The Summer edition of ArtsTalk International

For this edition we are in Germany, Italy Greece, Belgium, Spain and the UK. We take a look inside the Residenz in Munich and visit a Leo Vroegindeweij installation in Puglia. From England we have an interview with award-winning theatre director Emma Rice and visit the new Cadogan Gallery in London’s Belgravia. Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibits in Greece and much. much more . . .

REDESIGN RIETVELT at City Hall in The Hague

Redesign Rietveld is about the world-famous furniture designs of Gerrit Rietveld (1888-1964) and his influence. The exhibition consists of 60 fantastic models of designs by artists from all over the world who were inspired by Rietveld’s work and then came up with their own variation. These designs have all been recreated on a scale of 1:3 by exhibition maker Harry Hoek of MH Expo.

Holland Festival 2025 concluded with a richly varied closing weekend

Emily Ansenk, director of the Holland Festival: ‘This edition once again showed what the Holland Festival stands for: offering a platform to artists who question and shape their time. We presented work that often combines beauty and experiment with urgent themes. Makers from all over the world brought compelling perspectives on art, freedom, loss, resistance and vulnerability.

FRED HÄNDL PLAYS ZAPPA at Haags Piano Huis

Händl offered a fresh set of solo piano renditions inspired by the music of Frank Zappa, a challenging but rewarding task that transforms Zappa’s complex and eclectic sound into a surprisingly intimate and melodic piano experience. Händl guides us through his piano renditions of Frank Zappa’s fantastic and cryptic world . . .

TASH AW at De Balie in Amsterdam

Aw’s own biography is a migration narrative in itself: born in Taiwan, raised in Malaysia, educated in the UK, and now residing in Paris. This layered sense of belonging infuses his work and was a throughline in the discussion. For Aw, movement is never just physical. It is entangled with class mobility, linguistic alienation, and the burden of constantly having to translate oneself.

ROBERT D. KAPLAN at Crossing Border Festival in The Hague

Much of the discussion circled around U.S. President Donald Trump, whom Kaplan portrays as a harbinger of deeper structural upheaval rather than a passing aberration. However, it was Kaplan’s diagnosis of our tightly networked, claustrophobic, anxiety-ridden world that struck the deepest chord.