Just Different! is the title of an art exhibition about sexual desire, gender and identity construction in the visual arts at the turn of the 21st century. Disregarding for the moment the heterosexual dominance of much of our daily life, it reveals instead alternative orientations and sexual expression such as homosexuality and transsexuality in over 100 artworks. Among the 47 international artists participating the exhibition includes works by Paul Blanca and Rachid Ben Ali, the controversial Moroccan-Dutch artist (b. 1975 Taza, Morocco) whose works have already triggered anger and threats from Islamic militants in the Netherlands. Also on view are works by Gilbert & George, Nan Goldin, Marlene Dumas, Wolfgang Tillmans, Marlene McCarty and many others. Epitomising the exhibition will be the nine-metre high monumental statue of David, in bright pink and canary yellow, by Hans-Peter Feldmann, which will be installed in the square outside of the Cobra Museum for Modern Art.

The Cobra Museum of Modern Art is located in the suburb of Amstelveen, situated in the southern part of Amsterdam.

Stedelijk Museum CS
Oosterdokskade 5
1011 AD Amsterdam

An exhibition of work by 35 contemporary African artists and photographers with unique perspectives on their own continent. The exhibition reveals how artists are using photography to respond artistically to the enormous changes currently taking place in African economic, social and cultural life. The artists also break away from lingering stereotypical images of their cultures, histories and countries. The show includes over 180 works by 35 artists. The majority of the works were produced since 2000, many were commissioned for the exhibition.

The exhibition highlights several themes. Artists like Zarina Bhimji (Uganda) and Zwelethu Mthethwa (South Africa), make the landscape a vehicle for understanding historical trauma or social alienation. Others focus on the rapid changes occurring in African cities, emphasising urban lifestyles and architectural developments. The human body is also a recurrent subject, sometimes addressed provocatively as in the work of Nigerian-born Oladélé Bamgboyé, who explores the shifting boundaries of identity, gender and sexuality. The history of the continent is likewise represented with many of the younger African artists reconstructing it by challenging or reinventing the narrative of the colonial past. 

The exhibition is accompanied by an English-language publication, Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography, containing an essay by Okwui Enwezor (published by ICP/Steidl Verlag).

Artists featuring in the exhibition Snap Judgments:

Doa Aly (Egypt)

Lara Baladi (Egypt / Lebanon)

Oladélé Bamgboye (Nigeria / UK)

Yto Barrada (Marocco)

Luis Basto (Mozambique)

Zohra Bensemra (Algeria)

Zarina Bhimji (Uganda / UK)

Mohamed Camara (Mali)

Ali Chraibi (Marocco)

Omar D. (Daoud) (Algeria)

Depth of Field (collective) (Nigeria)

Allan deSouza (Kenya / UK / USA)

Andrew Dosunmu (Nigeria / USA)

Hala Elkoussy (Egypt)

Theo Eshetu (Ethiopia / Italy)

Mamadou Gomis (Senegal)

Kay Hassan (South Africa)

Romuald Hazoumé (Benin)

Moshekwa Langa (South Africa / the Netherlands)

Maha Maamoun (Egypt)

Boubacar Touré Mandémory (Senegal)

Hentie van der Merwe (South Africa / Belgium)

Zwelethu Mthethwa (South Africa)

James Muruiki (Kenya)

Lamia Naji (Marocco)

Otobong Nkanga (Nigeria / the Netherlands)

Jo Ractliffe (South Africa)

Tracey Rose (South Africa)

Fatou Kandé Senghor (Senegal)

Randa Shaath (Egypt / Palestine)

Mikhael Subotzky (South Africa)

Sada Tangara (Mali / Senegal)

Guy Tillim (South Africa)

Michael Tsegaye (Ethiopia)

Nontsikelelo “Lolo” Veleko (South Africa

The year 1492 year was the fall of Granada, when Ferdinand and Isabella, Spain’s catholic rulers, ended the Islamic influence of 700 years. 1492 was also the year when, besides the Moors, the Jews were expelled from Spain: it was the start of a Diaspora that would continue to commemorate the country of origin in music and song. Yet Jews and Moors had played an important role in the culture of the Iberian Peninsula, both in science and in the arts. It was also the year Cristóbal Colon discovered America.

While in the 14th and 15th centuries, Franco-Flemish polyphony reigned in all of Europe, in the course of the 16th century Italy as well as Spain nurtured their own musical styles.

Some 50 concerts, a symposium and an exhibition bring to life Renaissance Polyphony of the Iberian Peninsula and the legacy of the Islamic-Spanish musical heritage in the 16th and 17th centuries. Although a music of great delicacy and depth, it is also music rich in the heritage of Arabo-andalusian tradition.

Al Ayre Español, Armoniosi Concerti, Orphénica Lyra, Xavier Díaz-Latorre, The Sixteen with Harry Christophers, Capilla Flamenca, Doulce Mémoire and the extraordinary lutenist and master of the vihuela, Hopkinson Smith, among others, interpret major scores by Morales, Guerrero and Victoria.