One of the first things that strikes Me is the enormous amount of love and energy Irma Boom manage to include within her books.The endless dummy samples to find the right presentation format, the anti-commercial printing and binding methods and the endless corrections are all part of it. It almost feels like the books of Irma Boom are from another planet.

For that reason I found it hard to pick out one particular book, so I asked myself the question; what is for Me the most important part of
a good book, the reason to just grab the book and get lost in it.For Me a book is really about a good cover at the first place, one that strikes
my attention by being unusual or reminds my of something else I’m interested in, so after I realised what’s important I picked
the CAR GIRLS book by Jacqueline Hassink

That particular book immediately reminded me of the LP “Grand Prix” by the Belgian band Vive La Fête.The cover (and also the cover of the LP) gives me a kind of exciting feeling, the idea that it’s really cool to drive really fast ( I don’t even have a car) and to have a sexy “Car Girl” like girlfriend behind the steering-wheel.

• p.s. the book itself was one of the most uninteresting books in the whole exhibition

Every Thing Design is a book by Hatje Cantz which presents a large number (more than 700) of design works from the collection of Zurich Gestaltung Museum. It mainly shows prints and posters, but includes also a wide range of other objects from many famous designers. The book is, among books designed by Irma Boom (and some of her own library), on display at the Bijzondere Collecties Gallery, in Amsterdam.

First of all the cover: it’s all black, with a white cheap potato peeler; visually it makes concrete what the title say: everything is design! Design is for everybody! The layout of the book presents the objects making interesting comparisons and associating them in couples which have a sort of connection. What’s interesting, in this couples, is that they do respond to a logic that can be less obvious than expected, as a time, place or artist order, but very explicit. Mainly, they are similar objects and visuals from very different periods and uses but with the same strength, the same conceptual value, the same way to visualize the zeitgeist of the period. So the cover of issue one of the magazine “Neue Grafik” (1958) showing the text perfectly insert into a square grid, is associated to a typeface from the early 20s’, the “new graphic” of the time. Two more recent comparison: the first shows the (famous) poster from Obey’s art for the electoral campaign of Obama in 2008 and the (as much) well known poster of Bob Dylan drawn during the 60’s by Milton Glaser, while the second present the famous Levi’s commercial with the Michelangelo’s David dressed up with Levi’s jeans short, with a more recent HnM’s poster of a beautiful and sensual girl wearing a tiny bikini. In the first couple is explicit the high moral value of the person represented, with the “Che Guevara alike” glance of Obama in the “hand-crafted”, old school appearance of the poster, and the streamy colorful hair of an outlined-comic looking Bob Dylan which transforms the pacifist songwriter into an icon. In the second there also is an iconic value which is a bit “debunk”, and while 30 years ago this value was embodied by a masterpiece of art, nowadays it is just the body of the women to be sold.

What i liked the most is the comparison that offers, which i think it’s a fundamental way of thinking in art and design, and the general look that encourages, contributing to shape better the word “design”, depicting the spirit of the time and taking it away from the idea of a competition between world known designers to create the most posh version of a lemon squeezer, and giving it the role of a discipline which applies to many levels and fields, a way to better resolve mankind problems. Design must be everything for everybody!

Super Mighty Market

- Same rules but BIG difference ? Not all supermarkets must be created equal.

‘There is no other material a designer can work with that is so close to the human body and soul as the material of food’

Marije Vogelzang

Welcome to a new generation of spaces dedicated to food culture, where ? Located inside my very own head.  Please cross over to my ideal dreamworld as this space does not yet exist anywhere else. Over here I design a supermarket  – only it is not really just a supermarket – it is more of a space where design, art and food can meet – becoming more like a Mighty Market.

The dream begins with a beautiful architectural form screaming in need for a revival. The structure of what was once a beautiful spacious building whose glory has passed, now sits ghostly waiting in suspension like those christmas ornaments in storage that wait all year for december to arrive. In order to orchestrate the “revival” of my dream food space – it must not only have that “feel good quality” that makes you want to hang out there all day, but also allowing it to be inspiring and stimulating in a way that makes you think about how we relate to each other, our social food culture, how it’s context affects our behavior and choices.  Naturally, being a food lover – wannabe- healthy- eater myself as well as an art and design enthusiast, I became interested in finding a “glue” for all these to exist under one context of food culture and how its role affects our senses and perception.
In order to create my dream SUPERmarket THE MIGHTY MARKET I had to think about its social, psychological, chemical, technical and ethical core values. No employees but team members for starters. Environmentally friendly and with a fun attitude. I also didn’t want my supermarket to have the same old shoe box boring construction as most supermarkets do. I mean have you noticed how boring grocery shopping can be? So it definitely can’t have an uninviting interior like the cold, dark, dull, crowded interior in most grocery shops. My Dream Mightymarket has to be part renovation and part innovation – not just to refurbish and old existing iconic building such as one of ‘BEST’ old buildings but

a combination of both, bringing also new ideas of design into one unique place.

