Culturele Woensdag - Opmerkelijk

13 October

Utrecht - Oude Stad

This lesson, we were divided into groups and given a word.  Our task then, was to describe the word using aspects of Utrecht.  

My group was given the word "Opmerkelijk" and our location was Utrecht's Oude Stad.

We took some time to brainstorm - what the word means, how we might find/create this, and how to document it.  

So when we thought of 'opmerkelijk', we thought of words such as remarkable, unique, stand out, unusual, astonishing, sensational, out of the ordinary.  

Our next stop was to translate this into something visual.  Our first inclination was rather obvious considering our location - make something outrageously strange and 'postmodern' and place it in the old city. Definitely 'opmerkelijk', but not new or innovative, we were advised to try something a bit more subtle, make more use of the historical, old city.  

So our approach:

Introduce everyday modern items into the city in an unusual way, thus drawing more attention to the banal everyday items as well as the pictured aspect of the city.   

We walked around the city and tried to discover parts/elements of the city that wouldn't normally catch our eye and highlight them.  For example, hanging our bags on the railing of one of the bridges. In the end, it was the more subtle changes that were the most powerful.  For example, carefully placing our mobile phones in the small carved niches of an old church door.  They almost looked like they were a part of the design, and it definitely made people look twice!