Euripides:
“Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold.”
Welcome at the digital playground of Patrick Kruithof.
Enjoy your moments here and now.
SHORTCUTS
Go to the Curva ruler, my main mission, the Wishing Balloon experience, the Human Light Circles, the Stopwatch story, The Lecture Tour, the baby whale picture or the Typical Planet project.
NEWS JULY 2016/ STOKROOSTEGEL FOR MUSEUM AMSTERDAM
The Rotterdamse Stokroostegel paving stone has been selected for an exhibition in the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. The exhibition is called Dream Out Loud, designing for tomorrow’s demands and shows work of twenty-six talented Dutch designers striving to create a better world.
The design of the Stokroostegel has been slightly altered: one of the three holes for the bamboo sticks has now disappeared.
To accompany the exhibition twenty of these paving stones have been placed outside the museum together with hollyhocks. The Stokroostegel will also be for sale in the museum shop.
SEPTEMBER 2015/ LIGHT CIRCLES FOR VENICE
On commission of the Dutch embassy in Rome and in cooperation with art producer Mothership I have realized a Human Light Circles event. This event took place on September 10 and 11 on the Lido beach of Venice under auspice of the Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia.
The goal of this event was to make a constellation of unique light circles on a beach with minimal use of materials and a maximum of human effort. Each circle was made by measuring the height of the navel of every participant as well as the distance between two of their footsteps.
With the help of a special tool circles were then drawn in the sand. Walking over this line each participant reached the starting point after exactly twenty-four footsteps.
Paper bags were placed on these steps and filled with a layer of sand. Tea lights were put inside and lit just before dusk. The number twenty-four is related to the hours of the day that has passed.
Both locals, tourists and visitors of the Venice Film festival joined the effort to make seventy-two light circles over the course of two days, as a symbolic reference to all the festival’s editions since its start in 1932.
JULY 2014/ HOT SPOT
During a short stay at the Ampelhaus in Oranienbaum, Eastern Germany I created an intimate space where visitors of the Art and Design summer exhibition can sit and relax. The centerpiece of this Hot Spot is an unusual object consisting of two parts: a rusty old tub found at a nearby barn and the lower part of a stool found in a storage. Both descend from DDR times.
By coincidence the two fitted perfectly together and were turned into an object
for making fire. Holes were added to the lower side for suction of oxygen. The letters S,N,W and O were drilled on the four sides of the tub, the N side facing North.
The fire is fed with a mixture of locally available natural materials like pine cones and unpainted wood of demolished walls and floors of houses in town.
MAY 2012/ GREENING THE CITY
On international Earth Day, April 22nd another series of especialy designed pavement stones have been added to the streets of Rotterdam as part of the Cityflower project.
With the help of children and adults the stones and hollyhocks were placed alongside the façade of the Center for Visual Arts in Rotterdam. The event was opened by the city councelor for sustainability, town centre & public space, Alexandra van Huffelen.
Alongside this event several shop keepers in the same street joined the project to make the area greener.
JULY 2011/ DRIFTING SOUTHWEST
Together with cultural project developer Gerda Zijlstra I developed an open air library for seeds of edible plants. The concept was presented during a festival in Rotterdam. Visitors could discover the world of plants and their poetic names, look at magnifications of seeds under a microscope and watch spear grass from the South African Kruger park rotate when moistered. Buying a ticket gave the right to open a random cupboard drawer and take an envelope with seeds to grow.
The international Domburg Painter’s week in the Dutch province of Zeeland asked me to develop a side event connected to their theme ‘The light of Walcheren’. Children where invited to decorate white wishing balloons with ecoline paint. At the edge of an open potatoe field sixty of these balloons where launched into the air, drifting southwest.
For a series of theatre performances in a neighourbood garden I hired myself out as a firemaster. Three of my washing machine drum BBQ’s were used for a Chinese dance ritual. Special packages were designed to create large flames within a short period of time.