Small things make things big and even little changes to an approach can make a big difference. With this in mind,  I dream of the inside – it will be subdivided into areas such as a gallery for instance, where food exhibitions and lectures are given maybe  by someone like Daniel Spoerri who’s been an icon of the food art movement since the 60’s. A space in which I dream of bringing in people to host events like Marije Volgezand or Droog,  some nutrition specialists and chefs as well as artists and designers such as Ayako Suwa who’s emotional food art won her international acclaim in 2008 .

‘Designed by Marije Volgezand for a meal for Droog design, she hung the table cloth to the ceiling as a means to conceal signs of status like clothing. The meals were served on plates that had to be shared as she supplied the guests with unusual eating utensils for this purpose.’

Back to my dream. Incorporated but not occupying the same space you can find an area for home appliances that follow the same motto for innovative conscious design.  Everything in this alter- space-s is meant to make you feel something, and actually the whole supermarket is designed to make you feel something – in other words, it is designed to make you become aware of your senses. The rails for the stairs are cold to the touch to wake you up. Similarly all the senses are thought of in every detail of the stores design and even the lay out of the products is carefully thought through. From the lighting to the sound, even the sense of smell is incorporated to bring different sensorial experiences.  Some of the products you would see in this supermarket wouldn’t be the ideal healthiest, although its main focus IS the organic and healthy, and the selection of others redefined. Some of the products you can find at the Mighty market are for instance “EYE CANDY” by the Play coalition for Beta Tank who use something called sensory substitution to allow you to see images contained within the candy.

The packaging of products can’t stay behind and would have to be considered – it must aim to avoid sacrificing freshness amongst other factors in favor of warehouse storage as well as its reusability . Playing an important role as an example leader is ‘ Grown in transit’ by Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Agata Jaworska whose concept is simple: the food grows in the package as it is in transit to reach you changing the label from ‘best before’ to ‘ready by’.

At the eating area you would find ‘tasteful design’ and edible design pieces such as cutlery made out of food etc.. maybe since it is my dream, Nosigner would design the interior which would feature for instance his light unit “Spring rain” made out of bean starch vermicelli, which is edible when boiled (meaning no trash- zero!), or sell things like the ‘Unsustainable’ necklace by Greetje van Helmond for whom choosing food as material is a comment on the impermanence of fashion.

But the dream doesn’t end there. At the Mighty Market you can use books as currency which will eventually create the mighty market interactive library.

Wel bekome !

This spring I went to visit the exhibition “fashion for thought” at the Centraal museum in Utrecht. The exhibition was containing the work of fashion designer Alexander van Slobbe.

In the end of this interesting, and well curated exhibition, Alexander van Slobbe showed one of his patterns for a dress, with all the materials needed to copy it. I decided to make a project out of this dress and went right after the exhibition to buy fabric.

I chose a black, transparent fabric for my dress.

Alexander Van Slobbe works a lot with the fabric, not forcing it into any direction, on the contrary, his way of designing really follows the direction and weaving in the textile he uses.

In my reinvention of the design of Alexander Van Slobbe, I would like to work, like Alexander van Slobbe, by draping the fabric. To find inspiration, I therefor looked up two of my favourite designers, Diana Orving, who works a lot with draping, and “House of Dagmar”, a designer collective who´s design is based on stitching.

left: Diana Orving, middle and right: House of Dagmar (www.dianaorving.com; www.houseofdagmar.se)

When I looked at the patterns I copied, I saw that the size was to big for me. Therefor, so that I can more easily work with draping, and to make the dress my size, I started to make a tailor’s dummy.

Instructions how to make your own tailor´s dummy

Material: tape, scissor, plaster bandage

while starting the cutting process, I realized what a difficult fabric I had chosen. It was to thin. When making the hem, and cutting it, thin fabric gets really easily wrinkled. I had to put a cotton ribbon between two layers of the fabric to be able to complete the hem, both in the sleeves and the collar.  After stitching and unstitching several times, i could finally start with the drapings.

The most problematic part was the making of the collar. I called my parents for advice. My mother told me that her mother  used to cut very thin fabric on the diagonal when making a collar. By doing so, the weeving of the fabric lyes in the “wrong” direction, and therefor the fabric stays in place.

