious. A woman with a background in theatre, Willis was all about “making things happen, profitably”. Through anecdotes of her personal success, she emphasized that the key to success and profit in the creative industries is belief. Belief in oneself, and in what one is doing. Teachers at art schools should give their students confidence, courage, to go out into the world and start a gainful business.

Some students will think making money out of arts is wrong, or not important, but Anamaria Willis said that money is needed in order to be able to keep doing what you want to do. There will be many people telling art students they do not know anything about business, but students should be proud of their improvisation skills when it comes to business skills. Because creative people create markets, whereas other entrepreneurs will be successful if they leap into it quickly enough. Willis ended her speech listing quite a few attributes creative entrepreneurs (should) have, among which: integrity, conceptual thinking, networking (local and global), commercial aptitude, and optimism. Confidence, belief, faith in making the impossible possible, and knowing what they are talking about, can make art students successful business(wo)men.

The second keynote speech was provided by Jeroen van Mastrigt, from the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU) Faculty of Arts, Media and Technology. His presentation was about the game industry. This is more my field of knowledge. Not a game designer, but having studied games, many examples from his speech were familiar to me, where they puzzled quite some people in the audience. Van Mastright has a history in new media, and is the initiator of the game design program at the HKU. He said there are many things wrong with the game industry, because a lot of companies do not innovate. Also, even though a lot of bigger companies have entered the game industry, they follow a blockbuster logic and focus on making games as realistic as possible. The game designers on the other hand, are young, energetic and innovative, but instead they create what the publisher wants them to create.

Jeroen van Mastrigt emphasized the role education can have in innovating the game industry. Students work, with large companies such as Philips, on innovative games, they create pervasive games and through creating these products they learn many (entrepreneur) skills. Education and research are very valuable to students, and some games created at art school are even so successful, that the students graduate already being entrepreneurs. “Giving kids the opportunity to create games is like not only teaching them how to read, but also how to write”, is how Van Mastright’s described the importance of the game design program.

The Climbs: Two Workshops
After the keynote speeches, the visitors were all invited to choose a workshop to attend. Options for the ‘first climb’ were: “Reflection – Developing Curricula”, “T-Shirts and Suits: Creativity and Business”, “Alumni Development” and “Talent Development: The role of governmental bodies in talent development”. Since everything was new to me, I chose the workshop that appealed to me most and in another part of the Dutch Design Center, I attended the workshop “T-shirts and Suits”. This workshop was moderated by Hans van Dulken of the HKU, and featured a panel of three speakers: David Parrish, an advisor and trainer for creative businesses, and author of the book T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity, also freely available as a pdf; Aileen Gilhooly, opera singer and consultant, and Pierre Gueydier, of the faculty of the arts, languages and history at Université Catholique de l’Ouest in West France, responsible for students’ career development.

The workshop focused largely on the gap between creative people and business people. Making money is something that a lot of artists will consider ‘impure’. David Parrish tries to bridge this gap through his trainings and his book, which aims to make business theory accessible to many people. Learning about business will give creative enterprises more strength. Concern that arose, creative people will be forced into business molds, was done away with, because it became clear that the advisors, who have a background in the creative industry, always ask the creative people what is important to them, so it is not always about making as much money as possible. Pierre Gueydier spoke about a program at his university where product design students are facilitated in finding a steady job, because often creative designers are only hired on a temporary or freelance basis. The added value of a designer for a company was discussed, and a workshop participant mentioned that these people can help the company not only create beautiful products, but often also care for the environment and can help create sustainable products.

After lunch, I attended a second workshop. Available were: “Business Start-Ups at University”, “Work-Based Learning”, “Entrepreneurship: Art or Experience?”, “Research in Education” and “Internationalization of Art schools”. Because of my university background, in which I rarely create, but always research, I chose the ‘retreat in a mountain cabin’. A small group of people attended this workshop on education, hosted by Giep Hagoort, Professor of Art and Economics at HKU. He is the author of the book Art Management: Entrepreneurial Style and chairman of the research group Art and Economics, currently engaging in research of cultural SMEs in Utrecht.

