The Hague Highlights – Shops, churches, ice cream parlours, almshouses, a miniature village and a castle from medieval times. These, and many more notable places are to be found in The Hague, the Dutch city by the sea. In The Hague Highlights Ineke Mahieu and Ad van Gaalen collected the 100 must-see places of The Hague. Some of them are well known but others are hidden gems that are worth visiting. This ‘intelligent readers guide’ provides the reader with the historical context and location of some of the city’s most interesting places. Ineke Mahieu and Ad van Gaalen are authors well known in The Hague for their books De Haagse Canon and De Haagse Plekken. In 2013 De Haagse plekken was elected as Best Book of The Hague by the city’s readers. This title is now available in English as The Hague Hightlights, slightly adapted for foreign readers by translator Stephen Agnew. The Hague Highlights is published by Seapress/Uitgeverij Lakerveld bv, Rijswijk. ISBN 978-90-73930-41-4. Price: € 14,50. Available from 2 September 2015.  

  Bangladeshi artist Laila Sharmeen will showcase her recent mixed media on paper series ‘Datta Dayadvam Damyata: Shantih Shantih Shantih’ in Amsterdam International Art Fair and Biennale of Chianciano in the historic city of Tuscany. Her current series is deeply influenced by the ancient philosophical text Brihadaranyaka Upanishad containing Hindu and Buddhist concepts particularly the ones regarding three duties that each individual must perform. These duties are Datta Dayadvam Damyata meaning give, compassion and control. The two-day Amsterdam International Art Fair will open on Friday 28 August at Amsterdam’s architectural landmark Beurs van Berlage with more than 150 artists showing cutting-edge contemporary artworks from around the world. The red-brick Beurs van Berlage was designed by architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage and constructed between 1896 and 1903. The nine-day Biennale of Chianciano opens on September 5 in the picturesque city of Tuscany also regarded as the birthplace of the Renaissance. Curated and hosted by the Chianciano Art Museum, the exhibition is staged over 3000 square meters of the Museum and gathers some of the best established as well as emerging international talents. A total of 120 artists from 40 nations will be featuring in the 2015 edition of the Biennale. Her work shows both a modernist preoccupation with time, flux, the loss of a center and disappearance of faith and a concern for beauty and truth, imagination and solitude. Deeply perturbed by the materialistic greed and alienation of modern man, the hollowness of modern civilization, the clash of civilization, apartheid, religious bigotry, she seeks solace in the beauty and harmony of nature. She has 11 solos and over 60 international shows to her credit. She has showcased her works in major international art fairs and biennales including Tokyo International Art Fair, Oxford International Art Fair, Barcelona Art Fair, Art Shopping (Carrousel Du Louvre, Paris), Art Expo New York, Izmir Biennale (Turkey), and Effetto Biennale (Merida, Mexico). She was awarded a Purchase Prize at the 16th Space International Print Biennial, Seoul, Korea in 2011. Her works are in permanent collection of Ataturk Museum in Izmir, National Museum of Bangladesh, Central Bank of Bangladesh, GrameenPhone and in many private collections at home and abroad.

On the picture Jean-Claude Juncker and Luxembourgian Grand Ducal Couple. Picture by Olivier Polet, Grand Ducal Court.   The cultural programme for the Luxembourgian Presidency of the European Council was launched ceremoniously at Flagey Theatre in the presence of the country’s Grand Ducal Couple, Luxembourg’s Minister of Culture, Maggy Nagel, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourgian Permanent Representative to the EU, Ambassador Christian Braun, bilateral ambassador Jean-Jacques Welfring and a plethora of other personalities.  

The opening concert on July 2, featured vibrant music, electronic and visual connections of Sun Glitters accompanied by dancer Sylvia Camarda. Thereafter the Luxembourgian jazz trio Reis Demuth Wiltgen performed. The full cultural programme during the Luxembourgian presidency of the European Council can be accessed through the presidency’s website   For more information Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the EU: http://bruxelles-rpue.mae.lu/en Luxembourgian Presidency of the European Council: www.eu2015lu.eu/en/

  Now that the summer holidays are behind us, we are preparing ourselves for some special exhibitions. The first opening of the season is “And Now for Something Completely Different …” with paintings and objects by Ton Pret on September 6th. From October 12th, the gallery will be completely dedicated to the “Embassy Art Exhibition”. For four weeks, several embassies will have the opportunity to promote contemporary artists from their countries on a weekly basis.   In November, we will likely display the work of Alexandra Klimas, composed of beautiful, almost photorealistic paintings of mostly cows and Dutch farmland.