On November 22, 2025, the intergenerational art exhibition <\/strong>Wij Zijn De Tijden<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (We Are The Times) opened at NDSM-fuse in Amsterdam. The exhibition brings together four artists from the same family in a creative conversation about the world we live in today. It\u2019s a collaboration built around one big question: Where do we find hope in a fractured world?<\/strong><\/p>\n The artists, Alida Verheij, Winfried Scholz, Anne Verheij, and Jeffrey Choy, represent two generations exploring the tension between external power structures and inner strength, between empty words and genuine connection, and between the span of a human life and the timelessness of nature.<\/p>\n Because one of the aims is to connect different generations, the project also includes an open invitation for secondary schools to visit the exhibition for conversations with the artists and the organisation Grootouders voor het Klimaat<\/em> (Grandparents for the Climate), encouraging meaningful dialogue about our shared future.<\/p>\n Who are the artists?<\/strong><\/p>\n Alida Verheij<\/strong><\/a> is a visual artist who transforms her multidisciplinary background in dance, theatre lighting, and cultural production into powerful, immersive paintings and spatial installations.<\/p>\n Winfried Scholz<\/strong><\/a> is an Amsterdam-based sculptor who transforms his architectural background and decades of material expertise into kinetic and static works that explore movement as a conduit for human emotion.<\/p>\n Anne Verheij<\/a><\/strong> is a London-based Dutch visual artist, scenographer, and filmmaker who creates trauma-informed, multidisciplinary works that reconnect audiences with somatic and collective experience through film, movement, and spatial installations.<\/p>\n Jeffrey Choy<\/strong><\/a> is a writer and artist whose multidisciplinary practice uses print, video, installation, and interactive media to critically explore how knowledge, power, and ideology are produced, censored, and reclaimed.<\/p>\n Wij Zijn De Tijden is funded by over 70 individual donors via crowdfunding platform voordekunst and supported by organisations including Het Cultuurfonds, het Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst (AFK), Leve het Geven and NVVE Fonds.<\/p>\n I found out about this exhibition through the fundraising campaign and found it interesting: a big, ambitious project realised by people who are family, trying to find answers through art and through sparking conversations among the visitors. I invited them to answer a few questions and I\u2019ve got to talk with the younger generation, Anne and Jeffrey. Actually, they talked among themselves and allowed me to share parts of their discussion. I hope you find it as thought-provoking and inspiring as I did.<\/p>\n Q1: This exhibition brings together not only two generations but also two different worlds of experience. How do you each see your work responding to, or diverging from, the legacy of the older generation?<\/strong><\/p>\n Anne:<\/strong> Oh wow. Can you say that one more time? I just need to let that sink in for a moment because it\u2019s a ginormous question. There is an intuition where you just have conversations together, trains of thoughts keep going. Sometimes, especially of late, in things like dreams, or when I\u2019m hiking, or having a conversation with someone completely different on a different topic\u2014that is where shapes start forming without having a canvas or a springboard. It\u2019s just kind of there. I think with my parents, it\u2019s the same. There\u2019s an intuition, something on your mind, and you don\u2019t go in per se with a plan, especially in the beginning of a process. You look at your paints or materials and you\u2019re like, \u201cOh, wait a minute, I want to put this and this together.\u201d It\u2019s not about something super specific yet, but you have an urge.<\/p>\n Where it can diverge<\/strong> is actually that my parents have more time<\/strong>, especially at the moment, to sink into it because they have a studio. They have space to just sit with different materials and try things out. They form a plan, and once they have an idea in their head of what it would look like, then they go on to \u201cHow can I execute it?\u201d They look around their studio at what materials they have, and they set to work with a plan. They have a lot of technical conversations back and forth about it\u2014how to make something. So for me, it\u2019s more about finding something interesting regardless. I make things always site-specific, seeing what is there once I get there. It\u2019s more impromptu<\/strong>; therefore, it lives for a much longer time in my head. Sometimes I can\u2019t quite voice it or put it onto paper other than a shape because the material isn\u2019t there. But interestingly, once I know things like the budget or the space available, it comes together really fast. My work tends to be much more abstract than my parents\u2019<\/strong>, but because I thought about it for so long in my mind, once I have the space to make it, it goes really quick. It\u2019s a lot of detail on \u201chow do I fix it,\u201d and then it\u2019s fixated. It\u2019s a thought, and then within a day, it\u2019s there. The execution of a big work like this took obviously longer, but the execution of the idea was there in a day. So that\u2019s a quite different approach.