2014 was again a very successful year for Dutch arts and cultural projects in the United States. The Press and Cultural Affairs Department at the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York, which has a US-wide role in supporting Dutch arts and culture, assisted and promoted some of the best of Dutch culture that came to the U.S. Below is an overview of highlights of this year’s projects.

Design

The first half year of 2014 was heavily focused on Dutch Design, not only from a cultural point of view, but also on an educational and economic level. The successful exhibition Out of Hand: Materializing the Postdigital ran through April 1st at the Museum of Arts and Design, and featured ten Dutch designers, including Demakersvan, Joris Laarman, Lucas Maassen, Alissia Melka-Teichroew, Marloes ten Bhömer, Unfold, Daan van den Berg and Dirk Vander Kooij. The exhibition served as an inspiration to set up the Dutch Design Competition, a competition to design a new give-away for the Netherlands Embassy in Washington D.C. This proved to be an enormous success: more than 180 proposals were sent in, of which 14 were showcased at the Museum of Arts and Design in April, after which the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Frans Timmermans, awarded the first prize to Friso Dijkstra for his bicycle bell in the shape of a ring.

SOMArts in San Francisco presented the group exhibition ‘All Possible Futures,’ exploring the potential of graphic design and celebrating a questioning of boundaries regarding concepts, processes, technologies, and form. Many Dutch graphic designers and design firms participated, including Peter Bil’ak, Catalogtree, Jaan Evart, Daniël Maarleveld, Experimental Jetset, Hansje van Halem, Willem Henri Lucas, LUST, Karel Martens, Metahaven, Mevis & van Deursen, Moniker and Lesley Moore.

In May, many Dutch Designers were part of NYCxDESIGN, New York’s official design weeks. The celebrated Design Academy Eindhoven presented the exhibition ‘Self Unself’ at the second edition of the Collective Design Fair, featuring recent student work that explores the boundaries of design, and work that has moved beyond the production of objects to embrace other forms of expression. Hella Jongerius, whom some have called ‘the Grand Lady of design’, was presented by Moss Bureau at the fair as well, with a big solo exhibition. The show offered a highly personal selection of representative works by this internationally acclaimed designer, who for over twenty years has explored the crossovers between industrial design and crafts.

Joris Laarman’s ‘Bits and Crafts’ solo show at Friedman Benda Gallery in NYC, on the theme of digital fabrication and generative design tools, received an unprecedented positive press coverage. Another well-known Dutch designer who had a solo exhibit during NYCxDESIGN was Aldo Bakker. The exhibition gave a comprehensive overview of the designer’s work in collaboration with master-craftsmen Jan Matthesius, Frans Ottink and Rutger Graas at Atelier Courbet.

Sustainable design was brought to New York by Robbert Zoon, who organized the ‘GoedNY’ event, with ‘good stuff from Holland,’ including work by Bough Bikes, Kazmok, Energy Floors, and others. Zoon returned to New York with a Dutch Eco Design Green Drinks networking event at the Dutch Citizen M Hotel on Times Square, showcasing more products from the Netherlands, including Lease a Jeans, Dutch Fashion Link, Dopper, and others.

Dutch contemporary jewelry design was heavily featured in the survey exhibition ‘Multiple Exposures: Jewelry & Photography‘ at the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC, with work by Gijs Bakker, Celio Braga, Peter Deckers, Jantje Fleischut, Herman Hermsen, Iris Nieuwenburg, Ruudt Peters, Gabriela Sanchez, Mecky van den Brink, Truike Verdegaal and Hilde de Decker.

For the third time, the California College of the Arts in San Francisco hosted Seeing Orange: Dutch Design Week, with workshops and lectures by a.o. DUS Architects, Michiel Schwarz, Moniker Studio, and Rene Knip. Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles followed suit by again hosting a group of experimental and forward-thinking Dutch graphic designers during its third Design week in June, including Niessen DeVries, Lava Design and Type Radio.

In September, the new boutique store Chamber in Chelsea, NYC opened with a collection curated by Studio Job that will be on view for 2 years. Chamber is a new boutique of limited edition design, objects and art. Taking the Renaissance-era Cabinet of Curiosities as its inspiration, Chamber will be a twenty-first century reliquary for unusual objects and a platform for design experimentation. For the inaugural curatorial period Studio Job are working closely with a dynamic group of established and emerging designers and artists to create Chamber Collection #1.

