The 3D list Week 31 By Daniel R. Gould Amsterdam art, galleries and museums

Well, while there wasn't an epedimic of red dots---you know, those little red circles that mean someone bought a work of art BEFORE you did---but there were two venues with a nice array of them. That means, folks, that there is still money on the streets. And there are people showing their appreciation for the finer things in life like a water color, a sculpture, a painting and, yes, maybe even a video. Didn't buy anything last week, well you have another chance this week. And looking at the list of openings coming your way in the following days you will have a very good selection of art to examine and drool over. All you gotta do is GO! Once you Go-Go you will find it difficult not to BUY-BUY. Hey, this is the week you will find that masterpiece which you will treasure for years longer than a BMW. Remember, 3D told you so...

INDEX:

Bits & Pieces:

Art Space: P///AKT, Annja Krautgasser.

What You Missed Last Week:

What Is Happening This Week:

BITS & PIECES:

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Last Call for submissions for "The 7th Vevey International Photo Award." The deadline is the 30th April. See competition rules at: www.images.ch. First prize is 20,000 euro for this Swiss sponsored contest. Also, the closing for NYPH 09 (New York Photographic Competition) is 1st May. So hurry.

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This sign in a shop window along the Plantage Middenlaan: "A good match blows fire." Huh? Well, you DO have to think about it and once you get it you will certainly agree.

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...And here is an esoteric mumbling from the Amsterdam Street Philosopher Laser 3.14: "Take This Sugarcane And Drum Another Beat For America." Well, it is anyone's guess what he is tryng to say. At Herengracht 179.

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To attract foreign visitors, to visit Amsterdam, on the Queen's Birthday, the city commissioned its marketing company, Amsterdam Partners, to design a couple of posters. One shows Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin walking down a street wearing a t-shirt that reads: "Kiss me, I 'm drunk." No word from their respective embassies as of yet.

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NIMk (née: Monte Video) is celebrating its 30th year with several programs between the 8th and 10th of May. There are workshops, lectures, symposiums, events, etc programmed. Some require reservations. Check out www.nimk.nl. More info on next week's 3D List.

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3Ds' journey to Den Haag was enjoyalbe if you overlook the problems the arose along the way. Anyway, it has been a few years---four or five?---since he made the last trip. So there was much to see as to new architecture that punctuates the landscape along the route. The section in Slotervaart, near the highway, with the MEXX building and the Design Hotel Artemis and a new all glass sculpted ediface makes for a spectacular view. Further down the track was a childrens' garden that was decorated with three scarescrows that looked like an artist had designed them...and one probably did. Plus, the tulip fields are still in bloom. The walk to the gallery took 30 minutes and again there were buildings along the way that were not familiar. I came upon a large circular cement planter measuring about 100 cms., plus in diameter. It was filled with tulips and there was a sign that read: "Tulips." Well, there is a large contingency of foreigners in the city so maybe the sign is helpful.

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On Thursday, there was a reception at The Prince Claus Fund space. For those not acquainted with the Fund it is a "platform for intercultural exchange...[for projects] located in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean...of activities...that contribute to a positive exchange between culture and development." There was also an "art" exhibition and certainly one that you would not normally associate with such an elite organization; nor for that matter the works' country of origin. Large color photos pictured lingerie which was designed and decorated Syrian style. Often revealing, certainly colorful as well as whimsical and sometimes very revealing it is not what you would expect from a country with a large percentage of Moslems as citizens. The occasion was also for a book presentation which dealt with the same subject matter.

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"I can't think of a single Russian novel in which one of the characters goes into a picture gallery," said W. Somerset Maugham, American writer, first half 20th century. Which reminded 3D of somethig Ernst Hemingway wrote in his memoir, "Moveable Feast." He was asked his opinion of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. He replied, "I've never read the Russians!"

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...And all this reminded 3D of an historian's joke at the expense of the Russians. In 1905, Lenin's older brother attempted to foment a revolution. A minister came running into the court screaming, "Czar, Czar, the Russian people are revolting!" To which the Czar replied, "So what else is new? The Russian people have always been revolting!" Hmmm...no disrespect intended Mr. Putin.

