Sander van Wettum // BLOG

2011-08-04T12:46:00.001-07:00

MOVED TO A NEW ADRES

PLEASE WAIT....

ppp

Poland

2011-06-04T11:46:00.000-07:00

Blogging for me these days is like calling that far away friend to congratulate him or her with his birthday.... that actually happend two months ago. With each day it gets more and more embarrasing to call him and admit that you are - maybe a little bit - late.

But maybe its good news soon.. Im currently finishing of a small project that I did for the class of Martine Stig and am packing boxes soon since Ill move to Berlin for the summer. But first: I went to Poland a couple of weeks ago and have a fresh bunch of pictures ready to put online in the next few weeks!

Photographers should write more...

2011-05-13T15:16:00.000-07:00

" I might be wrong here, but I think we’re moving into an era where words are going to become increasingly more important to understanding photographs, if not absolutely necessary. People don’t trust photographs and we’re inundated with so many on a daily basis that it really becomes difficult to make sense of them. Writing helps us find our bearings."

Is the statement of Bryan Formhals, that started an interesting discussion on his blog. I enjoyed reading this in the train on my way back from Warsaw/Berlin/Amsterdam...and I have to say I feel inspired by it...

Vonk in de Zuidas | 14th of April

2011-04-11T13:57:00.000-07:00

I know. I'm the worst when it comes to self promoting. Last month we had a very interesting exhibition in the W139; one of the biggest and well known contemporary art space in Amsterdam. We had art, lectures, performances, lots of good beer and even yours truly as a DJ.
I should have posted about this before it was over.....

But ok.... here is a new chance to actually announce something.... on time!
Upcoming Thursday the exhibition "Vonk in de Zuidas" organised by bougieartiniatives will open at the Kunstkapel (Wich is located a very strange building that looks like a weird/failed gugenheim clone and houses a expensive restaurant as well). I'm showing a new 8 meter long Photo installation, inspired on the Zuidas (one of the major business areas in Amsterdam, where this museum is located) Also, there are some great painters and video artists showing work there, so come to the opening on the 14th of April at 17:00! It will be an explosive opening (literally)

Also, more great news: I'm getting my first publication in a Magazine that is sold world wide...and its launching this... Thursday. Ill keep it a secret for now, but by the end of the week I'll make the full anouncement!

Benidorm #009

2011-02-22T12:14:00.000-08:00

Benidorm #008

2011-02-21T12:43:00.001-08:00

Benidorm #005 and #006

2011-02-20T17:29:00.000-08:00

2011-02-20T17:25:00.000-08:00

Benidorm #004

2011-02-18T07:30:00.000-08:00

Benidorm #003

2011-02-17T17:41:00.000-08:00

Benidorm #002

2011-02-16T08:07:00.001-08:00

Gutte Aussichten 2011: Junge Deutsche Photography

2011-02-13T08:24:00.000-08:00

The Deichtorhallen in Hamburg - a museum that is dedicated to contamporary and historical photography - is worth the trip itself for its great bookshop ( Bring creditcards and a big car! !). Oh and...uh...the exhibitions are also nice.
Two weeks ago I visited the Deichtorhallen for the exhibition "Gutte Aussichten" that features work of the best eight German photography graduates. While beeing a photography graduate myself, I was interested to see what the competition in the neighbor country was up to. I didnt find everything as "Out of the Box" and "Experimental" as the exhibition venue wanted us to believe - the expensive and superclean presentation even balanced on"conventional" and "boring". But still there was some very likable photography, like Katrin Kamrau's installation, that sort of concluded the end of photography , and the work of Tine Reimer.

Check out the other participants here . Overall the presentations were very clean and professional - I like to see something similar in the Netherlands as well!

A New Kilo of Kesselskramer

2011-02-11T13:01:00.000-08:00

A new Kilo of Kessleskramer is a follow up to two kilo's of Kesselskramer, A brick like tome that covered every piece of work by willfull Dutch comunicationsagency Kesselskramer. (make sure to check their hilarious website wich you have to refresh a couple of times)

The Amsterdam based company asked me to shoot promotion material for this new publication, that is supposed to appear in a Bulgarian Magazine (No clue what/when/if). So, right before christmas we had a two day shoot with a whole bunch of people, ranging from professional model to randomly-picked-at-the-local-supermarket guy. It was fun (See post bellow)

Now, officially finished with this assignment I present to you the five final photographs that the agency selected.

Kesselskramer making off

2011-02-11T12:37:00.001-08:00

Hello Amsterdam (a digital ruin restored soon?)

