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Two years had passed since I moved to Amsterdam , a place of confluence for many cultures and many types of spirituality , did this experience changed me ? the first answer that I would give would be no , it did not changed me ! but the true answer that does not come out until I'm away from this place and start living in a homogene type of society where everything is the same and it works in a normal way , that is the moment when I realise how much I'm changed. In Amsterdam too things work the normal way but there is a lot of racial and social diversity making things to have a slight twist . The fact that there is a strong racial difference and the fact that Amsterdam has a big mix of population makes out of it a small but global city on the world map ; studies have shown that this area of Europe is considered the holocore area because of the strong mix that it is happening on a small piece of land . People are from everywhere and that makes things more interesting some people came with their traditions and spirituality and some ( my case ) in search for a new identity and the things that this brings with it . It is strange to come here and to start acting politicaly corect towards everything and to understand everyone , but when I arrived there was no outer chance I had to put myself directly on this level and not to judge anything and anyone because it is not fair in many cases understanding a new culture brings with it new perspectives . The fact that things are strongly mixed and full of diversity makes out of amsterdam a colored city and in the same time a city with a strong cosmopolite atitude even if it is not very large as population . The population makes the mix and the city to work , you can go from one end to the another and realize that you crossed trough six seven or even more races on your way this makes things a bit bizarre if you come from a one race society where everyone was more or less the same . Amsterdam is a place where a lot of events are happening and where a lot of things are tolerated , drugs and prostitution are the main ilegal acts that are tolerated by the policies and after a while you realize that it is a good decision to tolerate things like this and not push them in the underground and transform them into ilegal activities . In this way autorities have a sort of overview an control on what it is happening in these words and can stop in time criminals .
In this place a lot of things blend and become strong statements for the next things to come , more important is the fact that Amsterdam is still a port even if it does not work like in old times , in our days it became a port for conferences and all kinds of activities oriented towards new and old media , future , musique , entertainment and spirituality . In the place where you can find people that are clearly oriented towards new ways of understanding the world trough religion and tolerance you can see the fact that both old and new religion has a place here . From people that find spirituality in the electronic age to people that still keep ancestral tradition there is a big scale of events that animate this kind of forms of manifestations . At the beginning I looked at things in an objective way trying trough knowledge to understand and seek for some sort or type of spirituality that could work for me , in time i realised that a lot of things can be religious and that religion and the spiritual realm is much more wast than I had ever imagined . Objects ,subjects , people and all kinds of things can be religious and be part of a sistem and becoming simbols and transcedens of information for these forms of knowledge .
The city has a puls of its own and in a duchampian way you can start hearing things talking to you , buildings and places have a strong history here and you can feel the vibe of pervious people and historical figures that had passed trough this place and made a mark more or less .

Between things .

Where to place oneself in an age where one person has aces to every kind of information , and age when you are the same distance from everyone, an age that is ruled by the hyperlinks and multidisciplinary approach that the world wide web is bringing in our culture making everything accessible from everywhere . Identities are moving slowly to the realm of the virtual , many games users and social networking sites users are building strong identities that are present only in the virtual world , making them gods in the realm of the virtual . In may cases things can go quite far and thins kind of obsession can become a kind of lifestyle , one user can start trading weapons and outer types of virtual items that are part of a game( for example ) on sites like ebay where outer onnline users can buy the items that do not exist in the material world but they have a great value in the virtual reality of games .
It is more and more important to try to see that the things that sometimes we try hard to learn are already out there and that they can be used , times are changing from because of these factors that are related to the cyberworld and culture in general . Things are blending in an unexpected way making interconnection and the fact that knowledge is available everywhere and all the time is making the importance of the so called academic type of culture on a level unimportant , the interests are shifting from the notion related to what is the tool that we are using to how can we use the tool, and the “black hole “ that the internet is ( as Joshua Davis said in his coy theories about internet ) . We are becoming informational dealers and we are starting to play with information on different levels caring trough our websites , blogs and outer different types of sites information that defines our interests and have meaning on a “you are what you search” level , sometimes surfing and searching is more of a new tipe of sport . The world wide web had went on the phase is witch it was a communication tool only the internet had become a recipe giver and a consultance tool witch makes everyone that has a virtual presence available even if they are not onnline or connected to the net .
In a lot of cases we see that schools , and companies are opening towards a multidisciplinary aproach to the subjects that they are dealing with this is changing and making profesionalism to become somethingelse .

Dutch Design Week

The dutch design week was quite an expirience : held in multiple locations in Eindhoven the exibition had from product design to experimental design everything . In general things where mixed designers that had started working in the design field with garduate students presented all kinds of possible aproaches or answers to design related problems , from stratedgies to make cars and everyday objects more sustaineble multifunctional and with a transdisciplinary aproach that brought togethrer element of ergonomic psihology , structural way of seeing things and element that where part of outher mediums , made the exibition excyting and full of experimental work . The design academy graduation show was the last exibition that i visited . The graduation show was something that I could describe as an intercative and art related exibition, the things that where presented in the design academy where not simply just design assigments but art related works and experimental aproaches to different problems that whwre given . The exibitopn and the students where relaxed and presented works ranging from paintings , colages , photocolages , maquetes,prototypes and ready made products . The exibition was held in the space of the academy and you could get a glimpse of what and how the academy looks on the inside . Two flors full of experimental and interesting designs , some of the works where goeing inbetwen design architecture and art and experimet , exeperimentation beeing an interesting feature of whet the exibition meant for me . The designe acagemy seemed focused not so much on the profesionalism of the design professino but more on the experimental side of it and on putting out students that think in a creative and conceptual inovatory way about the subject that they have to solve trough design . in this case it is logical that you canot be a full profesional and deal with industrial design from the begining , the profesional side of the profesion comes with time and expirience . Anouther important side of the design profession is the fact taht in a lot of cases designers are becoming trendsetters trough the theories that they discover or produce and in a school that is related in some way to the creatiwe realm it is important to promote oryginality and experiment in the projects that students produce . The graduation show of the academy respected these kind of parameters and is fitting as an atitude in a 21 century tipe of school .

