Acting
Julien had told me earlier today about an interesting event this weekend – the opening of the Kunststad (art city) at the NDSM-werf in Noord. This was to be the first public access to the initial stages of what sounds like a very interesting and impressive project.
The Kunststad will be a collective of artists, designers, theatre-makers, architects, and others who will be able to occupy a space within the huge NDSM warehouse (a former shipbuilders) at a very low rent, thus creating a community of creative people, but with a strong connection to commercial reality and activity. This type of combination is, to my eyes, typically Dutch and one of this most interesting aspects of this country.
Whether it will be a success or not is anybody’s guess, but it would be fantastic if it works out well. Who knows, even I could have a studio there one day!
By the time I made it up to Noord this evening there was not too much happening, and there is still quite a lot of space still to be occupied. That being said, it was still an interesting visit, and the place is bursting with potential. Let’s just hope it doesn’t all get sold off for flats in five years time.
Myself, Julien, and Rachel were wandering around the labyrinthine depths of the warehouse, when we came upon a piano sitting in the unlikely location of a lift. Julien is of course quite a virtuoso on the ivories, and could not resist having a go. No sooner had he done so when a middle-aged woman appeared through the opposite set of doors of the lift, seemingly delighted at his presence. She explained that she was making an art piece involving actors reading a script in the lift, whilst (an unseen) someone played music, and asked if we would like to take part. Though we were needing our dinner, there was of course no saying no to such a proposal.
The deal was that myself and Rachel would read the script, whilst Julien would play something appropriate on the rather honky-tonk-saloon-sounding beast in the corner. Best of all, we had costumes to wear! (this was a serious business, people).
The only problem was of course is that the script, entitled De Laatste Rokers (The Last Smokers), was in Dutch, which Rachel does not speak. She’s just started lessons, though, and was willing to give it a go.
We did our best, which was not easy due to this and further complications, such as me being about 30cm taller than Rachel, and the fact that we were supposed to be going up in the lift but could not work the buttons properly. Honestly said, I would be surprised if the poor woman got anything useable from our performance. It was good fun, though!
