Schaduwbal in The Unsafe House: a missed chance

ENGLISH BELOW

Vrijdag 13 maart, 2026, vond het Schaduwbal plaats, een avond over boeken als alternatief voor het officiële boekenbal zoals dat al jaren door de literaire cultuurindustrie georganiseerd wordt. 

Dit Schaduwbal wilde meer zijn dan louter een verkooppraatje voor de laatste literaire hype, zo is mij verzekerd door de organisatoren van The Unsafe House. Het is overigens een van de laatste events in hun onderkomen aan de Wenckebachweg in Amsterdam.

Het schaduwbal toonde op het eerste gezicht een keur aan gasten die aan de rand van het officiële literaire circuit rondhobbelen, een Arthur van Amerongen, illustrator en performer Gabriel Kousbroek, Rob Muntz, Adriaan Kuyper, Tunc Topcuoglu, Tijs van Bragt, Sina Khani zélf, natuurlijk, en anderen, omlijst door een muzikaal programma met dit keer o.a. Motortoaster, DJ Vic van de Reijt en een performance van de nu al beruchte Kittens.

Verwacht hoogtepunt was de presentatie van het eerste nummer van The Unsafe Journal, een dik, Engelstalig, magazine, met veel bijdragen van schrijvers, dichters en essayisten, waaronder een open brief van Radio Neverno´s Hans Kuiper aan Ronaldo....Alleen lag dit dikke, nieuwe blad ergens in een hoek van de ruimte, terwijl een belangrijk deel van de literaire avond uit handen was gegeven aan de uitgeverij Ezo Wolf die vervolgens een onverstaanbaar aantal interviews met hún schrijvers ten beste gaven.

Ons inziens een gemiste kans voor Sina Khani en The Unsafe House om daadwerkelijk een inhoudelijk alternatief te geven, terwijl in het eigen netwerk zeer veel literair en anderszins getalenteerde mensen rondlopen. Er was zelfs geen officieel presentatiemoment voor het eigen Unsafe Journal weggelegd!

De hele avond was bij voorbaat al uitverkocht, begreep ik, maar als je lid wordt van de club dan kon je alsnog naar binnen, als je maar betaalde. Overal moest voor betaald worden, naast de obligate biertjes ook een bezoek aan de Kittens, die voor 10 euro een bizar tafereel opvoerden van een dame met een kunstmatige zeer grote vulva voorgebonden, waarschijnlijk van papier maché en beschilderd. Je kon vervolgens een gedicht kiezen dat de dame uit haar nieuwe edele deel trok. Ze had er drie gedichten in tamponvorm in gepropt en koos vervolgens er één, in dit geval bleek het een "racistische mop":

De tekst luidde als volgt:

"Racistische mop

What does a pig sound like?

Oink Oink

What does a French pig sound like? 

Oinque, Oinque

What does a Japanese pig sound like?

Oink-huh! Oink-huh!

What does an American American (twee keer, ja) pig sound like?

Stop resisting!"

Een verwijzing naar de handelswijze vermoedelijk van de politie in menig VS-staat, voordat ze hun wapenmagazijn op je leegschieten. Een kritiek op de VS zowaar terwijl even later een, wederom, onverstaanbaar LIVE STREAM interview met de nu al onvermijdbare Curtis Yarvin viel waar te nemen.

Waar de goede man het over had was werkelijk niet te volgen, mede door te veel keuvelend volk in de garage, die regelmatig tot de orde geroepen moesten worden door de ceremoniemeester Tarik Sadouma: "Quiet!"

De focus lag o.i. iets te veel op partying waardoor de inhoudelijke kant ondergesneeuwd raakte. Alleen Sina Khani, die een enorme prestatie leverde door samen met Hichem Touati zijn Unsafe Journal in korte tijd samen te stellen, vorm te geven en te laten drukken op een appetijtelijke wijze, wél even de aandacht wist te vangen van de drankzuchtige- en socialising menigte, door met snerpende stem een statement voor te dragen over zijn ándere publicatie Fart School dat hij jaren geleden al schreef met Tunc Topcuoglu. Hij claimt ál gecancelled te zijn in 2007 met dit magazine door docenten en anderen van de Gerrit Rietveld Academie waar hij en Topcuoglu studeerden: "Cancellation is of all times!!"