Beeing exposed to the party scene from Amsterdam I started noticing how things are related , one one hand witch are the main electronic musique types , the leading Dj's and at last the way things are promoted ; The promotion of a party is not a simple task for the organisers , from flyers to posters radio , myspace , websites and all kinds of alternative ways of making the people aware of the upcoming event are important , but still thinking about postsers and visual identity that is an important part of the process . In many cases thing are working quite ok trough the digital media . It is more and more of a fact that advertising is moving on the digital realm and the normal way of promoting things is not there anymore .The digital media has its database related way of dealing with the so called " customers " that are the message recivers . The fisrt thing that isimportant in related to this kind of way of advertising is the fact that doeing things trough digital media the waste that is produced trough a normal campaighn that requires posters , flyers and banners that are thrown away after the campaign are not present anymore , digital media is lean the screen is the main informational dislay and the main intercation tool between the uers that send out the ad or the signal to the database . This can be the next big stap in eliminatein the waste that remains after a normal advertising campaign . There are no more posters that contain the content , information for the advertising campaign there is only database senders and recivers of information that is not printed anymore . On the outher hand the user that is sending out the "ad " can interact and have imediate feedback from the reciver and the content that is send out can be also an intercative element under the form of video or images that are sended out trough the database .

Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks are becoming more and more important in the everyday browsing process , in a lot of cases things have to be rewind and put together under the form of new document or research . In the virtula realm this kind or path trough hyperlinks is quite important because the perception of the world in changing with the world wide web revolution . Things are moving to the screen from the worktable and to have a daily oveview of the links that where used is quite important . On another level social networking sites are becoming more and more popular because of the links that they can produse , users can start making onnline friends . This onnline presence can be seen as the telepresence was seen in the 60ties , more and more we are comunicating trough television and outher enviroments that are virtual . The measn of comunications are changing and things are becoming more and more related to what theorists in the 60 ties where imagining the world . They saw what imersion and telepresence can and will be in the near future . The fact that comunication and self posting trough social networking sites is more and more of a reality and that identity is becoming split in two by the emergence of the web related world , netwoking sites started to be composed in a puzzle manner , beeing more specific sites are made out of pieces that can be used by anyone who takes a look at the one's personal avatar tipe of page . the fact that one personal page is composed out of more informational elements that can be reused directly by outher onnline users . The personal page became two things in the same time , a way of making oneself known in the virtual world and a tool for the users that are accesing the page and are intercating with the avatar page ; the users can use different features that are composing the avatar . Anauther theory that can be related to the virtual realm and the use of all kinds of forms of networking , this form of comunication leave traces , these traces are more or less what William Gibson was talking about when he was explaining the fact that we leave traces everywere , especialy in a world where digital identity is becomming more and more inportant , internet serving as the new vehicle for moving around it is the new space that connects people and that in the same time creates and defines identity in the new century , if one person or a company does not have an onnline presence it does not exist from a point of view . Slowly the digital media is taking over newspapers are transforming in onnline material and blogs , people Start takiinkg theyr news fronm the internet and information is not anymores spread but it is acesed by users from all around the world .

Fitting in

The ninties whare about color and musical hits that seem quite far if I look at them now , these media tipe of things where put over soemkind of new transitional economical sistem trough witch Romania went in the nintyes , everyone discovered the marveleous world of capitalisma and private enterprises and started makind buissnies that took forward the romania lifestisle . in this mixedup place I grew up and now finding mysel in a new tipe of society I sometimes I feel that I'm dragged away from what is happening in the presend because of the reinterpretation of the ninteyes that is happening . At one poit things just drifted awai in a strage direction and started taking the shape two directions , the electronic direction in witch things are heading anyway and the outer direction the direction of the reinterpretation of things . these seemed the only directions that can be the option of things but I discovered thta there are places that mixed things related to what the electronic age means . this moment made me rethink where things might fit in . This tipe of media offered me a new way of looking at things a way in witch things can be redesigned and put in a new time frame without altering theyr content . The content is in some sort of connection with the whole picture that is presented there is this need of linking the things from the begining of the process trough the whole process .This is the reason that there is no connection between the media culture of the ninties with the new media oriented culture of the 2000 . A lot of things that whare part of the television based culture changed and became interactive trough the use of the world wide web . thing are moving onnline and are becoming more functional on a level . Interactivity is becoming the blend between the promised virtual world and the interconectivity that the net promises.
This tipe of transgresion from one medium to anauther mafde things shift culturaly things are not related anymore only to the posibility of transmiting information trough the normal way that television had done . The fact that the medium changed made possible a new way of structuring information at a new level . Information became databased , structured and had a new tipe of visual interface that allowed people at one degree to divide it or to send things in all tipes of new formats . at this point you realise that thinghs can not be changed anymore the discrepance between the media and visual culture of the ninteys and the culture that is related to electronic media of the new decade . The shift had become real and is become a question of seeing things with a new glance and a new understanding of knoledge and interconectivity that the world wide web brings .

Looking at technology .

