Ingezonden persbericht
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A ROUGH GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM (28|11 t/m 30|11)
De Balie gaat naar Belgrado
For English text, see below
De Balie maakt van vrijdag 28 tot en met zondag 30 november een driedaags festival ROUGH GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM in de hoofdstad van Servië, Belgrado.
Samen met diverse partners ontwikkelt De Balie een programma met videodagboeken, debatten, muziek, film, fotografie, theater, videokunst en grafische vormgeving. Via kunst en inhoudelijk debat gaat De Balie de clichés die nu regeren te lijf; niet de verschillen tussen de landen, als wel de overeenkomsten tussen beide landen staan centraal. Beide vertonen barsten in het zelfbeeld en beide zijn geobsedeerd door de discussie over de nationale identiteit en de relatie met de eigen geschiedenis.
De Balie heeft een aantal kunstenaars gevraagd haar te vergezellen. De bands Room Eleven en Aux Raus treden op. Theatermaker Jetse Batelaan brengt de voorstelling Het geheven vingertje en Edit Kaldor is te zien met haar voorstelling Point Blank. Grafisch vormgever Annelys de Vet maakt met Serviërs een Subjectieve Atlas van Servië, zoals ze eerder deed over Nederland en over Palestina. Filmregisseur en recente winnaar van een Gouden Kalf, Hanro Smitsman toont zijn werk, net als fotograaf Mark Nozeman.
De Balie heeft als partners in Nederland De Melkweg en Het Instituut voor Mediakunst, en werkt in Belgrado samen met ondermeer het culturele centrum Dom Omladine en het Centre for Cultural Decontamination.
Twee jaar geleden vond het festival in omgekeerde richting plaats. Gedurende drie volle dagen werd in De Balie en de Melkweg voor een zeer uiteenlopend publiek door kunstenaars, doeners en denkers uit Servië een genuanceerd beeld gepresenteerd van de issues die daar speelden.
De Balie heeft altijd een internationale werking gehad (o.a. Sarajevo, Sofia, Riga) en zet in op intensivering daarvan. De Balie verbindt zich de komende jaren met meerdere internationale 'zenuwknopen' om in Nederland de ramen en deuren open te gooien, en andere kunst, doe- en denkpraktijken te introduceren.
De Balie hoopt het programma live op internet uit te zenden. Het debat Frontiers over de grenzen van de Balkan, wordt op zaterdagavond 29 november gezamenlijk vanuit Amsterdam en Belgrado gemaakt via een livestream verbinding. Zie ook www.debalie.nl.
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Voor meer informatie
Voor meer informatie, neem contact op met Eva Groentjes (evag@balie.nl) of 020-5535151.
Of in Belgrado: Ellen Walraven (artistiek directeur), ellen.walraven@balie.nl of +31 (0)6 150 67 677 (in Belgrado: ++38 161 2395426); of Jenneke den Bol (producer), jenneke.denbol@balie.nl 31(0)6 549 30 850 (in Belgrado: ++38 161 2395429).
Rough Guide to Amsterdam wordt medemogelijk gemaakt door het Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, NFPK, FF, en BKVB.
English text:
ROUGH GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM
De Balie in Belgrade
De Balie, centre for politics and arts, presents from November 28 through 30 the ROUGH GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM, a three day manifestation in Serbia's capital Belgrade
De Balie produces a programme with video diaries, debates, music, films, photography, theatre, video art and graphic design in cooperation with several partners. Through art and discussion, De Balie wants to attack the existing clichés. Not the differences, but the similarities between Serbia and the Netherlands are the main focus. Both countries show cracks in their national self-image and in both countries, 'national identity' is currently a hotly discussed topic, as is the question of how to relate to one's country's past.
Part of the Rough Guide is, among other events, a debate between Euro-believers and Euro-sceptics, programmes on human security and the globalisation of a criminal network, and a closer look is taken into the Balkan's border regime in Border Inquiries.
Besides organising these events, several artists have been asked to join De Balie. The bands Room Eleven and Aux Raus perform in Belgrade; theatre maker Jetse Batelaan (TgMAX.) delivers his play The Raised Finger; and Edit Kaldors performance Point Blank will also be shown. Graphic designer Annelys de Vet creates, together wit Serbians, a Subjective Atlas of Serbia, as she did before of the Netherlands and Palestine. Film director and recent winner of the Dutch film prize Het gouden kalf, Hanro Smitsman, shows his work, and so does photographer Mark Nozeman.
The Dutch partners of De Balie are the Amsterdam-based cultural centre Melkweg and the Netherlands Media Art Institute, while in Belgrade De Balie cooperates, among others, with the cultural centre Dom omladine and the Centre for Cultural Decontamination.
Two years ago, the festival took place in the opposite direction: artists, thinkers and practitioners painted a clear picture of important Serbian issues in both Melkweg and De Balie to a large and diverse audience.
De Balie has always had an international focus (Sarajevo, Sofia and Riga, among others) and aims at increasing this. The coming years, De Balie will team up with several international hubs, to open new windows to each others audiences, and to introduce different activities in the fields of art and debate and all the mixtures in between.
