mail issues

my mail has been out since sometime yesterday. it should be ok now, but if you mailed me something exciting in the last 24 hours - please resend!

notes from 29th

Find guides – our gouda people to guide us into the society.

We must be aware of issues of class, race, cultural capital, religion, gouda as center for surrounding villages.
Are people “blinkered” about the relationship between immigrants and people from gouda?
Crime – fear – maybe of the other, the unknown.
Numbers from the local government – population etc.

No places for elderly people – is it true? or just a reference to the local politics discussions.

Shopping:
main street: chain commercial (shopping maal).
side streets: alternatives small entrepreneurs/ craft shops (art fair).
how high is the rent? Bricolage style – craft, workshops (audience; white middle class young women with children).

Women rights and liberation, general situation.
tango?

What are “problematic neighborhoods”?
The old slogan of Gouda – through rough winds we will reach the stars.

Next steps:
Police
local guides
Documentation exchange
Map on wall
Myth busting

Interviews:
Feb 05
11:00 Ranti
13:00 Eric – city marketing
organize microphones and everything for virtual meetings

notes and conclusions

ceramics days Gouda May 1st and 2nd, 2008

Here the url with the announcement of the Gouda ceramics days, here people come in with their private pottery for information, background and price estimate. please also consult our colleagues at the museum Gouda to find out if we can plan some actions around this event !

http://www.goudsekeramiekdagen.nl/index.htm

digitalnetworks and physical space seminar

The deadline for Digital Networks and Physical Space workshop and seminar at the Medialab Prado in Madrid has only left a few days before the deadline (January 30th)

questions in preparation for tuesday

what is your experience from the field trips?
what patterns are you seeing?
what are the most interesting themes that are emerging for you?
what stories can you tell?

since a couple of you are unable to conduct these field trips i suggest the following exchanges:
vincent + nancy
piotr + vivian
corinna + mirella
please take time to communicate with your partner your questions and insights between now and tuesday...

vivian's notes from the Meeting with Dick Rijken on the 22.

Idea is LOCAL. Specific interest = IT in society and in a cultural angle. What is the changing role of culture in society? Culture used to be a sector, i.e. museums, dance, like education or business. Information society = meaning becomes more important. Culture sector the place where there is full of meaning. Internet - infrastructure for meaning. Using media to have people discuss meaning. All sectors of society are looking into culture and creating meaningful experiences/environments. Nobody knows what a journalist is anymore.
Idea behind Waterwolf - WHAT DOES THIS MEAN ON HYPERLOCAL LEVEL? Being rooted in shared physical environment. Flickr/UTube. Concepts that exist. Virtual environments. Investigate relationship b/w physical vs. virtual. All cities have existing cultural infrastructure. *Investigate - internet usage in Gouda. Dutch statistics - 80% population online...

Can we come up with something meaningful as an experience?
3 institutes want to define themselves. Library, archive, museum = classical cultural meanings.

goudanet.nl = digital catalog of three. lists of what they have. can look up document and find where it is located.
? How can they redefine their relationship to this local society?

Gouda is sinking. Students from Haagse Hogeschool. Water in Gouda. 2-3 months. No one cares. Gemeente wanted to know in what way were people interested in water. Had plans to reopen canals, getting rid of bridges to change water management in city. Students talked to everyone - water engineers, library, archive, museum, people on the street. RESULT = big for professionals but locals don't care. Some are extremely interested and against all new plans.

Information and two way relationships between the public spaces - streets, cafes, homes, institutes. Not necessarily a physical presence, but can contribute something from their home and have it visible in the public space.

High school ends at 18 years. All youth move between 18-30. Fundamentalist Christian school to become teachers.

*Is there a Gouda flickr community? Gouda youtube group?

Trends, tendencies. Football is big but the football clubs are not doing good. So, instead of using the clubs, using sms/mobiles to create an informal organization to play. Don't want to be confined. Informal teams have semi-formal competitions.

