amsterdam, designer, events, interaction designer, mediamatic, projects, RFID, videos
The Automatiek exhibit at the Amsterdam Historical Museum features these classic, self-serve vending machines dispensing historical Dutch objects instead of the old, odd, fried piece of frikadel as teaser for the upcoming new National Historical Museum.
There are a variety of objects to choose from ranging from the obvious Dutch cheese knife to the more obscure Dutch (?!) cassette tape. With each object only costing one or two euros, it’s easy to walk away from the exhibit with a whole lot of new Dutch stuff in your hands as well as in your head. Unless you are one of these people…
The Oma-Hackers
There’s always some one out there looking to beat the system, I just never thought it would be a pair of outlaw grandmas. These two gal pals showed up one day to the exhibit with their own previously made RFID cards. Many people who come to exhibit tend to recharge their card during their first visit to buy more objects, but to come back for seconds, it was unprecedented. Of course, more shocking was the fact that they just refilled their cards, bought their objects and tried to leave without even watching the movie (which I, personally, think is the best part of the whole exhibit). As some one who worked on the project, I had to stop them and ask them why.
Turns out the Automatiek was the best deal on quality tea towels this side of Amsterdam. What normally costs a whopping €6.95 in the stores was only €2 here at the exhibit and everyone on the granny grapevine was trying to get in while the getting was good. Hey, it’s classier than going to the 99¢ Store, right?
So come on down to the Automatiek exhibit before August 29th, 2010 at the Amsterdam Historisch Museum and get your tea towel today, while supplies last!
More info:
August 1st, 2010
articles, japan, social, travel, videos
Everything in Japan moves at its own pace—its own perfectly polite and energy-efficient pace. I was amazed to find an entire country whose population individually and collectively have such an amazing grasp of their own proxemics.
In Meguro, we witnessed groups of golfers patiently going from one hole to another, with each group seemingly never having to wait for the previous one to finish. At the same park, splatters of little children were being shuffled around by no more than two women with nothing but colored hats to distinguish them from the other herds of children. Finally, a the bus depot across from our hotel, I watched every night as every bus returned in sequential order and park closing before its gates.
MINI-HIKERS (PINK GROUP)
BUS DEPOT
May 23rd, 2010
design, review, videos
It wasn’t until after I filmed this that my boss mentioned to me that this particular hair dryer was designed by Dieter Weiss, not Dieter Rams. So I can’t tell influential designers apart, so what? My boss stays up all night bidding on old womens’ hairdryers and no one has anything to say about that?!
February 9th, 2010
amsterdam, videos
In a country that lets you ride your bicycle without a helmet while trams and cars try to hit you for points, it’s nice to know that on very special occasions they can really let their hair down when it comes to safety precautions and try to set the city on fire.
Happy 2010!
January 1st, 2010
articles, interview, video games, videos
This group of guys aren’t just a bunch of developers huddled in a dark room, (although looking back on it, you could practically print some 8×12’s in the joint – more to do with Dutch weather than a love to bathe in monitor glow I think). Over in Utrecht, I met up with two of the co-founders of Ronimo Games, Jasper Koning and Fabian Akker who sat down and had a chat about their new Nintendo WiiWare game, Swords and Soldiers. Inspired by the ending to Super Moine and the Flash game, Age of War, Swords and Soldiers is kind of like a mutant cross breed between Worms and Civilization. It takes flat style illustration and couples it with strategy as well as the love for senseless, repetitive violence. You make them better. Faster. Stronger.
Not only is this game coming while the company is practically still in diapers (they just graduated last year from HKU), but they’re Dutch, and trying to do comedy all in a $10 game. I personally would have attached some string to a ball and called it a day, but everyone has their thing.
They’ve made the most out of what their education and country has to offer. According to Jasper, they were able to secure some subsidies for their company (albeit not a whole lot, but enough to keep them and their game independent). In fact, when they first started they quickly grew out of building that housed collective artists but were able to get the digs they are currently using for their company alone with the help of the government. Talent definitely has its rewards.
Just because they get a little help doesn’t mean that they have to answer to anyone. Swords and Soldiers is the result of a collaborative effort between everyone at Ronimo whether it was a designer, a programmer, an animator, or that weird guy in the corner (they’re all in corners – HA!). They even got some local high school students to test out the game with high marks from those who like strategy games. I give the boys high marks for being funny and creative. I mean, how long have I been saying there should be a game about barbecue sauce?
February 23rd, 2009
eyelashes, tutorial, videos
Originally made for my aunt who has just gone into remission and needs a lil’ sumpin’-sumpin’ to match her new wig. Incidentally, I’ve been meaning to do this tutorial for awhile and sent it to some friends who have made the request in the past.
July 9th, 2008
conversations, marc, videos
July 2nd, 2008
amsterdam, animation, design, events, music, videos
You want that Partis hat so bad that you’re shaking.
Artis the Partis and Alien the Palien were in full impulsive-buying force during Friday’s Nachtsalon at the Artis Planetarium. Most of the event took place in the dome theater itself, starting with a fascinating look at the solar system (or at least I think was, it was in Dutch). The new(-ish) planetarium has some of the best audio and visual equipment I have seen in any educational building, using the dome structure to create three dimensional images and animating them in such a way that it actually feels like stars are falling all over you.
YURO & TRAGO
Dutch DJ’s Yuro and Trago did a live set (see comment below) that included an animated remix of the images we had viewed in the previous presentation. The set musically was inspired and thumpy (in a good way), but after the second trippy animation, we started to wonder if we were the only people in the room who weren’t magic mushing their brains out. Then of course they brought out this guy…
J. WALT LIVE DRAWING
Out the two videos, this is the one to watch. It’s a bit on the big side, but if you have the patience to wait for it to download, you will be happily rewarded. Coming all the way from Los Angeles, J. Walt is an artist and programmer who performed five different pieces of his work (three shown in the video) with software he created himself. Each performance consisted of him live drawing on a wacom tablet while using a slider to manipulate the camera angles and movement. If you look closely, you can see the cursor moving in the video.
March 9th, 2008
antwerp, events, fashion, travel, videos
THE YODELERS
Part of the Tirolean Room, each statue has a speaker for a head and sung almost in rounds.
FOOTBALLERS
“Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!”
POSTER ANIMATION WITH PROJECTOR
A poster of Trick-o-Treaters get some some life breathed into in through the use of a projector.
February 5th, 2008
amsterdam, shopping, video games, videos
Avoiding tourists in a city like Amsterdam can be the only insurance you have to keep your fists in your pockets, and your sanity in tact. Between the groups of bachelor parties that crowd the triple-X Dutch Disneyland they call the Red Light District, and the geriatric attraction-seekers who will run you down to get a picture of a bicycle that has been chained up to the same bridge for the past three years, ducking down alleyways can be the only way to get around in Amsterdam. It can also be the only way to see the city outside of the way Rick Steves wants you to.
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July 7th, 2007
