January 28, 2017

Geert Mul retrospective at Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, from Commodore Amiga art to giant lenticular prints

Filed under: Art by Branko Collin @ 3:20 pm

geert-mul-natureally-2015

Video and visual artist Geert Mul is showing 25 years of his work at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam.

The work runs a wide gamut of early multimedia computer art, such as his Then and Now created in the BASIC programming language on the Commodore Amiga (see this video at 1:19), to 2015’s Natureally (illustration), which shows a transparent photo of a tree illuminated from behind in ever changing colours.

Trendbeheer visited the show and came away pleasantly overwhelmed:

Mul’s oeuvre is rich and the selection for the exhibition is eclectic. The rooms are full with works from different time periods. […] The sounds sometimes bleed into each other, on purpose. […]

What is pleasant about Mul’s work is that there is room for the audience, both because some works require physical interaction and because there is a lot of room for interpretation.

The problem with writing about interactive and video art is of course that these are works that need to be experienced, so even if you do not have the time to visit the exhibition, which runs until 12 February 2017, be sure to visit the links to the videos and to Mul’s website.

(Illustration: Geert Mul)

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January 24, 2017

Amstelveen hospital wants to deliver Amsterdam’s babies

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 9:58 pm

450px-Flag_of_Amsterdam.svg

While 20% of pregnant women from Amsterdam were being refused access to three main hospitals in 2016 because there was not enough personnel and beds, a hospital in the neighbouring city of Amstelveen wants to declare maternity space in their hospital as ‘territory of Amsterdam’ to help them out. In 2015 only 7% of Amsterdam’s women were refused at hospitals, but that was before one major hospital shut down their maternity ward. As well, note that this is happening in a country with one of the highest percentage of home births in the world, about 30%, so imagine if more women decided to give birth in a hospital.

Besides wanting to help out women from Amsterdam with additional maternity ward space, the personnel of Amstelveen understands how much people from Amsterdam want to be able to have ‘born in Amsterdam’ on their children’s birth certificate and passports. To give you an idea, when you meet someone Dutch and ask them if they are from Amsterdam, you rarely get a nod or a ‘yeah’, you often get a ‘I was born and raised in Amsterdam!’.

In a similar vein, in 2011 the mayor of the island of Terschelling wanted to have part of a hospital in Leeuwarden declared ‘territory of Terschelling’ in order to claim more island babies, but that didn’t pan out.

(Links: nhnieuws.nl-1, nhnieuws.nl-2, parool.nl, Image: Flag of Amsterdam, public domain)

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January 23, 2017

Funny video explains the Netherlands to Trump

Filed under: Food & Drink,History by Orangemaster @ 12:05 pm

windmill-leiden-branko-collin

Here’s some Dutch humour from Arjen Lubach’s show ‘Zondag met Lubach’, similar to The Daily Show with Trevor Noah in the United States.

The English video below introduces the Netherlands to Donald Trump in a way he should be able to understand: with someone who talks just like him. You’ll notice the Dutch crowd laughing when the narrator pronounces Dutch stuff properly. It also makes fun of the Dutch, which might account for quite a few dislikes on YouTube, but it also takes a good stab at the Dutch government, which is always a crowd-pleaser.

Since facts are going to be more important than ever this year, let’s again note that Trump vodka is made in the Netherlands, in Rotterdam by the Wanders Distillery.

Oh, and without giving away any spoilers, the word ‘pony’ in Dutch means ‘bangs’. Watch the video, it will makes sense.

(Link: parool.nl)

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January 20, 2017

Sisters give birth twice on the same day

Filed under: Health,Weird by Orangemaster @ 1:07 pm

Two sisters from the region of Twente, Overijssel have recently given birth on the same day. In fact, this is the second time the sisters have given birth on the same day. And that’s not all: Jennie and Gerita have actually been pregnant three times at the same time. Sadly, the first time they both were pregnant Jannie had a miscarriage and Gerita had an ectopic pregnancy.

A year later, Gerita told Jennie she was pregnant again and Jennie’s mouth fell open: she was pregnant as well and as a precaution hadn’t told anybody yet. And they had their babies on the same day.

Both sisters ended up giving birth on the same day the third time around as well. However, due to complications with Gerita’s pregnancy, her baby was to be born one week earlier than planned, which was one day before Jannie’s baby was to be delivered. Both children were eventually born on the same day.

They both joked that it’s going to be very complicated with birthday parties for quite some time.

(Link: telegraaf.nl, Photo of Crying baby by Chalky Lives, some rights reserved)

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January 19, 2017

Mass mating dance in Utrecht for Valentine’s Day

Filed under: Animals,Art by Orangemaster @ 1:26 pm

Contemporary British artist Marcus Coates from London is asking single men to go to Utrecht Central Station at 4 pm on 14 February, which is next to city hall, to perform a mating dance. On a Tuesday when everyone works and goes to school.

Coates is planning to organise a makeshift dating show with the men doing the mating dance of the Eurasian woodcock, which involves running a certain route around the Netherlands’ biggest train station.

In the mean time, single women will be waiting at city hall to pick out a man by calling out to them, just in time to correspond with the mating season of the Eurasian woodcock.

Let’s unpack this, shall we? The first thing that came to mind is also the first comment I read: it’s heterosexist. Yeah, it’s about the birds and all, but still. And who’s paying for this? Won’t it be really busy at rush hour? And is this being done in the Netherlands so Coates gets a free trip over? Too many questions and not many answers in sight.

(Link: rtvutrecht, Photo of train by Flickr user UggBoy hearts UggGirl, some rights reserved)

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January 18, 2017

Cannonball from the 17th century found in Groenlo

Filed under: History by Orangemaster @ 8:21 pm

Archaeologists have found a cannonball from 1627 in Groenlo, Gelderland during an excavation along the A18
motorway. It weighs four kilos and dates back to the Eighty Years’ War when the Dutch revolted against the Spanish King, Philip II. Experts know what year it is from because the Dutch army had established a siege line in Groenlo to reconquer the town from the Spanish.

