Amsterdam celebrates Spinoza's plea for tolerance
An abundance of projects inspired by Spinoza is raining down on Amsterdam. The theme of 'tolerance' is a starting point for many art-related projects on display throughout the summer, from sound installations to a group marriage.
Don't be surprised if you find a note in your pocket that reads, "So what are the arguments against cannibalism?" when you pick up your jacket from a coat-check in Amsterdam. Or when you see a poster on the street that appears to be from Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) saying, "Where do I find the rules of the game for making new rules?" And it could be that you are asked to sign a petition to legalise communal marriage. Welcome to Amsterdam, the city of the philosopher Spinoza.
For a long time, Amsterdam seemed to have all but forgotten its most famous philosopher, Benedictus de Spinoza (1632-1677). But the popularity of the second-generation immigrant of Portuguese-Jewish origin has experienced a revival in recent years. In 2006, a Circle of Spinoza was created to revive the memory of his life and work in the Dutch capital. A statue was erected near his birthplace last year and now a Spinoza festival, 'My name is Spinoza,' aims to promote the legacy of his ideas about freedom of speech and tolerance through 14 art projects running from May to September.
Spinoza's main works, Tractatus theologico-politico - an early criticism of religious intolerance - and his magnus opus Ethics maybe more widely read abroad than in his native Netherlands, but if this summer's Spinoza festival is a success, his ideas will once again be the talk of Amsterdam.
High on the political agenda
In the Bijlmer, the immigrant neighborhood in the southeast of Amsterdam, Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn is now working on a temporary sculpture made from scrap material and hosts discussions about the legacy of Spinoza. The series of events will end with a Spinoza reading performance by Dutch artist Job Koelewijn. He is traveling around the world to have different people read fragments of Spinoza’s Ethics, the result of which will be presented in September.
The Circle of Spinoza has been trying to promote Spinoza as a symbol for the city, in the way the Renaissance humanist Desiderius Erasmus has become the face of Rotterdam, with the university and the main bridge in the port city named after him.
Spinoza was one of the main internationally renowned thinkers of his time and was said to be the father of the Enlightenment. He was ahead of his time with his daring comments on the being of God in monotheistic religion, which brought him into conflict with the religious authorities. He argued that God is the natural world and has no personality or plan. His ideas about freedom of religion, freedom of speech and tolerance are once again high on the political agenda in the Netherlands, which has renewed interest in his work and person.
'Freedom of unreasonable speech'
In his treatises, Spinoza is full of praise for the tolerance and religious freedom in Amsterdam. That did not, however, stop him from moving to The Hague to continue his work as a lens grinder and philospher there.
A lot of art concepts can apparently be heaped together on the pile of 'tolerance'. A sound monument for Amsterdam's squatter movement by Jeremiah Day and a petition for communal marriage - which should result in the actual celebration of such a marriage - are also part of the project. As are more common visual art projects such as a shocking but beautiful video by Sebastian Diaz Morales about group violence in political conflict.
The aim of the Circle of Spinoza is to set up a permanent Spinoza centre in Amsterdam. At the opening of the festival last Friday, the Circle's chairman Egbert Dommering said such a centre is more necessary than ever, at a time when Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom is attracting votes by advocating a ban on the Koran. "What we have right is not so much freedom of thought, as a freedom of unreasonable speech. That is the message coming across," Dommering said.