travelling concept #1 - made by rain

Made by Rain

Made by RainResearch1

Travelling concept #1

Aliki van der Kruijs

CONTEXT TEXT TEXTILE

Made by Rain3 Introduction

A rough guide

If rain could be defined as national heritage, the Netherlands has a rich history. Rain is an immaterial element, which can not be archived, only remembered.

This project by Aliki van der Kruijs – a Dutch designer – explores the intersection between sky and earth. With her experimental technique hydrography (a form of photography without light) she captures the intangibility of the rain by exposing ink-filmed textile materials to it. This process based technique results in a collection of hydrographic printed textiles, that juxtapose the sky with life on earth into a parallel landscape.

It also became an exploration of the issues of time and materiality. The textiles developed an understanding of matter as being in itself tem-poral and of time as living duration, both being essentially continuous and open-ended. The term travelling concept is borrowed from Mieke Bals book ‘Travelling Concepts in the Humanities’ that is intended as a guidebook for interdisciplinary cultural analysis in the Humanities. Analysing a variety of concepts such as meaning, metaphor, narrative and myth that travel between disciplines illustrates the possibilities of these concepts.

This first Travelling concept – Made by Rain – departed by mapping rain upon a surface but has transformed into a living creature, embed-ded in new questions and considerations. Is the spectator now able toperceive wetness?

01-04-1992 guur weer af en toe zon 8 graden

02-04-1992 goed koud weer 8-9 graden

03-04-1992 regen in de morgen overdag goed weer 10 graden

04-04-1992 koud weer met buien 8 graden

05-04-1992 het blijft koud 9 graden

06-04-1992 weer koud weer 9 graden koude wind

07-04-1992 no wind koud toch 9-10 graden

08-04-1992 weer noorde wind en koud in de zon en uit de wind tot 15 gr

09-04-1992 no wind in de zon en uit de zon 17 gr

10-04-1992 wel zon maar no wind heel koud 13 graden

11-04-1992 veel zon en betere 16 graden

12-04-1992 af en toe zon en regen 13 gr

13-04-1992 van nacht ongeveer half 4 ‘n aardbeving met 5,5 op de schaal v richter, koud en regen 9 graden ned.2. 18.15

14-04-1992 weer koud winderig weer 8-9 graden

15-04-1992 meer regen en kouder 7 graden

16-04-1992 heel heel koud 4-5 graden met no wind

17-04-1992 koud en nat weer 6 graden

18-04-1992 weer regen en overdag wat warmer en wat meer 9 graden

19-04-1992 weer koud en schraal weer 8 gr. ‘t is laat pasen maar flinke kloove

20-04-1992 nog koud weer en no wind 8-9 graden

21-04-1992 ’t weer is iets beter na de middag zon boven de 15 graden

22-04-1992 vandaag weer geen zon en weer kouder ‘n graaf of 10 en no wind

23-04-1992 regen weer met wat zon 9-10 graden

24-04-1992 buieg weer en geen zon 10 graden

25-04-1992 droog voor de middag na de middag regen 10 graden

26-04-1992 regen weer en koud 10-11 graden

27-04-1992 als maar regen en koud 10 gr

28-04-1992 heel veel regen met temperaturen van 13-15 graden

29-04-1992 negen buien en temp. van 14-16 graden

30-04-1992 het was goed weer met de verjaardag van de prinses. met temperatuur van 14-16 graden

Observer: Willem van der Kruijs, *15-11-1921 †19-06-2003 Period: April, 1992Location: Gemert, The Netherlands1992

Travelling concept #1 Made by Rain4 5 Starting pointStarting point

Weather registration

After the death of my grand-father, my uncle gave me 12 calendars where my grandfather wrote down the weather condi-tions each day of the year.

These calendars have been the starting point for this Travelling Concept work. Like a diary, I started mapping the atmosphere. Visually.