What we don't want to happen: polarize the worlds. Give parties and nobody knows. Museum exhibits and only other museum goers attend.
Informal - formal - organizational. i.e. patient groups. Professionals to informalize. Individuals to formalize and organize.

Process of reflection - realization of what you are capable of as an individual.
Dick - VPRO/3voor12 - Be professional. Be a journalist. Broadcaster is professionalizing amateur citizens. Challenging you to formalize. Think of what you are doing.

What is the role of these 3 institutes?
Museum used to have old classroom and teachers could go there and give their students an old-fashioned 19th c. school experience. Is that what a modern museum is about? To give you an idea of what life was like years ago. Part of growing up/Gouda identity. Ranti cancelled this and now in place - kids are asked to bring their collections to the museum, i.e. legos, dolls, fire trucks. Museum staff coach the kids to exhibit the collections. Kids explain why they chose those objects. Coach what you do to others.

What is useless media? Unread blogs. Process of reflection of writing something that is potentially viewable by whole world. Forces you to verbalize/externalize. To not forget. Dead letter offices - write something to lose the paper. Message in a bottle. Desire of being known.

*Are there commuter students? Immigrant communities - do their students commute from home?

Hoogseschool - more multicultural than universities. Takes 3 generations to study something that doesn't have clear profession. Bank teller - Economist - Philosopher.

*Need more local advisors. Ask Martijn about local scene. commuter students.
By being foreigners, on the side of things. Outsiders in a positive way.

Ranti Tjan joins us febr. 5th.

Ranti Tjan, director of Museum GoudA, will join us February 5th 11:00.

Ranti Tjan previously headed the presentation dept. of the Centraal Museum in Utrecht and was project manager at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Amsterdam. Among other functions he fulfilled: chair of the Impakt Festival Utrecht, member of the museum commission ‘Domein’ in Sittard and columnist of the Utrechts Nieuwsblad.

Here are some url’s pointing to his work and recent discussions about the work of the Iranian artist Sooreh Hera.

http://www.skor.nl/artefact-3466-en.html

http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2008/01/gouda-bad-showing-at-protest-against.html

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=xvmkKRfRxWk

workshop day

It has been an interesting day in gouda. Vincent, Mirella and Vivian participated alongside staff from the achieve, museum and library in an interview exercise: walking into the city and interviewing people about their interests and connections to the gouda. we also presented your short ideas - here are some samples:

piotr:
"I’d like to collect passive reflections of the city – through information, through movement, through patterns of interaction. This would be through systems that do not require much effort on the part of participants – in some cases, no more than mere presence. Sensors, microphones, live video recordings in places throughout the city – each would collect a feature of Gouda, adding to a collection of impressions. This data would then be placed back into the library, museum, and archive - marking the everyday, showing how culture is reflected in small things."


vivian:
"Throw a secret party. Clues to be released among the three institutions in a puzzle, scavenger hunt. Flyers will be posted on trees and walls with minimal information. Perhaps just a graphic with a starting arrow and following the flyers to the party location."

"Using an empty storefront, a local hangout and work space will be created for the teenagers to feel at ease to drop by and rent cameras and use the computers for editing."

nancy:
"Occupy the canals with self-crafted modified water vessels and have a carnival of fantastical Ships."

"This event encourages local people to crafts [or modify] their own water vessels, which are of course functional water crafts but of course and hopefully eccentric objects that are works of art as well. This annual event would potentially attracting new people to the region for this curious feature but also inspiring the Locals to delve into their city and the water that is a big part of the past and hopefully
the future."

mirella:
"A fantasy plan for patching Gouda together.
GOUDA FESTIVAL
connect and play
installations
performances
digital art
interactive art
electronic art
art in public space"


corinne:
"We could:
- develop new ways of (re)presenting, experiencing and preserving the past through the use of leading edge technologies (virtual reality, 3D-visualisation, also GPS, text messages).
- and empower individuals and small groups in local communities to share and document common interests, memories, views of their local heritage, thus building a living image of regional heritage in Gouda
Let people collaborate by means of a pervasive game! "


vincent:
send me a sample!