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The awarding of the PRIXDEROME is coming up soon on the 9th of May to be exact. The presentations will be made at De Appel (present location: Westergasfabriek) at 14:00 and at the Witte de With: Center for Contemporary Art (Rotterdam) at 18:00 the same day. FREE bus transportation will be provided from Amsterdam to Rotterdam. Reservation are necessary: reservations@deappel.nl. The prize is for young artist (until the age of 35). This year 230 artists submitted their documentation and a "long" list of ten were selected for final consideration. There is one award for 45,000 euro; one for 20,000 euro; and two at 10,000 euro each. More info: www.deappel.nl; www.wdw.nl

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The "gaming" industry is major. Computer game development is often budgeted at 10 to 25 million dollars, euros whatever. The Club of Amsterdam is sponsoring a symposium on this new industry with the title "The Future of Games." See below under the rubric, "What Is Happening This Week" for details and click-on addesses.

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"9 Foods That Reduce Stress:" Oranges, sweet potatoes, dried apricots, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, turkey [no hormones or anti-biotics, please], spinach, salmon [hold the mercury], avocados and green vegetables. More info: www.msn.com, search under title which says "9" but the list lists "11." Someone can't count.

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ART SPACE:

At P///AKT (Zeeburgerpad 53) Annja Krautgasser (Austria) is showing three recent videos. Each is a conceptual piece of work though sometimes the conceptual approach is subtle. As an example, "Zandvoort," (13 minutes), features the North Sea interacting with the Dutch beach. Simple enough, but watching it is hypnotic. There is a rhythm---both visual and aural---that is unexpected. However, as you view it you come to realize that the people you see on the beach are not "walking" so much as they are scurring. She has speeded up everything---inclusive of sound---but not so you really notice as much as you "feel" it. Thus, the soothing effects of the waves lapping the shore become more intensified and dramatic.

"What Remains" (13 minutes) is a "biography" of Amsterdam's former version of London's Fleet Street. The Wibautstraat once housed the country's newspaper' industry. Krautgasser explores both the interior and exterior elements of The Parool, Trouw and De Volkskrantgebouw. She does it with video, however her style is such that it is more like going through a scrapbook of photographs. But we are not really seeing ghost from the past, but how the buildings are currently being utilized by a varied group of people, organizations and small companies. She focuses on the linear aspects of the buildings exterior facade and on the linear juxtapostions of the interior: the stair wells; hallways: the rooms, etc.

Of course, this approach is to be expected since she had been trained as an architect which has had an enornmous impact on Krautgasser's choice of subject matter and how it is presented. This is even more evident in the piéce de résistance which is no more than a simple pan shot of an architecturally interesting building. Admittedly, it is not any "ordinary" cookie-cutter edifice, but one that is composed of various forms from squares to rectangles to a calligarphy type design. All this is of course attention getting, but with "Beyond" (6:30 minutes) she adds an element to create the dramatic. As the camera pans, the "lighting" plays a major role in presenting the subject matter and this with the addition of sound---which is more like static than it is melodic---makes for the drama. In fact, I was reminded of the opening scene of "Citizen Kane" when we see his castle like mansion during a storm with lightning flashing.

On the floor of the large space there is a ramp leading to another section of the building. She has defined this area conceptually and linearly. Again, using rectangles (ceiling tiles from De Volkskrantgebouw) and long wood strips intersecting the floor and ramp in unisons she creates a new feeling of dimension. Open: Thursday (23rd April) 'til Sunday (26th April) from 14-18:00 daily. www.annjakrautgasser.net; www.agentur.nl

WHAT YOU MISSED LAST WEEK:

Friday:

"1646" (Boekhorststraat 125) is located just off the Groote Markt in The Hague. The building itself was squatted several years ago and the space developed into an artist initiative. The city leaders were pleased with the artistic program and came up with an offer. They would renovate the building (the cost was 450,000 euro) and rent it at below market rates and allow it to continue as an "art space." Four people are resposnsible for what goes on there and it is an internationally mixed group with both Spain and Sweden represented.