MAY 2011/ GRAY WHALE
Wanting to be in touch with wild animals and a different culture I left Holland for Mexico. On my journey I encountered hummingbirds, dolphins and three types of whales including the largest of all mammals, the blue whale. The most impressive encounter took place in Laguna San Ignacio on the west coast of Baja California. Gray whales have chosen this perfect spot to give birth. Waiting patiently with fellow travelers in a boat a fifteen meters long mother whale approached us accompanied by a two months old calf. The young whale played underneath and alongside the boat seeking contact, even wanting to be touched. At a breathtaking moment the mother pushed her calf above the waterline so it could have a better look at us.
Passing giant cactuses in the mountains of inland Baja I found another whale. This painted specimen belongs to one of the best preserved petroglyphs of Northern America. According to anthropologists the black and red figures refer to shamanic rituals.
After crossing the sea of Cortez I took the Chepe train through Barranca del Cobre, a canyon four times larger than the Grand Canyon. Near Mexico City I visited the Aztec city of Teotihuacan with its pyramid of the moon and the Toltec city of Tula with its temples and sculptures. In the colonial town of Guanajuanato I discovered the beauty of repetition, midday shadows and a lonely saw.
At a dump in Colima state I saw why the Coca Cola company is responsible for both climate change and local diseases selling plastic bottles and knowing Mexicans burn these in open air.
Other parts of Mexico revealed wonderful plants, musicians, street food, a dreamlike ladder, dramatic landscapes, playfulness, Catholic symbols, handicapped chairs, doorlocks, an active volcano and hard working people like a policeman, a painter, street vendors and a shoe polisher.
For the Typical Planet project I photographed a doorbell, a painted wall, a rusty surface, the rear of a vehicle and footprints people and animals had left behind.
MARCH 2011/ BIOBASED ECONOMY
With the oilpeak in sight, many countries are researching the possibility of the so called Biobased Economy. The Dutch Rathenau Institute is one of the influential bodies to advise the public, politicians and policy makers in the Netherlands on new scientific and technological developments. The institute asked my studio to design several concepts which make the abstract matter of the Biobased Economy tangible, comprehensible and visible in a playful way.
The first concept is a playing field of real grass patches combined with fake grass, thus visualizing the current situation of having one leg in the fossil fuel depended past and one leg in the future biomass based economy.
The second concept is a pedestal placed on the corner of this playing field. It contained the research reports that were presented and distributed during an official ceremony.
The third concept was a special gift. All the attendees received a test tube filled with one out of five different kinds of (bio)fuel. Printed transparant stickers were glued to the test tubes, stating existing contradictions for each fuel. Monoculture vs Biodiversity in the case of palm oil and Miracle fuel vs Expensive dream in the case of algae. Five hundred test tubes were placed on top of the pedestal lit by a lamp to accentuate the special content.
SEPTEMBER 2010/ CITY FLOWER
Because of climate change cities are getting warmer and warmer. To stay cool places like Rotterdam need more vegetation and that’s why I started a City Flower project. The chosen candidate is Alcea Rosea, a plant with large green leaves and abundant colorful flowers.
The mission is to introduce 50.000 extra Alcea Rosea plants in the streets of Rotterdam within the coming three years. To realize this I have developed a special paving stone. The stone is casted in concrete and contains an open space through which the plant can grow, three holes, a logo and a soft surface gentle to gardeners hands.
Three small bamboo sticks are placed in these holes to protect the young plant and two large ones are placed to prevent the plant from bending. Through subsidiary funding of the municipality, the help of a reintegration programme and cooperation with city residents, 250 of these paving stones have been placed in a small neighbourhood. The logo of the stone is made of thirty-six dots being the exact amount of seeds in each Alcea Rosea seed pod.
Little by little my carefully build up collection of Moment Quotes is becoming visible on Twitter. Every Monday followers receive an inspiring quote created by writers, philosophers, psychologists, politicians, spiritual people, artists and others.
