〰️ On Sameness 〰️

I’m extremely excited and proud to have one of my all time inspirators coming to Amsterdam and doing a public talk, and a workshop, at NewWerktheater. Jan Chipchase, the founder and director of Studio D Radiodurans, SDR Traveller and the author of The Field Study Handbook, will talk about his ‘Side projects’ on the 17th of May.

“The simple act of completing a side project changes who we are.” I couldn’t agree more 🙏

My good friend Samuel de Goede will moderate the talk and invite you to start a conversation afterwards. So make sure to reserve your ticket for Thursday evening the 17th of may, and add the dinner option to it as well (included dinner option will added soon) to share the dinner with us at the always lovely NewWerktheater. Hope to see you all there!

And if you want to learn more from Jan, he will host his workshop on how to run international studies to identify new growth opportunities, understand the motivations of international users and drive impact in your organisation, on Friday May 18, also at NewWerktheater, Amsterdam. Get those ticket here. 

This is a super interesting long read by Kyle Chayka on personal taste, algorithms and how its all changing. Kyle brings a very objective view on the matter showing that those algorithm aren’t necessarily super different from the ‘social hubs’ we used to be in before social media. He touches many interesting sides from Amazo'n Echo to AirBNB’s design aesthetic, or Ben Pieratt’s svpply to my favourite LOT2046. It shows how many things are getting really boring at this moment and how we’re just not there (yet). 

‘“Echo” is a good name for Amazon’s device because it creates an algorithmic feedback loop in which nothing original emerges.’

On the same theme, this long read on authenticity and originality is also super interesting. Most interesting outtake for me?

And a last short one on this, regarding travel and ‘boredom tourism’… ‘How should we travel, then, in this AirSpace age? For some, the answer seems to be for travel to become more inward-looking. Rather than travel to explore other cultures, you head to a minimal but stylish cabin in the woods to stare at the trees, muse on mindfulness and catch up on your reading.’ Yes please.

The brutal aesthetics hidden within the familiar of everyday life, the globalized sameness of todays metropolises, and the way these megacities are meticulously planned are central themes in Wolfgang Lehrner’s work. Lehrner’s latest ambitious project named ‘City Without Name’ is another incredible addition to his body of work. Capturing different aspects of everyday life in Mexico City in his unique manner, he takes the spectator from the heart of the city all the way to the periphery and back again; always finding an extraordinary level of abstraction, straight lines, anonymous people on the move through the constructions erupted out of a seemingly infinite mix of glass, steel and concrete. Lehrner captures moments in Mexico City that are so familiar, yet feel as if taking place on a different planet. Evermore questioning the utopian concept of modernity, he portrays a city without distinct limits, always finding a way to mould these uniform and monotone moments into intrinsically captivating images. Continue reading on Another.so

A must see for everybody here I believe. Graphic Designer David Rudnick (famous from his design of album covers by Nicolas Jaar a.o.) talking at Strelka, Moscow. A super smart guy, studied art history and became the most progressive graphic designers of today. He talks about the importance of high standards, the importance of visual culture, for who we actually work, what typography does to us…

And its not just about graphic design, its about the fact we all are designers at this moment since we all share images around the web. It’s also an ode against the current ‘workforce’, against the homogenisation of current markets and visual cultures, against ultra-rarified luxury objects… And an ode for substance and identity.

A reminder, or a wake-up call for most of us, that we should not keep on building, designing, on the ruins of the old world (the legacy media of books, print, interior, physical things) since they wont make sense to the viewer (the consumer) of the future who spend more time in the digital worlds.

His last part is extremely interesting and mind boggling, the ideas on time and how that is changing today thanks to cinema on first hand, and social media nowadays; The alt-reality.

Have a look and hope it will inspire you as much as it did to me 🙏

Last December NTS Radio did an interview with the proprietor of the countercultural enterprise Re/Search Publications and stalwart of the San Francisco underground V.Vale. They’re discussing future life philosophies, principals of punk, the power of dreams and your subconscious and how to develop all the DNA potentials you were born with. (as noted on the official about text on this podcast)

But what makes this interview so interesting imo is that it shows how cultures, real subcultures and not the hype cultures of today, where made. It’s really an ode agains sameness what Punk in so many ways truly is. 

Oh yeah, V.Vale’s advice: “Few but better friends”. Amen to that, and screw facebook again.

More punk related! Satisfy, our favourite technical running brand, is back with the release of the Spring/Summer 2018 campaign RUN! PUNK RUN! They produced a short film as an ode to punk running. Shot and directed by Magdalena Wosinska, the film follows runner and biker Chase Stopnik through the dystopian outskirts of downtown Los Angeles from the empty concrete basin of industrial Vernon to the Mars-like foothills above the 210 Freeway.

Make sure to follow this brand on IG and around and keep an eye on this newsletter since we ‘re working on something with them later this year ⚡️

Continue reading on Another.so

On those social environments and our relationships — What is it, that attracts us so much in raw and unpolished images like these, that capture the world of young adults? Despite that the genre appears in numerous forms, transcending different continents and contrasting cultures, there is always a similar open-mindedness balanced with a certain fragility that comes with youthfulness to be observed. Whether it is to be found in the colorful images of Gilleam Trapenberg or Katja Kremenić, the 78’s captured by Gil Rigoulet, the kids along the 8,000 Miles on a Motorcycle by Robin de Puy or the dark Dystopian Sequences by Alexis Vasilikos. All of these representations are related through a similar energy, inspired by the lack of a strictly demanding moral imperative — they all caption life’s randomness in full effect that hits one first as an adolescent… 

We just discovered a worthy addition to this list of favorites in the genre, created by the young Kiev-based photographer Nazar Furyk’s, whose ongoing series capturing the hedonistic youth of Ukraine’s provinces is uncompromising raw and beautifully vibrant, sucking one directly into the palpable world he has captured in still frames. 

Continue reading on Another.so