My grandmother would be horrified if she could see my way of working with the dress with the unregular stitches and the cutting in the fabric. She was a teacher for dressmakers and always knew who should wear what and how. She used to design clothing from private orders by rich ladies in the 50s. Actually my other grandmother, the mother of my dad, was also working within fashion. She was a sewer, and her sister a fashion designer. But I guess I lack the patience and interest in mathematics to work with sewing. On the other hand, the fashion designer Diana Orving, sketches directly on the dummy. She didn’t have any training in pattern construction. She just began by putting fabric on a dummy and register the way the fabric was falling.

I don´t know why I like drapings so much. Maby I see it as reaction against garnment wich only aims to bring out the body, clothes that are not interplaying with the fabric nor with the person who weares it. This kind of fashion is very excluding. It´s only made for people who are happy with their body, or only think that they are beutifull if they show their body parts because of objectification. But working with drapings goes further than that. It makes us aware of the importance of the fabric. It makes us see the handicraft and how gravitation creating shapes through the fabric. What Alexander van Slobbe does, is that he manages to balance the drapings through simple lines, forms and colours. It never becomes to much.

By choosing a black, thin fabric I tryed to do the same. The belt in the waist, and the  narrowing of the lower part of the dress brings out the classical shape of the woman body.

By making the décolletage in the back more low-cut than in the front, the dress becomes sensual without revealing to much.

So this is the result. Now it´s  only Me, You and Alexander Van Slobbe!

SI Module is the portable platform for Applied Arts and Autonomous Design, initiated by Sandberg Institute Applied Arts department.
On a special table a system of modules will be build. The sizes of these modules are variable, depending on the size of works exhibited.
SI Module, was part of Object Rotterdam

three more links inspired by the design fair: Object Rotterdam
1•Odd Designs on Film, 2•Richard Hutten "playing with tradition", 3•Total Table design
The Object Rotterdam excursion was part of the Basic Year "form-lab" workshop

The screen sees me the whole time while I am looking at it, I am not embarrassed by it, it is neutral, invisible even, I don’t register its existence,
it is just a glowing surface.
The screen is inextricably connected to my life. It is a door that I pull shut behind me, which gives me access to a space where I can disappear. It is my gateway to information, it is my space for communication, it is a space where
I carry out my work and enjoy myself.
I entered into this connection and I am addicted to it.

For 9 months, starting in April 2009, our laptops took a portrait photo through the built in webcam and a screenshot of our desktops every 5 minutes while we were using it. We have arranged and displayed this enormous amount of imagery in the hope that both patterns and details will become visible.

INFODECODATA is part of the April 1st BasicYear Design Trip
more on Conditional Design

HUDSON MUSEUM is part of the April 1st BasicYear Design Trip
more on the Hudson Museum

De Daily Whatever was founded in 2006, as a free and independent newspaper. The newspaper was being produced ‘on the spot’ during the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. The main motivation for starting up the newspaper was to inform the public on design topics and to stimulate the local design climate by bringing exciting theory and hereby provoking debate which in return can stimulate innovation.

De Daily Whatever 2009 was edited and printed from room 9 at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. This years editors: Eric de Haas, Hugo Naber and Lucas van Hapert, www.dedailywhatever.nl

online editors: Hexaplex.

The most intriguing aspect of  ’100 years graphic design in the Netherlands’, out of all the graphics, fonts, posters and publications I saw there, was in my opinion the contrast between two different forms of an Alphabet.
These alphabets, or better Font types, were created by the dutch Graphic Designers Wim Crouwel and Anthon Beeke.
The computerlike and clean structure of Crouwel’s ‘New Alphabet’ and the unconventional and quite controversial looking letter type, made out from naked girls, of Beeke on the other side.
For me Beeke’s style visualizes the spirit of the time when this font was created. It let me think of the sexual revolution, the feministic movement and a general break out of traditional and conventional norms of these times.
But also Crouwel, with his mathmatical looking font, hits for me a certain actuality of the late 60ties and 70ties, as that was the begin of the development of the computer age.

Wim Crouwel vs Anton Beeke

for more on functional versus engagé, read part 2

Welcome to part 3 of : tagging slow design. This is a worksheet on which all the link-topics and post-it tags collected on the “slowWall” are listed in relation to the research subjects as components of the ’slow design project’. (researches can be downloaded as .pdf’s).

link topics.

