In an attempt to keep you up to date, I decided to let you in on some of the things I’m working on right now…

Besides the usual webdesign assignments there are some other major projects and changes in the making.

For the last two years Bart Folmer and I have been working on the creation of a sound art project named ‘Geluid op De Brink’ (Sound on De Brink). It is going to be a seven year project in which we invite sound artists to create a specially designed sound art installation for De Brink, a large and very long square in the centre of Deventer. Bart and me will also be the artists responsible for the first installation: ‘Zee op De Brink’ (Sea on De Brink). This installation simulates the sound of actual waves moving over the complete length of De Brink. Sitting on the terraces will be like sitting on the beach… We hope to see this installation in action this summer already, but at this time we are still very much in the process of aquiring funding and support for our project. Nevertheless we have high hopes for summertime in Deventer!

Starting next week I’ll be moving into my new studio in Het Havenkwartier (for which I will also start building the new website pretty soon). My present studio under my home is fine but not really suited for dusty, messy or smelly work. This new studio is more suitable for well… making furniture for example! I’m very much looking forward to this change in working environment…

Variant on ‘How Random – Is Random’, designed for only one screen. This screensaver combines random letters to eventually form words and maybe even sentences.

System requirements: two computerscreens positioned next to eachother and random image screensaver software (standard on Windows XP and Mac OSX). ‘H-o-w R-a-n-d-o-m I-s R-a-n-d-o-m’ is available on cd-r for 5 euro.

‘How Random – Is Random’ is a screensaver installation designed for two computer screens. A large number of eastern proverbs, split in half, are randomly recombined to form new proverbs. In this case randomness often proves to be loaded with unexpected humor…

‘How Random – Is Random’ was created as part of a WILLIE exhibition in KCO, Zwolle. There are two fixed computer screens in the exhibition space of KCO, that have to stay in place and in use. I decided to use them for my own purposes and make these screens part of the exhibition.

Other participating WILLIE artists are: Babet Olde Weghuis, Bart Folmer, Elio Debets, Maaike Folmer, Margot Olde Loohuis and Patrick Mangnus. The exhibition was opened with a Jool Hul performance.

System requirements: two computerscreens positioned next to eachother and random image screensaver software (standard on Windows XP and Mac OSX). ‘How Random – Is Random’ is available on cd-r for 5 euro.

Extrapool is an art space in Nijmegen where character, experiment and conceptual base are of importance. As ‘Knust’, Extrapool is a (stencil) print workshop and publisher. As performance and exhibition space, Extrapool explores and crosses the frontiers between music, visual art, performance and film/video. The Extrapool staff is comprised of artists, and this implies that artists’ projects are realized when we find a clear connection in vision and mentality with Extrapool. Unlike most other cultural organizations, they are a generator rather than simply a purveyor of art.

Extrapool introduced an open invitation to artists of all disciplines to create a proposal for the redesigning of their building’s facade, one reflecting their mentality and activities. First prize is the realization of the plan.

I entered the following proposal for this competition:

“Although a lot has to happen to the facade of Extrapool to communicate the character of the activities inside to the outside world, I’m still very positive about the typography above the entrance, even after all these years. I especially like the way the upside down A points out the entrance. This is why I chose to use this typography as a starting point for my proposal.

The design consists of a striped plating that is fixated 10 cm outside the present facade of the building, so drainpipes and other projections can be placed behind the plating where possible. At the same time this distance makes the plating break away visually from the facade. The plating sort of hovers in front of the facade like a shell.

The plating consists of a large number of long pieces of material, that emphasize the lines of the reversed A in the original typography. This way the whole facade points to the entrance. The attention is optically drawn to the entrance which can make it easier to venture inside. If the entrance itself can also get a somewhat more open character in the future reconstruction of the building, potential visitors will find their way in so much easier.

The design of the facade can be perpetuated in the side facade as well. This way the whole building is focused towards the entrance, instead of ‘just’ the front.

The plating can be an ideal framework for all sorts of publicity materials and attention grabbers. Besides the nessecary space next to the entrance with the programme, one could think of billboards, flags, lighting (in front and behind the plating), color, and so on. A world of possibilities.”

All participants take part in the contest exhibition during a ‘Anderhalf Wit Avond’ in Extrapool and are published in a contest release. You can still look at some of the other entries overhere. The winners could very well be Eugenie Bakker and Joost Kok, with a truly marvellous plan!

Toegang Vrij, Salon and Atelier Route in Deventer. The Salon shows works by local artists and takes place in the former Stamacon building in St. Olafstraat, Deventer.

J’ee-haw! participated in the Salon with a new installation: two portraits of ourselves wearing cowboy hats, both accompanied by our randomized J’ee-haw! yell. The former Stamacon building is very large, so we decided to place the two portraits and audio bursts in two seperate parts of the space that was available. This way you could here the yells echoing through the whole building and they sometimes even seemed to communicate with eachother over the great distance between them.

The atelier route is divided over 2 weekends: one for the individual ateliers and the ateliers in the surrounding area of Deventer, and one for the ateliers in the larger atelier buildings. This means I participated in the atelier route two times. Together with Jeannette Knigge in our own private atelier at home, and together with WILLIE in the IJsselhotel.

A catalogue was published about the salon.