The future working hubs will integrate things that are happening and resonating write now in the visual and technological frelated cultures . On a social level because of the mixing of population and the intercation between people some things tend to become obivios like the associations that are produced with trends you can spot out from witch culture one is just by looking at the haircut that is because of the haircut that the person has . fashion , accesories hairtrands and all kinds of things like these are more or less speciffic to the way things are thought after . a working hub will be a place where multidisciplinarity will be put at the use of one tipe of outcome . the inhabiters of this tipe of hub will be more or less aware of tpes of cultures of politics and fashion that is generated because of the glodbal tipe of common thinking . The hub will operate on the exterior level trough the work that comes out of it . The inhabiters will have a working function in some cases the language that bonds and makes people comunicate will not have any kind of function anymore things becoming encoded in trend and tipe of waves transmited in the moment when one person from the work place will start sharing sounds or visual scapes with people around . This tipe of sharing will be the way people will forme some sort of personal opinion about the new person the joined the grup or that is part of the grup in this way beeing more easy to expres the frame of tipe of visual related things . This tipe of sharing things will be made circles wise becoming some sort of sharing moment of the day . Trough the same process we will be able to update and to make things more or less explicit for the people around . this tipe of output of information will become a way trugh anyone will start creating visual and audio scapes that can "replace the normal tipe of party Dj and Vj's . The first improvemet in this industrie will be the inprovement generated trough a new tipe of software attached to the normal djiing tipe of software . The things will be connecetd trough . From anauter tipe of direction things will not look so pluged and cabled as thay look wright now because of the main console at witch people are connected at this moment . in many cases Dj ing and Vjing require some sort of combination between two tipes of consoles thet prodce a atmosfere rithm together . The two consoles will belnd together at one point allowing trough the smae apparature the same indiviual to give sound /visual scape to the people . This kind of tecnology will requite all time transportation between the points where things will be made . an hypothesis in the fact that maybe oneself will have to travel and bring this tipe of technology from one place to anouhter because of the facts related to this new tipe of language that will have nothing to do with normal comunication . This will become a sort of ritualc way of looking to someone that presents their thoughts to the rest of the world by using technology . This kind of editing will become vital because the oryginality of the artist behind will be seen from the way thing are edited . The material will be abundent because of all the world wide web that offers hubs and sharing sites from witch everyone can download material for the use . this kind of tipe of editing will embed that person's way of seeing the surroundings and putting them into this new tipe of comunicational visual language .
This tipe of comunication will make things differentiate in the way society will look , There will be no more need for language things will change as ordeing becoming more strict as a way of appearing and as social eficiency .

ninties

the ninties was a period maked by popular culture and all kinds of events that where based in this time frame , The pklaces where you can see the main features of culture in general . The things ca varry from field to filed but there are things that can be considerd the zeitgeist of the decade , these things are part of the culture and had become part of it because of the fact that they express the main caracter of that particular moment in time . There are many theories that relate design to some sort of time and space related moment things can be connected because of the general trend that is followed by the society . There are things that are connected to visual culture that influences the visual behaviour of a group . Things tend to go in a direction or anauther because of the way people feel and relate to visual factors as design , fashion and colors in general there can be established some sort of basic rule for designing it althow one must discover thing to make them go in directions that are sometimes trend generators in their own way .
The ninties was a period that had fluctuations in what visual culture means things wary from place to place making them mix later . The media of ninties was full of colours and sunny places in some cases things from the eighites repeated themselfes in the ninities , musique , films , art and outher tipe of things treleted to visula language became imprinted with trhe sprith of the ninties . After getting out in 2000 things started switching in a fast way towards a new tipe of visual and musical tipe of culture that is more and more under the rithm and in balance with technological developments that occur with a fast frequecie and become more and more multilayered and handy for different tipes users . Culture became software oriebted becoming more and more related to this new tipe of media the electronic one . In the same time because of the free sharing of sampeling and mixing software . The spread of this tipe of technology was fast and it happened in a short time . The main areas where the change occured was in the clubbing scene and wekend enetertaiment related events . the DJ became an impoartnt figure that started changeing how people viewed musique .
In the same time things changed in a fast way the electronic and software based culture became more and more important in a public area where tasks that where hand made until recently had become simulated or processed trough the algorithm of the software in use . The shif between the ninties and the begining of the real eletronic age was quite strong more and more people becoming interested in this kind of subject .
The zeithgeist of the ninties passed avay and a new era started the era of electronic musique and clubs that related to it .
Multiple people that are important as cultural trend setters dicovered the general mix that this kind of culture started produceing things became accelerated by the world wide web and mixed by the globalization of things and the intercultural excange that is happening because of the contact between cultures and people in general . In some cases the repeitition of retro based tipe of design became uninteresting things having a new tipe of aura that surrounded some products that where inspired by futuristic tipe of thinking . Products became visualy linked to the future and designers started becoming insipred by themes that are related to biology , genetics and outher tipe of sciences that have a strong relation with the future . In some cases designer or architects started neglecting the values of the time frame in witch they are and started rethinking the design strategy influencing or produceing a new curent in design .

Music

Beeing in a place where dance culture is an important social component I started collecting music that has some relevance for my ear. Electronic music is the dominant style of music that is lisend in the clubs and major venues . The electronic music scene is dominated by a mix of styles and types of music. International collaborations and the fact that the events related to this kind and music style are happening with a big frecquence , the artists that are plying being from an international scene and a lot of theme are underground names that more or less are playing a mixed style of m usic that can be called simple electronic dance music . I startd lissening and started becoming interested in this style of music from some time now and I realysed that in outher parts of Europe electronic musique is not too popular or that ther is an emergence of ^0;ties and &0 ties musicque that is fashionable in some places . In the same time in outer places the electronic music gendres are split between all kinds of types and waves that come and go I the field of Dj ind sampeling and mixing became more and more important in the composition of such syles.
The scenes are separated but niot in this part of Europe where because of the mutiple tipes of musique things became blended and Dj ;s and producers started influencing each outer and started making musique that has one target , to make you move and interact trough movement dancing being the universal language . In some cases this kind of culture is not important for cultural people but it can say a lot about things in general and about the place wher one tipe of society is placed . I say this becase I started seeing some kind of rupture that appeared in the clubbing culture between the musique f the parst and the musique that is promoted in our days .in the clubbing and dance culture . This kind of yupture is strong and can be seen in may places because of the fact that the 90ties where about the senevtyes and in the same time a new technology emerged that opened up the possibility of produceing electronic musique. This musique is completely different frm what happened in the past and what was produced until now . The fact that slowly electronic musique is taking owe the clubs and the way of producing things in general is a sighn that we are at the brink of a new tipe of industrial revolution ,As in may pervious cases there can be seen the way that things that are changing in the society are reflected ijn art, and musique these medium being some kind of signal for the apereance of new medium and eperimentation.

