City Talks Amsterdam: Embodied Truths
This episode of CityTalks, we explore how identity, desire, pain and love are not just ideas, but lived experiences.
How can we make sure all bodies are recognised, safe, and fully at home in themselves? Together, we reflect on shame, visibility, and the courage it takes to reclaim your body and your story - and how, in doing so, new forms of connection, care, possibility and joy can emerge.
This edition's theme is inspired by ITA Ensemble / Toneelschuur Productie’s Weg met Eddy Bellegueule, playing from April 21 - June 6 in ITA and throughout theaters in the Netherlands.
Location The Bookshop
Duration 60 minutes
Genre Perspective
Language English
We recommend purchasing your ticket in advance. An admission ticket includes a drink voucher.
Community coordinator, freelance journalist & teacher
Siem Rothengatter
Siem Rothengatter (she/them) is community coordinator at the RITA Community Center, and works on queer community building, social safety and inclusion. The center grew out of RITA (Report It Always) - a reporting platform for LGBTQI+ discrimination founded in collaboration with Discriminatie.nl - and offers space for gathering, culture and connection within the queer community. During CityTalks, Siem will share insights from The Space We Share, their recently launched book about solidarity, equality and collectively shaping social safety. Through practical tools and new language, it shows that safety is not an endpoint, but something we create together every day.
© Tengbeh Kamara
poet, spoken word artist and interdisciplinary creator
Zaïre Krieger
Zaïre Krieger is a poet, spoken word artist and interdisciplinary creator whose work is a powerful call for justice and love. Her performances are rhythmic, layered and politically engaged, exploring identity, faith, queerness, Blackness and belonging. In March 2026 she published her debut poetry collection Chameleon, about creating your own place to feel at home and allowing yourself to be multidimensional. It’s a sharp and intimate exploration of shifting identities, alter egos, and the search for home at the intersections of different worlds.
© Sarah Berends
mixed media cripqueer artist
Menko Dijksterhuis
Menko Dijksterhuis is an Amsterdam-based mixed media cripqueer artist. Through his art, he critically examines societal systems while imagining futures in which every-body and perspective is taken in and celebrated. His practice explores the nuanced and delicate interplay between visibility and invisibility, inviting introspection and dialogue. Alongside his artistic work, he is active as a tutor, DEIA consultant, communication advisor and graphic designer.
writer, theatre maker ánd former CityTalks Amsterdam host
Geoffrey van der Ven
Geoffrey van der Ven, writer, theatre maker ánd former CityTalks Amsterdam host, is renowned for his critical work on queer and BIPOC experiences. His work has been featured at the Eurovision Song Contest, Nieuwe Luxor Theatre, and Amsterdam Fringe Festival. His first solo ‘Het is niet Nieuw’ on the queer history of Africa, recently concluded. He’s currently preparing for his new show, ‘Anders ik wel’ (translated: What’s the Difference), exploring the experience of shame and being othered.
performer and moderator
Lin An Phoa
CityTalks Amsterdam is hosted by Lin An Phoa, who is a poet, performer and moderator in the cultural field. In her work, she explores vulnerability, resistance, power dynamics and (self-)care culture. Through poetry and conversation, she investigates how to create movement within rigid systems, with the aim to make societal issues tangible, facilitate connection and encourage change.
© Gaby Jongenelen
For bookworms and eager listeners aged 6 and up, we present The Bookshop Kids! Every first Sunday of the month, we transform our soft‑pink Bookshop into a place full of children’s stories where imagination has all the space it needs.
For bookworms and eager listeners aged 6 and up, we present The Bookshop Kids! Every first Sunday of the month, we transform our soft‑pink Bookshop into a place full of children’s stories where imagination has all the space it needs.
