De Zesde Kolonne has been active since 1984.
The foundation has been established for the support, production, realisation and/or bringing to the attention of the public of audio-visual products of a non-profit nature.

Starting out as a label and distribution for cassettes, vynil, printed material and Super 8 films, over the years an organisation developed which accompanies and realises the products from the beginning to the end.

The original group consisted of bands such as VovoKai, MTVS, Afflict, painters like E de Smet, Frank Teeuwes, visual work by Luc Sponselee, Yvette Bolger and audio registration by Kees de Groot and Pidah Kloos.

On a small scale, tapes with mainly home-made music and sounds were produced.- In a live situation, the different disciplines joined together and were presented by means of performances. In this 'new' kind of theatre the audience was made participant.

One of the remenants of such a manifestation was the enormous concrete radarwheel in front of the V2, then in Den Bosch. The wheel has vanished by now.

Out of the home-producing method of working, the need for a better and bigger location was born, for rehearsals, performances, recordings.

From 1985 De Zesde Kolonne has been located in Activity Centre 2B, Eindhoven.

In collaboration with 2B, De Zesde Kolonne has helped shape this centre by means of concerts, exhibitions, and the creation of workspaces for others who became involved.

A simultaneous development was the realisation of a combined practiseroom/recordingstudio.

Partly to give the building a broader inhabitation, partly out of the wish to make better soundrecordings. Over the years, a steady group of musicians has been making use of these facilities.

To name a few: 7 Zuma 7, Moose, Hard Headed Soul, 35007, Zombies Under Stress.

To keep as firm a grip as possible upon the final product, a van has been bought which can fit up to 8 persons plus a considerable amount of equipment and materials. In this way, it became possible to operate low-budget with a great level of independence. The rising of video and visual manipulation by means of computer has brought about the birth of a compact VHS off-line studio, closing the gap in the audio- visual division. This non-budget studio is a tool for audio-visual artists and video/filmers in the realisation of their work.

The overall organisation has gone through growth which enables operating on an international level. Not only European tours and projects, but also international exchanges with similar, like-minded organisations have been realised. The most succesfull exchanges include those with Ljubljana (Slovenia )and Minsk (Belarussia).

This expansion of the operational area has brought along a greater diversity. Where the media used to be tape, vynil or 8 mm film, now the form of Compact Disc, video, 16 mm film, t-shirt, magazine, internet and book have to be added,

although it has to be noted that the small quantities and editions still belong to the present way of working.

The financial means for the different projects stem from rental or sales, incidental subsidies and own capital. The shape and spread of an individual project ask for a certain financial approach, which can't be put down into rules or regulations. Now and then, for larger social-cultural projects, a subsidy is requested from funds. This has led to the earlier mentioned van, the video-studio and several international exchanges.

The strength of De Zesde Kolonne lies in the abillity to improvise, originate and anticipate on smaller and bigger projects,

the aim being to bring them under the attention of an audience without being hindered by set formulae, or a specific kind of product.

The different shapes of the collaborations, the influence upon eachother and the unpredictabillity of the final results are what define De Zesde Kolonne.

This gives impulses to new cooperations. For instance, the soundstudio is being used by rock/grunge bands as well as electronic/house ensembles.

Audio-visual support for a cultural society is a possibillity as well as a rock'n'roll videoclip.

Through this diversity, the foundation has grown into a flexible, active organisation that has earned its place on the edge of subculture/underground and the established cultural circles.

It is a necessary investment to be able to keep on doing things on a small scale,
as is our speciality.