Join us to celebrate 5 decades of de Appel! The afternoon will begin with a screening of Final Cut by filmmaker Joeri Pruys, which addresses questions of censorship, artistic freedom, and institutional politics through different moments in de Appel’s history, alongside those of other artists and institutions. The screening will be followed by a short Q&A with filmmaker Joeri Pruys and artist Basma Alsharif (who features in the film), and a discussion between Marco Baravalle, Jack Segbars, and Falke Pisano.

Taking the film as a point of departure, the discussion will bring together Marco Baravalle's recent book The Battleground of Art, and Jack Segbars and Falke Pisano’s ongoing research into the dialectical relationship between art funding and institutional forms and practices. Rather than looking back only at de Appel's history, the anniversary offers an occasion to consider broader questions about the role and political possibilities of contemporary art institutions today. Among other questions: What kinds of art institutions do we need, and under what conditions can they contribute to social and political transformation? Can institutions be reformed from within, or do their structures of governance, funding, and dependence on political and economic power place fundamental limits on their capacity for change?

Drawing on Baravalle's proposition of instituent abolition, which opens a way beyond the opposition between reforming and abolishing art institutions, the conversation will explore the possibilities of reclaiming and reorganising institutional resources towards alternative forms of cultural and political organisation. In relation to the film Final Cut, the discussion will also consider how recent instances of censorship, particularly in relation to Palestine, have exposed contradictions between institutions' professed commitments to artistic freedom and their structural dependencies.

The afternoon will conclude with drinks at de Appel to celebrate its five decades of de Appel and mark the closing of the exhibition Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie 2026: Class Hegemony in Contemporary Art.

Programme at CC Amstel (Cullinanplein 1, close to de Appel)

14:45: Doors open
15:00–15:15 Word of welcome
15:15–16:45 Screening Final Cut
16:45–17:00 Break
17:00–17:30 Q&A with Joeri Pruys and Basma Al-Sharif, moderated by Ilga Minjon
17:30–18:30 Panel discussion with Jack Segbars, Falke Pisano and Marco Baravalle

Programme at de Appel
18:30–20:00 Drinks and closing of the exhibition Lapdogs of the Bourgeoisie 2026: Class Hegemony in Contemporary Art

Final Cut uncovers the truth behind Body Art, a controversial Dutch TV programme shot in 1975, and the brainchild of cultural critic Simon Mari Pruys (1927-1980). The programme featured Thomas Lips, an intense performance by artist Marina Abramović. The performance was filmed at de Appel in Amsterdam in 1975. The TV programme never aired. It was censored and banned from broadcast forever. Filmmaker Joeri Pruys, son of Simon Mari Pruys, gives us a personal look into this divisive part of art history, and goes on a search for the lost footage. Along the way he speaks with newer generations of outspoken artists and curators. Because fifty years later, they still face the same difficulties in dealing with big cultural institutions, from wilful misunderstanding to outright censorship.