<\/p>\n Jeffrey<\/strong>: I think, for me, one thing I connect with the older generation is how we see things<\/strong>. The issues of our time, and a fundamentally fairly simple mindset in wanting to do good or do right by the people around us. What you said earlier basically covered a lot of the elements\u2014something about intuition and planning. I think that\u2019s one of the biggest things I\u2019ve realised with the four of our works. Between you and me, we tend to work on the thing until we find out what it is first. Whereas your parents often have a grand vision first.<\/p>\n I think this became most apparent when I was trying to write the artwork descriptions for the four of us. Because for us two, the concepts evolved over time as we were developing and making the artwork. But for your parents, the works\u2019 concepts were basically set before it existed. So I think that\u2019s one of the biggest things that I notice.<\/p>\n Q2: Both Vrije Val<\/em> and De tuin der vergankelijkheid<\/em> (works from the exhibition) reflect a deep unease with current systems of power and media. Where do you find hope or renewal within that awareness?<\/strong><\/p>\n Anne: <\/strong>I think for me, especially over the last year, it is about much more conscious conversation<\/strong>s. I first started having conversations only with people that I trusted or that were close to me, even though some of the people that were really close to me I was actually most scared to talk to because it feels like there\u2019s a lot on the line. But the thing is that my friends have really given me space and trust to talk about things that are really hard.<\/p>\n And then I started extending it to even people that I don\u2019t know, at work, customers or colleagues that I will have a chat with. And people actually respond, and mostly not negative, but also in a very much wanting to talk about it because everybody\u2019s like, \u201cWhat do we do?\u201d Instead of being in the \u201cwallowing and swallowing\u201d\u2014which I really have felt a lot in the Netherlands and have started to come out of since I moved to the UK\u2014it is to not just repeat saying like \u201cOh boy it\u2019s so hard,\u201d or \u201cOh this is so fucked up,\u201d and actually be like, \u201cOh and this is also going on. And then there\u2019s also this possibility within a really hard situation.\u201d Seeing more and more around me that people don\u2019t just have the need for that, but are actually quite willing to talk about that and put an effort towards it.<\/p>\n So that\u2019s something that gives me hope<\/strong>. But I think especially again in the last year or year and a half, I\u2019ve been really having honest conversations with myself. But I started having those honest conversations with myself because the people surrounding me are super brave, doing the same and giving me space to do so. Kind of teaching myself to have uncomfortable conversations with myself and not having to go somewhere with it. But just sit with different kinds of situations, different kinds of feelings and acknowledging all of them. That I was able to find space within that started to give me hope. Jeffrey<\/strong>: Yeah, like you said, having a good support system<\/strong> is such a crucial part of the licence to be able to talk about these things. If you have people around you that notice these things but are unwilling to talk, then automatically obviously you don\u2019t also want to talk about these things.<\/p>\n We are lucky enough that we work with a community of people that are very generous, very giving<\/strong>. And I think it\u2019s also the nature of being artists and writers and creators; we have this curiosity about subject matters that maybe are a little bit uncomfortable to deal with, a bit touchy, a bit controversial. But I think that\u2019s where good art lives, or good creation begins, because this is where we kind of push the boundary a little bit. And I think that\u2019s how it manifests in our work as well.<\/p>\n Anne<\/strong>: Yeah, and I will say, especially with the project more on the forefront\u2026 but also this started a while ago, not everything started with the project very clearly because the project comes from continuous conversations and lived experience. And it\u2019s the fact that my parents in their late 70s are still wanting to learn, are still open to learn, are literally learning new things. Q3: The show\u2019s title, \u201cWij Zijn De Tijden,\u201d <\/em>implies that we are responsible for the times we live in. How does that resonate with you personally as younger artists navigating a fractured world?