'Oftentimes when you see digital art, it feels unrooted. It feels like it’s hard to place, especially if you’re coming out of the tradition. And what I always say is—if you want to be a part of the tradition, you have to have a conversation with the tradition. And the most simplest way of having a conversation with the tradition is actually bringing up some of those works.'

—Adrian Pocobelli

For the 21st episode of Dutch Art & Design Today, I spoke with Adrian Pocobelli, a Berlin-based artist, editor, and curator whose work straddles the borders between digital art, art history, visual culture, and blockchain art experimentation. Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and shaped by years spent in Montreal, Toronto, and now Berlin, Adrian’s trajectory moves from stamp collecting, from comics and trading cards, to Tezos, and bitcoin, and the evolving pixelated poetics of web3. With a background in English literature and studio art, and an early encounter with Italian painting in the Vatican, Adrian’s work charts a long arc across visual language, medium, and memory. Most importantly for this show, one of Adrian’s works from 2022 repurposes Raphael’s portrait of Castiglone. The work was sketched by Rembrandt while it was up for auction in 1639, in Amsterdam.

In this sweeping and layered conversation, we trace Adrian’s evolution from painting with inkjet printers and screen prints in Berlin to finding expressive liberation through his phone, his finger, and the emergence of blockchain-based platforms for digital art. We discuss his long-standing influence from figures as J.G. Ballard and William Burroughs; and his methodological use of randomness, repetition, and philosophical appropriation. Adrian recounts the development of his major series, including Screen Memories, The Peloponnesian War, Dante’s Inferno, and AI Girlfriend, each offering a different lens through which to view art history, contemporary systems, and visual culture.

We also dive into the world of art on the blockchain: Tezos, Ethereum, and Bitcoin as ecosystems for distribution, experimentation, and visual curation. Adrian offers a deeply articulate and practical framework for understanding these platforms, and reflects on his creation of The Artist Journal, his long-running YouTube series that blends curation, commentary, and community into what he calls a “newspaper of the imagination.” From glitch aesthetics to the spiritual politics of pixel art, and from contemporary appropriation to classical citation, this conversation unpacks the logic and poetics of digital art’s second generation—one rooted in tradition but carried on-chain.

You can find Adrian on X ⁠@pocobelli⁠ and at his website ⁠pocobelli.net.

You can find John on X ⁠@johnbezold⁠ and at his website ⁠johnbezold.com⁠.

'Dutch Art & Design Today' is published by ⁠Semicolon-Press⁠.

ISSN: 3050-6662

‘I think it’s our duty as a museum to address social issues, whether they’re in the past, or whether they’re happening now, because we have a societal role. We’re here for society… Art is about people. It’s about working together. It’s about how we look at each other, how we understand the world, and how we open our minds to what is unfamiliar. That’s what a museum should do.’

—Lidewij de Koekkoek

For the twentieth episode of Dutch Art & Design Today, I sat down with Lidewij de Koekkoek, who is the director of the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem. Lidewij has had a long and storied career in the Dutch cultural heritage world, shaped by her international upbringing in Belgium and the United States, her art historical studies at Leiden University, and a leadership style grounded in collaboration, curiosity, and care. From her early role in journalism and public art to senior roles at institutions including the Netherlands Architecture Institute, the Textile Museum in Tilburg, and the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam, Lidewij has built a career at the intersection of strategy, storytelling, and public value of the arts.

In this hour long conversation, we trace Lidewij’s path through the Dutch cultural landscape—from the formative years of studying contemporary art and architecture through, to her later rediscovery of seventeenth-century painting, and deep belief in the relevance of historical collections today. Her career is marked by several directorial roles at Dutch museums, which have all informed her current outlook on what it means to be a museum director. We talk about her first directorship at the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar, where she led a bold rebranding focused on the city’s Old Masters and modern art collections, and how both could be utilized to better communicate the importance of the city’s collection to the city’s citizens and their civic heritage. Alongside her time as director of the Rembrandt House in Amsterdam, where she helped reposition the museum around his studio, social networks, and contemporary relevance.

