An art exhibition of photographer Erwin Olaf at the Nazarbayev Center opened the Dutch Week in Kazakhstan. Charge d’Affaires of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in RK Peter van Leeuwen said that our countries that have extensive experience in economic cooperation would expand cultural cooperation through this event.

The program of the Week is versatile. The exhibition of Erwin Olaf was much awaited because of his daring and provocative works. Since the mid 1990s he has been successfully doing commercial and personal projects. Among its clients are Nokia, Levi’s, Microsoft, Diesel, Rifle, Camel and others, his photos are published by international tabloids. But those were a few provocative series that made him a celebrity: “Mature” depicting old ladies posing as supermodels, “Fashion Victims” with naked people have bags of famous brands on heads, “Royal Blood” dedicated to the killed members of royal families.

Established reputation and highest proficiency allow Erwin Olaf touch on the themes that are usually hushed up. However, the dialogue proposed by the author is interesting not only because of provocative statements. After all, in fact, Erwin Olaf talks about changing standards of beauty and respect for old age, destructive cult of fashion labels, unsubstantiated hype around famous people who are often unhappy, lonely and mortal. His exhibition in Nazarbayev Center, which will be open until May 28, has no controversial photographs, which does not make it less interesting.

In Astana he presents philosophical series “Fall”, “Hope”, “Grief”, “Black”, “Theatre”, “Hotel” showing his formal search, his mastery of working with color and composition, opportunities of computer technology and, more importantly, ever recognizable style of Erwin Olaf, his world outlook that can be disagreed on and argued, which, eventually, is what any creative act is intended for.

A festival of Dutch cinema will be held in Khan Shatyr on 16-18 May. Movies “Twins”, “The Discovery of Heaven” and “Shuf Shuf Habibi” are of different genres and tell about current problems of the country. Of particular note is a fantastic drama “The Discovery of Heaven” based on the eponymous novel by Harry Mulisch, one of the most famous Dutch writers of the twentieth century.

As part of the Week, Dutch experts will arrange a round table on introducing bike culture in Astana, a bike riding event and a Friendship hockey match between a local team and a team of the diplomatic corps. On May 19 at the Nazarbayev Center there will be a concert of the Aruban Band playing Caribbean rock.

Natalia Kurpiakova

Photo: Igor Burgandinov