Interface

I hear words like friendly interface , formal ergomony and problems related to the weight ,gigabytes and screen radiations more and more in the world related to technology .
The developers that are manufacturing new gadgets that are used in everyday life started working more and more in developing a friendly human computer interface that can work and be learned by any beginner in short time spam. Human computer was not so long ago left in behind and it wasn’s such a big issue the main issues being hard drives , speed and ram number . The interface did not count to much until these objects started invading everyday activities . Human computer interface for some companies is still a new issue in the last thirty years computers developed in five stages or five generations of computers , starting from the first numerical machines that culd occupy some hundred square meters as volume and could make only some simple numerical tasks to the today’s computer that is small , personal and can run all kinds of applications . The world of computers evolved and the machines mutated and evolved passing trough different generations . The computer became more personal than ever being a normal tool in everyday life and world . Becoming a personal too the coputer is more and more part of who we are and more importat who the use is being personal means thet there has to be a good interaction and interface between the owner and the owned object . Things went boom computers having more had disk space and becoming access tools in all sort of networks , but what is the future of human computer interface and interaction ? At this point in time the screen , the mouse and the keyboard are the terminals that connect us to the cyberworld . These are the terminals that many designers try to make more ergonomic and more “friendly” and simple , but what is the future , what are the predictions .There are many scenarios that range from cyberworlds where the interface problem will be solved by being connected to a mainframe trough an uploading program; to cyborgs and the attaching to the human body all kinds of apparature that will cover a broad range of functions ; outher designers think about minimaizing everything to the level of a singular hand watch sized object that will be elegant and will contain all the prewiopus functions and more because of the permanent connection trough wireless technology with the world wide web . All these scenarios can be correct and on a lot of them there are interaction designers and all kinds of outher interface developers that work on new ideas . But maybe from anouter perspective things are stagnating , computers had reached the fifth generation where they are personal and have a big informational stoking power but in the same time we are obliged to work with external hard drives and assisting apparature . Witch is the most effective way of stoking information , witch could be the most friendly interface these are the questions that will take personal coputers to the next generation the biological coputer that is made out of organic matter , tissue . The sixth generation will be made out of organic matter because this kind of matter has the power to stock more information than any outer nonorganic counterpart . One single cell contains more genetical information that a douzen hard drives this making on an experimetal level the use of this kind of matter extremely appealing . The gennetical growth is more and more of a reality the first replicating experiments proved that genetics has a spetial places in this coming century . Computers will become at one point living organisms made out of genetic material . This is the next big step in developing a friendly interface that will become a companion and will have maybe some kind of intellect preprogrammed with the help of genetics ,the genetic material being the best way to stock information in big quantities .

Cyber culture

In the last few years because of the emergence of the internet as the new medium of communication , sharing ,advetiseing , shopping and social networking I started observing thefact that in some places things started to split in two . In some places the ecltronic media started forming comnuities that have common interes and share the same cultural pattern . Slowly the computer is starting to replace the television dominated enviroment . The culture started to split in two one part is dominated by television personalities , stars and all kinds of media darlings and the outer has its own heroes made out of “hackers” , programmers and all kind of persons that have programming developed skills and that can use the computer in their personal benefit making out of it a multifunctional tool witch connected to the world wide web can reach every corner of the world .
These two new cultural tools and components the world wide web from witch you can download and upload information compressed in all kind of file formats or that can serve as a platform for multiple types of software , encyclopedias that offer information about any subject or social networking sites that can link people in a way that was unimaginable a decade ago and the personal computer that can be transformed in a multi functional and multitasking tool are the basic incredients for the new type of on line culture that is emerging trough and because of these technologies . Games and Virtual reality offers a new way to escape from sometimes cliche type of lifestyle and the raw reality . New type of cyber addictions had appeared ,games and virtual communities that develop in an unreal space are more and more in the spotlight and the everyday normal . Electronic media is starting to be part of everyday life and promises a change in the infrastructure of society making services more handy and more easy to access from all over the world . Television is slowly replaced by an enviroment that gives the user the opportunity to post real time feedback on an issue or on any kind of information that is online . This is not the first time that one type of industrie suffers because a medium is replaced . In the united states of America in the 60’tes that was a strong period of change the cinetografic industrie had a lot to suffer because of the mass production of the television set . After a wile thing enterd a new era and things became balanced again . Is this fenomenon repeating itself in ourdays when things tend to go on line and move from television to the screens of our computers?
This phenomenon splits things in two more and more we start seeing everyday culture made out of popstars , boxoffice movies , and famous actors that has a sort of normality because we are used to it , and a new type of cyberculture where the heroes are people that can manipulate this new enviroment and that are connected to the flow of information and that are working in on the outer side of the line that divides the world being connected with online communities that work in the virtual realm .
Cyberculture is more and more real and palpable new technologies making oneself to be put in a new social position and rethink the way people interact , share and communicate , society is shifting from a consumer society to a society that puts information in the shopping basket and transforms the consumer into prosumer that is an digital information consumer geeky and multidisciplinary in knowledge that is always on the look of new informational flows .
Technology is becoming an must accessory in everyday life . and internet is not anymore a unreal place but it becomes for may people the tool with witch can have acces to a new type of on line economy and market place .
The world wide web is real it is formed out of satellites that orbit around the globe , waves that carry information trough the atmosphere , cables coolers and plugs that connect things together , servers that accumulate and host information , sites and outer on line applications . These components form the nervous system of the brain that will command the informational infrastructure of the tomorrow. The web is the new “real” where things are “mirrored” but with a new set of rules .

