arts Mia Vaerman

7 min reading time

Voetvolk: Surrender Without Submission

Into the Open is a new performance by Voetvolk. Read this portrait from 2019 of unconventional dancer Lisbeth Gruwez, composer Maarten Van Cauwenberghe and their company Voetvolk.

First Book

literature Dirk Vandenberghe

5 min reading time

‘Unheard’ by Pascale Petralia: Falling Into a Stalker’s Trap

In her debut novel "Ongehoord" (Unheard) Pascale Petralia tells the story of how a victim gradually becomes ensnared in the net of someone obsessed. And no one can save her.

Young Writers on Invisible Labour

arts Pim Lammers

3 min reading time

Pim Lammers - Tear Me Down

Pim Lammers offers us an insight into Gerrit Schouten’s Model of the Memorial of J.F. de Friderici from 1812.

language Lauren Fonteyn

8 min reading time

AI and Historical Language: Shall I Compare Thee to a Human Being?

Artificial Intelligence opens new ways for language research. You can program a bot to write sonnets like Shakespeare, and one day we might be able to converse with someone from the 16th century.

history Ian Mundell

5 min reading time

When Flemish Rabbits Fed the Poor of London

In the 19th century, rabbits from Flanders became a popular source of cheap meat for the poor of London. They came by boat, so they called them 'Ostend Rabbits'.

The L-Spot

society Derek Blyth

3 min reading time

Duffel, the Modest Home of a Famous Coat

The British have a longstanding love affair with the Duffel coat. It is named after the cloth made in a small Flemish town, though it is hard to establish a link between the town and the coat.

language Sami Azar

9 min reading time

When the Mother Tongue Erodes: On the Importance of Multilingualism Among Newcomers

Loss of their mother tongue among children of Syrian refugees in Belgium leads to conflicting ideas about their identity.

Young Writers on Invisible Labour

arts Maxine Palit de Jongh

2 min reading time

Maxine Palit de Jongh - The Tuner Speaks

Maxine Palit de Jongh presents us with an Erard Frères pianoforte from 1808.

Our Colonial Legacy

society Bert Puype

9 min reading time

Diving Into the Past to Improve the Future: Postcolonial Themes in Belgian Art

From Marcel Broodthaers to Otobong Nkanga, more and more Belgian artists want to cast a critical perspective upon the colonial past in order to influence ongoing debates.

literature Gé Vaartjes

14 min reading time

Godfried Bomans: Chronicler of a Changing Catholicism

Dutch writer Godfried Bomans died on December 22th 1971. He was one of the first writers to star on television. And though people like to think they know him, he was difficult to grasp.

Young Writers on Invisible Labour

arts Jorik Amit Galama

3 min reading time

Jorik Amit Galama - Guided Tour

Jorik Amit Galama wrote a text in response to the painting Farm on the bank of a stream in Gelderland by Wouter Johannes van Troostwijk.

column

language Lotte Jensen

4 min reading time

Cherish Language Skills and Multilingualism

A broad knowledge of languages is important and translations are an essential part of Dutch literature, writes Lotte Jensen in her column.

language Dietha Koster

9 min reading time

Sam Plays Sports, Saskia Shops: Gender and Other Stereotypes in Textbooks for Newcomers

Teaching material should exhibit diversity, according to policy organisations such as UNESCO. But textbooks for newcomers in Flanders and the Netherlands are lagging behind in diversity terms.

Young Writers on Invisible Labour

arts Kiriko Mechanicus

3 min reading time

Kiriko Mechanicus - This Is How I Frame Her

Kiriko Mechanicus explores Girl in a White Kimono, painted by George Hendrik Breitner in 1894.

society Andreas Stynen

9 min reading time

Only After 1850 Houseplants Started Creeping Slowly Into Our Bourgeois Houses

Having plants in the house is not such a long-standing habit as we might think. Only in the 19th century greenery made its way into our houses.

arts Jos Nijhof

10 min reading time

Competitive Nature Ensures Popularity of Improvisational Theatre in the Netherlands and Belgium

Since the 1980s improvisational theatre has seen an impressive uptake, in the Netherlands and Belgium. The competitive nature ensures improv’s lasting popularity.

review

history Hans Cools

6 min reading time

New Biography Sketches Portrait of ‘Maverick’ Erasmus as a Tragic Optimist

Erasmus was a man with great ambitions and who took orders from no one. But his succes also had its drawbacks, unveils a new biography.

