User:Lor.ensō/Lorenzo's Projects that May/Mayn't

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XPUB 2 GRADUATION RESEARCH SEMINAR

RENDERDAM_[YEAR].FORMAT

What?

A visual essay based on an inner/outer mono or dialogue I'm currently having considering the rendered imagery of Rotterdam used in both (simulator) games and future architectural concepts of Rotterdam.

Why?

I'm in confusion by the idea of vision / images of the city through virtual representation. Mostly, because I feel that is an image that lacks multiple layers of complex contexts:

Accessibility(concerning disability)

livability (concerning the housing crisis)

affordability(pushing away the inhabitants).

leisureability (queer / underground scenes / festivals / gigs / event)


I don't want it to be a EVERYTHING IS BAD kind of publication, though, more of a concern based... publication?

Workflow (two or three sentences)

Write down thoughts

Search for / collect imagery (make pictures, take screenshots, online posts, journalism) and make compositions..


Timetable

October:

Read up on previously saved sources. Start sketching and writing thoughts down, collecting both sides.

November:

Think about the outcome. start the design and think of it either being a moving image, online or offline zine, a mocksite, etc.

Make a first draft for the first public moment. Maybe trigger a discussion. An anti-campaign. Parody? Satire?

December:

Continue and have something to show / discuss in Gent, to reflect in the project proposal and thesis outline. Have something of a 1,5-2 draft for the break to pick up after the winter break.


Relation to previous practice (two sentences, draw on Text on Practice)

In my Bachelors, I made two works pre and during covid in cinema4d

Pre-covid // Concrete Desert, it was merely a mood based on a song and an exercises to make a certain idea into the landscape.

while-covid // During my internship at SETUP Media Lab, I made a work based on this abstract sterile idea of a new normal. The definition remained variable based on the person talking about it. Yet still based on the bland life we lived back then I made this landscape to reflect upon this so called new normal-fear.

Municipality invests in anti-drug campaign by making new street signs that are puns based on drugs and streetnames. https://www.nu.nl/binnenland/6330231/cokesingel-lijnhaven-en-pillendijk-rotterdam-start-actie-tegen-drugsoverlast.html

People stole the streetsigns. Just imagine all the funding going away that was invested in this very bad campaign. Not only was it bad because of the amount of subsidie that could have gone to i.e. a festival like Metropolis, which is 35 years old but doesn't get funded anymore. But also the common idea of the end user is responsible for the criminal circuit drugs go through, instead of legalizing and have it controlled. It is banished in general.

This is a part of the Renderdam where the city wants to show how tough and edgy it was, but also eradicates that what makes it 'raw'. Cleansing the city of subcultures, nightlife, cultural events.

https://www.rijnmond.nl/nieuws/1900715/drugs-straatborden-nu-al-massaal-gestolen-west-snuifkade-hangt-al-in-studentenhuis

PREVIOUS PMoMMS RELATING TO THIS

ROTTERDAM 2040 / POINXS &[[User:Lor.ensō/XPUB1/SI24/#poinxs (points of inaccess) [working on it]|PROCESS]] / BENCHMARKING / CITY AS A MACHINE / POLDERPUNK

DISABILITY SIMULATOR

What? (two sentences)

A game that mocks the visual representation of virtual environments in Games and City Planning/Branding. The Idea of simulation games cover either daily strife of a certain job or expertise, or a surreal / parody / fantasy driven game.

Why? (two sentences) [old version: How? but very similar to workflow]

In both the promise of new city planning as the concept of a simulator. In games: the person / character is (based on the conception of an) able bodied - I city planning, the mockups always consist of stock footage or 3d rendered.

Workflow (two or three sentences)

The idea is to first think about the gameplay(ux / ui) to use what kind of virtual environments this could take place in. Then pitch to people that work in the same fields of thoughts and others, for the sake of fair use and that doesn't unintentionally becomes a mocking of people with disabilities. And in the end make some sort of beta testing version and present that...?

Timetable

September to December could be an idea, since I am participating in <a href="https://constantvzw.org/site/Open-call-Worksession-a-Cane-Sticky-notes-Another-body.html"> Open call Worksession: a Cane, Sticky notes, Another body d/a> and I could test it then with the audience there. But to be honest this project could be more of a critical meme towards abovementioned projects.


Relation to previous practice (two sentences, draw on Text on Practice)

I made something in Unity years ago based on this

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHdNogtlXQz/?img_index=1 https://www.instagram.com/p/CDKKCYDJ46m/

Choices made (two sentences)

None, yet...

OBSESSIVE CATALOGUE OF MADNESS: SPIRITUAL MEDIA PSYCHOSIS

This page is Lorenzo and Alessia's

Here is the pad we are using: https://pad.xpub.nl/p/obsessive_catalogue_of_madness

Intro (general introduction, social context + why we are writing about it)

x let's write it together on the pad x


witchcraft, shamanism, influencers, cults, spiritual colonialism

Romanticisation and Cosplaying

Modern Messiah(s) - [in progress by Lorenzo]

Wim Hof

Method

His breathing method and training in ice cold temperatures are something that people really find interesting. He joined forces with the Radboud University to release in what EenVandaag calls a "scientific breakthrough" since he manages to control his autonomous nerve system and his immune responses. This method has been praised and worshiped for the last decade by (famous) people (Oprah Winfrey, Jim Carrey,  Gwyneth Paltrow), (alternative) health platforms(Gaia, GOOP) and media(TEDx, Vice, etc) which resulted in becoming the institute of Wim Hof.

