We are delighted to announce that the Stedelijk Museum has invited us for a number of projects. We will programme the opening performance of Temporary Stedelijk 2 on 2 March; we will moderate and live blog the symposium Extra Muros on 11 March; following the symposium, we will edit a publication on the subject of transient museums; and lastly we will compile a special programme for Hear it!, a small festival on sound art on 28 April.
Non-fiction’s Michiel van Iersel wrote a critical review of UAR, the new mobile architecture application of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi), for architecture website ArchiNed.
Juha van ‘t Zelfde schreef speciaal voor Net Echt een blog over de net echte werkelijkheid van de toekomst.
Mijn eerste gedachte bij de uitnodiging om iets te schrijven voor ‘Net echt’ was hoe nieuwe technologie mijn dagelijks handelen op een achteloze manier heeft veranderd, zonder dat ik er bij stil sta hoe kunstmatig dit in feite is en het als vanzelfsprekend ervaar.
Zoals bijvoorbeeld Foursquare, een sociale, interactieve atlas op mijn iPhone, die mijn beleving van mijn directe omgeving beïnvloedt. Foursquare is een mobiele dienst waarmee je incheckt in je favoriete restaurants en boekwinkels, tips achterlaat voor anderen en je vrienden uitnodigt (of uitdaagt) bepaalde plekken te bezoeken en gerechten te proeven. Door Foursquare nu ruim een jaar te gebruiken ben ik me op een speelse manier bewuster geworden van hoe ik de stad doorkruis en wie van mijn vrienden waar uithangen. Maar ook ontdek ik nieuwe plekken, tijdelijke evenementen en lokale specialiteiten door de tips en to-do’s die vrienden en vreemden achterlaten.
Een andere voorbeeld van hoe nieuwe technologie mijn werkelijkheid heeft verruimd is Runkeeper. Runkeeper is een andere iPhonedienst, die bijhoudt waar en hoe hard je hebt gerend, en die tijdens het rennen in realtime statistieken over je prestaties toont. Door te meten hoe ik loop ben ik van de ene op de andere dag een fanatiek hardloper geworden, en daag ik mezelf steeds meer uit mijn grenzen te verleggen en nieuwe routes te ontdekken in de stad.
Bij het zoeken naar beeldmateriaal over deze diensten, kwam ik bovenstaande foto in mijn computer tegen. Ik zag hem in de International Herald Tribune in augustus. Op de foto staan twee voetballers bij de cornervlag in een groot, volgepakt stadion. Mijn eerste reactie was: ‘FIFA’ (niet de voetbalbond, maar de game). Bij nader onderzoek bleek het te gaan om een echte voetbalwedstrijd, en is het niet – zoals mijn intuïtie aangaf – een still uit een nieuwe voetbalgame van Electronic Arts.
Ik lees altijd met plezier de stukken van Volkskrantjournalist Hans Aarsman over hoe nieuwsfotografie in scene gezet is, en zo haar best doet op schilderijen te lijken. Maar dit was voor mij de eerste keer dat een foto me aan een game deed denken.
Het zal vast niet de laatste keer zijn, en het zal zich vermoedelijk ook niet beperken tot de fotografie. Nu nieuwe diensten als Foursquare, Runkeeper en talloze andere ons handelen in data vastleggen, en onze progressie in het leven kunnen meten, zullen onze levens steeds meer aspecten overnemen die we voorheen alleen kenden uit games.
De werkelijkheid van de toekomst? Net echt.
–
Eind negentiende eeuw ontpopte het naturalisme zich tot een razend populaire kunststroming. De zo realistisch mogelijke weergave van het echte leven die naturalistische werken typeert, sprak een breed publiek aan. Foam_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, EYE Film Instituut Nederland en het Van Gogh Museum hebben de krachten gebundeld om het naturalisme onder de aandacht te brengen. Van 8 oktober 2010 tot en met 16 januari 2011 werken de drie musea samen in het platform Net Echt, dat in het leven is geroepen om de diverse facetten van het naturalisme te belichten.
We founded Non-fiction in October 2008 as an office for cultural innovation. What we try to do is create open, innovative and hyperconnected projects in an arts, cultural and/or urban context. We are researching the ways we can create economic value out of unutilised space and (creative) capacity in cities, and by weaving networks of stakeholders and agents around these sites and institutions. We do this collaboratively, and by using new network technologies on top of existing infrastructures.