Finally, we discuss her current role at the Frans Hals Museum, and how its unique bifocal identity—combining a world-class collection of early modern painting with a cutting-edge contemporary programming and collection of works—makes it a deeply human institution. But also one with challenges due to its current location, and the limited amount of space it currently allows for display, as its ambitions outsize its current capacity, concerning the depth of the museum's collection. Ultimately, Lidewij makes clear that she sees the museum’s future as grounded in Haarlem, its civic pride, and the power of visual art to reflect and reshape society. From leadership philosophy to renovation plans, and from drag performances to Dutch Impressionism, this wide-ranging conversation explores what it means to shape a museum’s future—while staying anchored in its past.

Learn more about the Frans Hals Museum.

Cover: Esiri Erheriene-Essi, Having Your Cake and Eating it Too, 2019, 200 x 165 cm., oil, ink and xerox transfer on linen, Frans Hals Museum, Acquired in 2024

You can find John on X ⁠@johnbezold⁠ and at his website ⁠johnbezold.com⁠.

'Dutch Art & Design Today' is published by ⁠Semicolon-Press⁠.

ISSN: 3050-6662

'When I think about Rembrandt, I think of Rembrandt as dramatic. There's a drama. An emotional something's going on; the dark colors; a three-dimensional pull into it. And that three-dimensional pull, pulls me as a person into what is going on. And I have an emotional response to being in that scene—whatever it is. So there's something about Rembrandt that is guttural; you know? I don't just look at Rembrandt and say, oh, isn't that interesting. I dive into a Rembrandt.'

—Jill Bolte Taylor

For the 19th episode of 'Dutch Art & Design Today', I sat down with Jill Bolte Taylor—an author, scientist, and speaker whose groundbreaking work has left an profound mark on how we understand the human brain, and ourselves. Jill is best known for her 2008 TED Talk, 'My Stroke of Insight', where she recounted her experience of surviving a life-threatening stroke in 1996 and her subsequent eight-year recovery. That talk, viewed by over 30 million people, catapulted her into the global spotlight and laid the foundation for her most recent book, Whole Brain Living: The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive Our Life (2021). Jill and I explore art through the lens of Whole Brain Living (WBL), discussing how her cellular anatomical framework can enrich the way we create, think about and interpret, and experience art—in all its forms. Jill's framework explores the brain’s four distinct 'characters'—left-brain thinking and feeling, and right-brain thinking and feeling. The 'we' inside of 'me'.

Jill explains how these characters shape our emotions, thoughts, and interactions, providing a practical guide for cultivating balance and harmony within ourselves. What makes this conversation unique, however, is that our focus on how these insights apply to the world of art. From the analytical precision of 'Character 1' to the raw, present-moment engagement of Character 3, and the universal connection offered by Character 4, Jill reveals how art involves a holistic brain experience. We touch on iconic Dutch artists such as Rembrandt and Frans Hals, as well as the sensory and emotional power of museums, illustrating how WBL can deepen our connection to creativity, and ourselves, and art.

WBL is most often used as a tool for personal growth, or having better relationship; and it’s a life philosophy that has transformed how I see and experience the world. By applying Jill’s framework to art, we turn it into a powerful lens for appreciating art as full-bodied, whole-brain experience. As the art historian Esther Pasztory once said, while we all think we understand art, but true essence often eludes us. With Jill’s insights, we move closer to unraveling its mysteries; intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. This conversation also ventures into philosophy, drawing parallels between Jill’s work and thinkers like Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty—the last of whom emphasized the embodied nature of human experience. WBL applied to art, bridges intellectual and emotional experiences of life, offering a way to connect with ourselves and the (art) world around us. And of course, we also discuss Van Gogh, Hals, and Rembrandt.

Watch 2008's 'My Stroke of Insight'

Watch Jill's talk on the teenage brain

Purchase the book Whole Brain Living

Watch an interview with Jill about WBL

You can find John on X ⁠@johnbezold⁠ and at his website ⁠johnbezold.com⁠.

'Dutch Art & Design Today' is published by ⁠Semicolon-Press⁠.

ISSN: 3050-6662

'Language is so important, and particularly right now; especially when differentiating the Dutch Republic from the Southern Netherlands in the seventeenth century. Not only in terms of what that meant politically, but also religiously, and how these factors influenced the way the art produced then and there, looks. I've found that when speaking to museum visitors, they would often use the words Dutch and Flemish interchangeably; so I wanted to unpack this code art historians use—when we say Dutch or Flemish—and make this distinction front and center, in the gallery didactics, here at the Art Institute of Chicago.'

