Category Archives: GembertheeSessies
From Benjamin Clementine and Dakar to Rdam Zuid – Romana Vrede
(English translations below)
“Vrede weet van dimensies. Ze maakt ruimtes voor onze codes omdat ze niet alleen de klank maar ook de grammatica van onze visuele talen kent. En, spreekt. En, is. Vrede weet van diepte. Niet als dal. Maar, als standplaats vanaf waar ze bergen verzet.”
(Notitie uit een gedicht dat ik ooit las voor het meest stille gezelschap waar ik ooit ‘Goedenavond’ tegen zei.)
GembertheeSessies met Romana Vrede – info
Op donderdag 6 februari opent Romana Vrede de GembertheeSessies van 2025. Vrede schuift aan om haar decennia-dikke carrière, werkprocessen, referentiekaders en aankomend werk te bespreken. We gaan van Race, Benjamin Clementine en OustFaust naar The Story of Travis, van Den Haag en Dakar naar Rotterdam-Zuid. En, we blikken vooruit op haar komende projecten: het theaterstuk Sisterhood en de publicatie Tijd Zal Ons Leren, haar 3e boek.
Tijd: 19.30 uur-21.00 uur.
Locatie: Bijlmer Parktheater.
Gedurende het programma serveren we, in samenwerking met Labyrinth Amsterdam, verse gemberthee. Om er zeker van te zijn dat we iedereen meerdere rondes thee kunnen bieden, verzoeken we iedereen hun kaarten in de voorverkoop te halen. Tickets kunnen gekocht worden via deze link.
Grant Jurius en Shehera Grot
Deze GembertheeSessies-illustratie is gemaakt door Grant Jurius. De derde persoon op de illustratie, linksboven, is fotograaf en curator Shehera Grot. De GembertheeSessies met Grot vindt plaats op do. 10 april van 19.30 uur-21.00 uur. Tickets voor deze sessie zijn te koop via deze link. Taal: Nederlands.
Eind januari deel ik de notes over Shehera en Grant + de line-up voor de aankomende BPTUnpacks over social thrillers en horror bekend gemaakt. De presentaties en conversaties tijdens dit programma zullen in het Engels zijn.
Voor wie eens per drie weken per mail een stuk (note, essay, review, etc.) wil ontvangen, is er de mailinglist. Check de zwarte button rechts boven op de homepage. En, eerlijk… ik spam never!
— English translation —
Please note: The conversations during the GembertheeSessies (Ginger tea sessions) with Romana Vrede will be in Dutch. Unfortunately, we don’t yet have the means to offer live translations.
Romana Vrede
“Vrede does dimensions. She creates spaces for our codes because she the tone and the grammar of our visual languages is what she knows. And speaks. And is. Vrede knows depths. Not as pits. But, as a base from where she moves mountains.”
(Note from a poem I once read fort he most quiet group of folks I ever said ‘Good evening’ to.)
GembertheeSessies with Romana Vrede – info
On Thursday January 6, Romana Vrede kicks of the GembertheeSessies (Ginger tea sessions) of 2025. Vrede joins us to discuss her decades-thick career, work processes, frames of reference and upcoming work. We’ll go from Race, Benjamin Clementine and OustFaust to The Story of Travis, from The Hague and Dakar to South Rotterdam. And, we’ll talk about her upcoming projects: Sisterhood (play) and Tijd zal ons leren (book), for example.
Time: 19.30h-21.00h.
Location: Bijlmer Parktheater, Amsterdam.
During the program, and in collaboration with Labyrinth Amsterdam, we serve fresh ginger tea. To make sure we can offer folks multiple rounds of tea, we kindly ask people to buy their tickets in advance. Tickets can be bought here.
Grant Jurius en Shehera Grot
The GembertheeSessies-illustration (to be seen in the Dutch text above) is made by Grant Jurius. Top left we see curator and photographer Shehera Grot. Her GembertheeSessies takes place on Thursday April 10, from 19.30h-21.00h. Tickets for this session can be bought here. Language: Dutch.
Later this month, I’ll share the notes about Shehera and Grant. I’ll also announce the line-up for the upcoming BPTUnpacks about social thrillers/horror. The presentations and conversations during this program will be in English.
If you’d like to receive a 3-weekly e-mail with a piece (note, essay, review, etc.), be sure to join the mailing list. To do so, check the black button on the top right of the homepage. And, honestly… I never spam!
Speaking of ginger tea… – upcoming events
… come share some good spices at Bijlmer Parktheater in February and March. The first two guests of this year’s GembertheeSessies (Ginger tea sessions) are Romana Vrede (Thu. February 6) and Shehera Grot (Thu. April 10). Both sessions will be in Dutch. Same for the Anton de Kom Vandaag-program on Sat. February 1. Horror-fam and thriller-folks: My first English program of the year will be BPTUnpacks: Social Thrillers on Thu. March 6.