We basically operate as an idea accelerator and momentum machine for various institutions and individuals in the fields of arts and culture. These activities can result in art exhibitions, music programmes, online strategies or public engagement, and often in a combination of these. We work with organisations such as Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Museum De Paviljoens, Stadsherstel and Soesterberg Air Base.
For the first half of 2011 we are looking for two interns:
1. The first is a research position to help develop our current projects and investigate future threads of interest. For this position we are looking for an imaginative mind who can not only (help) visualize the context of our projects, but who recognizes new memes and developing paths on the horizon.
2. The second is an editorial position to help document and communicate all research and development. For this position we are looking for that Pullitzer winning writer of the future who loves to write extensive blog entries while tweeting the Foursquare on Facebook.
Both positions will be for three days a week, ideally from January to June. We prefer it if you are fluent in both Dutch and English, but if for some reason you might be more fluent in Finnish or another language, and you are still qualified for the job, we might be persuaded to take you on board. All details and conditions will be discussed along the way, but we can provide a decent pay, a vibrant working environment in an office at Museumplein in the center of Amsterdam, and enough new art and music events to keep you off the street for a while.
Please send your letter of enthusiasm with your resume to info at non-fiction.nl. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask them. Deadline will be 13 December 2010. Thank you very much in advance for your interest, and we look forward to hearing from you.
Cordially,
Juha van ‘t Zelfde and Michiel van Iersel
After the recent success of the sold out Viral Radio Festival 2010, Bimhuis and Viral Radio present Hyperrhythm, a programme with more innovative electronic music. The first edition of Hyperrhythm took place at this year’s North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam. Then, Dimlite, Dorian Concept, Hudson Mohawke and Mike Slott played impeccable sets.
This Thursday, Oval (Thrilljockey, Berlin), Phonophani (Rune Grammofon, Tromsø) and Mike Slott (LuckyMe, New York) will play new work. Markus ‘Oval’ Popp is one of the main artists of the glitch movement, in which technical hitches and glitches are used as musical building blocks. Sound artist Espen Sommer Eide makes his solo debut in the Netherlands as Phonophani. Previously he has performed with Alog and he has collaborated with Biosphere and Pierre Bastien. Read an interview with him by Juha. Mike Slott made his debut at the Bimhuis alongside Dimlite and Take during Beat Dimensions at the Amsterdam Dance Event in 2008. He is the musical sibling of Hudson Mohawke, Rustie and American Men. Non-fiction’s Juha will set the perimeters with rhythmic abstractions.
The programme starts at 9 pm sharp, and tickets are still available at the door. We look forward to seeing you here tonight.
Oval – Ah! from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.
Jacob Kirkegaard will present his new work 'Labyrinthitis
Our vehicle for the propaganda of new music Viral Radio has contributed to this year’s Discovery Festival, that will take place at Science Center NEMO in Amsterdam this Friday 24 September. The festival is organised to celebrate the pleasure of finding things out, through scientific experiments, art installations and music performances.
For this occasion, we have invited Danish artist and investigator of sound Jacob Kirkegaard, and French composer and architect of mechanical orchestras Pierre Bastien (who recently replaced Darkstar at the Bimhuis during the Viral Radio Festival 2010). Jacob will talk about and demonstrate his recent project ‘Labyrinthitis‘, ‘an interactive sound piece that consists entirely of sounds generated in the artist’s auditory organs – and will cause audible responses in those of the audience.’ Jacob was our first ever guest at Lantaren/Venster in Rotterdam, with Fennesz in 2006. Pierre will install another orchestra of automated instruments, an image straight out of a Gondry film. His work has been shown around the world, and he has worked with Squarepusher, Jaki Liebezeit and Robert Wyatt (and if you are friend or follower of our activities you already know we are fond of him).
We are proud and happy to be part of this inventive festival, and we look forward to seeing you there this Friday. Tickets are available at the door for 10 euros. Please visit www.discoveryfestival.nl or Facebook for the complete line up and more information.
Following my article ‘People Can’t Live in Museums‘ and an interview in this month’s Time Out Amsterdam, I decided to share some of my thoughts on the effects of an UNESCO-enlistment with the Dutch readers of the national daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad. They published my opinion article together with a crazy cartoon by Hajo de Reijger.
