After visiting the 53rd Venice Biennale for "ART iT" magazine, I spent a few days in Amsterdam to check out some promising events at the Holland Festival that has been underway since early June. Amsterdam resident Mukaiyama Tomoko somehow managed to arrange tickets to the nearly sold-out shows. The pianist takes part as an artist in the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial (which opens on July 26), and plays two related concerts at Monnaka Tenjo Hall on July 16 and 17.
Although the days in Holland are long in June, compared to Italy the weather was slightly cold. But the lightly dressed people in the city were enjoying the short summer anyway, eating, drinking, chatting and watching musical and other performances until late at night. The festival with a history of more than 60 years was obviously a perfect opportunity for them to dress up and go out. The program in recent years has been including over 40 pieces, performed a total of 90-100 times in front of about 70,000 visitors over a period of 3-4 weeks each time. This year, there is a retrospective show of Michelangelo Antonioni’s films, and a bunraku performance with Yoshida Minosuke.
I saw Mikhail Baryshnikov and Ana Laguna’s dance piece "Three Solos and a Duet" (6/6 at Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam / Rabozaal), and "Eine Kirche der Angst vor dem Fremden in mir", written and directed by German Christoph Schlingensief (6/8 at Westergasfabriek Zuiveringshal West). It was the first time in 20 years that I managed to see Baryshnikov, and although those gorgeous jumps of previous years surely weren't something to be expected this time, his moves on stage were as light and easy as usual. "Kirche der Angst" is a dramatization of the transformations of views on religion, life and death by Schlingensief, a cancer patient who might not even turn 50. The piece was staged in a setting that was made to look like a Christian church. Amateur actors were crisscrossing the stage, accompanied by a gospel choir with live drumming, and footage of Fluxus happenings. Schlingensief has created a piece overflowing with 1960s kind of energy, just as one would expect it from a reputed cult movie director. However it failed to overwhelm me, which was perhaps also because I couldn't understand the German dialogues and Dutch subtitles.
The biggest fun came after the actual performance. The venue, utilizing the facilities of a former gas works, was equipped with a considerably spacious bar, where visitors could have a drink while exchanging opinions after the show. I had another day to go before I could try the Dutch specialty salted herring, so instead I emptied a jug of local beer in no time, and not much later I counted several empty Vodka glasses on the table in front of me. Theatre and music are excellent excuses for drinking!
The Stadsschouwburg, the municipal theatre, has another splendid restaurant bar, where I had a drink prior to watching the performance, but I chose a different place for drinking after the show. I met Mukaiyama Tomoko at the Muziekgebouw aan't IJ, where composer Louis Andriessen’s 70th birthday was celebrated with a concert. According to Mukaiyama, a close friend and colleague of Andriessen’s, the concert was a huge success, with such personalities as the Dutch queen and the mayor of Amsterdam in the audience. The latter gave a touching speech that reportedly wasn't only charged with deep fondness of the maestro, but also reviewed Andriessen’s career. The mayor called him "an artist representing 400 years of Dutch music next to 17th century composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck."
Over my glass of wine I wondered whether Tokyo mayor Ishihara Shintaro would be able to do a similar kind of speech about the late Takemitsu Toru, an acquaintance from the realm of film, and, considering the controversy that Nicolas Sarkozy’s comment on "La Princesse de Cleves" created in France, whether notorious manga fan Aso Taro ever read a book of his uncle Yoshida Kenichi. However, I didn't spend much time thinking about such nonsense, but began to ponder the question how many good bars Tokyo has to offer in or around theatres where people can enjoy a drink after watching a performance. Well, not that there are none, but they're all tiny, and the last train leaves much too early wherever you go. Adult social culture is perhaps something that’s difficult to cultivate in Japan.
Salted herring, by the way, I had plenty during my stopover at Frankfurt airport the following day. The fish, once tossed about by the rough waves of the North Sea, was rich, fat and tasty. June is also white asparagus season in Holland. I guess I'll go back there next year, I thought while approaching boarding time and heading for the gate.
Ozaki Tetsuya / Editor in chief / REALTOKYO