Download

Paticipating at many conferences about new media and the technology related to it, I started hearing all kinds of science fiction scenarios regarding the human computer interface and the how could things blend and become more " friendly" . From scenarios that woke up in me memories from my childhood when I was watching videos with movies that had the main characters cyborgs, androids or high-tech robots that came from outer universes ( see Transformers ) to all kinds of theories related to immersion in virtual spaces , make you wonder about the fact that science fiction cyborgs and VR are things that are more and more palpable and close reality ( I was once reading the profile of a person on a social networking site and she wrote that she cant live without her digital camera ...does she need to have it attached to her body all the time ?) With another event I read the cyborg manifesto that if I would of told to someone a few years ago that this kind of manifesto exists that person would of laugh his /hers stomach out . In many places people still find these disscutions ridiculess althow in some circles these kind of talks is trendy .
Things started spinning in my brain and I started remembering movies , robots that I found dear, cyborgs that where half human half machine , drawings that I did being inspired by these characters . being under the influence films ,cartoons and outer heroes that are from this universe I started creating my own tipes of cyborgs and robots that where purely products of my imagination . What made me stop from remembering all these things was one idea that made me think in a new direction . The idea was related to koledge and to human condition . The idea was launched by an american university teacher that was talking about the possibility of downloading his memories and intelect in a new body . This ideea is related to anouther contemporary subject that is clonoing .in the case of clonning there is the same restlt , the replication of one entity . Clooning is still a little bit far from today's relity althow Einstein said that if the 20'th century was the centuty of phisics than the 21 century will be the centuriy of genetics .
Goeing back to the first ideea that creeated some sort of debate in the academical enviroments it is quite possible that in the near future we will be able to transmit the intelect , memories and character of one person in a new brain ; the question that remains is what kind of brain and what kind of body will host all the "downloaded " knoledge .
This is a huge question and many cases the fuure looks a related to robots and things that are more or less built not grown .At this moment thisng that in the ninties were presented as science fiction are allready avlieble functional and in a lot of cases they metamorph in reality . the preditions that science fition made are becoming reality with an alarming speed .
On a bigger level we are creting a big brain for the next generations to come , all the technological infrastructure , internet and the searchengines can be thought of like a new brain that is learning every minute what we like and what means to be human , and at one point it will take over some social functions automatising segments of the society . At one point in the future there will be no more schools or teachers there will be children that at certain age will recive some sort of password with witch they will access o website on the world wide web that will have the function of an onnline school with subjects related to the desires and interesed expressed by the student in certain fields of knoledge .
The conclusions that can be drawn from this are that genetics and robotics are real and uptodate , and that cyberculture is becoming reality .

Cinematic thinking

Sometimes profesion can affect the way you see things and the way you structure outer activities that are part from your everyday life . In some cases the profession that we follow can affect the lifestile that we lead and reshape thing in our life . In outer cases the switch from one tipe of thinking to anauter takes some time and it can be an interesting process . Beeing partr of the architectural field for a while made me "think " in an architectural way about things in general , decoration was not needed anymore , structure and straightness had become important and rationality was never questioned ; but i changed my studies to the visual field where things leave the phisical realm and go in the realm or the imaginary scriping , epic and bidimensionality . In this case the way you think about a projecthas to change and become more permissive with abstartct events and actions . Experiment becomes importsnt at a certain level and concepts as rationality can be left behind . In the cinematic worldmovement and image have an important spot and the epic part of the process gles tham together . In many cases you have to start from scratch with things both conceptualy and tool related . The cinematic offers a lot of space for experiment and inovation , it's and imaginative reality that is fluid and unstable . In the architecture laws of gravity can change things trelated to the project but in the world of visuals you can work with a multiple canvases that can be assebled in a epic event that has the final form of an film or video .
So the recurements to start someting is to open the imagination and to let the mind to be insipred or influenced by everything all the time , in a lot of cases a recording machine tipe of thinking can be usefull . A movie is a new and independent universe that is seald in a bubble that remains the same . A film can take things in a different part and imerese the spectator in a universe that is placesd in a different time , planet or world.
These features make the difference between the tipes of thinking , architecture , when is in a incipiente phase phase does not require a certain audio related way of editing , but film requires talents that are related to sound and situations .
In some cases directors can be seen as geniuses that can affect their audience in a deep way , using situations , sound , story that can make the public to behave and to become different after the interaction with the film . Media is composed in many cases from movies that can move us or change the way we see things in general.

One year experience

Moving to Amsterdam is more than an expirience , I moved one year ago in the nederlands beeing more specific in Amsterdam acity famous fro its tolerance towards drugs , and prostitution. At first sight Amsterdam is a chaotic enviroment that has to be explored the "hard" way to be fully discovered . In the middle of the day the central streets are invaded with people , from toursts to local people from shoppers to junkies all kinds places that are situated on the street level are full of people that have daily activities . You can see lost people , people that are in a hurry , stoned people , serious people , it's a spectacle just to stay on the street and to watch the flux of tourists that are walking around and admire the city . Amsterdam as population is quite small comparing it with other European cities but in the same time is quite cosmopolite in the event related area . The big cultural scene , the high density of many cultures in one place ( the area that surrounds Amsterdam and goes to the north is called the holocore ) make this city a strong cultural pole and in the same time a cosmopolite city . The desity of cultures bigger here than in New York that is a renoved place for its cultural landskape , makes thins extremely divers and sometimes chaotic . you can find a broad range of things and products that come from allaround the globe and are connected to all kinds of cultures . In this kind of city where cultures are mixed and small traditions are put together with a cosmopolite attitude comunication has an important place and effect . The way people are expressing themselves is more accentuated than in a place where the population is homogen both as a nation and as a race . This kind of way of expressing oneself generates in a lot of times an strange or interesting image that can wary from one individula to anauther . Here the accent that is put on the trend is much more big than in other places , fashion is not just" wheareble stuff , its a form of comunication between people . In the same category enters the place where you go out , the musique that you lissen and party on , these kind of things have a different importance in a city where you ca easily lose your identity and yourself in the multidiverse field of possibilities . So basicaly all these elements define who you are and give you for the outside eye a sort of identity that is important in order to transmit faster the information that defines you .
These elements are part of a comunicational language and are important in an enviroment that inevitably reshapes you as an individual .After a while people that are new to this tipe of mixed culture start understanding the importance of things related to this tipe of comunicational language . When I moved to this place my expectations were quite different from what I got . I was expecting a country that was purely dutch but things where different , I arrived and moved from one place to anauthere until I started living on a boat that was transformed in a student facility , On the boat each cabin was transformed in a individual room that was accomodateing a student . There where four decks and full of international students
comming from Europe , Germany , Austria, Latvia, France ,Spain, Hungary and The Nederlands . After a short wile I started seeing the boat as a metaphor for the Nederlands, parts of The Nederlands are "floating" on the water like boats and in the same time there was the same social mix like in the rest of the city (offcorse on a different scale ) . The first reaction that I had was to isolate myself from the rest and to start thinking about what is happening . After a short while I realized that things are not that bad and that I am in an international enviroment and as a strategy I have to find some common points between me and the people with witch I will become friends . So I started searching after comon elemets that can solve the situaltion , language was simple english come handy , after that musique , culture, history and outher things like that made out of me a social being again . i became freinds with people from france , Austria , Germany ,Hungary and the Nederlands .The metaphorical boat was opening for me and things started functioning in an interesting way . After a short wile I realized that my metod was not verry original outer people had the same strategy and they tried to make the same steps as me so things blended in a sort of direction.I became accoustomed with the fact that globalization and international enviromets are quite real and that people from different parts of the world with different cultural backrounds can be together under one roof .At first i felt small and with no signifiance but after a short wile I started to awake from this state and started comunicateing with my fellow students . I became opened with people that where from totaly different places .
So comming from a coplete homogenius society ans "culture" as race as skin colour and outer elements that bond a population together i found myself back to zero in a place where everyone is different and has a different language and skin color ; things tend to have a different persective . This place made the gap( that had allready been there) between me and my home culture to become bigger . Things starte to break and you sudently realize that the place from where you come is enclosed both mentaly and "culturaly" . You start asking yourself why people back home are labeling someone after the way that he or she is dressed and why diversity in the truth meaning of the word in not accepted or not even understood . You try to understand this but it takes to much effort and things remain in the form of a gap . On anouther level i realize that I was born in the last comunistic period that was in the same time the most gray period after that I rememberd the week in the revolution time when I was running and hyding with my family from the secret service the fall of the dictator , fredom , the first tripp abroad when I saw the first time cocacola and fanta in metal cans , economical" transition" , capitalism ? and now , part of an international enviroment . At one point i started seeing myself without identity and I became a sort of an observer marveling because of the diversity with witch I was confronted . Things started from scratch and I started searching for new musique , interesting places and with the desire to expand my mind and my thoughts . The world became a new place in every seccond . A loty of things change when you find yourself in this kind of enviroment , things become surreal one one hand and extremely diverse one the outer . One year of moving from one place to anauther beeing nomad in a place where there is a big mixture of races made me think about things that where not connected to pervious things . The difference betwen me and my home place became more and more accentuated on a certain level . After you start adapting to the thigs that surrounds you and to the people that surround you change your sight and eyes with witch you see the world , the surrounding universe becoming a layered place with a multicultural flavour that can change you in a lot of ways; until you ask yourself questions related to identity and in the same time you become a mix of themes , images , patterns , desires , directions , moods , places and characters , you are part of the movie called globalization.

