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.

Jazz Art

An interesting exhibition on modern Art and jazz music is now featured by the Cobra Museum in Amstelveen, the Netherlands. This museum exhibits interesting work Dutch painter and sculptor Karel Appel produced from 1958 till 1962. The exhibition highlights the importance of jazz music in the work(processes) of the artist. For me, the two documentaries made by Jan Vrijman on the work of Karel Appel were the most informative sources I saw at the museum. Both documentaries (especially the oldest one) gave a great impression of the way the artist Karel Appel worked. Very inspiring!

Strp Festival

Friday the 23rd of November I was at the Strp Festival of Art and Technology in Eindhoven (NL). Being there was great and so far it has been my best festival experience in 2007. The festival was refreshing and I've seen surprising (multi-media) installations, performances, and lectures. Two of the many interesting techno-art pieces on the festival that struck me were the Motor Karaoke (MEC) and The Braincar (Olaf Mooij, see below).



Although a bit long, the multimedia presentation Paradise by the Laptop Light by Koert van Mensvoort was one of the highlights of the Strp Festival on friday. The theme 'Nature becomes Culture, Culture becomes Nature' was intriguing and the content of the 14 contributions (small presentations) was stimulating, sometimes even provocative. I especially would like to mention the beautiful contributions of Jelte van Abbema (Virtureel), Floris Kaayk (Metalosis Maligna), and Judith de Leeuw (Nieuwe Schoenen).

Nara in The Hague

Last saturday we were in The Hague and went to the GEM, a small but great museum for contemporary art. We saw a great exhibition, a mixture of pictures and installations, by Yoshitomo Nara, a very popular contemporary Japanese artist. This exhibition is Nara's first solo presentation of work in Europe. So what we saw was something special. And yes, the work of Nara was intriguing and definitely worth visiting. Further of interest: free parking, a nice terrace, and the beach is not that far ;-).