Katie's Blog

And the winner is...

And the winner is... Marco! Marco won the Wii Tennis Tournament @ unDEAF last weekend - a deserving winner... A good time was had by all... We learned a lot about making a tournament, like having practice time, and a second round of playoffs for the amateurs who got knocked out. The artists at unDEAF seemed to like it though, we hope! Maybe next time we need better prizes?

Wiimbledon comes to Rotterdam

A while ago I decided I'd love to attend unDEAF in Rotterdam. Organised by Rui Guerra with help also from my Friend Marta Ruperez at FACT, it's sure to be a wonderful event. unDEAF is the satellite event - the unconference version of DEAF (the Dutch Electronic Art Festival). So apart from helping out a little with organisation / catering / tidying up I wanted to bring something fun to the party. The other day Paul suggested we take Wii Tennis to the artists. So there it is. It's "Wiimbledon" comes to Rotterdam / Keep fit at the unconference. We are hoping it will genuinely be a fun competition, part performance, part user meetup / wiilovers' social. Bring your Mii for Wii Tennis fun! 4pm (or thereabouts, Saturday 14th April). All info here on Upcoming.

It's Hot in JimmyWoo

We've been making some hot video for Club Collective TV! This time it's Gaby's hot night out in Jimmy Woo Amsterdam - does it really live up to the hype? Of course it does!

Night Gardens...

The usual Amsterdam-at-night it is not. A blend of nature and art it is in the night garden, opening at Mediamatic tomorrow. 

"Night Garden, an exhibition in the form of a sub-technical INDOOR garden, is teeming with technology, art and food. Visitors can expect to be transformed into a cybernetic NOCTURNAL animal, build robots at a garden robot production studio, wander through a digital alter-garden, learn about air fluctuations, experience PSYCHO-chemical garden furniture and eat at a prototype restaurant serving more than 30 sorts of SPROUTED micro-greens."

Can't wait!

Art in the Alley

Whilst art is 'everywhere' in Amsterdam, you might not expect to come across some on the Nieuwe Dijk, where you'd more likely expect shoe discount stores, and shops selling novelty cigarette lighters.

Behind the Nieuwe Dijk, on Sint Nicholaasstraat however you might be enticed by something different.  The Kattenbak artists' collective have taken over six windows, (no, not the red or neon lit type of windows owned by ladies practicing the 'oldest profession'), from where their eclectic works are on display.  Yesterday we went to the opening.

Lovely Eva Kroes (Pictured above), Irene van Geest, Heidi Happy and Brian McKenna are exhibiting a multi media show 'Acter Glas', curated and inspired by Marieke Coppens. Achter Glas is a quirky collection of sound, poetry and photography and is on till October 4th. Hanging about in alleys has never been so much fun.

More here.

Where is all the Wifi?

I can't believe how long it takes to get installed in a new house. Aside from doing normal moving house stuff like changing the water, gas and electric, there are essential things that just don't work.  I had no Internet and no TV for over 3 weeks.  Now the TV is less of a problem, but when there's no Internet and no TV you start getting bored quickly.  So I was off out armed with my bike, PowerBook and keyring wifi network finder.  The potentially cult image of the wardriver is not quite right; imagine more a girl in a mac trapsing round bars and coffee shops (no, unfortunately, not that type of coffee shop).

Projects with Emotions

Monday 13th is "Emotion Salon" (EmotieSalon) at Mediamatic (well at 11).

It's a salon with Mark Meadows, writer of Pause and Effect speaking on his latest project, including a videogame made in collaboration with Radiohead, Annie Lennox and Frank Gehry, two groups of students from the HKU presenting research projects on first person shooters and AIBO dogs, and a presentation by Menna Meijs on Sexy, the online community, including the Sexypedia.

Looks good, can't wait!

image: Sexy by Menna Meijer (from Mediamatic)
Tags: mediamatic, emotion, art, amsterdam.

Video is hard to do...

Ooh, OK, so yes, Video is hard to do (well).   Might as well share it anyway although it really is terrible.  However I think the format might be "the 2 minute day" (the day's events condensed into 2 minutes).  It's kind pretty indicative of a Saturday in Amsterdam for us - some beers in Nieuwmarkt and then a bike ride home later on, it was Paul's birthday and he did get some better presents! 

Download 1510.mov (3891.3K)

So yes, this is a learning process, and I will be getting more of a clue soon....
Definitely think that the cookery / food thing might work though - "Katie's Kitchen?'"