Parade alternatives

Rotterdam boasts itself as a city of festivals. And rightfully so. There are so many it's impossible to go to them all. But which ones to skip??

Next weekend do go to Metropolis - a FREE music festival where you can catch the likes of Les Savy Fav and The Vaccines, as well as tons of other bands that you never heard of but who will (possibly) be famous next year.

This weekend, June 24-26, travel South to the Wolphaertstraat to visit Bazar Bizar. Over 60 (!!) artists will sell their prints, drawings, jewelery, clothing, zines, toys and what not. Plus there will be good food and music (including from our own Geeske).

And/or you could go up North to the bustling neighborhood of Het Oude Noorden for Route du Nord. This route will take you along all the galleries, shops, cafes, restaurants and temporary art spaces that are tucked away in the narrow streets of "The Old North".

A festival you certainly should not miss (unlike me..) is the Open Dans festival. Jan Misker and our friend Janne Eraker hand picked the best, fresh and exciting dance acts that are out there in Rotterdam today. The program is just as divers as the city itself: there will be everything from modern to urban, from tap to tango, there will be video-installations and turntables, there will be more established dance makers as well as young and upcoming ones, plus workshops, live music and parties! And all this for just € 25 (3-day passepartout - separate tickets available too). Skip De Parade, I'd say!

Night at the Museum

Even more thrilling than Ben Stiller's Night at the Museum (I fell asleep while watching..) is the annual Rotterdam Museum Night. Tomorrow no less than 46 museums and galleries in Rotterdam are open till the wee hours (2.00) as they put up special installations, events, live bands en parties. A great chance to check out the Custom and Tax Museum, the Museum of Chess Pieces (huh?) or the Feyenoord Museum (located in stadium De Kuip), just to name a few.

But why not seize the opportunity to visit kids museum Villa Zebra with no kids there?! Besides their excellent current exhibition they've got workshops and performances by actors from theater company Jeugdtheater Hofplein. The festival and Villa Zebra are both celebrating their 10th birthday, so all the reasons to party twice as hard. That's why yours truly will play the best songs of the last decade. Hop on the special Museum Night bus or boat and come to Rotterdam's most fun museum! It's going to be a looooooong night!

*FREEBIE ALERT*
We've got special (digital) vouchers to give away for those of you who would like to visit Villa Zebra tomorrow. With this voucher you'll get FREE entrance!! Interested? Email us at info [@] dutchdolls [.]nl. Please note, this is for Villa Zebra only, you'll need a passe-partout to visit the other participating museums. These will be for sale at Villa Zebra (€17,50) (buy tickets in advance for €13,50 here).

Fabulous Faces

Puberty. It seems so long ago for me, luckily I get to be in touch with that old feeling on a regular base.

These past two months I got in touch by developing and teaching a nine week 'artshot' at Zadkine, a vocational school in Rotterdam. Which basically meant that I had to create portraits with a group of twenty reluctant teens and young adults that really don't want to be there. But they have to be, or they will not get their much needed certificate and points. Keep in mind that none of them take (or have ever taken) artclasses, and hardly anyone had ever been to a museum!!

In reality we had a really good time. We played our favorite tunes every time we got together, and they got to bring their own Ipods and Iphones and they made some really great stuff while we listened to some raggaeton, Drake, kuduro and more reggaeton. Today was the day of the presentation and up to just now I hadn't seen their final projects. But I'm kinda proud.

I want to share with you some of the highlights, take a look!!

I'm at Winterwolven B*tch!

Last Saturday was the first edition of Winterwolven Performance Party in Rotterdam, an event organised by Rotterdams finest: Maatschappij voor Volksgeluk, Bond voor Wilde Dansers and last but not least: We own Rotterdam.

The whole idea was to put together a night with music and performance art that was supposed to be inspirational but most of all... FUN. And fun it was!!


We were expected at the venue (Roodkapje/Rot(t)terdam/Beatburger)at 20.00 to set everything up, have some food and get dressed. This seemed a bit early (the party started at 23.30), but this point in time miraculously happened to coincide with the first dry moment of the day. So we quickly wheeled Blanche over so she and our hairdo's would not be harmed by the rain. When we got there the place was already looking rather amazing with big inflatable objects hanging from the ceiling, projections everywhere and a lot of people carrying crazy costumes. When we finally put all the cables where they should be (this can take forever because something always seems to malfunction) we decided to take our nerves downstairs, into the dressing room. The things we saw while we were there will remain a secret....