Dutch innovative shoe design was also well represented this year, with designs by a.o. United Nude, Iris van Herpen, Rem D. Koolhaas, and Winde Rienstra included in the successful “Killer Heels” exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. Also slowLab, the non-profit research platform for ‘slow design’ was very active in the fall, by organizing the ‘Dust, Dialogue and Uncertainty’ exhibition at Pratt Institute.

The fact that Dutch design is recognized and celebrated by an American audience was underlined by a 3-page article in the New York Times by Julie Lasky, titled “The Dutch are Back in Town,” highlighting a number of recent Dutch design and architecture projects, including Chamber by Studio Job,  the opening of CitizenM hotel in Times Square, office building Huys, Piet Boon’s Oosten, next year’s opening of Moooi, and the use of Dutch design by interior designer Ghislaine Van Loosbroek Viñas.

Miami Art Week

This year we were also proud to welcome an unprecedented number of renowned, as well as up and coming Dutch artists to Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach week in Miami. The city welcomed them to their exhibit halls, on the beach, and in its gardens from December 2-7, 2014. Dozens of Dutch artists, designers and galleries were represented, including a massive installation with Theo Jansen’s Strandbeests by Audemars Piguet and the Peabody Essex Museum (previewing a US museum tour that will start in Salem, MA in September 2015); Design at Fairchild solo outdoor presentation by Satyendra Pakhale in the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Miami; the launch of the brand identity for the Faena Group by Studio Job, who also showed their impressive new ‘Landmark’ series at Design Miami via Carpenters Workshop; Galerie Vivid with a solo exhibition by Janne Kyttanen, a world premiere by jewelry artist Ted Noten via Ornamentum Gallery, and a group exhibition by Priveekollektie, also at Design Miami. Tom Postma again designed Art Basel Miami Beach, where Galerie Juliette Jongma had a booth, and Constant Dullaart was presented solo by Carroll Gletcher Gallery. The Amsterdam Street Art Foundation showed Dutch street artists in the Wynwood District, and Andenken & Kallenbach Galleries with Miami-based Catapult [13] presented Dutch street art in the Miami Design District. A number of artists produced murals in the area, with a highlight by Haas&Hahn for Wynwood Walls, as well as murals by IVES.ONE, Silas, Sjembakkus, Telmo Miel, and Hugo Mulder, DHM. Dutch gallerists  and artists that were present at the various art fairs included: Gallery Delaive, Gallery Rueb, Leslie Smith Gallery, Torch Gallery, Amstel Gallery, Witzenhausen Gallery, Andenken Gallery, Kallenbach Gallery, Wanrooij Gallery, Stick Together (Max Zorn), LMAK Projects, Luna Maurer, Ewerdt Hilgemann, Bas van den Hurk, Erwin Olaf, Elisa Lejuez, Michael van den Besselaar, and others.

SXSW

At the largest showcase festival in the world, South by Southwest (SXSW), the Dutch were represented with its largest ever presence at SXSW 2014 and a record-breaking number of artists: among them were KiT, Monokino, Birth of Joy, traumahelikopter, Mr and Mississippi and Mozes and the Firstborn. For the first time ever at SXSW, the Amsterdam Dance Event was invited to showcase new Dutch EDM talent. Creating a Dutch hub at Bar 96 and hosting events daily, The Netherlands highlighted the country’s global creative alliances through art, technology, and music. Founders and artists from a wide array of disciplines descended upon Austin to highlight Dutch culture. Participants representing talent in the Netherlands included design star Daan Roosegaarde, VanMoof bicycles, tech-fashion hybrid Wearable Solar, and the acclaimed Shapeways, which was founded by Dutch entrepreneurs.

Electronic Dance Music (EDM)

After winning the title of Best DJ in the world a second year in a row, Dutch DJ Hardwell toured the US with his Revealed Tour, selling out arenas throughout the country. Dutch DJs like Tiësto, Hardwell and Afrojack, are among the most popular in the world and this year there were over 600 Dutch EDM activities in the United States.

Although it’s hard to choose one highlight out of those 600 performances, it goes without saying that one of them was the first instalment of Mysteryland on American soil. Mysteryland is the brainchild of the Dutch company ID&T, a Dutch pioneering electronic music experience company. ID&T was the first company allowed to organize a festival on the hallow ground of Bethelwoods, NY, home of the legendary Woodstock festival.