Although in Dutch, it resembles many of my long-standing views that I already expressed (in English) in my article and Time Out. Basically, I dare Amsterdam to position the city as a testing ground for innovative projects in an ancient environment and challenge, ignore or even violate the UNESCO regulations if necessary.
.
UNESCO, de onderwijs- en erfgoedtak van de Verenigde Naties, heeft de Amsterdamse grachtengordel op de Werelderfgoedlijst geplaatst. Maar de titel heeft niet de effecten die een ieder verwacht en is eigenlijk een wassen neus.
Voorstanders, waaronder de gemeentepolitiek en de behoudzuchtige Vrienden van de Amsterdamse Binnenstad, zien de UNESCO-titel als de hoogst haalbare onderscheiding. En sommigen zien er een kip met gouden eieren in, die voor veel extra toeristen zorgt. Het internationale adviesbureau PricewaterhouseCoopers heeft echter in 2008 berekend dat de gemiddelde stijging van het aantal toeristen bij een UNESCO-benoeming hooguit een paar procent is. In een ander onderzoek laat de meest gunstige berekening een stijging zien van zes procent, maar dat betrof het Canadese vissersdorp Lunenberg waar voorheen amper toeristen kwamen. In het wereldberoemde Amsterdam zal het effect aanzienlijk kleiner zijn.
Voorstanders voorzien ook een verandering van het soort toeristen dat de stad zal bezoeken. De ‘brallende Britten‘ zullen plaatsmaken voor kapitaalkrachtige kosmopolieten. Onderzoek weerspreekt ook dit: maar weinig toeristen zijn zich bewust van het UNESCO-predikaat van door hen bezochte plekken. De keuze voor een reisbestemming hangt hier nauwelijks van af.
Bovendien: was de titel vroeger nog voorbehouden aan de meest bedreigde natuurgebieden en de meest uitzonderlijke en kwetsbare architectuur en steden, inmiddels staan er meer dan 900 namen op de lijst en komen er ieder jaar gemiddeld 26 bij. Deze wildgroei zorgt voor een devaluatie van de benoeming.
Alleen al in Nederland stijgt het aantal kandidaten gestaag. De Wadden zijn net toegelaten en rondom Amsterdam bevinden zich al meerdere UNESCO-plekken, waaronder de Stelling van Amsterdam en droogmakerij De Beemster, die nauwelijks meer bezoekers trekken met hun titel. De reislustige Amerikaan kan Nederland ook overslaan en Aken, Keulen, Brussel, Brugge of Bath bezoeken om UNESCO-erfgoed te ervaren. Nog even en UNESCO is de Starbucks van de erfgoedwereld.
Volgens tegenstanders, de schreeuwerige actiegroep Ai Amsterdam voorop, is de benoeming de doodsteek voor de binnenstad. Amsterdam wordt één groot Begijnhof, als een overgereguleerd openluchtmuseum. Men vreest dat Amsterdam steden als Brugge achterna gaat en eindigt als uitgestorven erfgoedstad, zich niet realiserend dat Brugge pas in 2000 op de lijst is gezet, lang nadat deze stad haar dynamiek verloren had. De benoeming was een poging om de stad nieuw leven in te blazen.
Gemakshalve gebruikt men de benoeming vaak ook als bewijs voor de ‘vertrutting’ van Amsterdam. Maar wat de bescherming van erfgoed betreft is de hoofdstad Roomser dan UNESCO. Mede als gevolg van de bewonersprotesten tegen de sloop van oude wijken als de Jordaan in de jaren ’60 en ’70, ontwikkelde de stad zelf zijn strenge regels. De revolutionaire geest van weleer waart nu als een spook rond over de grachten en zorgt ervoor dat iedereen met (ver)bouwplannen snel wordt afgeschrikt. UNESCO doet daar amper iets aan af en draagt daar ook weinig aan bij.
Ook de angst voor verder toenemende regeldruk en bemoeizucht van de overheid is ongegrond. UNESCO is geen Paard van Troje dat ongemerkt ervoor zal zorgen dat gevelreclames en nieuwbouw verboden worden. Het reglement van UNESCO blinkt uit door vaagheid en laat veel ruimte voor interpretatie. Zelfs in Venetië, het prototype van de platgelopen toeristenstad waar sinds 1950 het inwonersaantal meer dan is gehalveerd, is ruimte voor vernieuwing en commercie. Zo werd twee jaar geleden, ondanks felle protesten vanuit de bevolking, een opvallende nieuwe loopbrug van de postmoderne Portugese architect Santiago Calatrava in gebruik genomen. En al enkele jaren ontnemen metershoge billboards met reclames het zicht op de bekendste architectuuriconen aan het Canal Grande en het San Marcoplein. En dit allemaal ondanks (of dankzij?) UNESCO én met steun van de lokale monumentendienst.