Website

On the website  https://www.wimhofmethod.com/ It is possible to sign up for events in your area, but if you want to experiment alone there are ways to do so but also anywhere or even let yourself be guided by him (for only €1499,00) in a weekend with Wim.

Allegations

There have been allegations of the Wim Hof Method being related to the death of people. 
Wiki Article of Wim Hof Deaths sources
- https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/wim-hof-california-lawsuit/
- https://eenvandaag.avrotros.nl/item/iceman-onder-vuur/ 
- https://www.parool.nl/nieuws/iceman-oefening-eist-opnieuw-leven~bd0a4600/
- https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/wim-hof-breathing-method-coroner-man-drown-2436121
- https://www.yahoo.com/news/woman-tragically-dies-cold-water-111600703.html
- https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/07/iceman-wim-hof-cleared-of-causing-death-of-american-teenager/utm_source=ground.news&utm_medium=referral
- https://eenvandaag.avrotros.nl/wimhof/ 

Commentary

The discussion about this topic is often countered as

"They're not doing it right"

"they just want to get money out of it"  

"How would someone think this method could kill people, it needs to be done with caution"

"They should carefully have listened and this is just a Darwin Award winner because how can you be so stupid"

Dilemma

And these responses are part of the dilemma. In my personal experience I have first seen the aforementioned EenVandaag article and how Wim Hof as a (semi-self-proclaimed)'super being' has worked together with medical science and tried to motivate people to use their bodies in the same way and to grow the idea of YOU ARE STRONGER THAN YOU THINK YOU ARE.

People are of course in charge of their own life choices and in participating in these kind of self-help like events.

Appearance(s)

Wim Hof is praised as being this sweet radical hippie person that has found some miraculous superhuman way to control his body through his mind. He gets praised and paid a lot. And that is where it gets interesting. The appearances he makes are at first in talk shows as a medical phenomenon and extreme athlete. In a way it make sense for him to share his 'wisdom' and 'experience' and earn money from that.  

He has multiple specials and features on Gaia.com: "Gaia is a global conscious community that offers over 8,000 titles to members online through the Gaia app and internet-connected devices — featuring original series, instructional videos, and documentaries on yoga, meditation, spiritual growth, personal transformation, alternative history, and the unexplained."

He has connections to Flavo Pasquini's alternative 'news' network called BLCBX, where he is guest on the show and live meetups

Selling books on the website of that's the spirit. A 'spiritual' platform that brings 'spirituality' in one space with conspiracy, alt-right and other thinkers.

Giel Beelen's Kukuru podcast. Former Radio DJ interviews people he finds interesting.

Pseudo

But if the recent majority is on alternative health channels and podcasts, is that still fair? There is a certain need for alternatives to our status quo, the need is based on the lack of justice, systemic change but is then *helped* by influencers that speak in a 'soft' way with 'soft' languages in 'soft' designed studios or on 'soft' websites. These aesthetics appeal to vulnerable people (maybe this is a harsh way of phrasing it).

Most recent allegation

As mentioned in the beginning of this text, there was a recent article in de Volkskrant about Wim Hof 

About a week ago(28-09-24) de Volkskrant released an article about Wim Hof.  Wim Hof is known as someone with a peculiar body and 'method'. He is considered as some sort of guru to his following.

This article was in response to the upcoming movie glorifying the iceman. The newspaper asked for response and Hof replied to most of the questions. But to reply in a later manner was not the case. He replied to POWNED {a 'rebellious / right wing'} in a YouTube video and Shownieuws, an entertainment/showbizz programme.


Former allegation(s) and conflicts

In this article, the idea of Wim Hof being demolished once again is something that makes me feel a bit bittersweet. Because of the alternative (alt-right leaning) connections that Wim Hof has, I don't trust him. I have new discussions with friends every time something happens. I try to remain neutral and to just think this person takes all the jobs he can, regardless of political color.  

The previous cases of deaths are unethical what so ever. I feel that it the dual emotions are a bit too simplified. If a person gets health issues based on the idea of wanting to become better and resulting them to die in such a way, it seems a bit.. cruel to say that it's their own fault.  

What is then the best option, only being allowed to engage in such extreme temperatures with a specialist?

How can you become a specialist in something that isn't really proven but shown?

The judge in the most reason death case has ruled that Wim Hof isn't liable even though there

My bias in this dilemma is that Wim Hof is a charlatan that profits from gullibility and people in certain situations and mindsets and reveals his true colours when he speaks on alternative stages.  

To counterpoint my argument,

in 2023, Scott Carney made a 'documentary' against Wim Hof. Scott Carney is a journlist that in 2011 traveled to Poland from US to meet him and 'expose' him.  Carney was then completely convinced of Hof's technique and changed 180 degrees and he wrote a book in support of WHM.

The counter-dilemma is that Scott Carney now has focussed his practice on exposing Wim Hof rather than supporting him and making his business around anti-ganda (instead of propaganda?).

The 'documentary' lacks proper journalism and is only beneficial for my 'A-HA! WE GOT EM' irrational underbelly. I'd rather just see justice in general.


https://kloptdatwel.nl/2023/07/16/wim-hof-en-zijn-bedrijf-hebben-een-claim-van-67-miljoen-dollar-aan-de-broek/

https://youtu.be/14iDVubY3us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu5CkkaHB1A

https://skepsis.nl/wim-hof-methode/

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