Old Masters

Early January, an end came to the special exhibition ‘Vermeer, Rembrandt and Hals: Masterpieces of Dutch Painting from the Mauritshuis’ at the Frick. With record-breaking numbers, Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Girl With A Pearl Earring’ returned home to the newly reopened Mauritshuis in The Hague.

The National Gallery of Art debuted with an innovative digital initiative with the launch of Arthur K. Wheelock Jr.’s Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century this April. This first release in NGA Online Editions is part of an ongoing effort to digitize and provide open access to the Gallery’s permanent collection catalogs and will eventually document more than 5,000 paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts. Users will be able to access the web-based, interactive book. Through September 7, lovers of Dutch arts could visit the National Gallery of Art to see a series of portraits by Vincent van Gogh.

At the North Carolina Art Museum the exhibit Small Treasures: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals and their contemporaries opened, and will be on view until early January 2015. Also, one of the largest and most varied collections of Northern Baroque including Dutch Masters (The Hohenbrau Collection from: Liechtenstein) is on view since the beginning of this fall until April 2015 at Bruce Museum. 

 Next year promises to be an exciting year for Dutch Masters in the US. Follow us on Facebook and we’ll keep you updated of upcoming exhibitions! 

Heritage

Students from New York City’s Loyola High School got a unique introduction into the history of New Amsterdam last September from a special teacher: Mr. Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands. Mr. Rutte taught at the Museum of the City of New York on the known and unknown contributions of the Dutch to New York City. Accompanied by Russell Shorto, author of “The Island at the Center of the World,” and Dr. Dennis Maika of the New Netherlands Institute, the Prime Minster and the students examined how Dutch influence remained after New Amsterdam became New York.

Mayor De Blasio stated that “New Amsterdam was known for its incredible diversity. The spirit of inclusion and acceptance that still defines the five boroughs was born in New Amsterdam, and can be traced back to the Dutch settlers who made it their home.” Mr. Rutte received a special proclamation from Mr. James van Bramer, the Majority Leader of the New York City Council.

This special class comes after the New York State Education Board adopted a new Social Studies Framework. In it, the Dutch are more prominently mentioned than before. From now on New York Public Schools will teach students to trace colonial history from the Dutch colony of New Netherland to the English colony of New York, making note of lasting Dutch contributions.

With the new requirements in place, and with a contribution of the Dutch government, the School and Public Programs of the Museum of the City of New York on New Amsterdam will be expanded and enhanced. The “Life in New Amsterdam” lesson plan is meant for students K-12, and can be adjusted according to the grade level. The museum expects that the “Life in New Amsterdam” program will reach 2,500 children yearly.

Visual Arts

The past half year the Consulate supported a wide array of Dutch visual arts and photography. In January, the Philadelphia Museum of Art presented ‘Inventory,’ a multi-projection installation by Fiona Tan, inviting viewers to consider museum collections as well as the human compulsion to capture the transience of time and lived experience. ‘Buildering: Misbehaving the City’ is a group exhibition curated by Steven Marijcio, including performance interventions by Dutch artist Allard van Hoorn at the Contemporary Arts Center and the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston. This spring Dutch artist Renzo Martens and Yael Bartana participated in ‘9 Artists’, an international multigenerational group exhibition that considers the changing role of the artist in contemporary culture, at MIT List Visual Arts Center. The Corcoran Gallery of Art presented ‘The Krazyhouse’, a solo exhibition featuring an impressive four-channel video installation by Dutch artist Rineke Dijkstra, the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis presented a solo show by Carla Klein, the Jewish Museum in New York presented a massive installation by Willem de Rooij, the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art presented work by Guido van der Werve, and the Detroit Institute of Art brought a solo project by Corinne Vermeulen, about her years-long documentation of the people of Detroit .

This June the exhibition of the ‘Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ by Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen opened at Aperture Foundation. This extensive five-year photo research offers a thorough investigation into the region of Sochi, becoming the site for the Olympic Games. It opened in Chicago at the DePaul Art Museum just prior to the Games, and was later presented during the FotoFocus Festival in Cincinnati.