Uit alle hoeken en gaten van Amsterdam wisten allerlei types deze event te vinden, mogelijk door de samenwerking met de uitgeverij Ezo Wolf die een aantal bekende Nederlanders uit de hoed toverde, naast Arthur van Amerongen, die keihard blijft publiceren, ondanks dat de zelfbenoemde culturele wannabe elite hem blijkbaar niet lust. Hij is nu columnist bij Geen Stijl en schrijft o.a. vaak een provocerend stuk voor HP De Tijd, als ik mij niet vergis en dat alles vanuit Olhao, een rustig dorp in de Algarve in Portugal. Hij kan blijkbaar het Nederlandse culturele klimaat niet al te lang meer verdragen, wat ik kan begrijpen overigens.

Naast van Amerongen liepen er nog wat andere originals rond en mogelijk zelfs goede schrijvers, maar zoals hierboven geschreven waren hun interviews moeilijk te volgen. Wie niet moeilijk te volgen was, was een Amsterdamse volkszanger die professioneel het toegesnelde publiek op haar wenken wist te bedienen. 

Sina Khani had echter méér aandacht voor zijn eigen Mag mogen opeisen, een tijdschrift dat naast door relatief onbekende schrijvers ook bevolkt wordt door opvallend bekende namen uit allerlei hoeken van de cultuur, ook al komen ze niet allemaal rechtstreeks uit de literatuur of uit het Nederlandstalige cultuurgebied. 

Zo levert Diana Burkot van Pussy Riot een bijdrage, net als Mohsen Namjoo, door velen beschouwd als de grootste muzikant van Iran, en de Europese dj sensatie Droeloe. Ook cultlegende Harry Merry duikt op met een voorproefje van zijn nieuwe lyrische anthem, naast Eduard Padberg, NRC Handelsblad correspondent in het Midden Oosten, kunstenaar Wayne Horse, die onlangs nog een schilderij voor tachtigduizend verkocht, en Tarik Sadouma en Ruth Spetter, de oprichters van The Unsafe House. Verder bevat het boek bijdragen van Gabriël Kousbroek, zoon van voormalig bekend essayist Rudy Kousbroek en schrijfster Ethel Portnoy, van Oliver Uschmann, een van de bekendste Duitse schrijvers van de afgelopen twee decennia, en van Sofie Kramer, een rijzende ster in de theaterwereld, en zo ontstaat een bont cultureel gezelschap dat reikt van muziek en beeldende kunst tot journalistiek en literatuur.

Ondertussen is The Unsafe House druk bezig te verhuizen naar Amsterdam-Noord, waar een nieuw pand is aangekocht door financier en initiator Tarik Sadouma. Ook hij kan wat meer zijn eigen werk promoten, daar liggen in het, naar verluidt, 400m2 nieuwe gebouw toch genoeg mogelijkheden. We gaan het zien.

Hans Kuiper voor Radio Neverno.

ENGLISH

On Friday, March 13, 2026, the Schaduwbal or the Literary Shadow Ball took place in Amsterdam, an evening about books as an alternative to the official book ball as it has been organized by the literary culture industry for years. 

This Shadow Ball wanted to be more than just a sales pitch for the latest literary hype, as I have been assured by the organizers of The Unsafe House. It is also one of the last events in their accommodation at Wenckebachweg in Amsterdam. 

The shadow ball showed a selection of guests hobbling around on the edge of the official literary circuit, an Arthur van Amerongen, illustrator and performer Gabriel Kousbroek, Rob Muntz, Adriaan Kuiper, Tunc Topcuoglu, Tijs van Bragt, Sina Khani, of course and others, framed by a musical program this time including Motortoaster, DJ Vic van de Reijt and a performance by the already infamous Kittens.

