September 10, 2006
Back from Ars Electronica 2006
Wow. What a week! I had a fantastic time. So good to get away from Milan, disconnect and immerse myself in symposiums/lectures and interactive exhibits and music parties...
This week I have:
* taken over 1Gb worth of pictures and video
* met a lot of interesting new people
* ran into an old friend by accident
* gotten to know some of my classmates better
* walked in my bare feet in the grass
* fallen asleep twice on the grass; once on the sunny banks of the Danube, and another in an Austrian countryside monastery
* browned in the sun
* attended an Arduino workshop and sat next to an overenthusiastic American, who turned out to be Golan Levin
* bought the new Arduino board
* gotten the Arduino board to work
* been told by John Maeda that he liked my work and ideas on 'simplicity'
* got a signed copy of his latest book
* read half of that book
* been completely star-struck after meeting Golan Levin and John Maeda
* sent my husband photos of myself through an internet phone booth
* drank a lot of Austrian white beer
* drank a lot of bad coffee
* eaten a lot of sinfully yummy Austrian cakes and pastries
* eaten a lot of healthy vegetarian, bio meals
* not gotten into bed at a reasonable time due to self-inflicted party-abuse
* not gotten out of bed at a reasonable time due to self-inflicted party-abuse
* worn a Threadless t-shirt every day of the week (not the same one)
* only seen 2 other people wearing Threadless t-shirts at the festival
* thrown some LED throwies at a passing tram
* painted with light with friends at Hauptplatz
* burned my eyeballs at the Ars Electronica Animation Festival
* attended some pretty amazing (digital) music performances
* played with some really cool tangible and embedded interfaces
* seen more interactive art exhibits than you could shake a stick at...
* been to a wine festival
I'm still editing the videos, and also trying to catch up on the Siena Design Project report which needs to be handed in before the new semester starts next week, plus some client work so now I am back to work mode in Milan. Busy bee but happy to be together again with my lovely husband :)
Posted by Yasmina at 02:51 PM | Comments (1)
August 07, 2006
Ars Electronica 2006
Cool, the Ars Electronica 2006 festival program is up. Annoyingly too late to signup for the Arduino workshops. On the other hand, the Arduino workshop is an intense five-day ten-a.m-to-seven-p.m activity and it seems a shame to miss out on the other bits of the festival.
The events that look quite promising are down below...
Conferences:
- The Simplicity Symposiums Part I (a.m) & Part II (p.m.)
- Goblin City
- Redefining Public Service: What is Public Value and What do Community Media have to do with It?
Hauptplatz/Mobile City
- As If We Were Alone...
- Mobile Assassins
- Regrets
Also, the play The Electric Grandmother by Franz Schwabeneder, based on a short story by Ray Bradbury, sounds good. Would love to catch that while I'm there...
School will only be paying for 2 days' accommodation in Linz, and I know I want to stay until Sunday, so I am now looking for 3 days' accommodation, possibly sharing with Huie. Need to find train or air fares as well. I like the idea of travelling by train and looking out the window. Wonder if the prices are sky-high though, and what kind of student discounts they'll have.
Also published on my vox.com.
Posted by Yasmina at 01:16 PM
June 05, 2006
Heliuphant: Urban Street Game
Last week, we were running around town, participating in Alejandro's experience prototype, as he calls it. I was in a team with Aram, who, by the way, has posted all these dodgy photos of me during the game on his Flickr.
* All images originally uploaded by blese.
The ransom note.
1st task: draw a chalk graffiti on the pavement
2nd task: hugging a stranger over 50 in the street
3rd task: spheres and circles
We got stuck on 3...
The people we asked didn't know the right answer, either...
So, we Google'd it...
And still got the wrong answer...
Putting clues together with the other groups...
Fnally, Heliuphant...
Posted by Yasmina at 09:25 PM | Comments (4)
April 03, 2006
omg, addicted!
Thalia and Ari made this new game as a new addition to their Avocadolite Farm. Major work avoidance stuff!
Oh, and this image is especially for Huie... :)
Posted by Yasmina at 09:57 PM | Comments (1)
November 16, 2005
amazing circles!
do you like my amazing circles? let's play a guessing game! if you can guess what the three original items were, i'll send you something nice through the mail. post your answers in the comments box!
p.s. comment-spammers are back! so i turned on the spam moderator. it sucks, but hey... :(
Posted by Yasmina at 11:49 PM | Comments (3)
November 04, 2005
paint night at work
last night a bunch of us painted in the studio, in an effort to make the workplace pretty. we were each given a 30x30cm square canvas and we were free to paint what we wanted.
it was fun! the images above is my first painting. i did another painting with jiska, a sort of paint ping-pong where we'd take turns adding elements to the painting.
i should paint more often. i did a lot of drawing (mostly charcoal, life-drawings) at art school, and i liked painting too, although not watercolors because it's super-hard and i sucked at it.
when i finish with work in a couple of weeks, perhaps i'll have more time to paint. yay!
