De Facto was never closer to the Dutch border as on November 12th, 2025, at theater AINSI, Maastricht. With a mini-lecture by border professor Henk van Houtum and dance by Limburg performers Zoë Greten and Bo Jacobs. Journalist Jorie Horsthuis talked about Nagorno-Karabakh and graphic designer Floor Koomen had a presentation about postage stamps where geopolitics is played out down to a square centimeter. And of course, there was also a nerdy quiz by researcher Suzanne Hendriks with some legit flag waving.
Suzanne, Jorie and Floor at Theater AINSI, Maastricht.
Ariel Bussani
On November 12th, De Facto headed south to organise an evening Off the Map at AINSI, part of the Theater aan het Vrijthof. Officially, the location - a former cement factory - still is in Maastricht, but it’s even closer to the Belgian border. And very close to the Maas islands that were swapped in 2018, making it the latest border correction of the Netherlands. There was vlaai (behind the scenes), there was a mini-lecture, there was dance, there were border stories and an adventurous and attentive audience.
Jorie Horsthuis talking about Nagorno Karabakh
Ariel Bussani
Journalist Jorie Horsthuis kicked off the evening by telling about a conflict Donald Trump claims to have resolved, travelling back to Nagorno Karabakh, the country that ceased to exist two years ago this autumn.
We asked the audience which borders they would like to erase. ‘The border between the Dutch provinces,’ someone wrote, ‘the Netherlands are tiny as it is, why divide it up even further?’ Someone else wrote ‘to erase the border between ‘me’ and ‘us’ would mean that cooperation would become a lot more self-evident’.
Someone who knows all about borders, is professor Henk van Houtum, who works at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. He has written a book called Free the Map, in which he argues about how we need to shift our worldview and break free from the lines and arrows on maps. Why is migration often depicted as red and aggressive arrows and what message does that convey? Why do we cling to a 16th century projection to look at our world and what are the limitations of state-maps?
Henk van Houtums presentation about the lines and arrows we draw on maps.
Ariel Bussani
Graphic designer Floor Koomen zoomed in on postage stamps where geopolitics is played out down to a mere square centimeter. From Barbie who was banned in Vietnam to epic lighthouses on stamps, she explained why so many fake islands are rising in the South China Sea.
Presentation by Floor Koomen about the South-Chinese sea and territorial claims on stamps.
Ariel Bussani
Next, we had an amazing dance performance by Limburg-born artists Zoë Greten and Bo Jacobs, who performed a piece from Unveiling Echoes in which two bodies mirror each other, blurring the lines between ourselves and others. With our inflatable globe as a fitting backdrop, they pushed boundaries, both literally and figuratively.
Dancers Bo Jacobs and Zoe Greten.
Ariel Bussani
Last but not least, there was a quiz by researcher Suzanne Hendriks. From a Limburg island-swap to the border between North-Korea and South-Korea, the quiz saw some fierce flagwaving. The question about which country gained a whopping 16 hectares because of the island-swap (Belgium? Or the Netherlands?) decimated the number of competitors. The winner took home fuck-you philately and some chocolate from the small state of San Marino.
Quiz by Suzanne Hendriks
Ariel Bussani
A big thanks to the funds that make our Dutch tour possible: Fund for Special Journalistic Projects (Fonds BJP), Stimuleringsfonds voor de Journalistiek, BNG Cultuurfonds. And also thanks to the people at AINSI and to photographer Ariel Bussani for making these photographs.
We are already looking forward to our next Maastricht evening, on April 1st, 2026.
