What's on in Harlingen

This Friese havenstad was once a Viking settlement due to its easy access to the sea. These days it is home to about 16,000 inhabitants. Its close proximity to the Waddenzee (with its special nature reserve), regular boat trips to the Waddeneilanden (Wadden islands), the historical and touristy harbours which one can sail into and easily moor a yacht or motor boat has meant it is a very popular destination with visitors.

More about the rich culture of Harlingen can be seen in the perfectly preserved Gemeentemuseum Hannemahuis, a state owned house turned museum that was previously owned by the family Hannema for over 200 years. The museum includes a look into interior design of the day, tells about the local tile and pottery industry, and includes paintings, silverware, and paraphernalia from maritime history. Other museums include the 18 century Eisinga Planetarium, with its idea of making astronomy accessible to the general public; the Rock ‘n Roll Museum with memorabilia from the 50’s and 60’s and The Harlinger Aardewerk (Harlinger Pottery) and Tegelfabriek (Tile Factory) where tiles are still handmade according to the traditions of the 17 century

For the outdoor enthusiasts there are numerous things to do. City tours lasting an hour or two, bike tours the routes of which can be obtained from the VVV (Tourist Office), and a gallery walk with a diversity of artistic direction and talent awaiting your discovery. South of Harlingen there is an 88-hectare nature reserve called Hegewiersterfjild), which is rich in bird and plant life that inhabits a one-time clay quarry from the 1940’s.

For the fishing enthusiasts there are daily trips on well-equipped ships from the sport fishers’ fleet who know the best places to visit. More information and trips can be arranged via the local tourist office.

Accommodation can also be arranged via the local tourist office. If you are looking for a more unusual place to spend the night then there is always an old lifeboat equipped with all modern conveniences at your service, or for a more illuminating experience, the recently pensioned Harlingen lighthouse. Want to get away from it all? That is possible, in an old harbour crane (now considered an industrial monument), the interior of which can be described as ‘snug’, with only enough room for two.

For all this and more their website can be found at here

© Alison Day

Alison Day Design

First published in the Connections magazine #10 Winter 2006 

Ultra by Silvia B

The mysterious and intriguing figure of Ultra an 8-meter high effigy can be found in front of the Cascade-complex on the Emmasingel in Groningen. She was brought to Groningen by boat all the way from Rotterdam and unveiled in October 2004. Ultra is the creation of Silvia B a Rotterdam based artist.

Commissioned by patrons from both the private and the public sector, the CBK (Centrum van Beeldende Kunst – The Center of Expressive Art), RGD-Noord, and Amstelland Vastgoed. The project was meant to contradict and contrast with the postmodern architecturally dominated area of the buildings in the Cascade-complex, and to be big enough to be visible at quite a distance. The whole project was realized with a total budget of €200.000.

Ultra was made in cast iron with white polyurethane painted skin and dressed in stainless and corten steel. A study of Celtic and tribal tattoos brought Silvia to the idea of using spiral forms in the skirt and these appear in seven different sizes all over the preformed chicken wire ‘crinoline skirt’, giving it a very realistic effect.

At first glance she seems to represent a very elegant woman in period costume with a palely powdered face, large bustle and crinoline skirt, but on closer examination the piercing just under the bottom lip, the praying mantis spike-like arms on which she supports herself, and her superfluous dangling little legs conjures up images of a futuristic world where the human body seems to have disturbingly mutated.

Silvia B’s inspiration for this image comes from the present day scientific developments, which contribute to the ‘make able’, person. As to her thought processes when creating and producing her work Silvia says: ‘I work on the borders of beauty. Fusing conflicting elements, the sculptures question our current concept of aesthetics’. Nevertheless this anti beauty does has an imposing charm.

© Alison Day

Alison Day Design

First published in the Connections magazine #10 Winter 2006 

City Urinal as Art Object

At every turn in Groningen there is always something unusual to be seen whether it be a building and its facade, a statue of unusual proportions, a bridge or an artistic creation incorporated into city life. But none can be more unusual than the one found close to the canals edge along the Kleine der A. This rather unusual ‘art object’, is in the form of an urinoir and is not only decorative but also functional.

This point of relief was designed by the internationally acclaimed architect, Rem Koolhaas and decorated by the master photographer and artist extraordinaire, Erwin Olaf, both native Dutchmen. Its milky coloured glass is alive with black and blue duo-tone figures large and small. These figures seem to be taking part in a bohemian extravaganza, a re-occurring theme throughout Erwin Olaf’s work and in keeping with the lifestyle of the man himself.

