touch wood

thinking about energy+time via design

http://www.merelkarhof.nl

inhale, exhale

One Hundred and Eight – Interactive Installation from Nils Völker on Vimeo.

designing every little step and detail

how to think

carfull observation, brainstorming (=thinking without censoring) by actually building objects (=thinking via physical space), not knowing where it might all end up - that's what i like about this project.

let the outcome take care of itself

a talk from feb 2009. like facebook they had no idea what this platform could be usefull for. but like any good tool it adjusted it's shape to the way it was used. and found its purpose through being used. and that's what i like about it.

shady family

i like his stuff.

a suitcase full of grey

1001 Nichts
1002 Ungewißheit
1003 Vorahnung
1004 Nebel
1005 trüber Tag
1006 bedeckt
1007 verhalten
1008 Elegie
1009 verstimmt
1010 Langeweile
1011 dinstingiert
1012 Melancholie
1013 diskret
1014 steril
1015 Verzicht
1016 monoton
1017 morbid
1018 Verklemmung
1019 muffig
1020 Nieselregen
1021 Dämmerung
1022 November
1023 Trübsinn
1024 Monogamie
1025 alles Scheiße
1026 kraftlos
1027 Erschöpfung
1028 Hemmung
1029 Leid
1030 getragen
1031 verloren
1032 nimmermehr
1033 Reue
1034 Versagung
1035 Misere
1036 große Misere
1037 Depression
1038 düster
1039 Klage
1040 hoffnungslos
1041 völlig hoffnungslos
1042 Abschied
1043 Finsternis
1044 Untergang
1045 letzter Gruß

exhibition on herbert hirche opens this week at one of my favourite museums, the museum der dinge in berlin.

one take again

here is the making of and the other one

altered books

more, and more amazing.
video about+with brian dettmer
via chris

silent cities

a few weeks after i moved into my flat in this big city, i woke up very early in the morning. something was different, it felt strange. neither good, nor bad, just strange. it took me a while until i realized: it had been snowing. a thin white layer spread accross the streets, trees, cars, buildings. and the cars had to slow down and the snow silenced their movement even more. it was really quiet for a short time, until the snow had melted half an hour later.

today i went to a brilliant talk by adrian van hooydonk, chief designer of bmw. one of the things he spoke about was how the fact that a hybrid car produces no sound will affect the design of the car:
speed and acceleration (=power) cannot be expressed by the sound of the engine anymore and therefore have to be communicated via the design. (at the same time the design has to express that this car is part of a new era, an era which is maybe not so much about speed anymore but more about mobility/flexibility).
two side-effects of a silent engine are:
sitting inside you cannot hear whether your car is actually running. instead you will hear a lot of other noises, maybe uncomfortable noises, that used to be drowned by the sound of the engine.
and people on the street will no longer notice a car approaching them from behind or the side, which might be dangerous.
sound designers are therefore working on sounds to simulate what we are used to now and will no longer have. and it might even be possible that you can download those sounds from the web and make your own car-sound-mix.

the idea of a more silent city thanks to silent cars is totally exciting to me. just imagine what effect it will have on the real estate market. living next to a huge junction or even a motorway will no longer be a problem. and it will change our mode or perception and alertness when moving through traffic. and what are all the sounds, maybe uncomfortable sounds, on the streets we will suddenly be able to hear instead?
i am sure it will have many more effects that i cannot even imagine right now.

travel reports

in may09, a friend of mine sent me pictures from his trip to iran.
"... any other conceptions you hold you'll probably have to revise" he wrote. it made me want to go there immediately. and i wish now a had done so.

"der große malspaß" by diceindustries

currently at the kabinet. more to see and to buy.
reminds me of "comic abstraction" at the moma ny. and of rachel whitread.
wie schon bei der max ernst ausstellung liegt der reiz darin, die arbeiten im original zu sehen. in der gedruckten reproduktionen kann man die unterschiedlichen arten von papier nicht mehr erkennen, die verschiedenen schichten der collage werden zu einem bild, die klebespuren sind weg, ebenso wie die kleinen korrekturen und schumeleien.

todo: de-glutting the pile of debris in my bedroom

by katrin schacke

to go to one day

sedlec ossuary

good design

offensichtlich von jemandem designed, der auch selber bäckt.