Performance links the Morgan O’Hara research to the one on Julia Mandle. The Julia Mandle research links to the one on Richard Long on the topic street /nature & art, by slow movement to the Kunsthalle Bern exhibit and by sensibility & violence to the Psychogeography research. Psychogeography has the link topic urban life with the Karmen Franinovic research, consumption /destruction /life style with Futurisme, against and pro community with Wim Wenders, evolution of everyday life to Downshifting, and a anonimous link to Maria Blaisse. This anonimous link is not the only one linking Marie Blaisse. Link topics like art and left over, connect this research to Uta Barth. Karmen Franinovic links to Christian Nold by means of the topic mapping, and to Psychogeography by urban life, to Futurisme by life is getting faster & people are getting a social, to Julia Mandle by just stop & think and to Richard Long by the link a way to see. Richard Long links to many other researches: to Sophie Calle by self related art, to Christian Nold through a line made by walking, to Karmen Franinovic linked by the topic a way to see, to Downshifting by choosing slowness. Downshifting links back to Julia Mendle by the link topic us and them, to Psychogeography by revolution of everyday life, to Futurisme tagging the link with designed lifestyle, to Marie Blaisse by us and them, and to the Kunsthalle Bern exhibit by reflect /a closer look. The research on Futurism has some remaining links to Julia Mandle through the topic exploring / explosive / sculptural. Following links from Wim Wenders to Uta Barth is made possible by the topic notice the small things in life, to Christian Nold by moving /memories. Mapping links Christian Nold to the Ambient/Brain Eno research while that last one makes a link back to the Kunsthalle “The Half and the Whole” exhibit creating a take time to cook link.

Reading all the researches the links will surely start to make sense, as will their variety shed light on the specific nature of many of them. Some research subject however did not create any link at all, like in the case of Maison Martin Margiela. And it was 0nly after some discusion that the performance link was created between Sophie Calle and Karmen Franinovic. Uta Barth was anonimously linked to Richard Long which might have been an intuitively act

Post-it tags.

No links did not mean no tags. Time, Maison Martin Margiela for example was closely read and tagged with post-it. This created tags like memories, replica, time(less), can’t relate to it, time, physical picture of memory and the photographical tag to a picture by Mark Manders. Wim Wenders (present in our research list because of his beautifull documentary “Notebook on Cities & Clothes” about fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto) generated also many tags like sublime, I finally found time, hillbilly, surreal, the truth, place, moving. Sophie Calle tagged by the moderator with authorship, generated: life=art, stories, documenting life. Uta Barth looking was tagged: rainy day with half closed eyes, in between places, no left over, sunday. Ambient the research connected to Brian Eno tagged as big here long now was retagged as live the moment, loosing yourself, don’t think, sound. Christian Nold place-ness got tagged with keywords like biomapping, google earth, links, remapping memories. Linked to many, tagged by few. Julian Mandle pause, was tagged with pause from urban flow only. Morgan O’Hara gestures was tagged with trans, transforming, concert-art, transmission, energy of moments, reaction. Maria Blaisse architecture by border between self and not self. Futurism with fast life, life style, save time? Downshifting was tagged with life style too and change assumption. Richard Long tagged as a subject with landscape was enriched with the two tags: exploring fast and slow and perception of space, time and personal potency. Psychogeography with destruction of community, philosophy, socialism, anarchisme and urban live. Finally Karmen Franinovic subtraction, served as a hub for the tags: observe, spontaneous landscape, discover a realy nice place that never be online, easy fast, MTV generation, reflect, and observe. Some researches like Conditional Design re-mapping did not make “the slowWall” and were concequently not linked

added tags from the slow design lecture.

scale, gestures, measurements, relations, sustainability, evolving, creative activism, reveal, expanding awareness, reflect, engage, participal, deceleration, fresh connections, rhythm, probing, (im)materiality, metabolism, reflective consumption, live span, memories, community, record, tracing, (human) body, break (take a break), nothingness, inclusive, transparent, re-mapping, connection to scale

read also: >tagging slowdesign part 1

Our modern world is dominated by speed, we’re addicted to it. We try to squeeze in as much as possible in every minute of every day. All the mintues of the day are a race against the clock. The last 150 years everything seems to get faster, our world had turned into a race of the fastest, not the fittest. Quantity has become more significant than quality.
It’s time for a new approach on the time and the experience of it. Following this philosphy a cultural revolution has begun against the notion that faster is always better. It’s not about doing everything in a snail pace, but about doing things in the right speed. With the right speed you become more aware of the world around you.
Slow movement is also a strategy artists use to explore a new world, parallel to the real one. By examining and exploring the decelerated movement, you experience a completely new place that tells a totally different story then the movement would in a regular pace. The quick movement easily misses the essence of the being. New interpretations and other information occur by applying a slow movement strategy.
Art wants to be looked at closer and deeper, and not to function as a spectacle for the consumer. By engaging more with the work, you get introduced in the inside world, which is not visible in the beginning. It’s like reading a book, as the ‘halves of it’, instead of looking at the cover, the ‘whole’.





