User:Menno Harder/self directed

Methodology Often the creation of a work starts while traveling. Traveling not only in the sense of visiting places I have never been before, but also traveling to places or situations described by people I meet. Projects that I have worked on collaboratively are also my strongest. Who are the people I surround myself with and what keeps them busy? What are their interests and what do I share with them? I can create a dialogue between me and the other person with whatever it is that they are trying to contextualize or provide a visual output to the ideas that they were questioning.

It’s very important to live by the idea that as a visual artist, I am also an activist. As a designer you have a big social responsibility. You can take any kind of information (maybe a fact, an opinion, a status) and either decide to be true and honest towards it, or manipulate it so that it takes on a form that you think serves it right. I am aware that to be able to reach out you have to understand how to announce yourself in the communicative field. With time and growth also come new discoveries of presenting works, this means that a possible outcome or project can be many different things. Adaptation to different kinds of media can be a very strong point in any practice and this is something that I will try and embrace in coming projects. The many shapes a project can take seems to be limitless, and within this lies a lot of excitement and fun.

Key themes
While comparing different works I have done I notice that recurring elements in my work are social movements, city planning, the traveler, mapping thoughts, architectural structures, abandoned buildings, the wall as a canvas, virtual landscapes, rebuilding a space.

Examples of works
These works would be interesting to write more about as they reflect my interests. Some of the works I did quite some years ago are still very valuable to me and are still worthwhile to take a look at and to build new idea's with.

Fortress Europe: Proposal for a new European flag
Squatters Manual: Squatting in Utrecht
Kushtetuta: LGBT zine part of Kosovo 2.0
Counter Culture series: My thoughts and perception of a Counter Culture
Tuzla & Sarajevo: Documenting a visit to Bosnia
Am Kotti: Creating a virtual environment
Protesters Toolkit: Designing a neutral protesting tool