The present exhibition is titled, "BOTERKNIEËN," by Michéle Matyn who is a conceptual photographer. Her choice of imagery ranges from the mundane---a hill covered with snow---to the elaborate----a man playing an accordian on a hill littered with debris. There are two photographic versions of this type of subject matter with one measuring three by four meters and the other about two and one half by four meters. The latter has several streaks of blue paint running vertically down the work and ultimately falling to the floor where the blue substance covers a porcelain object enclosed in a glass case. Next to that is a bowl with a puddle of the same bluish substance and there is a very small spotlight that illuminates the floor piece. 3D asked if it was once piece? "Maybe," was the answer. (N.B. This Friday, Matyn will participate in a show opening at De Brakke Grond.)

There was also a performance with four ladies making up the company of performers. They were dressed in fetish black with straps. The lights were turned off (a couple of spots would have been helpful) and the only illumination came from two holes in the floor which lead to a very small basement space. Slowly, three of them, one by one, emerged from the underground hole and slittered across the floor each coming to a rest at a large stone like boulder. They picked them up and begin to throw them from one to another in a synchronized pattern. Then, they picked up a cartwheel of cheese and using a cheese monger's wire garrotte sliced off three disk. Into each they carved two "eye holes" and held them to their face as if they were mask. Finally, they returned to the "boulders" which turned out to be plastic containers that had been covered with paper mache and painted to resemble stones. They removed the caps, from the containers, and held them above their heads. Soon they were drenched in colors: yellow, pink and orange. 3D would be told later that the yellow powder was dried yellow pigments and the other two was "vla." The background sounds were just that: Sounds. Sometimes rhythmatic and at other times just dramatic. Until ___?___. www.enter1646.com

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Saturday:

Willem Kerseboom Gallery (Leidsegracht 38) has a group show titled, "A Family Story;" and that's exactly what it is. There are two brothers, their mother, a wife of one of the brothers and two nephews involved thus making it a real Family Affair. And there is indeed a family resembalence in style and technique, but this is true of ALL Chinese artists. We have come to expect an explosion of color and, more often than not, colors that are gaudy and kitschy. And that's what you get here; and the Chinese have a natural feel for balance between art and kitsch. The same is true with this biological family. Some paintings are more colorful than others and look like they are illuminated with neon; some have figures that are just cartoons and almost animated.

Lai Xiao Ping hangs an extraordinary paintings (150x180 cms., @ 8,000 euro) that combines the abstract with a color specturm you don't expect and all this forms an image of a woman that looks as if she just stepped from a fairy tale.

Zeng Hua Rong likes the color of yellow. Especially, the artist likes the contrast of yellow against the two other primary colors: Red and Blue. There are two paintings where the color yellow is dominate in that it is used to delienate individuals in a group scene. In another sense, this is an exercise in conceptual redundacy. Every face, of the 15 or so people, is a clone of the other and each in yellow. (150x180 cms., @ 5,000 euro). Lao Ma is a Chinese naïve painter and the mother of the two brothers: Yin Kun and Yin Jun. Her style is a mix between the Australian aborigine and Pointillist schools. (30x40 cms., @ 600 euro). Until 21st May. www.kerseboom.com

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WOW! WOW!! WOW!!! for the exhibition at Galerie Ron Mandos (Prinsengracht 282). 3 WOWs! and 3D is tempted to say no more...to stop right there because more words may only muddle the description of what you will see and experience. But, alas, here goes...The "show"---and it is a show in the sense that there are various "acts" as well as drama---begins with the two bay windows facing the Prinsengracht. On Saturday, passers-by were congregating in front of the glass and commenting to their friends on what they were seeing, "Look at that bear with a man dangling from its jaws," someone announced good humoredly to another. And once inside the gallery things got really bizarre. Kid you not!

But, first, a little background. Two weeks before the opening, five trucks pulled up in front of the gallery and unloaded large crates. Over the next 14 days ten people, working day and night, labored to assemble an installation that fills completely the 350 square meters of space that comprises the gallery. On last week's list, 3D jokingly suggested that you bring your own acid to enhance the experience off what the invite described as "an array of different surreal scenes." And they did got that right; and taking LSD would, without a doubt, enhance the trip. Might even induce a "bad trip."

