me news

a paper stage

wednesday was spent judging some 400+ posters for the annual ‘dutch theater poster awards’, it’s always fascinating (and quite unique) to see a years worth of poster design from one country all in one go in one space…

this year the graphic designers were quite heavily represented amongst the jury members (including my friends ‘lernert & sander’) which led to some difficult discussions during the day, on the whole i feel very happy about the final selection and the winner, more news as soon as the finalists are announced next month…

m / 01-07-2011 09:43 - tags: , , ,  

take a bow

the current dutch government is certainly not one of a calibre that i would expect to be sympathetic to the arguments which the arts sector is giving in reaction to the draconian measures being put into to place to cut back funding, but at the same time doing nothing isn’t an option… the dance sector takes a silent bow, a large group marched from rotterdam to the hague last night, there are many petitions against arts cuts circulating and the mediamatic infographic is now also a poster campaign, enjoy the creativity while it lasts… welcome to the dark ages

m / 27-06-2011 09:20 - tags: ,  

cultural meltdown

this stark black and white ad was placed on the arts page of todays ‘new york times’, the small text below reads as follows:

‘dutch governement decimating support for the arts. severe damage will be done. dutch arts can no longer hold their unique position on the world’s stage.
disgruntled dutch artists +31 613 517 169’

calling the number lead me to a voicemail message with an email address for the group ‘dutch artists’ and urging me to get in touch… the revolution will be televised…

m / 23-06-2011 19:10 - tags: , ,  

dd day

we had a long day session yesterday in not-so-sunny-eindhoven (with the whole jury for the DDA 2011 communication category) trying (and succeeding) to get our initial selection, made last month, shortened down to a finite list of nominees for this years ‘dutch design awards’

it was an inspiring and fun day and we left with an overall feeling that we had made the right choices and found the work that stood out the most in quality, innovation and idea… whether everyone else agrees is doubtful… fickle bunch designers, we shall see when the finalists are announced in the near future, until then i must keep my mouth shut, tough gig…

a new chairman (antoine achten) and a more demographically varied panel of jury members sitting around the table has definitely improved (and highered) the standards and provided a broader base of collective ‘design’ experience, good news for those who entered their work this year i feel… good luck to you all, fingers crossed

m / 23-06-2011 18:53 - tags: , ,  

bomb art

you are cordially being invited to produce a ignite a few colourful random smoke bombs next week

not exactly easy to do perhaps, but then again it probably looks really nice and could prove to be a pretty way to wave goodbye to a serious culture infrastructure for the netherlands

m / 21-06-2011 07:47 - tags: , ,  
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