International Art Talent Festival
Felix Meritis, Nov 28th
presented by
Amsterdam Fund for the Arts
and Bureau Broedplaatsen
Fifteen international artists who lived and worked in Amsterdam in 2024 present their creative projects. These talents come from different backgrounds and create a wide range of art. Come enjoy a cabaret show, experience the latest audio-visual shows, witness bio art, and enjoy dance and music performances.
The admission-free festival is part of the 3Package Deal, a program for international artistic talent. The program is curated by Jim van Geel and produced by Rafael Kozdron.
Film: Biserka Šuran / Fashion: Denzel Veerkamp / Theatre: Lars Brinkman / Music: Reinier van Harten / Visual Arts I: Siwar Kraitem / Visual Arts II: Tewa Barnosa / Publishing Performance: S*an D. Henry-Smith / Urban Realm: Fariborz Karimi / Dance: Reza Mirabi / Engaged Art: Dina Mimi / Self-taught: Jayliah Jada van Gorkum / Cabaret: Cheyenne Toney / Social Design: Thais Di Marco / Interhistoricity: Guston Sondin-Kung / Bio Art and Design: Noa Jansma
Denzel Veerkamp
/Fashion/
This installation reflects Denzel Veerkamp’s journey to Suriname, where he reconnected with his Afro-Surinamese heritage to create Abrasei, a collection that explores transgenerational dynamics within the Surinamese Diaspora. Meaning “on the other side” or “overseas,” Abrasei explores cultural continuity and identity between Suriname and the Netherlands through fashion. By reimagining Creole traditions through an Afro-futuristic lens and by utilizing salvaged materials, Veerkamp moves beyond preservation, honoring history while envisioning a future rooted in dignity and resilience. This work highlights fashion’s potential as a tool to examine cultural identity, imbuing these expressions with a positive charge. The installation invites viewers to engage with this exploration—a tribute to the beauty, perseverance, and vibrancy of Afro-Surinamese culture through a contemporary lens.
Denzel Veerkamp is a fashion designer with a socio-cultural focus, addressing themes of dual-heritage identity and transgenerational history. Born in Amsterdam to a Dutch mother and a Surinamese father, Veerkamp interweaves the complex narratives of Dutch-Surinamese history with personal experience. In his practice he blends storytelling with traditional Surinamese attire, dynamic patchworks, and bold textile contrasts. By challenging Eurocentric approaches, Veerkamp seeks to ‘unlearn’ imposed narratives and offer alternative perspectives. His work aims to decolonize Western, capitalist fashion systems, fostering openness and interaction. Through a transformative lens, he sparks dialogue around heritage, resilience, and identity.
Noa Jansma
/Bio Art and Design/
The Eternal Supper is an ongoing, eternal, investigation into the concept of what it means to be food. It asks: what happens to me when my body is transformed and absorbed by someone else—and vice versa? Jansma sees this as a deeply unifying process, connecting all life through a planetary metabolism that fosters both spiritual and environmental healing. Acknowledging our edibility compels a radical rethinking of dominant Western dualisms such as body/mind, inside/outside, human/nature, individual/collective, and life/death. The work advocates for an animistic perspective where the sacred is found in ever-changing material, rather than in abstract, immaterial notions like heaven and spirits. Through this exploration Jansma seeks to accept—perhaps even romanticize—the way life hinges on the sacrificial exchange of each other's deaths.
Noa Jansma is a multidisciplinary artist who investigates commonly accepted cultural beliefs by challenging their validity or purpose through seemingly naive questions. Her work focuses on the relationship between humans and their (ecological) environment, using food as both a subject and a medium. The questions she raises often intersect philosophy, the material-spiritual duality, and politics, resulting in diverse outcomes such as culinary performances, video installations, and educational programs.
Reinier van Harten
/Music/
MONOMAAN is a Dutch album by REINDIER which reflects a difficult period in Reinier van Harten’s life. Two years ago, he underwent radiation treatment for a tumor in his head, resulting in the loss of hearing in his left ear and which paralyzed his left vocal cord. Art became his means of coping, resulting in a triptych that includes an album, a pop concert, and a theatre performance, all conveying the same narrative. Through humor, melancholy, and self-mockery, REINDIER presents a raw yet heartfelt portrayal of his struggle. At the 3Package Deal International Art Talent Festival, he performs the first half of the album; in January 2025, he will begin touring with his show.
Reinier van Harten is a multidisciplinary pop artist and theatre maker who performs under the name REINDIER, merging music, theatre and technology. His performances immerse the audience in a world of melancholic vocals, experimental instruments, captivating visuals and thought-provoking lyrics, where the timeless and modern converge. The stage name REINDIER embodies contrast: ‘REIN’ signifies purity, while ‘DIER’ evokes emotion and instinct. He situates his work within the lineage of artists such as Kate Bush, Sufjan Stevens and David Bowie.
Biserka Šuran
/Film/
Het proces is de les / The Process is the Lesson is a collection of works in progress. In her practice as a filmmaker Biserka Šuran has traditionally focused on the end result, particularly the moment when a film is shown in theaters. Over the course of the last year she has embraced a shift toward valuing the process—working in stages, experimenting, and allowing time and space for projects to evolve and develop organically. The installation shown includes the experimental short De WasWals / The Washing Waltz, the video sculpture Type Machine, and an exploratory montage of her upcoming hybrid documentary Grandpa’s Story.
Biserka Šuran is a Dutch-Croatian filmmaker whose approach to the medium of film, particularly documentary, is distinguished in its mixing of the personal and the social in an unusual, authentic form. The themes she addresses in her work are diverse, often starting from a personal fascination. Her films have explored topics such as domestic violence among men, neighborhood relationships and her own family’s story of forced migration. Reflecting the influence of her background on her filmmaking she notes: “My bi-cultural identity shapes my perspective and therefore my work.”