When it was finally time to start playing it seemed like people came falling from the sky or something. All of a sudden the place was packed and outside was a line of people, HUGE! As we were not able to win this war of bass that was going on inside, we decided to take Blanche outside... to party with the queue! People had to wait for 45 minutes to get in, so our tunes were much appreciated. Pretty soon all the costumed people came outside with their megaphones and started grinding in the street, and even passer-by's (?) stopped and partied with us! Now there was a party inside as well as outside and we just kept going and dancing... till the cops came. At two o'clock. Being quite hostile and all, you know how cops get.. not recognizing the coolness of a soundsystem on a rollator. Do they ever have fun? After that we just partied some more without Blanche!

Take a look at these awesome pictures taken by Boudewijn Bollmann who documented all the fun inside.





We played everything that night; from Sidney Samson to Ms. Dynamite to Mr. Vegas. But this is the top 3 tracks that (we all love hits) made EVERYBODY dance!

3: Rihanna feat. Jeezy - Hard (Jody Den Broeder radio edit).

Get it here (YSI).

2: Das Racist - Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell (Wallpaper RMX).

Get it here (YSI).

1: LMFAO feat. Pitbull - I'm in Miami Bitch.

Get it here (YSI).

The Old North

As you may know I travel quite a bit between Cardiff and Rotterdam. Roughly once a month I fly over to the Lowlands to work together with my Dutch Dolls-colleague. I usually crash at her place, or I catsit for a friend who goes on holiday a lot. They both happen to live in what is rapidly becoming the funkiest area of Rotterdam: "Het Oude Noorden" ("The Old North").

Now I used to be a Westside girl (for years I lived in notorious Spangen) and swore West was the best. I never liked "The Old North" very much, with its dark narrow streets and boarded up houses. But the dark days are over. Every time I take tram number 4 or 8 from Central Station towards my temporary home I notice new eateries, new shops and new artist studios. Here are just a few of the gems that spawned here recently.


☝ Mother and daughter run Lof der Zoetheid, a shop and cafe located at Noordplein 1. They serve breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea, and they do catering as well. You can buy beautiful 'afternoon tea boxes', filled with yummie stuff and a special afternoon tea, for you to take home (or you can make yourself immortal by giving this to someone else).

Westerkaatje. This traiteur is an institute in Rotterdam, and in October they opened up a new restaurant at Benthuizerstraat 60-D. A first sign of gentrification??


☝ Cafe De Bel, Gerard Scholtenstraat 61b, is a dive that looks like its been there for ever, but only recently it became VERY fashionable to go here. It's even been dubbed "De Rotown van Noord". It is rumored that with every wodka you order you get a free bag of crisps! Every time I arrive in Rotterdam the first thing I shout is "I want to go to De Bel!", but for some reason it never happens. But this week I want to go to De Bel FOR REAL!!!


☝ For 60s lamps and furniture, 70s ceramics, weird 80s objects and art go to Spam (Zwaanshals 243a). There are also plenty of second hand (book)/antique shops in the area, and today I even spotted a charity shop on the Zaagmolenstraat!


☝ More and more empty stores are turned into studio spaces by artist, designers and party organizers, who double their work space as a shop. Take Maatschappij Voor Volksgeluk on the Benthuizerstraat for example. 19 artists are united in a former fire station "Center of applied arts" Rotabs at Zaagmolenkade 46. They also host events and there's a shop.

Nice opportunities to explore the area are festivals like the Swan Market and Route du Nord. Swan Market saw its first edition last month, and another one is scheduled for March 6! At this 'lifestyle market' designers sell their products in empty shops in the 'Zwaanshalsgebied'. Route du Nord takes place in June I believe. Artists open up their studios and all sorts of happenings, readings and shows take place.


☝ On my last ride on tram 4 I noticed the prison complex on the Noordsingel (pictured above) has closed and is now FOR SALE. Very curious to see what will happen to this HUGE complex. Think of the opportunities! A couple of years ago two friends of mine paid homage to this prison with this ukelele version - in Dutch - of Folsom Prison Blues. I think it's utterly brilliant!


