Categorie archief: English

Janne Schipper wants to spend her life making art

Janne Schipper, one of the 2022 nominees in the Painting category, commutes between the Netherlands and Denmark. “My partner lives in Odense and I have a studio there, too,” says Janne, who is currently busy preparing for Prospects, a Mondriaan Fund exhibition which will take place in 2023 during Art Rotterdam.

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A year full of highlights for Joep Hendrikx

Joep Hendrikx, one of the 2022 nominees in the Dramatic Arts category, is doing not one but two performances at this year’s travelling theatre festival De Parade. In addition, he has directed his first performance for children and, together with Jos Nargy (who won the Piket Art Prize in the Dramatic Arts category in 2018), continues to immerse himself in De Poezieboys. On top of all this, Coproducers, the Netherlands platform for studio theatres, have awarded De Poezieboys support for three seasons. “This feels like an enormous incentive”, Joep says.

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‘Modernity is about making space for something new’

Daniele Formica, one of this year’s nominees in the Painting category, is on the move. He is not only leaving studio complex De Besturing in redevelopment area the Binckhorst, but will, mid September, also go back to his native Italy to attend a four-month special educational programme at CASTRO Residency, an international study centre located in Rome’s Trastevere area. “But I’ll definitely come back to The Hague for the Piket award ceremony in October.”

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Nick Renzo Garcia: theatremaker, actor and youth ambassador

Nick Renzo Garcia feels greatly honoured to be nominated for the Piket Art Prizes in the Dramatic Arts category. He only discovered his passion for acting at the age of twenty-one after a chance visit to the theatre. “I was a late starter, and that may be the reason I have an enormous urge to prove myself. I seize every opportunity with both hands,” Nick says. He is currently working on his own performance Zwartkijker as well as preparing himself for his part in De kersentuin (The Cherry Orchard) with Toneelgroep Maastricht next year. This Saturday he is also playing Willem III during the commemoration of the murder of Johan en Cornelis De Witt in The Hague.

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Faile Sol is offered one-year contract with Hungarian dance company

Faile Sol, one of this year’s nominees for the Piket Art Prizes in the Dance category, has swapped The Hague for the Hungarian city of Székesfehérvár. After a succesful audition with Royal Ballet Fehérvár, he was hoping for a traineeship, but they immediately offered him a one-year contract. “I was absolutely speechless,” Faile says.

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‘A gift in the form of a potential ritual’

This year, The Hague visual artist Kim David Bots created, for winners as well as nominees, a unique ‘ritual object’, accompanied by a text describing its supposed use or its fictitious history, or providing an instruction. According to Kim, the mere fact that one possesses an object that might be used to perform a ritual, makes a difference.

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Piket Art Prizes award ceremony 2021: An intimate evening

In view of the soaring infection numbers, the Board of the Mr F.H. Piket Foundation at the eleventh hour felt compelled to abandon the plans for an event with an audience. This is why the Piket Art Prizes award ceremony of 22 November 2021 became an intimate evening focusing on three happy winners.

 

Music and a warm welcome

On the outside, the Scheveningen Lourdeskerk looks a little severe this cold autumn evening, but inside everything is ready for a party. Between the Piket banners on the podium, there is a table with three shining plume sculptures, this year’s trophy. Just in front of the podium there are chairs and low tables, properly placed at the required distance, for everyone present, especially of course the three winners and the small group of loved ones they were each allowed to bring. Unfortunately, most of this large former church will remain empty tonight, but the lighting is full of atmosphere, the candles on the tables make things really cosy, and thanks to the wonderful laid-back music performed by Vincent Koning (guitar) and Luciano Poli (bass) you might think you’re in a jazz club.

Vincent and Luciano have been engaged at the last moment, but it doesn’t sound like that at all. They are a fantastic duo and fully deserve the round of applause presenter Paula Udondek suggests after her word of welcome. Vincent and Luciano remain on stage and see to it that everyone can take a breath after each presentation. Needless to say, there’s also a round of applause for Louise de Blécourt and Taco Hovius, director and president of the Mr F.H. Piket Foundation respectively, who in their turn extend a warm welcome to tonight’s small audience. A backdrop projection shows the portraits of all nominees up till now. Hovius mentions that this is the eighth award ceremony, which means 72 portrait photographs. De Blécourt points out that the Foundation will continue to follow all of them.