In July the nomadic version of the drum BBQ participated in a barbecue marathon. One of the organizers nicknamed the drum on wheels Fikkie, which is Dutch for fire and a dog’s name at the same time.
Miracles can happen when you observe reality closely. During a journey to the French city of Calais I spotted this amazing cloud. Looking at a picture of one of my summer fires I was thrilled to discover Napoleon. In the heat of the moment he managed to keep hold of his hat.
MAY 2010/ WORKSHOPPING
The Lecture Tour has tried a new assignment on reallocation of industrial heritage. Students of the Academy of Art and Design St. Joost in Breda were asked to take pictures of the area around former shipyard Rotterdamse Droogdok Maatschappij, using the Typical Planet method. The identity of their design concepts had to be based upon the found details.
In a workshop at Delft University of Technology, architecture students were introduced to the Denktank method. This simple and intuitive way based on the metaphor of a tree maps specific properties of refuse. By selecting combinations of unique properties and brainstorming new applications are designed.
With international students from the Erasmus University, Rotterdam School of Management, I visited a botanical garden. Lying underneath a tree they were asked to meditate, observe and write down their experiences.
Cultural organization Kunstenaars & Co hired me to give a workshop for creatives working on an assignment for Dutch Energy provider Eneco. Several sustainability communication ideas were generated making use of the Sustainable Experience Design Tool.
JANUARY 2010/ FLOOR LEFTOVERS
The latest version of the washing machine drum BBQ has been on show in re-use shop & exhibition space Studio Hergebruik. The previous design of the connection between the drum and the lower part of an office chair has changed and is now made of oak floor leftovers instead of plywood. A number of these unique objects have been sold to customers. The average percentage of reuse in this limited edition is now ninety-five percent of the total weight.
SEPTEMBER 2009/ CO2 EVENT
The Erasmus University in Rotterdam asked me to develop new elements for a master course on sustainability. Together with associate professor Gail Whiteman and her students I organized an event to visualize the abstract matter of CO2 as a major agent of climate change.
With the use of an especially designed CO2 extraction tool one hundred small balloons and one big balloon were filled with car exhaust. Facts on climate change were connected to the small balloons and given to passers-by.
The large balloon containing half a kilo of CO2 was presented to the mayor of the city. Although impressed he could not accept the offer. The problem he held in his hands obviously was too big for one man.
For The Hub Rotterdam, a community of social entrepreneurs I have been working as an external advisor for a new shop concept. The Hub also bought my latest version of the washing machine drum BBQ for its garden. This time I combined the drum with the discarded aluminium lower part of an office chair.
This summer I went to the retreat centre of Zen master and author of The Miracle of Mindfulness Thich Nhat Hanh. I observed my mind in silence and learned more about the art of living in the now through sitting, working and walking meditation.
In Southern France I visited UNESCO World heritage Site St Emilion to document Typical details and learn more about grapes and winemaking. Old keys are still in use to open the doors of this wondrous town. Although St Emilion is obviously a neat place, signs of graffiti can still be found there.
This year I have been planting different seeds from my seed collection in a selfmade greenhouse to observe the proces of natural growth. The Alcea plant in my experimental garden has reached a surprising height of 370 centimeters. These plants are functioning like thermometers of climate change in cities where more sunshine leads to higher temperatures than normal.
I expanded my visibility on the web by opening a LinkedIn page and a Picture gallery. On show are categories like drawings, products, prototypes and human behaviour. I also joined the Twitter community using it to open up my daily world of thought, idea, vision, song, doubt, feel, advice and discovery.
JANUARY 2009/ DELIVERING WARMTH
The Amsterdam Fashion Institute invited me to give a workshop during their Sustainability week. Two groups of students worked on the creation of awareness of the CO2 problem in big cities. I asked them not to work with materials fashion designers tend to use normally but with the social mesh cities already provide.
For the 20th Pecha Kucha evening in Rotterdam I was asked to present my work on a small market. Visitors could take a look at eighteen numbered prototypes. My products were not for sale. Instead people could buy the story behind an object for one euro.
