September 8, 2009
With 16 million people occupying a mere 14,526 square kilometres, the Netherlands is considered a densely populated country. For world-famous architect Rem Koolhaas that isn’t dense enough though. He imagined what the country would look like if the Dutch population density was that of Manhattan (shown here) or Los Angeles.
Strange maps doesn’t seem to mention where they got these images.
(Link tip: Tom Schuring. Image edited by me.)
Tags: cities, demographics, density, Los Angeles, maps, New York, population, USA
September 7, 2009
Unique exhibit of Jean-Pierre Leloir’s portraits of Jacques Brel at the little café underneath the ‘Multatuli bridge’ (Torensluis). 24 Oranges very own Orangemaster will be spinning discs during opening night!
Bright goes RL. The magazine that may be not entirely unknown to our readers will kick-off its series of Bright Nights, “presentations of inspiring innovators, demonstrations of cutting edge gadgets and displays of state of the art design.”
Tonight starts the Dutch version of British hit sitcom Yes Minister, called Sorry Minister in Dutch. Tune in to Nederland 3 at 10 pm.
September 5, 2009
The ‘Colour-In’ Dress by Berber Soepboer and Michiel Schuurman comes with a set of textile markers included, assuming you are willing to part with 238 euro. The dress moved from concept to product quickly when the blogosphere picked up on it earlier this year.
(Via Bright.nl. Source photos: Berber Soepboer.)
Tags: dresses
September 4, 2009
A play set published in 1900 about the plight of Dutch fishermen, which was adapted for a modern context in Senegal, is returning to the Netherlands this month with Senegalese song and dance left intact, and with Marisa van Eyle as a Dutch narrator.
Op Hoop van Zegen (The Good Hope) is a play by Herman Heijermans about the eponymous fishing ship, its owner Bos and the brothers Geert and Barend, who know the ship is not seaworthy, but still sign on as sailors. The brothers then die when the ship sinks during its last voyage. The line “de vis wordt duur betaald” (the fish is dearly paid for), with which Kniertje, the mother of Geert and Barend greets the news of the death of her two sons, has become a saying in Dutch.
The Senegalese version, called Dieuna Diaffe in the Wolof language (Expensive Fish) and with Senegalese star Marie Madeleine Diallo as Kniertje / Yaye Cathy, was performed in 2007 and 2008 in the coastal cities of Senegal. It was adapted by sociologist Maaike Cotterink and directors Anna Rottier and Pape Samba Sow.
According to Cotterink in Trouw (Dutch): “These days, Senegalese fishermen are hired to work three months in a row on Korean and Spanish boats. Far from the coast they are put to work under horrendous conditions for 16 hours a day. Each year fishermen die, but they have little choice, as they have to support their families.”
The play will be performed this weekend in Amsterdam as part of the Fringe Festival, and next week in The Hague.
If you are unfamiliar with Heijermans, Archive.org has an English adaption of one of his other plays, The Ghetto.
(Source photo: Theatre Embassy)
Tags: drama, fishing, Herman Heijermans, Senegal, Socialism, theatre, working conditions
September 3, 2009
A group of Amsterdam citizens critical of the way the city is run has decided to change its name and logo under heavy pressure of the city government, Volkskrant reported last week (Dutch).
The group called Ai! Amsterdam (meaning Ouch! Amsterdam, a play on the official city marketing slogan of the city, I Amsterdam) has publicly criticized the city’s ban on drinking-while-standing, the gradual closing down of the Red Light district, and other less illuminated measures. The city has threatened with costly legal procedures if the group do not give up their name and logo, procedures which the group estimate would cost them tens of thousands of euro.
Ai! Amsterdam points out to De Pers (Dutch) that the city centre’s candidacy for becoming a UNESCO world heritage site (not just the canals, the entire city centre!) threatens the liveliness and openness of the city even further, creating a real risk of Amsterdam becoming just as staid as Bruges, Belgium, which is also a world heritage site. I think the group are underexaggerating things. At least Bruges started out boring. Amsterdam on the other hand has something to lose.
Ironically, the official I Amsterdam manifesto proclaims: “It’s time for Amsterdam to speak out for itself and make its relevance known in a proud, supportive and positive manner.”
(Illustration: the old Ai! Amsterdam logo, source: Ai!)
Tags: alchohol, Amsterdam, Belgium, city marketing, prostitution, War on Fun
September 2, 2009
Here is a little tidbit you might like to know: a couple of days ago Orangemaster posted the thousandth 24 Oranges posting: Trading in your old bras for new ones.
We almost let this milestone pass unnoticed, mainly because we originally failed to notice it ourselves. This because Orangemaster is fighting both a nasty cold and a web radio server, and because I am currently hired (“kept off the streets,” as we say in Dutch) by a company that demands lots of my attention.
If you only hopped on board recently, here are some of my favourite postings of 2008 and 2007, but do not hesitate to add your own favourites to the comments, as mine is but one voice.
Tags: 24oranges, milestones
August 31, 2009
Guus Oosterbaan, a Dutch designer living in Denmark, is looking for somebody to take these boxes into production for him.
The boxes can be used to store all kinds of things, and when stacked can be combined into huge toy robots. On his blog, Oosterbaan says that his “kids find it very amusing to build robots that are much taller than them and then knock them over while shouting superhero stuff.”
(Link: Bright.nl. Photos: Guus Oosterbaan.)
Tags: boxes, children, furniture, robots, storage, superheroes, toys
August 30, 2009
Over at the Google Earth forums, a user called Thomas de Bruin has assembled a complete alphabet made of shapes spotted in the Dutch landscape by the Google aerial cameras.
He has created capitals, small letters, and all kinds of miscellaneous characters, such as the ten digits and the euro character. You will also find a KMZ file there, so that (if you have a copy of Google Earth installed) you can look up what part of the Netherlands you are looking at.
(Link: Google Earth Blog.)
Tags: Google, Google Earth, sattelites
