Documenting six years of underground culture

Situated on the Wibautstraat in the east of Amsterdam, Trouw was a nightclub, music venue, cultural space and restaurant housed in the former newspaper printing facility of several national newspapers. Trouw combined food, music and the arts, and was the first nightclub to receive the 24-hour permit from the city of Amsterdam. After six years of experimenting and over time slowly establishing itself as one of the top nightlife and cultural venues in the city and beyond, Trouw closed its doors on 3 January 2015.

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Opening up the Rijksakademie: bloggers wanted

For a while now I’ve been involved with the Rijksakademie voor beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam, an artists’ institute for national and international top talent. The name Rijksakademie (1870) refers to the classical Akademia, a place where philosophers, academics and artists meet to test and exchange ideas and knowledge. These days the Rijksakademie offers a residency to more than 50 artists from all over the world.

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Architect John Lonsdale at Rijksakademie Beamclub

On the brink of the 2009 Open Studios at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, architect and 2001 Prix de Rome winner (with his project ‘Shifting Horizons, Towards a non-Deterministic Urbanism’) John Lonsdale will visit De Verdieping for the Rijksakademie BeamClub. Lonsdale will talk about his activity of the last years, mapping the ‘Mudscapes of the Netherlands’ whereby he strives for the reconciliation of architecture with landscape. He sees a future where humankind can live in a sustainable way in newly created wildernesses or mudscapes.

The Rijksakademie BeamClub is an initiative by artist and Rijksakademie resident Sarah van Sonsbeeck and De Verdieping, the cultural project space in the basement of TrouwAmsterdam that is programmed by Non-fiction. It is a night where artists present works that inspire them in their own practice. Previous speakers have been Hans Aarsman, Nicoline van Harskamp and Ben Cerveny.

Hans Aarsman en Nicoline van Harskamp at Rijksakademie BeamClub tonight

'We don't notice a door opening to the front.' Hans Aarsman

On tonight’s Rijksakademie BeamClub at De Verdieping, photographer, Volkskrant publicist and curator Hans Aarsman will join artist and 2009 Prix de Rome winner Nicoline van Harskamp in showing what inspires them to make their art. Doors will open at 8.30 PM,and the film starts at 9 PM. Entrance is free, and the night will be moderated by Juha van `t Zelfde.

About Hans Aarsman:
An utterly ugly doll, fabricated by his mother in the nursing home that he did not dare throw away, inspired him to reconsider photography. He photographed it and threw away it with a rested heart! A speedcourse in seeing. Or as he says himself: ‘ There is not one truth. There are at least seven.’ Has now (almost) stopped photographing, writes in the Volkskrant on photo’s of others.

About Nicoline van Harskamp:
Won Prix de Rome 2009 with ‘The Power of listening.’ A video installation and panel discussion on the basis of what an audience can remember. In the Beamclub she’ll show Wim T Schippers ‘we’re at home again’ (we zijn weer thuis) with custom made subtitles!

John Cage and Frans Bromet in De Verdieping

John Cage explaining he does not want sound to think it is a bucket

Last night’s BeamClub was a warm welcome to the Rijksakademie from De Verdieping . We appreciate your coming, and hope you enjoyed our ad-hoc-sublevel-cinema despite the Spartan circumstances. Artists Sarah van Sonsbeeck and Gino Saccone will share their playlist soon, so you can check out what you missed if you weren’t there, or relive the moment if you were. The videos by John Cage and Frans Bromet were amusing and thought provoking.

We look forward to seeing you next month on 27 May for the second edition. This time with artists Nicoline van Harskamp and Coralie Vogelaar.

Rijksakademie on YouTube

Every Wednesday night De Verdieping hosts a night of art, music or discussion. On most of these nights we invite another institution to adopt this night to present itself in our environment. This time the Rijksakademie has kindly accepted our invitation – or, better, kindly approached us – to show videos that formed inspiration for residing artists. The programme started as a small gathering of artists at the academy, exchanging videos from YouTube they enjoyed. They now have called the night BeamClub, and this Wednesday is the first edition at De Verdieping.

In their own words:

On a regular irregular basis we ask (current and former) residents of the Rijksakademie to show footage. This includes anything that can be beamed, from YouTube to documentary, from mobile phone uploads to found vhs. What will be shown is not their own art, but what inspires them to make it. This time with artists Gino Saccone and Sarah van Sonsbeeck.

The Rijksakademie is an internationally acclaimed art research residency, currently home to 60 artist with 29 different nationalities. The upcoming two nights will be kindly hosted by De Verdieping in their ongoing Wednesdaynight programme. Doors open at 20:30, movies start at 21:00. Entrance is free. De Verdieping, Wibautstraat 131. And join us on Facebook or Twitter.

You can also join De Verdieping on Facebook, but we’d rather see you in person this Wednesday.