Tweespraak is an initiative of six cultural organisations in Leeuwarden, supporting artists in the creation of new interdisciplinary work, which is presented at the end of the trajectory at arts festival De Broeikas on 31 October. With a specific focus on development and professionalisation, makers are guided throughout the entire process based on their needs, drawing on the expertise of two organisations.
This year sees a new edition of Tweespraak, with three new makers: Maha Eljak, Sybren van der Velde and Caillyn Vos. From Explore the North, we are guiding Maha Eljak this year.
Stay up to date with the latest news and follow the makers’ projects via the platforms of all partners: Explore The North, Popfabryk, VHDG, New Noardic Wave, Tryater en Keunstwurk.
Maha Eljak (Sneek, 2001) is a multidisciplinary maker working with music, text and image, exploring themes such as identity, diaspora and resistance. With her zine Mahazine, she creates space for missing perspectives and challenges dominant narratives, while currently developing her own sound. In her latest project, an EP combined with a new edition of Mahazine, she explores ‘joy’ as something that can exist alongside pain and conflict, and in doing so becomes a form of strength.
Sybren van der Velde (The Hague, 2001) is a British-Dutch artist who graduated from the Theatre Academy Maastricht in 2024 as a performer. His practice moves between the visible and the audible, connected by the concept of hypernostalgia, an investigation into the elasticity of nostalgia. Within the context of Tweespraak, he is working on the short film POP LUVS TUT (TEARS DON’T EXIST IN A COUNCIL HOUSE): a series of vignettes about Poppy and Tutty, two lovers who wait, smoke and talk about God, being young, and the silence that seems to swallow everything.
Caillyn Vos (Leeuwarden, 1999) is a visual artist from Friesland who works with woollen sculptures and installations, connecting people, nature and the stories that hold us together. For Tweespraak, she delves into the craft of sailmaking as a starting point for an exploration of ‘making in community’, because without a large collaborative community there is no sail, and without a sail no seafaring. The sounds of rolling wool, melting tar and creaking masts form the basis of the immersive installation she is creating, together with friends and strangers.