De Wisselende Contacten - Noordsingel Blues. Get it here (YSI).


Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues. Get it here (YSI).

Oh and I probably missed loads of places, so please leave comments and suggestions on The Old North!

Textile in the Mix

Wearing two pairs of socks, jeans, a singlet, a t-shirt, a blouse and the most hideous (and huge) wollen cardigan you've ever seen, the summer seems so far away now. But it was the summer when we started this project... and this december we will reveal it, at CBK Rotterdam!
Haadjar Fris, an artist/teacher from Rotterdam asked six (fairly) young designers from Rotterdam to collaborate with six women that weren't born in Holland, but who are experts at a 'forgotten' technique such as knitting, crocheting or embroidery. We were supposed to give this somewhat oldfashioned craft a fresh look by mixing it with modern techniques, views or material.

I remember thinking: 'oh, this can be fun but I hate crochet so I really hope she's not going to match me with a crochet-person'. What did I get? I know, I jinxed it. As it turns out, I hate it so much that I almost gave up on the project, because I just don't have the patience or the love for it.

In the end, I decided to just ignore the wool and the needle and turn the whole thing around and now the exhibition will finally happen. On saturday december 18th from 14.30h - 16.30. Expect original (affordable) pieces by Kwannie Tang, Yvonne Gaemers, Daisy Kroon, Zelda Beauchampet, Diana van Golden and yours truly.

Join us for a drink and a happy dance!

Saturday december 18th, Nieuwe Binnenweg 75, Rotterdam

Variété De Luxe #3

This Friday our friend Peter 'Teps' de Koning is hosting a third edition of Variété De Luxe: a highly entertaining evening filled with music, poetry, comedy, ukuleles and Blanche's "rollator disco"! Entrance is €0, which includes a glass of bubbles!!

Friday November 26, 19.30. 1st floor of the Public Library Rotterdam, Hoogstraat 110.

F.A.R.T. in the bathroom!

This must be one of the weirdest places we’re ever going to DJ (though our party in the elevator, that got stuck by us jumping, is one for the books too)… Tomorrow we’re going to play in the bathroom of a hotel room. Somewhere between the bathtub, the sink and the toilet Dutch Dolls are going to whoop it up! How appropriate for a festival called F.A.R.T.. All kinds of artists have been asked to fill the rooms of the hotel and hostel with installations, mini-exhibitions and performances. At 23.00 the warehouses open up for DJs and live performances.

So on invitation of Johan Kleinjan we’re playing at his SUPERRRMINIFEEST in Room 31 of Boutique Hotel Quartier du Port from 20.00 till +/- 22.30. We already got some great suggestions what to play, from Piss Up A Rope and Don’t Shit Where You Eat by Ween, Ring Of Fire, Drop It Like It’s Hot, Push It, Earth Wind and Fire and Golden Brown by the Strangles, to anything by George Michael. Alas, since it’s vinyl only this rather limits our selection of bathroom-themed songs. But don’t worry we’ll be bringing some other great stuff to make sure it gets hot and steamy in there! Better leave your kids at home...

At 22.30 we’re crossing the street to the Westelijk Handelsterrein where we’ll play a set over a proper PA in warehouse no.15. Come and shake your booty between 23.00 and 24.00, and stick around for more great performances by the likes of zZz, Doktor Schnitt, J.C. Thomaz & The Missing Slippers, DJ Shitmeister T!!

Get Under The Covers!

Today was the first day I actually turned on the heat in my house. My toes were a whitish pink and I sat in front of my computer with a blanket like an old person. Rotterdam was even more grey than it usually is, and also more wet. Yes, fall is definately here. And to adjust properly to the upcoming moodswings: some beautiful noisy tearjerkers with a shoegaze flavor for you, because the summer has really left us. Booehooooe!

Grizzly Bear - He Hit Me (Crystals Cover) get it here (YSI)



Ted Leo - With Every Heartbeat (Robyn Cover) get it here (YSI)



Little Girls - 10 Mile Stereo (Beach House Cover) get it here (YSI)

Tot zines!

I must admit it felt a bit strange to be walking around in leopard print at at car tuning convention one day and to be standing in front of a group of art school students the next. Welcome to the world of Dutch Dolls...