The inspiration comes from computer video games where the participants enter "rooms." In this show, by Artists Anonymous, there are several full size rooms. Each with their own decor and/or themes. Childrens' "action hero" figurines are used to create scenes. There are probably a few thousand that have been used for the purpose. Everything is very intricate in its fabrication. How many working hours and how many people were involved in the making of the installation before is was shipped here is anyone's guess.

The rooms' decors vary from "the lounge" to a diningroom with a table setting and at its center is an enornmous "cooked" turkey. Next to that room is one that looks like a hi-tech dentist office which is illuminated with a strobe light thus creating an eerie effect. The final room we enter has as a focal point a TV set. When 3D cast his eyes on the screen something got his attention. I did a double take. What was I seeing? What I was seeing was three dimensional imagery. Really, "3D" like at the movies when you wear the cardboard glasses. But, in this case, NO glasses are required. Mind blowing and brought to you by Philips.

Artist Anonymous is just that. A group of individual artists living in London and Berlin who "perform" together and anonymously. They first organized themselves during 2001 and have had enormous crtical success. Their work has been bought by two famous collections: Rubell Family Collection and the Saatchi Collection.

Aside from all the special effects, there are about 15 items on sales consisting of paintings, videos, photographs and light boxes; and there were four red dots early into the opening. (120x110 cms., oil @ 19,500; 80x60 cms., oil @ 10,500; circular canvas, 110 dia., inkjet on matte paper, after image @ 12,500 euro; video, Ed. 1/1/ @ 20,000 euro; video with painted film, Ed. 5 @ 2,500 euro.) Until 23rd. May. www.ronmandos.nl

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...And just when 3D was thinking it don't get any better than this...he walked into VERVERS modern art gallery for a photographic exhibtion by Liesje Reyskens (Belgium). The lady finished art academy in 2007, but when you view the show you somehow come away with the idea that the photographer has had several years of experience. As the cameras become more and more technically sophisticated so do the photographers. The enhanced technology both allows and inspires advances in the photographic art making it possible for the photographer to re-invent and recreate the process of snapping a picture.

As a young photographer Reyskens is expected to challenge everything that has come before. And she has, but not only on the technical level. All of the photos, on exhibit, are of attractive ladies who range from being in their teens to a "woman of a certain age." They could be photographs that have been taken for a fashion magazine like Vogue. Her subjects are posed in a way that you expect to see in an issue of that magazine, but haven't just yet. Some are whimsical because of the "make up" but should any of the three photos featuring the bizarre make up appear in a fashion magazine it will mother a new fad in make up design. When 3D mentioned the fashion angle to the artist she was pleased and said, "My goal is to balance art and fashion photography." If investing in art is as important to you as an appreciation for it, this is for you. The prices are cheap for the quality of the work. (60x40 cms., @ 650 euro; 90x60 cms., @ 1,100; 120x92 cms., @ 1,800 euro.) Until 23rd May. www.verversgallery.blogspot.com

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"New World Heroes" is the title of the photographic show for Edward Silhol (France) at Gallery WM (Elandsgracht 35). During the course of four nights, at the end of 2008, there was a cabaret held in Paris and the ambiance was fueled by alcohol and drugs. That was the scene. Silhol recorded this moment in time and history with his camera, but the imagery that developed---literally---is an abstraction of the happening and all in black and white with two examples in color. Lighting is a primary factor in forming what we see in these conceptual abstract figurative photos. There are several examples of motion photography and a couple of montages that chronicle the action into a story-board like presentation. Some photos are conceptual expressionistic renderings which make you forget everything else, especially the technique. Four red dots at the opening. (40x50 fiber based print, Ed. 5 @ 780 euro; 120x50 fiber based print, Ed. 5 @ 1,670 euro; 150x150 cms., cibachrome print, Ed. 5 @ 3,550 euro.) Until 23rd May. www.gallerywm.com

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RudolfV (Kerkstraat 427) offers a well balanced exhibition of four artists where it is accurate to say there is probably something for everyone. In the front gallery are the paintings of Charlotte Lugt who is basically a figurative abstract/experssionist and sometimes with an added flavor of Gustav Klimt. In her work there is a semblance of figurative form like a persons head or two but not that it matters since the compositions balance in such a way that each painting is a whole more than it is the sum of its parts. (70x70 cms., @ 4,800; 110x140 cms., @ 7,400.)