The Kunsthalle of Bern shows an exhibition of artworks focussed on the slow movement.. Reading about the slow movement and looking at the works made me rethink about looking at art. I’m not a person who takes the time to look at art more closely. I judge by the cover, the ‘whole’ of what I see.
Last christmas I visited Paris and went to Centre Pompidou. Mindlessly I passed the diffrent works, without truly engaging. After a while I realised I had no clue what I had seen. Then I forced myself to take a closer look and a stronger connection occured to me. Your experience a higher level of commitment, when you let yourself get absorbed into the work. Most people do not reach this level, because they crossmark the artworks they saw and feel satisfied by saying “I’ve seen a real….”. Again; it’s not about quality, but about quantity.
The quest for understanding works hand in hand with a process of decelaration. There are no routine practices that could be used to save time. Why hurry through art and miss it’s essence? An artwork was build out of energy, emotions and time and it deserves to be experienced with the same care.
“Slow Movement or: Half and Whole” means life before art and life after art.

by Bregje Sliepenbeek: download as pdf

I will start with a beautifull sentence that has inspired me often. ‘’standing still for a moment, is actually a big step forward. So I stand still the whole day”. This sentence is a complete overview of what slowness is for me. But is this in connexion to any kind of design or art? For me in some cases this standing still adds a big layer in looking at things. By looking at objects and art for more than an hour and from the same perspective, it gives a new strength. But is there a way to make other people expierence this power of standing still. What could design/art add to this?

Starting of a new academical year of design theory and research with an investigation theme like Unique versus Serial could not have been better. Chosing from a wide variety of design objects exhibited in “Limited/Unlimited, 100 years of Dutch design presented us with the unique opportunity to get an inside in the position of the designer during the last 100 years in the Netherlands. A characteristic of Dutch design is the coexistence of these unique objects alongside serial production, concept alongside industrial reproduction. “Goed in vorm“, 100 years of design in the Netherlands: by Mienke Simon Thomas (curator of decorative art and design at the Boymans Van Beuningen Rotterdam) was acquired by the library and provide us with a lot of interesting background insight.
The question was simple. Choose an object and find out what the position of the designer was in relation to our theme Unique versus Serial .

research: Samuel Schellink /vaas: Jan van der Vaart /research: Corné Gabriels

All those choices resulted in a colourful collection of investigations into the object’s background and the motives of their creators. Available in downloadedable pdf the students present: “Martin Visser, designer or collector“, “Starting with Anton Kurver’s Mailbox“, “Bruno Ninhaber, Stay Limited To Be Unlimited“, “Wim Gilles Dru Kettle“, “Wim Crouwel The Objective Functionalist“, “Adolf Le Comte, A Unique Mocca Set“, “Corné Gabriels, Not Your Average Fashion“, “Marcel Wanders, Knotted Design“, “Jacob Jongert, An Artistic Individualist“, “Limited-Unlimited, The Haque Plateel/Rozenburg“, “Jurgen Bey, A Narritive Structure“, “Jan van der Vaart, A Vase Is For Flowers“.

At the same time VIVID design galery presented a show of “Art Design“. A new phenomena that underlined the intriguing autonomous position of Dutch designers and design, making an on the spot discussion posible about art and design, commercial versus cultural or concept and functionalism. linked article Herald Tribune: Whatever ‘design-art’ is, it’s thriving ©2008

Maybe you find it puzzling that this posting about Helvetica and Wim Crouwel starts with an image of Paul Elliman’s “Bits” Alphabet.

Extremes can sometimes meet when you least expect it, and this fascinates me. It became apparent again during the investigation by the FoundationYear C group, into Gary Hustwitt’s Movie “Helvetica” and our consequently visit to the Wim Crouwel exhibit last month at the “van Abbemuseum”.

left: Bits by Paul Elliman, right: Objectified by Build (click images for blog info)

“Bits” was developed by Paul Elliman in the mid 90ties and published in the 15th (Cities) issue of Fuse’s conceptual Font Box. quote: “Language moves between us and the world on patterns of repetition and variation, and a mimetic example of this might be something like an alphabet”
Later, in 2004, it was included in the Cooper-Hewitt Design Triennial N.Y. which made “concept type” part of the established design world.

Gary Hustwitt’s new documentary “Objectified” takes design, and as a matter of fact “Bits” too, one step further by making it popular in the same way as he did with “Helvetica”.