—Jacquelyn N. Coutré

For the 18th episode of 'Dutch Art & Design Today', I sat down with Jacquelyn N. Coutré—an art historian, a curator, an all-around fascinating academic of Dutch art and history—who, since 2019, has been the Eleanor Wood Prince Curator in Painting and Sculpture of Europe, at the Art Institute of Chicago, in the USA. Jacquelyn completed her BA at the Indiana University in Bloomington, where she expanded her early interest in seventeenth-century Dutch paintings. She then moved to New York City, where she completed her MA and PhD at NYU's Institute of Fine Arts, writing her dissertation under Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, particularly focusing on Jan Livens and his contemporaries. After her studies she returned to Indiana, where she was a curatorial fellow at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, marking her mark on the collection in numerous ways.

In 2015 Jacquelyn moved to Canada, taking on the role of the Agnes Bader Curator and Researcher of European Art ,at the Etherington Art Centre, in Ontario. There she utilized her expertise in Lievens, and curated 'Leiden circa 1630: Rembrandt Emerges', which ran from 24 August-1 December 2019 and accompanied by a open-access catalogue exploring Rembrandt's peers. Since her appointment at Chicago's Art Institute, she has curated several exhibitions, initiated a rehang of the Dutch and Flemish galleries, and expanded the collection she's responsible for.

In this conversation, Jacquelyn discusses her early-fascination with art, and how she found her way to Dutch and Flemish art in particular. During her research for her dissertation, she combined her interest in the literature, politics, and paintings produced during the Dutch Republic, by applying the writings of Constantijn Huygens to artistic production—leading her to become a world's leading authority on the life and work of Lievens. A Francophile since her childhood, her work in Canada left a profound impact on the ways that she approaches institutional nuances concerning the ways the past is viewed, which she unravels in our talk. To conclude, Jacquelyn talks about her plans for a future catalogue of highlights from the Art Institute's collection of Dutch and Flemish paintings and sculpture, relaying the importance of mapping the collection's formation, and the history of its curation.

Learn more about Jacquelyn's work at The Art Institute.

Read Walter Liedtke's 2000 article 'The Study of Dutch Art in America', originally published in Artibus et Historiae.

Download the catalogue Leiden circa 1630: Rembrandt Emerges

You can find John on X ⁠@johnbezold⁠ and at his website ⁠johnbezold.com⁠.

'Dutch Art & Design Today' is published by ⁠Semicolon-Press⁠.

ISSN: 3050-6662

‘We are a very vibrant country; Curaçao. But we are so much more than these cliches that pervade in mainstream thought about the Caribbean. There’s real struggles here. Real injustice and economic disparity. And it has to do with our past. But a lot of progress has been made… My art seeks to show the average Curaçaoan; the fisherman at Playa Piskadó; Carnival; Tumba performers, who have their roots in African dance. The colonial past really does still impact us, daily. And so my work in AI tries to highlight those here who are—regular.'

—Erica Obersi

For the seventeenth episode of 'Dutch Art & Design Today', I sat down with Erica Obersi—a Curaçao-based artist renowned for her AI creations. Our paths first intersected in the vibrant web3 sphere, particularly within the close-knit Tezos blockchain community, a platform where Erica frequently showcases her art. Raised in Curaçao, Erica has always been keenly aware of the world beyond her country's borders. Her work in the tech realm led her to spend several years in New York City, working in the city's tech industry. This period also saw her studying for and obtaining a BA in International Relations from George Washington University, in Washington D.C.. Later, Erica returned to Curacao, and more recently enrolled to study at Tilburg University for her law degree. Erica's work with AI represents a fusion of her diverse interests, ranging from the spiritual—like the power of holy scriptures—to futuristic fashion and tributes to Swedish artist Hilma Af Klint (1862-1944). Her prominence in digital art and NFTs, particularly in the Dutch Caribbean, marks her as a pioneer in the field and one of the few digital artists in the region to gain international acclaim. In early 2023, Erica's talent was further recognized when she joined SuperRare, a leading digital art marketplace and auction house.