Although the number of galleries in the Netherlands decreases according to the Netherlands Gallery Association (NGA), no less than twelve Dutch galleries in total were present at the most prestigious international art fairs in New York this spring. During the Armory Arts Week in March, Dutch galleries Grimm Gallery, Ron Mandos and Upstream Gallery were present at the Armory Fair. A month later Flatland Gallery, amongst others, participated in Paris Photo LA and in May Grimm Gallery presented a solo show at Frieze Art Fair, the largest international contemporary art fair in New York. Concurrently Livingstone Gallery presented a solo show by Dutch artist Raquel Maulwurf during PULSE NY.

Not only were there many Dutch galleries presented at the different art fairs in the US this spring, also a large number of Dutch artists had their solo shows in the US this year. Just to name a few: Joan van Barneveld at Paul Loya Gallery, Wijnanda Deroo at Robert Mann Gallery, Tiong Ang at LYNCH THAM, Hannah van Bart at Marianne Boesky Gallery, Adele Renault at White Walls, Carla Klein and Meschac Gaba’s at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Lily van der Stokker at the Koenig & Clinton Gallery, Paul Kooiker at the Steven Kasher Gallery, Katrin Korfmann at the Paul Kopeikin Gallery, Bas van den Hurk and Gijs van Lith at RH Contemporary, Ewerdt Hilgemann at the William Holman Gallery, Carla van de Puttelaar at the Danziger Gallery, Ruud van Empel at the Stux Gallery, Berend Strik and Henk Peeters at the Tilton Gallery.

Next to all the projects and exhibitions the Consulate also supported the Marfa Summer School, a three week Summer School in Marfa, Texas for students of the Dutch Art Institute, the Sandberg Instituut / Gerrit Rietveld Academie and the California College of Arts. This year’s edition of the annual project is organized by Amsterdam-based cultural platform TAAK, in close collaboration with instructors from each institute. A total of 20 students (seventeen nationalities) participated. The aim is to expand contemporary discourses, social practices and politics in art to create a unique experience and opportunity for students and to gain an understanding of the dynamics and social impact of art in public spaces.

Amsterdam-based artist Ewerdt Hilgemann was the first Dutch artist to be prominently solo exhibited at Park Avenue, with the installation “Moments in a Stream” (accompanied by the exhibition “Freeze Frame” at Magnan Metz gallery). From August until November 2014, seven stainless steel sculptures landed on Park Avenue, from 52nd to 67th street. This unique project was in conjunction with the “Moments in a Stream: An Afterimage” exhibition at the William Holman Gallery, with photographs by Clara von Aich.

In September the Consulate for the third year supported a wide array of Dutch photography at the Photoville Festival in Brooklyn with special presentations by among others FotoFestival Naarden, Leiden International Photo Festival, a group exhibition curated by Aloys Ginjaar & Astrid Verhoef, and solo exhibitions by Teun Voeten, Corine Vermeulen, and Heijdens Karwei.

From September until December the international multidisciplinary residency program ‘Deltaworkers’ took place in New Orleans. The program was run by curators Joris Lindhout and Maaike Gouwberg and included among others Dutch artists Timmy van Zoelen, Tijdelijke Samenscholing, Jeremiah Day and Dafna Maimon (Finland)

At the AxS Festival in Pasadena (in September and October) the North American premiere of SPHAERAE -an inflatable pavilion- took place, a large-scale temporary public artwork by Dutch architect Cocky Eek.

In October The Solomon R. Guggenheim opened the long-awaited ZERO exhibition, with work by various artists from the Dutch Nul Groep, including Armando, Jan Henderikse, herman de vries, Jan Schoonhoven, and Henk Peeters. It is still on view until January 7, 2015.

Architecture

In an effort to promote resilience for the Sandy-affected region, U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, launched a multi-stage regional design competition named Rebuild by Design. This competition was lead by Senior Advisor to Secretary Donovan, Henk Ovink (Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment in the Netherlands). The competition attracted world-class talent that strived to strengthen resilience in the Sandy-affected region. In the beginning of June, the six winning teams of this competition were announced, with four teams that involve Dutch experts, including: Bosch Slabbers, Deltares, H+N+S Landscape Architects, IMG Rebel, Palmbout Urban Landscapes, TU Delft, One Architecture, Arcadis, OMA, Royal HaskoningDHV, MIT CAU + ZUS + URBANISTEN, Deltares, 75B, and Volker Infra. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced $930 million in federal funding to implement the team’s plans.

Other Dutch architects have remained very popular in the US: lectures were held by Herman Hertzberger (Atelier Herman Hertzberger), Mathijs Bouw (One Architecture), Michelle Provoost (Crimson Architectural Historians), Winy Maas (MVRDV), and Ben van Berkel (UN Studio).

