Non-fiction weeknotes #2
Inspired by our friends at BERG we try to give you weekly updates on how the people of Non-fiction are faring. With different questions and Non-fictioners each week. This week’s weeknotes’ questions:
Describe right this week in one word
Juha: Istanbul.
Boris: mar-Think-a-Write-athon
Adela: While thinking about things which are both old-fashioned and futuristic, unexpected discoveries and new identities, the Freudian concept of uncanny appears on my mind. Surprisingly enough, there is an exhibition dealing with this topic in Kunsthal Rotterdam called Uncanny. Surrealism and Graphic Design. Highly recommended!
What did you discover this week
Juha: This week I spent entirely in Istanbul, my first trip to this incredible city. The easy answer would be that I have discovered Turkish culture and the kindness of Turkish people. But when I write this down, and think about it a little longer, then what I actually have discovered this week is that one of my best friends in the Netherlands is from Istanbul. This is obviously not a true discovery, after all he is one of my best friends, and I know he was born here and raised until he was 12 and he moved to the Netherlands with his family. It is more a realisation he is from here, this enormous city in one of the oldest inhabited regions in the world. Seeing my friend in the faces of the people and hearing him in the voices that enter through the open window of the small studio I am writing this in is a powerful experience.
Boris: I went to the Shadow Cities showing of the brilliant film Utopia London. The story of the ups and downs of social idealism in the 20th century told thru minimalistic architecture. The film being in low-res because TNT-post seemed to have misplaced the DVD made it feel even more of a discovery.
Adela: I got a pen from a friend and the moment I got it, I thought: “another ordinary red pen with feathers and heart at the top”. Anyway, after using it for few days, at one moment, I pressed a bit harder while writing something and the heart at the top of the pen lit up. With such a discovery, my heart lit up too.
Name one futuristic thing you did this week and one old-fashioned
Juha: One futuristic thing was bookmarking an art gallery on Foursquare in order to find it the next day. Foursquare is such an elegant app for navigating a city, and creating a list of places people recommend you to visit during your stay is a simple but beautiful form of design. The other futuristic thing was recording memorable acoustic experiences with Soundcloud. So instead of Instagramming every beautiful sight (which I am guilty of too), I started recording audio experiences that I wanted to remember and share. And there are loads of these when you travel. Have a listen to the ferry announcer at Kabatas for instance
Public transport announcement at Kabatas by Viral Radio
The most old-fashioned thing was having mezze and raki in a local restaurant full of elderly men watching one of the local football clubs Fenerbahce on at least six television sets. This reminded me of watching football in Denia in Spain when I was a child.
Boris: The futuristic is me controlling my laptop, which I no longer take with me, from the office and the cafe with my tablet. The old-fashioned was me writing an actual letter to one of my VPRO Dorst freelancers because he is a correspondent in the offline world for us right now.
Adela: I bought a book (old-fashioned). The book is in a language I cannot really read for now, so I have to wait several months/years to find out what it is about (futuristic).
If this week was a musical track which musical track would be and why
Juha: Erkin Koray ‘Inan ki
Boris: Radiohead’s 15 step. Conceptual, decisive, just a bit to complicated but unstoppable.
Adela: Janácek (Inspired by a great performance of Ives Ensemble earlier last week in Muziekgebouw)
Who did you want to be most this week
Juha: Ha, good question. Maybe the scientist at Cern that first noticed particles speed faster than light…?
Boris: Deep Thought, supercomputer from the planet Magrathea (the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy,) able to contemplate infinitely complex concepts. I could have used this ability last week writing plans for future broadcasting, think-tanks and dream-tanks. And although my head certainly is not as big as Deep Thought’s, it almost feels like it.
Adela: I am happy I was Adéla this week. Otherwise, I would not discover the shinning heart, I would miss a concert of Ives Ensemble in Muziekgebouw, exhibition opening in Kunsthal and much more great moments of this week.