After a very enjoyable 'project week' about zines at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam in April we had the opportunity of doing it all again last week (read the blog post about the first one here). In small groups, or individually, 25 students from various departments worked on little booklets WITHOUT TOUCHING A COMPUTER. They were free in their choice of subject matter, because that's what zines are all about: a medium to express yourself, your opinions, your obsessions, your artwork, your comics, your poetry and whatnot.

So we ended up with a wide variety of zines: about superstitions, everyday annoyances, skateboarding and zine-making itself, the differences between the left and right side of brain and traditional German hunting imagery and terms, just to name a few. We were delighted that in times like these there was at least one zine that was political and critical. It was called "Wilder dan ooit" ("Wilder than ever") and it included fragments of an inspiring speech by Johan Fretz on the planned cuts in the government's arts budget, plus a plan how to fortify the art school should things get really bad and of course lots of very wild appropriated images of Geert Wilders.


There was a zine "Meisjes poepen niet" ("Girls Don't Poo"), filled with cut out images from glossy magazines of women in difficult poses. Just by combining them in a certain way, or altering them with little scribbles these perfect women, who supposedly are unable to poo or fart or to have hairy armpits, were put into perspective. Neat detail was the silkscreened poo-colored cover with a toilet paper banderole:


We were happy to see the return of the guys who made "A Sick Zine" during our workshop in April. They had continued working together since on an animal-themed second edition and decided to finish it the during our class (very clever). The lovely lads even included an 'ode' to Dutch Dolls, of which you can see a blow up in the upper right corner of the picture above. We are still debating who is who.. Meanwhile here's a selection of their original collages:


They made so many pages the zine turned out too thick to staple, so they had to glue it...


... 55 times...

More pictures of the making of A Sick Zine #2 can be seen on their Facebook page (yes they have a FB page, and a website, and they're on Twitter!). It was sold out in no time, so we suggest you become a fan or start following them to make sure you don't miss out on issue #3!

More 'filth' was produced by an exchange student from Switserland, Luca. Be honest, when someone tells you he "wants to do something with porn and vegetables and machines" you don't expect him to come up with something as tasteful as this:


He used a duplicator or ditto machine so he could print two colors in separate layers. We must say, big up for Wilco at the graphic studio at the Willem de Kooning Academy! Silk screen printing, letter press, typewriters, folding machines.. it's all there for the students to use.

Part of the assignment was to organize a 'zine jam' on Friday afternoon to sell and swap their zines. They failed miserably on this part of the assignment, but we'll forgive them because they worked so hard to have their zines ready on time. They camped out in the foyer of the school, we wheeled in Blanche for some background music and we had a ball anyway.


Still it's a shame they didn't promote this little event, because I know you, dear reader, would have loved to come and I know you wouldn't have left empty handed!!

70% awesome, 30% weird

Last Sunday was another one for the 'plain weird' tag.

Photo by www.mathildekarrer.com.

Slightly hungover, our alarm started ringing at 09.00h... We dressed up with lots of fake fur, leopard print, gold chains, pearls and more things that are cute, but wrong. We put Blanche together and wheeled her over to AHOY, Rotterdam to deejay at the 100% tuning event. Which was as cool as we hoped it would be. Actually, it was cooler. Words do not describe what the event was like, but once we hooked up the battery, and DJ Assault was blasting through the speakers.. jaws dropped. Ooow, how awesome it felt to walk through all the extreme cars, with smoke effects, major sound systems, video screens, pearl paint jobs, airbrush, Svarovsky, rims from outer space... and lots of girls in skimpy outfits lying on top of them and twirling around them. The rollator fit right in. As did we... ahum.

After playing every nasty tune that we had, we went home. We took the subway and the elevator. We decided to party a little in the elevator and cranked up the volume as we went up. Eh... as we should have went up. The elevator broke down and we were stuck!! Even the guy of the helpdesk that answered our distress call thought it was funny. Two policemen and a mechanic had to come to set us free. What a Sunday..... really weird, but a 100% awesome!

Blanche is on a roll!

So after a successful test ride through the parks and streets of Berlin we found out that Blanche’s tweeters were a little antique... 1991 wasn’t a good year for speakers and therefor we blew ‘em up! But revamped with two Excalibur cone speakers with a maximum power capability of 540 watt she's now ready to roll down the streets of Rotterdam!

