A better tomorrow / 2010-02-19
Vote proud!
Trots op Nederland (Proud of the Netherlands) is a new political party, seen by many as fairly populistic. It seems as if the leading parties in the country are loosing grip. People most definitely want to see charismatic politicians. The tone of doing politics is changing rapidly, which means that parties with aggressive programs are gaining popularity.
Other Times 2 / 2010-02-13
Donald at around five in the afternoon
From the seventies on, Lee Friedlander photographed the transition from industrial society all the way to where we are now, the information era. In his book called ‘At Work’, he first captured people handling enormous machines, in a time where work was still physical. And all the way to proper computerised offices, where being physical at work came down to typing on a keyboard.
I noticed how my colleagues often seem as if they are silently talking with their computers in the cold glow of computer monitors. I was photographing these gentle movements of the lips and their focused eyes, when Donald looked into the camera.
I want to continue with capturing these bewildered looks.
Other Times 1 / 2010-02-07
A coffee cup
Staring pointlessly at boring objects is what I sometimes do. But this coffee cup is special. It seems as if it got beamed from history. It is a coffee cup as it should be. A no nonsense thing with the logo of the petrol station, to remember well where I got my morning coffee.
And if you stare at this coffee cup long enough, it might tell you a story.
Trash is good / 2010-01-30
A pile of trash at the recycling station...
Found a bag...
With a digital thermometer...
A compact camera...
And an electric toothbrush.
Is it freezing outside?
I have got my own now!
I love my Terry!
I am working on a quick school assignment, called “Address unknown”. Mass-produced objects become anonymous at the moment they are not placed in a home. So I went digging into garbage at a recycling station. There you can find most probably functioning things, like dishwashers, lamps and TV-sets. All brought there because we prefer to use new products that are not worn-out and with an updated design.
Bags and boxes full of stuff are the most interesting because they can tell something about their previous owner. In the bag I found, among other things, a photo camera (almost the same as the one that got stolen a few weeks ago), a digital thermometer (handy for checking the temperature inside and outsie), and an electric toothbrush (helps against gum disease).
Some more photos of me using these objects are following shortly.
The big student concert in Hrastnik / 2010-01-02
The big student concert (2009)
From a series on young people in Hrastnik, Slovenia.
The big student concert (2009)
From a series on young people in Hrastnik, Slovenia.
The big student concert (2009)
From a series on young people in Hrastnik, Slovenia.
The big student concert (2009)
From a series on young people in Hrastnik, Slovenia.
The big student concert (2009)
From a series on young people in Hrastnik, Slovenia.
The big student concert (2009)
From a series on young people in Hrastnik, Slovenia.
Each year the local student club organises a couple of parties and concerts for the local youth. This event took place last monday.
It seemed as if there were more people outside drinking their own alcohol than inside the venue. They were mostly minors, coming from the whole region to have some good time during the otherwise dull Christmas holidays.
From them I heard stories of youngsters of south-Yugoslav descent who are regularly bashing kids on the streets. There was also supposed to be tension between locals and people from nearby towns. But I saw mostly a lot of drinking going on. There was no professional security. The student club hired a bunch of local bikers who were trying to prevent people from taking their own alcohol inside.
Status Quo / 2009-12-31
Nejc, 21 years (2009)
From a series on young people in Hrastnik, Slovenia.
I grew up in Hrastnik, a small industrial town in Slovenia. While the capital, Ljubljana, has become the country’s cultural and economical beehive, this place has not changed a lot in the past two decades. Well, the roads are better. And most households have got internet and cable TV by now.
During a recent short trip to Hrastnik I met a few youngsters to see whether they have hope in change. I have a feeling that I will come across the same youngsters doing the same things when I am going to come back in about a year.
And then came a rapping clown / 2009-12-13
Jaarbeurs, Utrecht (2009)
I am currently working on a series about young aspiring politicians.
Diederik ten Cate of the young green left party called me yesterday and invited me to attend a Copenhagen manifestation in Utrecht.
While the people were queuing to enter a rather bourgeois fair about the environment, this guy appeared from the crowd, smoked a cigarette and then started rapping about CO2 and oxygen.
Nobody actually paid any attention to him.
Private/Random #5 / 2009-11-29
Voss (Norway), 2009
We were happy with a modest shelter when our money lost its worth.