Dus hoe nu verder? Gewoon doorgaan, alsof UNESCO niet bestaat. Je moet het echt bont maken, of slecht spelen, wil UNESCO je van de lijst halen. Toen Dresden in 2009 van de lijst werd gehaald als gevolg van de bouw van een nieuwe brug, schreef de Frankfurter Rundschau terecht: “UNESCO is dan wel tot een besluit gekomen, het heeft geen oplossing gevonden.” Dresden koos voor innovatie ten koste van een plek op de lijst. UNESCO raakte een aanwinst kwijt en verloor de grip op een deel van de achterban.
Amsterdam moet zich spiegelen aan Dresden en zijn plek op de Werelderfgoedlijst gebruiken om deze ter discussie te stellen. Laat alle Amsterdammers, toeristen en bovenal UNESCO zien dat je als historische stad met een ‘uitzonderlijke universele waarde’ ook eigentijds en eigenzinnig kunt zijn. Amsterdam moet zich niet laten weerhouden van de hoogbouwplannen voor Overhoeks in Noord, volgens het UNESCO-reglement verboden, of voor de bouw van een nieuwe brug naast het Amstel Hotel, enkel vanuit een misplaatste eerbied voor UNESCO. Als men zo had gedacht in Parijs, waar het hoofdkantoor van UNESCO is gevestigd, dan zou er nu geen Centre Pompidou of glazen piramide bij het Louvre zijn. En dat was eeuwig zonde geweest.
This article first appeared in NRC Handelsblad, August 2, 2010.
Aug 5, 2010 – In another UNESCO row (after Dresden it is Bruges’ turn), Jan Van Hove, the Culture editor of Belgian quality newspaper De Standaard, refers to Michiel van Iersel’s NRC article on the admittance of Amsterdam on the UNESCO World Heritage List. He suggests that Bruges should follow Michiel’s suggestion for Amsterdam to ignore UNESCO.
Here is the quote in Dutch, suggesting that Bruges should follow Michiel’s suggestion (for Amsterdam) to ignore its UNESCO-status and leave room for new developments in the historic inner city:
Misschien moet Brugge een voorbeeld nemen aan Amsterdam, dat sinds het voorbije weekend zijn grachtengordel op de lijst van het Werelderfgoed ziet prijken. De titel werd niet overal op gejuich onthaald, want sommigen vrezen dat de titel van de Unesco de strenge regelgeving die nu al bestaat, nog strakker zal maken. In de NRC verscheen gisteren meteen een opiniestuk waarin Amsterdam de raad kreeg om de Unesco gewoon te negeren. ‘Nog even en Unesco is de Starbucks van de erfgoedwereld’, schrijft de auteur, die erop wijst dat de titel van Werelderfgoed wel wat aan waarde inboet nu er 900 plekken op de lijst staan, alsof Unesco, zoals de bekende koffieketen, overal zijn filiaal wil.
According to another source, Patrick Moenaert, Mayor of Bruges, seems to agree:
“ To lose UNESCO classification would be terrible. Neither is it the objective to preserve the city like a picture postcard within which nothing can be altered. Bruges is not a shrine but a city which lives and must continue to live in the 21st century”
Aug 12, 2010 - After being mentioned as a source of inspiration for Bruges’ dealings with UNESCO in Belgian daily De Standaard, Non-fiction’s opinion article on Amsterdam’s inscription on UNESCO World Heritage List is now published on the website of Presseurop in 10 languages, ranging from English and German to Polish and Romanian. It’s interesting to see the differences between the various translations of the original headline, both in length and content, putting the emphasis on different aspects of the article.
PressEurop is a joint initiative of France’s Courrier International, Italy’s Internazionale, Poland’s Forum and Portugal’s Courrier Internacional. Every day, PressEurop selects stories from top publications across Europe and the rest of the world, including Der Spiegel and Le Monde . The site also includes press reviews, daily political cartoons, blogs and editorials.
