The first full day at Komagome’s place I really needed to do nothing, I was overwhelmed… I stayed at home the whole day, it was cold and rainy so that wasn’t that bad after all. This was the appropriate moment to update this blog and by the afternoon we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with the help of Miu.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
On January 20th our work for the exhibition had ended and we had to check out the hotel, a new adventure was about to begin. This was the day I moved my luggage to Alvaro’s & Monica’s place. The live in a cozy little apartment in the neighborhood of Komagome. Before meeting Alvaro, I spend the morning in Akihabara buying a couple of things and visiting ICC (by the Opera Palace) which is indeed very impressive! Not many pictures I took that journey.
It is interesting to observe the differences in the metro/train “world” such as the following illustrates.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Monday 19th was the first day we had completely free. By noon I met Hiroko Myokam who kindly was willing to show me the geekest face of Akihabara which is a special area of Tokyo very popular among the geeks, but also among many new media artists (ain’t they geeks?). In this area there are many big department stores essentially dedicated to the electric and electronic devices ready to be mass consumed. These are some casual pictures I took during my walk with Myokam sen.
However, apart from the big department stores above mentioned, it is not difficult to find a semi-hidden network of low celling narrow tunnels distributed among different levels of the big buildings that conform a block. Sometimes these tunnels go from underground floors up to a third or even fourth floor. They are very labyrinthian indeed! Well, as you can see, these tunnels are full of little shops where they sell quite low level electronic components.
Actually, wandering the streets of Akihabara can be very fascinating as it is easy to spot some otaku walking by or maids promoting cosplay restaurants.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
A private inauguration occurred on January 16th, the public opening happened on January 17th. Almost 1000 people visited the hibiya-patio the first day as well as the second day.
The private inauguration was not more than a formal mutual acknowledgement of the exhibition that was about to be opened, but of course with delicious sushi!
The opening day started as sunny as it could be. The manifestations of fascination and excitement on behave of the audience occurred performance after performance, not only the first day but the second day too. What a wonderful experience!
The performances driven by Theo, Loek and me continued the second day. Many people I met during those two days, amazing!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Although during the days we spend setting up the beast we had almost no free time, we still had to eat and walk between the hotel and the tent. These are casual pictures I took in the different quotidian situations we experienced.
A van in Japan can be really small and compact but still a van.
He spoke very little English and she was very natural as if I were not there taking the picture…
A mobile coffe shop very cozy indeed…
This Chinese restaurant was very popular, you could eat really good!
Many contrasts and differences, some very dramatic, some very subtle but all make this country very exotic and fascinating…
And thanks to Loek! this illustrates the interaction I had with him…
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
During the following four days, we spend mainly all our time in setting up the beasts. There were many more fossils than in Madrid plus the two alive ones we had in Madrid: Animaris Ordis and Animaris Modularius. One of the coziest parts of the exhibition was an intimate reproduction of Theo’s Delft old studio.
The firsts days while working in the tent it was really cold and it was amazing how the staff were using warming patches. These warming patches were a kind of sticker that once opened and sticked on one of your inner layers of cloth it would make you warm.
Once the beasts were almost finished we were introduced to the staff that would be informing the visitors about Theo’s work for the coming months. They were quite curious about many details as well as fascinated, it was an anticipation of the reactions we were about to observe.
The staff were supplied with a production limited fleece which had Theo’s name stamped on it, this was a signal of how a big event this was going to be.
Explaining and understanding the working details of Animaris Sabulosa is not at all so easy…
Theo spend some time explaining the working details and evolution ideas behind each and every one of the fossil beasts.
Finally some time for autographs…
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
At our arrival to the Dai-ichi Hotel we had about an hour to rest and organize our stuff. Later we enjoyed a splendid chinese dinner with the organizers.
It is hard to describe the hotel, the room itself and what I could see from my window. I’ll just put some pictures…
Very impressive indeed…
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Once we arrived at Narita airport, some of the Dentsu staff picked us up and brought us to what was to be our Hotel. The raid to Tokyo takes about an hour, these are some of the pictures I took from the running van. The light was awesome but I reacted too late…
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Normally, a post about a flight wouldn’t be justified. In this case, flying from Schiphol to Narita over northen Siberia while destroying a day in my life at an extraordinary rate with JAL Executive class, I think it worths the post.
Amazing straight lines which I still don’t know what they are… roads?
Northen and southern view just about the dawn…
The views were stunning, you could see small aggregates of lights on a large ice plate, the full moon was on our six, the sun on our twelve… I didn’t slept too much as I didn’t want to miss any impression… the Executive department was almost empty and the stewardesses took amazing care of us.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Theo picked me up at Delft CS with his infamous white Volvo. First we went to his old studio which I have to say it’s very beautiful!
Then we went to the hill (Wind Lab), there I met Subalekha and first connection: she was a collaborator at Interactivos08 NYC.
I stayed two days at Theo’s home and it was, as the dutch say, erg gezellig.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
By Pablo Ripollés and nonsenseengineering.org, 2009-2015. Excerpts, images and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pablo Ripollés and nonsenseengineering.org as stated below with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
nonsense engineering 