<\/strong><\/p>\n Anne<\/strong>: I think that\u2019s the one unescapable thing we\u2019re living in right now. It\u2019s almost like\u2026 how can you not think about this? Because obviously for people that might be like \u201cwell you know you can\u201d\u2014well here we come to the Eurocentric Colonial mindset.<\/p>\n Jeffrey<\/strong>: Yeah, like how much can you bury your head in the sand to say, \u201cOh the world is actually okay, it\u2019s fine. Things will pass\u201d? Do you really think so? Do you think the rise of fascism is just going to disappear when these boys grow up? Or would that\u2026 what\u2019s the word? Extrapolate? Or intensify? Which one do you think is more likely?<\/p>\n How much of the world are you going to look at and not be like: \u201cWe are being polarised, we\u2019re being fractured\u201d? I think it\u2019s the willingness of looking at things or not. There is only so much that you can avoid looking at before you have to say, \u201cOh, I think we need to talk about this.\u201d<\/p>\n I think initially even the title itself is coming from this quote (\u201cDo not complain about the emperor or about the times, for both are fleeting. Instead, say: we are the times. Be a beacon of courage and hope yourself.\u201d \u2013 Augustine, 3rd-4th century.) <\/strong>that I personally disagree with, because it comes from this line about not blaming the emperor. It\u2019s like, well, no, actually do blame the fucking Emperor. What do you mean don\u2019t blame him? But it phrases the quote in a way that is like: be the present time in the world. And I think that\u2019s something that I can respect.<\/p>\n Anne<\/strong>: I think for me, it\u2019s still really new and I\u2019m on the first steps of this journey, but one thing that became very apparent to myself is that I grew up with: \u201cif I don\u2019t talk about it, it\u2019s not existing.<\/strong>\u201d It\u2019s not so much existing, but it\u2019s not existing directly in my world. It doesn\u2019t impact your prosperity. It doesn\u2019t affect me directly and I can talk about lots of other things, but things are intertwined. You know those platitudes like \u201cOh a ripple in a pond will create a wave in the ocean\u201d? You have so many of those sayings and yet when it comes to it, people really don\u2019t take it to heart. They just like to say it out loud.<\/p>\n This is one of the things that\u2019s been frustrating me and also why I had to move away from home in order to come to terms with it. To talk about it. As soon as I would say, for instance even at school, \u201cOh, we have a few hours between because a class didn\u2019t go. Maybe we can ask the other teacher if they could do it earlier?\u201d Then it was straight away: \u201cOh bother, why did you say so?\u201d Like, we don\u2019t want to take responsibility, we don\u2019t want to take our own action. We just want to be able to moan about it and say how shitty it is and feel sort of validated by keeping saying, \u201cOh, it\u2019s so bad.\u201d<\/p>\n But for me, I\u2019ve been very lucky because of my profession, and because of my parents always asking questions: Why? Always being curious, not taking things for as they are per se, and that I can even question them<\/strong>. I think that\u2019s a really important thing. Thereby I started also having space to question myself. But not just in \u201cwhy do you do this?\u201d but in a sense of: \u201cHey, I\u2019m having this thought, is this my thought? Or is this something that I learnt? And from whom did I learn it?\u201d Q4: How did the idea for this exhibition come about? And will the intergenerational dialogue continue beyond your artistic collaboration?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jeffrey:<\/strong> For sure I feel the collaboration \/ the intergenerational dialogue, doesn\u2019t start from the artistic dialogue, it starts from our actual live living. Connections. And the way we live, the way we interact with each other. And it\u2019s not pretty because there are clashes, there are moments of not feeling seen. But because of that there\u2019s room for us to venture out and to experiment and to have conversation from that. And not say \u201cOh, because Mum is just like that. Dad is just like that and Anne is just like that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell Jeffrey\u2019s just like that\u201d is so much of pushing. Wait, why are you like this? Is this something that comes from somewhere? Is this because of this and that? And I think that dialogue starts much earlier than the artistic side of things. And for you, I\u2019m sure the artistic connection and life connection kind of is the same.<\/p>\n Anne:<\/strong> It almost starts together. \u201cWill the intergenerational dialogue continue beyond your artistic collaboration?