Fossil fuels, oil – and our reliance on it – are at the forefront of the climate crisis. The Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri researches how entire cultures and landscapes are exploited by the addictive but destructive substance of oil. The exposition Landscapes of Extraction – spanning sculptures and videos – shows how oil-soaked our culture is today and invites viewers to imagine a future without it.

Uncanny landscapes, golden drill bits, speaking murex seashells and pearl diving songs. In the world that Al Qadiri creates, she plays with the paradoxical beauty of the destructive oil industry. She pre-empts the end of oil by creating monuments and mythologies around it, as if to eulogise it, like a long lost history from ancient peoples.

Al Qadiri’s work draws upon the transformation of her home country, Kuwait and the broader Gulf region. A landscape that was, before the discovery and extraction of oil, characterized by the culture of pearl diving. Al Qadiri’s ongoing search for historical ties between the pre- and post-oil Kuwait show how our mindset of extraction today is entangled with the colonial histories of crude oil.

The connection of her work to the Netherlands is hard to miss: colonial larceny, the looting of raw materials and shipping them away overseas. Is oil the very stuff that connects the scarred landscapes across the world, from of the Gulf, to the Nigerdelta and the North Sea?

The exhibition at De Balie has been curated in close consultation with Monira Al Qadiri, its presentation is as partner project of the Hartwig Art Foundation. 

Fossil fuels, oil – and our reliance on it – are at the forefront of the climate crisis. The Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri researches how entire cultures and landscapes are exploited by the addictive but destructive substance of oil. The exposition Landscapes of Extraction – spanning sculptures and videos – shows how oil-soaked our culture is today and invites viewers to imagine a future without it.

Uncanny landscapes, golden drill bits, speaking murex seashells and pearl diving songs. In the world that Al Qadiri creates, she plays with the paradoxical beauty of the destructive oil industry. She pre-empts the end of oil by creating monuments and mythologies around it, as if to eulogise it, like a long lost history from ancient peoples.

Al Qadiri’s work draws upon the transformation of her home country, Kuwait and the broader Gulf region. A landscape that was, before the discovery and extraction of oil, characterized by the culture of pearl diving. Al Qadiri’s ongoing search for historical ties between the pre- and post-oil Kuwait show how our mindset of extraction today is entangled with the colonial histories of crude oil.

The connection of her work to the Netherlands is hard to miss: colonial larceny, the looting of raw materials and shipping them away overseas. Is oil the very stuff that connects the scarred landscapes across the world, from of the Gulf, to the Nigerdelta and the North Sea?

The exhibition at De Balie has been curated in close consultation with Monira Al Qadiri, its presentation is as partner project of the Hartwig Art Foundation. 

Fossil fuels, oil – and our reliance on it – are at the forefront of the climate crisis. The Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri researches how entire cultures and landscapes are exploited by the addictive but destructive substance of oil. The exposition Landscapes of Extraction – spanning sculptures and videos – shows how oil-soaked our culture is today and invites viewers to imagine a future without it.

Uncanny landscapes, golden drill bits, speaking murex seashells and pearl diving songs. In the world that Al Qadiri creates, she plays with the paradoxical beauty of the destructive oil industry. She pre-empts the end of oil by creating monuments and mythologies around it, as if to eulogise it, like a long lost history from ancient peoples.

Al Qadiri’s work draws upon the transformation of her home country, Kuwait and the broader Gulf region. A landscape that was, before the discovery and extraction of oil, characterized by the culture of pearl diving. Al Qadiri’s ongoing search for historical ties between the pre- and post-oil Kuwait show how our mindset of extraction today is entangled with the colonial histories of crude oil.

The connection of her work to the Netherlands is hard to miss: colonial larceny, the looting of raw materials and shipping them away overseas. Is oil the very stuff that connects the scarred landscapes across the world, from of the Gulf, to the Nigerdelta and the North Sea?

The exhibition at De Balie has been curated in close consultation with Monira Al Qadiri, its presentation is as partner project of the Hartwig Art Foundation. 

Fossil fuels, oil – and our reliance on it – are at the forefront of the climate crisis. The Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri researches how entire cultures and landscapes are exploited by the addictive but destructive substance of oil. The exposition Landscapes of Extraction – spanning sculptures and videos – shows how oil-soaked our culture is today and invites viewers to imagine a future without it.

