ADE Arts & Culture reveals first events for its 30 YEARS ADE program
Since last year, ADE Arts & Culture has worked with a team of curators who each bring their own perspective, network and area of expertise to the program. Their focus ranges from club culture and visual art to performance, allowing the program to reach different audiences and spread further across the city.
This announcement introduces the first projects by the curatorial team behind ADE Arts & Culture. More of their programs, alongside other artistic and cultural programming, is set to follow soon.
Since last year, ADE Arts & Culture has worked with a team of curators who each bring their own perspective, network and area of expertise to the program. Their focus ranges from club culture and visual art to performance, allowing the program to reach different audiences and spread further across the city.
This announcement introduces the first projects by the curatorial team behind ADE Arts & Culture. More of their programs, alongside other artistic and cultural programming, is set to follow soon.
Deep Seeing Currents at ARTIS Aquarium
One of this year’s new venues part of ADE Arts & Culture is Amsterdam's most-loved zoo ARTIS, a location not immediately associated with ADE. The recently reopened ARTIS Aquarium presents 'Deep Seeing Currents' during ADE, an immersive audiovisual work by artist Olafur Eliasson in collaboration with 4DSOUND.
Located in the aquarium’s deep-sea section, the installation surrounds visitors with darkness, spatial sound and shifting light. Whale songs, hydrothermal vents and human-made noises form layers of underwater sound, while vibrations emulate the physical pressure of the deep sea. Lights descend through the space like marine snow: the organic and inorganic particles that sustain life far beneath the ocean’s surface.
‘The reopening of the aquarium and its collaboration with Olafur Eliasson and 4DSOUND created a natural opportunity to work together. It is a deep-sea listening experience, but also a true deep-listening experience.’
— ADE Arts & Culture curatorial team
DISCO: I’m Coming Out at Wereldmuseum Amsterdam
Wereldmuseum Amsterdam returns to ADE Arts & Culture after presenting a program on Chinese club culture last year. This edition turns to the history of disco and the beginning of the DJ era. 'DISCO: I’m Coming Out'explores how records arriving from New York changed Amsterdam’s nightlife and traces the movement from early disco clubs to house music and contemporary dance floors. Stories, performances and music connect the genre’s history with questions about its continued influence and spirit.
The program features Jean Paul Paula, Amber Vineyard, Eddy de Clercq, Sunny Jansen, Suze Ijó, Thijs Weijland, Manique Hendricks, Juno Dijkshoorn, Shirley Hart and Anydee Anytime. Jean Paul Paula and Thijs Weijland serve as guest curators, with Amber Vineyard as host.
Dome Concerts presents: COLIN BENDERS + OTHERNODE at Fabrique des Lumières
Plus: 7 other events presented by Dome Concerts at ARTIS Planetarium and Fabrique des Lumières
Sound and image emerge together. Some performances follow a fixed sequence. This one begins with a carefully constructed framework: a shared audiovisual system designed to be played, redirected and transformed in real time. Within this framework, COLIN BENDERS shapes rhythm, texture and evolving sequences live through his modular synthesiser, while OTHERNODE composes and performs with real-time image, light, projection and the architecture of Fabrique des Lumières. The system is prepared, but the performance is not fixed. What unfolds is created in the moment and belongs entirely to those who are present.
CHIMP Live at Plein Theater
The curators of ADE Arts & Culture focus on independent artists working across disciplines and live experiences that cannot be fully reproduced. ‘We're interested in experiences that you need to be there to experience. If they are filmed or reproduced, they’re not the same.’
'CHIMP Live' is a project by violinist, vocalist and composer Diamanda La Berge Dramm. Originally released as an album in 2022, 'CHIMP' now takes shape as an intimate stage work at Plein Theater. Using two violins, a small table, a lamp and a few pedals, Dramm creates a minimal setting for voice, acoustic violin and electric violin. Her background in classical music, the American avant-garde, contemporary composition and alternative pop comes together in a personal musical language that moves between concert and performance.
