VAN GOGH MUSEUM
Commission to produce trail of 10 films along side ‘symposium of Interesting’ at the Van Gogh Museum.
The snapshot exhibition explored the ‘snapshot’ period of late 1800’s and early 1900’s in which new Kodak celluloid film technology of the day allowed for a new kind of candid photography whereby subjects no longer had to pose or ‘sit’ for their portraits. Camera’s could for the first time be taken out into the streets and the period led to new opportunities to document the world of the late 1800’s.
Today again, new technologies are enabling new and freshly candid portrait of the world we live in. The commission allowed us to explore this within Amsterdam, in which we located and documented a trail of 10 of Amsterdam’s most interesting people.
For the Symposium of Interesting, we brought these people together at the Van Gogh Museum ahead of the opening of the exhibition opening. Each was given 15 minutes to present or talk on any subject they wished.
Amsterdam Part I
Geert van Itallie
In this film, Geert van Itallie talks about the challenges of running one of Hollands most significant cultural spaces, the Melkweg and wider cultural issues facing artists today and takes you on a journey into his world of books, music and his most interesting person, Neske Beks.
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Amsterdam Part II
Neske Beks
Neske Beks is a wonderfully curious woman, she combines a range of influences and interests that make her immediately fun to be around with an endless treasure trove of stories and vivid images of her past. We were touched by her description of listening to Marvin Gaye’s album ‘Here my dear’ and the ongoing echo of the album in her life.
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Amsterdam Part III
Harald Vlugt
Harald Vlugt is an artist with much to say on the subject of art. But no words are needed when you enter his studio. Vlugt has created a reflection of his life, loves, travels and experiences which he has pasted, hung and displayed to reveal more than any story he might utter. An obscure ivory carving of an ancient Buddha shares cabinet space with ornaments, jewellery and other collectables from different lands and other ages.
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Amsterdam Part IV
Alla Idrisova
Alla Idrisova speaks diversity, her profession is two-fold. Alla says of herself, ‘I represents two people’, on the one hand ‘goal driven, on the other ‘passionate about fashion and art’.
And the timbre of her voice speaks of greater diversity than this, of a journey to where she is today.
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Amsterdam Part V
Amna Mulabegovich
Interior designer Amna Mulabegovich lives ‘in her own little fairytale world’, combining design and a philosophical approach to create a little magic in her ambitions and pursuits in life.
Having set up her own design company she believes others think of her as, ‘the little adventure girl, getting the maximum out of the minimum,’. While her path hasn’t always been easy, she makes the most of the journey.
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Amsterdam Part VI
Gesina Roters
Creative mind and designer Gesine Roters invites us into her beautiful home in Amsterdam which she lovingly calls her horizon. She prefers to have a certain emptiness in her home as she feels that her head is constantly filled with pictures and impressions. For her every day is different and she enjoys the most doing something out of nothing.
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Amsterdam Part VII
Willem Baars
Willem Baars is a household name in the art scene of Amsterdam. With his at times controversial views and comments in his columns he never shies away from his honest opinion. Today he invites Most Interesting Person into his own gallery.
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Amsterdam Part VIII
Otto Nan
They know him as the entrepreneur with a cultural interest. Otto Nan is the Managing Director of Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy in the eastern docklands of Amsterdam. Most Interesting Person visited this creative space that is so much more than “just” a hotel.