In search of the soul. Part 3: Art

Writer Allard Schröder, visual artist Theo Jansen and composer Klaas de Vries go in search of the enchantment or disenchantment of art. Presented by Michaël Zeeman. Dutch spoken.

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Information

Date and time Saturday 13 January 2007 23:05 tot 23:55 uur
Location Theater aan het Spui - grote zaal

If there is one occupational group tackling its own spiritual welfare then is is the artists' guild. Are the eyes the mirror of the soul? Is the soul paramount? What benefits the soul the most, the world or an Elysian island? What would Achterberg have meant with 'And in an eternal whirling loss/of flower and sun and horizon/thy quiet soul's horizons rose/blue all round the heart'? What purpose is a similarly high-flown ideal to a writer, a visual artist or a composer? Writer Allard Schröder, visual artist Theo Jansen and composer Klaas de Vries were in search of the enchantment or disenchantment of art. Dutch spoken.

Klaas de Vries

(Terneuzen, 1944) studied piano and composition at the Rotterdam Conservatory and continued his study in composition under Otto Ketting at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. After winning an award for composition in 1994 he studied for some time with Milko Kelemen in Germany. He was programmer of the STAMP concerts in Rotterdam and taught theoretical subjects at Twente Conservatory. With Peter-Jan Wagemans he started the foundation the Unanswered Question, realizing performances of new work by the composition department. Works by De Vries have been performed by the Rotterdam Philarmonisch Orkest, the Residentieorkest, the Noordhollands Philharmonisch Orkest, the Schönberg Ensemble and the Nederlands Saxofoonkwartet. In 1984 Klaas de Vries received the 1983 Matthijs-Vermeulen award for his composition Discantus, written for the Nederlands Studenten Orkest. In 1998 he received this prize a second time for A king, riding and Interludium for string orchestra.
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Michaël Zeeman

(Marken, 1958-2009) was a poet, a writer and a commentator, with a regular column on the Forum page and the book pages of the Volkskrant. Zeeman was the editor of the arts section of the Volkskrant and from 2006-2007 its Rome correspondent. In 2006 he and the writer Abdelkader Benali published an exchange of letters, exchanging ideas on politics, life, love and literature. In 2002 Zeeman received the Gouden Ganzenveer (Golden Goose Quill) for his merits for Dutch literature. Zeeman became well-known in the 1990s as the host of his monthly book programme 'Late at night after a short walk', later to be renamed 'Zeeman with books'. In 1991 he published his first volume of poetry, Beeldenstorm (Iconoclasm), winning him the C. Buddingh Prize. His second volume Verhoudingen (Relationships) appeared in 1995. In the same year he published short stories entitled De Verduistering (The Darkening). He died in 2009.
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Theo Jansen

is an artist, living and working in the Netherlands. He studied physics at the Technical University of Delft. As an artist he started out painting. Then he started a project with a big flying saucer, which could really fly. It flew over the town of Delft in 1980 and caused a great deal of commotion. For about ten years he has occupied himself making a new nature. Not pollen or seeds but plastic yellow tubes are used as the basic matierial of this new nature. He makes skeletons which are able to walk on the wind. Eventualy he wants to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives.
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Allard Schröder

made his debut in 1989 with the novel De gave van Luxuria (Luxuria's Gift). This was followed two years later by De muziek van de zwarte toetsen (The Music of the Black Keys). With Raaf (Raven), Schröder found a wider audience. The stories in Het pak van Kleindienst (Kleindienst's Suit) is situated along varying moments in history. The atmosphere is menacing and mysterious. In his novel Grover Schröder looks into a number of essential questions of life. De Hydrograaf (The Hydrographer) was awarded the AKO literature prize and is a curious novel in which the patterns of the sea reflect those of love. In 2005 the novel Favonius appeared and early 2006 the collection of essays Nieuwe tijden (Modern Times) was published.
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