Being the compulsive travel researcher that I am, I knew that the Van Gogh Museum stayed open late Friday nights. Naturally, I spent my Friday night in the museum with rocking techno and the strangest performance art I have ever seen. I tend to enjoy avante gard (really strange) art and performance, anything slightly cringe-inducing and potentially hilarious is enjoyable by me. So I was totally psyched when not only was I the only American tourist at the open night but I was also mistaken for a native twice!
I browsed around the special exhibit on Max Breckman's stay in Amsterdam during WWII, then joined a group of Amsterdam art-lovers for a performance meant to signify the rebirth apparent in Breckman's work. As we made a circle sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor, a man wearing a one-piece white jumpsuit stepped forward and started playing the eupohium. Long, low notes emanated from the instrument, no tune, melody, or other evidence of music appeared.
Amidst the one-note blaring, the doors sprung open and a women dressed like a bird leaped onto the "stage" so to speak, screaming. I think she was also symbolizing something, maybe the pain that comes from creating art? Okay, I didn't really understand what was going on at all, but it's performance art, and even better, it's performance art in the land of lax drug policies, so it' s bound to be sort of trippy.
I browsed around the special exhibit on Max Breckman's stay in Amsterdam during WWII, then joined a group of Amsterdam art-lovers for a performance meant to signify the rebirth apparent in Breckman's work. As we made a circle sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor, a man wearing a one-piece white jumpsuit stepped forward and started playing the eupohium. Long, low notes emanated from the instrument, no tune, melody, or other evidence of music appeared.
Amidst the one-note blaring, the doors sprung open and a women dressed like a bird leaped onto the "stage" so to speak, screaming. I think she was also symbolizing something, maybe the pain that comes from creating art? Okay, I didn't really understand what was going on at all, but it's performance art, and even better, it's performance art in the land of lax drug policies, so it' s bound to be sort of trippy.
The performance ended with her flapping around a bit more and then simulating the birth of what looked to be a red bouncy ball before taking a huge bow. I feel like this is one of the most authentically Dutch experiences I had.
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