32. Dutch Design Week explores the boundaries of what it means to be human
I.
Dutch Design Week has kicked off again in Eindhoven. I spent a day wandering around Strijp-S and saw all sorts of lovely things.
For example, this alienating installation by artist Mette Sterre. I believe this suit is part of the project Seapussy Power Galore, Abcession (If you donāt know, you donāt grow). Iām not making this up. This hump suit can be worn, although in Eindhoven it was displayed lifelessly. And that made quite an impression. It looks as if it has crawled straight out of the sea into a game like Baldurās Gate 3. The thick, umbilical-cord-like cables are reminiscent of director David Cronenbergās body horror.
Sterre explores the boundaries of the human body with this work. āHer work creates a new body language in which carnivalesque and folkloric traditions resonate,ā reads the description. Iām a fan.
II.
The Poem Booth is a poetry generator based on artificial intelligence. You stand in front of a large screen, the machine takes a photo and, after a few seconds, a bespoke poem rolls out. Every text is unique.
The installation was created by Studio VOUW and fine-tuned by the Belgian poet Maarten Inghels. The idea is to encourage people to read and write more. On the floor, it proved accessible enough and, thanks to AI, truly captured the imagination; queues of people wanted their own verse.
For my girlfriend and me, the language model wrote this poem:
> Stand there, the two of you, in the > > twinkling glow > > A blue flash of lightning strikes > > unexpectedly > > Hearts pounding, hands > > clasped > > In the twilight > > you gently fade away. > >
A love poem. And quite a lovely one, I think. See it in action:
III.
If youāre in Eindhoven, do pop into the MU Hybrid Art House, where you can see TIMELESSTIME. This is a presentation by MAISON the FAUX, a studio run by young artists Joris Suk and Tessa de Boer. They specialise in performance art, fashion and costume design, and set design, and it all comes together here.
In various landscapes, youāll find three characters almost as soon as you enter. They live in worlds full of stones, mud, rubber, straw and flowers. At set intervals, they pick up their dolls as lifeless reflections, walk to the centre of the space and then hold up a mirror to the visitor through expressive dance.
āDo we lose or gain time as the years pass?ā the creators want us to ponder. āDoes physical decline make us vulnerable, or is this actually the very motivation to create, philosophise, destroyā¦?ā Impressive, really, and a bit creepy too. Not to be missed at this Dutch Design Week. Let yourself be taken by surprise.
IV.
A brief photo impression:
Thatās it for Dutch Design Week!
V.
Weāre already halfway through October, the month of Halloween. Iām bravely continuing to watch horror films; hereās this weekās haul.
Re-Animator (1985) is a twist on the story of Frankenstein. Herbert West has a poison-green potion with which he can bring dead people and animals back to life. He tries it out on the cat belonging to his flatmate and fellow student Dan, who is consequently dragged into Westās madness. It takes a while for the film to get going, though that might be because I watched the Integral version. Itās twenty minutes longer than the standard version (and Iād say twenty minutes too long). I found the film rather inconsistent in tone and, as far as Iām concerned, the balance between horror and comedy doesnāt quite work. But towards the end, the film becomes so deranged that itās still worth watching right to the end. The standard version, that is, which is less than an hour and a half long.
***Poltergeist*** (1982) was directed by Tobe Hooper (of *[The Texas Chain Saw Massacre](https://www.rutgerotto.nl/post/30-we-gaan-griezelen-halloween#viewer-cajor)*) but is even more clearly a Steven Spielberg production. Because it isnāt really scary, though it comes close at the end. The Spielberg magic lies in the wonder and emotion of the lead actors. *Poltergeist* is about a girl who disappears after the house starts to be haunted. All sorts of experts are then called in to banish the poltergeist and find the girl. The story isnāt always gripping, but the special effects are still fantastic forty years on. ***Talk To Me*** was released in the Netherlands this year. This Australian film was made by two YouTubers and is clearly about Gen Z. A group of young people come into possession of a hand that allows them to make contact with the spirits of deceased people. The āparty trickā is that the spirits can take over your body. The young people who let this happen go through a sort of drug trip, whilst the rest of the group films it for social media. The catch is: you mustnāt let a spirit stay for longer than a minute and a half, otherwise you might not be able to get rid of it. Naturally, this goes horribly wrong. And itās portrayed in a truly freaky way. The film goes off in all sorts of directions and gets quite wild. Special praise for the use of practical effects, as they remain genuinely scary. ---PS.
De Volkskrant investigates claims by Professor Rob de Wijk, who has maintained for years that he was one of the few people who knew where Osama bin Laden was hiding. No idea why, but I did enjoy it. āWhy would they involve a professor from the Netherlands?ā
Erik Wernquist once animated the irritating Crazy Frog (the ringtone actually features a few times in Talk To Me and perhaps thatās the real horror). Now he makes completely different things. In his latest short film, he takes you on a cruise through the universe. A completely different kettle of fish, and it tastes better too.
---The almost complete archive of the Whole Earth Catalog is online. Wired calls the publication āthe proto-blogā. Youāll find a huge collection of in-depth reviews, tips, essays and articles. From Wired: āThe catalogue had a major influence on the intellectual landscape of Silicon Valley and is said to have sparked the ideas behind todayās start-up culture. Steve Jobs referred to the Whole Earth Catalog in a speech at Stanford University in 2005, in which he compared the publication to Google before Google existed.ā
It is 2023 and The Rolling Stones have released a new album for the first time in eighteen years: Hackney Diamonds. It would be a bit unrealistic to expect it to feature a new Satisfaction or Paint It, Black. Nor does it. It is, however, simply a more than decent rock album with a few killer guitar riffs. Thereās a good chance this really is their final album; they probably canāt wait another eighteen years. When you see that the last two tracks are called Sweet Sounds of Heaven and Rolling Stone Blues, it really does bring things full circle.
Iām playing Super Mario Wonder and I canāt help but smile. Itās quintessentially Mario, yet the game literally turns everything youāre familiar with on its head. When I first discovered a secret hidden away in a corner of the overworld, I was completely hooked again. A joy to play.
---I havenāt seen Killers of the Flower Moon yet, but Iām thoroughly enjoying the TikTok phenomenon that Martin Scorsese (80) has become. He regularly appears in videos made by his daughter Francesca (aged 23), and as a result, the director is now hugely popular with younger generations too. In the videos he tries to explain what Gen Z slang means and he has his dog Oscar come to the audition. TV critic Thijs Schrik wrote a column this week in NRC about Scorsese as a TikTok icon.
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