Modernist thinking, or even constructivist-, lays at the base of the “Helvetica” concept and the work of Wim Crouwel, as this first movie on typography has him stated. As a true Dutch graphic design icon Wim Crouwel illustrated this through work, presented at the library exhibition of the van Abbemuseum, celebrating his 70th birthday. A small but beautiful display of catalogues and posters made for both this and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

pages by Crouwel versus pages by Jan van Toorn from publication “Het Debat”

Extremes met in person when Crouwel and Jan van Toorn celebrated their life long controversy with a recurrence of their famous 1970 debate. Functionalism versus engagement. Jan van Toorn succeeded Crouwel as a designer at this museum under the directorate of Jean Leering to manifest in an inspiring cooperation what that leads to in terms of exhibition concepts and graphic design (“Museum in Motion” at the library). Jean Leering also closely work together with Jan Slothouber (read part 1 of C group’s research) at the TU-Delft where the published several internal essay’s on the philosophical and social consequences of design.

80/20/100 © Nijhof&Lee booksellers – Laurenz Brunner, final exam poster

More research was conducted to explore related content or work approach of other designers like, Laurenz Brunner’s “Akkurat”, his successful contemporary remake of Helvetica, Experimental Jetset convicted users of Helvetica, the cooperation “8020100″ between Vivid Gallery in Rotterdam and Nijhof&Lee Bookstore in Amsterdam. Context was created by turning the focus on Adriaan Frutiger, designer of Helvetica’s conscientious alternative “Univers”. To further explore the relation to language and image we further focused our investigating efforts on the visual legacy of Charles & Ray Eames, the “El Hema” exhibition/store and Massin’s timeless publication “Letter and Image“.

With the inclusion of Belgian artist Guy Rombouts the full circle of our focus on type design was completed. The investigation into his visual language concept “AZart” will be presented soon in a separated part 3 C_group posting. This was part II of the C_group research
All researches linked in this posting can be downloaded in A4 format and are also available as hard copy research prints at the ResearchFolders available at the academy library

With a speech by Simon den Hartog, former director of The Gerrit Rietveld Academie, a small retrospect exhibit on the work of Jan Slothouber was openened at the “van Abbemuseum” in Eindhoven NL. An intimate group of affectionado’s and family bridged the gap of almost 50 years, when Jan Slothouber together with Willem Graatsma started his fascinating journey into the world of the cube. The Centre of Cubic Constructions represented a highlight in this extraordinary focussed research, culminating in the 1970 representation at the Venice Biennale.
Seemlessly scanning the architectoral space occupied by art and design, the exhibit –designed by Erik Slothouber and curated by Diana Franssen– clearly presented an extraordinary focussed spectrum of work

Some weeks later we revisitted this exhibit with a student research team of the FoundationYears C group. Exploring the cubic constructions we found direct relations between the work of Slothouber and the minimal art of Sol LeWitt. The choice for a simple universal and modular form makes it posible to built a grammar for an entire body of work in which all the steps in the process can become interesting in their own right. “in which even the concept can become as interesting as the final product” (Sol Lewitt, cat Sonsbeek 71).

The specific context of typedesign addressed in our workshop presented striking relation between their works and those of more contemporary designers like Radim Pesko and the Swiss designers Dimitri Bruni & Manuel Krebs of Norm

More research was conducted to explore related content or workapproach of other designers like, Bram de Does, Karl Nawrot, Na Kim (website) and Ji Lee.
This was part I of the C_group research.

All researches linked in this posting can be downloaded in A4 format and are also available as hard copy research prints at the ResearchFolders available at the academy library

Did you see the ExperimentaDesign posters by KesselsKramer ! How long did it take you to find out what was going on? It was only after missing all the opening events, at which a score of great designers and artists like (Cyril Duval, Anthony Dunne, Ron Arad, Ian Anderson, Graffiti Research Lab, Mark Jenkins, Rem Koolhaas, Álvaro Siza Vieira) did their presentations, that we realized that something special was going on.
ExperimentaDesign Amsterdam 2008 opened its “Lounging Space” and Droog Event 2 “Urban Play” curated by Scott Burnham, behind the empty SMCS building, in these lost spaces “under the bridge”. “Come To My Place”, “Sunday Adventure Club” and parallel events like “Red Light Design” were all part of it.
At a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon, 6 weeks later, a small group of intimi braved the bad weather and enjoyed some inspiring presentations of an other select group of invited participants among whom, Kamiel Klaasse (NL Architects), Scott Burnham (curator Urban Play), Renny Ramakers (Droog Design) and Ji Lee (New York graphic designer).