todo

calendar

I included a link to the Patchingzone calender in the Links section to the right. Everyone is encouraged to post info on the calender about their presence or absence in Gouda, or other relevant events. Note: this calendar is public.

cultuurlokaal.patchingzone.net

This is the new domain name of this blog. The old name will remain an alias for a while, but please use this new name in all future references.

just to recap:

what would you do if there were no limitations? or rather if you were choosing the limitations?
we would like each of you to prepare say 200 words and a couple of images conveying the general gist of your ideal project. these will be presented [5 minutes each] on wednesday but i would like you to have them done for tuesday so that we will have a chance to talk them over.
wednesday: be at concordia at 10.30. in the morning dick from the Watervolf projects will talk with you about the institutions and the town and in the afternoon we will talk individually about your project suggestions. for those of you who are not in gouda: email me and we will schedule chat or voice sessions.

websites staff

For those who completed their Dutch course already, here two sites created by the staff .

Previous project:
http://goudanet.webclusive.com/metadot/index.pl
and more recently:
http://www.webindewijk.nl/raak

planning tuesday 22, wednesday 23 febr.

Coming Tuesday morning febr. 22nd Dick Rijken (lector HHS and initiator of Waterwolf) tells about the background of the project and shares his experiences with you. He will be in Gouda ± 10:30 please don't forget to skype this conversation !

Coming Wednesday febr. 23th the plenary meeting with the institute staff will take place in Gouda (not in The Hague !), they have their intro in Dutch and we'll join them around 11:00 or 11:30 . You are invited to present your 'wild' ideas and inform them about your data and information gathering over the last 2 weeks, maybe our remote colleagues could send us something to show? After that all of the Patchingzone people mix with the staff to work on a portrait of a (given) neighborhood. So please bring along your recording devices and raincoats/sunglasses/walking shoes. The day will be closed with plenary reports and a new assignment.

from the wires...

Open call · Second Inclusiva-net Meeting: Digital Networks and Physical Space

http://medialab-prado.es/inclusiva-net
http://medialab-prado.es/

Date: 3-14 March 2008
Venue: Medialab-Prado, Madrid (Spain)
Deadline 30 January

The purpose of this open participation meeting is to explore the relationship between digital networks and physical space in the context of the increasingly widespread use of portable technology and Web applications in connection with the production and management of geographic information.

plan for thursday

we will meet at concordia at 10.30 and spend the day visiting institution and some of the cultural/social meeting points we have identified. these visits will be super low key, we will go and see for ourselves how they come across.
in the afternoon we will schedule a skype meeting where we discuss and brainstorm our impressions. corinne and piotr, is 15 or 16 [our time] ok for you?

notes by vincent

Dick gave a very short introduction on his vision of the problems at hand.

We seem to be heading in a direction that doesn't involve the institutions directly, or at least not their current role. We are focussing on an experience specific to Gouda communities. This is leading us in a direction in which we don't have the institutions in mind very much. How can the institutions be involved in our project? What is the link between Gouda and the institutions?

What kind of cooperation between the institutions and patchingzone is suitable for the project? What is outside this area?

The three institutions are very open minded about what their future could be. They don't know where they will be at in a few years time. They recognize they might not even exist in their current form. What could their new role be and how would the employees and their expertise fit in in this new role?

We are in a position to ask fundamental questions about the institutions. Why do they exist? What are they supposed to do?

How are the institutions linked together? How can they work together? They want to work together, they could even end up as a single organization.

There is no 18 to 30 age group in Gouda because there is no higher education (the only courses are fundamentalist christian teacher courses, very extreme).

There are some important differences in viewpoints between the institutions. The library is flexible, books in the collection typically last 3 years. The library is also an internet access point.
The archive's primary goals are not about the public. They have the obligation to archive and preserve present and past data.
The museum often lags behind in collecting and preserving objects because it only knows in retrospect what to collect.