Uncanny landscapes, golden drill bits, speaking murex seashells and pearl diving songs. In the world that Al Qadiri creates, she plays with the paradoxical beauty of the destructive oil industry. She pre-empts the end of oil by creating monuments and mythologies around it, as if to eulogise it, like a long lost history from ancient peoples.

Al Qadiri’s work draws upon the transformation of her home country, Kuwait and the broader Gulf region. A landscape that was, before the discovery and extraction of oil, characterized by the culture of pearl diving. Al Qadiri’s ongoing search for historical ties between the pre- and post-oil Kuwait show how our mindset of extraction today is entangled with the colonial histories of crude oil.

The connection of her work to the Netherlands is hard to miss: colonial larceny, the looting of raw materials and shipping them away overseas. Is oil the very stuff that connects the scarred landscapes across the world, from of the Gulf, to the Nigerdelta and the North Sea?

The exhibition at De Balie has been curated in close consultation with Monira Al Qadiri, its presentation is as partner project of the Hartwig Art Foundation. 

Fossil fuels, oil – and our reliance on it – are at the forefront of the climate crisis. The Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri researches how entire cultures and landscapes are exploited by the addictive but destructive substance of oil. The exposition Landscapes of Extraction – spanning sculptures and videos – shows how oil-soaked our culture is today and invites viewers to imagine a future without it.

Uncanny landscapes, golden drill bits, speaking murex seashells and pearl diving songs. In the world that Al Qadiri creates, she plays with the paradoxical beauty of the destructive oil industry. She pre-empts the end of oil by creating monuments and mythologies around it, as if to eulogise it, like a long lost history from ancient peoples.

Al Qadiri’s work draws upon the transformation of her home country, Kuwait and the broader Gulf region. A landscape that was, before the discovery and extraction of oil, characterized by the culture of pearl diving. Al Qadiri’s ongoing search for historical ties between the pre- and post-oil Kuwait show how our mindset of extraction today is entangled with the colonial histories of crude oil.

The connection of her work to the Netherlands is hard to miss: colonial larceny, the looting of raw materials and shipping them away overseas. Is oil the very stuff that connects the scarred landscapes across the world, from of the Gulf, to the Nigerdelta and the North Sea?

The exhibition at De Balie has been curated in close consultation with Monira Al Qadiri, its presentation is as partner project of the Hartwig Art Foundation. 

Fossil fuels, oil – and our reliance on it – are at the forefront of the climate crisis. The Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri researches how entire cultures and landscapes are exploited by the addictive but destructive substance of oil. The exposition Landscapes of Extraction – spanning sculptures and videos – shows how oil-soaked our culture is today and invites viewers to imagine a future without it.

Uncanny landscapes, golden drill bits, speaking murex seashells and pearl diving songs. In the world that Al Qadiri creates, she plays with the paradoxical beauty of the destructive oil industry. She pre-empts the end of oil by creating monuments and mythologies around it, as if to eulogise it, like a long lost history from ancient peoples.

Al Qadiri’s work draws upon the transformation of her home country, Kuwait and the broader Gulf region. A landscape that was, before the discovery and extraction of oil, characterized by the culture of pearl diving. Al Qadiri’s ongoing search for historical ties between the pre- and post-oil Kuwait show how our mindset of extraction today is entangled with the colonial histories of crude oil.

The connection of her work to the Netherlands is hard to miss: colonial larceny, the looting of raw materials and shipping them away overseas. Is oil the very stuff that connects the scarred landscapes across the world, from of the Gulf, to the Nigerdelta and the North Sea?

The exhibition at De Balie has been curated in close consultation with Monira Al Qadiri, its presentation is as partner project of the Hartwig Art Foundation. 

Fossil fuels, oil – and our reliance on it – are at the forefront of the climate crisis. The Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri researches how entire cultures and landscapes are exploited by the addictive but destructive substance of oil. The exposition Landscapes of Extraction – spanning sculptures and videos – shows how oil-soaked our culture is today and invites viewers to imagine a future without it.

Uncanny landscapes, golden drill bits, speaking murex seashells and pearl diving songs. In the world that Al Qadiri creates, she plays with the paradoxical beauty of the destructive oil industry. She pre-empts the end of oil by creating monuments and mythologies around it, as if to eulogise it, like a long lost history from ancient peoples.