DISCO: I’m Coming Out at Wereldmuseum Amsterdam
Wereldmuseum Amsterdam returns to ADE Arts & Culture after presenting a program on Chinese club culture last year. This edition turns to the history of disco and the beginning of the DJ era. 'DISCO: I’m Coming Out'explores how records arriving from New York changed Amsterdam’s nightlife and traces the movement from early disco clubs to house music and contemporary dance floors. Stories, performances and music connect the genre’s history with questions about its continued influence and spirit.
The program features Jean Paul Paula, Amber Vineyard, Eddy de Clercq, Sunny Jansen, Suze Ijó, Thijs Weijland, Manique Hendricks, Juno Dijkshoorn, Shirley Hart and Anydee Anytime. Jean Paul Paula and Thijs Weijland serve as guest curators, with Amber Vineyard as host.
Dome Concerts presents: COLIN BENDERS + OTHERNODE at Fabrique des Lumières
Plus: 7 other events presented by Dome Concerts at ARTIS Planetarium and Fabrique des Lumières
Sound and image emerge together. Some performances follow a fixed sequence. This one begins with a carefully constructed framework: a shared audiovisual system designed to be played, redirected and transformed in real time. Within this framework, COLIN BENDERS shapes rhythm, texture and evolving sequences live through his modular synthesiser, while OTHERNODE composes and performs with real-time image, light, projection and the architecture of Fabrique des Lumières. The system is prepared, but the performance is not fixed. What unfolds is created in the moment and belongs entirely to those who are present.
CHIMP Live at Plein Theater
The curators of ADE Arts & Culture focus on independent artists working across disciplines and live experiences that cannot be fully reproduced. ‘We're interested in experiences that you need to be there to experience. If they are filmed or reproduced, they’re not the same.’
'CHIMP Live' is a project by violinist, vocalist and composer Diamanda La Berge Dramm. Originally released as an album in 2022, 'CHIMP' now takes shape as an intimate stage work at Plein Theater. Using two violins, a small table, a lamp and a few pedals, Dramm creates a minimal setting for voice, acoustic violin and electric violin. Her background in classical music, the American avant-garde, contemporary composition and alternative pop comes together in a personal musical language that moves between concert and performance.
'Because there's so much happening during ADE, it's the right place to actually just try things out. The audience is already there, so it's the perfect place to take risks. We look for independent performers that are looking for the right context to show their work. There is a really difficult moment for many artists where they're no longer just starting out, but they're not yet represented by larger institutions either. That's where ADE can contribute.'
— ADE Arts & Culture curatorial team
Crawler Presents: Your Death Is a Lullaby at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ
Nothing Here Now and The Rest Is Noise present the live premiere of Crawler: Your Death Is a Lullaby at Muziekgebouw. The main event features the live premiere of Crawler, founded by Rachella Groen (Zohar) and Harry Castle, with the collaboration of writer Gervaise Alexis Savvias. The project asks who gets to be legible, and what it costs to insist on being otherwise - treating instability, fragility, and refusal as a queer politics rather than failures of communication. Cellist Malou van der Veld and guitarist Rob Toal-Lennon join the core group, while Studio Bass Stitgen's live installation and Clint Soren's visuals extend Crawler into the spatial dimensions of the performance.
Opening the night is a new collaborative project from 2K88, Rainy Miller, and Bianca Scout: Everything Always Changes, For We're Truly Here, and closing the night is Nkisi, an electronic musician and composer rooted in the Congolese diaspora and African cosmologies.
Premiere: Two Seas and Sumuku at NXT Museum
Earth Sonic and the NXT Museum present 'Two Seas and Sumuku', combining electronic music, visual art and immersive installations to address the urgency of climate change, featuring artists Paul Hartnoll of Orbital and Paranoid London. NXT Museum was selected for its experience presenting large-scale visuals and immersive installations. The setting allows the environmental narratives at the center of the project to unfold through sound, space and image.
The Arts & Culture curators add: ‘We also look for new collectives and initiatives that reflect the current cultural moment and stretch the definition of electronic music. They can be local and highly specific or international in scale. Together, they show the diversity and flexibility of electronic music.’