This winter I have focused my attention mainly on the delivery of warmth. I have developed a modular storage system for wood refuse from do-it-yourself shops. All leftovers are sawn to a length of thirty centimeters. In this way pieces can easily be stored in stackable crates.
The first time I used this system was during the inauguration event of the Santa Claus statue, a work by artist Paul McCarthy. I chipped the wood and burned it simultaneously in three different washing machine drum barbecues to keep the audience warm.
The second time was during what felt like an epic journey with friends. At minus five degrees we had a – sunrise watch – breakfast on the middle of a frozen lake. To keep warm we used the mobile version of my drum barbecue. Just before the sun rose we launched a ricepaper balloon carrying a string of fifty different plant and tree seeds including Nepeta Grandiflora.
I had been to the middle of the lake before to make a circle in the snow that buried the ice underneath. With my skates I pushed the snow to the outer line of the circle thus creating a clear center mark.
I closed turbulent 2008 with a retreat in a Benedictine monastery to learn how to be absorbed in whatever you are doing, wherever you are, however you feel, whatever the circumstances.
OCTOBER 2008/ THE ORIGINS OF EARTH
I have spent a lonely night on top of the active Stromboli volcano. Stromboli is one of the beautiful Aeolian Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After a steep three hours climb I arrived at the top. I glimpsed into the crater and saw the origins of earth. Out of the deafening silence explosions came throwing magma high into the air. Seven times by the hour. Standing there my emotions shifted between childlike fascination and intense fear.
Earlier that day I had seen an interesting sign alongside the track. The message seemed contradictory. It urged the visitor to respect nature. That same nature in the appearance of a volcano can be extremely destructive for us. Just like mankind, volcanoes emit CO2, an aggressive agent causing climate change.
On my flight to Sicily I enjoyed the view out of the window. Somewhere above France we crossed the path of another aeroplane. It left behind a clear vapour trail unintentionally visualizing the impact on the environment. The trail looked aesthetic at the same time. I wondered how the world would look like if all the birds had vapour trails behind their tails.
The Dutch branch of the Kaos Pilots, – best school for the world – invited me to give a workshop for their first year students. The students made a constellation of fourteen circles on the Dutch beach of Oostkapelle. Later that evening they used it as a template for three different performances.
I have joined the Rotterdam Pioneers, a group of people that aims to make the city where I live more sustainable.
The Sunday Adventure Club in Amsterdam ordered thirty packages of Mini Campfires for an exhibit on urban pioneering. The firewood inside the newspaper package is made from leftovers of a do-it-yourself shop. Refuse that otherwise would be dumped or burned in incinerators has been transformed into a valuable personal experience.
The academy of art and design in Rotterdam has asked me to write a vision on sustainability. Part of this vision is my statement that sustainable development is not a hype but actually a cultural phenomenon that increasingly needs to be addressed in the coming decades.
JULY 2008/ 15.000 OBJECTS
A compilation of my desert pictures combined with striking environmental facts on Qatar has been published in TAGMAG, a magazine from The Hague.
My lecture in the King Kong galery in the same city ended in a vehement discussion over this slide. The image shows the amount of 25.000 objects western consumers possess on average. Considering the current rise of world population and the limited availability of raw materials we should learn to live with less.
I have been invited by the European capital of culture RUHR 2010 and the Dutch ministry of Education, Culture and Science to join Kreativ Quartiere. This project aims to promote the attractiveness of the Ruhr metropolis for creative individuals and enterprises. I went to the Ruhr area for my research and spent some time in a temporary house in the Ruhrstrasse of Unna Massen.
For an educational institute I have developed a playful tool which helps tutors to integrate sustainable development in their curriculum. Another tool I am using currently for education is this shortened folding rule. It visualizes the most extreme sealevel rise in the year 2100 as predicted by scientists and stresses the urge for action.