It is all over by now. But do not worry Rietveld’s A group Foundation students did go out there to capture most of the events for you.

“Beeldtaal, een design of logo probeert je altijd wat te vertellen” – Jeroen Bruijn, Designer van Design bureau Thonik
——————————

————————–
Jeroen Bruijn heeft het logo en de tentoonstelling voor het droog event 2 URBAN PLAY  ontworpen. Het logo verwijst naar straten en zebrapaden wat wel duidelijk is. Het verwijst naar straten omdat de tentoonstelling ging over straat interventie, kunst in steden op straat.
Het leuke van de logo is dat het vrij kenmerkend is voor de stijl van Thonik en voornamelijk Jeroen de Bruijn. Een stijl die gemakkelijk te herkennen is (er word veel met strepen gewerkt, herhaling en zware letters) en uitnodigt om ernaar te blijven kijken. *

De tentoonstelling is opgebouwd uit dozen met het logo erop in het midden van de zaal, met het idee van een stad. Tussen die dozen waren kleine tv’s geplaatst met daarop video’s van de artiest en een poster met informatie ernaast. De bedoeling was dat je ging zoeken naar de kunst in “de stad”. De keuze voor kartonnen dozen heeft hij gemaakt met het idee dat karton net als de kunst op vaak makkelijk beïnvloedbaar is door zijn omstandigheden. (Jeroen Bruijn zei zelf dat hij naderhand gemerkt heeft dat de tentoonstelling een vochtige ruimte is en dat dit ook effect had op het karton.)

Ik vond de tentoonstelling er leuk uitzien en opgezet, alleen voor mij was de bedoeling niet helemaal duidelijk. Ik vond het best verwarrend om daar tussen die dozen te staan en ik kwam pas later in het gesprek erachter dat het een stad moest zijn. Ik vind het niet erg dat ik er geen stad in kon vinden, maar wat me wel wat dwars zat is dat ik me nogal verloren voelde tussen die dozen en naar mijn opzicht het geheel chaotisch overkwam.
Maar het kan ook zijn dat hij het juist zó bedoeld had, en dat het gevoel van verlorenheid en juist de chaos die daarbij aansluit overeenkomt met de siuatie waarin je de kunst op straat normaal  aan zou treffen.

posting by Annelot Meines

When you drive through the Vijzelstraat, you might have glanced in amazement at the huge block-size buiding that you pass between Keizers- and Herengracht. This building is called “De Bazel” named after the architekt K.P.C. de Bazel. It was built between 1919 and 1926 and served as headquarters of the Dutch Trading Company. Since a year it houses the new City Archive (Gemeente Archief). If you go inside you can walk through this amazing building and enjoy the detailed interior design and visit exhibits organized in the huge bank vault in the basement. more …. (posting 299)

[poster by Anton Beeke

as a hommage to Premsela in the year of his death]

At this moment –until April 26th– The Gemeente Archive presents an exhibit on one of the prominent dutch designers of the 2nd half of the 20th century. Benno Premsela [1920-1997]. He was active in interiour-, and exhibition design as well as the design of shopwindows (Bijenkorf) and several interiour products. He also designed stages for the Dutch Ballet. As designer, advisor and organiser he manifrested himself in the foreground aswell as the background of the design community. Premsela was not someone to hide his private- from his professional life, which was most prominent in his manifest role in the homo emancipation movement.

The Premsela Institute is –in good dutch tradition– named after him. This institute promotes design national as wel as international. Platform 21 is is closely connected to this Institute

When two exhibitions present a clear insight in the autonomy of modern designing, DesignResearch has to examen what it is all about and who is involved.
This occasion was presented by the “Joyride Expo” organized by Platform 21 and “At Random: Networks and Crossovers” curated by the Paviljoens Almere.

(l>r: at studio Tjep > cuddling the XXL-chair > visiting JoyRide Expo)

The participation of the Dutch product- and interactive design avant garde presented an unique opportunity to experience the freedom in which design concepts can be developped. This became clear at the opening event of the Joyride Expo, when designers transformed remote control toycars into their ultimate joyride dream

(l>r: Skycatcher by Maurer & Puckey > Expo & Reader designed by Lust)

When visiting Almere (only a 20 minute train-ride), Luna Maurer presented insights into the philosophy behind here work “Graybloc“. One of her other works “Floor design” –an ongoing and ongrowing work in progress– covers the floors with mappings of the organisations consultative structure, as such visualizing the Paviljoen’s network. We could be present to witness her weekly upgrade.
Studio >Tjep< was visited in a later stage as part of a students investigations. We enjoyed an informal presentation of some projectbooks, focussing on his proposal for the restyling of the IKEA restaurant.

