Mediamatic 2015

In 2015 we moved to our new Biotoop and collaborated with 121 national and international artists, designers and scientist and 52 interns to organise 28 workshops, 39 presentations and 4 new exhibitions.

Scroll down for a quick overview of our highlights, go here to see the full overview our our 2015 program or click here to view who we worked with this year.

Biotalk

We started the year on january the 15th with the Biotalk. What are the social, cultural and technological implications of fungal and bio-based materials? And what possibilities do they offer for artists, designers, engineers, architects, scientists, farmers and chefs? Find out at Biotalk, the monthly lecture series where we introduce you to some of the leading figures in the field of Bio Art, Science and Technology. This year with Bart Vandeput, Katharina Unger, Mike Thompson & Susana Cámara Leret, Martijn Engelbregt, Teresa van Dongen, Formafantasma, Aagje Hoekstra, Laura Lynn Jansen and Thomas Vailly, Fabai Wu, Moyashimon en Kamiel Rongen, Studio Blond&Bieber, Tessa Kuipers, Tamara Hoogeweegen, Nienke Hoogvliet, Naja Ryde Ankarfeldt, Emma van der Leest, Agi Haines, Isaac Monté, Sonja Bäumel, Olf de Bruin, Phelim Hoey, Joost Dankelman, Teresa van Dongen, Dominik Schmieden, Agi Haines, Tamara Hoogeweegen.

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Het publiek voelt aan Naja Ryde Ankarfeldts microbial skin tijdens de Biotalk - The microbial skin is created by Naja Ryde Ankarfeldt Tijdens de Biotalk valt er ook dikwijls veel te voelen, proberen en proeven. Los van de verhalen van de sprekers kunnen vaak hun producten ook ervaren worden. Margherita Soldati


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Agi explaining her work to the public - Agi's work is called Circumventive Organs.

Pis'talk

Pis is rarely used as a topic for a good conversation. We at Mediamatic do talk about Pis. On april the 30th we presented our first Pis'talk, a series of talks that investigates the cultural meaning and context of urine. This evening the speakers will dive into the history of sanitation in cities and explore the possibilities of urine as a excipient and source of nutrients and water in modern society.

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Ruben Verwaal - Verwaal spoke on the pis'talk 3

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Female Portable Urinals - Ana Valls

Raising Doubts

Are you fundamentally lonely? Do you break taboos? Join us and start Raising Doubts (Twijfel Zaaien) in Amsterdam's newest hotspot: Dijkspark. Thirty questions about life and art lead you along the green walkway. You answer these questions by sowing flowerseeds. This way your answers will grow out to become part of a lush infographic. And you will get to know what type of artist you would have been.

Raising Doubts is an initiative by Jasmin Moeller and Masha Ru in collaboration with Mediamatic. You can visit the installation daily until the 30th of November. The seedcards were for sale during opening hours at Mediamatic.

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Visitor Casting Doubt - Girl at the opening of Casting Doubts, planting her answer flower seed in the soil. Xiang Yu Yeung

Brew your own beer

Water, hops, grain and yeast are the only ingredients you need to brew your own beer, but there are endless possibilities in variations and additions. Mediamatic investigates radical beer design and experiments in our own micro brewery. From 18 april on you can join the brew workshop, also for the inexperienced, but adventurous brewer.

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Brewing a stout beer - The stout and grains try to escape the pot, during the cooking phase in the brew your own 6 pack workshop with Simon, May 2015 Xiang Yu Yeung

Dijkspark - Opening Weekend

The opening of the Dijkspark is celebrated during a three-day festival. Three days of Fermentation, Fish, Design, Eat, Bacteria, Pis and Flowers. On friday september 11 the opening of Pis, Hard Water and Gelukszoekers, with new work by Zeger Reyers and Kamiel Rongen and the Raising Doubts installation by Jasmin Moeller and Masha Ru. On saturday september the 12th the official opening of the park, with Janny Rodermond - director Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie and Roeland Rengelink - from the governance of Stadsdeel Centrum.