Its creation came about to celebrate the cultural manifestation in Groningen ‘A Star is Born’ in 1996. A festival organized by the local Council, where the city became a stage for the entire summer and was filled with theatre, music and other cultural curiosa.

So if you are ever taken short whilst walking along the Kleine der A, it is possible to relieve oneself in this public toilet, although I would advise against it. For the more brave hearted of you who don’t want to listen to my warning and are determined to view it from the inside…a clothes peg for your nose is a must!   

© Alison Day

Alison Day Design

First published in the Connections magazine #9 October 2005 

Shona van Dam - India, Meditation and Minerva

An interview with Shona van Dam took me to her degree show in the Academy Minerva in Groningen. A long, narrow, totally white interior filled with white scrolled pillars of card in various heights and breadths and each poised on a sketchbook. Both imposing and unusual this installation requires interactivity from the viewer to reveal its secrets.

According to Shona the installation is based on a 30-meter high dome-like building, which is the focal point of a community called Auroville in Tamil Nadu, India. Built in concentric circles, the design is based on the galaxy. The dome is known as the Matrimandir or ‘Soul of the city’ has an inner chamber with 12 white pillars, which serve as décor rather than being functional. In the centre of the white marbled inner chamber there is a large ‘crystal’, globe measuring 70 centimeters in diameter, this is the largest optically perfect glass globe in the world. Daylight that emanates from a hole in the ceiling passes through an installation and emerges as a beam of light that passes right through the crystal from top to bottom, ending up in a pond full of lilies. In this chamber the atmosphere is one of purity and calm, and here meditation and reflection are practiced. The ethics of the community are to live in harmony whatever their race or creed, outside of the predetermined restrictions of other countries or states. 

Auroville is Shona’s birthplace. White pillars feature in her work, reflecting calm and purity. By placing rolled up cardboard in pillar form on top of her sketchbooks, the viewer is made to look down into the ‘pillar’, to view her work and thereby physically interact with each work individually. Sometimes you have to stoop down low, at other times stand on tiptoes, or by moving the pillar. In this way the experience is more intense and is in total contrast to the experience provided in most museums, where the observer often remains disconnected from an exhibition, by not being allowed to touch or move anything.

What one sees at the bottom of each tube is an image combined with a spiral of text. This is her way of releasing as she says an ‘over load of the mind’, as a result of the stimuli of life and the world around her. ‘The setup is designed to give the viewer the opportunity to peer through a ‘mini-scope’, into my thoughts, ideas and emotions’, said Shona. Some images are drawn but by burning the paper she creates others. This is done systematically and in diverse ways. One sketchbook shows the use of a very red pigment in combination with the paper. This was created using soil, a kilo of which was sent especially by her mother from Tamil Nadu. Shona has a fascination with the unique characteristics of the materials she uses and their reaction upon contact with paper, as well as the textures, imprints and grains that are left behind.

The daughter of a Dutch mother and English father, Shona originally left India at the age of nineteen to come to Holland to ‘learn art and how to earn her own money’. The former she has accomplished the latter she says she is still learning. She plans to return to India in October to get back to her roots, after which she wants to travel, starting with New Zealand.

To learn more about Auroville their website can be found at here

© Alison Day

Alison Day Design

First published in the Connections magazine #9 July 2005 

The Comic Strip Museum, Groningen

The Comic Strip Museum in Groningen offers both young and old alike the opportunity to interactively learn the history of comics and how they came about. With popular characters from not only Dutch cartoonists, which include Suske & Wiske, Eric de Noorman and Agent 327, but also international favorites such as Donald Duck, Asterix the Gaul, and The Moomins, to mention but a few. This is the perfect place to get an idea of to the history of cartooning.

Cartoonists can regularly be seen there ‘live in action’. There is also ‘De Belofte’ (‘The Promise’), a permanent competition in search of up and coming talent. This is divided into two categories, the first being ages 10 – 15 and the second 16 years and older.

The museum can be found in the Westerhaven in Groningen: Westerhaven 71, 9718 AC, Groningen. Throughout the year it has a variety of exhibitions, live demonstrations by illustrators and workshops.

© Alison Day

Alison Day Design

First published in the Connections magazine #9 July 2005 

Ahoy There!

The Dutch have a long and varied relationship with the sea from reclaiming land from it and building dykes against it, to fighting wars, trade and living peacefully on it.

