February 1, 2011

Utrecht graffiti artist KBTR, the new Keith Haring?

Filed under: Art by Branko Collin @ 12:46 pm

The past years these depictions of angry gnomes have been popping up all over Utrecht, and now people are comparing the artist’s work to that of the Keith Haring.

The artist goes by the name KBTR, ‘kabouter’ with the vowels taken out. Kabouters are a type of gnome typical for the Netherlands which look like garden gnomes or like original depictions of leprechauns, i.e. fellows with pointy hats and long flowing beards but not to be confused with “hipsters” or “freds”.

As the video shows, one guy managed to get two private kabouters by leaving a couple of crates of beer and a mention of when he would be away on holiday at a local bike shop. More of KBTR’s work can be seen at streetfiles.org. To me, the kabouters of KBTR have a distinct likeness to Belgium’s angry cartoon gnome Kabouter Wesley.

(Photo by Aarnoot, some rights reserved)

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October 29, 2010

First female provost (priest) of a Catholic church

Filed under: Religion by Branko Collin @ 11:50 am

On Sunday the Old Catholic church, not to be confused with its Roman counterpart, will make a woman provost, the priest that takes care of the actual priesting in a cathedral, NRC reports.

The Old Catholic church is a schism of the Roman Catholic church that identifies with the Orthodox Church and the Anglican Church, and that rejects the dogma of papal infallibility. In 1998 it started allowing women to become priests, and has about 6,000 members in the Netherlands.

Annemieke Duurkoop (63) is the third female priest for the Old Catholic church in the Netherlands, and the first to become provost. Before this she was a PR Manager.

(Photo of the Saint Gertrude cathedral in Utrecht by Wikimedia user pepijntje, some rights reserved)

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October 16, 2010

How the shortest highway of the Netherlands disappeared

Filed under: Architecture,Bicycles by Branko Collin @ 12:37 pm

Or: the return of the city moat of Utrecht.

Mark Wagenbuur has a video up that explains how the city of Utrecht wanted to replace the old city moat with a ring road in the 1970s, and how this plan met with vehement protests, so much so that only a small part of the road was actually ever built—nicknamed the Shortest Motorway in the Netherlands. Forty years on that road is being ripped out again, to be replaced by the water that once flowed there.

Wagenbuur is that odd duck, a cycling activist in the Netherlands, so he says things like, “it is clear that heavy motorized traffic simply does not belong here” without explaining why this apparently clear thing is so clear (the cyclirati know why—because cars are Evil). But he forgets to mention that since the mid-1990s, the years of heavy river flooding, giving the Dutchman his water back has become very fashionable. You have to wonder what marvellous things a new old brook, canal or moat can do to property prices, and whether this influenced Utrecht’s decision in any way.

Nevertheless, Wagenbuur’s videos come as highly recommended as ever.

(Source video: YouTube)

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July 27, 2010

The Ice Man breaks his own ice sitting record

Filed under: Dutch first,Science,Weird by Orangemaster @ 9:57 am

On Saturday in Utrecht’s busiest shopping mall, Wim Hof, aka the Ice Man, broke his record of sitting in ice for 1 hour and 13 minutes by a whopping 31 minutes 23 seconds (1 h 44 min 23 sec).

Back in May, after having put Hof through tests, two Dutch scientists in Nijmegen concluded that what he can do “is medically impossible”.

He’s just the definition of cool.

Read and watch more about The Ice Man being a freak of nature.

(Link: rtvutrecht)

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June 16, 2010

Students in Utrecht make cardboard mechanics

Filed under: Design,Gadgets by Orangemaster @ 12:02 pm

Cardboard Mechanics Installation from Sasj on Vimeo.

Cardboard Mechanics mady by Saskia Freeke, Fin Kingma, Davy Jacobs and Sonja van Vuure of the Utrecht School of Art and Technology.

(Link tip: The Presurfer)

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May 22, 2010

Bicycle rush hour in Utrecht

Filed under: Bicycles by Branko Collin @ 1:05 pm

In this time lapse video of the traffic at a busy intersection in Utrecht, the participants are weaving in and out in almost perfect harmony. The effect is positively hypnotic.

I am given to understand that what makes this video by Mark Wagenbuur special is that the main form of transportation in it is the humble bicycle. As a result, the video has gone viral among treehuggers.

Link: Metafilter. Video: Youtube.

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May 19, 2010

Pop-up street furniture in Utrecht

Filed under: Architecture,Art by Orangemaster @ 9:22 pm
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Some street-wise, pop-up furniture designed by Carmela Bogman and Rogier Martens was installed in Utrecht on 17 May 2010. The residents can pump up the furniture themselves (se pic) and when then are finished using it, it lowers itself down again.

It looks nice, I want to try it too, but I have to admit, the comments I read on the French site I got this news from needs to be addressed. Yes, it screams unhygienic. I mean, people walk on this furniture with dog pooh and who knows what under their shoes and then the idea would be to sit down and, what, have a sandwich on the table surface? Ick.

I can’t really get an idea of how fast the furniture goes back down and I can imagine not wanting to get my foot stuck, never mind a small child getting any of their limbs stuck under it.

As my Dutch friends say, the idea is nice, but the execution, well, kinda sucks.

(Link fubiz.net, Photo Carmela Bogman, thanks Laurent!)

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January 24, 2010

Tallest building of the Netherlands cancelled

Filed under: Architecture by Branko Collin @ 2:20 pm

Plans for a 262-metre-high skyscraper proposed for the Utrecht neighbourhood Leidsche Rijn have been scrapped, Volkskrant reports. The city of Utrecht felt the risk of such an undertaking was too high in this time of crisis.

The building, which would have housed both apartments and offices, raised a storm of protest when it was first proposed. People feared that because of its height it would have been visible from as far as 60 kilometres away, dominating the view all around Utrecht. The general contractor was informed of the municipality’s decision earlier this year.

The skyscraper, designed by Architecten Cie., would have been called Belle van Zuylen after a Dutch renaissance writer of the same name who used to live in nearby Castle Zuylen.

The tallest structures in the Netherlands overwhelmingly remain masts for transmitting radio and TV signals, according to Wikipedia. The tallest habitable tower is the Maastoren in Rotterdam, at 152 metres.

(Source image: Architecten Cie. Project website: bellevanzuylen.info)

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January 9, 2010

Photos of 13 neighbours’ apartments

Filed under: Photography by Branko Collin @ 1:08 pm

Susanne Gilsing, an anaesthetist’s assistant from Utrecht, knocked on the doors of her neighbours on the Tuyllkade in Utrecht to ask them if she could take a photo of them in their living room, and twelve agreed.

Including the photo of her own apartment you now have a unique series documenting what thirteen Dutch families chose to do with more or less the same space. Use Flickr’s slideshow feature for the best effect.

(Link: l-rs.org.)

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December 15, 2009

Interactive Christmas tree at Utrecht train station

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 5:12 pm
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In another train related story today, Utrecht Central Station, the country’s biggest train station, has a big tree that changes colour thanks to people’s text messages. Travellers can text red, green, blue or flash and the tree will change colour. I wonder what colour flash is already. Anyone who bothers spending the time and effort to send a text message can enter a contest and maybe win stuff.

Maybe it makes people forget the new train schedule that causes problems every year or any train delays, who knows.

(Photo and link: Walter, used with his kind permission)

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