Giep Hagoort mentioned that research is not a hot topic at the HKU. I can understand that, because the HKU is not a research school. A workshop participant of the Willem de Kooning art academy in Rotterdam faced the same problem. Students are starting up their own creative businesses as part of the educational program, but no one is doing any research on how these businesses are developing, so she was interested in starting up a research group. Lack of research, by students and teachers, on the one hand, is a problem. The kind of research that needs to be done, is also an issue. Organizations that provide funding want to see numbers, while research in arts will not often provide statistical data. Funding in itself is a big issue as well. What kind of research can you do, who can you do it with, will funding be provided if the research is interdisciplinary? These issues I believe are very serious, but also very common in all fields of research, and it will take a lot more for them to be solved.

During lunch, I spoke briefly with Derk Blijleven, who spoke during the introduction of the event. After telling him about my interest in new media, and my research in online video, we spoke about YouTube, and he asked me if in my opinion a graduating art student could say that they did not want to associate with YouTube and therefore not publish their work on the platform. I was attempted to leave that decision to the student, but what Blijleven told me next was this conference in a nutshell: No, a student cannot ignore a platform like YouTube, because of its massive size and influence, because an art student is a marketer, and needs to be noticed, and needs to be aware of what people, the potential consumers of their art are doing. “A Fantastic Piano Lesson” was viewed 44,366 times on YouTube. Hopefully that number will give an art student the courage to make their art work profitable.

Drawing parallels with the seminar on mapping at the Piet Zwart Institute, V2_ focused on the term topology in their latest edition of Test_Lab. V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media, is located just off the Witte de Withstraat, the center of creative ideas and artistic outlets in Rotterdam, and thus the ideal location for this bimonthly event, which in this edition focused on how the term topology can be applied to various fields of art and research.
Tiziana Terranova had been invited to give a general introduction, in which she focused on the idea of topology in relation to the Internet. She explained that the Internet is not static, but is constantly changing, and is therefore not a metric space. We could even say it exceeds the three dimensions, caused by action, change of direction and transformation. The Internet is often presented as a frozen image of connected dots, but even those imply there is some underlying movement, captured in the image.

These theories she then applied to the blogosphere. Represented as a topological network model, you can see that there are many blogs which report on a particular issue. Over time a process of singularity occurs, and some of these blogs will disappear, while others gain more importance: superhubs appear. Terranova added that it is this she finds intriguing: to create or research network models and to stretch them, bend them, try to throw them off balance, to see if this process of singularity will always occur.

Leaving the formal lecture setting behind, all visitors moved to the next presentation in another corner of the building, making themselves comfortable on one of the many beanbags casually scattered. Christoph Wachter and Mathias Jud presented Zone Interdite, after which they asked the audience to participate and especially contribute to finding Dutch information, so to give people a more complete view of what is happening in photoshopped areas in the world today. The project makes use of world maps and a wiki-model for contributing content, with all content connected to each other, and is therefore another good example of the use of topology.

Imagine walking around a quiet park while hearing the sounds made by small creatures around the pond, and in your headphones the sound of satellites moving thousands of miles above you. Impossible? Yolande Harris, a composer who holds a residency at the Netherlands Media Art Institute, assigned sounds to satellite coordinates, hooked them up to a PDA with GPS and headphones, and the result: the sound of moving satellites, music even. She was fascinated by the old fashioned celestial sea navigation, which is very complex and she was amazed at the blind trust we put in our TomTom to tell us exactly where we are without thinking about how this instrument has measured this. By making something invisible, visible, Harris hopes the project will change the perception of the space we inhabit and she encouraged visitors to take the headphones out into the streets and experience it themselves.

