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The National Vending Machine – Building a community of objects

Posted: May 27th, 2010 | Author: Jasper Visser | Filed under: Exhibitions, Innovation, Technology | Tags: , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Opening of the National Vending Machine

An automatiek type vending machine, or trekmuur – “pull wall” – as we call it in Dutch, is a traditional piece of robust technology used to sell deep-fried snacks. Many visitors to Holland might have seen it, especially late at night when they’re popular places to get something to eat.

Over the last years some machines started to sell other stuff than traditional Dutch snacks. There are ones that sell Chinese food and even sunglasses, but that’s about all the innovation the machines have seen. The Museum of National History and Mediamatic decided to take the vending machine to the next level. Yesterday we launched the pilot of this project. Read the rest of this entry »


Nieuwe Groeten Uit… A crowd-sourced and crowd-curated exposition

Posted: May 24th, 2010 | Author: Jasper Visser | Filed under: Exhibitions, Innovation | Tags: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Nieuwe groeten uit… (“New greetings from…”) is a crowd-sourced, crowd-curated exposition in the city of Arnhem in the east of the Netherlands. Last Thursday my museum opened the last part of the yearlong project. In many ways it’s a special exposition and project, I think, and worth sharing.

Somewhat over a year ago FOAM photography museum Amsterdam, the ANP Historical Archive and the Museum of National History of the Netherlands came together to find a replacement for the traditional postcards. Most postcards show an old-fashioned image of Holland: cheese, cows and wooden shoes. The Netherlands has changed significantly over the last years, and Nieuwe Groeten Uit… was a search for new postcards.

The general public played a mayor part in every phase of the project: gathering the photographs for the postcards, selecting the best post-cards and even putting them on display.

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The Ruhrmuseum in Zollverein; a full sensory experience aimed at discovery

Posted: March 21st, 2010 | Author: Jasper Visser | Filed under: Exhibitions, Lessons learned | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Entrance Ruhrmuseum (1)

The most important lesson I learnt when I tested Amsterdam museums with Seb Chan is ‘deliver what your visitors expect’. Last Friday I visited the Ruhrmuseum in Zollverein, near Essen. It’s one of the best museum I’ve ever visited in my life. Most of its success, I think, is due to them delivering what people expect to find in this museum: a full sensory experience that makes you discover the Ruhr area as it really was (and is).

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