June 4, 2010
A quirky little idea by DUS Architects: put a 3 x 3 metre box next to the Amsterdam public library, line its inside with mirrors, and put a tree in the middle.
The Urban Woods pavilion is part of the Liefde in de stad (Love in the city) art project about which we wrote earlier. You can visit the forest (a short walk from Central Station) until June 27.
(Link: Bright. Photo: DUS Architecten / Pieter Kers.)
June 3, 2010
This green metal device can be attached to a regular bike’s rack to greatly increase the amount of freight it can carry. Sort of a free-form pannier.
Inventor René Bijsterveld came up with the Vrachtpatser (from the Dutch words krachtpatser, strong man, and vracht, freight) because as a student he has to lug a lot of heavy stuff around on in his bike, and not in the least crates of beer he confided to NOS Headlines.
The design netted him first prize in 2010’s HEMA design contest in which design students were asked to come up with items that make life on the road easier and more fun.
Worthy of their respective second and third prize were the cardboard pet coffin by Toon Welling, and the juice boxes by Annet Bruil that double as toy cars, air planes and boats.
Voting for the audience award will start June 14. HEMA is a retailer which holds a design contest for students each year with the express purpose of including the most marketable designs in their own line-up.
See also:
(Photos: HEMA. Link: Bright)
June 2, 2010
Among the tidal wave of World Cup themed commercials, a disturbing trend emerges. Several Dutch companies have come out with TV ads that prominently feature German bad guys.
Heineken’s ad is perhaps the mildest, featuring a representative of the German football association proudly presenting earplugs to counter the noise of the Pletterpet, an orange cap. It paints Germans as rather dull folk, not quite the traditional stereotype over here.
Supermarket C1000 on the other hand goes the full nine yards, as it has a Cruella de Ville look-alike announce that she has to take one for the German team. Utilities company Nuon lets a ‘typical’ arrogant German fan get his comeuppance when his T-shirt turn orange, the Dutch national colour, while standing among his fellow fans.
Both Germany and the Netherlands participate in the upcoming World Cup in South Africa. Anti-German sentiments were alive in the Netherlands from World War II onwards to well into the 1990s, but kids these days just don’t seem to see the point. Which makes it even odder that these ads are so blatantly anti-German.
Something I heard a lot this year, now that Dutch coach Louis van Gaal and Dutch players Mark van Bommel and Arjan Robben have had such a successful year at Bayern Munich: “I never thought I would say this, but I am actually supporting the German side.”
Tags: advertising, Arjan Robben, football, Germany, Louis van Gaal, Mark van Bommel, Oranje
June 1, 2010
Spanish artist Maider López is organising a football tournament on September 3 and is looking for both participants and an audience.
The tournament called Polder Cup will take place on the pastures of Ottoland in South Holland, halfway between Utrecht and Rotterdam. Contestants will be given food, drink and swag all for coming out to the middle of nowhere (using the charter bus of the project) and having their picture taken.
What’s the catch? Is there a catch? There is always a catch! As you can see in the photo, the pitches will be drawn across drainage ditches, and the players are expected to come up with their own rules and methods for dealing with these hazards. If you want to know beforehand how to fish a ball from a brook, check out Hans van der Meer’s photo book on Dutch football pitches. As for crossing ditches, see here.
(Link: Bright. Photo: poldercup.nl.)
Tags: football, polders, Spain, Zuid Holland
