Last friday I received the Rabobank Culture Award. After being nominated for the second time in three editions it is a big honour to win this award.

Each year three culture awards are given out in Breda. One price for upcomming talent, which was won by Studio Smack! An oeuvre price, this year awarded to Carolein Smit.

The award I received is given to people who work in the background supporting others to excel and that are of great value for the community. I will post a jury statement later, but here are 3 clips from the awardceremony and following Cultuurnacht event.

In October I will move office to the Reigerstraat in the city centre of Breda. At the moment we are restoring a building which will be come a Centre for Visual Culture. Other offices in this buidling include GDFB, Breda Photo and the International Film Festival Breda. The is also space for Colin and some young graphic designers.

The will be an exhibition space attached to the office. So even more space to exhibit great art and design in Breda!

After having my office at KOP for five years, this is a great step to take. But I am looking forward! Moving doesn't mean I will not be involved with KOP anymore, I just will not be around as much as before.

Untill the building is restored the facade is covered with a cardboard design by Thomas Dahm. It was produced by Vinke Digital and we installed it this morning. The display in intended to inform passers-by about the new development and enables them to take a peek inside.

At the moment we are preparing the first exhibition in ©, with graphic works by Harmen Liemburg. To be opened in October 2009!

No early bird award for Battery Cage...

Recently I worked on a businessplan for a new organisation for visual culture. Co-writer of the plan is rob de Brouwer, managing director of Breda Photo. Initiated by the city council and inspired by the city's cultural ambition we came up with a plan for ©. This organisation will bond the forces of the Graphic Design Festival, Breda Photo and the new International Filmfestival Breda enabling those organisations to grow professionally. © will also host exhibitions in their own gallery in the heart of the city centre. But foremost © will be linking the local creative community to local government, national educational institutions and international companies.
Last week the plan was presented to citycounciller Wilbert Willems. After his positive responce we hope to shape up © soon!

Rob van Hoesel did a great job in visualizing our plan, you can read it here.

Hoe toepasselijk kan een award zijn? ZEER toepasselijk in dit geval. De jury van het International Film Festival Breda was zo onder de indruk van Studio Smack's inzending 'Battery Cage', dat ze besloten de film te nomineren voor de NPS Early Bird Short Film Award.
De animatie is speciaal voor het festival voorzien van een soundtrack, gemaakt door Julian Edwardes. 'Battery Cage' beleeft hier zijn wereldpremière dus komt allen!

De eerste editie van het IFFB vindt plaats van 25 t/m 29 maart. Battery Cage draait aanstaande vrijdagavond om 22:30 in de Must See Bioscoop.

Voor meer info check
www.filmfestivalbreda.com
www.studiosmack.nl

Last summer the Breda city administration consulted me on an artwork in the public space. Objective was to transform the facade of a 30-year old multistorey car park in the Concordiastreet with photography. This street is situated in the city centre. In it's surroundings major urban renewel projects are being developed. Co-sponsor of this project is Rabobank, which is situated across the street from the carpark. At first I presented the works of 3 photographers to a committee. They than selected Dieuwertje Komen to be given this commission to. She produced a four piece photographic work that covers almost the entire facade. The photo's show the direct surroundings of the Concordiastreet from a birds perspective. The photo's show the big changes in the direct surroundings. In a view years time this area will look completely different. The car park will stand out as a reminder of the past.

The work will be uncovered on tuesday march 3rd at 16.00 hrs.

This thursday Studio Smack will give a lecture at Villanuts, The Hague. Starting at 21.00 hrs. Ton, Thom and Bela will do a Q&A with films for about one hour. Afterwards a hilarious quiz will test your Studio Smack knowledge!

Studio Smack is a creative lab based in Breda, The Netherlands. According to Studio Smack there are simple but unheard truths hidden under the surface of common ideas and rules. Through their work they want to share their astonishment and fascination on a poetic and social level.

Some of their clients are VARA, VPRO, MTV, Greenpeace, Museum for Graphic Design De Beyerd, Museum for Popular Science Museon, Graphic Design Festival Breda and Festival Mundial.

Their work is internationally appreciated and has been rewarded several times.

For a preview, check out their website or youtube.