\u201d This is life, man. Yeah. What do you mean outside of my collaboration? Because life is a collaboration; art comes out of life. It\u2019s reflecting life.<\/p>\n The really beautiful thing in this project so far has been also that we had so-called Gen Z working with us and being curious and just getting very excited and wanting to help to literally just build the thing so that we succeed. So it\u2019s like an effort of multiple people because we\u2019re talking about life.<\/p>\n Q5: If you imagine someone from the next generation standing before your works years from now, what feeling or thought would you hope they carry away?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jeffrey<\/strong>: When I was reading this, my mind first went to Gen Z, but then I realised it says years from now. So I have been thinking about our friends\u2019 kids, who are now single digits age. I always say, half-jokingly, that they are going to be growing up with a bunch of cool artist uncles and aunties. And if they want to go whatever way\u2026 I think except if they want to be incels or fascists, I think we\u2019ll be extremely supportive for the most part. That generation and beyond will be free to kind of realise their life in ways that are impossible for our generations or even Gen Z. And I look forward to that. It\u2019s the same with Bosch thinking about theology and morality and Heaven and Hell in a certain way because of the text that was existing and popular at the time, namely Dante\u2019s Divine Comedy. I\u2019m happy it\u2019s not about making something timeless. Timelessness comes from how you respond within the time. I really love this idea of timelessness coming from just doing contemporary stuff. Anne<\/strong>: Years from now\u2026 gosh. They would see this in my gaze: \u201cWe did it\u201d or \u201cWe\u2019re here.\u201d That would be really nice.<\/p>\n Jeffrey<\/strong>: Or that they survived the apocalypse.<\/p>\n Anne<\/strong>: No, but that people are actually allowed to just be without having any role to play. That we stopped playing the roles that we are assigned to fulfil, especially within our own minds. Even if it\u2019s in 40 years, that would be really amazing if we have been able as people to free ourselves from those kinds of thoughts that cage us within a system like capitalism, like patriarchy, where we put value towards very specific things of \u201cworth.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeffrey<\/strong>: So just to reframe what you said: You want the future to look at your work and say, \u201cOh, this is kind of a world that we don\u2019t recognise\u2026 because this is not a problem that we are going through right now\u201d?<\/p>\n Anne<\/strong>: Yeah. Or like what I have now at times where I\u2019m like reminiscing or where I\u2019m like, \u201cDamn girl, thank you for this because because of that, I have more space to do something.\u201d Now that feels really grandeur and up my alley, but it\u2019s more in a societal way. It would be amazing if the theme of it is no longer applicable.<\/p>\n That it\u2019s more something that we talk about in full conscience, like, \u201cOh, remember that time? And we have now moved on.\u201d For the future to say, \u201cOh, imagine that was a problem at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n I think, in a way, the most important thing would be that they can still see themselves in the work. That would be amazing. It doesn\u2019t always have to be a recognition of \u201cI know the struggle.\u201d But that can also mean: \u201cI\u2019ve recognised where you\u2019ve been and I\u2019ve been through it and I\u2019m taking courage from it. I\u2019m taking joy from it.\u201d<\/p>\n Q6: What do you hope visitors will take away from this exhibition? What feeling or thought would you like them to leave with?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jeffrey<\/strong>: I for one don\u2019t want to dictate how you see things as an artist. If you see my artwork and you think about, I don\u2019t know, fried rice\u2026 let it be that. That is your experience. I don\u2019t have expectations of how people receive things. <\/p>\n Anne<\/strong>: For me it\u2019s really different. I didn\u2019t interpret it like this. For me, one of the main things about my artworks is actually directing<\/strong>. It\u2019s directing gaze. It\u2019s directing movement. But in a gentle way. We\u2019re very used to participatory art where you\u2019re forced into something and then you need to confront it. For me, it\u2019s much more of a softer way in. It\u2019s very much like I\u2019m guiding you through our space in the way we have set this up so you can have an experience.