2011-01-30T14:59:00.000-08:00

Currently planning to redo the lay out and concept of this blog, and also tweak and upload new work on my website. There seems to be a big digital informationgap between my end-exam at AKI last summer and my current activities in Amsterdam today. Now I only hope I'm just as good at executing plans as making them....

Kesselskramer preview

2011-01-26T13:38:00.001-08:00

One of the five images I did for Kesselskramer - I'll upload more after official approval!

Benidorm #001

2011-01-24T11:45:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I presented the first version of my installation, that is a result of my trip to Benidorm last december. Here are some preview photographs - installation shots will follow.

Martine Stig

2011-01-19T16:22:00.000-08:00

Dutch Photographer Martine stig makes very interesting conceptual photo work, and will be my new tutor in the next few months. Exciting!!

Exhibition night at the Appel upcomming Saturday

2011-01-19T16:16:00.000-08:00

For the people that will be in Amsterdam upcomming Saturday (22nd); I'm part of an exhibition night at the Appel art center! The theme of the exhibition is "Aging" and is a result of a project we did with Spanish artist Alicia Framis and the Amsterdam based magazine ARCHIS.

I'll be showing the first part of my project "Monday's in the sun" , that is a result of my trip to Benidorm.

Evening starts at 17:00 (www.deappel.nl)

Come say hi!

5 projects I never showed here...

2011-01-11T08:55:00.001-08:00

There weren't many new photographs here for the last couple of months (and also not much else either). Here are 5 projects that should have been on this blog - but haven't been featured yet..... (due a lack of a scanner! Ah!!!)

1. UWV Office Hengelo - where I spend a day capturing office life...(yes it was just as depressing as i thought it would be)

2. Sales training: more office people, but this time with heavy disco music, collage art (made by the workers) and Nintendo WII's that could be won!

3. Summer fun: Good times with friends. Either in Enschede or Berlin. Tons of photographs.

4. Last months in Enschede, where is started documenting my own street a lot....(?!!)

5. Hamburg: Strange architecture, strange people. Many good unscanned photo's

So is this place dead...or what?

2010-12-22T17:02:00.000-08:00

Good question.

Maybe this place was a little bit quiet for the last couple of months. But hey...Enschede was a four year holliday compared to Amsterdam. The good news is that I'm planning to re-open my blog again soon.

Here are already some higlights that cover projects of the last month, just to give you a taste of whats comming.

- I'm working with the Spanish artist Alicia Framis on the theme "Aging" for several months.
We are going to have a group exhibition in the Apple (De Appel) in Amsterdam in late january.
I traveled to Benidorm (spain) earlier this month for this project.

- I just finished a shoot for the dutch communication agency Kesselskramer. They have a huge reputation in the Netherlands - so it was a real honor shooting promotion material for their latest "portfolio" book titled "A new Kilo"

- In March the Sanberg people plan a group exhibition in probably the most famous autonomous artspace in Amsterdam: W139. I'm participating!

And much more...!!

Bye Enschede!

2010-09-27T17:34:00.000-07:00

Me and the massive skyline of Enschede (photo by Arseni)

Thursday I will finally move to Amsterdam! (and actively start my study at the Sandberg Institute) I hope this will do my blog well, since i've been neglecting this place a bit in the last couple of months. I hope to actively share my (artistic) activities here a bit more often. But for now, I need to get back to packing my last boxes!

2010-09-14T18:19:00.001-07:00

Ah, berlin!

2010-09-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

From L to R - Johannes, Jolien, Lotte, My shadow and the Berlin Landmark!

2010-09-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

2010-09-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

Seattle last year.....

2010-09-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

Cleaned up my harddrive...

2010-09-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

...and found two old images that I like

2010-09-07T14:01:00.001-07:00

2010-09-07T14:00:00.000-07:00

After Arseni...

2010-09-05T05:18:00.001-07:00

Hamburg scans in the works....

2010-09-04T16:29:00.001-07:00

2010-09-03T13:18:00.001-07:00

James Turrell in Wolfsburg

2010-09-01T14:14:00.000-07:00

On the way back from Berlin, we made a short stop at the Artmuseum of Wolfsburg to see a very bizar installation by the American "light" artist James Turrell. It was a great experience I have to say! Defenitly check out this video to get an idea what this was about!

Berlin..again.

2010-09-01T14:07:00.000-07:00

Oh my, I start to look like a real AKIstani, even though I just graduated. Just went back to Berlin for a couple of days. Didnt take that many pics this time, but I still have plenty of my last two trips. So lets hope I will scan all of those soon!

2010-08-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

Somewhere last week in Rotterdam

2010-08-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

2010-08-25T15:15:00.000-07:00

New on the bookshelf

2010-08-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

Thank you Germany! Next to having two great trips in you're country - you also had some great photobooks on Sale.

