notes, ideas & comments

2008-09-01: Tulips, Tulips & Tulips

2008-09-01T19:00:59Z

Still a little more then two weeks to go before the presentation of the tulips at Euroskills 2009. The idea is to show all aspects of the tulipproject in reality, meaning that children are painting tulip models, that students are making steel models from 2 mm sheetmaterial and that other students together with the kids that designed the tulip,s paint the heavy models. So we will present the project as it is and invite our participants to meet the possibly 40.000 Euroskills visitors from 31 countries. The aim of our presentation is simply to let others share in our way of working. We are looking for contacts, for others who want to cooperate and are willing to make tulips. That simply meaning that they help us and we help them to get things organised allowing younger and older students to draw tulips, to make 2 mm model and to work on 25 mm models. Hopefully this results in many more tulips and most of all many more happy, smiling and proud faces from those that were involved in the project.

Our first aim is to get 25 tulips, meaning that children from 25 different primary schools get involved (Rotterdam, 600.000 inhabitants, 175 nationalities) and also meaning that students from all professional technical (in particular metal) schools in the city are involved. The projects is well underway. Possibly we are able to reach our first series of 25 tulips around Christmas this year. We will see.

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2008-08-30: new projects

2008-08-31T17:12:03Z

For several months i have been busy upgrading my tools. I got a new Canon 5D camerasystem with sufficient lenses, tripods and relevant software. Last year I got new computer hardware and in the very near future I hope to get new Epson printers. Since the early nineties I have been working with Apple computers and digital printers. I was able to make my own presentations, in particular small editions of books and brochures. Those books have played an important role in my work. In general I was able to present my ideas with those selfmade books, in which I explained what I had in mind and wanted to do (a number of these, transformed in PDF format can be found on my website). In general I printed my books on Fabriano paper with a digital Apple, Canon or Epson printer. I made my own lay-out, wrote my own texts and made my own pictures, often combinations of photo' s I took and 3D Vectorworks - Cinema 4D presentations.

I gave many of those books away. With a number of projects I printed and handmade hundreds of copies of several of my books. All those books were signed and numbered. Sometimes my gift was appreciated as a piece of art, sometimes as a piece of paper on which peopel made notes during a meeting. I still enjoy the feeling of those handmade books. It was fun to do, but very, very much work, especially on the early Epson printers, where each sheet needed special care.

Initially I started making sheets in the early Photoshopversions, which simply meant that I had to print each page seperately. later I was able to collecti my Photoshop documents in Indesignfiles, which saved, together with the newer generation of printer very much work. I have transformed many of those former Photoshop and Indesign productions in PDF files, which can be found on my website. The feeling is very different compared to the original. With many of those books I was able to find others and to get projects going.

With a.o. the new camera- and computerequipment I will be able to make much larger and more detailed presentations and be able to work on larger, i.e. more complicated and more extensive projects. Presentations for those projects will allow many others to get involved.

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2008-05-16: the tulip project

2008-05-16T10:46:10Z

in a couple of hours the first official presentation of the tulip project will take place. 8 primary school, 4 + 1 vocational schools and 2 higher grade vocational schools, together with many enthusiastic organsiations, are involved in the project. the presentation will take place in villa zebra in rotterdam.

]]> the idea of the project is that children from basic schools draw tulips. students from vocational schools maken models of a selection of these drawings (2 mm thick steel, 1.80 x 1,80 x 1,80 m) and more experienced students make similar models in 25 mm thick steel. these heavy models will be painted by the children that originally drew the tulips.

drawings of tulips made by app. 175 children will be presented in villa zebra as well two 2mm steelmodels. when everything goes well the number of schools involved can grow rapidly resulting in many different colourful tulips and hopefully as well in many happy and proud faces.

2008-01-24: 2 projects, 1 bathroom

2008-01-24T14:54:11Z

since the middle of november i have been working on the tulip project, the fisherman for istanbul and the bathroom, roughly in that order, day after day. on this moment everything seems go very well. there is not much to do except to wait and see what will happen. lots of issues have been solved and for the time being patience is very important.