Put a feather in your cap

After this Paula Udondek gives the floor to Yke Prins, who made the bronze plumes on their alabaster pedestals. She explains that she got the idea during a project with a group of Alzheimer patients. The project involved an art cabinet containing a number of sculptures, and the patients were asked to put a feather next to the object they liked best. There was one lady who didn’t want to give her feather away, but with an enormous grin put it down in front of herself. ‘She put a feather in her own cap,’ Yke says with a smile. And that is exactly what she would like her trophy to convey to the winners. ‘Have confidence in yourself. In times of doubt, put a feather in your own cap.’ Yke gave the bronze plumes a clever little grip so that they can be taken off their pedestals. In this way ‘putting a feather in your own cap’ becomes a genuine physical gesture.

Winners 2021

Painting: Narges Mohammadi

Martine Gosselink (Mauritshuis) tells us how she and her fellow jury member, visual artist Joncquil de Vries, cycled through The Hague in a headwind to visit their nominees’ studios, she herself behind on the carrier. It all reminded her of a scene from the notorious 1960s novel Turks Fruit (Turkish Delight). It was a long way to the winner’s studio, but once they were there, De Vries adds, “we were taken through a long corridor to an enchanting place.”
Winner Narges Mohammadi is impressed: ‘It still feels a little unreal, because I’m so much used to having to fight for everything.’ But she mainly feels gratitude for something that creates calm ‘in times of unrest and uproar.’

The Jury Report mentions that Narges came to the Netherlands from Afghanistan when she was seven and that, naturally, her personal experience plays a role in her work. However, “what she creates is more universal than ‘Afghanistan’ and goes beyond current debate. Narges exudes an immense urge to create and everything she makes is well considered.”

Dance: Katarina Van den Wouwer

Jury member Stacz Wilhelm (artistic advisor Dutch Dance Days) explains that, naturally, there were less live performances during the past year. Wilhelm and his fellow jury member Isabelle Chaffaud (MEYER/CHAFFAUD) therefore needed a different, broader way of looking. More than in previous years they fell back on experiential expertise. Wilhelm and Chaffaud always try to include as many styles as possible. Chaffaud: ‘We aim at diversity, but that’s not easy. It’s less hard to stick to a pool of comparable approaches.’
The Jury Report describes winner Katarina Van den Wouwer as someone who displays cogency, sensitivity, and generosity: “Going beyond her own virtuosity, Katarina proceeds from dance as performing art towards dance as an act of living.”
‘I’m a little overwhelmed,’ Katarina says. In her acceptance speech she pays tribute to the Indian meditation technique Vipassana, which greatly helped her to arrive where she is now.

Dramatic Arts: Koen Verheijden

“For us it was much the same as for the Dance jury”, says Antoinette Jelgersma (Het Nationale Theater). In the absence of ‘real’ performances, she and her fellow jury member John de Weerd (Zaal 3 / De Parade) had to resort to rehearsals and streaming: “But then quite often it’s hard to fathom, because, after all, it’s a different medium.”

Winner Koen Verheijden attracted attention with his triptych in the making, Nina Bobo, in which he explores his own Dutch East Indies background. It is therefore not surprising that Koen dedicates his prize to the East Indies community, who are ‘not always vocal.’ Koen: “It’s fantastic to stand here. I never thought I would ever in my life give an acceptance speech.” The Jury Report praises the simple theatrical means and plain directional style Koen uses in his work and describes them as extremely effective; “the intelligent alternations and clever directional inventions are remarkable for someone of Koen’s age.”

The Jury Prize is still to follow

Jury president Winnie Sorgdrager stresses the importance of the Piket Art Prizes, ‘the financial support, the recognition of who you are and what you do.” And in addition, there’s the Jury Prize for someone who is of importance for the Hague art world, but operates in the background. Last year it was decided not to award the Jury Prize, because there was no opportunity to, literally, bring such a person out of the shadows. “This year we are going to do that”, Sorgdrager announces, “but I’m not allowed to speak about it yet.”

After the ceremony there is time to enjoy drinks and snacks under the fine wooden vault of the Lourdeskerk. And then the winners, well-deserved plume and all, go out again into the cold Scheveningen evening.

For Goda Žukauskaitė dance is a conversation

At first, Goda Žukauskaitė genuinely thought the nomination was a mistake. “It was such a big surprise. I found it difficult to accept that I might be worth it. I don’t see myself as a dancer who goes for high technique. For me dance is more than an art form. It’s a tool to talk with people. Movement is about energy and dynamics, it’s a conversation.” In Goda’s view, the fact that she was nominated says a lot about the open-minded attitude of the jury. The recognition makes her feel “super grateful.”

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Dancer Poernima wants to spread her wings

Poernima Gobardhan (29), one of this year’s Piket Art Prizes nominees, has been fascinated by Indian dance from a young age, especially by the classical Indian dance style Bharata Natyam. She not only dances and creates, but has also been conducting her own dancing school in the The Hague Laakkwartier since she was fifteen.

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