In Hamburg i found a copy of Lee Friedlanders Sticks and Stones. I'm a big fan of Lee freedlander, a American documantary photographer who had his breaktrough in the 70's, and is actually still alive (he is 76 and still rocking!!!). Having first seen his work in Canada, I became very interested in his own unique way of seeing the world. His photographs of everyday architectural america are chaotic and disorientating, but also witty, clever and layered at the same time. (If you dont know his work, i recommend checking it out, start with this link)

This is one of the many images in the book that I find very inspiring.

The other book I found is by Beate Gutschow. She constructs large scale landscape photographs out of many different images she collected. These landscapes are constructed according to rules of 18th century landscape painting - so they become sort of romantic non excisting landscapes. The book also features a very interesting black and white series of constructed citys. You can find some of her work here

2010-08-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

Berlin

2010-08-17T12:34:00.001-07:00

More soon. I'm still in a heavy fight with my scanner (these are the only two that came out decently..)

Holliday stop will be over soon....

2010-08-16T09:54:00.000-07:00

I sort of held a - unannounced - holiday stop on my blog. Not that I did'nt do anything of interest. - but I just didn't find the right inspiration to write everything down! So in short:
Sanberg starting in September (Too soon!!) I need to move to Amsterdam (Vacant room anyone?) just came back from Hamburg (PHOTOS!)..... and finally got a scanner (but we are not good friends yet.)

But with the pouring rain oustide (Aren't Dutch summers great) I think inspiration will come sooner or later.... hopefully.

Welcome to 2010

2010-08-01T06:05:00.000-07:00

I feel a little bit behind as a photographer, owning no single digital camera.......up to now.
This state of the art 3.2 megapixel, double battery powered monster from 1997 might seem a little outdated - but does the job. (At least, I hope it will) I hope to add some "illustrational" pics to my blog more often now....

Back in the days...

2010-07-31T05:07:00.000-07:00

Yes! I Was a big movie star back in the days! And yes, many of you wonder: I really did my own stuntwork.Too bad I decided to become a poor artist.....

(Ok, These posters made by Beer ten Kate for photoshopclass, back at the Utrecht School of Fine Arts in 2005. I look so young, and my hair was so long!)

Und jetz....zuruck von Berlin

2010-07-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

I can basically describe my activities in the last week with a few simple keywords:

1. Artshows
2. Seeing friends.
3. Partying.

This literally sums it all up. We really didn't do anything else. But what we did came in huge amounts. I saw a LOT of exhibitions, got a good taste of the Berlin nightlife (Becks and Dubstep!) and met some cool new people while seeing friends from Enschede at the same time. After the twelve hour train ride from yesterday, I'm still pretty broken - but satisfied. . My goal for the next few weeks is to pick up a cheap film scanner somewhere (It sucks not to be in school anymore!) and add some pictures to these words! Also, there is a lot of art I saw, that needs to be shared here! But first I need to hook myself up to a Vitamin Infusion device or something -having had only 2 euro Donner and 3 euro pizza all week.

In Berlin!

2010-07-19T16:58:00.000-07:00

Like said, Im in Berlin to celebrate my graduation with my Sister and Arseni. Its's good fun so far! Lots of Art, Good weather and nice people!! A lot happened in the last couple of weeks, and I hope post some more details later. Biggest news is that I (out of nothing!) got selected AND accepted for the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam! I'll be starting my Masters in Fine Art in September!

Somewhere last week...

2010-07-12T16:52:00.001-07:00

2010-07-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

Installation Views from the NAF Gallery @ AKI

2010-07-08T16:02:00.000-07:00

Hier een aantal impressies van mijn eindtentoonstelling op de AKI. Die maar 72 uur in deze opstelling te zien was. Helaas is de tentoonstelling die nu in Roombeek loopt vele male kleiner (lees, anderhalf muurtje) en doet totaal geen recht aan het oorsprongkelijke idee. Daarom baal ik ook wel eigenlijk, mijn werk kom niet voldoende uit de verf in het Arendsmanshuis. Gellukig kan je hier nog een beejte zien wat ik van plan was.

Het waren een zeer rare paar weken hier. Ik ben nu officieel afgestudeerd - het was hardcore stressen - maar ga niet echt met een bevredigend gevoel de wijde wereld in. Het is een soort anti-climax dat afstuderen. Hopelijk blog ik hierover later wat meer. Morgen weer galleriehoudertje spelen in het Arendsmanhuis.

Preparing my Exhibition

2010-06-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

(This is a flashback; I actually have my show up now...and I actually....graduated!!!
pictures tommorow!!)