]]> sometimes projects develop well, sometimes fast and sometimes not well and slow. that is how it is. with the construction of the bathroom it is the same. on this moment i am working on the floor. i put a sealing coating on top and with a ventilator i try to let it dry as fast as possible. as soon as that coating is dry it is possible to start with the marble tiles.

putting the tiles on is not much work, making the last tiles fit is quite some work. sawing the marble does not work: either you see nothing of the efforts of the saw or the tiles break. so i decided to cut them with a kind of oversized nailcutter, resulting in painful hands and lots of blisters.

in that sense the bathroom is similar to my normal projects. the last resulting parts and little pieces of the puzzle often require most efforts, most energy and are not always inspiring to do. with the bathroom it is exactly the same.

2007-12-15: almost xmas

2007-12-15T14:47:55Z

it is wet outside, not very cold and a little dark. for mid december the wheather is mild. i dot not like it. it is too warm, to dark, to autumn like and allthough i prefer spring and autumn wheather i would love to have now a clear blue sky and would gladly accept cold wheather. i always enjoyed the cold period at the end of februari in finland: minus 25 degrees centrograde, very dry and a perfect almost endless clear blue sky. i would not mind to get some cold days here to get at least the feeling that it is or has been winter. since our visit to koblenz i have not been writing much. we visited the north of the province of north holland, driving fro mrotterdam to medemblik and from there to den oever, along the northern coast to den helder and fro mthere to bergen aan zee. from bergen aan zee to ijmuiden and fro mthere, in three days back home, but that was already three weeks ago.

even then the wheather was rough. it wasd difficult to sleep in the hotel in bergen due to the strong wind: thew balcony door made a lot of noise due to the powerful storm. it was hard to make pictures from the beaches and the sea due to the wheather. the widn was so powerful during those three days that walknig on the beach felt likje being sandblasted. it felt great afterwards but holding a camera and keeping it dry was not always easy.

since our last trip the work on the tulips and the fisherman continued seven days a week, but at the same time even the work on the bathroom could go on. every day i have been able to finish parts of the bathroom walls with pink and white marble, white shiny mosaic and traditional white tiles. it is quite som work, allthough the bathroom is not that big, due to round walls and wall that are not upright. the work proceeds well.

but after weeks of dark and rainy whetaher i would like to go to the coast again and make pictures at the beach in zandvoort and zeeuws vlaanderen and also some in nijmegen. when that is done will have driven along the whole dutch sea-coast from belgium to germany and along the waterway from the north sea to rotterdam and to germany. hopefully we are able to spend a weekend in oostende and drive along the belgium coast.

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2007-10-30: five days in koblenz

2007-10-30T16:58:31Z

we spent five days in koblenz lats week, driving to st goarshausen, boppard, cochem and bad breisig, enjoying the landscape, the fantastic autumn colors, the low sun and it sublime light and off course many different kinds of wine.

i first had in mind to send the second fisherman from rotterdam to koblenz and from there on to another city on its way to istanbul. i found out somewhere that duisburg will be cultural capital and pecs just like istanbul in 2010 and linz in 2009. in that way the transport from the fisherman will proceed from almost one special city to another. a better moment is hardly possible

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2007-10-22: almost ready

2007-10-22T16:48:17Z

today pictures from zaltbommel to ewijk. i got pictures from the waalbridge near ewijk. nijmegen was just a bridge too far. it would have been nice when i would have been able to photograph that last part of the waterway from rotterdam to germany. the other one, from rotterdam to hoek of holland has been done. ]]>

i also decided to arrange the pictures in the "right" order. i mean going from rotterdam to germany, you will see pictures made from rotterdam to germany. i felt that presenting a random collection of pcitures made somewhere between rotterdam and germany would be chaotic.

the pictures i made show what can be seen along the banks of the waterway. therefore i should present the pictures in such a way that it is clear what i had in mind: making pictures along the waterways.

earlier thoughts about making pictures along waterways dealt with amknig picture along the coast, mainly the coast on the european continent. in that sense making pictures from the water dealt with a search how far you could go, driving to the end of the road, how to continue and mostly to keep going on.

making pictures from waterways seems similar to making pictures from the sea. a river however is a connecting element and in that sense making pictures of the river is a different story. it is not a matter anymore how far you can go, but just a method of collecting images of what a drive along the river on both sides is like.

2007-10-06: basic ideas - two early models

2007-10-21T12:10:27Z

two models, made in the mid eighties are essential in my development as an artist. these two house models are concepts of possible housing designs. one was made and intended as as an entry for an unesco design competion, the other as a contribution to a japanese competition.

