XS Architecture market 30/8 – 1/9

XS Architecture

Non-fiction is happy to co-host XS ARCHITECTURE MARKET – an event which will represent and sell products, objects and prototypes designed by architects or artists and designers that demonstrate a clear link to the world of architecture.

The selection ranges from functional products such as chairs, lamps and textiles to objects that have a more conceptual purpose – to trigger the mind and expose ‘cross-over design’: architects as designers; designers as architects. XS ARCHITECTURE tries to upscale design possibilities by distorting the scale and line between different design disciplines.

CONTACT
Bastiaan Gribling: 06 28570889
info@cityspacesgallery.nl
Parvinder Marwaha: 06 16776990
xsarchitecture@gmail.com

More information here

By Michiel — Posted August 30, 2013 — 4,526 Comments

article in Het Financieele Dagblad

Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad, our equivalent of the Financial Times, asked Michiel to share a ‘burning issue’ with them. In this article, published on 10 November 2012 and inspired by a whole range of writers and artists, he reflects on the omnipresence and potential of ‘creative destruction’ in coping with the problems we face.

Find the complete text (in Dutch) below. And find the same spirit of ‘creative destruction’ in the writings and works of people like Joseph SchumpeterGordon Matta-ClarkFélix González-Torres, Jean TinguelySusan SontagArata Isozaki, Christian Marclay, RotorArcangelo SassolinoCyprien Gaillard, Lara Almarcegui and many others. And read more about the Ise Shrine in Japan (with thanks to Jarrik Ouburg for telling us about this wonderful place).

— Read more ›

By Michiel — Posted November 1, 2012 — 6,889 Comments

De Verdieping and Tussen-ruimte-project in Dutch daily Het Parool.

Nice article on ‘urban imperfections’ in Dutch daily newspaper Het Parool, consisting of an interview with researcher Ellen Rutten and a list of places and projects in Amsterdam that play with the with the notion of imperfection.

Two of our projects are listed: De Verdieping, a temporary cultural project space in an abandoned printing plant which we started in 2009, and Tussen-ruimte (Remnant Spaces), an ongoing investigation with architect Jarrik Ouburg of the underutilized spaces (alleys, fire escapes, roof tops) in Amsterdam’s historic (and UNESCO protected) inner city that we want to re-activate with artistic and other interventions during Amsterdam’s year long celebration of the 400th anniversary of its canal area in 2013.

 

 

By Michiel — Posted September 3, 2011 — 5,830 Comments

Article in MONU – magazine on urbanism #14

We wrote an article for MONU – magazine on urbanism, together with Ben Cerveny, our ubiquitous mentor, digital urbanist and co-founder of VURB. The latest edition of MONU (#14 – EDITING URBANISM) addresses the enormous potential of the already existing urban material under the title ‘Editing Urbanism’.

Other contributions, from a.o. Rem Koolhaas’ OMA and our dear friend and ‘Shinto-architect’ Jarrik Ouburg, focused on such topics as urban and architectural restoration, preservation, renovation, redevelopment, renewal and adaptive reuse of old structures.

In our article, “Controlling the City”, we argue that:

“The contemporary city does not only consist of physical architecture, but is increasingly shaped by flows of data and information that are continuously transforming and expanding. The enormous increase in the use of hand-held devices and mobile applications in recent years is allowing a new and more direct interaction with our built environment.

Together with the tools we use to design cities, the way we envision and understand cities is being transformed just as well. We are slowly beginning to develop systems that allow us to see urban development patterns over large spans of time and space, enabling us to use the information to really improve our cities.”

Given our obsession with music and DJ-culture we immediately liked MONU’s introduction to our text:

“Just as remixes of songs are alternative versions of recorded songs, made from original versions, remixes of cities can be alternative versions of the original cities.”

Just imagine that you can control the traffic lights, simply by using your iPhone…

But how will all these new data and interactive tools affect the way we experience and manage cities? Can a city become a game? Who will own and control all the content generated by smart cities – governments, the community or private corporations? And how can the underprivileged and disconnected also benefit from all of this?

With our article we hope to provide some answers to these urgent questions.

-

You can buy a copy of the magazine at a selection of book shops around the world and online on MONU’s website or browse the entire issue #14 on YouTube.