In Rotterdam I have tested a prototype for a mobile barbecue. Walking with this washing machine drum on wheels feels like taking your dog out for a walk. The abundance of twigs and other organic materials on the streets makes it easy to keep the fire going.
FEBRUARY 2008/ DUNE BASHING
I have been to a country which probably has the highest CO2 emission per capita in the world. Hospitable Qatar is a place with very little sustainability awareness. Big cars are common, gasoline is cheap and dune bashing is a favorite pastime. The desert with its magnificent sanddunes has a severe waste problem due to the worldwide habit of throwing things out of the window.
I went to Qatar to give a Lecture Tour workshop. Building the Light Circles created a nice contrast between the white paper bags and the black djellabas of the female students.
My definition of the sustainable experience has been quoted in a research paper by Guntram Geser on cultural tourism. It shows that the combination of sustainable development and experience design is an important one.
This image about development has been published in a Great Place to Live publication.
I have met chemist Michael Braungart to ask his opinion on the Frozen fruitbowl. His advice made me rethink my reuse concept.
Asphodeline Liburnica, the first seed from my personal collection has now become a plant. It is growing fast, probably helped by the CO2 compensator medal that I developed together with Marjolein van der Velden.
NOVEMBER 2007/ PING PONG
Typical Planet wants to celebrate the cultural diversity of our planet and stimulate communication between people of different cultural backgrounds. This is precisely what happened when I met two nice people in a bar in Japan. Unable to speak Japanese I showed them pictures from my Typical Holland collection. Thanks to this image I learned the sound of a Japanese doorbell is Ping Pong. Which is different from the Dutch Ding Dong.
I had left Holland to visit both Japan and South Korea. Ecodesign colleagues from Tokyo and Busan invited me for a Lecture Tour workshop at their institutions.
Japan has surprised me with its wonderful Zen gardens, Shinkanzen speed trains and Jacques Tati like situations.
The Light Circles at the Gwangalli beach in Busan attracted many passers by. Lovers photographed each other standing amidst the twenty four lighted paper bags.
Climbing the summit of the Samsinbong mountain I wondered what the meaning of travelling actually is. The answer? To understand oneself.
SEPTEMBER 2007/ AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE
My fascination for seeds as potential CO2 compensators has brought me to Jardin des Plantes in Paris and botanical garden De Dreijen in Wageningen. With seeds from these places and plants I am creating a botanical garden in front of my house and on my balcony. I am especially interested in the Alcea plant which makes climate change visible growing higher then previous years.
Students in Tallinn have been working on my student assignment on climate change and CO2. They were asked to create the interior and exterior of a place were visitors can become conscious of the subjects of CO2 emission and CO2 compensation. The capital of Estonia also revealed several Typical Planet details to me like these mysterious dark holes.
The Dutch branch of the Danish Kaos Pilots school asked me to make seventeen Light Circles with their first team of students. Experimental performances turned the evening into an unforgettable sustainable experience.
JULY 2007/ SEEDS COLLECTION
My design for the Bamboo Labs has been on show in the city of Eindhoven. The search for new applications with this relatively sustainable material has resulted in a small cube, a new type of blockboard and a text explaining the innovation itself.
The current interest for climate change has inspired me to come up with an interesting assignment on the matter of CO2 compensation for my students and a modification of my Minicopter design. Instead of a plastic cap I am now using seeds as weight. Seeds will become more important in the future as viable CO2 compensators so I am currently setting up my own collection.
The last couple of months I have had talks with different people about possible collaborations in the field of education and sustainable business concepts.
FEBRUARY 2007/ THE SUSTAINABLE EXPERIENCE
Kuala Lumpur has been the latest destination of The Lecture Tour. About two hundred students attended the succesful workshop at the end of last year. As usual we started the day with a presentation of Typical Planet pictures of the local culture.
After Malaysia I worked on an assignment for seven washing machine drum barbecues. These barbecues are a variation on a previous design that hangs from a tree branch. In this model the old drums are connected to a second hand stool with a piece of multiplex.