The expected highlight was the presentation of the first issue of The Unsafe Journal, a thick, English-language magazine, with many contributions from writers, poets and essayists, including an open letter from Radio Neverno's Hans Kuiper to Ronaldo.... Only this thick, new magazine was lying somewhere in a corner of the room, while an important part of the literary evening had been handed over to the publishing house Ezo Wolf, who then gave an unintelligible number of interviews with their writers. 

In our opinion, this is a missed opportunity for The Unsafe House to actually provide a substantive alternative, while there are many literary and otherwise talented people in its own network. There was not even an official presentation moment for their own Unsafe Journal!

The whole evening was sold out in advance, I understood, but if you become a member of the club you could still get in, as long as you paid. Everything had to be paid for, in addition to the obligatory beers also a visit to the Kittens, who for 10 euros performed a bizarre scene of a lady with an artificial very large vulva tied up, probably made of paper mache and stenciled. 

You could then choose a poem that pulled the lady out of her new private part. She had crammed in three poems in tampon form and chose one of them, in this case it turned out to be a self proclaimed racist poem: The text read as follows: 

"Racist joke.

What does a pig sound like? Oink Oink 

What does a French pig sound like? Oinque, Oinque 

What does a Japanese pig sound like? Oinh-huh! Oink-huh! 

What does an American American (twice, yes) pig sound like? Stop resisting!"

A reference to the actions presumably of the police in many US states, before they empty their gun magazine on you. A criticism of the US even while a little later a, again, unintelligible LIVE STREAM interview with the already inevitable Curtis Yarvin could be observed. <

What the good man was talking about was really impossible to follow, partly due to too many chatting people in the garage, who regularly had to be called to order by the master of ceremonies, Tarik Sadouma himself :"Quiet!"

In our opinion, the focus was a bit too much on partying, which meant that the substantive side was undercut. Only Sina Khani, who made an enormous achievement by compiling, shaping and printing his Unsafe Journal with Hichem Touati in such a short time, managed to catch the attention of the alcoholic and socialising crowd, by reciting a statement in a shrill voice about his other publication Fart School that he wrote years ago with Tunc Topcuoglu. He claims to have been cancelled in 2007 with this magazine by teachers and others from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy of Art in Amsterdam, where he and Topcuoglu studied. "Cancellation is of all times!!"

All kinds of people from all corners of Amsterdam found their way to this event, possibly due to the collaboration with the publishing house Ezo Wolf who conjured up a number of "famous Dutch people", in addition to Arthur van Amerongen, who continues to publish with great vigour, despite the fact that the self-proclaimed cultural wannabe elite apparently does not like him. He is now a columnist for Geen Stijl and writes, among other things, provocative pieces for the opinion weekly HP De Tijd, if I'm not mistaken, and all from Olhão, a quiet village in the Algarve in Portugal. Apparently he can't tolerate the Dutch cultural climate for too long, which I can understand, by the way.

In addition to van Amerongen, there were some other originals walking around and possibly even good writers, but as written above, their interviews were difficult to follow. Who was not difficult to follow was an Amsterdam folk singer who professionally knew how to serve the crowd at her beck and call.

Sina Khani's The Unsafe Journal is populated not only by obscure literary hopefuls but also by strikingly well known figures from across the international cultural world, many of whom come from outside literature, although not always known to a Dutch public. 

Among the contributors are Diana Burkot of Pussy Riot, Mohsen Namjoo, widely considered Iran’s greatest musician, and the European DJ sensation Droeloe. Cult legend Harry Merry also appears with a preview of his upcoming lyrical anthem, alongside Eduard Padberg, NRC Handelsblad’s correspondent in the Middle East, the artist Wayne Horse, who recently sold a painting for eighty thousand, and Tarik Sadouma and Ruth Spetter, the founders of The Unsafe House. The book also features Gabriel Kousbroek, son of the essayist Rudy Kousbroek, Oliver Uschmann, one of Germany’s most prominent writers of the past two decades, and Sofie Kramer, a rising star in the theater world, creating a colorful assembly that stretches from music and visual art to journalism and literature.

In the meantime, The Unsafe House is moving to Amsterdam-Noord, where a new building has been purchased by financier and initiator Tarik Sadouma. He can also promote his own work a bit more, there are plenty of opportunities in the, allegedly, 400m2 new building. We'll see.