vier april tweeduizend twaalf1 mm regen

zes april tweeduizend twaalf2 mm regen

acht april tweeduizend twaalf6 mm regen

negen april tweeduizend twaalf14 mm regen

tien april tweeduizend twaalf1 mm regen

elf april tweeduizend twaalf9 mm regen

twaalf april tweeduizend twaalf0,5 mm regen

dertien april tweeduizend twaalf1 mm regen

viertien april tweeduizend twaalf2 mm regen

zeventien april tweeduizend twaalf3 mm regen

negentien april tweeduizend twaalf1 mm regen

twintig april tweeduizend twaalf3,5 mm regen

eenentwintig april tweeduizend twaalf3 mm regen

tweeentwintig april tweeduizend twaalf9 mm regen

drieentwinitgapril tweeduizend twaalf2 mm regen

vierentwintig april tweeduizend twaalf8 mm regen

vijfentwintigapril tweeduizend twaalf3 mm regen

zesentwintig april tweeduizend twaalf2 mm regen

zevementwintig april tweeduizend twaalf11 mm regen

achtentwintig april tweeduizend twaalf1 mm regen

Observer: Aliki van der Kruijs, *15-06-1984 Period: April 2012Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Screenshots Buienradar April 22, 201208:40 am , 08:55 am, 09:15 am & 09:20 am

2012Travelling concept #1 Made by RainResearch6 7Starting point

Travelling concept #1 Made by RainResearch Research8 9

Newspaper article: NRC weekend, saturday april 28 & sunday april 29

Travelling concept #1 Made by Rain10 11 ResearchResearch

‘O Holland schoon’old etches of Dutch landscapes combined with illustrative text by M.A. Prick van Wely

Linear clouds

Made by Rain13 Research

Travelling concept #1 14 Made by Rain15

Shelter

Space is changing because ofrain. People start to share space where they can shelter. On the contrary, a rain suit will create distance. In a movie on You tube I heard a blind man saying:

“The wonderful thing about rainis that it outlines the contour ofthe immediate landscape aroundyou. You hear the space. When webecame more urban, we tend toreally forget that basic pleasureand touching whatever the envi-ronment is.”

≥Individual shelter

Common shelter≥

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ResearchResearch


Rainmaking

Rainmaking is also known as Artificial precipitation and is the act of attempting to artificially induce or increase precipitation, usually to stave off drought. According to the clouds’ different physical proper-ties, this can be done using airplanes or rockets to sow to the clouds catalysts such as dry ice, silver iodide and salt powder, to make clouds rain or increase precipitation, to remove or mitigate farmland drought, to increase reservoir irrigation water or water supply capac-ity, or to increase water levels for power generation.

(source: wikipedia)

Why Is IT aLWays raININg IN my fIrsT mEmOrIEs?

Travelling concept #1 18Research

In the making

To make each hydrography, the textiles are prepared with a thin layer of ink. This film is sensitive to water and is used to make rainpatterns. There are two techniques of hydrography; a digital and an analogue. After observ-ing the sky, the darkness of the clouds is judged to expect if rain will fall down. There are different ways to expose the fabrics: gradient, horizontal, vertical.

The fabric is put in the right position, preferably on rooftops to be closer to the sky. Stones or other heavy material will avoid the wind get a hold on the fabrics.

Made by Rain21Travelling concept 20Process Process

Screening the rain

Travelling concept #1 Made by Rain22 23 ProcessProcess

Stills out of hydrography-process movie: ‘One minute rain’

0’02

0’15

0’30

0’45

1’05

0’10

0’22

0’40

1’02

0’05

0’20

0’35

0’50

1’10

Given gradient guideline I

Made by Rain25Travelling Concept 24 ProcessProcess

≥

Detail shots of the contrast becoming visible while rain is falling upon the surface.Patterns appear because rain connects the textile with a hidden film underneath.

≥

Details of final hydrography

Given gradient guideline II

Travelling concept #1 Made by Rain26 27 ProcessProcess

≥

Ingredients: cotton + inkpaper + rain

Date of exposure: june 24, 2012, 7:50 am

Travelling concept #1 28 Made by RainWork29Process

Digital analogism≥

Printing the filmed textile in the Printlab of Audax Textiel Museum Tilburg.

Exposure to rain: minute by minute∆

≥

Burned water

Travelling concept #1 Made by Rain30 31 Work Made by RainWork

≥ one minutes

Ingredients: photopaper + inkpaper + rain

≥

Vertical exposure

≤Horizontal exposure

Travelling concept #1 Made by Rain32 33 IndexIndex

Global tools

Global Tools is a selection out of a couple series of photographs which can be seen as a very simple and elementary design approach. The con-structions are studies in an architectural language which are meta-phors for situations, settings, atmospheres, rituals, colour and material forecasts or pattern inspiration; they are tools in a desire for change.

#14 – me part I#10 – luggage #16 – how to wear a square

#15 – rolled out reality#13 – carpet#9 – curtain #12 – life as a stage#11 – me part II

#5 – paradise #7 – cosmos#4 – airport#3 – wooden chair#2 – waterfall#1 – sky and earth #6 – everybody is an island

#8 – light

Made by RainWork35Travelling concept Work 34

Front and back side of the same piece of textile.

