Rhythmanalysis

On Friday the 2nd of March, we used the day to conduct a rhythmanalysis of chinatown. We took four points along the Zeedijk, and counted for half hour intervals, the number of people (asian or otherwise), cars, bikes, deliveries, drug dealers, and events. We did this at five different times during the day, starting at 10 in the morning until 1 o clock at night. We chose certain points to see chinatown's relation with other parts of the city - firstly at the top of the Zeedijk, near Central Station, which turned out to be the quitest area. Secondly, at the junction of the Wing Kee restaurant and the huge Toko Dun Yong. This point was the busiest, mainly because of people coming into the street from the Red light district, and also a big number of drug dealers. The third place was outside the temple, across from the famous Nam Kee restaurant. The last place was the end of the Zeedijk that meets the Nieuwmarkt. We could see a number of things from this rhythmanalysis. Firstly, chinatown gets its main influx of people coming from the red light district, through the small streets connecting them. Most people coming from central station were carrying bags, and were just passing through, on the way to their hotels. The rhythm during the day was very interesting. Our first reading in the morning was very quite, but at lunchtime, things had picked up a lot. The afternoon and evening were really busy, especially at the second point. As the evening wore on, chinatown itself became more of an extension of the red light district, as the shops closed. There was a big increase in the number of cars late in the evening, especially taxis.

Creative Practice Workshop

Another two day workshop. This time with Daniele Pario Perra and Roberto Dell'Orco. The focus of this workshop was to get a better understanding of the everyday. We had a lecture to start off with showing us various examples of creative practice - people using their imagination with what they have around them to make their environment more user-friendly. Most examples showed people bending the rules, to avoid parking tickets or paying a fine of some sort, and always with a sense of humour. Each group was asked to make an intervention in the faculty, change a space somehow and see how people react, recording this on camera. Basically we were asked to do those things we wanted to do as kids, but have always been told not to do. So, each group set about doing something, most proactive and helpful at the start and then later more mischievous. Our group were influenced by a note we had seen on a door near the Service Point, a note saying window on a door! So we decided among other things, to put up post-its with love notes on them at different places. We started with the very obvious places, at eye level on doors. The reaction was completely unexpected, people working in offices in the area we started with, reacted aggressively to our notes, taking them down, and eventually complaining about us. So we had to adopt a more subtle approach. We decided to move to the library, and put the notes in less obvious places. The notes now were more personal and we got much better reactions. In the afternoon we tried something different, again playing with communication, but in a more disruptive way. Some of the ICTO rooms in the faculty have doors, which are locked and have signs saying 'no entry, use the other door'. We decided to highlight this, and emphasise how annoying it is. So we put a sign on the other door, the one you are told to enter, with the same message, 'no entry, use the other door', and added a virtual door in between, with a message on it to grab people's attention. We filmed people's reactions......some people didn't notice, some noticed but still used the door, but a few read the notices and walked away, thinking they were not allowed in. Even though you could see there were people inside the room, the sign saying no entry was more important, the power of communication

Chinese New Year

Saturday, the 17th of February saw the chinese new year being celebrated in Amsterdam. 2007 will be the year of the pig. Amsterdam, and especially the Zeedijk and the Nieuwmarkt were crowded. The festival was centered in the Nieuwmarkt square, with markets and food stalls, as well as a marquee with demonstrations on inside, plays, performances, and a display from the local kung fu group. The parade itself consisted of people from the local community, working in the chinese restaurants, or from the local kung fu group, enacting a lion going through the chinatown. The lion was played by two people (with people changing places all the time), the one in front sometimes jumped on the shoulders of the one behind. It started in the Nieuwmarkt, and went to Toko Dun Yong, where there was a firecracker display, before the lion took the offering of the shop, a cabbage hung from the first floor window. The lion then moved on along the Zeedijk, followed by a huge crowd of tourists and onlookers. The parade stopped at various points along the Zeedijk, giving an indication of who's a part of the chinese community. Each restaurant and shop had an offering to the lion, which was accepted and eaten by the two guys playing the lion. The parade went a long way beyond the Nieuwmarkt to a japanese restaurant which had the final firecracker display and offering before returning to the square.

Choreographing Space Workshop

A two day workshop learning about using our bodies in space, and having fun. The first thing we did was getting a basic awareness of our relation with the forces acting on us in space, gravity pulling us down and another force pulling us up. We then played a 'game', a rectangle drawn on the ground with different things to do when you enter this space, sit down, lie down, walk, stand, run, enter and exit. It was clear to see how each person's actions affected everyone else, getting in peoples way, or leaving them go free. We then evolved this 'game', six people had to enter the space and form a structure of some sort. You could see how everytime someone was about to fall, or their body showed a sign of vulnerability, someone would come in to help, we are all aware of the weaknesses of the body. The next day of the workshop started with all of us closing our eyes and moving around the room. About forty architecture students crawling around the floor with their eyes closed for about half an hour. After this intense warm-up, we moved on to more games. The day ended with each group creating a space within the faculty, using whatever objects we could find. At the end of all this, we were asked to draw our experiences of the workshop, mostly an abstract drawing of the body, and what we had learned from the two days.

CHINATOWN, AMSTERDAM - first impressions

On our first visit to the site, on Friday, the 9th of February, we found the Chinatown to quite accessible. The main street of Chinatown is the Zeedijk, just a few minutes walk from the Central Station. It is located between the Red Light District and Geldersekade, to the south-east of the station. We were surprised at the diversity of the area. There were Indonesian, Malaysian, Japanese, British, Vietnamese, Thai, and Dutch restaurants as well as Chinese restaurants. The area was very quiet in the morning, with only a few deliveries to the shops and restaurants, and a few visitors. By lunchtime, there was more activity along the Zeedijk. There were tourists spilling over from the Red Light District and the Nieuwmarkt, and a lot of people, Chinese or otherwise, coming there for lunch. According to people working in one of the restaurants that most Chinese in the area are from the South of China. Also, a local told us that we were not actually in Chinatown, that Chinatown was an area to the southeast of the Nieuwmarkt, where most of the Chinese lived, the Zeedijk was just the commercial centre. The Chinese see it as an advantage of being beside the Red Light District. The highlight of the street seemed to be the temple. It is apparently very busy on Sundays.