De Facto Live On Tour #5

• 6 February 2025
• Suzanne Hendriks

‘Where and when do you feel at home?’ we asked our visitors. ‘Lying in the grass near the IJssel river’, one replied. ‘Every time I hear someone speaking the Limburg dialect’, another one said. The evening was full of stories about feeling at home and about identity. What happens to your identity when your community ceases to exist or if your language becomes unwanted? It was an inspiring evening, filled with music, presentations and live interviews.

Alex Tugushin kicked off the evening on his guitar. Born into a Russian speaking family in the Soviet Union in a part that turned into Ukraine, he came to the Netherlands to play guitar on the streets and stayed. He now works as a sound engineer for documentaries, like the ones by Jelle Brandt Corstius. Alex just came back from the last bit of filming in Ukraine, for a series called From Moscow to Maidan, which will be aired by Dutch public broadcaster VPRO from February 23rd onwards. His rendition of the song Обiйми. Океан Эльзы, meaning ‘Hold me’, original by Okean Elzy voiced his worries about the war in Ukraine but also about what will happen after the fighting stops. Communities have been driven apart and polarization is rife, in the whole country as well as in his family. How to continue living together once the borders have been moved and redrawn?

De Facto’s own Jorie Horsthuis shared her experiences in Kosovo, a country that declared itself independent from Serbia in 2008. Tensions come and go, as Serbs and Albanians try to formulate their histories and identities, with the bridge in Mitrovica as the de facto border, splitting a town - and country - in two . If you’d like to hear more about Jorie’s visits to Kosovo, check out the next podcast episode by VPRO’s Bram Vermeulen, ‘Behind the Frontlines’, available from February 16th onwards.

Writer and historian Eva Vriend explores lands that ceased to exist and lands that appeared on the map within the borders of the Netherlands. What happens to a population when a place disappears? And how do you start a community on new land? The Noordoostpolder is a very special place in the Netherlands. Reclaimed from the sea, this new polder was meant to be organised and makeable, and there was a careful selection of farmers that were allowed onto this land. Journalist Jorie Horsthuis asked Eva Vriend if she feels at home on this land without history. She does – with some reluctance. Eva also told about Schokland, the fisherman’s island that was swallowed up by the reclamations. Where once the harbor was, are now endless fields. The population of Schokland, called Schokkers, still feels connected to their history and traditions. If you would like to see more of Eva on Dutch television, check out ‘Ooit ging de zee hier tekeer’ (Where the Zuiderzee Once Raged) and ‘Het nieuwe land’ (The New Land). She is also part of a new series, which will probably be broadcasted at the end of 2025.

As always, graphic designer Floor Koomen took a deep dive into something small that tells a big story. This time it was the micronation of Celestial Space, or, for friends ‘Celestia’. From the # symbol on the stamps of Celestia to the crazy space plans from Elon Musk, it was a lovely trip again.

And of course, there was some flag waving at a nerdy quiz by researcher Suzanne Hendriks. The winner took home a bottle of Ukrainian Spirit, to toast to better times.

We are happy to announce we will be back at Mimik on October 8th. And on March 12 and May 7 we will be in Zaal 3, The Hague, so alert your Haguanese friends and family. Hope to see you at one of our next events!