De Balie hopes to broadcast the programme live on the internet. The debate Border Inquiries, on the borderpolicy of the Balkans, will be held simultaneously in both Belgrade and Amsterdam through a live stream connection. More information on the Rough Guide and the schedule of the festival can be found on www.debalie.nl.
PROGRAM
Friday 28th November
17.00 | Magacin |presentation of work in progress Subjective Atlas of Serbia by Annelys de Vet & photography of Mark Nozeman -
19.30 | Centre for Cultural Decontamination | Theatre | Point Blank by Edit Kaldor, 21.00 | Opening drinks & music | Room 11
Saturday 29th November
13.00 | Dom omladine, Pogon | Europe debate
15.00 | Belgrade Cultural Centre | Cinema | Hemel Boven Holland (Heaven above Holland) and Skin, part of Authors Film Festival,
16.00 | Dom omladine | Workshop of Edit Kaldor
17.00 | Magacin | Media Art | It takes one to know one, presentation by Joke Ballintijn (NIMK)
17.00 | Art Bioskop | Hemel Boven Holland and Amsterdam undercurrent, part of Authors Film Festival
19.00 |Debate | Border Inquiries, livestream with Amsterdam, coproduction with Kuda.org
21.00 | Dom omladine | Debate & Videopresentation | Rainbowtales, by Zinaplatform 22.00 | Dom omladine, Pogon | Music | Aux Raus (NL) and Banana Rave (SR)
Sunday 30th November
14.00 | Centre for Cultural Decontamination | Theatre | Het geheven vingertje (The raised finger) by Theatergroep MAX., director: Jetse Batelaan, 10+
16.00 | Dom omladine | Workshop/ debate| with filmmakers Rolf van Eijk and Hanro Smitsman,
17.00 | Art Bioskop | Skin and Amsterdam undercurrent, part of Authors Film Festival
19.00 | Centre for Cultural Decontamination | Theatre | Het geheven vingertje (The raised finger) by Theatergroep MAX., director: Jetse Batelaan, 10+
19.00 | Dom Omladine | Debate| Human Security
21.00 | Dom Omladine | Debate| Generation Sessions, presentation of the debating and moderation workshop and Wrap up of Subjective Atlas
Information about the organizations that will manage and carry out the project
Dom omladine Belgrade (DOB) is a center that promotes programs for youth in the sphere of contemporary art and culture. In its range of activities, DOB covers all art disciplines and forms: from visual arts and new media, to film, theatre and music. Educational debate programs have an equally significant role and have been trademark of DOB for decades. Basic DOB in pastprinciples and criteria for creating new programs are innovation and actuality.
DOB was established in 1964, and is located in the very center of the city. DOB has gained a cult status as a gathering place for young people of Belgrade. Each year, more than 180,000 youth visit DOB and participate in approximately 1000 different programs. Activities of the cultural center are carried out in six auditoriums (five of which are multifuncional), halls, as well as at Magacin located on Kraljevi?a Marka street with an total area of over 5000 m2:
Big hall (520 seats or 1200 standing places), Pogon (300 seats or 600 standing places), Club (100 seats or 300 standing places), Gallery, Debate room (60 seats), American Corner, Halls, Magacin on Kraljevi?a Marka street
Flexibility and openness to any suggestion refers not only to spaces of DOB, but also to high production standards and program conception.
DOB strives to function as a platform for promoting new artists, new ideas and initiatives, and to connect institutional and non-institutional culture.
Additionally, DOB is a key meeting point for domestic and foreign artists, and brings together representatives of different cultural scenes. DOB is an active member of numerous local, regional and international cultural networks.
Through its programming DOB is focusing on wider social context and is a significant center for public social dialog of youth.
DOB was established and is funded by the City Council of Belgrade.
De Balie is a centre for arts and politics in which discourse is transformed into dialogue. De Balie functions as a multidisciplinary entity, in which art is approached, studied and presented from a political perspective, and politics from a cultural angle. This way we renew and revitalize discourse, we bridge specialized debates, we convert certainties, we sharpen questions, create alternative views and are always looking for new and diverse audiences. We realize this via public research, debates, workshop, seminars, webapplications, cinema, simulation games and theatre.
On the one hand we're busy bonding debates of experts, and in that sense De Balie is a frontrunner, on the other we function as a liaisons officer in trying to bridge the specialist debates and translate it back to the public domain. We don't only bridge subject matters, domains and generations, but also connect theory and practice and the doers and the deciders.
De Balie has an editorial staff of 10 programmers. Their expertise ranges from international politics, globalization, cinema, cultural programming for women from Islamic descent, new media, infopolitics.
De Balie is situated in the heart of Amsterdam, close to Leidseplein in a former court of justice ('the bar', actually of which 'De Balie' is the Dutch translation) and presents on daily basis its own programs and hosts events and debates of other organizations.
De Balie is subsidized by the city of Amsterdam and the Ministry of Education, Cultural and Science.
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