Bureau D’Etude was also present, and this time they inflicted a real experiment upon the audience, that seemed to have no clear beginning or end. Being given a few pencils, post-its and a very complex “Complex of the Self” map, they tried to make us aware of the many roles we play or have in life, by making us decide ‘how many we are’ and to point out our centre of this map, that reminded me of the paper decision trees we used to get in biology class to decide the object in front of us was an oak leaf or chestnut leaf. Bureau D’Etude emphasized that on the map, the center did not necessarily have to be the center. This was a good point to consider in relation to ‘traditional’ maps, because I think the center rarely is the center, or rarely should be, in any case.

The final project presented in Test_Lab was the “Sharewear” dress, developed by the very enthusiastic fashion designer Di Mainstone, who holds a residency at V2_. She designed a bright-colored dress, consisting of several (inter)changeable elements, such as a ‘hovering hat’ with a light to create a halo or a handy torch light, a coffee table, and several other electronic gadgets that emphasize “human exchange, social distance and networked behaviours”, which, hooked up to the dress or to other dresses will interact with each other.

Test_Lab examined the term topology in the broadest sense possible, which was interesting and enlightening and showed that fields of research and art that seem to be very different from each other can always find a way to connect the dots.

Verslag van de bijeenkomst “Grenzeloze Nieuwsgierigheid”.

Op 31 maart 2008 vond in de Cruise Terminal in Rotterdam de bijeenkomst “Grenzeloze Nieuwsgierigheid” plaats. Naar aanleiding van een Manifest voor Nieuwsgierigheid, opgesteld en ondersteund door 23 van de grootste Nederlandse instellingen op het gebied van cultuur en ontwikkelingssamenwerking, werd deze bijeenkomst georganiseerd. Grenzeloze Nieuwsgierigheid was een middag vol debat én samenspraak met als doel nader tot elkaar te komen op het gebied van internationaal cultuurbeleid.
In principe zouden 23 organisaties die een manifest opstellen en ondertekenen toch al op één lijn moeten staan? En wie willen ze hier dan mee aanspreken? De staatssecretaris van Buitenlandse Zaken, Frans Timmermans, misschien? Staatssecretaris Timmermans was uitgenodigd om de bijeenkomst te openen, en hij deed dat met veel allure. Hij hielp misverstanden uit de wereld, zoals het idee dat een cultuur iets statisch is, en kan worden aangevallen door een andere cultuur. Hij had het over angst, angst voor wat de mens niet kent en dat cultuur een ultiem apparaat is om mensen kennis te laten maken met een voor hen onbekende groep mensen. We leven in een tijd van uitroeptekens, we denken dat we alles weten en we vragen zo weinig. “Je wordt pas mens als je bereid bent de wereld te zien door de ogen van een ander”, aldus Timmermans.

Ruben Maes, freelance journalist en conferentiemoderator, was voor dit evenement ingeschakeld om zijn moderator- en interviewtechnieken op de deelnemers los te laten, die hem deden lijken op een kruising tussen Reinout Oerlemans en Matthijs van Nieuwkerk. Maes prees staatssecretaris Timmermans om zijn persoonlijke pleidooi, waar geen spiekbrief aan te pas kwam.

“Durf, ambitie en Nieuwsgierigheid” vormde de titel van een gesprek met vier van de organisatoren: Gitta Luiten (Mondriaan Stichting), Els van der Plas (Prins Claus Fonds), Paul van Paaschen (Hivos) en George Lawson (voormalig directeur van SICA). Maes vroeg hen naar het hoe en waarom van de bijeenkomst, en de vier sprekers hielden hun antwoord nog dichtbij huis. Van Der Plas benadrukte de rol van de overheid door te zeggen dat er meer synergie moet komen tussen buitenlands beleid en cultuurbeleid, maar voegde daar aan toe dat hetzelfde geldt voor ontwikkelingsorganisaties en cultuurorganisaties. Internationalisering en multiculturalisering gaan volgens haar hand in hand en ze vond het dan ook vreemd dat, hoewel Mohammed al tien jaar lang de meest gekozen naam is voor pasgeboren baby’s in Amsterdam, er in het Rijksmuseum niets te vinden is van die “Mohammed”. Lawson pleitte voor meer kunst en cultuur van ver. Er moet een “culturele dialoog” plaatsvinden. Luiten benadrukte dat kunst- en cultuurinstellingen de ultieme mogelijkheid bieden om, door middel van het tentoonstellen van niet-Westerse kunst en cultuur, “het beeld dat mensen van de wereld hebben, te nuanceren”.