In this hour-long conversation, Erica recounts her memories of visiting Amsterdam during her childhood and visiting the Rijksmuseum with her grandmother and grandfather, and how she was taken aback by coming face-to-face with Rembrandt’s Nightwatch. She then goes on the describe the culture and the international outlook of its people, to the world at large, while also discussing what the county's museum and cutural scenes entail, before spending time discussing the legacies Dutch colonialism brought to the island, both in the past and today. While her early work explored themes related to the people, culture, landscapes, and history of Curaçao; her more recent work incorporates themes of divinity-inspired digital fashion, ideals concerning social hierarchy, excess wealth, and how the latter can lead to envy and intrigue. To conclude, Erica talks about the importance of integrity in her work and beyond her art, such as why she finds it important, as an artist, to use her platform for good.

You can learn more about Erica and her work over on X @madeincuracao and on Instagram @ericaoverseas.

You can find John on X @johnbezold and at his website johnbezold.com.

'Dutch Art & Design Today' is published by Semicolon-Press.

ISSN: 3050-6662

'Spinoza is a great portal to the Dutch Republic; because with Spinoza you have to look at Jewish Amsterdam in the seventeenth century. And if you start looking at Amsterdam in the seventeenth century, you’re drawn to the art. If you’re drawn to the art you become aware of the social and economic context. It’s really like looking through the looking glass. Once you’re in, you’re in.’

—Steven Nadler

For the sixteenth episode of Dutch Art & Design Today, I sat down with Steven Nadler, who is a philosopher, a historian of philosophy, an all-around interesting academic, as well as a professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison, where he is also the Director of the Institute for Research in the Humanities. Steven completed his BA at Washington University in St. Louis, and then returned to his hometown of Manhattan to complete his MA and PhD at Columbia University, where he wrote his dissertation on the French philosopher Antoine Arnauld. Steven has studied and written extensively on the history of philosophy in Early Modern Europe, particularly concerning Descartes and Spinoza. Over the years, a through line in his teaching and writing has been the seventeenth century as it relates to the Dutch Republic; for instance, concerning the stay of Descartes in the republic, and his interactions with politicians, thinkers, and artists, such as the painter Frans Hals. Steven also has an interest in the Jewish population of Amsterdam during the same time period, and in 2003, published a book titled Rembrandt's Jews, for which he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2004.

In this hour-long discussion, Steven and I first revisit his move to the Midwest for his undergraduate degree, and then his return to New York City for his graduate and doctoral degrees, and what his student days were like in both locations. We then move on to talk about how his dissertation lead him to study Descartes, and the seventeenth century in general, and why he finds the era so fascinating from a philosophical point of view, and what was happening in Amsterdam and Haarlem, during this period of time. Steven then explains the methodologies that he uses to approach his work, and how they allow him to combine several figures and topics that interest him, in a way that makes his work accessible beyond those only interested in philosophy. We then zoom in on his books on Frans Hals, and how he used a well-known trove of archival documents, to wrap the biography of Hals around some of his more celebrated paintings, to write the first biographical study of Hals in Haarlem. To conclude, Steven explains how philosophy is useful to the world today, and how knowing it results in better choices, better ways of thinking which together leads to, as he puts it, "better living through philosophy".'

You can learn more about Steven and his work and books, over on his ⁠website⁠.

You can also find out more about Steven's teaching on his university's website.

You can find John on X @johnbezold and at his website johnbezold.com.

'Dutch Art & Design Today' is published by Semicolon-Press.

ISSN: 3050-6662

'Back in 2006, or 2007, I painted a kind of a landscape, in a very liquid way; sometimes abstract and sometimes realistic. But I would always add details, like a cow in the foreground watching its shed or hut, standing in a puddle of water. And the cow, in that work, is standing on the hill. But can't go back to the hut... And what I like about that painting, is that there are different levels to it. A daily life scene; a cow watching the effects of global warming. But on another level, maybe I'm the cow, doubting the painted landscape I made. So, there's an irony in my work... It's a mix of abstraction and figuration, and philosophy.'

