Posts tagged netherlands
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Are carrots protestant?
Are carrots protestant?
from "Why are carrots orange? It is political," by Koert van Mensvoort, Next Nature, 16 August 2009 :: image via Wikipedia, unattributed :: first posted here 4 January 2010
It's fun to be reminded how many of our 'natural' foods are in fact the result of a long collaboration between cultivator and cultivated, guided by the possibilities and limits of agriculture and by the choices and preferances of particular people in particular settings. According to the World Carrot Museum—let me say that again: the World Carrot Museum—the long orange carrot of supermarket and snowman-nose and Bugs Bunney fame was popularized by Dutch breeders in the 17th century, perhaps as a tribute to William of Orange, the the Dutch independance leader who became a Calvinist and helped get the 80 years war started. His grandson William III ruled the Netherlands and, later on, the British Isles, where he was responsible for the introduction of orange as the favored color of Irish protestants.
Nate: 
photo from wikipedia :: via Next Nature
As part of a recent twelve-year restoration of the 16th century cathedral in 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, the Dutch sculptor Ton Mooy was commissioned to create 25 new statues of angels to be added to the outside, including one of a jeans-wearing angel utilizing a thoroughly modern bit of technology. "'The phone has just one button,' says the artist. 'It dials directly to God.'" Make of it what you will.
Nate:
photo Early warning system
Early warning system
"Acoustic listening devices developed for the Dutch army as part of air defense
systems research between World Wars 1 and 2," but does it float, 16 December 2009 :: via swissmiss
There's a lovely Dr. Seuss-ish quality to these physical amplifiers. Sometimes this is how I feel — one ear to the sky, one ear to the ground, listening for what's out there.
Nate:
"Ontbijtje," gouache on paper, by Robert Amesbury, from the 2007 show "Pronk" at the Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, Bernard Toale Gallery
Last year I helped my friend Rob with the artist's statement to cover his then-latest gallery show, called "Pronk," an old Dutch word used to describe, among other things, a certain sort of exuberant, luxuruious still-life painting popular in the 17th century Netherlands (pronken being a verb that means "to strut"; ontbitje, "little breakfast," is generally food-related still life subcategory). It's been a great joy to have a personal front-row seat to Rob's continual vibrant exploration of the surprising intersection between old Dutch masters and contemporary pop and visual culture. Back in the day, Andy and I used one of Rob's early paintings for the very popular cover of re:generation quarterly's "Evangelism" issue, linked here via the portfolio of our then-art directors (and designers of this very website), Yee Design.
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