Eindexamen Expositie Roombeek

2010-06-21T03:04:00.001-07:00

Om alvast maar even op de zaken vooruit te lopen, en ook een keer wat informatie te posten waar jullie wat aan hebben:

Inside / Out.
Eindexamenexpositie ArtEZ Art & Design (AKI)
3 July tm 1 Augustus 2010

Voor de verandering organiseerd de AKI de eindtentoonstelling eens buiten de school, namelijk op mijn geliefde plek Roombeek. Op verschillende locaties door deze nieuwe wijk zal het werk van mij en mijn medestudenten te zien zijn.

Zaterdag 3 juli om 20.00 uur is de opening in Tetem - dezeflde plek waar ik vorige zomer mijn eerste expo had (Tetem terrein, Hulsmaatstraat 35, Enschede) De feestelijke opening van de eindexamententoonstelling is gekoppeld aan de Roomnacht - wat inhoud dat alle instellingen open zijn tot 00.00 uur! Lekker lang naborrelen dus, en volgens mij zijn er allemaal performances en dingen te doen....dus dat wordt gegarandeerd een toffe avond!

De fotografen (waaronder ik) exposeren in het Arendsmanshuis,- het woonhuis van een kunstenares, die op de tweede etage een expo ruimte heeft gebouwd. Het huis is wat moeilijker te vinden als de andere instellingen, maar de ruimte zelf is echter niet onaardig. Oorsprongkelijk zouden we exposeren in het Rijksmuseum, maar wegens ruimtegebrek zitten we dus ergens anders...

(Als je door Roombeek loopt, moet je ff naar dit huis zoeken, daar hangen straks mijn foto's)
Wie een tomtom of Iphone heeft typt ff dit in:

Bij deze is iedereen uitgenodigd om de derde kunst te komen kijken en zich klem te zuipen in Roombeek!!

Saturday afternoon in Akistan

2010-06-19T12:06:00.000-07:00

Expanding into Chaos

2010-06-12T11:46:00.001-07:00

This is where i've spend more the 60 hours last week..
What started out with "using one wall for hanging some pictures" ended up with claiming almost the whole department. It turned into a classic artist studio; picutes on the walls and floors, beer bottles and food everywhere...Well, i always make it sound worse then it is....

But am I getting somehwere? In the last couple of weeks i've been trying to find a way to present my pictures on the Graduation Exhibition. I've found it really hard to make a selection, but also to combine my selection so that it says something clever. I've recently been looking a lot at Wolfgang Tillmans way of presenting his images; a way that i find very inspiring for my own work. I'd like to go into detail about this later. Its Saturday night 9PM, everyone is out there partying - but im still here. Back to the madhouse!!

2010-06-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

2010-06-12T05:15:00.000-07:00

2010-06-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

20 days left or something?!

2010-06-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

Jolien, a good friend of mine, always starts laughing when I pull my Cellphone out of my pocket. "Sander has a new addiction" she says to everyone. "He keeps on taking pictures with his cellphone".

While the pictures are defintly not great in quality - I sort of start enjoying to have a little digital camera with me all the time...for all those little moments on the AKI.

Strange

2010-06-01T16:35:00.001-07:00

When I encounterd Mros Krivy's website, it was a little like i was looking at my own....

Still alive?

2010-06-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

Still Alive!

Im making longer days then ever, but enjoying it all.
Just wanted to say that I finished my Thesis last Wednesday, and now going crazy to decide what show im going to put up for the final exhibit! I hope to get everyone more informed sooner or later :)

A day in Amsterdam

2010-05-28T17:15:00.001-07:00

8:01 AM

11:36 PM

2010-05-25T04:46:00.000-07:00

One block radius!

2010-05-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

1. The building next to my house
2. The Neighbour
3. More to come!

Zuidas

2010-05-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

But more important...I almost finished my "Scriptie"!

Say what?!

2010-05-21T17:16:00.001-07:00

That dude in the picture is me (.....)

Iets dat ik zal gaan missen....

2010-05-21T17:11:00.001-07:00

The road to AKI!

3 days left.... (for my thesis)

2010-05-21T16:42:00.000-07:00

Like any good Novel, my last few weeks of studying have multiple storylines. While I have three days left for my thesis (climax soon) I have been working on some other projects as well - like the office (tommorow the first pictures) and Iniana Jones (This one has a little less priority). But I've also been going trough my archive to look at old work.

