Archimboldo 2000

Whenever we decide to celebrate a jubilee, we inevitably turn 
our eyes to the past. We look back in order to critically evaluate 
our legacy, contemplating about what was, what was not, what 
could have been or what should have never happened. This could 
be a sentimental journey – and often it is – but not in our case, 
because we were blessed with a very diverse, sometimes very 
turbulent and dramatic past. We look back at a colorful spectrum, 
a rainbow consisting of sun and rain. Today, there is no time for 
evaluation of what we have achieved. Today we want to celebrate 
and leave the evaluation to the future.But I inevitably ask myself 
one single question: “If you have to give a concise account of 
what you were trying to do in the last 25 years, what would you  
say?” My answer is: “We have tried to build bridges”. Bridges 
over “troubled waters”, bridges inside ourselves, bridges trying 
to connect people of the most diverse origins...

Bridges are such a wonderful symbol of crossing to a new territory, 
symbol of meeting people from the “other side”. Constructing a 
bridge is traditionally always a cause for celebration. I cannot 
omit to mention my feeling of deep sadness when I heard of the 
catastrophic and deliberate destruction of the famous bridge of 
Mostar during the Bosnian war in former Yugoslavia. Finally, but 
probably essentially – we have tried to build bridges between 
ourselves and our audiences. 

This production - “Arcimboldo 2000” represents such a crossing. 
It is a work in which many creative people of all 3 companies of 
Netherlands Dans Theater took part. In this production, I wished 
to make clear that the “entertainers” and the “viewers” are covered 
by one roof and that they share the same space for a while. 
This was the message I wanted to convey to our audience: this 
performance was created for you. It was our “present”, not only 
to the thousands of people who have shown an unbroken support 
for our art, but also for newcomers. We want to take them on a trip 
of “initiation”. But, please note – bridges are built for someone, 
who must make the crossing by himself and of his free will...

This project bears the name of a charismatic artist, wizard, 
alchemist, and an entertainer of the royal courts of Vienna 
and Prague. He was originally engaged as portraitist, but soon 
his diverse talents and interests were discovered, and his tasks 
and activities have changed accordingly. He became a “royal 
entertainer” on a grand scale.Being engaged at the royal court of 
Prague by Rudolf II, the Czech King and Roman Emperor – was 
certainly the right place for Archimboldo. The surreal atmosphere 
of Prague under the rule of Rudolf II was legendary. The King’s 
love for art, alchemy, astronomy, astrology and science was well 
known (and is very well documented). Accordingly, Prague has 
become a very important cultural center of Europe. It became a 
“greenhouse”, not only for art and science, but also for fraud, 
intrigue and decadence.Arcimboldo must have felt very much at 
home in this atmosphere. He became the master of ceremony. 

He was in charge of all royal festivities ordered by the emperor: 
banquets, tournaments, competitions, fireworks or water games – 
all devised for pure entertainment.As I mentioned before, our 
production is designed and should be understood as a present 
to our public – it should be, and I hope it will be - “Entertainment”. 
Celebrating this jubilee: 40 years of existence of NDT and my own 
commitment to this company for 24 years as its artistic director, 
doesn’t mean only looking back but much more importantly looking 
into the future.In my eyes, this unique institution should not expand 
any further, but should always be a sensitive instrument registering 
even the smallest changes of people’s behavior, social sensitivities 
and the inexplicable wanderings of human souls. These themes and 
many others should be carefully examined and portrayed through 
our art as a mirror of the passing time under the motto:    

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery – but today is a gift, 
that is why we call it “the present”.
	
                    Jiří Kylián