The Noordelijk Scheepvaartmuseum is the perfect place for the maritime enthusiast with the history of shipping and the shipbuilding industry. The collection dates from the Middle Ages up until the present day.

This year the museum celebrates its 75-th anniversary since its opening in 1930 and was the initiative of a group of gentlemen who found it important that the rich and varied past of shipping in the north should remain here with all its maritime curiosa, documents, models, and cultural inheritance and not disappear to the west of the land. Over the years the maritime museum was to be found on various premises, starting with the Goudkantoor (Gold Office), now a café-restaurant, up until its present premises in two 15 century buildings in the Brugstraat.

In the same building complex one can also find the Niemeyer Tabaksmuseum (Niemeyer tobacco museum) where one can learn all about the history of smoking and see one of the largest collections of smoking paraphernalia in the world.

At the time of writing, 11.00 am Tuesdays and Saturdays it is possible to take a guided tour round the museum for only the price of the admission, as long as you tell them several days in advance. They have diverse activities for children during term time and the holidays as well as being suitable for school trips and children’s parties.

The museum shop has a large selection of maritime souvenirs, model boats, and books, as well as a delicatessen selling candy, honey, fruit marmalades, ginger and marzipan all made according to traditional old recipes.

The museum can be found just off the Vismarkt (Fish market) behind the A-Kerk (A-church).

Brugstraat 24, 9711 HZ Groningen. 

For more information about group the

museum’s website can be found here

© Alison Day

Alison Day Design

First published in the Connections magazine #9 July 2005

The Joys of Moldavian Wine

"Wine can of their wits the wise beguile,

Make the sage frolic, serious smile

- Homer

Having recently met someone who was busy setting up a business to import Moldavia wine into Europe, I was intrigued to find out more about a land I knew very little about, let alone its wine production. Generally, when one is asked to name wine making countries, the usual set of names roll off the tongue, whereas Moldavia gets scarcely a mention. Maybe it is due to the fact that we assume that in that part of the world vodka is the preferred drink. Whilst vodka remains the traditional toasting beverage of the region, the last few years has seen wine consumption increasing in popularity.

The Republic of Moldavia, can be found between the Ukraine and Romania and lies on the same latitude as that of Burgundy in France. This country covers an area of 33.70 square kilometres, and due to its fertile soils, relatively mild winters and long hot summers it is an ideal place for the production of fine wines.

Although Moldavia has produced wine for many centuries it has had to deal with various obstacles over the years, such as a non-alcohol policy during Gorbachov’s office, the effects of two World Wars and general pollution, which has led to the destruction of some vineyards and decline of wine production as a whole in Moldavia. As yet the re-immergence of Moldavia as a potentially interesting wine area is slow but sure.

There are twelve regions in Moldavia, where different varieties of grapes are grown, but generally white wine is produced in the centre and red wine in the south and west. Wine is not only produced from grape vines indigenous to Moldavia but also foreign ones. Examples of other white wine sorts are Italian Riesling, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon, red wines include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir. Grape sorts native to Moldavia include: Aligote which comes from a white grape, is the most well-known and produces a light, mild fresh wine with a straw-gold colour and a green tint, Rkatsiteli also from white grapes is used for the production of fine cognac and a high quality champagne, as well as Saperavi from a red grape which is a late maturing grape and produces a pink juice unusual for red grapes. When comparing Moldavian wines to those of other countries around the world Moldavian wines can be said to be on a par with those of New Zealand.

Most of Moldavia’s wine is exported for Russian consumption with only 3.5% going to European countries. Once Moldavia has prepared a wine classification system, comparable with the ‘Appellation of Origin’, system their wines should become more interesting for the European market.               

An example of a particularly famous Moldavian winery is Cricova , whose its cellars are 100 meters underground in a limestone mine. The labyrinths of this cellar run for almost 60 kilometres in length. The natural limestone in the cellars helps in the wine making process by keeping both the temperature and humidity at a constant level. This microclimate is unique and cannot be compared to any other in the rest of the Republic or abroad.

Producing numerous brands of high quality red and white collection wines as well as fifteen different brands of sparkling wines; Cricova has received many prestigious awards. Wine can be sampled in grand tasting halls, each with a different themed interior and accompanied by the local cuisine. The more unusual varieties in their collection include a red champagne, as well as white methode champenoise bottled in stylish cut crystal bottles and in scripted in 24 carat gold.

So, next time you feel like trying a new sort of wine - there is always Moldavian wine!.

© Alison Day

Alison Day Design

First published in the Connections magazine #8 July 2005