Hans Kuiper for Radio Neverno

Will The Unsafe House take over the Venice Biennial 2026?

It is always difficult to assess a chance of something happening if you have only access to limited direct information or people stay quiet on the real issues involved.

In a former post we talked about the apparent demise of The Creeps from the Middle East in which we shortly mentioned the new biotope of Sina Khani, the main character of The Creeps:

"The last year Khani seems to be submerged in The Unsafe House project, initiated by Tarik Sadouma, he even lives in their dwellings and seems to have left Berlin. Did he leave The Creeps behind?"

Sadouma, also a character in episode 5, is boosting his art career in several ways. This seems necessary, as he claims to  have been cancelled, recently  by cultural institutions such as De Balie in Amsterdam and the Art Academy of Leipzig (HGB). To achieve this aim Sadouma is running for the USA Venice Biennial pavilion, in collaboration with his friend philosopher, monarchist and "lord of darkness" Curtis Yarvin, who is convinced that Sadouma makes a serious chance to be the USA candidate for the Biennale di Venezia. This topic has also been discussed in The Unsafe House podcast, hosted by Sadouma’s partners in crime, Ruth Spetter and Sina Khani. People interested should watch the podcast.

Sadouma has emerged as a brilliant A.I.-powered trailer producer. ”I like his satirical way of using it," a friend of mine remarked recently. His creative flair even extends to painting, where, according to some,  his unique visual language and bold ideas stand out. Judge for yourself: Tarik Sadouma Paintings

Of course, the Venice Biennale demands something on a larger scale, and while trailers alone might not suffice, his concept The Unsafe House, a kind of relational artwork, could be just the thing. Why not build it in the pavilion in Venice in 2026? That would be my suggestion.

The Unsafe House is currently pouring energy into a bold proposal, set to be delivered by Curtis Yarvin to a cultural envoy in the Trump administration.  A strategic move to bypass the usual tastemakers of the art world in the USA. It’s an audacious approach, but then again, that’s very much Sadouma’s style. To quote the Vanity Fair about their shenanigans: The Barbarians Are at the Gates. 

In the meantime Sadouma, the initiator of The Unsafe House, went on with his project to really achieve a participation in the Venice Biennial. He and some of his partners visited the USA a couple of times, had a meeting with Curtis Yarvin, the big ‘project accelerator’, in Paris, and assured me in personal talks the chance of really getting the USA Pavilion commission was 70%!

As a former professional researcher of opinions, consumers and markets,  you have several options to estimate certain developments by, for example, desk research, combined with qualitative interview techniques, using projective techniques, and  others and you can make people talk on subjects they prefer to stay silent on. This  might deliver relevant data, like a recent publication in The Washington Post and others on latest developments and  relevant candidates for the Venice Biennial 2026.

After visiting The Unsafe House a few times, inviting them to exhibitions with Art Space 411, contributing performances and jingles, and being the main musician on Sina Khani’s No Gaza No Cry, recorded in the Unsafe studios, I found myself caught in a strange dual role. On one hand, I try to stay objective and reliable, maintain a professional face, maybe even live a normal life. On the other hand, there’s the pull of my own projects, artistic and journalistic, increasingly entangled with radical gestures and controversial figures. Collaborating with someone like Sina Khani feels urgent and necessary, but how far can you go before the risk outweighs the impact? And how do you navigate all this without losing your footing or getting cancelled?

Let’s go back to the main topic: will The Unsafe House actually be selected to represent the USA at the Venice Biennial of 2026?

Sadouma and his partners have been quite secretive to me about their proposal, but in The Washington Post though, much is revealed: The proposal would present artists who "have been previously excluded or underrepresented by the hegemonic and ideological art world," artists "who challenge progressive orthodoxies" with a vision of patriotism and traditional values according to their application. Their proposal also includes a workshop for "public figures aligned with conservative or MAGA-related values," like movie stars, to co-create artworks in collaboration with traditional American craftspeople."

