Appreciation

Park Güell. Photo by Nick Wright Planning on Flickr.

Recently I visited Park Güell, the famous Barcelonan park designed by Gaudí. If you haven’t been there, you might know it from movies such as Vicky Cristina Barcelona in which both Cristina and Juan Antonio use the park as a source of inspiration. Often in literature and motion pictures the park is a spot for inspiration and creative freedom.

In reality the park has turned into a horrid mass-attraction devoid of all artistic charm.

Those parts not covered in yellow under-construction tape, are crowded with photo-happy tourists. A strict guard blows his whistle every time a visitor steps out of line. Nowhere to sit down quietly and read. Nowhere to draw. Shut up, walk around quickly and move on. It made me think of some of the art museums I’ve been, those where a security guard tails you.

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

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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