-

 

 

 

By Michiel — Posted May 1, 2011 — 9,863 Comments

Portret-paviljoen Duivenvoorde Portrait-pavilion

Maquette van het Portret-paviljoen/model of the Portrait-pavilion (ontwerp/design: Jarrik Ouburg & Paulien Bremmer)

See English version below

Op 16 en 23 oktober, twee opeenvolgende zaterdagen, vormt het eeuwenoude Kasteel Duivenvoorde tussen 12:00 en 20:00 uur het decor voor een experimenteel programma met kunst en live optredens in reactie op de unieke collectie (familie)portretten. Deze twee ‘Dagen van Duivenvoorde’ vinden plaats ter gelegenheid van het 50-jarig jubileum van dit museum.

Middelpunt van deze dagen is het zogenaamde Portret-paviljoen, een ontwerp van architecten Jarrik Ouburg en Paulien Bremmer, waarmee we oude meesterwerken en hedendaagse portretten met elkaar confronteren in de imposante Marotzaal. Hieronder leggen we kort het concept van deze twee dagen én de werking van dit spiegelobject uit.

Meer informatie over het programma volgt op korte termijn, maar noteer bovenstaande data alvast in je agenda.

English

On October 16 & 23, two consecutive Saturdays, the ancient Duivenvoorde Castle will become the setting for an experimental programme full of art and live performances between noon and 8 pm, in reaction the unique collection of (family)portraits. These two ‘Days of Duivenvoorde’ take place on the occasion of the museum’s 50th anniversary.

The focal point during these two days is the so-called Portrait-pavilion, a design by architects Jarrik Ouburg and Paulien Bremmer, enabling the confrontation of old masterpieces and contemporary portraits in the impressive Marotzaal. The following image explains briefly how the two days and the mirror object work.

More information concerning the programme will follow shortly, but make sure you save the dates.

By Michiel — Posted September 26, 2010 — 12,521 Comments

Duivenvoorde 2: get ready for the next episode..

After the fairytale-ish midsummer night edition of the Nacht van Duivenvoorde, the beta-version of the critically acclaimed mini arts festival in and around Museum Duivenvoorde Castle (Kasteel Duivenvoorde) last June, we are now making preparations for another edition in October. Thanks to a generous grant from the SNS REAAL Fund we are able to broaden and deepen our contribution to the yearlong celebration of the museum’s 50th anniversary in 2010, trying to open up this hidden world to new forms of art and to a wider audience.

Live performance by sound artists Machinefabriek and Wouter van Veldhoven at Duivenvoorde Castle on June 26, 2010.

Taking the vast and rare collection of family portraits as our starting point, we will concentrate future activities in and around the castle’s richly decorated grand ballroom, aka ‘the Marotzaal‘ after the famous French architect Daniel Marot (1661–1752). The walls are covered with life-size portraits of former residents dating back to the 16th and 17th century. They will serve as a backdrop for an innovative art installation and series of events that focus on the use of portraits in the arts and science throughout the ages.

The grand ballroom, aka ‘The Marotzaal’ at Duivenvoorde Castle, serving as an exhibition space and events platform in October.

For the design and realisation of the art installation we have teamed up with Jarrik Ourburg and Paulien Bremmer, two young Dutch architects who both work at the intersection of architecture, heritage and art.  They recently won the 1st prize in an international competition for their daring design for the transformation of an old military barack, the UNESCO-listed Genieloods at Kunstfort Vijfhuizen near the Dutch city of Haarlem, into a center for contemporary art.

Winning design for the Genieloods at Kunstfort Vijfhuizen.

At Duivenvoorde they will develop a temporary spatial intervention that on the one hand will intensify physical qualities and aesthetics of the the existing interior and at the same time will add radically new forms and viewpoints. Drawing inspiration from different ideas and examples, ranging from SANAA’s design school at Zollverein and Jan de Cock‘s and Krijn de Koning‘s art installations to technological breakthroughs in face detection and recognition software and social media applications, we will try to push the limits of what museum innovation can be.

Curious? Save the date: the art installtion opens on Saturday 16 October and the grand finale takes place on Saturday 23 October..

By Michiel — Posted August 20, 2010 — 8,402 Comments

Our office

The Non-fiction office is moving into the former library of the Scheepvaartmuseum in the centre of Amsterdam, near the Architecture Centre, Science Centre NEMO and the former Stedelijk Museum CS. You can find some pictures here. We share our space with the imaginative and cordial architect Jarrik Ouburg. Stop by when you are in the neighborhood, we are social people. And we have an incredible view.

By Juha — Posted December 10, 2008 — 5,340 Comments