The L-Spot

society Derek Blyth

1 min reading time

Campo Santo, the Père Lachaise of Ghent

The overgrown Campo Santo cemetery clings to a low hill in the Ghent suburb of Sint-Amandsberg has been described as the Flemish Père Lachaise.

arts Edo Dijksterhuis

6 min reading time

A World First in Rotterdam: Museum Boijmans Opens Its Entire Depot to the Public

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen made its depot fully accessible to the public. It delivers a special experience in a new architectural icon.

Young Writers on Invisible Labour

arts Sumai Yahya

1 min reading time

Sumai Yahya - The Bubble

Sumai Yahya gives us a look at an Etruscan vase made by Manufacture Impériale de Sèvres in 1858.

review First Book

literature Dirk Vandenberghe

5 min reading time

'De Afwijking' by Dries Muus: Faustian Drama on and off the Football Pitch

De Afwijking by debutant Dries Muus is a beautiful coming-of-age novel against the backdrop of an urban football environment.

Young Writers on Invisible Labour

literature Marieke Ornelis

3 min reading time

Marieke Ornelis - Oil on Canvas

We join Marieke Ornelis as she looks at Portrait of a Young Woman, with ‘Puck’ the Dog, painted by Marie-Thérèse Schwartz

podcast The Low Countries Radio

history Republic of Amsterdam Radio

1 min reading time

Ready… Set... Go! Sports From the Low Countries

Discover some of the weird sports that have developed in or been adopted and grown in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Tantalising Theatre

arts Dick van Teylingen

7 min reading time

De Warme Winkel Brings Ironic Theatre About the Burning Issues of Our Time

Imaginative content, physical extremes and remarkable links and contrasts have made De Warme Winkel a favourite among theatre critics and audiences alike

The L-Spot

society Derek Blyth

2 min reading time

Heisteeg, a Microcosm of Amsterdam

Heisteeg, one of the narrowest streets of Amsterdam, has sparked off a furious debate about overtourism.

arts Geerdt Magiels

9 min reading time

In the Footsteps of Albrecht Dürer: World Famous Painter Passing through the Low Countries

Five hundred years, ago painter Albrecht Dürer travelled through the Low Countries. That journey is now coming to life in an exhibition, several books and his own diary entries.

arts Ilja M. Veldman

7 min reading time

The Dordrechts Museum Shows How Aelbert Cuyp Inspired English Landscape Painters

To celebrate the 400^th year of birth of Aelbert Cuyp, The Dordrechts Museum is organizing a special exhibition that focuses on his impact on English landscape painters.

Tantalising Theatre

arts Mia Vaerman

7 min reading time

Wunderbaum Ruthlessly Stirs the World’s Soul and Their Own

The boundary between their own lives and acting is intentionally kept thin by the members of theater collective Wunderbaum.

literature Roger Van de Velde

9 min reading time

The Instructions of Prometheus. A Short Story by Roger Van de Velde

The author was known for his collections of short stories written while he was interred in psychiatric institutions.

history Lotte Jensen

10 min reading time

How the Struggle Against Water Shaped Dutch Identity

Traumatic feelings about inundations that expose the vulnerability of the Low Countries go hand in hand with a certain pride.

arts Abigael MacGibeny

10 min reading time

Eastman Johnson, “America’s Rembrandt,” Was Nurtured by His Experience in Europe

A leading American genre painter of the nineteenth century jump-started his career in Germany and Holland.

language Taalunie

2 min reading time

Results of the Survey ‘The State of the Dutch Language’ 2021

How is the Dutch language doing?

review

literature Dirk Vandenberghe

5 min reading time

‘We Are Light’, the Prize-Winning Debut Novel by Gerda Blees: Circling above Good and Evil

A simple press report about a death in a commune inspired Blees to write her debut novel.