Crawler Presents: Your Death Is a Lullaby at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ
Nothing Here Now and The Rest Is Noise present the live premiere of Crawler: Your Death Is a Lullaby at Muziekgebouw. The main event features the live premiere of Crawler, founded by Rachella Groen (Zohar) and Harry Castle, with the collaboration of writer Gervaise Alexis Savvias. The project asks who gets to be legible, and what it costs to insist on being otherwise - treating instability, fragility, and refusal as a queer politics rather than failures of communication. Cellist Malou van der Veld and guitarist Rob Toal-Lennon join the core group, while Studio Bass Stitgen's live installation and Clint Soren's visuals extend Crawler into the spatial dimensions of the performance.
Opening the night is a new collaborative project from 2K88, Rainy Miller, and Bianca Scout: Everything Always Changes, For We're Truly Here, and closing the night is Nkisi, an electronic musician and composer rooted in the Congolese diaspora and African cosmologies.
Premiere: Two Seas and Sumuku at NXT Museum
Earth Sonic and the NXT Museum present 'Two Seas and Sumuku', combining electronic music, visual art and immersive installations to address the urgency of climate change, featuring artists Paul Hartnoll of Orbital and Paranoid London. NXT Museum was selected for its experience presenting large-scale visuals and immersive installations. The setting allows the environmental narratives at the center of the project to unfold through sound, space and image.
The Arts & Culture curators add: ‘We also look for new collectives and initiatives that reflect the current cultural moment and stretch the definition of electronic music. They can be local and highly specific or international in scale. Together, they show the diversity and flexibility of electronic music.’
Sunday Selectors with Dave Clarke at Concerto Record Store
As ADE draws to a close, Dave Clarke hosts 'Sunday Selectors' at Amsterdam's iconic Concerto Record Store. Rather than taking to the decks, invited artists each bring five records that hold a special place in their musical journey. Together, they reflect on why these tracks matter, the influence they've had on their careers and the stories behind them. Audiences are invited to join the conversation, making it an intimate afternoon of listening, discussion and shared musical discovery. Set among the shelves of one of the city's best-known record stores, 'Sunday Selectors' offers a thoughtful way to wind down ADE Sunday while celebrating the lasting impact of records, record stores and the music that continues to shape artists across generations.
Hoketus 50! at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ
Uncompromising in form and driven by a rhythmic energy that defies all convention – that is Hoketus, the legendary composition by Louis Andriessen. Fifty years ago, Andriessen wrote this still-striking piece that became a cornerstone of the Dutch musical movement known as the Haagse School (The Hague School) and reshaped the face of contemporary music. For this anniversary celebration, Michael Gordon writes a mirror composition: a new work that confronts Hoketus head-on. Not a homage, but a next step in the path Andriessen set out – music that doesn’t yield, but clashes, moves, and breaks.
More projects, cultural partners and members of the ADE Arts & Culture curatorial team will be announced in the coming weeks.
Sunday Selectors with Dave Clarke at Concerto Record Store
As ADE draws to a close, Dave Clarke hosts 'Sunday Selectors' at Amsterdam's iconic Concerto Record Store. Rather than taking to the decks, invited artists each bring five records that hold a special place in their musical journey. Together, they reflect on why these tracks matter, the influence they've had on their careers and the stories behind them. Audiences are invited to join the conversation, making it an intimate afternoon of listening, discussion and shared musical discovery. Set among the shelves of one of the city's best-known record stores, 'Sunday Selectors' offers a thoughtful way to wind down ADE Sunday while celebrating the lasting impact of records, record stores and the music that continues to shape artists across generations.
Hoketus 50! at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ
Uncompromising in form and driven by a rhythmic energy that defies all convention – that is Hoketus, the legendary composition by Louis Andriessen. Fifty years ago, Andriessen wrote this still-striking piece that became a cornerstone of the Dutch musical movement known as the Haagse School (The Hague School) and reshaped the face of contemporary music. For this anniversary celebration, Michael Gordon writes a mirror composition: a new work that confronts Hoketus head-on. Not a homage, but a next step in the path Andriessen set out – music that doesn’t yield, but clashes, moves, and breaks.
More projects, cultural partners and members of the ADE Arts & Culture curatorial team will be announced in the coming weeks.