If you already know you’ll be there… I beg, get your tickets in our pre-sale. This gives our colleagues from our production, reception and bar teams the opportunity to properly prepare for each program. And since we’re working with fresh-fresh ginger tea… an indication of the number of visitors would be great. Ticket links are posted below:
Timeline
– Saturday Feb. 1, 15.00h: Anton de Kom Vandaag. With: Guno Jones, Sarah-Jane & Bijlmer Bookstore. This program is in collaboration with the Anton de Kom Chair (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam).
– Thursday Feb. 6, 19.30h: GembertheeSessies with actor, director and writer Romana Vrede.
– Thursday Mar. 6, 19.30h: BPTUnpacks Social Thrillers. Line up to be announced. This conversation will be in English.
– Thursday Apr. 10, 19.30h: GembertheeSessies with curator and photographer Shehera Grot.
These event will take place at Bijlmer Parktheater (Anton de Komplein 240, Amsterdam).
Anton de Kom Vandaag (Dutch)
Known for his sharp-sharp, critical mind and thorough research, professor Guno Jones is our national treasure. Jones studied the impact of the histories of the Netherlands’ political discourse on citizenship, post-colonial migration, national identities and the legislation associated with it. Since December 2023, he’s professor of the Anton de Kom chair. On Saturday Feb. 1, he’ll connect Anton de Kom’s work with some of today’s most colonial forms of terror.
This program also features Sarah-Jane and the Bijlmer Bookstore.
These gorgeous illustration by Grant Jurius
The illustrations for Anton de Kom Vandaag and the two upcoming GembertheeSessies were made by Grant Jurius. Jurius is a painter, illustrator and sound artist who was born and is based in Cape Town, South Africa. He co-founded the Burning Museum Collective and Future Nostalgia. Check @sunofamantis for more on him.
Romana, Shehera and Grant –notes in the making.
Starting this year’s GembertheeSessies with Romana Vrede and Shehera Grot is a decision that deserves its own love note. These are two dear-dear friends who I love deeply. As sisters + as craftspeople, experts, dreamers and thinkers. Their minds are deliciously exciting. Writing about them makes me emotional in a way that got my words stuck in my pen.
I also feel that my note about why I invited Grant Jurius for a collaboration needs to marinate a bit.
Soon!
… makes me dream tall and feel in on things.
… speaking of great people with exciting mind: two notes.
1. Professor Guno Jones
Last Friday professor Guno Jones spoke of hope, protests, refusal and what he often refers to as citizenship violence. He did so for a most historic moment: his inaugural lecture as professor holding the Anton de Kom Chair of Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit (VU). The first professor to do so. Equally important: As someone who continuously gives proper credits to the activists and other radical thinkers whose work is fundamental for the critical knowledge production within Dutch academia. And, as someone who smashes these structural practices of erasing or under-crediting the work of Afro-Surinamese scholars of his generation and over.
As we speak, I’m trying to find the right words to properly describe the absolute amazingness of last week’s event. While searching, I’d like to share some of his articles and essays that can be read online. For free:
– Citizenship Violence and the Afterlives of Dutch Colonialism: Re-reading Anton de Kom, published in Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism.
– Plantation Logics, Citizenship Violence and the Necessity of Slowing Down.
And, if you were also at the VU last week… be sure to speak on it. Share some of your notes. Really, we are our own best thing.
2. Upcoming event: lynnée denise’s Sound System Ecologies with Anesu Chigariro (Zimbabwe), Torkwase Dyson (US) at Bijlmer Parktheater.
On Wednesday July 10, DJ lynnée denise is bringing Sound System Ecologies to the Bijlmer, a place where many of Amsterdam’s sharpest listeners have tuned their ears. In collaboration with Bijlmer Parktheater’s GembertheeSessies, denise is curating a program focused on intimate conversations and reflections on creative processes and practices.Sound System Ecologies is concerned with questions pertaining the intersections of music, enslavement, and Black spatiality.
The evening will feature frameworks and perspectives from visual artist Torkwase Dyson, with Anesu Chigariro as the moderator. Torkwase Dyson (Beacon, US) describes herself as a painter working across multiple mediums to explore the continuity between ecology, infrastructure, and architecture. Anesu Chigariro (Harare, Zimbabwe) is an editor in sexual and reproductive health education and a community and health psychology practitioner. She is an aspirant narrative medicine scholar with a focus on social and behaviour change communication, contemporary critical theory and visual culture.
Check the program page on Bijlmer Parktheater’s website for the full bio’s and the ticket link. The theatre’s productional team would very much appreciate it if people who’ll attend the program buy their tickets in advance.
The title of this note is from Toni Morrison’s novel Jazz: “I’m crazy about this City. Daylight slants like a razor cutting the buildings in half. In the top half I see looking faces and it’s not easy to tell which are people, which the work of stonemasons. Below is a shadow where any blasé thing takes place: clarinets and lovemaking, fists and the voices of sorrowful women. A city like this one makes me dream tall and feel in on things.”
laZeefuik 
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