Uit de shortlist van vijftig films is Noteboek van Evelien Lohbeck (Nederland) door de jury gekozen tot winnaar van de internationale competitie voor webanimatie. De filmmaker is als speciale gast uitgenodigd voor het festival. De jury bestond uit filmmakers met een film in de competitie voor onafhankelijke animatie. De jury was aangenaam verrast door het aantrekkelijke en hoge niveau van de films in de shortlist.

Evelien Lohbeck maakte Noteboek voor haar opleiding aan de ABK St. Joost in Breda. De film toont bijzonder inventief gebruik van een notitieboek, onder meer als notebook - waarmee een film op YouTube wordt geplaatst -, kopieerapparaat en broodrooster. De film won ook al de KPN NOFF-juryprijs op het Nederlands Film Festival en een Playgrounds Award voor Best Student.

Hoge ogen gooiden ook de films Tir Nan Og (Fursy Teyssier, Frankrijk), Corre Caballito (Rosa Peris, Mercedes Peris, Spanje), Time for Some Campaignin (Evan Spiridellis, VS) en The Watchers (Studio Smack, Nederland).

De shortlist van vijftig films is nog te zien

Studio Smack wint Playgrounds Award in de categorie Best Local.

Op donderdag 30 oktober zijn de Playgrounds Awards uitgereikt in drie categorieën. De Award voor Best Local ging naar Studio Smack met de leader voor het Graphic Design Festival Breda. Uit het juryrapport: Studio Smack is zeer goed in het vinden van een grafische vormgeving die past bij het verhaal dat zij wil vertelllen. Dit doen ze op een autonome, maar toch zeer toegankelijke manier. Komende uit Breda, zijn zij lokaal, nationaal, maar volgens de jury ook internationaal veelbelovend.

Playgrounds Audiovisual Arts Festival is een internationaal festival voor innovatieve en creatieve audiovisuele kunst.

From september 2008 I will be acting as an agent for Studio Smack. My job is to guide this Breda based animation collective to fame and stardom. First step is being nominated for a Dutch Design Award! I will intermediate for Studio Smack autonomous projects and exhibitions in the near future. Check out their site to be up to date on new films and lectures.

Here's the pressrelease about the nomination for the Dutch Design Awards (in Dutch):

Studio Smack genomineerd voor Dutch Design Award.

De animatiefilm die het Bredase collectief Studio Smack maakte in opdracht van het Graphic Design Festival is genomineerd voor een Dutch Design Award.

Jaarlijks worden de Dutch Design Awards uitgereikt aan toonaangevende Nederlandse ontwerpers in verschillende categorien. Studio Smack is genomineerd in de categorie Animatie en neemt het op tegen animaties van Xelor en CCCP.

Ton Meijdam, Thom Snels en Bela Zsigmond vormen sinds 2005 Studio Smack. De drie oud-studenten van AKV|St.Joost zijn trots op de prestigieuze nominatie. Eerder viel hun animatiefilm Kapitaal veelvuldig in de prijzen op internationale filmfestivals. Een nationale doorbraak lijkt aanstaande. Studio Smack werkt niet alleen in opdracht, maar dit moment ligt de focus op twee eigen projecten; de serie Kapitein Reetneus en de rockopera Egonaut.

Ook de opdrachtgever, het Graphic Design Festival (GDFB) is trots. “Studio Smack heeft de opdracht in veel vrijheid uitgevoerd. Dit heeft geleidt tot een film die niet alleen het Graphic Design Festival profileert, maar die op een overtuigende wijze laat zien wat grafisch ontwerp is”, aldus Dennis Elbers, directeur van GDFB.

De uitreiking van de awards is op zaterdag 18 oktober in Eindhoven. Op die dag opent ook een tentoonstelling van alle genomineerde ontwerpen op het stadhuisplein in Eindhoven. Deze tentoonstelling maakt deel uit van de zevende editie van de Dutch Design Week.

Graphic Designer Leslie Kou interviewed me for the Japanese online magazine pingmag.

While cleaning up my studio I found this movie. In January 2006 I secretly added a painting (Eat My Headache, 2003) to the collection of the city of Breda. The painting is stored in a crate which is located in the Breda's Museum. The owner of the collection first discovered the work in the spring of 2008. Sadly this fact proves that the collection, which holds over 100 works by contemporary artist from Breda, doesn't get the attention it is worth.

Design.nl a Dutch website on design and events interviewed me on the Graphic Design Festival Breda. Read all about it!

