Finissage

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

MASSIH HUTAK

Massih Hutak (1992) is a writer and musician from Amsterdam-Noord. His columns can be heard weekly on NPO Radio 1 and read in Het Parool. In 2011, Hutak debuted as the youngest author ever at publishing house Contact with his collection of stories Toen God nog in ons geloofde [When God still believed in us].

In January 2017, Het Parool proclaimed him one of the seventeen talents that will shape the Netherlands of the future. In the same period, Hutak responded to Prime Minister Mark Rutte's letter addressed to all Dutch people, with his own letter calling on young people to vote. His call went viral and generated a lot of media attention, from television and radio to news sites.

As a musician, he has performed at the Lowlands Festival in 2017, in the Kleine Komedie, and in AFAS Live. In 2018, Hutak gave – with Femke Halsema, Jan Terlouw, Fresku, and others – lectures on freedom at colleges and universities throughout the Netherlands. On Liberation Day he gave the freedom lecture in Leeuwarden, the cultural capital of Europe for 2018. Hutak also works as a curator for various museums, including the Stedelijk Museum, and as a co-creator of their educational programs.

MAURICE RUMMENS

Maurice Rummens is an academic researcher for the Stedelijk Museum and has initiated and curated the exhibition Chagall, Picasso, Mondrian and others: Migrant Artist in Paris. Rummens studied Art History at the University of Utrecht and gained his doctorate at the University of Amsterdam under Professor Evert van Uitert on De verleiding van het decoratieve. Twee opstellen over compositie, expressie en abstractie in de theorie en praktijk van de moderne schilderkunst (The temptation of the decorative. Two essays on composition, expression and abstraction in the theory and practice of modern painting). Rummens has been an academic employee at the Stedelijk Museum since 1999, and has contributed to publications such as Acquisitions 1993-2003 (2006), Stedelijk Collection Highlights (2012), and Stedelijk Collection Reflections (2012) as well as exhibitions on artists such as Bissière (2000), Kirchner (2002) and Matisse (2015).

GERSHWIN BONEVACIA

Gershwin Bonevacia is a writer and city poet of Amsterdam. He writes poems and stories. In a philosophical but mostly poetic way he adresses topics such as sustainability, education but also Harry Potter. With his poems, he is able to put a smile and a tear on the faces of the people in the audience. As a poet and writer, Gershwin Bonevacia works together with organizations such as the Van Gogh Museum, the Erasmus University, NPO ( Dutch Foundation for Public Broadcasting) and TEDx. In 2018 he debuted with his collection of poems called "Ik heb een fiets gekocht" (I bought a bike) and he got nominated as one of the most promising Dutch people up to 25 years old.

RACHEL RUMAI DIAZ

Writer, poet and performance artist Rachel Rumai Diaz is a native foreigner who calls many countries her home. She paints eclectic images with words and uses the world as her canvas. She is fluent in English, Spanish, Dutch and Spanglish and intertwines these languages to create poetry that triggers imagination, emotions and understanding. Rachel is passionate about equality and sharing untold stories of the people around her. As a storyteller her goal is to build a dynamic bridge between Art and Activism to spread Artivism that touches on subjects like Intersectional Feminism, Colonialism, Identity and Diversity. Rachel is also co-founder of ‘La Raza’, a collective founded by Latinx female creatives in The Netherlands that attends to unite the Latinx community and create a platform for creatives to meet and represent the culture through art and activism.

IKRAM EL MESSAOUDI

Ikram El Messaoudi is an illustrator, print designer and founder of Beyond the Root. She is a graduate of the ArtEZ Fashion Masters (MA, 2015) and the Utrecht School of Arts (BA,2011). Since 2011 El Messaoudi works as a commercial and conceptual illustrator represented by Angelique Hoorn Management and has commissioned for clients such as de Bijenkorf, Glamcult, Financieel Dagblad and Modefabriek. At ArtEZ she gained professional experience as a print designer at Viktor & Rolf.

DJ Jasmine Perez

In the Zadelhoff Café, we will have a party with DJ Jasmine Perez! She previously played at Milkshake Festival, Pon di Pride, Circus Side Show, Noorderslag Festival, Museumn8 and is active in the LGBTQ+ scene. She organized various events, such as the Circus Side Show in Paradiso and Club Nyx. During Pride she hosts the Caribbean Stage of Café Reality with Collin Edson.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

At the beginning of the last century, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, and other artists both acclaimed and unknown moved – for various reasons – to Paris, the art capital of the world. There, they learned to survive in a society that was becoming increasingly polarized, nationalistic, xenophobic, and anti-Semitic. This exhibition tells the story of these artists in a foreign country who, despite adverse conditions, had the courage to take art to new heights. The show is an incredible chance to see the work of the great modern masters in a new light, and to discover new artists.