I decided to send all the photos from three major trips from last year (Paris, Crete and Belgium) to the local cheap photostore. Just as an experiment. Since im trying to get an overview of my work, so i can select something for the exhibition, i thought it might just be nice to have something physical to work with.
I ended up with an innocent looking package today:

But for me, even an innocent package like this can turn out to be a complete bom explosion.
I enthousiastcly started unpacking in my room - and randomly organising some of the images.

Well - its not too bad actually. But having 400+ images in your hand can be quiet overwhelming. Its like having a gigantic Jigsaw Puzzle to solve! It all of the sudden reminded me of a co-student from a couple of years ago. His name was Afong, and (just like mister NY arseni) took endless pictures of his daily life. He had EVERYTHING printed digtally, that resulted in a huge archrive from 5 years of shooting images everyday. I remember he confiscated the hallway in the AKI, and had just random piles of photographs everywhere. You can see it a little bit over here, but im pretty sure he had over 10.000 images there.

He went crazy. He had to make a selection for his final show, but he couldnt do it. We had long talks, and as you can see on this picture he occasionally asked other students to help him. However, I was convinced he should do something with the fact he has so much. It said so much about how we use photography today. At the end however, he choose 6 pictures.
|
6 pictures out of 10.000! It turned out to be very boring.....

But now, being in the same situation as Afong (only with a little less then ten thousand pictures) I realise how hard it is to overcome this step. These days its not about the pictures itself, but the context we place em in - the curation - and the way we present the images. Im trying to overcome the "picture, picture" trap. Im not happy with the idea of choosing my top 10, and frame them nicely for the end expo.

Photography can be so much more these days, but I dont really know what it can be....yet

Wednesday (Indiana Jones project idea preview)

2010-05-19T10:00:00.001-07:00

Today at the AKI...

2010-05-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

En er was....

2010-05-19T05:21:00.001-07:00

Things i've been doing in the last week

2010-05-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

- Went to an Artist talk of Paul Graham at the FOAM in Amsterdam. Pretty interesting to see his show again (saw it in NY last year) The talk was O.K - not super special. I think he had a hangover...at least he acted like it.

- Guess who else had a hangover. Mr. did-not-Graduate-yet spent almost 24 hours partying from Wedensday night till Saturday night. He feels very responsible. But yeah: the excuse: almost 12 of those hours were spend dancing on Dubstep (my favourite music!!!) wich gives me the feeling i've been working out !!There were three partys that I attended to (Since it was holliday and such)- with the green vibrations festival as the longest one (14 hours! wtf....)

- Dieing from muscle ace, while carefully nodding my head on dubstep during the writing of my thesis. Or atleast my attempt to...

- Photographing at the South Axis in Amsterdam. It went super bad (Yeah how would that come.....) But it gave me inspiration for 2 new STAGED photographs. Oh my god,....Still in doubt how to execute those!

- Stressing out about my thesis a bit more.... Who can write with a hangover anyway?!!

- Seriously thinking about my graduation as well. Ive been printing lots of pictures (400 other small ones to come) to have a good overview of what i did last year. From there i'm selecting, and thinking about possabiltys of my grad show.

- Hanging out Backstage with the DJs....

- Making a little book about Indiana Jones & my trip to Crete last year. They are related in a great way. I hope to share something about this project soon.

- Trying to learn some classic compositions of Eric Satie on the Piano.... With Youtube as my teacher.

- Stressing out a bit more!

2010-05-17T13:51:00.000-07:00

Jolien working on her massive new drawing. Too bad my cellphone does'nt pick up all those fine details!! (I need a digital camera for real!)

2010-05-15T07:27:00.000-07:00

And also Tanja is puzzeling...

2010-05-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

34 days left...

Trying to make things work...

2010-05-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

Still 39 left!

2010-05-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

The F word for my thesis! Im going to work on a little book project for a bit. Its about me on a horse, a videogame addiction, A greek digside, Indiana Jones with sandals, tourists in yellow and whatever more....

Ill explain it later...

Remake? (You got like, 39 days left... so why not?)

2010-05-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

I have the feeling to re-do this photograph for some time now.
I got this mounted on alluminium, and its hanging in my room (its huge!), It costed me a lot of money already..... but somehow Im not so comfortable with it anymore.

I had the image, someone stopped by a puddle of watter, in my head for over three years. I remember sitting in the bus, as I noticed a person at the bus stop, who wanted to step on the sidewalk, but was stopped by a big puddle of water. It was just a split second before he tried jumping over it - but somehow the whole scene had made a huge impact on me. So dramatic! We let our daily action stop for a moment because of some water! I thought about the image a lot, but it wasnt until Vancouver that I did this image.