Two works by David Herbert are on display in The Hague untill August 31th. I have included David in two shows over the last few months. It is very nice to see his work is appreciated by others, resulting in such a nice spin-off.

THE HAGUE SCULPTURE 2008
FREEDOM - American Sculpture
June 6 – August 31, 2008

In the summer of 2008, The Hague Sculpture's exhibition FREEDOM will be drawing attention to American sculpture. From June 6 until August 31 works from artists who have been active in or since the second half of the last century will be exhibited on the Lange Voorhout and its surroundings. In addition to sculptures made by world-renowned artists, several talented young artists were asked to create new works for this exhibition. With FREEDOM, The Hague Sculpture wishes not only to illustrate what freedom means for the artists involved, but also to reflect on what the concept of freedom can mean for each one of us.

The eleventh edition of The Hague Sculpture will be open day and night and is free of charge. It aspires to treat art-lovers, art-professionals and tourists from inside and outside the Netherlands to a stimulating exhibition. Through the diversity of the exhibited sculptures FREEDOM aims to present a multilayered picture of the concept of freedom from the early sixties of the 20th century up to now.

Participating artists The Hague Sculpture 2008 (among others): Barbara Bloom, Mathijs Bosman, Louise Bourgeois, James Lee Byars, Paul McCarthy, Anna Craycroft, Sam Durant, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Dan Graham, Hans Haacke, Keith Haring, David Herbert, Jenny Holzer, Natasha Johns-Messenger, Donald Judd, Louise Nevelson, Matt Mullican, Sol Lewitt, Julian Schnabel, Joel Shapiro, Roxy Paine, Bernard Rosenthal, Kiki Smith, Mark di Suvero, James Turrell, Bill Viola, Kara Walker, Meg Webster, Lawrence Weiner and the winner of the Aanmoedigingsprijs Rabobank The Hague Sculpture 2008 (Rabo Bank Incentive prize 2008)

The Walk - building sized projection at the Graphic Design Festival Breda (NL) from Fons Schiedon on Vimeo.

This article about Willum Geerts' new national trecolor in BN/DeStem didn't stay unnoticed.

The new website for GDFB is online. Special feature is a animation movie made by StudioSmack. Visit the GDFB website to find out more....

On November 12th Henk Cornelisse (graphic designer) received the Rabobank Cuture Award. Although I was also short listed for this price I am very happy that Henk was awarded. For about 30 years he educated many of today's top graphic designers at St.Joost academy in Breda.
Currently I am working on an exhibition of Henk's autonomous works. This exhibition will show in May and June 2008 at the Stadsgalerij Breda.

For those who are interest in what the jury of the Rabobank Culture Award thought of my achievement, read the jury statement in Dutch:

De Rabobank Cultuurprijs is ingesteld om een Bredanaar met bijzondere betekenis voor het culturele klimaat van de stad te eren. Hierbij staan zaken als de cultuureigenheid van Breda, de verbondenheid met de stad en de cultureel-verbindende bijdrage van de maatschappelijke prestatie centraal.

De juryleden droegen ieder twee kandidaten voor. Uit de zo gevormde lijst werden na zorgvuldig overleg drie genomineerden geselecteerd. Deze drie genomineerden hebben elk op hun eigen manier prijzenswaardige verdiensten voor de ontwikkeling van het cultureel klimaat in de stad. Soms ligt die bijdrage op het raakvlak tussen het culturele en het sociale domein, soms in de bevordering van het professionele kunstklimaat, met voor de stad profijtelijke culturele en economische effecten, soms in het vestigen en bevorderen van een reputatie, waarmee de stad zich onderscheidt.

Er zijn nogal wat Bredanaars die - buiten de schijnwerpers van de publiciteit - gedreven werken aan bijzondere culturele projecten en activiteiten. De jury wil al deze waardevolle mensen de verdiende erkenning geven door hier de verdiensten van de genomineerden te prijzen.