Sharing the same room with Lugt are the large steel sculptured work of Jan Verschueren who makes figurative but linear standing sculpture pieces abut 150+ high. He forms the work from rust covered steel forms; and the figurative part is a meticulously detailed accumulation of small steel cuttings welded together. There is humor in the formulation as well. (1,250 euro to 1,950 euro.)

When 3D walked into the small gallery room where the work of Steve White was hanging he jotted this observation: "The technique is quite simple: Photograph Amsterdam from the city's reflection in its canals. Easy! you say. Well, try it sometime." Hmmm, 3D almost got it right, but he was still wrong. The works showing are paintings. When you put your nose up to the canvas it is obvious, but not so from two meters distance. He does begin by photographing the city's reflection in its canals, but only in the early morning hours before the boats have stirred the water and only on days when the light is just right. Then he starts to paint. The style is representational abstraction though from a distance it looks to be cubistic photo-realism. 3D thinks that maybe it is time to coin a new term to describe work like Whites, PopCon which stands for Pop School Conceptual. Like Warhol he uses photography to directly influence what goes on the canvas; he emphasizes color and its contrasting factors; and conceptually it is formulated into something that doesn't really relate to the visual experience we encounter in viewing the city of Amsterdam. What you get at the end of it all is something to be enjoyed and appreciated on different levels. Damn, forgot to check the price list.

Finally, in the back gallery is, indeed, photographic work by Petra De Nijs. The arist takes photos of sea creatures ranging from a sea horse to clams. She scans these photos into the PC and using various software packages she creates an entirely new imagery with emphasis on the colors and often using parallelism to accentuate the forms. (30x40 cms., @ 575 euro; 50x50 cms., @ 575 euro.) Until 30th May. www.rudolfv.com

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Sunday:

Three Hungarian artists are showing at Gallery Goda (Wtererscans 69). Lásló Mátyássy's work is very stylized whether he is cutting in stone or casting in bronze or constructing a "cart." The work is linear, clean in its design and emulates the Amsterdam School to a degree. On view is a wooden four wheel cart (80x200x80 cms., @ 9,500 euro). Laying atop the cart is a ceramic human body. A standing female nude (80x20x145 cms., @ 6,000 euro) in bronze could be an abstractly "carved" stele because of its monumental form and also because of the linear abstract like "hatching."

Syula Somos is a painters painter. He is meticulous in his stroke work and his style is basically conventional to a point. One of his work's that dominates the gallery's space is titled "Centaur" which is an oil on panel. We see a man and woman embraced but what gets your attention is that they seem to be in motion. If you study it you will see how Somos has cleverly achieved the illusion. His subject matter includes beach scenes with drift wood; crucifixion imagery in various compositons; and cherubs here and there. But this will not really conjure up the imagery you will actually see because the work is pleasingly dark but with good light and the colors subtle. The brush strokes owe a little to the Nabis. (20x30 cms., oil, @ 2,400 euro; 190x122 cms., oil, @ 12,000 euro.)

Miklos Somos paintings are very stylized with their linear and vertical rhythm. The colors are dark and pleasing. The style is a combination of influences from Maxwell Parish to Kandinsky's representational period to others practicing around the year 1900. But, again, he has combined these influence to create his own and very stylized voice. The imagery ranges from a couple of portraits to "landscapes" to still lives to a combination of the latter two. The brush work is delicate. (20x28 cms., @ 800 euro.) Until ___?___. www.goda.nl