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the second model consisted of a number of different wall elements and a block containing a kitchen and other necessary elements. in a similar but different way this model allowed a lot of freedom as well.

the first concept was rather three dimensional and complicated to draw, ev en in 3d drawing program. the second concept was much easier to visualise. i made it seen from above, scetching many times with a think brush on a sheet o paper, continoulsy looking and searching for a pelasing design.

both models allowed me to continue my search for ideas, background and a satisfying way of working. after these models i made models for 5 houses. after these i continued with a group and worked on architectural competitions.

2007-10-21: the first panorama pictures

2007-10-21T11:03:43Z

it is timne top think about assmelbing the pictures i made. i have not decided yet what to do and how to select pictures from the many i made along the water and put them together in a large panorama picture. for me a collection of pictures made from many different point of vue is also a kind of panorama. it is what you might see drivinf and walking along the water. it is not a traditional panorama, made from one point, turning the camera again and again from the same place in many different directinos, later merging the pictures in one huge overall picture.

i have not decided yet how many pictures i will select and what kind of pictures i will select, nor how i will present them. most likely on this moment is one huge print with as many pictures as possible, for example 1,20 meter high and 4,5 meters long, consisting of 20 pictures above each other and 60 besides each other. the print will cover the area between the existingh fisherman and the dutch-german border. a second print will cover the area between the existing fisherman and hoek of holland and the north sea.

the panorama pictures i have in mind are similar to the table no1 project and many others ia have realsied so far. many different ideas, issues, concepts etc are put together in one simple frame of reference, creating in that sense more or less one overall container that can be shown to others. in that sense the photo project illustrates clearly my way of working.

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2007-10-18: new pictures & pictures in general

2007-10-18T18:23:24Z

since last wek i have been able again to make pictures from the rhine and the waal. last weekend we spent in berg and dal, near nijmegen and photographed from berg and dal to rees and from emmerich to the waalbridge near nijmegen and the next day from the bridge to dodenwaard. the wheather was gorgeous: sharp autumn light, quite often hardly any clouds. because it was rather early even there were not many others on the road. making pictures was very statisfying and relaxing.

]]> today i drove from brakel to zaltbommel along the same river. unfortunately i had to stop due to suddendly heavy rains. i tried later to continue but had to return to rotterdam. the traffic jams i met and saw on the way back were huge. making pictures from 12.00 to 16.00 seems the maximum you can do these autumn days before the traffic jams get problematic.

roughly i photographed now from hoek of holland to rotterdam and from rotterdam to düsseldorf. some areas along this road i could not do because of bad wheather or bad maps. my collection of maps is growing rapidly thanks to stanley and livingstone in the hague. most of the german part of the riverproject is covered by 1:50.000 maps, austria and hungary by 1:300.000. the 1:50.000 maps are meant for biking and are great as you can clearly see where you can go by car and where you have to walk.

i like to drive as much as possible. i do not want to walk to much. it takes too long and i do not like walking very much any anymore. hopefully tomorrow i can photograph from the southern bank of the waal between zaltbommel and nijmegen. on this moment the wheather is ok. some sun would be great. i photographed in tghe rain in germany and had to be very careful with the camera to prevent any drops on the lens, in particular those drops that left traces on the pictures.

when everything goes well tomorrow, the whole area between hoek of holland and the german-dutch border has been photographed. later thiis week to koblenz for the same reason. so far we habe nee bale this year to photograph the german coast between poland and kiel, a large part of the dutch coast and from the belgian-french border to le havre. after those coastlines and rovers are done things get more complicated as distances grow larger. from here to northern germany for example, the area between the netherland and bremen is some hours by car. from here to the german-polish border is already a long day.

2007-10-10: only big projects

2007-10-10T18:38:46Z

for many weeks now i have not made any pictures from the rhine or others rivers. i hae not been at the beach to continue with pictures from the coastline. the wheather has not been very inspiring. it is autumn now and with the right kind of sunlight the yellow-green-brown leaves look like they were made of gold.

unfortunately the sun is not always shining. it is not always a clear blue sky and making pictures with that kind of wheather might be a challenge for someone wanting to make nice pictures, but for me it is especially in these hectic days another good reason to stay home.

