The sky is gray en it drizzles; not the perfect circumstances to open the Wereld van de Witte de With festival. Despite the rain it is a crowded affair on the festival terrain at Museumplein and on the Witte de With street. Crew members, volunteers and artists pass you by surly: busybusybusybusy. While the men from Exyzt drive by with carts full of wooden furniture and houses, the communication team runs up and down the street to spread posters everywhere, to provide information stands with programme booklets and to fill the carrier cycles with the daily and bottom up produced festival newspaper De With. The online crew receives all sorts of Phone calls for last minute changes on the website and shows to miss some stitches as well when it still says online that the tickets for the Scapino ballet are on sale until 4.00 pm, while the festival opens at 5.00 pm. Our apologies!

Slowly the Witte de With street gets more crowded and a group gathers at the work by the German Höfner & Sachs, Real Restate. Just past 5 o’clock the festival is opened officially by the producers and curators Nienke van Wijk, Lukas Feireiss and Hidde van Schie, after which the Swedish artist Jonas Liveröd opens his bizarre banquet with a performance by Show group Liberté. Eatable flowers that numb your mouth, octopus arms, black bread, spicy tomato basil punch, jelly with grass hoppers and dear horns made of bread. The audience carefully but curiously starts to eat from the banquet.

At other spots around the art axis performances by Theatre Bonheur start in one of the huts made by Exyzt, Cesar Harada explains on his project Protei at V2 and bands start to play at Museumplein. Around 11 pm guests gather at the Ro Theatre for the official presentation of the Eksit Courant by Gyz La Rivire and a drink. The tickets for the opening party are sold out half way through the evening. In the Ro Theatre it is extremely hot, but that doesn’t spoil the fun.

Festival Wereld van de Witte de With 2011 has opened officially and it promises to be an arty spectacle!

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