Een open deur: cultuur is een belangrijk onderdeel van de ontwikkeling van een mens. Ole Bouman (directeur NAi) benadrukte in een gesprek met Susan Legêne (hoogleraar politieke geschiedenis aan de VU) en Chris Keulemans (schrijver en journalist), dat hoewel we vele luiken moeten openen, we ook vooral open deuren moeten intrappen. “Open deuren moeten besproken worden, en worden waargemaakt”, aldus Bouman. In oorlogsgebieden is de eerste noodzaak natuurlijk voedsel en medicijnen, maar kunst en cultuur zijn ook belangrijk omdat ze voor afleiding zorgen en mensen een manier te geven iets te vertellen over hun situatie die bij mensen buiten dat gebied indruk maakt en blijft hangen.

Op Maes’ vraag aan Legêne wat het oplevert om in het buitenland cultuur te steunen, een vraag die volgens hem door de maatschappij veelvuldig gesteld zal worden, antwoordde ze dat het “langdurige, interculturele, internationale banden” oplevert. Mensen in ontwikkelingslanden of oorlogssituaties krijgen met behulp van steun uit het Westen een kans zich te laten zien en daarmee ook een plaats in de wereld. Er is een grote bereidheid om samen te werken met Nederlandse organisaties, zeker ook omdat die over culturele expertise beschikken. Bouman sprak zich tevens uit over de mate waarin cultuur vertegenwoordigd is in wederopbouwmissies in bijvoorbeeld Afghanistan. Hij kreeg direct vanuit de zaal commentaar, want Margriet Leemhuis, medewerker aan het ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, wilde graag vertellen dat er wel degelijk een deel van het budget wordt gebruikt voor culturele programma’s in oorlogsgebieden. Verder zei ze dat er zeker vanalles op cultureel gebied gebeurt in Nederland. De kwestie is dat er niet genoeg mensen komen, of steeds dezelfde mensen.

Er wordt gesproken over een revolutie, maar het wordt onduidelijk wat die revolutie inhoudt. Samenwerking, meer kennis, zijn dat eigenschappen voor een revolutie? Keulemans noemt de bijeenkomst op zich al een revolutie: “Het kost heel veel moeite om al die organisaties bij elkaar te krijgen, maar als het dan gebeurt, gebeurt het wel samen. Een echte Nederlandse, brede, trage polderrevolutie”.

Wat volgde na de pauze was een herhaling van het voorgaande, met daarbij de nodige zelfpromotie. Nina Tellegen van Stichting Doen benadrukte hoe belangrijk cultuur is voor het opbouwen van een identiteit, en zei daarbij dat zij dat voornamelijk door middel van het ondernemerschap in ontwikkelingslanden ten uiting brengen. Henny Helmich van NCDO vertelde dat het allemaal lastig is: er is niet zoveel ruimte om dingen te doen met belastinggeld; de publieke omroepen hebben het moeilijk met het feit dat we 85 procent van de dingen die wij weten van de wereld via de televisie hebben vernomen. De oplossing? Nog meer geld van de overheid alstublieft.