Virtual Museum Zuidas Amsterdam

Museums can take may shapes , and in the case of Zuidas things tend to go beyond material ,and reach for the virtual , teh opening of the museum was an nice event bringing together people from all kinds of areas like art , buissnies , teaching , students , new media and performance . A lot of student from different parts of the world became part of the event . The museum is an urban screen that is the new canvas for the artist that goes beyond static and enters the realm of moving images and video art . The presentation of the museum was a one hour warm up in witch small one minute films where presented , the works wher from students that just graduated and this was an important aspect the fact that the "museum " is hosting works that are not known and that are fresh fronm the viewer's point of view . After the warmup that was held in the outdoor World trade center plaza a short introduction from the director of the project that presented the crew developed the production , grafic and visual museum identity ; things continued with a performance that was the highlight of the event ; the performance was related to a big ball that had a camera mounted on it , people started plaing with the ball that was quite big and the camera was brocasting the real time images on the screen that was mounted in the plaza . Interesting performance first because of the real time images bradcast and seccond that the ball brought people together making them act unnoficial and playfull at the opening , this activity made the atmosfere of the event to lightenup . Afterwords ther was a presentation about the new urban Zuidas area that is an international finacial center with buildings designed by international architects like Toyo Ito and Erik van Eggerat . Why a museum in a finacial center ? because " If buildings and roads are the city’s hardware, then culture is the software that brings the city to life."

One culture

This idea started from some people that made statements regarding the actual state of culture at this moment in time , factors like globalization , maket economy , imigration and labour market made possible the blending of cutures in a sort of new american culture . American culture that is considered quite new in comparisonts with outer tipes of world cultures , that all have roots that go usualy at least one milenium back in time . American culture is considered young in historical time and the important factors that characterize historicaly is the struggle that happened in four centuriess to find an american identity . This happened trough the mix population and cultures that had an identity of their own . So from this point of view american culture should become a sort of model for today's world that is in mutation and under the influence of globalization , emerging markets and new labour markets that all make more or less the need for a new kind of common culture and identity . I often hear from all kinds of people that live in places with a strong mix of population that they are world citizentz, but is that easy to be a world citizen is it that simple ? . I think that the world citizen does not exist yet only for people that have global activities or that are working in enviroments where they adress themselves to people from all over the world and these kind of peole are quite rare , beeing a world citizen is not that simple because in a lot of cases things can go slightly wrong not because colaboration is not possible but because there is no common identity and in a lot of cases people that start working together can easity go back and try to stick to theyr traditions and culture in the search for somekind of identity .
Tradition is not that important anymore more important is the openedmindness with witch we can accept new thinks that cross our path and that in a lot of cases people can missinterpret , maybe things that are not common and that at the first glimpse we do not understand can be a new way of expressing a multifaced ideea that can be adressed to a mixed public . In a lot of cases Art has become this kind of common language in witch the artist that can be the representation of himself or of a country ( like in the art bienalle case ) presents work that reflects the culture related to a place or to a population of people , the artist has to be like an antena that signals changes , new trends or alarms trough the tools of culture things related to society , people or politics . The artist from a Socratian point of view does not have any kind of social function but his existence can be a decisiv factor in a lot of social-political situations . The artist can discover things that are hidden from the normal citizen , he has the power to bing things that are in the underground to the surface of society . This can come out in a lot of forms and tipes of work in the same time the artist can become a person that wlaks trough all kinds of social clases and that searches for new tipologies of social behaviour . So art has become a language that transmits and that has the power to gather people from different mediums , enviroments and social calses together . This makes things to blend and intercat the artist becoming for a short while some kind of interaction designer . Culture is important especialy in a period where many individuals are searchisng for an identity new "traditions " or the apartenance to a group where the core rules that stick people together are tolerant and fluid . The search for this kind of grups can be political, cultural , self interese oriented or fun and style based . In a lot of cases the bubles of certainty can go off in any moment but in a lot of times things that are part of the daily routine can be articulated in a sort of cultural language , the coffe brand from the morning , the tipe of cloathing , the newspaper or the informational cannal that we use to keep ourselves updated with news and events that occur around can become the texture that form our life and identity . Things that shape us are important because they can create a social image that express personal values and level of interest in certain social areas .
Identity can becaome traditional if thre is no need to refresh things or it can become a buredn and the need for a new affiliation becoming more and more important on an individual level . What is interesting is the preimage that everyone has regarding an individual that is connected to some sort of culture , becasue of the place where he comes in a lot of cases people can judge things in a wrong way and one individual can bare the burden of having an entire history put in his back so starting from scratch is important in a place where there is a srtong mix of cultures. the search for one general tipe of culture has to start on an individual level and afterwords on bigger scale the need of one is becoming more important than the need of many even if details connect things .