However, the original atmosphere - outside parking, daylight - would probaby contribute more to the fact that the puddle is actually just water. Now there is some ambiguity over the puddle (it could be an oil leak or other car fluid) that pushes the image in the total wrong direction. Also the car is a bit to new and shiny - that people actually saw this more as an advertisment for Volkswagen, then something else. Also the parking lot has some eery, gloomy atmosphere - that I like - but I wanted something more depressing and mundane,....And finally, as a guest teacher stated last week - the pose, and thus the action, wasn't as familiar to a daily life situation as the guy with the broken pencil. Even though I find myself walking with great concentration when there are big puddles of water everywhere...

I dont know If it would help to redo this image (I redid the girl with the curtain THREE times, and im still not happy with it) But I still have 39 left (counting from tommorow). So now the question arises...Why not? But also... Why? it feels so useless !

EDIT: After writing this, I looked at the picture again - and I decided that I WILL redo this. Even if its only for myself. Call me crazy (please do, all good artist are) but I will figure out a way to make this image work.

Some postcard I found at the Tate

2010-05-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

40 days.

2010-05-08T16:57:00.000-07:00

"The main reason that artists don't willingly describe or explain what they produce is, however, that the minute they do so they' ve admitted failure . Words are proof that the vision they had is not, in the opinion of some at least, fully there in the picture. Characterizing in words that they thought they'd shown is an acknowledgment that the photograph is unclear - that its not art."

Robert Adams, Why People Photograph (pag 33.)

Overcast skies

2010-05-06T07:15:00.000-07:00

Back to the Office (44 days)

2010-05-05T03:46:00.000-07:00

After weeks of enmail conversations, I finally found an office where I'm allowed to to photograph. "Hurray" I thought!

So Yesterday I had a tour for over an hour trough all four towers of the UWV Office in Hengelo.
It confirmed all my cliche's. Offices ARE very boring. I left the building very depressed.
The towers had just endless rows of desks with people working on it (yah .....duh). What a life...

I was a little concerned though, because some cliches werent confirmed. The workers were not dressed formally, and the office didnt look like a very organized one (Visually). Posters, magazines and little decorations everywhere. It made the whole thing even more unsofisticated and uninteresting in a visual way. No suits, no ties - but this was just probably the wrong office for that. Also more then half of the building was empty. There were some floors were only 2 people were working in a gigantic empty space. This could shake things up a little, and hopefully give me some positive and more detailed idea about the current state of corporate life. Things ARE going bad.

Anyway, I'm planning to spend some time next week capturing all this depression on camera :)

BUT FIRST I have to finish that damn thesis

Thesis, Theziz..Thezzzz (45 Days)

2010-05-04T15:41:00.000-07:00

Ive been writing my end thesis (scriptie) in the past few days - and I should hurry up. The deadline was more then a week ago....(aahR!!) Im spending the days in my room, staring at a screen - not even typing, because I keep on thinking "This is a waste of time! Its boring! I feel like 15!". How Immature of me right?. I should just finish the damn thing and be done with it!

FC Twente is the Champion! (46 days till graduation...)

2010-05-03T05:17:00.001-07:00

Imagine every person in this picture is holding a glass of beer.

And then their favourite football club scores (and is champion of the Netherlands)

I was somewhere in this picture, taking in all the beer showers. And jumping around like crazy just as the rest. Because everybody just had to! I never experienced more excitement and crazyiness in Enschede then this moment.The whole city was one big party. We were all coverd in beer, rain ,dirt, and confettit. People were parking on the national highway to welcome the football players back home. What a positive energy :) Now its Monday, and everybody is still partying.... pfff. What do you mean; distraction from graduation...

Hank - A Masterpiece the world isn't ready for (yet)

2010-05-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

A stunning work of art captured with my crappy phone

Meet Hank, a handsome smiley man, probably somehere in his 40s. I think he is famous, but I'm not really sure. He could be a TV-Anchor, or maybe a gameshow host. It doesnt matter. Hank is the first painting I ever bought, and also the best piece of Art is ever bought. And..like all good art, it started quiet a buzz when I got this.

So let me first tell you how we met. There is a factory where the once so glorious Polaroid was made, that is now a gigantic flea Market. The flea market is a story itself. Not only does it contain the most useless objects you'll ever see together (from Jetski's to second hand underwear), it also has a hairsalon, a snackbar, Shoarma corner and coffeebar.This market is really something, lets put it that way. But lets focus on the real story here. Not the flea market.

Last summer I was visiting the flea market, together with Amanda from Vancouver, and next to an old dusty drawer and a box full of second hand porn, we saw him!

Hank; 40 Cms tall, handsomely mounted on cardboard with a plastic white frame around it. His smile, his Eyes, his hair!- it was love at first sight.

