The times are troublesome for the music industry, but how are things with the small independent labels in the Netherlands? Joeri Adriaanse of Cut-up Radio interviewed Narrominded, Muze and esc.rec. to find out…

‘Grannittin’ is originally a live performance by Robert Witt, in collaboration with ‘Mevrouw de Vries’, an art project initiated by visual artist Anne Reijse, in which all kinds of every day objects are knitted in real size, mostly by elderly women. The live performance consists out of the live manipulation of sounds emited from contact microphones attached to the knitting needles of the knitting ladies present at the opening of a ‘Mevrouw de Vries’ exhibition.

Esc.rec. has now released ‘Grannittin’, a double cd-r in a unique package, handmade with recycled knitted fabrics. The two discs contain a registration of the Grannittin live performance in art gallery Het Langhuis in Zwolle (NL), plus a broad variety of remixes by different artists, made with the original raw audio samples of knitting needles, as recorded by Robert Witt.

‘Grannittin’ features remixes by: Staplerfahrer, Goem, Xaf, Marius, Robert Witt, Radboud Mens, Gluid, Toxic Chicken, Phako, Transfolmer, Lukas Simonis, Maga, Jos Smolders, slo-fi, Timvankessel, Igor Krutogolov. Many thanks to all the artists who participated in this remix project with their excellent re-knitted contributions!

‘Grannittin’ was first presented during a live performance by Robert Witt at the opening of expo ‘Fröbel’ in Kunstenlab, Deventer.

Cover design (and production of the handmade package) by me. You can listen to some tracks and order ‘Grannittin’ through esc.rec.

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!

Radio broadcast on Concertzender wit a special about esc.rec. The focus of this broadcast is on the Maga releases, but you can also listen to sounds by Gluid, Dion, Igor Krutogolov, Radboud Mens and Dreamspeed.

The beach libraries are open again in July and August when the wheather is good. In case you’ve never heard of the beach libraries (I know I didn’t), you can find more info at www.strandbibliotheek.nl. I think it is a great initiative, especially because – besides good books – they also lend you i-Pods filled with music and podcasts.

Gluid (out on esc.rec.) is also in one of the music collections. Imagine chilling on those sounds while lying on the beach. Can you get any closer to heaven?