–Sven Kroner

For the fifteenth episode of 'Dutch Art & Design Today', I sat down with Sven Kroner, a Düsseldorf-based painter whose works on large-scale canvases making use of acrylics, are simultaneously familiar yet otherworldly, while also being utterly entrancing. Sven was born in Kaufbeuren, then in West Germany, in 1973, surrounded by the verdant landscapes of the Northern Alps, aligning the Austrian and Swiss borders. He describes the nature in this part of Germany as being, 'like a fairytale', and where he spent time with his friends during his youth—as they all dreamed of moving away from their small town, to bigger cities. Not necessarily from an artistic lineage of painters, he came to art of his own volition, after museum visits as a child, taking an interest in contemporary German artists, as well as some of his own experiments using aquarelles and oil paint. Sven then studied painting, at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, from 1994-2000; a city he had never visited before his acceptance there; though it is also where he has lived, and worked, ever since.

In this hour-long conversation, Sven and I discuss his childhood spent in southern Germany, and how the landscapes that surrounded him there in the area, influenced how these landscapes returned as a subject, within his work. Sven talks about his time at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf; why he chose to study there; and what he did while there; before zooming in on his mentor at the academy, Dieter Krieg (1937-2005), explaining what he absorbed from him, that he still makes use of, today. Sven is known for paintings that, put simply, create worlds within worlds. He makes use of acrylic paints—a medium he once referred to as nearly being, 'plastic'. It is rare to find an artist of his statue using acrylics instead of oils, and so we also discuss his technique; how he uses the medium to create his work; and how the medium differs from oils. Lastly, we discuss his exhibition titled 'Atmosphere', at Gallery Fons Welters in Amsterdam, from 8 September-14 October 2023, and how his more recent work involves the themes of domesticity, and the Anthropocene.

You can learn more about Sven and his paintings, and books, over on his website.

You can read about Sven's exhibition 'Atmosphere', on Gallery Fons Welter's website.

You can find John on X @johnbezold and at his website johnbezold.com.

'Dutch Art & Design Today' is published by Semicolon-Press.

ISSN: 3050-6662

'Habsburgs loved their animals. As we do today. They're no different than us. They went to great lengths, to get their horses, dogs, cheetahs, their elephants... and that's always fun. I want to make history fun, inspiring, and alive. It doesn't have to just be wars and politics. These people had lives. They had their loves; and their children. So how can we make that, and their documents, interesting? We need history; as much as we want to be always grounded in the future, flying off into space; I think we need to understand the past, to look at the present. At least that's been my philosophy.'

–Annemarie Jordan Gschwend

For the fourteenth episode of 'Dutch Art & Design Today', I sat down with Annemarie Jordan Gschwend; a specialist in the Habsburg dynasty, the history of their art and art collections, and a pioneer in studying Habsburg women. Annemarie studied at George Washington University in D.C., where she completed her BA in art history and French, and her MA in art history, focusing on Portuguese royal history. She then wrote her dissertation at Brown University, on the collection of Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal. During the 1970s she studied in France, and in the 1980s while a student, received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Lisbon, where she undertook archival research and deepened her interest in the history of the Habsburgs. Annemarie completed her dissertation in Switzerland, where she has been based since rthe 1980s, and has since gone on to curate and contribute to numerous exhibits and their catalogues, and her vast depth of knowledge in hers fields, is truly astonishing.

In this detailed talk, Annemarie retraces her childhood and how her parents emigrated to the USA from Europe—and revisits her memories of being a child going up in San Francisco. Her parents spoke numerous languages at home, exposing her to the world beyond English, and her mom encouraged her interests in European history, languages, and the arts. Annemarie then explains why she chose to study art history, and then discusses some of her experiences living in Europe during the 1970s and 1980s; what conducting research was like during this time; and then reflects on the differences between conducting research then, compared to today. Annemarie introduces the Habsburgs in detail, and paints a picture of their history, from its thirteenth-century origin to its demise in the early-twentieth century. To conclude, she ponders why she so enjoys researching the Habsburg women, and then notes the importance of publishing engaging new research, to further inspire future historians.

Learn more about the exhibitions 'Women—The Art of Power' and 'Renaissance Lisbon', co-curated by Annemarie, and discussed in the episode.

Watch an hour-long film made for Portuguese television (with English subtitles) about the Lisbon exhibition featuring Annemarie.

You can learn more about Annemarie and her work on her website.

You can find John on X @johnbezold and at his website johnbezold.com.

'Dutch Art & Design Today' is published by Semicolon-Press.