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Mediamatic Biotoop Dijkspark on a sunny day - Waterside view of Mediamatic Biotoop with the refugee vessel "Meneer Vrijdag" of Rederij Lampedusa mooring in the Dijksgracht Ruby Lee


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Openings speech Dijkspark - After months of preparations the Dijkspark and Mediamatic Biotoop are finally ready to be opened.

In the same weekend, Teun Castelein presents his new shipping company: Rederij Lampedusa. This shipping company contains a vleet of two Nord-African ships in which refugees made the crossing to Lampedusa, Europe. The ships are donated by the Italian authorities and shipped to Amsterdam.

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11-09-2015 Rederij Lampedusa - arriving at Mediamatic - In the harbour next to the terrace of Mediamatic ETEN, the two ships from Shipping Company Lampedusa are docked. The respective boats are former refugees ships used by people to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Although the Municipality of Amsterdam allows no more than fifteen people on the largest ship according to its safely regulations, 282 refugees fled on it from North Africa to Lampedusa. Not only has the boat a refugee history, the crew itself largely made up of refugees, and along with… Teun Castelein

Till midnight you can visit the new installations by Zeger Reyers and Kamiel Rongen, join a tour to our Myco-Brewery and Aquaponics greenhouse, chill on our terrace and listen to the Icelandic bands from Festisvall Fünf: Samaris, Good Moon Deer, Berndsen and M-Band.

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Samaris playing at Festisvall Fünf - Different bands perform at Festisvall Fünf Different bands perform at Festisvall Fünf Studio Festisvall

Pure Gold is an art installation created by audio visual artist Kamiel Rongen, in collaboration with Mediamatic. The installation contains five different video's, projected on five different windows on the facade of the Mediamatic building. What is the difference between Pure Gold and earlier work by Kamiel? The key ingredient used for this video is his own urine. The videos are part of an installation of five urinoirs in which the urine is collected to fertilize the plants in our Aquaponics greenhouse.

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Pissing in Pure Gold - Video installation by Kamiel Rongen and Mediamatic. The artist used his own urine and other liquids to create his mesmerising videowork. Kamiel Rongen, Mediamatic Foundation

From september 13th on we organise the Zuursalon, in which fermented food is the central topic. Growing moldy, getting sour, or decaying.... it sounds dirty but these processes make sure your beer and cheese taste so good. Mediamatic is not afraid of fungi and with Zuur it honors fermentation. On the Zuur market you find the most fanatic fermenters of the city.

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De zuursalon, a talkshow about fermentation - Leslie Dronkers is talking about fermentation. Lepelboom


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De vrouw met de baard is baking burgers! - Fermented food market Mama Bakery

We Are Public Dinner

At our Biotoop, we not only build a laboratory and exhibition space, but also a new restaurant, located in a greenhouse at the waterside, with a view on NEMO. This restaurant will open shortly, but We Are Public members can already experience a foretaste.

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Mediamatic hosted a We are public diner - Mediamatic hosted a We are public diner with nice biological food In our restaurant you can eat & drink nice biological food. Margherita Soldati

Hard Water by Zeger Reyers

On september the 18th, [[http://www.mediamatic.net/403853/nl/hard-water-zeger-reyers Hard Water] opens at our Mediamatic greenhouse. In an ultimate combination of man and nature (or perhaps man versus nature), Zeger Reyers has created an enormous living art installation which climbs down from the exterior second floor level of the Mediamatic Biotoop building in Dijkspark into the Mediamatic Restaurant. Hard Water was constructed using over 1000 ceramic plates, soil and different species of grass, including Gaura and Crocosmia. The immense piece explores the tension between nature and man-made objects by confronting the artificial with biological processes. As such, the work is growing and evolving every single day with the artificial manipulating the natural and the natural equally manipulating the artificial. This changing appearance can be witnessed over the next four years, and so several visits are encouraged to grasp the full live art concept of Hard Water.