Posted by Yasmina at 11:22 AM | Comments (2)
October 23, 2005
DDW 03
ooooh, all the design-goodness coming from the Design Academy Eindhoven graduation show... they never cease to amaze me. the student projects revolved around themes like 'man and identity', 'man and well-being', 'man and leisure' and 'man and living'. the work ranged from "omg, weird!" to "hmmm, nice concept but unsure of the execution" to "oh, that's clever!" to "hahaha, wow, that's brilliant!"
image above, top half: entrance to the graduation show. bottom left: 'klittenlamp' by masanao tomioka, lamp shades from corrugated metals sheets that can be built-up modularly by hooking and looping clusters of lamps to get the right kind of lighting for your environment. bottom right: sietze kalkwijk's 'LED it bee' modular lighting object made up of Light-Emitting Diodes.
so here goes, highlights of the graduation show:
images, from left to right: (click for a larger image)
image one is the exhibit of hilde koenders, a project titled 'bleeding till death'. plastic blood pouches filled with dye act as a transfusion vase for dying flowers. as the dye is absorbed, the flowers take on the hue of the dye. clever. ironic. beautiful. and sad.
image two project by jeroen verhoeven. this 'cinderella table' combines crafts and high-tech production method of laser-cutting. amazing stuff. i actually saw this table by accident at the modelmakers bruns, when i was over at their workshop for the simplicity project and saw this beautiful table there.
image three 'orbital park bench' by nami mizuguchi. the bench orbits around the tree so sitters can shift around the rail for the best view, depending on season or time of day. i like this; you never get the same view, and imagine all the cool photography i can do on one of these benches!
image four top half: 'shopcycle' by leonart vissers. clever three-wheel bicycle to shop with, as it features a crate and front shopping bags, and the back of the bike can be snapped into the "cart position", enabling the user to easily guide the shopping cart through the store. leonart won a sustainability award for this design. i would definitely shop in one of these babies :)
image four bottom half: 'refugee radio' by mareike gast. this radio converts radio waves in the air into electricity and sound for people living in areas where basic utilities like water, and electricity is scarce.
image five top half, 'inner beauty' by gudrun gunnlaugsdottir. visualising the inner beauty of people through furniture.
image five bottom half: 'kloonkoffer' by sarah van gameren. your DIY vacuum-forming kit, using the power of your own vacuum cleaner at home. i love this because kids (and adults alike) can make so many cool things, omg, imagine what kind of wonderful things i can put in there! :) the downside is, it would create a lot of plastic waste. :(
image six top half: 'urban jewelry' by carmela bogman. the "beads" on the top of the fence spin on an axle, therefore acting as a security obstacle for possible thiefs/trespassers.
image six bottom half: 'grafsteen' by kristian van kuijk. designing your own gravestone. sounds morbid, i know. but it's built-up in pieces, where the name/d.o.b/details of the deceased is compiled online by family members and then realised in 3-D form.
my camera battery ran out before i could get to all of the exhibits. bummer. :(
but here's two more that i'd like to mention: 'zinnebeeldige stalenboek' by siriane hunia, a beautifully printed book, with different types of ink that react to heat and UV-light. 'concrete landscape' where a concrete slab is produced with an "invisible" water-sensitive print. when it rains, the concrete wall or landscape changes its look. brilliant. the name of the designer eludes (suzanne?) and there isn't a suzanne with this work in the showcase book... anyone care to enlighten me?
edit: her name is susanne happler and the work is called 'solid poetry' :)
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next installment: DDW 04: TAC Hotel
Posted by Yasmina at 07:26 PM
October 22, 2005
DDW 02
more images and design goodness from the Dutch Design Week 2005! :)
below, top image: exhibit hall in Strijp S complex. middle image and bottom images: 'Past Tense, Future Sense - 80 Years of Design' exhibit. the book was launched this week to the public, although i received my internal copy last month. i also came to the book launch party last tuesday.
below, images of products from '1 meter sessie YKSI', the 2005 collection of YKSI.
below, top image: chair from '1 meter sessie YKSI', the 2005 collection of . bottom image: a blurry david walking through the YKSI exhibit.
below, images from the CliC Lounger by pelidesign. the parts come in one flat sheet, and you punch the pieces out and click them together to make a lounger, table, etc.
below, images from SPRNG exhibit and the CliC lounger.
below: series of macros from the Material Sense 02: Innovations. i love the printable concrete! i'll have one of those please, thanks!
below, collage of images from the Lift-Off exhibit. top images: 'Plant Lamp' by Quinten Lans. upside down or upside up. i like it, although the electric cable could have been done more elegantly.
