Bada Bing Baby!
BADA BING began as a question: how to present a poetry book in a way that felt alive.
What started as a reading for Verboden Rijst quickly expanded into an evening where different forms could meet.
Together with my brother, we imagined a night that unfolded in phases. You arrive after work, step into an exhibition, have a drink, eat, talk. Then something shifts. And shifts again.
We found the right place at Bar Krap in Park Amsterdam — an indoor skate hall bar run by my friend Jasper van den Berg. An artist himself, and someone who once inspired me, back in 2023, to travel through Japan without a suitcase. It felt fitting to return there with this work.
From early evening, the space functioned as an exhibition: photographs alongside video installations. Beaujolais, pizza from Matto’s wood-fired oven, people slowly filling the room.
At 20:00, the skate hall transformed into a poetry café. I read from Verboden Rijst to a full room, skaters moving in the background. Music accompanied the reading by my friend Mellow Menno and his Belgian roommate. After the reading, Menno performed Havenmeester, a song he composed on one of my poems. A special moment for us both.
At 22:00, the skate hall closed — and reopened in red neon light. Sound emerged from the darkness. In the middle of the hall, standing in the fountain, a bagpiper began to play. After his performance, the video Tell Me All About It premiered. The night ended with an unreleased video for Berry Juice (My Fly, out this winter), and Berry Juice & Friends behind the decks until deep into the night. Thanks to KAYSAKE for generously sponsoring the sake.
BADA BING is not a one-off, but a platform in motion: a place where different practices meet, overlap, and occasionally collide.
First edition: done.
Next one: summer 2026.