This Friday, September 17th, you can find us with Blanche at Rotown, Rotterdam. We will be warming up for the band Bombay Show Pig and we will even be joining them during their performance. JAIKS!! Entrance is free!


The next day, September 18th, we will be DJ'ing with Blanche during the opening of minishop Bazar Bizar at de Meent, Rotterdam. The party won’t be so very mini, because we’re also celebrating the fact that Bazar Bizar won the Gouden Grasspriet award!

There is also a rumour going around that on October 9th and 10th Dutch Dolls are wheeling Blanche over to AHOY, Rotterdam to play some bassful tracks at the 100% Tuning fair while taking in a lovely blend of hairgel, Hugo Boss and exhaustion fumes. And we’ll be doing some promo for our main dude Remco and his Shop 4 Cars. This rumour is yet to be confirmed so keep checking back here for the latest news!

De Kooning Te Rijk!

For the past couple of months, I have had the privilege of being a subsitute teacher at Rotterdam Art Academy. For about eleven mondays in a row I got to hang out with an awesome group of second year illustration students. Which was of course, very cool!

My last assignment was a rather difficult one. Because the students had to take the assignment of another course which was pretty vague, abstract and not very visual and turn it into a sellable product. This caused sweat, pain and yes... I even saw some tears. But even though I have to be patient for a little while longer, I believe the endresult will be stunning.

The students' work will be on exhibition (and for sale!) this friday at Gallery Blaak 10, Rotterdam.

Time: 17.30 - 21.00u, Place: Witte de Withstraat 7a

The Fine Lines I need

Some fine lines are a slap in the face, but others are a real treat. All the good ones will be on exhibition this friday at projectspace DEK22 in Rotterdam.

No illustrator, photoshop or other ways to enhance an image were used in the selected work. So you can have a look at the original artwork done with pen, ink or pencil. Participants are: Roos mascini, Nelleke Transister, Natasa Heydra, Kalam Man, Peter van Genderen, Evalien Lang, Nanna Koekoek and myself.

Come check it out, and enjoy my cosiest tunes and Augusta Wind's food! Time: 16.00u - 20.00u. Place: Willem Buytewechstraat 22, Rotterdam.

zinesters for a week

Oow we wish we could be students in our own workshop at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam this week. The workshop is all about ZINES: self published, DIY, low budget little magazines ('invented' in the 70s by the punks, popular with the riot grrls in the 90s and still amazingly alive and kicking today). We decided to do this the oldskool way, so no computers!! The subject is so much fun and inspiring, and the students' enthusiasm and diligence is so contagious, our hands are itching to make a zine ourselves!

After our briefing yesterday it was time today for the students to get out their scissors, knives, markers, tape, glue and old magazines and get in line for the photocopy machine...

A crafty Christmas

A "guerilla Christmas store" is opening up tomorrow at gallery BLAAK10 in Rotterdam. Students and alumni of the Willem de Kooning Academy will sell their designs. Prints, books, t-shirts, jewelry, bags, ceramics, cushions, the inevitable designer toys and Dutch Dolls items, it'll all be there! Should Santa Clause let you down, you could always go there after Christmas to spoil yourself, the guerilla store is open till January 3rd!

Academiegalerie BLAAK10, Witte de Withstraat 7a, Rotterdam.
Open Tuesday - Sunday 11.00 - 18.00. Late night shopping on Friday December 11th 18.00 - 21.00.

Puberty rocked the cardboard!

Eleven weeks, 700 students, 9 teachers, an empty gym (not so empty now), 600 cardboards, miles and miles of tape makes a huge piece of art!

As you may have read in the blogpost of 30 september, I was part of an artist collective that was responsable for writing and teaching an educational program for 700 adolescent students. The program was part of Blurrr in exhibition space for contemporary art TENT. Together with Judith Vorwerk, S.P.A.M. van Griensven, Maartje Aben, Ivo Vrouwe en Olivier Otten, we came up with the idea of Wildgroei. Which basicly means; out of control stuff!