bottom left image: 'Concrete', lamp constructed of concrete and silicon rubber, by Meta & Renate. i want one! :)
bottom right image: part of a wooden plank, in which holes are drilled and then little plastic cylinders are stuffed in. when held up against a light source, the coloured rings sparkle like LEDs. (please correct me if i wrongly credit the designers, got my notes mixed up) by Joeke en Marijne Beenhakker & Breg Hanssen
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next installment: images of the Design Academy Eindhoven Graduation 2005 show! to read the first DDW 2005 entry click here :)
Posted by Yasmina at 07:26 PM | Comments (1)
October 21, 2005
DDW 01
yesterday david came down from enschede to spend a day with me, for the dutch design week. he was really nice and polite. it was my first time meeting david, after talking online for a while. as with offline meetings, i always get nervous about whether we were going to get along or not, etc, but david was really cool! i was also very impressed with his bahasa jawa :)
we managed to catch quite a few exhibits yesterday, in 4 different venues: klokgebouw, TAC,witte dame and the buro philip van den hurk. in 10 hours, we saw following exhibits: AirForm, Re-Use/Re-Make/Re-Value, Dutch Mountains, Material Sense 02: Innovations, Move Me, Graduation 2005, SPRNG, Lift-off, Tac Hotel, Arnhems Design, past tense, future sense - 80 years of design, 1 meter sessie YKSI... whew!
it was a supercool day. lots of inspiring stuff. i'm still sorting out my notes, as well as the cards/flyers i picked up and the photographs. we took hundreds of photos; david has the supercool digital rebel. i was happy because he was also carrying around his extra lenses, so i didn't feel like an ultra-geek changing my lenses at exhibits.
there is so much i could write about but i'll just present the highlights. here's the first of the dutch design week series:
Re-Use | Re-Make | Re-Value
Designers Jo Meesters and Marije van der Park bowled me over with their collection. Laser-cut wooden tabletop, delicate ceramic tea set and a vase with a city skyline cut-out from delft blue motif, the natural beauty of an onion bulb.
Taken from their website:
Meesters & Van der Park Anno 2004 present during the Dutch Design Week 2005 the collection Re-Use / Re-Make / Re-Value. The collection is centred on the reuse and revaluation of discarded furniture and textile. Re-Use / Re-Make / Re-Value changes people’s views on existing and discarded products. In addition to this collection, the design duo presents new ceramic works. Natural containers based on the revaluation of natural beauty.
more to come during the weekend! have a good one, everybody! :)
Posted by Yasmina at 04:11 PM | Comments (1)
October 13, 2005
dutch design week
update:
ugh. i hate football nights in eindhoven. it creates all sorts of traffic jams.
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tonight is the official start of the Dutch Design Week, an annual event here in eindhoven. there's several promising exhibitions that i am hoping to attend during this time, like:
- AirForm
- Re-Use/Re-Make/Re-Value
- Dutch Mountain
- Material Sense 02: Innovations
- Move Me
- Graduation 2005: degree show of the Design Academy Eindhoven, which according to the NY Times, was the best design school for 2004-2005. i've been to their degree shows every year that i've been here, and i've seldom been disappointed.
i received an invite for a book launch party for next tuesday night, and that should be cool! it's held in *surprise, surprise* the klokgebouw. it's probably the favorite venue to have a party right now, ex-philips factory building, cave-like and industrial, because every party i go to seems to be held there... well, i hope this party will be as good as last year's.
well. have a good weekend everyone! :)
oh and before i forget.
i must still be woozy from all that codeine. this week, i was at etos (dutch version of boots) and i asked for "homotherapy" instead of "homeopathy". humpfh.
Posted by Yasmina at 12:10 AM | Comments (3)
August 02, 2005
what's your secret?
i've been reading postsecret for a while, and i love it.
for those not familiar with the concept, postsecret is a blog where you can post your innermost secrets, anonymously. make your own postcards depicting your secret and mail it to the street address provided on the site. entries get updated every sunday.
i love this site because it makes me feel human. me with all my imperfection, all my shame, guilt, pleasures, big secrets, little secrets, forgotten neglected scary funny secrets.
the words and images on the postcards are beautifully moving and powerful. what an amazing feeling to disclose your secret to the world, with no one being the wiser.
some that make me smile:
one
the above with text : "I steal small things from my friends to keep memories of how much I love them."
two
three
four
five
the ones that make me cry/sad:
one
two
three
four
five
six
i see people mailing their postcards off and walking away from the mailbox much much lighter, and with a pair of wings on their backs. :)
Posted by Yasmina at 04:54 PM | Comments (2)
January 20, 2005
a new photoshop trick!
yay, today i learned something about photoshop CS from michael. i've been having problems with photoshop CS compatibility with older versions of photoshop. there is an option to maximise file compatibility when you save .psd native files, but it still doesn't allow users with photoshop 6 or 7 to open your photoshop cs files. then i heard that this feature is for ensuring compatibility with future versions of photoshop. i don't know if my source is correct or not.
anyway, the trick to make your .psd CS files backwards-compatible is to open the .psd in ImageReady and doing a "Save as..." (.psd) then you can take those re-saved .psd's into an older version of photoshop with no problems.
well, good luck everyone... :)
Posted by Yasmina at 09:05 PM | Comments (5)
May 27, 2004
GF Book Release
GF Bookwas launched earlier this week. Thanks to Mas Godotand Mas Djakaand Satyafor sharing their photos online of the launch of the book and dinner of the contributing members.
I hope I get my copy of the book soon. :)
Posted by Yasmina at 03:26 PM | Comments (1)
