Meredith Monk entered the Hartwig Proxy foyer, the testing ground for Amsterdam’s new contemporary Art Museum due to open in 2028. Flanked by two very tall gentleman, her long hair, tied back in two trademark plaits straight out of an Anne of Green Gables novel, immediately caught the eye. But rather like the late British monarch Queen Elizabeth II, this petite eighty-three-year-old American composer needs to be seen to be believed. Clearly delighted to be back at the Holland Festival to celebrate her 60th performing season, her newly published book Meredith Monk. Calling – a collaboration between Amsterdam’s Oude Kerk with the Hartwig Art Foundation and Haus der Kunst, Munich – was never far from the mind. This, the first of three events reflecting on previous Amsterdam collaborations dating back to the 1980s, demonstrated in abundance her inspirational zest for life which clearly speaks to a young and very eager generation.
In conversation with Meredith Monk
Monk shared how the 2023 retrospective exhibition in Amsterdam’s Oude Kerk, curated by museum director Beatrix Ruf now seated opposite, was one of the most meaningful and emotional experiences of her entire life. ‘When I walked into the Oude Kerk, I started crying because this had been in the planning for 10 years. It was just so much beyond my dreams,’ she enthused. Her initial reservations as to how the beauty of the Oude Kerk would work alongside the complexity of her stories were unfounded, describing the result as ‘a beautiful blend of the two worlds, uniting the spirit and architecture of the church with a very personal meditative experience’.
As one of the early 1960s pioneers of performance art, Meredith Monk creates installations which exceed the boundaries of individual art forms by combining image, theatre, sound, dance, and time. She defines her art as ‘a poetry of the senses’, but above all it seems, a performance where she is in complete control. In contrast to the team effort required for theatre and film (an art form she describes as one which involves convincing so many people of ‘your vision’) she seems to revel in an art where infinite possibilities are within her grasp.
She loves details, in the past making everything from costumes for her entire vocal ensemble, to a table using timber from her father’s lumber yard. She views her work as a prototype for human behaviour. One, where people can be sensitive and generous towards one another and where newly created realms give voice to personal vulnerabilities, distinct from the alternative we are constantly being fed.
Making the difficult seem easy
Her undeniable skill is an ability to make the difficult seem easy; to explain intangible concepts in an open and accessible way. She loves metaphysics – the understanding of reality, and philosophy – ideas about how we should live. Themes which would be explored further in Monk in Pieces – a reflective film documenting her work over seven decades including interviews with Björk and David Byrne shown later in the Eye Museum Cinema.
Music is at the centre of her creativity and in particular, her voice which she describes as ‘the original instrument’ and one connected directly to the heart. She divides today’s artists into two broad categories: those whose work has a political message, and those who reflect a more spiritual and aspirational tone. She belongs to the latter group, asserting that any small political references in her early work were in the abstract. Alternative perspectives are always more useful.
Inspiring the next generation
Probably the most insightful exchanges were with the numerous young artists to whom she is clearly something of a creative genius; some of whom had encountered her work in Essen, Germany where she has just concluded her year at the Folkwang University of the Arts as Pina Bausch Guest Professor. Talking about her own struggles, she referred to intense loneliness in those early years as a ‘good thing’ because it allowed her ‘to work from the inside out’ and quite literally, find her own (singing) voice. She empathised with those at the outset of their career, encouraging artists of all genres to take courage, to persist and to find their own path:
‘To find what only you have to say in the universe, because there’ll never be another you again… and it takes years!’
The overwhelming impression though was of an intensely curious, physically agile and highly engaging individual. Her very matter-of-fact reference to approaching ‘the end of her life’ seemed to jar with the inspirational figure seated before us. She talked of a desire to share her love in the time she has left and not to be ashamed of that desire, challenging us all be spiritual warriors:
‘Love fiercely,’ she said. ‘Because hate is easy. To love, you have to be really strong.’
These words seemed to touch the hearts of many in the assembled audience.
I will certainly never forget the day I encountered first-hand the wise words of the legend that is Meredith Monk.
Clare attended Meredith Monk in Person at the Hartwig Proxy, Amsterdam with Holland Festival on Friday 19th June, 2026
Pictures above by kind permission of LNDW Studio, courtesy of Hartwig Art Foundation.
A special treat downstairs
In 2023, the Holland Festival hosted Monk’s Indra’s Net in Amsterdam’s Gashouder. I headed downstairs at the Hartwig Proxy to watch a special screening. It was rather beautiful.
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