I looked at Amanda, and she nodded. We had to get this. I asked the salesman what he wanted for this magnificent painting. The salesman looked at me if I was crazy, but is probably still regretting it that he let go of this masterpiece for 3 euro 50.

Amanda (left) and Hank (right) having icecream after our bike trip trough Enschede

So, we decided to show Hank some of Enschede before we went home. We took a little bike trip trough Roombeek, had Icecream and went out for dinner with our new friend. It was a loveley day. Oh my. I wish there were more days like that. Only the strange look on peoples faces I could do without. Anyway, later on I went home and showed my roommates my latest Investment.

They were speechless.

And not because of his stunning smile.

"Uh....Sander...We tolerate a lot from you, but this painting is just....too much".

I was a bit disappointed. I thought my Roomates had taste and style. They just didn't get it. This painting was way ahead of his time. I hung hank in the kitchen anyway, they just had to learn to live with it. One day they would get it!So hank hung there for months, and was the topic of many discussion. Each visitor that came by commented on hank. "What an ugly piece of crap!" was the most common reaction. But then I just told them that they were not ready for it yet. That I was pretty sure this would hang next to the Mona Lisa within 30 years. Or maybe 40. It was just a matter of time. Really. Tourbusses full of Japanese tourist will be lining up in front of the Louvre, the Moma will be paying millions to obtain this. T-shirts, Coffee mugs, Posters - whole giftstores ill be filled with Hanks face. Its only a matter of time.

But then, somewhere last week, I woke up with a strange feeling. I went down into the kitchen, and Hank was gone.... Gone! I asked around the house where it was. "Sorry, Hank is taking some time of" they said - followed by a big smile. Unbelievable. Hank got kidnapped by my own roommates! I was furious! The Motherfuckers! I asked them how much they wanted for it. I would do the dished for the rest of the year. Cook three meals a day. Get tons of beer. It didnt matter. I had to get Hank back!! Now!

But they refused. They didn't want to negotiate. They were stone cold kidnappers with no heart.

So weeks went by without Hank. I didn't hear anything from the kidnappers either. They just went on with there life's like nothing happened. They even seemed a little bit happier then normal. How could they!

I almost gave up hope, and cried myself into sleep almost every night. But then, last night, when I was cleaning up the laundry closet - I got reunited with hank! They put him in the awfull dusty laundry closet under a pile of dirty clothes!!! All happy, I brought it to my room fast and locked the door. Finally we were re-united.

So now, Hank will stay in my room, where it is safe until the day the world finally embraces him.... "One day you will be accepted for who you are". is what I whispered is ear right before I fell asleap with Hank in my arms. Its only a matter of time.

Nick Turpin

2010-04-28T15:45:00.001-07:00

Nick Turpin is a street Photographer from London, UK. He even did a little series about business people! Yay!!

The Graduation Diary - Starting Soon

2010-04-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

I've been organising an exhibtion in Amsterdam. I've been helping on somebodys graduation project. I've been writing (and still am - ha!) my end thesis. I've been traveling to many places. I've been partying. I've been at home reading books. I've been building fires on my roofterrace. I've been eating a lot of icecream. I've been hanging in the park. I've been making dinner for friends. I've been to many exhibitions and read many books on photography.And now, with less then 6 weeks left, I need to start thinking about my own graduation really fast.

Most people already have plans and end results for their final show. I don't.
Its been a strange couple of months, looking back from Januari till now. My attentionspan hasnt been on my own work for a while, just a lot of other randomn stuff. The stress slowly creeps up to me from behind my back, ready to strike me any time soon. But I'm also strangly confident and relaxed that everything will work out ok. I mean; i got photographs enough already. But on the other hand there is this nagging feeling that things are slipping out of my hands. It feels like im failing, i should have been working really hard already - making great artwork. Quite a contradiction!

But still, to make everything everything more official and exciting; ill be starting an graduation diary from tommorow. Ill share my process with you, allong with all my sorrows, ideas, sketches, frustrations, stress, happiness and whatever more - so you can all follow me on my last two months of artschool!..... damn. Time is going faaaaaast!

3 X AKI Style from Last Week

2010-04-26T16:18:00.001-07:00

90's House Brainwash

2010-04-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

I think its a quite normal occurrence that when you wake up, not only all worry of yesterday quickly enter your head again, but also music enters - like a song. For me this is most of the time a song I heard recently, like the song that I heard last before going to bed...Wich is interesting actually, but not really groundbreaking news.

Today however, I woke up with this song in my head, that I havent heard in almost 10 years...
I even had to google the lyrics to find out what song it is again. After listening to it (always a satisfactory moment to hear the head song for real) I read in the comments of another - but very similar song-, that somebody woke up this morning and had the exact same!