<\/p>\n And the most important thing for me is that you have had a moment with yourself<\/strong>. That you were able to check in with yourself\u2014rationally, but for me personally, also physically. How are you? How\u2019s your body? How is your mind? How is your situation? But it is very much that I hope I have brought you on a journey into our way of thinking, our conversation that we had here, and the visual experience of that. Because for all four of us, this is our visual language through which we communicate. I personally think best for me\u2026 I always call it the gut feeling, something that I can\u2019t name. Like goosebumps\u2014try to explain how and why you get something like that. It\u2019s nearly impossible. It is definitely a reaction.<\/p>\n So I don\u2019t expect you to have that, but I hope that you will have an experience for yourself where you had a moment to sit with yourself in whichever way. Because I have noticed in my own process that when I\u2019ve been able to sit with myself and check in, I\u2019ve been actually able to check in with others. And people I care about, or topics I care about, and also create space for them equally as for me. So that it becomes not an \u201cor\u201d situation, but an \u201cand\u201d situation.<\/p>\n Jeffrey<\/strong>: That\u2019s a pretty good place to end, shall we?<\/p>\n Exhibition Details:<\/strong><\/p>\n Stay tuned for more and follow Amsterdamian on\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more stories about life in the Netherlands. Please share this post if you liked it! <\/p>\n Check out my photo book:\u00a0Amsterdam Through the Seasons<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n Love what you\u2019re reading? Support my work with a small donation<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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How do we respond to the legacy of the older generation? I think where it connects is following an intuition. It\u2019s like: \u201cOh, I just fell, I scraped my knee and therefore I need to put a Band-Aid on it.\u201d It\u2019s a very clear thing that I need to do; I need to tend to the wound. It\u2019s a specific urgency<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
In comparison to the current world\u2026 where is the space? I need to make a living first in order to be able to make some space for myself. My parents fought really hard for it, but they have some space now to sit and create and sit with it for a longer period of time. For me, it\u2019s much more on the go. I don\u2019t have the luxury of having different materials around me because I don\u2019t have a studio\u2014I rent my house.<\/p>\n
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And the really important thing is I\u2019m starting to notice I\u2019m not alone. We are not alone, all of us.<\/strong><\/p>\n
It\u2019s not as stagnant as we are told it to be\u2014that \u201cit is that way, so therefore I never can change.\u201d It\u2019s actually not the case. My parents are still changing. And also having conversations with themselves and also still want to be aware of themselves and others within situations. They are never like, \u201cOkay, a situation is the way it is and then it stops.\u201d And I think that\u2019s quite beautiful to know. And that actually is something that does give me hope.<\/p>\n
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I know that on very many different levels already, but for this one, it was very new. This is the type of confrontation I was talking about earlier. This takes a lot of persistence. Courage without brownie points. To do it just because you want to, because you are aware that you\u2019re not just solely affected. Even if you\u2019re not affected, it\u2019s affecting others and because everything is so intertwined and we all in the world, especially at this moment, are in a way a really big community.<\/p>\n
Weirdly enough, We Are The Times is very much about that for me, personally.<\/p>\n
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Thinking about how they would respond to this work<\/strong>\u2026 I think my work is going to be a little slice of time. I intended it to be a reflection of Bosch\u2019s Garden, which is also a reflection of his time. The more I read about history and philosophy and arts\u2014like recently I finished reading the Republic by Plato\u2014it\u2019s a very narrow view of Greek society at the time. I think people underestimate that. \u201cOh, I\u2019m reading Classics,\u201d you actually aren\u2019t learning the philosophy; you learn about how they came up with those ideas given what they knew about the world.<\/p>\n
I think for me it\u2019s not to try to create a sort of nostalgia for the current time, but to say: What is the best story to tell NOW?<\/p>\n
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It can be very broad. And the thing is, like you just said, it\u2019s not that I want you to think this or you have to think that, or you have to look at it a certain way. There is literally no right way.<\/p>\n\n
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