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quite often i remember walking and climbing in the austrian mountians, thinking that after this mountaintop the next one would be very close, almost within reach. but getting closer i saw that there was another valley between thsoe i could see and some other tops i did not see. it is the same with large scale projects. once you start you cannot go back, you just have to continue walking, thinking and working. you can stop and you can continue, other choices are not there. once you stopped you cannot start again anymore.

working on big projects means not knowing how much time you have tomorrow, not being able to work on other projects, not being able to plan to far ahead. it also means being flexible all the time, being extremely alert on what happens around you and what action to take. most of all it means working full time.

2007-10-08: basic ideas - competitions

2007-10-08T17:21:44Z

at the end of the ieghties and beginning of then n ineties i, or rather we worked on architecturalcompetitions. after a period in which i made models of possibly functional houses, i felt it was to time to work with others. i was afraid that otherwise i would repeat myself and continue to work in the same way.

with different grouthe idea in each group was to promotoe a maximum of creativittranslated in a design that could be built. many models were built, many scetsches were made and each time the results were indeed different.

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quite often a situation arose in which is did not agree with that what was done andhad strong doubts baout what to do. just be a boss and make a deicsion was oen option, just let it go and see what happened was another. quite often thse two issues did not supprot each other.

the competition entrees were made iwth much enthusiasm. hearing however how many entrees were expected and calculating a possble chance of succes contributed to the decision to continue with installations. the crate house was the first installation that was ralzied directly after the competition entrees: see www.gercbout.com/output/the_crate_house/

later i worked slo on some competitionentree. the themes were different and so were my expectations. the future competition i did were callenges for me again, but in a different way.

2007-10-06: basic ideas - the houses

2007-10-06T12:35:34Z

houses played and still an important role in my work. i rebuilt several hosues and still am rebuilding opur present house. a house is normally considered as a place to live, as a place to be, to invest money in, to design or to sell. the houses is have in mind deal with different issues, in particular with the ideas on which designs for, shall we say, functional houses are desigend and built.

so far i have been able to realise a number of, shall we say, unfunctional houses. i know the word is not good, but here in this context it is necessary to differentiate from the functional houses. in the future i hope to realise some others as well. the ideas for the unfunctional houses are from the end of the eightis and beginning of the nineties. now and then new ideas pop up.

]]> the first project was a kind of full scale model of some ideas, meant to be used later in a design for a real, i.e. functional house. the installation took place in “Theater de Unie”,Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 1990 ( see www.gercbout.com/output/the_crate_house). m ore or less it was a kind of architectural model that could be used as a basic idea of how to design and organsie a new type of house. building that model with crates was fun and made it possible to see in reality how everything looked and felt when you could walk through. the building took place in a nummber of hours. it was great to do. the project formed a ncie transition from the mdoesl i made meant for functionla hosues, to the projects i am working on now

the second project was realized in 1993 in pori, finland. a little wooden house was taken apart, all parts were transported to a site near the pori art museum and put together in an unplanned way. it took long to find out how to take a hosue apart and organsie everything again in a different house, in fact how to turn a functionla house into an unfunctional house. many models were made, until finally a scale model was made of a fallery in pori, finland, 1H + K. the building with the gallery would be destroyed to make palce for new developments. by rebuilding part of that building in a similar way as the real building a worknig mdoel was made. that model was taken apart again and the parts that had been used form the material to make the new model. at the same period i became aware that john cage has done the same with a piece of tape with mozart music.

for quite some period i have done my best to find a place and a crew to get my plans for a hosue of frozen water realized. thisp roject consisted of a huge block of frozen water, in which all openings were interconnected. i investigated the possibilities in iceland, northern finland and northern japan, met with much enthusiasm, as the project migth look like a diamond, but have so far been unable to get it realised. see: www.gercbout.com/output/a_house_of_frozen_water

the transparent dream project in turku, finland is another project that forms part of my series of houses. the project is turku is more or less a full scale wirefram. you can get in, you can walk around, but from a distant of some meters it is not always clear whtehr the housee is some kind of virtual projection or a real model. see www.gercbout.com/output/a_transparent_dream/

for a japanese competition i conceived of a house of names: names of those who inspired me. the names were sued to build the house, including the table with chairs. two pictures frepresent the project. in one the house is seen as a sputnik flyi ng aorund the world and one in clse up from the inside. the idea is very simpe that ideas from others are very important as sources of inspiration but not as do' s and do not' s or as dogma. i like the rietveld schröder house because it is the only kind of house that was made that way. i hated the story that mondriaan or van doesburg even painted fresh tulips that someone brought so make them fit in his house.

more houses are planned. to get one of these plans realzied it is essential however to find a good place and a supportive crew. as soon as these are available, i will start.

