notes, ideas & comments

back home

2009-08-16T10:47:33Z

just returned from a trip to marktheidenfeld/main/germany and marbach/donau/austria. it is good to travel. to meet others, hear different stories and see and lvie in differenty environments. hotels (mainblick and wachauerhof) were good and food and wine were great as well. most of all wer were impressed by the friendliness and hospitality we found there. comung back we have to get used to a society were those two essentials human characteristics are not always easy to find.

new work

2009-07-28T13:57:54Z

for many years i have been working with groups to realize large scale project. the magic restaurant project in oulu, finland in 1994 was one of the first. the tulip project is now. there are more ideas for large scale projects, like the fisherman for istanbul or the plans for the giant table and chairs in berlin. all those projects could start tomorrow, but having only two hands and like everyone else only 24 hours a day, i prefer to concentrate now on the tulips.

the tulips are ok. the projects grows without effort and more and more kids get a chance to get involved. now at the ahoy centre in the south of rotterdam, hundreds of kids are drawing and painting very colourful and inspiring tulips. more then 30 schools are allready involved in the project and more will certainly do so the coming months.

]]> at the same time however it is great to work on other things, other concepts and most of all to work in a different way. working with large groups is demanding and costs a lot of energy. projects like the tulips are fun to do. it is fun to create new ways to do things and to get kids involved (as much as possible) in a large scale art project. it is inspiring to see how much you can do without resources (the fisherman in rotterdam was realized without resources: there was no budget).

still however it is essential to relax, to do other things and use my brains in different ways to prevent rust and routine-like operations. photography offers those possibilities. i make pictures - i decide when and what i make pictures of. the rotterdam - istanbul project, i.e. making pictures along the waterway between those two harbour cities is challenging. there is much to see, there is much to learn and most of all there is much happening between this source of life straight through europe: most off all there is much to photograph.

other projects

2009-07-26T15:49:22Z

for many years i made pictures. i even built my own dark room equipments when i was young. i had many different (film)camera' s and even an extensive set of olympus equipment. around 2000 i sold my extensive set of olympus camera' s and lenses and bought a new aps canon camera. at that moment i loved having a small camera with two lensens instead of the many different olympus objectives. now i regret that i sold everything. since about a year i have several digital canon camera' s, lenses and even a pentax 6x7 with a set of lenses. i am using these camera' s frequently.

]]> on this moment i am using a canon 5d and a canon 500d with a number of prime lenses. i do not like zoomlenses. i like to use my lensens when possible wide open. i like pictures that tell a story and i do not care wheather my pictures are sharp or almost sharp. i studied the work of robert frank and eugene smith a.o. and learnt that sharpness is not always important.

photography is getting more and more important for me. i like making pictures of the tulip project and of all those that are involved. but besides that i am working on a book with pictures from the waterway from rotterdam to istanbul, straight through europe. for me it is a relaxing way to spent some days off. slowly i am learning how to make pictures and to forget about composition, or nice colours. i am learning to make a story and combinations of pictures. i hope to present the pictures i made and selected in the near future on my website.

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 2008. 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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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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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.

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.

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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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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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.

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.

the first panorama pictures

2007-10-21T11:03:43Z

it is timne top think about assembling 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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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.

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.

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.