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Kees Admiraal is showing at Galerie Bel E'tage (Prinsengracht 1097). Another painter that can be classified as a painter's painter'; one whose stroke work is meticulous. But here there is a difference because the imagery isn't representational but abstract and expressionistic. Forgot to mention, conceptual, as well. Admiraal uses two banal forms: the rectangle and what looks like a small garden house. He uses these "representational" forms over and over in each painting. And in each he views the form(s) in several different ways. Sometimes it is an expression of conceptual redundancy and at other times only a starting point for a study in linear prospectives and in each case the color approach is different. His large paintings each represent this unique balance of form, color and perspective. There is even a mood reminiscent of Piet Mondrian's night scene paintings from 1907-1910. (20x30 cms., @ 350 euro; 135x125 cms., @ 2,340 euro; 200x160 cms., @ 4,200 euro.) Until ___?____.

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WHAT IS HAPPENING THIS WEEK:

WEDNESDAY: 22nd April, 2009

20:20 Mediamatic BANK (Vijzelstraat 68). "Pecha Kucha Amsterdam #9...12 sprekers, 20 slides, 20 seconden, 22 April 2009, deur open om 20 20." Hmmm, Exhibition opens at "20:20," yes, it must be Mediamatic BANK...because that's Mediamatic. "...A dazzling range of speakers, images, new products, new ideas and inspiring topics...some talks in Dutch, others in English....Breaks filled with drinks, deep tunes and videos." Entry fee: 7 euro. www.mediamatic.net/page/79035/nl

THURSDAY: 23rd April

17:30-19:30 Galerie Beeldend Gesproken (N.B. @ Bellamy Buurtmuseum, Tweede Kostverlorenkade 62). Reinald van der Steene. paintings, drawings, water colors and lino cuts. The work is "monumental and religious." www.beeldengesproken.nl

17:30 Jewish Historical Museum (Waterlooplein). "Moracco: Photos by Elias Harrus in the 1950s," plus Pauline Prior documents, through her photography, what remains of Morocco's Jewish heritage and the Jewish life in Casablanca today. www.jhm.nl

19:00 Club of Amsterdam (@Tolstraat 129). "The Future of Games: Gaming in 2020---how gaming is influencing everybody." Symposium members: Jeroen Elfferich, David Neiborg, Kars Alfrink, GAF van Baalen, Ellen de Lange-Ros and the moderator is Matthijs Dierckx Kuijper. www.clubofamsterdam.com. Tickets: ticketcorner@clubofamsterdam.com. State number of tickets, type (discount, etc) and event title. Tickets are regurally priced at 30 euro (see discount prices); students, 10 euro.

20:30 STEIM (Utrechtsedwarsstraat 134). An open studio with Eric Lyon and the Biomuse Trio, "Tanto de Nada, for voice, live electronic and live video by duo bang.grab.stutter." FREE. "The Biomuse Trio is an extension of my chamber music compositons." RSVP: knock@steim.nl or (020) 622.86.90. www.steim.nl

FRIDAY: 24th April

18:30-21:30 Carhartt Store Amsterdam (Herenstraat 18). "Oerend Hard in Beeld," All about skateboarding (Motive Gallery's current show also focuses on the subject). Here you will see documentary photographs and art works by Tjeerd Derkink; a videographic portrait of "Oerend Hard" by Erik Journée; plus "snakerun champion" Dennis Hemmekam will exhibit. www.carhartt-streetware.com

21:00 De Brakke Grond (VCC, Nes 45). "The Tragic and the Funny Meet Again." Dutch and international artists plus a performance by Messieurs Delmotte and the colective Bissy Bunder. The exhibition is a combination of humor and tragedy. Bring your own tissue paper. About 20 artists. www.brakkegrong.nl

21:00 W139 (Warmoesstraat 139). "Remain in Light," is an unusual group exhibition of several artists showing about 70 works. The styles range from a 17th century pastoral scene to the avant gardé. There is no theme except that this exhibit is meant "...to show that a collection of contemporary art can start anywhere, and that a passion for an interest in art and artists is more important than money." Collectors have allowed use of works from their collection. www.w139.nl Also, on 11th May, at 20:30, a performance by Danielle Van Vree's new work "STAND IN." Plus from Friday (15th May) until Sunday (24th May) there is "ART BOOKS IN LIGHT," about 20 different Dutch and Belgium book publishers will show their wares.

