Cultural Capital 2018 Events
The 2018 agenda was full of cultural highlights. Whilst Leeuwarden was the heart of Leeuwarden-Fryslan 2018, about half of all events took place outside of the city. Hundreds of projects took place, with a great cloud of initiatives around them. Now, everyone’s attention is turned towards the future, but looking back one last time can’t hurt. Here are the highlights of Leeuwarden as European Capital of Culture.
The mythe, the girl - Mata Hari
On 14 October 2017, one hundred years after her death, the Museum of Friesland will present the largest Mata Hari exhibition ever. Based on personal belongings, photos, scrapbooks, letters and military files, you meet Margaretha Zelle, the girl behind the iconic Mata Hari. Travel with her from her native city of Leeuwarden to the Dutch East Indies, where fate follows her. Relive her glorious rise in the Parisian dance theatres and discover the web of intrigue she got caught up in during the First World War.
At the age of 29, the Frisian girl Margaretha was a media sensation in Paris. As Mata Hari, she enchanted society audiences with her exotic dance, where she slowly bared her body. The newspapers couldn’t write enough about this sensation. Her name was synonymous with sensuality and glamour for ten successful years. But the countless affairs with men in uniform and her travels through Europe during the First World War made her suspicious in the eyes of the French secret service. In early 1917, she was arrested on suspicion of spying for the Germans.
More about Mata Hari's life
Escher's Journey - creativity without borders
M.C. Escher is one of the most famous artists of the Netherlands. What many people don’t know, however, is that he comes from Leeuwarden. The Museum of Friesland will showcase a large-scale exhibition of his work in 2018. With over 80 earlier and later original prints, his artistic development from a technically competent graphic artist to a world famous virtuoso becomes visually clear. Follow Escher through his physical and mental travels.
The exhibition is set up as a three dimensional biography, whereby you come to know Escher personally by taking a walk in his shoes. The journey begins in 1898 when Maurits Cornelis was born in the city palace, located on the Grote Kerkstraat where the Princessehof Ceramics Museum now stands. The locations in which he found himself were always a major influence on his artistry. From the Dutch dreary flatness of the first decade in the 20th century, to the sun and mountains of the Mediterranean.
More about Escher's life
Giants of Royale de Luxe - gigantic!
Giants in the streets of Leeuwarden- what a sight! The world-renowned production of Royal de Luxe had its Dutch premiere in the Cultural Capital of Europe. The streets of Leeuwarden were host to a parade of several metre-high giants for three days, including an unforgettable performance of their show ‘Giant Skates on the Ice’.
Royal de Luxe is an extraordinary street theatre performance. World-famous, but without a performance in the Netherlands, the company travels around the globe with their giant marionettes. Towering over the city, the marionettes didn’t just wander the streets, but interacted with their environment- even looking at the spectators. They ate, danced, showered and slept, and enchanted those who came to seem them. Each performance drew thousands of people, making the visit of the giants a highlight of the cultural calendar.
More about the Giants of Royale de Luxe
11Fountains - Connected by water
An Elfstedentocht over the ice is an increasing rarity; the skating tour of almost 200 kilometres over natural ice was last held in 1997. Practical as the Frisians are, they just created a new Elfstedentocht. Not connected by ice, but by the sparkling waters of fountains.
These fountains are created by top international artists from eleven different countries. The artists were not randomly chosen; there was a search for a match between the work of the artist and the character and history of each of the Eleven Cities. The local population was closely involved in the development of the new watery work of art. In every city, the artist met with a fountain committee composed of local people. This committee guided him or her around the city and was in discussion with the artist during the creative phase. The fountain committees generated support amongst the local population as 'ambassadors' of 11Fountains.
Discover all 11Fountains
The 8th day - 88888
For the builders, the fabricators, the initiative-leaders, and business owners- and for hundreds of people who wanted to find out what Frisian people already knew, the 8th of July 2018 was momentous. Leeuwarden was the most celebratory city in Europe: the 8ste Dag precipitated a 5-hour extravaganza of people, structures, and performances across the city centre. Over 12,000 books fell in a domino-train (nearly a world record, but not quite), buildings ‘collapsed’, 25 tails were cut off; a caravan went out on the waterways, and even a proposal (she said ‘yes’!)
The 8ste dag was a celebration of the living, and the influence that people have on each-other, and the world. This was encapsulated by the various chain reactions- demonstrating the imperfect nature of life, that nonetheless inspires rebirth again and again.
Marijke Muoi - theatre
A special place will always be held for Marijke Muoi in the hearts of those who experienced LF2018. The show was based around the momentous year of 1795, when a group of revolutionaries, idealists, and opportunists stormed the Grote Kerk in Leeuwarden. They smashed everything, stole various valuables from the graves and crypts of the church, and even desecrated the bones of long-dead Nassaus (the ruling dynasty of the time). Their aim: to bring about democracy, and bring it about now!
In 2018, the theatrical performance by Marijke Muoi introduced the public to one of ten historical characters, involved in violating the grave of Maria Louise in 1795. Each figure took a group into the church by a different entrance, so that they could experience their over version of this pivotal moment in the history of Friesland.
More about the royal family in Leeuwarden
De Stormruiter - Frisian horses
The international theatrical event of the year, starring a hundred glossy Frisian horses. Director Jos Thie takes you to the year 1650 in this impressive performance based on the internationally renowned story Der Schimmelreiter. The year of the legend of Friesland. One hundred gleaming Frisian horses in the lead role of an unprecedented theatre piece. It all comes together in Storm Rider, a smashing performance about the overconfident dyke master Hauke Haien and the eternal battle against the water.
It promises to be one of the largest cultural productions of 2018: Storm Rider, based on the nineteenth-century novel Der Schimmelreiter by Theodor Storm. Commissioned by the Royal Frisian Horses studbook and the Faderpaard Foundation, Jos Thie translated the German novella into a grand musical theatre piece, with hundreds of Frisian horses in the lead role.
Conference of the Birds - Summer evening
Find a box and take a seat right in the middle of an orchestra with over two thousand musicians. Listen to the overwhelming sound of all those instruments. Watch how they, along with dozens of dancers and actors, depict the story of Conference of the Birds.
Birds & Brass promises a unique experience with Conference of the Birds. In the summer of 2018, just outside of Leeuwarden, recreation area the Groene Ster is home to one of the largest concerts in the Netherlands. Be amazed by over two thousand hafabra-musicians, led by composer Sytze Pruiksma and in collaboration with the Noord Nederlands Toneel theatre company and Club Guy & Roni. Conference of the Birds is a story about nature, culture and leadership.