The assignment was for the students to leave themselves behind in the former gym of the building, using only cardboard and tape. Explaining this, they would look at you as if something green was dripping out of your mouth. But then the ideas would start to come, and evolve and boy did we have fun with it! I have seen kings, racecars, lots of dreadlocks, a big booty, a black cat with very suspicious looks, a huge hamburger, loads and loads of cellphones, lots of Iceberg clothes out of paper (?), uggs, a DJ booth, skateboarders, punkers and whatnot?! Today was the last day of Wildgroei and I think that we succeeded! The gym is packed, and by the hugeness, you can tell that a large amount of kids were part of it! Below you can check out some of the highlights of the project and here you can watch a timelapsemovie of the whole thing, made by Olivier Otten. Well done all of you!

Dust Off

When Nanna and me were at some opening in some gallery, we ran into our old teacher of the Art Academy. In between sipping cheap wine and nibbling euroshopper nuts she asked us if we wanted to submit an idea for the next project week called Slow-Lab which focussed on old techniques and handwork. There was nothing slow about the whole thing cause we had to submit the idea practically within the hour. But we pulled it off and called our project: Dust Off

The idea was to let the students take a look in their grandma's attic, the dusty drawer, or to let them go to the thriftstore to find something old and forgotten. They had to let that object be an inspiration for something new using various techniques. Because this assignment was pretty vague we made them take a look at some wonderful artwork done by Merel Karhof, Sarah Illenberger and Richard Saja. They master this dusting off thing!

I have to say, the students went all out! I've had an awesome and inspriational week and have never seen such a hardworking group. Most of the participants used techniques that they'd never used before, and I really respect that. Unfortunately I couldn't put everone's work up here, but only a small selection.

Merel de Graaf - Embroidered family portraits

Ming Ho - Screenprinted Puzzle

Sharon van Wijngaarden and Ingrid Wuyster
Screenprinted educational illustration

Nancy de Wit and Sjoerd Bongertman
(puff)screenprinted scarf 'mink'

a student's soundtrack (in the '90s)

The streets are alive with the sound of... students. They're back. And as I was walking past one of Cardiff's universities yesterday, it made me think of the time I was a fresher. Oh good times.

When I came to study at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam I didn't know a soul in that city, so I joined a student association (sort of a fraternity). But not a preppy one with an initiating ritual and all that crap, no I joined Rotterdam's "alternative" association. And for two or three years I had an amazing time there. Even though we weren't bonded by being disgraced and tortured in our first year, I made some friends for life there. Three of them are still among my closest and dearest friends.

So what did we do at this student association? Well, the main activity of course was drinking (I think the beer was like one guilder or something (€0,50) - I soon got really chubby...). But you could also learn some things over there. Like how to pour beer from a tap. Or how to organize events. Or how to DJ. Yes yes, it was here at the Rotterdamsch Studenten Gezelschap that I got my first taste of DJ'ing. And these are a couple of songs that ruled the dancefloor back then:

Frequently requested by my friend Annoek:
Pulp - Common People. Get it here (YSI).

Frequently requested by the metalheads:
Bodycount - Bodycount Is In The House. Get it here (YSI).

Played with much reluctance, but unavoidable since it was a number 1 hit (can you believe it!):
Babylon Zoo - Spaceman. (I'm not puttig this one up as a download - who would possibly want this!?!)

No explanation needed, this was our ANTHEM:
Underworld - Born Slippy. Get it here (YSI).

When it was late and everybody pissed out of their skulls (good chance of a polonaise):
Guus Meeuwis & Vagant - Per Spoor (Kedeng Kedeng). (Again, I'm not puttig this one up as a download - you could not possibly want this!)

Monsters on my mind..

For the past couple of months I was a coach. Not sports related (I have NO tactics) but art related.



Rotterdam kids' museum Villa Zebra planned to have an exhibition called 'The Monsterfactory'. Among the work of several established artists they wanted to involve students of the illustration department from the local artschool. Students could pitch an idea and get a spot among the monsters. I was there for the technical sollutions and to help the raw ideas grow into exhibition-worthy work. That was fun! It was really inspirational to work with these people and I think that the endresult is something we can all be proud of! Have a little sneak-peek below. (Work: Ron Schuijt)


Next friday (september 18th), will be the grand opening. From 13.30 you can come and see the endresult. And if you're a kid, you can take a monster related workshop. This will be fun, no doubt.

Villa Zebra, Stieltjesstraat 21, Rotterdam