Al Qadiri’s work draws upon the transformation of her home country, Kuwait and the broader Gulf region. A landscape that was, before the discovery and extraction of oil, characterized by the culture of pearl diving. Al Qadiri’s ongoing search for historical ties between the pre- and post-oil Kuwait show how our mindset of extraction today is entangled with the colonial histories of crude oil.

The connection of her work to the Netherlands is hard to miss: colonial larceny, the looting of raw materials and shipping them away overseas. Is oil the very stuff that connects the scarred landscapes across the world, from of the Gulf, to the Nigerdelta and the North Sea?

The exhibition at De Balie has been curated in close consultation with Monira Al Qadiri, its presentation is as partner project of the Hartwig Art Foundation. 

De nieuwste expositie van Beri Shalmashi, The Fire In Their Eyes, volgt de diepe wortels van jin, jiyan, azadî (vrouw, leven, vrijheid), de leus die zich als een draaikolk door het Midden-Oosten beweegt. In veel van het werk van Shalmashi staat de filosofie van jin, jiyan, azadî centraal. Hoe maak je kunst vanuit deze filosofie?

Beri Shalmashi is geboren uit Koerdische ouders die in de jaren tachtig Iran ontvluchtten, ze groeide op in Nederland. Shalmashi won diverse prijzen, waaronder de Zilveren Camera voor Storytelling – met Big Village. Ook is ze bekend door het duiden van de protesten tegen het Iraanse regime in 2022 in verschillende Nederlandse media.

Plein Publiek is een serie diepte-interviews met bekende makers, geïnterviewd door onze programmamakers. Wie er aan tafel zit en waarom dat bepalen onze programmamakers. Eén ding staat vast: het zijn allemaal uitzonderlijke en gedurfde makers waar iedereen wat van op kan steken.

We nodigen je uit om op vrijdag aan te schuiven bij een interview over de kunst van het makerschap. Begin je weekend onder het genot van een drankje en een dosis aan inspiratie. Geheel intiem in onze Pleinzaal aan het bruisende Leidseplein.

Schrijver en activist Bregje Hofstede schreef een autofictie roman over bevallingspijn, seks en een ayahuascatrip. Hofstede onderzoekt in Oersoep het verlangen naar zelfverlies in een onttoverde tijd. Hoe is iets lichamelijks als een bevalling, dan wel een ayuhuascatrip, te vatten in taal? En hoe verhoudt Hofstede zich tot het schrijven van autofictie en persoonlijke non-fictie?

Bregje Hofstede (1988) is een veelzijdige en veelgeprezen schrijver en activist. Ze is actief binnen XR en is medeoprichter van feministische actiegroep De Bovengrondse en Stichting Nationaal Heksenmonument.

Plein Publiek is een serie diepte-interviews met bekende makers, geïnterviewd door onze programmamakers. Wie er aan tafel zit en waarom dat bepalen onze programmamakers. Eén ding staat vast: het zijn allemaal uitzonderlijke en gedurfde makers waar iedereen wat van op kan steken.

We nodigen je uit om op vrijdag aan te schuiven bij een interview over de kunst van het makerschap. Begin je weekend onder het genot van een drankje en een dosis aan inspiratie. Geheel intiem in onze Pleinzaal aan het bruisende Leidseplein.

Tweede Kamerlid Nicole Temmink (SP) gaat met de studenten van Cibap Zwolle in gesprek over vrijheid, democratie en actief burgerschap.

Vrijheid is van levensbelang. Hoe vrij zijn we in een land dat te maken heeft met een toeslagenschandaal, een woningcrisis en een oorlog op Europees grondgebied? Vrijheden beschermen vereist gedeelde waarden en gezamenlijk vertrouwen in de democratie. Tegelijkertijd gedijt vrijheid ook bij meningsverschillen, bij frictie tussen de ideeën van de één en de ander. En dus bij het voeren van goede gesprekken.

Nationaal Gesprek over Vrijheid

Het Nationaal Gesprek over Vrijheid (NGOV) is een gesprek tussen studenten van het middelbaar beroepsonderwijs en bestuurlijk Nederland over burgerschap en democratie. In wat voor maatschappij willen we leven en hoe werken we hier samen naartoe? Kijk op de pagina van Nationaal Gesprek over Vrijheid voor meer informatie en komende editie.