The second edition of Off the Map in The Hague

14 May 2025
author Suzanne Hendriks

With music from the choir Slavuj singing songs from the Balkan and the Black Sea area, where borders still scar the surface and Dutch-Kurdish filmmaker Reber Dosky about filming in Kurdistan. Of course also with graphic designer Floor Koomen with a talk about the United Koreans, a quiz by Suzanne Hendriks and moderation by Jorie Horsthuis. We were hosted again by Zaal 3, part of Het Nationale Theater in The Hague.

The lines that are drawn on our maps and onto our world are not the only determinants to our sense of community or belonging. ‘To what community do you belong (nationality aside?)’, we asked our visitors. ‘I feel part of womenhood’, someone said, ‘I’m reminded of that every month’. Other communities our audience felt at home in: millenials, seniors, LGBTQI+, world improvers, the border crossing kind. We had twenty-somethings in the audience, Rotterdammers, Hagenezen, geographers, and even someone who had been taken to Off the Map for their birthday. Being in the presence of such an engaged audience, coming to Zaal 3 to be taken around the world without leaving their seats, we felt part of a community as well.

Members of the amazing Slavuj choir performing songs in Bosnian, Romani and Georgian.
Jerney Hakkenberg

Slavuj kicked off the evening with the song ‘kru kru’. the sound of the crane, who can fly over any border that people have erected. The name Slavuj means nightingale in Serbocroatian and on this second edition of Off the Map in The Hague, thirteen members of the choir, conducted by Ivo Boswijk were present to take us to areas where borders never have been permanent entities, like the Black Sea and the Balkans. Who needs air travel when you can have the voices and sounds of these talented singers? Their songs in Bosnian, Georgian and Romani were performed in a heartfelt and passionate way and left an impression on the audience. To sing in a language that you weren’t brought up in is an inspiring way to cross divides and to open hearts.

Journalist Jorie Horsthuis talking about her visits to Kosovo.
Jerney Hakkenberg

Journalist Jorie Horsthuis took us to Kosovo, which declared itself independent from Serbia in 2008. She has visited the Balkans numerous times, always trying to find out how geopolitical turmoil impacts daily life, what it means to the people who live there. In the case of Kosovo: finding themselves in a new country without moving house. The othering is omnipresent but sometimes is also set aside, for example at night when neighbors from different ethnicities harvest together.

Many of the evenings organised by De Facto are about territories that want to split off from another country, but sometimes there is a genuine wish to merge, as graphic designer Floor Koomen showed us with her presentation about the flag of the United Koreans.

Graphic designer Floor Koomen talking about the designs of United Korea.
Jerney Hakkenberg

Dutch-Kurdish documentary filmmaker Reber Dosky was interviewed by Jorie Horsthuis. He has just returned from Kurdistan, where lots of things have changed since the end of Assads regime. Dosky has a deep love for the non-recognized country that finds itself in four countries in the Middle East. And although it would be nice to make an erotic film, Dosky finds himself documenting the history, present and future of the largest community (numbering forty million Kurds) without its own country in the world. Some of Dosky’s films can be found at NPO, such as Daughters of the Sun and Sidik and the Panther. In the film Meryem, he seeks proximity to his sister, who died in battle.

Dutch-Kurdish film maker Reber Dosky being interviewed by Jorie Horsthuis.
Jerney Hakkenberg

Of course there was also a quiz by researcher Suzanne Hendriks, featuring a border ceremony with some stare downs and high kicks, bridges on banknotes and the newest microstates. The winner took home cookies from dwarfstate San Marino. We are already looking forward to the next edition!

Quiz by researcher Suzanne Hendriks.
Jerney Hakkenberg

A big thank you to Jerney Hakkenberg for the photos, Stimuleringsfonds voor de Journalistiek for sponsoring us, and the people at HNT and Zaal 3. And of course to our audience, you’re the best!

Next event: October 8th, 2025 at Mimik, Deventer.