Jong en gedreven is beeldend kunstenaar, curator en organisator Dennis Elbers.
Elbers studeerde in 2003 af aan AKV|St.Joost en was tijdens zijn studietijd al als organisator actief in de stad. Zo produceerde hij ‘Teek’, een 3-daags internationaal film- en animatiefestival in Mezz. De laatste keer dat dit festival werd gehouden werd het alom om zijn professionaliteit en regio-overstijgende uitstraling geroemd.
Ondertussen was Dennis Elbers ook een drijvende kracht achter de oprichting van ‘KOP’, dat inmiddels al weer enkele jaren in het Elektrongebouw in de Spoorzone is gevestigd. ‘KOP’ biedt een ontmoetings-, presentatie- en vestigingsplaats voor jonge kunstenaars en ontwerpers. Dennis koos na zijn studie ervoor in Breda te blijven en zette zich energiek in voor de verbetering van het werkklimaat voor jonge kunstenaars en vormgevers. Ook ontwikkelde hij bijzondere kunstprojecten, waaronder het Klokkenbergproject en trad bij verscheidende exposities als curator op. Momenteel bereidt hij een Bredase manifestatie op het gebied van grafisch ontwerp in 2008 voor.
Werk en carrière van Dennis Elbers geven aan hoe een beeldend kunstenaar naast het eigen artistieke werk een bijzondere en vernieuwende impuls kan geven aan het professionele kunstklimaat in Breda. Daarmee draagt hij bij aan de verzilvering van het economische en culturele ontwikkelingspotentieel van de stad.

I'm proud to announce that I am nominated for the Rabobank Culture Award 2007. A prize for a person who made a special contribution to the cultural field in Breda. Other nominees are Henk Cornelissen and Dave Mulder.

The award ceromony will be held at the Chasse Theatre on monday November 12th.

On October 4th, in collaboration with Willum Geerts, the Kunst Kennis Quiz will host an artist lecture at artist space Paparazzi in The Hague. Be there at 19.30h, show us how much you know about art and win a cool prize!

The artist lecture is part of on exhibition by Yasser Ballemans.

For this edition Michael van Schaik will design a new interface.

Made in Brabant, a book about the creative network in the state of Noord Brabant. The book discribes all players in the creative network in Brabant. How they work and what spin-off they create for art, artists, economics and international relations.
This book was specially made for members of parlement and cultural policy makers in The Netherlands to show the positive outcome of the Geldstroom BKV subsidy flow.
I worked on Made in Brabant as a writer and editor. The book is published by State of Noord-Brabant, NL. Photography by Job Janssen and illustrations by Leon Poirters.

This year I will produce and program the travelling popfestival Popronde in Breda. The organisation of the festival had troubles finding a partner in Breda, so for once I return to my roots by producing rockshows again. Popronde showcases a wide variety of national pop talent in 19 different cities.

The line up is now complete, please visit the Popronde website for more details.

As as guest-host I recorded an episode of the cultural radio show 'Grensgeluiden' for Stadsradio Breda. For this show I invited Tom Verbruggen (aka TOK TEK) and Marjolijn de Wit. I interview them about their booming career start, their work and what it is like to be a young artist in Breda trying to breakthrough internationally.

Music in this show was by Black Heart Procession, Coco Rosie, Girls Against Boys, Tok Tek and LCD Soundsystem. 

From July 22nd this show can be listened online (in Dutch). Realtime airtime: August 19th, 11 am, Stadsradio Breda 107.3 FM (ether) & 92.9 FM (kabel).

From this summer I will be productional partner for Willum Geerts' installation JUT -database of screaming Europe-. In cooperation with CJP (Cultural Youth Passport) JUT has been touring through Holland for 2 years collecting as many raises of voice as possible.

Recently a second version of JUT was build, this trailer makes it possible to JUT all year long inside and outdoors.

JUT will keep on collecting raises of voice through out Europe, starting in Bucuresti, Romania. JUT will be present at B'estival from the 29th June untill the 1st July.

If you like to know more about JUT or if you want to book JUT for your festival or event, please contact me by email.

From september 2007 Willum and I will offer an education programm for secondairy school students. This programm includes participation in JUT by the students and an one hour lesson on contemporary art by artist Willum Geerts. In the lessons students discuss works that they can find in their direct surroundings by young artist from all over the world.

Also this year I will be involved in the graduation exhibition at AKV|St.Joost (Breda/'s-Hertogenbosch). I cooperation with the curatorstaff I will produce the exhibition layout for both locations.

Other HOT NEWS about AKV|St.Joost is the graduation party I set up together with student Kitty Kruidhof! On the 29th of June AKV|St.Joost presents AUX RAUS and dj/vj's at Mezz, Breda. Entrance fee is 6 euro, party starts at 22h.