SATURDAY: 25th April

15:00 Galerie 59 (Van Eeghenstraat 59). Chris Degradi. www.de40eurogalerie.nl

15:00 Galerie Petit (N.Z. Vorburgwal 270). Kris Spinhoven, paintings; Fiona Zondercan, stone work and bronzes. www.galeriepetit.nl

16:00 Wetering Galerie (Lijnbaansgracht 288). Tomasz Ciecierski, Jelte Eikenaar and Frans van Tartwijk. www.weteringgalerie.nl

17-19 Galerie F. van Dieten (Spuistraat 270). Roos Campman, "Ciel bleu---sans Nuages." www.dieten.biz.

16-18:00 AYACS (Keizersgracht 166). Nanna Lahn and Albert Zwaan, "Between Vision and Reality." Representational with a touch of the surreal. www.ayacs.nl

16-18:00 galerie ra (Vijzelstraat 80, corner Prinsengracht). Therese Hilbert, "Yali," new jewelry. www.galerie-ra.nl

17-19:00 The Lijnbaansgracht Group: Enter at Lijnbaansgracht 314.

AKINCI: "Being There," a show curated by Andrei Roiter (Russia) with five international artists. Expect representational work. www.akinci.nl

LUMEN TRAVO: "Tiong Ang///Two Solo Shows." Videos, paintings and photography together make for "[The] Unforgotten," an installation. www.lumentravo.nl

17-19:00 Galerie M. van Zomeren (Prinsengracht 276). Paul McDevitt, "Ecstatic Visions etc." www.gmvz.com

(?)17-19:00* Galerie J Jongma (Gerard Doustraat 128). "All Cretans are liars, said the cretaan." Three artists.

20-24:00 Petersburg Project Space (Frans de Wollanstrat 84). "There, part 2," deals with "(im)mobility in the Middle East." The show is the result of Su Tomesen's artist-in-residency in Amman. www.petersburgprojectspace.org

SUNDAY: 26th April

13:00 Smart Project Space (Arie Biemonndstraat 105). "Finissage Endless Installations: A Ghost Story For Adults." Lecture by curator Alex Farquharson and to screenings of work by Alenander Kluge. www.smartprojectspace.net

15:00 OBA (Oosterdokskade143) "Amerika, Amerika," workshop for Pop Art. Entry fee: 7,50 euro. Programmed for children from age 7-up. Does that mean children MUST pay too? www.oba.nl

16-17:00 De Ysbreker (Weesperzijde 23). KRAPLAK's composition "Daughter Dear, It's You," music inspired by David Lynch films and the work of the photographers Cindy Sherman and Diana Arbus. Flute, viola, piano and "slagwerk" (grease work?). FREE

MONDAY: 27th April

21:00 Lloyd Hotel (Oostelijke Handelskade 34). Jess Abrams in concert. A jazz vocalist. FREE.

TUESDAY: 28th April

___?___ "Hulda Festival," (Oosterdok Amsterdam). "A shipload of art and science in Amsterdam. The Hulda Festical is a long term international project that celebrates the coalescense of art and science through the work of the Turkish-Swedish aculpture, Ilhan Koman." There will be a full program which will conclude on the 19th May. Other venues are NEMO and De Lavante. www.delevante.org; www.huldafestival.org.

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Wow and Wow again. A lot is happening in the city. So that makes it just another ordinary week of cultural excitement in Amsterdam. As you can see it is all the more interesting because of the variety. Bored with looking at paintings? Hey, no problem! Check out the photography, drawings, prints, installations, avant gardé sounds, quirky happenings here and there...and it goes on and on. Too much to do!!! you say. Sure enough, but that's better than nothing to do. Trying living in Detroit. 3D has and let me tell you: boooooooring. So get your rear-in in-gear and hit the streets and BUY baby BUY...and tell them, "3D sent me!"

And there he does, once again, peddling across the water of another canal on his floating bike seeking out the ambiance of a great, great city...