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International Art Talent Festival
Felix Meritis, November 20th, 19:30-23:00
Afterparty 22:30-01:00
Event location: Keizersgracht 324, 1016 EZ Amsterdam
presented by
Amsterdam Fund for the Arts
and Bureau Broedplaatsen
Felix Meritis opens its doors for an evening of art, performance, and conversation. As part of the International Art Talent Festival, fifteen artists present their work, stories, and creative journeys.
These artists form the 2025 cohort of the 3Package Deal, a programme by the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK) and Bureau Broedplaatsen of the City of Amsterdam. Join us on November 20 at Felix Meritis – and get inspired, surprised, and moved by their works.
The International Art Talent Festival 2025 is curated by Jim van Geel and produced by Rafael Kozdron.
Free admission tickets can be ordered on the Felix Meritis website.
Film: Malaz Usta | Fashion: Joseph William Raidt | Theater: Marie-Mae van Zuilen | Music: Djuwa Mroivili | Visual Art I: senakirfa A. | Visual Art II: Mhm, Mhm | Publishing/Performance: Theetat Thunkijjanukij | Bio Art & Design: Kexin Hao | Urban Realm: Mahsa Koochak | Dance: Debbie Ruijter | Engaged Art: Agat Sharma | Self-taught: Oudail el Omari | Cabaret: Ayoub Kharkhach | Social Design: Michèle Boulogne | Interhistoricity: Ola Hassanain
Agat Sharma
Agat Sharma is a theater maker and multidisciplinary artist from India and currently based in the Netherlands. Despite the onslaught of hegemonic forces such as colonialism and western modernity he feels the persistence of an essential and evolving relationship with land—one that always defines the body in relation to the world. Body not as a boundary but as an ongoing entanglement. He is greatly inspired by ‘folk’ performances he saw during his childhood and finds his practice as a continuation of that aesthetic and intellectual legacy.
“The sudden and untimely death of David Attenborough is a lecture-performance and obituary for the voice of the British nature documentary presenter Sir David Attenborough. In the work, Attenborough, now in the afterlife, finds himself lost on a tropical island. Despite having spent so much time making films in the wild, he is unable to find a way out.
At the International Art Talent Festival, I present the piece as a study and ongoing research. Developed through close analysis of Attenborough films, particularly early works such as Zoo Quest (1954) and Miracle of Bali (1969), the project examines the politics of his voice. It furthers my investigation into how our relationship with nature and land has been shaped by colonialism and modernity.”
Ayoub Kharkhach
Ayoub Kharkhach is a cabaret artist and songwriter, currently developing his first full-length theater production. A self-taught musician, he learned to play guitar and piano at a young age. He now accompanies his own songs, addressing heavy themes with a light, playful touch. In 2023, with virtually no prior theater experience, he won both the jury and audience prizes at the Amsterdam Kleinkunst Festival. In 2025 and 2026, he will tour the country with his show.
“En verbied de vogels om te fluiten is a musical, autobiographical theater show that I wrote under the coaching and direction of Pepijn Cladder. Through stories and songs about food, faith, illness and my relationship with my parents, I explore the meaning of the experiences I’ve had so far. This is the first full-length show that I have both written and performed. The piece was developed after I won both the jury and audience prizes at the 2023 Amsterdam Kleinkunst Festival, and it is based on the performance I presented there. For me, music and food play a key role in connecting with others and creating intimacy, which is why they are central to the show’s themes.”
The songs in this performance are sung in Dutch.
Picture by: Jaap Reedijk
Debbie Ruijter
Debbie Ruijter is a self-taught dancer from Amsterdam, shaped by the city’s underground hip-hop scene. Drawn to movement as a form of self-expression, she developed her practice through an expansive exploration of club styles, with a particular focus on Waacking.
Now transitioning from performer to choreographer, she explores how grief and personal loss take shape in the body. In developing her first choreographic works, she builds a personal dance language that transforms emotion into movement, holding memory and vulnerability while maintaining strength.
“M(i)e(n), Myself & I is a dance solo combining Waacking, hip-hop, contemporary dance, and mime, exploring the physicality of grief as it settles, shifts, and resurfaces. The work is rooted in the loss of my mother during my teenage years, an absence that continues to shape how I move, create, and relate to others.
In a culture where grief is often taboo, I turned inward, using movement to reflect. Making this piece has become a personal study of how sorrow lives in the body, how it transforms over time, and how expression can soften its weight.
At the International Art Talent Festival, I present an early iteration of this work, a first step toward a full evening-length performance and an invitation to share space for mourning, healing, and connection.”
Please note that late entry is not possible once the performance has begun.
Director: José Montoya
Movement coach: Junadry Leocaria
Djuwa Mroivili
Djuwa Mroivili is a Dutch-Comorian multidisciplinary artist and performer who has a background in classical music, who often incorporates disciplines such as theater, fashion, hair and electronic music in their performances. Mroivili’s work frequently begins from a hyper-personal and vulnerable starting point, which then develops into narratives that resonate with a broader audience. Using humor, irony, fiction, archival research and detailed observations, their work engages with societal issues such as colonization and queerness.
“Sounds of the City is an installation I created based on my research into the politics of, and the violence inherent in, silence and neutrality in classical concert halls and gentrified neighborhoods. My research involved walking through and recording the sounds of public spaces in the area where I grew up, which has since been gentrified and transformed, and in the area where I live now, which is in the early stages of gentrification. Through this process, I became aware of sounds I fear losing: the voices of Black, elderly, Muslim, and disabled people chilling and chatting in public, for example. To me gentrification and the concert hall are both outwashes of the same colonial structure; the classical concert hall represents a dystopian extreme of gentrification—a space of leisure for the rich and white, made possible by the forceful exclusion of Black and Brown bodies perceived as nuisance.”
Picture by: Vlaarflip