Mike Roelofs: Carte Noire II

On December 7, 2008, another Carte Noir concert of Mike Roelofs was organized in café Thembi in Maastricht. I saw the first half of this concert and what I saw and heard was really good. This time Roelofs was accompanied by saxophonist Dick de Graaf, double bass player Werner Lauscher , and drummer Dennis Frehse. For me the highlights of this afternoon concert were the versions of the jazz standards 'Lament' (J.J. Johnson) and 'Bolivia' (Cedar Walton). I think I witnessed a high standard performance at Thembi. Hopefully this café is willing to organize a follow up of this concert series in 2009.

Signer and Baldessari at Bonnefanten Museum

Saturday December 6, I was at the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht. One of the Dutch newspapers drew attention to the BACA Laureate 2008 exhibition in this museam. Work of Baldessari, a protagonist of Minimal Art and Concept Art, is central to the BACA exhibtion. I liked the combinition of photography and painting (a bit pop art like style).

What intrigued me most during my visit at the museum was the small exhibition of Swiss artist Roman Signer. I especially liked his video installations from the seventies and eighties of the last century. These short videos were refreshing, exciting, and humorous.