Non-fiction’s co-founder Michiel van Iersel is featured in this month’s edition of Time Out Amsterdam, talking about Amsterdam’s enlistment on UNESCO‘s World Heritage List and the possible pros and cons. In 2007 he already wrote on this topic, concluding that ‘people can’t live in museum’s’. This paper can be downloaded here.
What was your first reaction when you heard about the UNESCO status of the Grachtengordel?
The preparations started a long time ago (before my article) and I would’ve been more surprised if Amsterdam’s application was rejected. Compared to other listed cities, Amsterdam’s historic centre is not only equally historically and architecturally significant, but is probably one of the best preserved and regulated on the list. Amsterdam already had more than 8,000 listed buildings or national monuments and a protected cityscape before they applied so it was basically functioning as a UNESCO World Heritage city without the official designation.
There have been various reactions to the listing.
I wasn’t (and still am not) afraid that the official designation will really change anything, except causing certain expectations and fears by those who are wrongly informed about the implications. It’s up to the municipality to manage these expectations and inform both supporters and opponents. So, I would suggest that the city establish a very visible UNESCO info centre right on Dam square, designed by Rem Koolhaas or any other experimental architect, and demonstrates that world heritage and contemporary culture can and will coexist in Amsterdam as long as preservationists and innovators work together. But there’s nothing right now. There’s an unattractive website with no updates and a Facebook page with nine fans. It will be listed and nobody will notice.
Why is it important that people notice?
There was a reverse trend years ago – people almost fled from the historic centre. It was dilapidated; there were lots of rats; people were living 15 to a room – and then they wanted to tear down the Jordaan, which is part of the area that will be listed. A few real estate investors stepped up and then you had this whole process of gentrification. Now it’s one of the most attractive parts of the city.
Was that at the same time as the listing procedure?
It started back then. The city thought it could do with more tourists so it became more like a promotional tool. You don’t have to use the listing to promote the city because it’s already very well known across the globe.
Will the listing help change Amsterdam’s reputation as a sex and drugs capital to a cultural destination?
You have to make a distinction between people with an interest in culture – as in Rembrandt and the old art – and people who are interested in more alternative and experimental forms of art. Attracting a good cultural life has nothing to do with the number of monuments you have in your city. It has to do with whether the Stedelijk Museum will reopen, for example, or whether there are good galleries here. It’s up to us to reactivate this historic city.
How do we do that?
It’s a matter of striking a balance. Having rough edges is important. Don’t get rid of the Red Light District and make sure that some of the DNA of that place doesn’t disappear; make sure you don’t sanitise every single part of the historic inner city. Once you lose the rough edges there’s nothing left but an old spot and old people who come for old stuff.
Are you still concerned that the historic centre will become an ‘open-air museum’?
The biggest threat for Amsterdam now is not that it will become an open-air museum, but that it will become an amusement park. Every single day there is a new event, roads are blocked, and that has increased enormously even since I started living in the centre five years ago. It comes from the same ambition: to attract more tourists, instead of going back to the core value, the unique selling point of the city, which is atmosphere and architecture and this combination of contemporary culture and ancient buildings.
Some people are concerned that the UNESCO listing will make the historic centre more expensive. Does that worry you?
It is interesting to see that happen in other UNESCO-listed areas in Europe and elsewhere, but Amsterdam is different. It has the highest percentage of social housing in the centre of the city, so this whole argument that Amsterdam is getting too expensive and people are getting pushed out isn’t really relevant here. Prices have risen over time but 35 per cent of houses are still reserved for people making minimum wage or less.
Should there be some restrictions in the historic city centre?
No more hotels. If you want to develop new hotels, why not try building them in other areas, like the Indische Buurt – or in Noord, where there’s a good connection to the airport and Central Station?
But what if people say, ‘I’ve travelled all the way to Amsterdam, I want to stay near a dreamy canal’?
Well, then you have to pay more. I’ve just returned from Paris and it’s the same there. If you want to be in the middle of everything, you have to pay the top price. That’s normal elsewhere and we have to learn from other cities that went through the same developments. We have to grow up. We shouldn’t leave the inner city just to tourists. Maybe from a promotional point of view it would be even more interesting not to be listed. And to do stuff that will threaten our place on the list.
What sort of things?