"i haven't heard this in like 10 years and i woke up with it playing in my head today."

Some 90's catchy house brainwash going on here?

Stills from the Film i've been DOP* for!

2010-04-21T14:27:00.001-07:00

* Director of Photography: Or in human languague - the camera and light guy :)

The Movie is Called "Not Available" and is Directed by Moritz Metzner. Follow the progress of the movie online at this blog.

2010-04-20T09:38:00.001-07:00

2010-04-20T09:26:00.001-07:00

2010-04-18T02:53:00.000-07:00

2010-04-18T02:40:00.000-07:00

What was that?

2010-04-17T12:37:00.001-07:00

The Images bellow are some randomn images of the last couple of weeks - and also last week.

I've spend this week shooting a graduation movie for a friend of mine... a rather crazy project.
Not so the movie itself, but more the roadtrips, randomn meetings and awkward scedules broke me up. Im so tired, that I cant even reply to the office that granted me permission to photograph there (Wich im very exited of).

I also arranged a masterclass with dutch photographer Sarah Blokland, some more Businessman Photo-opurtunitys, a possible gateway to Luxemburg (banks!) Hope to post some more info on this soon!

2010-04-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

The Week of 5 Random Things: #5 Friday

2010-04-10T16:06:00.000-07:00

A little late, but here the last random thing for this week!
One minute of Randomness in Marocco!!! Starring Johannes, Jolien and me!

The Week of 5 Random Things: #4 Thursday

2010-04-08T12:16:00.000-07:00

Printing Colour Photographs in the Darkroom

Occasionally I spend some days in the darkroom making prints. I have to say that its rather a boring process, that roughly can be described as the following:

1. Expose photographic paper with an enlarged negative.
2. Put this paper in a machine (That does the rest for you)

Not really exciting huh? Thats why the days in the colour darkrooms are very very boring and depressing . A great selfportrait underlines this statement. Its just exhausting to be in the dark all day, waiting for this fucking machine to develop your picture!!!

SO Today, I decided that it was time for CHANGE.....I made somemall modifications in my workprocess, to make it all a bit more enjoyable and less boring.

This is todays selfportrait, after 8 hours of printing Look how full of energy I still am! What a difference with the other portrait!

Here is what i did ( i got one of those special nightvision cameras to document the first part of my trick)

I dont know, but everytime im in the dark - I just feel like sleeping. And if you dont, well ..that just fucks you up. So Thats why i hung a hammock in the darkroom, so I can sleep and PRINT at the same time.

The trick is to hang it in between your enlarger and the machine.

If you swing one way, you can just reach out your arm and expose the paper (like you see here)
And then swing back....

To the machine, where you put your paper in! How easy is that!
You can sleep for a couple of more minutes, before heading out to chek your print.
Getting out of the dark always makes me feel like I want a coffee though.....

The coffee machine however, is on the other end of the school. Wich makes getting coffee into an exhausting trip . So I build a little thing that gives me unlimited acces to discusting (but Cafeine containing) cappuchinpos - without leaving the print area!

The solution was rather simpel. I just got one of those el Cheapo garden hoses, and attatched it to the nearsest coffee machine. I just jammed the "cappuchino" buttow with a toothpick, so the espresso with milk flows endlessly.

And well, as you can see, it was long enough! This is me waiting in front of the machine that develops my picture. Normally it takes ages, but this time....well ... before I knew it

MY PRINT WAS DONE!!

And this way, ladys and gentelman, I made over 10 prints today, without getting tired and bored!
Isnt that great?

The Week of 5 Random Things: #3 Wednesday

2010-04-07T15:16:00.001-07:00

During my stay in London, Mr Johannes took photo's of me and Ms. X
Who is this Mysterious person?!

2010-04-07T04:55:00.000-07:00

2010-04-07T01:54:00.000-07:00

The Week of 5 Random Things: #2 Tuesday

2010-04-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

Part 2 of Random Little blurbs that I already wanted to post for months....

BOOKS!

Since my plan is to start a Photobook library in my room, I buy one or two good titles + a theory book every month.

This month I decided to buy two book that deal with my current obsession (Offices and corporate enviroment) - both books kind of rare.
The first one I found at FOAM in Amsterdam, wich is John Pilsons "Interregna ". A series of Photographs taken by John, who worked at a manhatten ICT company for over seven years.

The second one is a classic book by Anna Fox (Who I linked earlier on my blog) called "Workstations", that I found in London (I even had the chance to get it signed by anna, becouse she was supossed to come by the bookstore at the moment i bought the book! Unfortunatly she didnt show up!)