Building milestones were set by a.o. Concrete, with the opening of the CitizenM Hotel on Times Square in the heart of NYC, Piet Boon, with the opening of his much anticipated luxury condo building Huys on Park Avenue South in NYC, and West 8, with the official opening of the redesigned Governors Island. SO-IL broke ground on their new museum for UC Davis in Davis, CA, and started work on the NEW INC incubator for the New Museum in NYC. Concrete continues its work in NYC with a large mixed-use project for Ironstate on Staten Island, and Piet Boon announced ‘Oosten’, a large condominium project in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for XIN Development Group International, the U.S. branch of Chinese development giant Xinyuan Real Estate Company.

Rem Koolhaas’ firm OMA (together with studio Olin) created the winning design for the 11th Street Bridge Park – a raised garden spanning Washington DC’s Anacostia River. Also the interior of Koolhaas and OMA’s arts and culture centre in Miami Beach has been revealed by developer Faena during this year’s Art Basel and Design Miami events.

In June, CLOG magazine launched its issue ‘REM’, entirely dedicated to Rem Koolhaas, curator of the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale.

Amsterdam based NLÉ and Rotterdam based CohStra are two of six interdisciplinary teams involved in the Museum of Modern Art’s Uneven Growth initiative, which examines new architectural possibilities for six global metropolises. This exhibition opened in November and is on view until May 10th 2015.

Literature

From April 28 until May 4, the 10th Annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature took place in NYC. Dutch writers Geert Mak, Jaap Scholten and Sanneke van Hassel were present, and gave various lectures. PEN Festival was followed by the launch of the May issue of Words Without Borders, the online magazine for international literature, entirely dedicated to Dutch and Flemish authors writing on taboos.

Herman Koch, author of the instant New York Times bestseller ‘The Dinner’ presented his newest book in the US: ‘Summer House with Swimming Pool’, published by Random House.

Also, Dutch novelist Tommy Wieringa was present at the Brooklyn Book Festival where he spoke about the life changing role mothers and sisters played in his latest novels. This was the first time a Dutch novelist was present at the Brooklyn Book Festival. 

Film

Miriam Kruishoop’s movie Greencard Warriors reached a bi-coastal audience with screenings in NYC, LA and San Diego in the end of March. The film shows the tragic struggle of an undocumented Latino family in Los Angeles after they have sent their eldest son to war. In April, Paste Magazine listed Miriam Kruishoop as one of the ten women directors to watch in 2014.

The weekend of June 25th marked the New York premiere of the full-length documentary film Clean Spirit (‘Nieuwe Helden’) on Dutch cycling team Argos-Shimano in the 100th edition of the Tour de France. The film was screened three times during the 14th edition of the Bicycle Film Festival and due to its success director Dirk Jan Roeleven is currently negotiating official distribution in the U.S. and Canada.

Dutch actress Bianca Krijgsman took home “Best Performance by an actress” at the International Emmy Awards in New York, a prize she won for her lead role in the drama film ‘The New World’. Right before she won, Dutch Culture USA exclusively spoke to the actress.

The Dutch movie ‘Accused’, directed by Paula van der Oest, is on the shortlist for Best Foreign Movie at the Academy Awards. In January 2015 the nominees will be announced.

Performing Arts

Theatre for Young Audiences was well-represented with Theatergroep Kwatta and Arch8 during this year’s IPAY Showcase, which was held in Pittsburgh in January.

Additionally Amsterdam-based dance company ISH brought a week’s worth of performances in the New Victory Theatre with the US premiere of HyperISH. The New Victory plays a leading role in exclusively programming theatre and dance performances for younger audiences.

Make Music New York (a program of June’s River to River festival), featured ‘Walk with Me‘ by Dutch composer duo Strijbos and Van Rijswijk, in Lower Manhattan. ‘Walk with Me’ is an iPhone app, that influences the way participants experience their environment and uses melodies, rhythmic patterns, chatter, and electronic sounds from American and Dutch composers, found from the archives of New York’s MATA Festival and Holland’s Gaudeamus Music Week.

The West Coast (Portland, OR and LA) saw the latest dance-theatre production of The International Choreographic Arts Center Amsterdam, ‘ROCCO,’ directed by choreographers Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten. In this production, inspired by Visconti’s classic film ‘Rocco and His Brothers,’ the audience is literally brought into the boxing ring, where dancers become boxers and boxers become dancers.