Recently I have written a column for the Design & Emotion Society about the promising connection between sustainability and experience design. It is the first time I have written down a possible definition of the sustainable experience.
My work for the Bamboo Labs has resulted in a conceptual model for a lampshade made of bamboo vineer. I have intensified the visibility of the individual bamboo strips by adding darker vertical stripes to the back of the vineer layer.
NOVEMBER 2006/ MOUNT LINJHIHSAN
After my visit to the Tam Kang university in Taipei on behalf of The Lecture Tour I travelled to the highest mountain of Taiwan. I didn’t make it to the top of Mt Jade but spent two days at nearby Mt Linjhihsan. From there the view was marvellous but disturbed by the litter around me.
Taiwan is facing strong side effects of its production activities and consumerist society. Many rivers are polluted and refuse is still burned in open air. The lack of sustainability awareness is not only caused by the industry and consumer behavior but also by religion. Every day thousands of people burn so called Ghost money in front of their houses and shops to secure a prosperous future. This habit is causing smoke that further deteriorates the low air quality in the cities.
Bamboo is a great plant that can be found everywhere in Taiwan. Back in the Netherlands I joined the Bamboo Labs in which 23 designers will look for new applications of this promising material.
In Rotterdam I met a happy consumer from Belgium. This iPod fan had bought himself a Frozen fruitbowl at the exhibition place and shop Studio Hergebruik.
SEPTEMBER 2006/ FOUND TREASURES
Summer contemplation on the Dutch island Vlieland has given me the rest I needed. During a long walk on its immense empty plains I encountered several objects hidden in the sand. Other objects were found in my hometown Rotterdam. In affluent countries like Holland the streets can be filled with little treasures like these: colourful tops, a chair, firewood and high quality carpet.
These are the three autonomous projects I am currently working on: the image based Encyclopedia Erotica, the Typical Planet communication tool and the M collection,
a mindful selection of Moment quotes.
The small town of Olhao in south Portugal is now hosting an exhibition on Ecodesign which includes my design of the Frozen fruitbowl.
JUNE 2006/ THE LECTURE TOUR
It is astounding to see that the surprises of life come to you when you have your eyes pointed in the right direction. This occured to me last month in the Kruger park in South Africa. I went there with friend and colleague Gerrit Schilder to facilitate two workshops in Johannesburg. It was the official start of a new project called The Lecture Tour.
Part of this concept is a presentation of Typical Planet pictures that where taken just after arrival. The best collage of Typical Joburg shows the toys we encountered in Soweto.
Teaching is a great opportunity to spread sustainable knowledge. Back in Holland I continued to do so at the Willem de Kooning Academy and the Piet Zwart Institute. The master students of Piet Zwart presented their sustainable business concepts and we ended the Ecodesign course with a barbecue in the park.
APRIL 2006/ HOMO LUDENS
At the first Dutch edition of a Pecha Kucha Night I presented my design of a new board game. Its name is Amasya, after the Turkish village where the first two prototypes were produced and tested. The audience could read Moment Quotes in the background while I was playing the game with a friend of mine. It was a true tribute to Homo Ludens. This wonderful and valuable term was invented by historian Johan Huizinga and it means man the player.
After my visit to Cuba last year I wrote an article about city farmers in Havana. It has been published along with pictures of the farm in a magazine on sustainability.
Lost and Found is a group exhibition on reuse design. It is now taking place in Haarlem and some of my designs are on show there. Visitors can also purchase a manual which explains how to turn an old washing machine drum into a barbeque.
DECEMBER 2005/ THE STOPWATCH
For the first time in my life I exchanged a commercial experience for another commercial experience. Money played no role in this deal. The art piece of pink sugar is named ‘Happiness’ and has been made by Roos Versteeg.
Graphic designer Mark Mulder has completed his logo design for the Typical Planet project. The logo is part of the corporate identity he is currently developing.