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18-09-2015 Hard Water by Zeger Reyers - In an ultimate combination of man and nature (or perhaps man versus nature), Zeger Reyers has created an enormous living art installation that climbs down from the exterior second floor level of the Mediamatic Biotoop building in Dijkspark into the Mediamatic Restaurant. Hard Water was constructed using over 1000 ceramic plates, soil and different species of grass, including Gaura and Crocosmia. These grasses are long and thin and produce bright-colored flowers at the tips in the Summer months. Zeger Reyers, Brigitte Hillenaar

With: Zeger Reyers

Odorama

Whether derived from nature, or chemically constructed, odourant molecules have the ability to profoundly effect our behaviour, emotions and associations. At Odorama we’ll actively engage with our senses and explore everything that reaches and effects the nose. We will consider olfactory history and design that is experimental and challenging. And introduce you to the fragrance as a work of art in itself. On October 8th the first edition, with Caro Verbeek, Peter de Cupere and Marit Mihklepp.

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What's that smell? - These combinations of scent's were created during the Odorama olfactory workshop. All scents will be used during the screening of Polyester.


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Evaporating a smell - Olfactory demonstration during the first edition of Odorama. Margherita Soldati

Ruud All Over

This installation, Ruud All Over shows hundreds of Ruud van der Peijl’s photographs infiltrating the city of Amsterdam. By replacing the advertisements at bus and tram stops Ruud's work is shown within the urban landscape. The installation is on show from October 31 till january 24 2016.

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People looking at he RAO exhibition - People looking at he RAO exhibition during the opening. Ruud van der Peijl

Aquaponics

This year we again built a new Aquaponics system, this time in our greenhouse at the Biotoop. Aquaponics is a sustainable food production system which combines plant cultivation and fish. It is one of the best ways to produce food in the city, because it doesn't take up much space. The excrements of the fish feed the plants and the plants clean the water of the fish. Nothing gets wasted. In this workshop you learn how to build a miniponics system, a miniature, home-edition of the bigger Aquaponics towers.

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How to build your DIY aquaponics system - Saro gives a workshop in how to build an aquaponics system


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Rocio working on the Aquaponics at the Biotoop - Rocio Martin cutting in the Aquaponics Greenhouse at Mediamatic Biotoop Ana Valls

Kimchi workshop

Did you know that there are more than hundred different types of Kimchi? In this workshop June park reveals the secret recipe of her grandmother and teaches you how to make traditional Kimchi. You go home with you own fermented Chinese cabbage and with enough knowledge to impress your hipster foody friends.

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29-11-2015 Workshop: How to make Kimchi June Park holding kimchi - There is so much we don't know about Kimchi. Did you know Koreans have a special Kimchi refrigerator in their house? June is currently doing an internship at Mediamatic and comes from Korea. She will give a workshop how to make her grandmothers traditional kimchi recipe. June all ready made 3 batches of Kimchi in advance so you will be able to taste 3 different kinds of kimchi. Afterwards you can go home with your own batch of Kimchi with Chinese Cabbage. And if you stay a little bit longer she…

Kunstformen der Natur in Radboudumc

The exhibition Kunstformen der Natur is back. This time in collaboration with the Radboudumc in Nijmegen. After the popular exhibition of 100 prints, we selected 80n prints for this special location in the east of the Netherlands. The light installations by Rudy Guedi, Martin Huger, Olya Troitskaya and Sophie Rogg are also present. The exhibitions is ons show from October 30 till March 21 2016.

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30-11-2015 Kunstformen der Natur in Radboud UMC Hospital - More than a century ago, biologist Ernst Haeckel scored a hit with his amazing illustrations of unseen organisms. We collected all original lithographs and blew them up to 5 times life size for our exhibition. Mediamatic's Kunstformen der Natur exhibition about the pop-science illustrations of Ernst Haeckel and Adolf Glitch was installed in Nijmegen. The Radboud University's Hospital provides an amazing context and backdrop for the work. 30 november 2015 tot 21 maart 2016.  Willem Velthoven