“What you call the periphery, is actually my centre” zei N’Gone Fall uit Senegal en verlegde daarmee de focus van het debat. Ze maakte duidelijk dat kunst en cultuur luxeartikelen zijn en daarom niet serieus worden genomen door de overheid. Er bestaat niet zoiets als een subsidieprogramma voor cultuur, en het curatorschap dat Fall beoefent wordt gezien als een baan in de “entertainment business”. Fall heeft een tentoonstelling georganiseerd: “Gathering twelve artists hailing from ten north and west African countries, Contact Zone was conceived like a meeting space for artists from the north and south of the Sahara. The purpose was to follow symbolically the caravan routes in order to reconstruct the stage for the ebb and flow of ideas, culture and knowledge”. Op de videoschermen zag ik echter beelden van een statische expositie, een museum dat in plaats van in Dakar in Amsterdam had kunnen staan, Ik vroeg me af in hoeverre ontwikkelingssamenwerking en cultuurprogramma’s in ontwikkelingslanden en oorlogsgebieden een kwestie zijn van het opdringen van een Westerse cultuur in plaats van het steunen van de cultuur daar. Die kwestie is niet voldoende aan bod gekomen tijdens de rest van de middag. Claudia Fontes bracht een andere kwestie aan bod. Als er wel cultuurprogramma’s zijn in niet-Westerse landen, dan ligt de nadruk vaak op cultuur als product. Een culturele of kunstzinnige groep moet zijn producten kunnen verkopen, en Fontes maakte duidelijk dat dit vaak ten koste gaat van de kwaliteit. Langdurige steun is nodig en werpt ook haar vruchten af.

Een opera op Haïti, een gedicht in het Nederlands op een Colombiaans poëziefestival en muurschilderingen van Nederlands ontwerp in de sloppenwijken van Rio de Janeiro. Drie voorbeelden die erg vergezocht lijken, maar de initiatiefnemers brachten het goed over. Voor het eerst die middag werd concreet verteld waar al die organisaties mee bezig waren. De projecten geven de mensen een plaats, iets te doen, soms zelfs ook een baan. En het blijkt dat men de expertise uit Nederland belangrijk vindt, want de lokale bevolking wil ze niet kwijt. Ook werd duidelijk dat we als Nederlanders toch eigenlijk maar lui zijn, oogkleppen ophebben. In Colombia trok het poëziefestival duizenden bezoekers, oud en jong. Dichter K. Michel verklaarde het door te zeggen dat de Colombianen ten eerste vertrouwder zijn met de orale traditie dan wij, en het poëziefestival verloste ze even van al het geweld in hun leven. Ik denk, misschien moeten we dat eens even tegen de gemiddelde Nederlander zeggen: ga toch eens naar dat festival, naar dat museum, want elders op de wereld zouden ze er een moord voor doen. Figuurlijk gezien dan.

Nadat Maes verschillende mensen in het publiek het woord had gegeven, waarin iedereen snel even zijn of haar project promootte, hoezeer Maes dat ook probeerde tegen te gaan, was de conclusie: we moeten meer praten, maar ook meer doen, we hebben nu weer hele middag gepraat, over doen, en praten. Meer communiceren, beter communiceren. Bij het begin beginnen, kinderen nieuwsgierig maken. Het lijkt me allemaal een goed plan. Nederland heeft een beter cultureel imago dan het eigenlijk verdient, zei iemand in het publiek. Ik ben het ermee eens. Maar ik wil graag weten wat men nou wil, een beter cultuurbeleid in Nederland, of betere culurele programma’s voor het buitenland? En waarom beslissen wij wat er goed is voor een ontwikkelingsland op cultureel gebied, en waarom geven we mensen daar niet de mogelijkheid om zelf plannen te ontwikkelen en uit te voeren? Waarom lijken al die projecten een soort van ‘charity cases’ die alleen nog maar meer de superioriteit van het Westen benadrukken? Dit had ik graag willen weten.

Minister Koenders van Ontwikkelingssamenwerking liet op zich wachten, maar New Cool Collective en de Keniaanse band Mapacha, die gedurende de middag samen gerepeteerd hadden, hielden het publiek bezig. Zelfs nadat er voor één van de Keniaanse muzikanten pontificaal een spreekstoel werd neergezet. Toch niet zo handig, zo’n file, want door het verplaatsen van de toespraak van Minister Koenders naar de zaal met muziekpodium en bar, ging zijn toezegging van extra geld en het concretiseren van het Nieuwsgierigheidsbeleid, iets waarvoor de hele middag gepleit was, ten onder in het luide praten, drinken en roken, achter in de zaal.

Meer informatie over de bijeenkomst is te vinden op de website van Kracht van Cultuur.