Afro Caribbean performance group Kuenta I Tambu (KiT) completed a 4 week residency in LA as part of the Cultural Exchange International project consisting of a series of concerts and workshops on the arts and cultural traditions of the Dutch Antilles. Venues included the Levitt Pavillion MacArthur Park, the renowned Getty Center in LA and the Casbah in San Diego. Furthermore, KiT also played a gig during Fronteras at the River To River Festival, in New York.

Dutch-Flemish theater group Wunderbaum performed during the Fusebox Festival in Austin with ‘Looking for Paul’, an experimental piece in which reality and fiction are fused. Wunderbaum has been performing on American soil on a regular basis over the past years. Following a series of performances of ‘Hospital’ in 2013, a collaboration with the Skid Row performance group Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD), Wunderbaum also performed in January 2014 in Minneapolis and at Dartmouth University.

After a successful residency in LA during the month of June, Amsterdam-based Afro Caribbean performance group Kuenta I Tambu (K i T!) performed during the Celebrate Brooklyn! festival in Prospect Park, Brooklyn in August, attracting a full house. This wasn’t the only Dutch open air performance that summer. In July jazz pianist Martin Fondse and (Brazilian) singer-songwriter Lenine performed at Festival SummerStage in Central Park. Their collaboration was inspired by the Maurício de Nassau Bridge in Recife, Brazil—a replica of a bridge over the Amstel River in Amsterdam.

In August, Jazz pianist Peter Beets toured the East Coast extensively. Beets made appearances as a guest musician during the Django Reinhardt Festival in Birdland and with the Django Festival All-Stars in Newport. Furthermore Peter’s trio, named Trio Peter Beets, performed at the famous Blue Note Club in New York, in the Philadelphia Art Museum and at the Netherland Club in New York. Beets wasn’t the only Dutch jazz artist to tour the US. In October Eric Vloeimans performed several times in the USA with his latest project, jazz trio Oliver’s Cinema.

In September the Queer New York International Arts Festival took place in New York. A special program in the festival was dedicated to young and very strong choreographers working in the Netherlands: Jan Martens, Mor Shani and T.R.A.S.H. Read the New York Times review about Martens’ performance here.

In October Toneelgroep Amsterdam successfully performed Angels in America, the epic examination of the AIDS crisis written by Tony Kushner, at the BAM as part of BAM’s Next Wave Festival. All performances (read the raving review here) were sold out. Also there was a talk by director Ivo van Hove and author Tony Kushner. In addition to that Van Hove directed Scenes of a Marriage at the New York Theatre Workshop. Read the New York Times article here.

Also Dutch youth theatre was present in the US. In October and November, youth theatre company Kwatta toured the country with their show Manxmouse. In January Kwatta won the IPAY- award with this production. During the tour the company performed in the prestigious NYU Skirball Center.

In October The Washington Ballet premiered two important works by Netherlands-based choreographers: Petite Mort by Jiri Kylián and 5 Tangos by Hans van Manen. In the Winter season the renowned dance company Alvin Ailey performed Polish Pieces by Hans van Manen several times throughout the United States. In this exuberant ensemble work, Dutch choreographer van Manen displays his mastery for building dazzling creations from simple motifs and geometric patterns.

For decades now, there has been a close association between the preeminent Dutch composer Louis Andriessen and a significant group of American minimalist and post-minimalist composers in the United States. Ralph van Raat, the young, vibrant, celebrated pianist from Amsterdam explored this connection, playing works of both American and Dutch composers, including Andriessen, David Lang, and John Adams in November at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study .

Northside

The Netherlands teamed up with Northside festival as the first guest country ever, to present a large group of Dutch innovators including Pauline van Dongen, Chordify and Surfly, and bands like I Am Oak, MTT and Traumahelikopter. Northside Festival is Brooklyn’s largest annual discovery festival with more than 100,000 attendees. The festival featured more than 400 bands, 50 films, and 200 exhibitors. The partnership with Northside proved to be a great success, to be continued next year.

Social Media

This year, DutchCultureUSA has been very active and succesful on social media. In December, 2014 we saw a significant increase in followers on our Instagram and Twitter accounts and we have reached 10.000 likes on our Facebook page. Thanks to our followers for these successes, please continue to like our social media activities.