We might me able to build on the strengths of these differences.

If you have any important questions for Dick you can email him.

venues hotspots convergence spaces already existing in Gouda

google doc here

* dance:
tango - http://www.lasrosasdeltango.net/
Email: info@lasrosasdeltango.net
Telefoon: +31 616 858 999 or +31 182 55 13 80
Postal address: Achter de Vismarkt 80, 2801 ND Gouda, Nederland
Weekly classes at Coornhert Gymnasium, Jan van Renesseplein 1, 2805 GT Gouda

* radio:
Gouwestad Radio
http://www.gouwestad.nl/goingunderground
Email-adres: goingunderground@tiscali.nl
filmhouse:
http://www.filmhuisgouda.nl/v2_index_main.php?filmnr=&url=
lethmaetstraat 45. 2802KB gouda
infoline: 0182522200

* tv/broadcast media:
Gouwestad TV
http://www.gouwestad.nl/infotv.php
http://www.dekrantvangouda.nl/
Gemeente Gouda:
http://www.gouda.nl/
photography clubs/media:
??? need to return to get exact address that i saw on day 1 walk[note to nancy to herself]

Gouda Media Groep B.V..Crabethstraat 38-D, 2801 AN Gouda
T. 0182-322456 F. 0182-322466 E. info(@)goudamediagroep.nl
http://www.goudamediagroep.nl

* crafty girls and boys:
http://www.craftygirls.nl/
Ingrid van der Steen
??? need to return to get exact address that i saw on day 1 walk[note to nancy to herself]

www.dingotattoo.com
Blauwstraat 2 2801 HE Centrum-Gouda 0626742465

football club
http://www.rfcgouda.nl/index.html

* subculture and/.or clubs:

Grand Cafe New Orleans [highly recommended by a group of 16 year old girls]
Een recensie schrijven, Markt 25, 2801 JJ Gouda
0182 580875
on a google i found many photos of them
http://www.dekrantvangouda.nl/Foto-galerij.7715.0.html?&tx_lzgallery_pi1[old]=4x5x1&tx_lzgallery_pi1[showUid]=45&tx_lzgallery_pi1[pic]=21

De stichting de Gonz
http://degonz.nl/
autonomous social space **************Here I found this De stichting de Gonz !! [nancy]
http://www.myspace.com/goudsgeweld
[jeugdsociëteit in Gouda gevestigd op de Turfsingel 36.
De Gonz is een onafhankelijke instelling, die geheel draaiende word gehouden door enthousiaste, vrijwillige medewerkers.]
St. Soc. de Gonz,Turfsingel 36, 2802 BC Gouda, 0182 526499, info@degonz.nl
Bandcommissie
Contactpersoon: Erwin
bandcommissie@degonz.nl
Bestuur
bestuur@degonz.nl
Medewerkerscommissie
Contactpersoon: Jolanda
mc@degonz.nl
Pers & Promotie
Contactpersoon: Martijn
pr@degonz.nl
Themacommissie
Contactpersoon: Mirte
themacommissie@degonz.nl
generic list of caffes, institutions, art and culture in gouda

http://www.thekaart.nl/nl-nederland-gouda-cafes_21_167_0.html

agenda theaters
http://www.theagenda.nl/l167_21_cafe-in-gouda.html

[written up by nancy and mirella]

brainstorm about the city and possibilities - notes from this mornings chat

what is the scope? What are our objectives?

We would like to work with social issues of Gouda as well i.e. cultural diversity as well as issues of knowledge transfer.

We could imagine a fairly broad set of projects - each with their own approach to Gouda - probably directed by each of us individually – or we're all explicitly contributing to a single project.

We are interested in the relationship of any project to the specifics of Gouda and it’s institutions.

---

Issue:
There appears to be a lack of meeting points in Gouda. More life in the city would relate to more meeting points in the city.