Transdisciplinarity

More and more companies , designers or outher people from creative realm are uinder the spell of multidisciplinarity and multidisciplinar thinking and strategies . The way we think shape the concept that we develop and in a lot of cases thinking in more directions at the same time can be benefic for a project or projects that in today's world are more and more connecterd to multitasking and the need of embedded functions . Design architecture and all sorts of creative fields are starting to be active in domains that did not had any connexions with . Architecture is becoming a way of thinking and a way of seeing the world that surrounds a person and in a lot of cases this kind of thinking can be applied to questions that are not necesarily related to architecture . The best exaple is the strategical thinking of Tom Ford in the questions related ot brand and image and the think tank created by Rem Koolhaas and that is the counterpart of Oma , the Amo company that works in fields that go beyond architecture , one of their last projects beeing a catwalk design and the fasion show related to it in witch the imagination of the AMO think tank created hypotetical products in the form of pills that will put you in different states of mind making you feel dutch , feel gay , have style or get laid . this kind or organizational thinking is quite interesting and the fact that the final product of the companie's imagination is a scenario that is not architecturaly related makes thinks more interesting . In this case is evident that the oppendmindness of the client and the imagination of the architect blendet together creating a crisscrossed catwalk and futuristic products that are presented and are decorating the fashion show . In this casee the need of out of the box thinking was more than necesary and important in makink this kind or direction that does not imply anymore the need of an architectural object but more of an architectural strategy that has to think in show production way . Architecture in many cases does not have to think about somekind of public that is part of the whole event architecture has a longer time spam then a fashion show that is a concise presentation that is coreographed .
In outher cases we can see concepts or sketches of things that started from an rganic image or proportions that are found in nature . In some outer places we can find ideeas that started from scientific elements aor elemnts that are found in different places or from different field . Transdisciplinarity is more and more used in all kinds of fields and in a lot of cases is treated as a normal phenomenon or aproach .

The value of concept

I often wonder about the value of the concept in a creation from where does it come and how it becomes reality . In many creational cases the concept is not considered important , the action or the part in witch the idea is translated into reality is in many cases more important than the core idea or the concept . The action or the process is cosiderd in many cases more strong and more important than the initial concept .
Is the initial sketch or statement less important than the dynamic part of the process . In many cases there is a debate between these two parts of the same process the concept and the construction of it . In history we have a lot of debates that concern the relationship between concept and “putting in action” . But how can u go to action withouth the ensurance that the idea that you are goeing to built or design is the right one . Maybe I’m going too far and not even the concept can guarantee the fact that the original idea is tha wright one but the concept is the idea and more or less it gives a sort of explanation to what idea means and how it is structured.
So the concept is an important part of the process and it is unique as entity in the process ; the taking action part sometimes can imply a strategical pattern or modes of operation that are more or less specific to tipes of situations .
Some of the greatest artists of the world started from scratch only guided by the idea or concept that made possible their artwork or products to reach the surface . An example of what concept means is the question that arised when the works of Mozart where discovered in a forgotten draver by a person that accidentally looked into it ; a lot op people wonderd at that time to whom should they give credits for the found musical works , to Mozart the composer that created them and had the idea for the compositions or to the person that found them and put had put them into the light and withouth his intervention the works ould never been found and Mozart would never have been Mozart . After some time and energy that was spend on this question the answer went in the direction of the person that invented and created the works ; Mozart and people where clear about the fact that Mozart would have been Mozart anyway and that the musique that he made was valuable in any type of circumstance. Anauter example is the one that concearns the relationship between artist Andy Warhol and French Dadaist Marcel Duchamp that after meeting Warhol and seeing his artwork he became interested not in the artwork but in “the man that has the Idea “ to make that kind of artwork , so Duchamp was clearly interested in the concept and in the mind of avantguard artist Andy Warhol .
These exaples prove that all thow in a lot of cases we are faced with the question regarding the value of the concept we are faced with exaples in witch clearly the concept has a strong place and it is appreciated at it’s real value . The concept sometimes can be considered a way to break patterns or preceses by generating a strong concept you can shorten the way to the goal of the process or in outer cases it can improve it .
So the initial sketch is important after all as a starting point and as a mean for creating variants of the same concept .

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Form is content

Content is sometimes debated in and in many cases is confuzed with outher features of the presented object or piece of work, but in a lot of cases an object cen become pure until it reaches the level of blending content with the figurative side of the object , thus the form of the object becoming the content of it . form can be content and there are multiple examplets in witch this rule can be applied one exaple si the exaple found in the modernist ideea related to form follows function so in this way we can visualy relate to the content of an object . This is clerly a case related to modernism and the simplification of form and compozition in the cubist and abstract period , period in witch a lot of artists started searching for the content or the message transmitted by the objects that where simplified trough the process of drawing or sculpture . These kind of pattern related theories can be traced back to the period when abstarct and cubist art started emergeing from the art scene in the begining of the century. In this period of time on a teorethical level things started shaking in the academist movement that dominated things until thatn and a new wave of artists started seeing things in a new light and started playng with form and colour generating in this way new ways of looking at the world that surrounds us and by simplifying things until they become abstaract you could generate a whole new universe that is dominbated by new laws that are not bound to the laws of the physical world . This was the way in witch a series of theorie started emerging from the art scene world and that shaped the things that had commed next . In toady's world we see more and more in the architectural and design landscape that objects that are designed or under the architectural pattern are becoming more and more transmitors of information trough their skin , size or material , in these cases form is content because the creeator of that specific object is more or lass trying to express something trough the creeation .In some outher cases the form is content concept is just a matter of language , form can be translated into content if there are outher factors that contribute to his kind of translation , external factors that imbeded in the contemporary visual culture can generate translation from form to a tipe of content that does not have to be in anykind of relation with the initial form , the content is generated by the translation process that moves the initial conecpt towards a direction that was not previously established .

