Liesbeth Hagen

about myself

I have been engaged in various forms of art from a very young age.

After working as a goldsmith and living in Denmark and Sweden for 10 years, I returned to the Netherlands, where I started painting and attending the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. After that I worked as a documentary film maker. I made documentaries about art and culture for Dutch television, including AVRO Close Up, and a coproduction with TRT, Turkey. 

As a result of my experience in painting I paid a lot of attention in my films to framing and colour.

While living in Amsterdam, I felt I missed nature and so I relocated to France where I could live in the countryside and have a studio to paint in.

The urgency of the environmental crisis has inspired me to reflect the beauty of nature in my paintings.
In ‘Remembrance of the North’ I wanted to depict the silence of the Swedish landscape, in ‘Where the sky meets the water’ the clouds are reflected in the lake, and in ‘Clear water’, you can see the fish in the pond. In these nature paintings I depict the atmosphere and peace of nature, but current events also prompted me to make more political work. Here, the mise en scène comes more into focus. These paintings feel like a continuity of my film work, because I am working more on movement. These are larger paintings (1.30 x 1.10 m) with refugees as the subject. I also make sculptures on the same subject matter.

Curriculum Vitae

Opleidingen

1668-1972Specialist school for gold- and silver smith
1982-1983Free Academy, department of painting
1984-1987Royal Academy, The Hague,  department of painting
1987Free Academy, Audio visual department
1988Workshop ‘Experimental film and sources of sound’ at the Royal Conservatory,The Hague
1989Workshop ‘The language of image and sound’ at the Royal Conservatory, The Hague
1990NOB training ‘production/director assistance’ at the Centre for broadcasting Media Academy ‘Santbergen’, Hilversum
1992NOB training ‘directing for documentaries’ at the Centre for broadcasting Media Academy ‘Santbergen’, Hilversum  
  

Work experience

1968-1972Studio / shop for gold- and silver jewellery Amsterdam
1972-1983Lived in Denmark and Sweden during this period.
1985-1993Returned to the Netherlands. Part-time employee at Stichting Haags Filmhuis.
Short film ‘La belle Helene et son double’ was screened during the John Cage festival
1989Research and synopsis for a programme series on the arts policy in the cities of Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague for the broadcaster Kunstkanaal in Rotterdam
1990Assistant decor for the Meatball production Opera Kino by Rien Hagen
1992Research, scenario and director of ‘The man in the aquarium’ (20 min.) The film was broadcasted by the Dutch Television, RVU on 7 July 1993 and repeated on 23 February 1994. The film was also acquired by television broadcaster ARD, Germany
Co-founder of the LUCA Film  foundation
1993Design and director of an information film about the Juliana Children’s Hospital and as well children’s film for this hospital. Production of LUCA Film Foundation.
1997Exhibition with jewellery in Het Klokkenmuseum, Utrecht. Painting purchased for the Clingendael Institute
1994Research, scenario and director of the film ‘Four plans for the Van der Vennepark’ (20 min.) for the municipality of The Hague. The production is a presentation of four additional designs for the Van der Vennepark designed by Alvaro Siza. Production LUCA Film Foundation
Research and synopsis for a presentation on the new design for the Museumplein, designed by the Danish landscape architect Sven Ingvar Andersson. Production Open Studio, Amsterdam
1996Research for the purchase of youth programmes in Denmark for the Dutch television, IKON
1997Director film adaptation of the play ‘The man, the city and the book’ (60 min.) by the Handtheater for the theater festival in de Balie, Amsterdam. Production Handtheater
1998Gave lessons in landscape drawing in Agnano, Italy
1999Storyboard, camera direction and live camera (2 hours) for the multimedia production ‘Quelli que restano’ by composer Jan van de Putte. The piece was performed in ten theaters in the Netherlands.
2000Research, scenario and director of ‘Behouden Vaart’ (50 min.) a documentary about the purpose of making ship models, for Close-up of the AVRO, Dutch television.
Text and design ‘Turia met haar vette handjes en bevertandjes’, a children’s series of six episodes (6 x 5 min.)
2001Research, scenario an director of the film ‘Zipper’ (60 min.) in which music is translated into sign language. The film has been shown in the Remise (Hallen), Amsterdam
Production LUCA Film Foundation/Talking Hands
2002Research and synopsis for ‘The Game Card’
Research for a documentary for what the Ottoman sultan’s harem actually was and how it was depicted in Western art and literature
2003Storyboard and scenario ‘The Imagined harem’
2004Radio music programme ‘Women with power, in the harem of the sultan’ for VPRO radio. Duration 56 min.
2005-2007Director documentary ‘The Imagined harem’ (52 min.) for Close-up of the AVRO, Dutch Television in co-production with the TRT, Turkey. The film has been shown twice on Dutch Television, Ned. 1 and in Turkey, on Al Jazeera and the cinema de Uitkijk in Amsterdam, and has been purchased by Australian television.
Radio music programme ‘Magda Olivero, the last verisme soprano, part 1’ for VPRO radio. Duration 56 min.
Radio music programme ‘Magda Olivero, the last verisme soprano, part 2’ for VPRO radio. Duration 56 min.
From 2008 onwards

Information film for Cultural Centre Helmond 20 min.
Renovation of a house in France in which a painter’s studio has an important place.