Holland Festival programme promotes artistic connection in time of war

A main part of the 75th edition of the Holland Festival will probably not go ahead because of the invasion of Ukraine, but the festival makers have said this only highlights their message of art over war. The multimedia installation, Euphoria, by artist Julian Rosefeldt, involved filming with a Ukrainian company and had to be stopped in February, according to Holland Festival director Emily Ansenk. So let us, in this dark time, use the power of art and culture to bring people together to listen to one another.’ She said that in a bizarre coincidence, the war had stopped filming for a major premiere, Euphoria, which was intended to be a 90-minute presentation on ‘unbridled modern consumerism’, shown in a loop for 17 days and open to all. Unusual pieces include A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction, which generates its own energy, a Mother Nature gig including Kidjo, Blue Lab Beats and Dutch Eurovision entrant Jeangu Macrooy, the new opera Antarctica and a Concertgebouw performance, Ifé, including music by Philip Glass performed by Kidjo and the Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra. ‘The idea was, right after the war, by showing national and international art, to draw attention to international cooperation…and make whole a Europe torn apart,’ added Ansenk.