Tantalising Theatre

arts Annette Embrechts

6 min reading time

From Simple Movement to Mythical Feat, the Uncompromising Theatre of Schwalbe

A crowd continually running laps of a stage and actors tearing one another’s clothes off. Meet the radical, uncompromising theatre of Schwalbe.

review

history Hans Cools

5 min reading time

‘The Burgundians’, a Sparkling History of the Origins of the Low Countries

Since the original Dutch version of this book came out in January 2019 it has dominated the bestseller lists.

Young Writers on Invisible Labour

literature Daan de Jager

3 min reading time

Daan de Jager - Farewell: Van Gogh

Eighteen young authors have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. We join Daan de Jager as he looks at a self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh from 1887.

arts Mirjam Noorduijn

7 min reading time

The Ultra-Fine Pen of Visual Story-Teller Ludwig Volbeda

Book after book, this young and much-acclaimed Dutch illustrator knows how to surprise.

podcast History of the Netherlands

history Republic of Amsterdam Radio

9 min reading time

The Unfortunate Fate of Floris V, God of the Peasants

Count Floris V, loved by peasants and urban commoners, left a large legacy in Holland. However, his good deeds could not prevent him from being murdered.

Tantalising Theatre

arts Fillip Tielens

6 min reading time

Big and Grand. The Indomitable Imagination of FC Bergman

With their extraordinarily imaginative, poetic, grand-scale productions, the Antwerp theatre collective FC Bergman was quick to conquer the European stage.

Young Writers on Invisible Labour

literature Marte Hoogenboom

3 min reading time

Marte Hoogenboom - Behold, Yourself

Eighteen young authors have brought nineteenth-century artefacts from the Rijksmuseum to life. Marte Hoogenboom wrote a dialogue in response to a painting and a sculpture.

review First Book

literature Dirk Vandenberghe

5 min reading time

‘Was’ by Jilt Jorritsma: Twin Peaks in the Frisian Polder

In Was (Wax), debut author Jilt Jorritsma eschews linear time, constructing a mysterious and fascinating story.

arts Maarten Buser

5 min reading time

Installation Artist Gabey Tjon a Tham Merges Layers of Reality

Dutch installation artist Gabey Tjon a Tham is intrigued by the similarities between nature and technology.

history Tom Christiaens

8 min reading time

Harvest of the University Press (autumn 2021)

Our selection of recent university press publications from all over the world that deal with the Low Countries.

The L-Spot

society Derek Blyth

2 min reading time

Café Vlissinghe, Possibly the Oldest Pub in Belgium

Although its roots date back to 1515, Café Vlissinghe in Bruges is anything but sleepy.

history Louwrens Hacquebord

8 min reading time

To Spitsbergen and Back: Four Centuries of Dutch Whaling

Whale oil was a good substitute for vegetable oils and fats, so merchants in the Netherlands saw opportunities to earn good money with whaling. The Dutch hunted whales from 1612 to 1964.

arts CODART

2 min reading time

Paintings by Aelbert Cuyp in Los Angeles and Leipzig Were Separated

It has long been suspected that two landscape paintings by Cuyp belonged together but until now, scientific proof was missing.

arts Ian Mundell

6 min reading time

Laurens Legiers Distils the Essence From Dream Images

The Antwerp painter takes animals, plants, and sailing boats, and formalises them, creating motifs that repeat through his paintings.

literature Tom Christiaens

1 min reading time

These Books Have a Chance of Winning the Vondel Prize

The Vondel Prize is a biennial prize for the best book translation into English of a Dutch literary or cultural-historical work. The winner receives € 5,000.

history Jarrik Van der Biest

4 min reading time

When Students Threw Cannons into the River

Jail time and corporal punishment were just two of the severe punishments meted out to naughty students in the past.

arts Tom Christiaens

1 min reading time

Lost Drawing by Rubens Returns Home After Four Centuries

The Flemish Government has purchased a drawing by Flemish Master Peter Paul Rubens that was thought to be lost.

arts Tijl Nuyts

7 min reading time

The Porous Paradises of Bram Demunter

The Flemish painter lets you lose yourself in the multiplicity of the world at his first solo exhibition.