Kinetic Wave Sculptures – Scene 360 Illusion

I had seen this before but the wave maker keeps me mesmerized:

A very interesting video interview with kinetic sculptor Reuben Margolin. Documented by Make magazine.

via Kinetic Wave Sculptures – Scene 360 Illusion

Sheep, Art and Travel Marketing Gurus

Today I was waiting for a bride and groom who had spent their first honeymoon night in our hotel, to check out. In the meantime I watched a highly inspiring keynote from marketing guru Seth Godin which he delivered at Ted. He tells the audience how Tribes are creating the most powerful relationships. I found it via a tweet from Chris Noble of Worldnomads in Todd Lucier‘s Blog Internet Marketing for Tourism.

Immediately I had to think of the following hilarious footage:

The message is that nowadays everybody can reach out and connect with people. If you do it with passion you can get results far better than the medieval kings of marketing that try to tell everybody what they need to have or need to do (the way they do it is considered to be spam in nowadays net etiquette). Create tribes that follow you and they will tell their followers what to have or what to do. You can do it! I can do it!

Lol… talking of travel marketing gurus… yesterday Susan Black confirmed even I can do it, as she counted me under 28 Travel Industry Gurus in a post where she quoted their opinion: Part II Why Travel Industry Gurus Love Twitter.

Connecting with your Guests

A post from my back burner (almost for two years now). I didn’t ditch it, because I see some analogies with destination marketing. In the present economic circumstances it is even more important to be able to think outside of the box.

The artist, Robert Arquer, does something with fish in a bowl. As any good modern artist his art inspires you to think…. Roger shows me various ways of thinking outside the box.

This project comprises fifteen different fish bowls that explore variations of the iconic image of a fish bowl.
Each piece examines a topic or suggests a solution to a different issue. In this project human qualities had been attributed to fish through the design. Thoughtful and yet playful

Under some of the photos (by Peter Mallet) I’ll give my own thoughts: Imagine you (or your accommodation or attraction) is the fish in the bowl…and your potential guests are out there…

web-fishbowl-dont-piss-me-off
Don’t piss me off

Do Not Piss Me Off, “tells us about the power to decide between the life and death of the fish”. This is very clear, also in a good economy you should never aggravate your potential guests.Those who threw the stop at you are your potential guests. But the most important message is: Go find them, because apparently they like you! Connect!

web-fishbowl-hanging-from-a-string

More or less the same idea: There are people out there who might fancy your accommodation or attraction. Go find them! They keep you afloat better although you might think you can swim on your own very well… If you don’t find them, you can hang yourself!

web-fishbowl-bottle-vase

Do something surprising with your accommodation or attraction: It may attract those you need!

About Robert Arquer:

Roger Arquer was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1975. Graduated in Design at ESDI, Barcelona (1994-1998). A year after his graduation, he moved to New York City (1999-2003) to work as industrial designer. After New York, he moved to London to attend an MA in Design Products at the Royal College of Art (2003-2005). During the summer break in RCA he worked as designer in Zurich (Switzerland). He set up his own design practice in London after RCA.

Well done, Robert! Show us more of your work!

Via Dezeen | Fish Bowls

Cultural Travel (1): Dusseldorf K21 Art Collection im Standeshaus – Katharina Fritsch

K21 im Standeshaus, a beautiful Photo of Joerg Dickmann

I’m a bit sad: I remembered a nice Blog writing about cultural traveling in Europe. I had to dig deep in my memory and remembered my friend Karen had referred to the blog in one of her Travel Carnival posts. It appeared to be in her First Travel Carnival:She had pointed me to High Culture on a low Budget. I’m sad because Olivia apparently ceased writing for the Blog Since June 2008. Curious what’s happening.


Katharina Fritsch: Mouse

I have written on other occasions about our little cultural travel group of friends that we have coined “Art en Route” and travels occasionally to see modern art. Recently we visited Duesseldorf to soak up some modern art. For us Baby Boomers art, design, music, dance, but also good wining and dining are excellent excuses to travel. Therefor I introduce a new category to my blog “Cultural Travel”


Katharina Fritsch: Monk, Doctor and Salesman

I have several posts in my sleeve, but will start with a couple of sculptures of Katharina Fritsch that belong to the K21 Art Collection im Standeshaus. The Standeshaus appeared to be a very nice Museum in the middle of a park. Apart from its facade it had been demolished and rebuild entirely and has a glass roof like some other museums have nowadays. Nowhere on its site is there any information about this renovation after which it became the home of the 21st century art collection of the Art Collection of the German Nordrhein-Westfalen state. I like the building, its location and its restaurant.


Katharina Fritsch: Mouse and Man, Monk, Doctor and Salesman

I am impressed by these sculptures and the fact that K21 devotes a whole room to her.
Katharina Fritsch does not seem to have a website. At present she is a Professor at the German Muenster art academy and there is some info about her on Wiki.
If you search her on Flickr, you’ll get a nice collections of her sculptures.

Affordable Art Fair – Amsterdam – Contemporary Art Fair

After eight successful years in London, New York, Sydney and Melbourne the Affordable Art Fair has been launched in Amsterdam in November 2007. After this first edition the Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam will grow in 2008: circa 80 galleries from the Netherlands and abroad will be seen at the Westergasfabriek terrain from 29 October to 2 November. The fair is fun, relaxed and with everything from €100 to €5,000, it is an art-buying opportunity that can not be missed.

The fair’s friendly environment invites first time buyers to browse amongst the thousands of paintings, original prints, photography and sculpture, whilst seasoned collectors can seek out hot new artists. In short, AAF Amsterdam is a fair where you can look at contemporary art, love it and leave with your own piece.

This funky fair’s stunning location is the 19th century gasworks, an impressive industrial monument on the Westergasfabriek terrain, close to Amsterdam Central station and easy to reach by bike, tram, car or foot from the town center.
Affordable Art Fair – Amsterdam – Contemporary Art Fair