[Please note that this programme will be in Dutch]

 

To mark the conclusion of Julika Rudelius’s exhibition The Seamless Real, we are organising an informal afternoon of talks by writers Tatjana Almuli and Jente Posthuma, followed by a conversation with Julika Rudelius.  

 

Tatjana Almuli focuses on the social significance of beauty ideals and bodily self-discipline. Drawing on her recently published essay Tot lijf gemaakt (Reduced to a Body), she discusses how our pursuit of the perfect body is intertwined with power, control, and autonomy. Why do beauty standards and the pressure to manage our appearance become even more compelling in times of uncertainty? This question resonates closely with Julika Rudelius’ exhibition, in which bodies appear as carefully constructed embodiments of strength and status. 

 

Jente Posthuma writes with a sharp, ironic eye about power, identity and the stories people — women especially — are told about themselves. Her work repeatedly asks how external roles and expectations can either shape or undermine a person’s self-image. For this exhibition, Posthuma has written an essay in which she engages in dialogue with Rudelius’ visual language concerning power and surface. She will present the essay for the first time on this occasion.

 

Finally, Julika Rudelius enters into conversation with Sjoerd Kloosterhuis and Madelon van Schie, curators of ROZENSTRAAT. In this discussion, they explore, among other things, how her work relates to the essays by Almuli and Posthuma: how do they resonate with one another, and where do they differ? How do beauty and discipline represent the systems that shape our actions and self-image?

 

We’ll end the afternoon with a drink. Come celebrate the exhibition’s closing with us! 

Bio

Tatjana Almuli is a journalist and author, photographer and podcast maker. She regularly publishes essays and interviews in De Volkskrant, Het Parool, Vogue, Trouw and OneWorld, and is a regular columnist for Flow. Her books Knap voor een dik meisje (2019) and Ik zal je nooit meer (2022) were nominated for the Opzij Literatuurprijs. Together with writer Malou Holshuijsen, she makes the weekly podcast Tussen dertig en doodgaan. She also presented three seasons of the online VPRO series Dikke vette leugens. Her book Tot lijf gemaakt, on our collective obsession with appearance and self-optimization, was recently published.

 

Jente Posthuma is a writer and journalist. She debuted in 2016 with the novel Mensen zonder uitstraling. Her second novel, Waar ik liever niet aan denk, was published in 2020. The English translation (What I’d rather not think about) was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize (2024), and the book has since been translated into fifteen languages. In 2023, she published Heks! Heks! Heks!, a retelling of three medieval witch stories. Her journalistic work has appeared in publications including De Groene Amsterdammer, nrc.next and de Volkskrant. She currently writes columns for NRC.