In Brussels I gave a lecture at the Sint Lucas Academy entitled ‘Beyond the product level, into the world of sustainable experiences’. I also wrote the true story of the stopwatch, an amazing encounter between two people that cannot be explained by modern science.
NOVEMBER 2005/ THE CUBAN DREAM
Leaving Cuba I felt sorry for the Cubans. 46 years of living the revolutionary dream, a heavy blockade by the Bush administration and dependency on tourism has made most people tired and apathetic.
It is not easy to explore a country like Cuba. There is a constant feel of control. Nevertheless I was able to take pictures of cultural details for the Typical Planet project. This has resulted in subjects like weights and numbers.
Alberto Korda’s famous photograph of Che Guevara has been reproduced numerous times. The murals and billboards expose many different interpretations of that original image.
Cakes in Cuba are great. Well decorated despite a lack of proper ingredients. Blue is for gents, pink for ladies. The Comite de la Defensa de la Revolucion also had its anniversary this year.
There are many oldsmobiles still driving around in Cuba. The sculptures that decorate these cars managed to survive in time.
JUNE 2005/ RECOGNITION
My work has been published for the first time in The Design Encyclopedia. This extensive volume by Mel Byars et al. features over 800 pages with design and designers of the past 135 years.
Also new is a website called Onsustain.com. For sustainable products only. The Curva ruler and Frozen fruitbowl are both for sale here alongside products of other designers. If you are interested in the current status of my thoughts you can read this interview.
APRIL 2005/ EROTIC IMAGES
My personal collection of erotic images now exceeds over 700 images. All these images were cut from books, magazines and photographs at a standardized standing format of 9 by 12 centimeters. This format has been introduced by me in 2004 with the design of an Erotic Story Box. The images in this box are collected with a perspex template by cutting the outer lines. With the collection growing I was able to make an innumerable amount of erotic stories on my Erotic Story Board. These stories are far more personal and poetic then the explicit material we know from pornographic magazines. Making my own image-based stories has become a truly sustainable experience to me. And so it has been to others that paid a visit to one of my erotic tables.
MARCH 2005/ CIRCLES IN THE SAND
After one night of snow the park had turned white. Walking through pristine snow reminded me of my youth. This peculiar sound of my footsteps. The reflection of sunlight. Trees standing like characters in a fairy tale. I chose one of them and approached it in a circle. Once I reached the trunk I went back connecting my former footsteps. The shape in the snow reminded me of a mysterious day last summer. We were at the beach and made circles in the sand. Large circles and smaller ones. Each of them distinctive and personal. We used paper bags and candles to light everything. Twenty four for each hour of the day that had passed.
FEBRUARY 2005/ ANOTHER PLANET
The World Wildlife Fund has, with the help of the people behind the ‘ecological footprint’ published the Living Planet Report. This document shows how much impact humans have had and still have on the biosphere of our planet. The ecological footprint of each human being measures 2.2 hectares. In fact only 1.8 hectares are available. To maintain our lifestyle we would need another planet one fifth the surface of planet earth. This image shows that worrisome situation. Feel free to send it to anyone, the image is copyleft.
DECEMBER 2004/ SRI LANKA
I left Sri Lanka on the 2nd of december. Twenty four days later the tsunami struck. Some of the images you can see here are heartbreaking for me. They contain things that have been destroyed completely. And these things remind me of all the nice people we met along the way. Some of them are dead, others badly injured. And me, I have been lucky. Lucky that my 8 days stay on the beaches of Nilaveli and Mirissa didn’t take place during Christmas. The pictures are part of the Typical Planet project. You can take a look at stone walls, roofs, holy faces, prayer flags, demarcations, candles, ceremonial flowers and the paddles of fishermen.
NOVEMBER 2004/ SHORT FILM
You can take a look at a short film based on an idea of mine. It deals with the increasing influence of advertisements in society. The film has been made by Alessio Cuomo & Sander de Nooij.
The Moment Company 