Idea:
Taking over an empty house and put on event nights that have live acts art and cheep food, an eclectic mix of things for all types day and night. Different rooms for different possibilities. It could also be a series of physical spaces spread over the city as access points to art/food. it would be nice if we could get a movement of volunteers going to keep it running themselves. a space where all things can happen.

At these venues we could host:
A cabaret with games in it, tapping into the singers, the music school etc. A gamers cafe could be the starting point of a performance.

A time machine, going back and forth between past and present Gouda, searching for clues in the archive/museum/library.

Possibilities for improvisations and impromptu performances.

art installation performance screenings tango craft groups etc.

provide a space where people can bring things and swap things, modify things, fix things, hack things.

a white book where everybody writes a history about Gouda, but just not the true one. or paints a picture of how he/she sees Gouda

we do our things to 'tie it together. but we should include a lot of freedom for the people to explore their own ideas through our project

---

This idea could be prototypes by finding a temporary space for a trial project.
we could get the physical situations going ourselves, games will make kids join us.

another way to test these ideas would be through short festivals - temporary situations, take over some spaces for a week, have groups emmerge and take them with us as we move on

---

other ideas that came up include:

a virtual meeting space which all kinds of people can join, make rooms in, transform them into a physical space in Gouda (like squatted houses) apply for a small budget (for example to rent a beamer to organize a movie night). A way to easily organize new initiatives and get some support from the local 'government'.

a "kit" that consists of a strong data connection backbone, a soup kitchen setup, a series of spaces that host community groups. create temporary spaces and in such a space: we run workshops, do gaming, social group stuff.

how do we connect this to the institutions? Maybe the workshops are also methods for collecting history for the archive, re framing artefacts for the museum and storytelling for the library???

we would have a starting point for a possible performance. by having a favourite location of the young kids we could make sure they would be also getting involved with the performance

we could have a van moving through different locations in the city.it has wlan access. people can contribute to the image of gouda by taking pictures, taping themselves, painting... and we would have a real patchwork after some days

---

we must find a face in between the institutions, and make it clear somehow this in between space.
before we come down on a site - it would probably be a decent thing to understand a bit more about what the location really reflects for people in Gouda and what kinds of reactions it might spark.
we need to check out what is already here and how we may provide a portal to these groups/places for the people who would not find them on their own.
see where the underground of gouda was or if there is about 10 romanians living in a cladestine location which seeing how many empty houses there are its probably true.
there is a public bath!

[summerised by kristina]

questions from this mornings brainstorm:

What groups and communities are there in Gouda?

There are a couple of groups we already know about.
Choirs
Knitters, Crafters
Theatre people (Piotr mentioned Martin in the chat)
Soccer teams, sports
Immigrants, large group of Moroccan immigrants
Over 35's
Bands

What are the groups that we don't know about yet? Are there any squatters? Who's behind the 'Gonz'? What do we know about the immigrants in Gouda?

What initiatives already exist?
There are already at least some initiatives in Gouda. What are they?
Nancy and Mirella are researching this.

What do the communities need?
As the 'girl with the guitar' mentioned teenagers need a place to meet. Are there really no places for them to meet?

'People want cheap food and entertainment'

What experiences can we provide? What are our desires? What would we like to offer?
Workshops
Meeting places
Squatted houses with virtual links between them.
Events, performances
Gaming
Festival

There are much more ideas in the chat.

What spaces can we provide/use?
Some of the places where we might provide meeting points or stage events are:
market
in the streets
squatted houses
the public bath -> who runs the public bath and who visits it?
art centre
cafes

Institutions
We shouldn't view the current roles of the institutions as a given.
The library already has some external activities like a book bus in immigrant neighbourhoods and delivery of books to the elderly.
The library had a collection of Arabic children's books. The immigrant community are mostly Berber's(?) and can't read these.
How can we involve the institutions in our current plans?

[written up by vincent]

dick's diagram

Welcome to Cultuur Lokaal

This blog has been setup to serve as a central resource site for the Cultuur Lokaal project of The Patchingzone.