Build high-rise buildings – as they are doing in St Petersburg, which will be the next city to be removed from the list. I mean, be brave. I dare Amsterdam to position the city as a testing ground for innovative projects in an ancient environment and challenge, ignore or even violate the UNESCO regulations if necessary. We can live without them and still be a vibrant historic city.
-
Inspired by the computer game Football Manager, in which you are the trainer of a top football club, Juha van ’t Zelfde dreams of the game Museum Manager, in which you get to run a top museum.
Museum Manager 2010, the precursor of Museum Manager 2011
It will have been in 1995 that I managed to get my hands on my first copy of Championship Manager 2. CM2 was a computer game in which you could be manager of any of the big (and small) teams in the English, Spanish and Italian football competitions. The first edition appeared in 1992, and by the time its name was changed to Football Manager (FM) in 2005, the game had grown to become the ultimate sport management game, with football competitions and associated players from every continent.
You begin the game by creating a profile and selecting a team from one of the world’s many football leagues. Let us, for example, take FC Barcelona, the most successful team in 2009, with such famous players as Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. When you make up your profile, you are asked to do more than just fill in your name and age. You also make a choice about how you join the team as a manager: as a former worldclass player (a Rijkaard type), a successful manager (a Van Gaal type), or as an unknown rookie with no experience at all (a Van ’t Zelfde type). Let us begin as an unknown trainer: Juha van ’t Zelfde, 30 years old, half Dutch, half Finnish.
The next step is that you are welcomed to the team by Chairman Joan Laporta, Johan Cruijff’s famous friend. On behalf of the Board, Laporta expresses their faith in your appointment and their expectation that you will make their team the champions. With the likes of Messi, Henry and Ibrahimovic in your selection, this of course has to be possible, but should you need a little extra support, you have a transfer budget of €15 million at your disposal. Barcelona has a stadium that seats 98,000 spectators, world-class training facilities, state-of-the-art training for young players and a total budget of €664 million. You also have a staff, including an assistant-manager, coaches, youth coaches, physios and scouts. In short, everything is just as it is in real life, and you feel responsible for the future of the team.
What makes the experience of playing FM so exceptional is the dizzying array of statistics and data that come your way. Players have more than 30 different characteristics, divided into technical, mental and physical qualities that are valued by a number from 1 to 20. The lightweight World Footballer of the Year, Lionel Messi, for example, scores 20 for flair and technique, but only 9 for strength and 10 for aggressiveness. The managers, trainers and scouts also have statistics to chart their qualities. All of these figures fluctuate. They can go up or down, depending on how you deal with the players, how you employ your staff, the shape you give to the training, which tactics you use in the games, whether you win the games, how you respond to the press and how the public responds to you. If you improve, the players improve, and vice versa. The result of all this is that you really get the feeling that you are leading the team, that your choices are deciding factors in the club’s success.
After this, football is never the same again. The first time you go watch a real football game, you see it all through the eyes of an FM manager. Worse, you want the real managers to play FM as well, so that they too can make their clubs better.
When I recently played Football Manager 2010, it occurred to me how wonderful it would be to translate this to the museum world, so that you could become manager of the Tate Modern, or to bring it closer to home, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Alexander Ribbink would welcome you, express his faith in you and entrust the collection, the museum building and the staff to you. At the same time, he would make a budget available that you could use as you see fit. Suddenly, you would have to choose between purchasing a new work by Olafur Eliasson, appointing a new head of marketing, or developing the museum’s strategy in the field of Internet and new media. That new work of Eliasson’s is expensive, but it would bring in new visitors and generate a lot of international attention. A new head of marketing could mean an in-depth investment for the organization and make all of the museum’s departments more transparent. The online strategy would make the museum more approachable and accessible, but it would consume a great deal of time and require considerable external (and expensive) expertise.
Just as in FM, Museum Manager – which is of course what this game would be called – would let you begin with a smaller organisation and work your way up to the higher ‘divisions’. In the footsteps of Willem Sandberg, you could make the Stedelijk a unique museum with an exceptional collection that is squarely in the middle of society and actively seek collaborations with other disciplines. This would have consequences for relationships with the city, sponsors and other partners. If you are a success, New York’s MoMA will ask you to become manager of their museum, just as happens in the football world. Suddenly, you are in charge of an immense collection and astronomical budgets and have an international network of experts at your fingertips. But you are expected to produce results. Can you handle the pressure?