Andy mates

The Andy mate concept started from the famous artist Andy Warhol who had a passion for eating his dinner in front of his Television set . In the 60 ‘ties television sets where not so widely spread as in today’s world and information was more compact the main way of information circulation was the publishing system , magazines and news papers where the main carriers of information .
The television appeared and what happened was moving image and all kinds of interactive programes that become more and more attractive especially for the artistic eye of Andy Warhol who declared that after buying his firs Television-set he started not being so interested in relationships he was more interested in his Television-sets and the programes that where on and behind the glass border . Was this quote part of Andy’s will to be a machine that analyzes the exterior world that surrounds him trough the window that was the Television set ? or was this just a human normal behaviour developed around a common activity , This was his response to the reality provided by the television set and a way o stayng in touch with the world . I think that he was wright on a certain level because sometimes watching television or staying at the computer and havind dinner or a snack can be quite satisfying . At one point Andy tried to develop a chain of restaurants that had boxes with television sets that in witch you can enter and serve lunch or dinner , in this way you could have a quiet dinner with your television set and enjoy the programs offerd by television . Interesting ideea especially if we look at it from an artistic point of view in witch the box with the television set table and chair can be seen as an installation that connects two world in one place trough an daily activity the activity of eating ; from anauther perspective this kind of box tipe ideea implemented in a restaurant space could produce quite an interesting result both architecturally and artistically in both cases the normal person that comes to this kind of restaurant would seek intimacy wuith the television set for the short time provided by the lunch break or dinner time . The restaurant space would be completely transformed and the space would have inside rows of boxes that contain televisions and eating tables ; the boxes are meant to accommodate only one person at the time so the exiprience is intimate , the bound between the person that eats and the television set is an intimate one . In the same time Andy gave the people that would share the same social activity the name of Andy mates that where persons that had this kind os social activity included in their lifestyles .
The Andy mate concept was never put in practice but and maybe it could have been successful because of the superficiality that this method of having dinner implies , caracteristical to Warhol this way of having dinner is completely individualistic in a way superficial and sefleducational way trough the television culture that became in the meanwhile more and more important and embraced by the popular culture . Trying to be more contemporary in thinking Warhol was quite avantguarde in what he was saying and thinking he started seeing the television set as a transmitor f human behaviour and social desire , more and more people and society ie educated trough the television set that had had become part of hour daily life , television being the place from where we get hour news , documentayes , daily dramas , movies and all kind of facts related to world ; so Warhol’s concept of having a break from the real and eating with a machine with witch you do not have to socialize , behave or exchange any kind of information , just to have dinner or lunch and look at the images and being connected for a short while to anauther world is an not soo updated concept . This kind of ideea would work in today’s world too and in some cases people would enjoy having dinner with a media unit like the television set is .
No socializing , no talking no converstional effort , just food and moving images .

Global Village

This is one of the concepts started by Marshall Mcluhan profesor of English literature , media and communication theorist and the patron saint and initiator of the Wired magazine . At a first sight the term global village is composed from two contrasting element the word global that implies globalization that is a vast process and the word village that is not really connected to what we see as predictions of the globalization phenomenon , the twenty first century is the century of the urban , and the economical forces that come together with globalization can be best observed in the urban landscape ; the village is slowly disappearing . So the what does mean global village what is the meaning of this term or concept . looking closer to this concept you can discover that the global village is not a material tridimesional concept it does not exist in the real material world , it is an concept related to the electronic age that was one of the fascinations of Mcluhan and one of the areas in witch he was fascinated and made predictions related to this new age the electronic age or in our days the digital age . What is interesting about Mcluhan is the fact that he did not make predictions related to aliens or outherspace visitors of to all kinds of futuristic predictions that we are acoustomed with but he started seeing planet earth under the forces of globalization and the electronic age becoming the new space of exploration these phenomenons making the territory of the planet much more dense, fertile and misterieus than before, because of globalization thins become bigger but In the same time much more complicated too .
So back to the global village concept what does it mean and how does it function ? The global village is “inhabited “by 21 century people ,that are all connected trough digital media . The global village is virtual and it functions with the help of networks that make information flow faster , usually the community is structured around a series of subjects that are commune to all of the village members . The interesting and new thing about the village are the “inhabitants “ of the community ; until recently a village was formed around a theory that was material and real with a population that consisted from the same people , inhabitants of the same race and origin that where speaking the same language .this concept is outdated in the case of the global village that is virtual and the virtual inhabitants of this place are more or less of the same origin , they are people that live in different parts of the world that are connected trough a digital network in today’s world the word wide web . The inhabitanst are connected and are part of the global village because they share the same passion or interest for a series of things or just because they started contact and developed communication with the other members of the global village . Multiple activities can bond together in today’s world people , for exaple the virtual gamers communities that are an early form of global village ;they spend time together in the same virtual generated space this making them bond together around an activity , anuther exaple that can be connected to this concept is the Second Life game that brings together notions of global village with a form of virtual avatar that one character is building in a period of time , what is interesting about this game is the fact that virtual objects have real monetary value, money can be translated from the virtual to the real world . So this kind of translations or functions can be part of the composition of the global village . The citizens of the global village will have daily common activities that will be shared between the members of the community . They will share informations and all kinds of cultural assets that are common to them and that are interesting for the village members .
Other forms of global village tipe of behavior can be seen in the photosharing communities like Flickr where there are groups formed and centerd around one subject or one topic of common interest . The village of the future will imply much more than only photosharing , or comment display , the global village will become more or less a community with political and economical oriented activities , the members will be able to exchange from material goods to all kind of types of informations for their prosumer needs . The distance between people will not be a problem anymore because of the interconnectivity generated by the Web .