The Washington Post reports: “Their vision calls for the U.S. pavilion to be rebaptized as the Salon des Déplorables, a reference to the Salon des Refusés, the 19th-century Parisian exhibition of rejected avant-garde works. A Museum of Dark Enlightenment will showcase artwork of creation and destruction that will declare the 'old' art world to be dead. A series of Hollywood-style sets will offer a provocative mimicry of pop art, without its often disdainful view of American identity.”

It is a clever strategy. By positioning themselves as the alternative, once excluded art community, they directly challenge the art establishment that has long controlled the selection of U.S. representatives at the Biennale. In this shifting cultural landscape, marked by a reorientation of leadership within American institutions, there is a real opportunity. As the Trump administration reshapes the ideological direction of cultural policy, figures like Curtis Yarvin and Tarik Sadouma are not just provocateurs. They are emerging as serious contenders with a cohesive and radical vision. If this momentum continues, it is entirely possible that Sadouma and his collaborators could represent the United States in Venice in 2026.

One very important note on the main competing artist with an "overtly Trumpian, Maga" proposal: Andres Serrano. Notoriously bombarded to fame in the late 80’s with his Piss Christ work (officially called 'Immersion (Piss Christ)),' which also could be the hindrance to his selection by the way, considering the very conservative and explicitly pro-Christian roots of the Maga movement now trying to control and redesign the USA.

Again The Washington Post: Serrano "now thinks he has a perfect fit for a MAGA-ified Biennale. ‘The Game: All Things Trump’ is Serrano’s exhibition of Trump ephemera from his casinos, product lines and television work over the years."

Considering the narcissistic personality of the current president this proposal might even have a bigger chance of being selected, presupposing that the Piss Christ is successfully concealed by the Serrano team.

Things are shifting. The old cultural hierarchies are cracking, and in that space, people like Curtis Yarvin and especially Tarik Sadouma are starting to move in ways that seemed unthinkable a few years ago. In my opinion, Sadouma isn’t just reacting to the moment. He is actually shaping it, with a mix of strategical thinking and sharp media instincts, dark humor, and a kind of unapologetic aesthetic strategy. If the current momentum holds, I genuinely think it is not far fetched to imagine him taking over the U.S. pavilion in Venice in 2026. And honestly, it would make sense in the current cultural and political climate in the USA. His work speaks directly to this weird and unstable time, not just in opposition to the established art world but as something that could replace it.

The decision on who will be the selected artist will fall this month, September-October  2025.

Hans Kuiper

Unsafe interview with musical genius Mohsen Namjoo

Photo: Sina Khani & Mohsen Namjoo (Photo: Steven Bos)

We are very happy to be able to present the recording of the interview of Sina Khani (Creeps from the Middle East), Tarik Sadouma (The Rise of the Unsafe House), and Ruth Spetter (idem) conducted with Mohsen Namjoo after his concert in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Mohsen Namjoo is an Iranian musician and poet currently living in New York. In 2025 he is touring the world with his Minooor Show, a multimedia solo show, singing, reciting, playing the setar, and showing images. Minooor refers to the minor scale, according to some the only allowed musical scale in current Iran.

Mohsen Namjoo talks about his show, the use of sound and music, while in the background a selection of images are shown of the Green Movement, an oppositional political movement in Iran emerging in 2009.

This movement came to be after an apparently fraudulent presidential election in which the regime’s candidate, Ahmadinejad, became the winner, which was disputed by the opposition movement. The government arrested around 4,000 people and 72 people were killed during the protests.

Namjoo had already had a turbulent life and career, so it seems. After visiting the Tehran University of Art, he published his Toranj Album, which became a great success among the Iranian people but angered the government. In court he was sentenced to 5 years, in absentia, as he lived in Vienna at the time, for recording music that “dishonours passages from the Quran.”

The album featured nine traditional folk songs including poems of Rumi, Hafez, Baba Taher, and Attar, famous Persian poets of the past. It was mostly produced as underground music.

The story is, Namjoo was sentenced because of making animal sounds while singing the 91st Sura of the Quran. Because of this sentence, Namjoo will not return to his native country until the Islamist regime is sacked.