Adriaan Van Aken
Soldaat Van Aken, de vijand lacht zich dood

'Soldier Van Aken, the enemy dies of laughter'

This title in fact needs quotation marks, since it is a quote which was done by an army commander with respect to Adriaan Van Aken's father, after yet another miserably failed shooting practice or drill.

Lode Van Aken (1943-2021) didn't want to join the army. In the army you become a man, which was by no means his ambition. In the 70s he did however become one of the first stay-at-home fathers of our country - against the ruling, unshakable role role patterns. Adriaan and his sister grew up with two mother figure: a woman and a man with a significantly well-developed female side.

Becoming a stay-at-home father. Against the current. You don't make that decision in one day's time. There are things that precede this. What things? Adriaan approaches the theme 'role patterns' with the figure of his father in mind and hopes, amidst nature-nurture conversations, to get to know himself better by doing interviews. Where do I come from?

By its form, Soldaat Van Aken will become the follow-up of Afscheid van een Auto (***** De Volkskrant), an aural performance and a podcast.