I cannot wait to play Museum Manager. Then, the first time I go back to visit a museum, I will observe it through the eyes of an MM manager. Moreover, I will want real museum managers to play MM, so they too can improve their museums.
Juha van ’t Zelfde is half Finnish, half DJ and half co-founder of Non-fiction, VURB and Viral Radio.
–
This article has been published in Dutch art magazine Metropolis M. It was translated from Dutch by Mari Shields. Follow Metropolis M on Twitter.
For quite some time now Non-fiction’s Michiel van Iersel has been involved in the so-called Three-Day Music Festival in The Hague. This year’s event takes place on March 5 – 7 and is the 7th edition of this annual celebration of classical music. Up to now the overarching theme of this classical music event was ‘Young Talents meet Great Masters’, with master classes, the Classic Express (an amazing mobile concert hall), recitals and concerts in which well established musicians took to the stage with a new generation of musicians.
However, from this edition onward, the festival will focus on innovations in the world of (classical) music performances. The festival wants to play a pivotal role in stimulating cross-disciplinary projects, state-of-the-art facilities, technological innovations, off-site concerts and smart (online) communication tools. The underlying questions are: “how can we engage a new and young(er) audience in classical music” and “what will a concert (hall) be like in the year 2030“?
We will be looking at the most innovative and outlandish attempts to shake of classical music’s boring image and to revitalize this ancient art form. Obviously, we will start by examining the revolutionary nature of the (classical) music itself. What would be the contemporary equivalent of Igor Stravinsky‘s controversial and violent ‘Sacre‘, John Cage‘s legendary 4’33″ or Karlheinz Stockhausen‘s mindblowing (and deafening) ‘Helicopter String Quartet‘?
On our personal shortlist you’ll find Michel van der Aa‘s chamber opera One and sound art by people like Carsten Nicolai and Christian Marclay, but also Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood‘s new compositions for the London Sinfonietta as part of the South Bank Centre’s cutting-edge Ether Festival in 2005. Please let us know what your nominees are.
The impact of new and digital media on the creation and consumption of classical music will be discussed as well, from Edgard Varèse‘s groundbreaking work up to the electric violin and other absurdities from the 70′s and 80′s, via the 3D Tour of Classical Music History that was developed back in 1993 (!), down to recent innovations like the crowdsourced Youtube Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and Virtual Maestro, a game on Nintendo’s Wii which allows you to conduct a virtual orchestra.
The concert hall of the 21st century is one of the subjects that will be discussed during a new series of talk shows and presentations in which both experts and visitors will be explicitly asked to pass an opinion on future developments. We will scan the globe in search for brave architectural statements that have fundamentally changed the acoustic and esthetic standards for concert halls and music centers alike. Think of the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media & Performing Arts Center (0r simply EMPAC) in upstate New York, Zaha Hadid‘s billowing Bach pavilion in Manchester, the new Oslo Opera House (in Norwegian: Operahuset) and our beloved Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Amsterdam’s (self-proclaimed) “Concert hall of the 21st Century”.
Architect and provocateur extraordinaire Rem Koolhaas will be our keynote speaker on Saturday, March 6. The Lucent Danstheater (completed in 1987 and housing the Netherlands Dance Theater) is one of the festival locations, but also happens to be one of Rem Koolhaas’s first completed projects to receive widespread critical acclaim. In the coming years it will be replaced by a new and multifunctional music center in the same location. Obviously we have asked him to elaborate on ‘his’ Casa da Música, being not only his most recent attempt to design the perfect concert venue but also providing a model for other music venues and cultural icons in the 21st century and millennia to come.
We will liven up his contribution with a series of short videos of users and visitors of both the Casa da Musica and the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ. We want to know how the buildings function (technically, but also socially), what the biggest strengths and weaknesses of the design are, whether or not they have had an impact on the local music scene and/or international reputation and what lessons can be learned from them?
For this reason we will attend the Portugese premiere of Michel van der Aa‘s music theatre work ‘The Book of Disquiet” at Casa da Musica in Porto next week, for a recorded ‘walkthrough’ with our favorite Dutch composer and António Jorge Pacheco, the institute’s artistic director. We will be discussing the building’s design concept and day-to-day functioning from an artistic, social and practical viewpoint.
The final result of these filmed interviews ‘on the move‘ will be shown during the festival, but in the meantime we will keep you updated on our website and on the festival’s blog and through Twitter.
Casa da Música, Porto (Source: The Guardian)