2007-10-06: basic ideas, house, fisherman and table with chairs

2007-10-06T09:58:07Z

the transparent dream project in turku, finland, 1996, the fisherman project in rotterdam, the netherlands, 2006 and the so far not yet realized 4 chairs and 1 table, initiated in antwerpen, belgium, are important projects in my work. in a period of almost ten years 2 out of 3 project were realized. the projects refer to basic issues in humand life: a place to live, a chance to make a living and a place to meet others.

all three projects are more or less wireframes, a term-concept from 3d drawing programs. wireframes are more or less invisble and become visible by rendering, by applying textures, light, and circumstances. the wireframe is more or less the idea, visible in 3-d, but only in thin lines.

]]> the 3 projects are similar. all three are common symbols for many people from many different nationalities, cultures and backgrounds. the wireframes are clearly visible and exactly the same for everyone. the rendering however, the way the 3 projects are working so to speak, is completeley different from person to person.

working on the projects i had the chance to meet many people from whom many volunteered to assist in the realization of the transparent dream project, the fisherman and the 4 chairs and 1 table. just some pictures of what i had in mind was sufficient to generate many stories, about the house of their grandmother, the soup they ate their, the flowers in the garden etc etc. the same was true with the fisherman and the 4 chairs and 1 table. more or less the wireframe of the projects were rendered by those who saw them with their memories and dream.

each participant in the projects saw his or her version of the house, the fisherman or the 4 chairs and 1 table. in that sense the wireframes were the incentives of the projects, allowed others to actively participate and more or less to realize their house, their fisherman and their 4 cahirs and 1 table. the basic ideas for the projects formed in that sense a frame of reference to bind others with compeletely different ideas, make the realization of the projects possible and most of all allowed everyone to enjoy his or her private personal interpretation of the final result.

with the experience gained with these 3 projects i could continue. i could start other projects and cooperate with many more and instead of concentrating on well known themes like a house, a fisherman and 4 chaiurs and 1 table, more general themes were accessible. the haifa project for example, the berlin project, the ducks and especially now the fisherman for istanbul and the tulips are based on the insight and experience gained in the theree wireframe projects mentioned here above

2007-09-30: basic ideas 5

2007-09-30T17:36:55Z

since my studies at delft university my work proceeded along the same path of curiosity. i have been deverloping ideas starting with a little tab;le and now working a.o. on a proposal for a table and 4 chairs, 70 meters high, meant for berlin.

is it art, is it design, is it architecture? does it matter? is not it a matter of what kind of frame of reference you choose, of what you want to see and hear and think instead looking open minded at my work?

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i enjoyed his approach and realised that allthough his work was differtent from mine, there were lots of similarities as well. some years earlier i had met toyo ito and discussed with him his work and the few houses i had done at the moment. i did my best to leave everything out of the design that was not necessary for the total spatial composition. i guess that toyo ito did the same with his early works / houses. being as curious as i am, i could not continue to work the way i did, doing my best to design and built nice apartments for clients.

i learnt from robert irwin to reconsider what i was doing and change some of the conditions of what i did. i learnt that he started swith painting, then cocnetrated on the painting and the ligth that was necessary to see the paintin g, then the space in which the painting and the light stood and so on.

in a s similar way i decided to chance my starting points, from designing for clients, i designed for myself; in stead of designing alone, i started working with a group, instead of working on competition scale modesl, we worked on full scale models, in stead of wqorking inside, we started working outside, instead of small projects we started doing large projects, etc. i am still worknig in this way, still changing some issues and in that sense creating similar but at the same time completely different projects.

i know i do not fit in any kind of system and i do my utmost best to keep it that way. continously i am challenging today' s art and architecture. in my work i react on what i see and hear. it is a matter of thinking, feeling and wondering. it is challenging. it keeps my mind very busy and in that sense is a ncie medicin to keep my brains active. to do so i continously need input from others: magazines, pictures, music, food, conversations, books a.o.

i do not know what will happen tomorrow, what i will hear or see or feel. but i do know that i react to what happens around me. more or less i am in a continuous dialogue with the world around me, i am ineracting, i am reacting and that keep me alive. continuously my ideas are changing reacting to the world around me. i like it that way. it keeps me alive.