This weekend Alkmaar is the stage for the largest festival in the world for living statues. On Sunday afternoon, the World Championship will be held in the city center from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, along with the Kids Statues Festival. On Saturday evening, the thirteenth edition of the World Living Statues Festival opened with Statues by Night – Meet the Champions.
“The concept is ‘meet the champions’. So everyone who has already won a championship match will perform here tonight around the Grote Kerk and at Canadaplein”, explained Rowy Onrust of DDOS Even Support in advance. Patrick van Horne alias De Mosketier said he was really looking forward to it. “It’s great to be back, like every time. It used to be in Arnhem and now it’s a big party here to see colleagues and to be able to perform.”
The champions’ exhibition was well attended and visitors were impressed from the very first living statue. “Great! This is the first and I think it’s beautiful already,” says one of them. “Yeah cool, I think it’s really cool. Very nice”, adds another.
111 participants will participate in the world championship this afternoon in the most beautiful outfits. “The artists come from 20 different countries, so the Netherlands and Belgium, but also Ukraine and the USA,” says Rowy. “From Portugal a lot, Spain, Germany. Really everything”. At the same time, the Kids Statues Festival is also held. The champions who participated in Statues by Night on Saturday can of course participate again, but with a new theatrical outfit.
And a championship naturally includes a jury assessment. “You will be judged by the jury on a number of aspects. You must of course be able to stand still, but your idea must also be good. And the originality of your statue”. Patrick adds that it is mainly entertainment. “It’s street theatre. So the more people there are, the less we stand still”. Winners will be announced after 5:00 PM.
Everything about the festival can be found on worldlivingstatues.nl.