Research material was edited down to A4 sized guided tours into selected subjects. All subjects presented in this list are also available as hard copy research prints at the ResearchFolders at the Rietveld library.

Related to Joyride the investigation focussed on the following subjects and people: Bertjan Pot (furniture design), Strange Attractors (interactive design), Marijn van der Poll (product design), Moniek van Heist (fashion design), Dinie Besems, Pieke Bergmans (product design), Frank Tjepkema /Tjep (interior/product design) the general subjects of >Concept Cars<, >Soapbox Racing<, “Craddle to Craddle” McDounough/Braungart (industrial design) the Nature Design exhibit in Zürich and its publication by Lars Müller, Droog Design, Bruce Mau’s “massive change” (communication design) and as added subjects Sophie Krier (Design Lab) and the artist Panamarenko.

related to the ongoing At Random: Networks and Crossovers exhibit, the investigation focussed on: Jeanne van Heeswijk (artist), Lust (graphic design), Nathalie Bruys (geluidskunstenaar), Luna Maurer (interaction design), the At Random reader by Lust design, and the related subjects SKOR and OPEN magazine #13

Dexter Sinister (Stuart Bailey, David Reinfurt and Sarah Crowner) call their project a “Just-In-Time Workshop & Occasional Bookstore”1. Their workshop deals with the classical production scheme of publications and the different roles of designer, publisher, producer, editor, curator and distributer. The twice a year published culture (“art-design-music-language-literature-architecture”3) magazine Dot Dot Dot is an example for the redefinition of traditional ideas of publishing.

They also take part at this year Whitney Biennial in New York.
“Dexter Sinister’s proposal for the Whitney takes the form of an extended poem titled True Mirror, a composite of excerpts from writings and artworks derived from a variety of artists and authors. Loosely based on ideas of reflecting and shadowing, the manifestations of this abstract proposal remain necessarily open until the Biennial begins. Dexter Sinister will occupy a former colonel’s dressing room at New York’s uptown Armory, from which they will explore various channels of distribution alongside the rest of the show. These activities are prefaced by a typically oblique double motto: “Quality is merely the distribution aspect of Quantity” (or vice versa).”2

A reasonable but rather long interview about things can be found at www.bombsite.com.

More information about the project, contributers and their releases can be found at Dexter Sinisters True Mirror website or Whitney Biennial
posting prepared by jan (group f)

Last Sunday afternoon E-Group went back to the basics in the “Cooking and Constructing” exhibiting-event organised by Platform 21. Together with students from the Textile department and Heleen Klopper we tried to use vegetables as a source for printing and making.

This event took place after an introducing visit and small lecture on “text and textile” by Erik Wong and a visit and guided tour into the wonderfull World of Vlisco (Garenteed Dutch Wax) printed designs (dessins) exhibited in the Volkenkundig Museum in Leiden.
Textile can be used as a medium for direct communication as these examples clearly show.

(Katharine Hamnett T-shirt, Vlisco print, WW2 japanese kimono)

The Design Trip to Germany took us to Insel Hombroich in Neuss Germany. On the way we stopped at the Museums Haus Esters and Haus Lange, Mies van der Rohe’s first building experiments (1929) with -non supportive- brick housing. The buildings were clearly designed to look from inside out as we experienced while exploring the art and photography filled interiors. Especially the bathroom on the second floor gave us a sweet glimps in the past.[above: Thomas Ruff /under: Haus Lange by Mies van der Rohe]

During a beautifull autumn day, we entered the magical Erwin Heerich’s Pavilions followed by red and yellow leaves . Nowhere can daylight be experienced like this, looking at the art and craft as it realy is and was meant to be. The unique melting of architecture, art and craft can be enjoyed only at a few places like this. Calder, Yves Klein, Buddha, China or Schwitters and Bart vd Leck, the shere power of it made us enjoy this humbling moment. Architectura et Natura[above: Venician glass / Gerrit Rietveld furniture

On September 1, before the program of the Foundation year even started, G-group visited the exhibition “Le Corbusier Art and Architecture” on it’s last exhibition day. It was the beginning of a journey with Corbusier which showed us that art, design and nature are permanently interconnected. The Lecture on Le Corbusier’s sources of inspiration and his journey to the balkan and Istanbul (by Carla Boomkens) prepared us for the yearly FoundationYear’s International trip to the “Bienalle of Istanbul”.
We found out that the richness of Corbusier’s oeuvre, connected us to many classic and contemporary subjects from Primitivism and the “Foundations of Modern Art” to the “Nature Design“in Zürich fall 2007