De Facto recommends

The standard ‘design’ of the Dutch borderline is often seen as a self-evident representation. Yet this abstract form in no way reflects the geographical, social, and political reality. How can we rethink and redesign the representation of the multiplicity of Dutch borders? A workshop by designer and researcher Annelys de Vet and Professor of Geopolitics and Political Geography Henk van Houtum.

The dominant narrative insists that borders keep us safe. But from what, and from whom? What if borders are systems of power designed to divide, to dominate, to decide who gets to move, who gets to stay, and who is left behind? Film, talks, music and poetry on 20 June in Amsterdam.

What if we could dream beyond borders, beyond displacement, beyond extraction? A powerful one-day experience of collective imagination, embodied storytelling, and radical futurism led by displaced communities. Part of Refugee Welcome Week in Amsterdam.

The Anarchist Citizenship: People Made of Stories exhibition, from 27 October 2024 to 26 January 2025 at Framer Framed, examines how storytelling, visual culture, architecture and social life (re)shape citizenship in Somaliland, the Somali region and its diaspora.

Overwhelmed by the vast offerings at The International Film Festival Amsterdam? Let yourself be guided by the IDFA Pathways. De Facto especially recommends ‘Palestine’, ‘The Law of the Land’ and ‘Life in Europe’. See you there?

Yasha, who used to be a devoted Soviet worker, is struggling to adapt to reality after the Soviet Union’s collapse - he prefers to continue his life in a state that no longer exists. Edgar Baghdasaryan’s tragicomedy Yasha & Leonid Brezhnev will be Armenia’s submission for the upcoming Oscars’ Best International Feature Film.

The exhibition ‘Mir is Mirë’ (‘mir’ meaning peace in Serbian; ‘mirë’ meaning good in Albanian) opened in Serbia and Kosovo last week. Young artists from Serbia and Kosovo showcase their work on the themes of conflict and peace, wartime trauma, national identity and cultural resilience. The event encourages visitors to look beyond nationalist biases and political division. It takes place in the wake of the Serbian-Kosovar ‘Mirëdita, Dobar Dan!’ cultural festival, which was abruptly cancelled by the Serbian authorities last June.

It has been more than 30 years since fighting broke out between Georgia and Abkhazia. Some of those whom the conflict displaced found refuge in a former Georgian sanatorium: the Hotel Metalurg. Now, they’re under pressure to leave again. Watch the documentary here.

400 years after The Netherlands colonized parts of Taiwan, the International Performance Festival Feeling Curious? invites Stefan Kaegi to turn the theatre into an embassy. September 28 & 29 in Rotterdam, NL.

raising flags is an ongoing project by museum in progress that has been realized at various locations since 2023, including virtual exhibition spaces online and media spaces in newspapers and magazines. Numerous artists participated and made flags, commenting on questions of social coexistence in challenging times.

The war against Ukraine did not start in February 2022, but in the spring of 2014. And the root of the invasions goes back in time even more, as they were a delayed response to the collapse of the Soviet Union and earlier territorial claims. The online exhibition Borderlands - Ukraine in Historical Maps - with numerous maps and short commentaries, aims to shed some light on the historical backgrounds of the present war of Russia against Ukraine. It was curated by historian Harrie Teunissen and map curator Martijn Storms.

On Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 April you can visit the Waag in Amsterdam to see a selection of artist Jan Rothuizen’s drawings, which are best described as written maps or graphic reports. You can also put yourself ‘on the map’, and join in for collective map of the city centre with all its visitors.