Although pieces of pots and jewellery have also been found, this is the most interesting find so far. And the good news is the archaeologists have until May to uncover more exciting finds, as excavations are taking place in 10 locations along the A18 motorway.

(Link: omroepgelderland.nl, Photo: BOOR Rotterdam)

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January 16, 2017

Fashion made from waste found in the sea

Filed under: Animals,Fashion by Orangemaster @ 1:53 pm

Delta works

The Deltapark Neeltje Jans, a Dutch theme park near the Delta Works, is currently hosting the Healthy Seas Fashion Exhibition, featuring fashion created by Greek students from waste found in the sea.

The exhibition tells the “journey from waste to wear, the problem of ghost nets, recycling, circular economy and see what fashion design students created from the recycled fishing nets”.

The Netherlands is home to the Healthy Seas organisation, and the combination of the Neeltje Jans and Delta Works gives the exhibition an additional dimension, according to them, as they also claim that 10 percent of the waste found in water is fish nets, which explains the fish net fashion.

Find out more about how it all came about (in Greek with English subtitles):

(Links: bright and healthyseas.org, Photo of Delta Works by Coanri/Rita, some rights reserved)

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January 15, 2017

Police uniforms delivered unsafely to employees

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 8:20 pm

In 2016, some 41 packages with police uniforms were delivered to the wrong people, possibly falling into the wrong hands as well. And Dutch police union APNV are calling this regular occurrence “the tip of the iceberg”.

A few days ago, a man who had quit the force came home to find a package on his doorstep from the police: parts of a police uniform, a package he was never supposed to have ‘received’ in the place. Received is a big word, because the package was left in front of the door in plain view.

Sloppy delivery, you say? For sure. And many of the uniforms are delivered to the neighbours instead or next to people’s dustbins.

Last November around Amsterdam there was a robbery involving criminals impersonating the police wearing actual police uniforms. Geez, I wonder how the baddies got their hands on the uniforms!

The police union wants to stop this type of unsafe delivery and get the police to pick up their uniforms at a police station, but the police claim say it’s too expensive in terms of logistics and personnel costs.

I had a casual talk with a criminologist yesterday who was worried about the police’s image in the media. I wonder if he realised how unbelievable ridiculous the police comes off in this country sometimes.

(Link: nhnieuws, Photo by Facemepls, some rights reserved)

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January 13, 2017

Making money off pushy delivery people

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 1:02 pm

Doorsign

I work at home and often accept packages for my neighbours who like many people are rarely home to receive their wares. People who are often at home for whatever reason end up playing post office for the entire street. Once the delivery people know you’re at home often, you’re screwed. Sure you can refuse packages, but not without having to defend yourself against pushy delivery people. You get that ‘but you’re at home doing nothing’ look from the delivery person who is ‘just trying to do their job’. In fact, you’ll end up doing their job for them. For a woman in the link below, it was so bad she turned off her doorbell and still had delivery people banging down her door, trying to deliver their packages. And that’s harassment.

I’ve unofficially turned into the package delivery point, and since I believe in getting along with my neighbours, I don’t really mind. Of course, it was terrible when I was on crutches with a broken leg in 2012 and the delivery people would ring and bang on my door, but that was par for the course. It stopped being OK a few weeks back when someone tried to deliver a huge bouquet of flowers to a sick neighbour who wasn’t home. I told the guy I wouldn’t accept it because the neighbour in question had been away for a while and that the flowers would wilt. He tried to convince me that flowers are nice and I could enjoy them until she got back. I told him that if he expected me to deliver wilted flowers to a sick woman just so he could make his delivery, that he was a bit of a dick. He told me again how nice flowers are and I told him he’d better leave before I put in a complaint.

My front door has a sign that says ‘no salespeople, no donation collectors and no religion peddlers’ (see photo), which I thought covered the scope, but apparently not. The woman who was being harassed put a ‘no packages’ sticker on her door, which sounds like a good idea, but Michiel Nieuwkerk from Zeeland went much further and turned a common problem into a business opportunity.

Annoyed at having to get his packages from the neighbours who were never home in the evenings, he set up package pick-up and delivery points with willing neighbours on ViaTim.nl, which charges people for that service. ViaTim service now has 22 points in South Holland and Zeeland and is growing fast.

I’m off to ponder joining in on this.

(Link: waarmaarraar)

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January 11, 2017

Groningen to house asylum seekers in hotel ship

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 9:54 pm

In Groningen, some 112 failed asylum seekers and asylum seekers waiting on answers who are homeless will soon be housed in an old hotel ship, explains John van Tilborg, Director of the Inlia Foundation in Groningen that works with asylum seekers. They all have a right to a place to stay during the night as well as a shower and a meal according to the Dutch government, but that same government isn’t doing what’s needed to ensure they have an actual place to say, Van Tilborg explains in a recent radio interview in Amsterdam on BNR.

“The State decides whether someone can stay here or not. If someone can stay, they get a resident’s permit from the State and if they have to go, the State has to kick them out of the country or make sure they leave. If that doesn’t happen, then the city is saddled with the problem, like it is now […]. The city has to pay for a problem created by the State and the city has no influence on the situation”.

And the rest is all about cities not getting the money they need from the State to deal with these people who end up on the street. Elections are coming up in March and the outgoing Dutch government has stopped all funding to new housing projects for asylum seekers, leaving cities to figure it out for themselves.

(Links: bnr.nl, dvhn.nl, Photo of the Vluchtkerk church in Amsterdam that housed many asylum seekers)

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