Horizontal exposures

Travelling concept #1 Made by Rain36 37 WorkWork

April 20, 2012

April 5, 2012

April 20, 2012 April 20, 2012

April 8, 2012 April 8, 2012 April 11, 2012

April 22, 2012 &April 23, 2012

April 22, 2012 &April 23, 2012

April 22, 2012 &April 23, 2012

April 22, 2012 &April 23, 2012

April 22, 2012 &April 23, 2012

April 22, 2012 &April 23, 2012

April 9, 2012 April 11, 2012

Travelling concept #1 Made by RainResearch 38 39 Work

Imprint of objects

For Ettorre Sottsass, being modern did not imply the possibility or the necessity to shift ‘ the function’ of an object but it was more important to shift the relationship between the objects and the environment. To change the ‘way of living’ with objects. These days objects derive people pleasure. They get this out of filling their home with status-tro-phies derived from currencies and bank accounts. Sottsass believed that objects somehow need to be saved from this kind of consumer-ism. Sottsass thought that the only reason of designing things could be given a ‘therapeutic’ function. Design should help people to live by prompting through their presence a perception of existence, of our gestures within existence and of our gestures in view of its end. ‘Objects should be catalysts of cultural perception’.

The object in relation to it’s environment. How will an object be touched by rain? Hydrography on three-dimensional objects inter-mingles a horizontal and vertical exposure technique. It becomes a 2D imprint of a 3D event.

Part of my desk

Travelling concepts Work41Travelling concepts Work 40

Vertical exposure

Made by Rain43Travelling Concept 42 WorkProcess

The angle of the exposure is an important factor for the effect of the hydrography. Horizontal exposures leads to pattern. Vertical exposures leads to lines.

The textile on the right is exposed in a 45° angle.

NO WhErENOW hErE

Made by RainResearch45

De1sign2ing a colourcode

‘Men in a state of nature, uncivilised nations, children, have great fondness for colours in their utmost brightness, and especially for yellow-red; they are also pleased with the motley. By this expres-sion we understand the juxtaposition of vivid colours without a har-monious balance; but this balance is observed, through instinct or accident, an agreeable effect may be produced.’ 3

People react strongly on colour especially on rainbows. The rain-bow keeps a mystery. It’s a state of nature. What happens if the rainbow becomes object of catalyst for cultural perception?

1 ‘de’: enoting removal or reversal

2 ‘sign’: an object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else

3 Goethe, Theory of colour #835,326

Straight rainbow, 2011. Papercollage, 30 x 50 cm by Aliki van der Kruijs


≥Diagram of the prism, left a white strip on a black background and left a black stroke on white background.

≤Diagram of the heat

The movement of eveninglight≥ The movement of morninglight≥

Movement in color caused by the inhibitory effect of light where the impulse arises out of darkness.

The direction of light shining into darkness arranges colour. Less light, different colors, a moderate darkness weaves different colors, a vivid darkness other colors – constant change.

Green (chromium oxide) quiet, motionless – fast shaping form.

Turquoise – no visible movement, except on the outside – an obliquely incident recurrence of the green.

Cobalt – a light through the empty center – becoming darker around the circumference.

Indigo – reluctantly – stopped by the growing darkness – somehow darker on the periphery.

Violet – moving only slowly from top to bottom, no further movement.

Magenta – no visible movement – never form.

Carmine – the weight of darkness lies low in the middle – is spreading – (counter for the colour behind the light)

Vermilion - the center of the compaction is in the middle – moving quickly – an overwhelming concentration of colour.

Orange – the center of gravity is high – flowing upwards.

Yellow – bright – fully in line with the light.

Yellow-green – split into smaller veils, rhythmic dancing around and with the light that is green.

Source: ‘Licht kleur en duisternis’ by L. Collot D’Herbois

≤Goethe’s colourwheel


The colour of rain

0 2 5 10mm per uur

>100

image: KN

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I pICTurE ThE raIN

Travelling concept #1 Research 50

Fluid colours I

Pantone Inc. has a secret meeting twice a year to discuss the colour of the year. This colour purportedly connects with the zeitgeis: for example the press release declaring Honeysuckle the colour of 2011 said “In times of stress, we need something to lift our spir-its. Honeysuckle is a captivating, stimulating colour that gets the adrenaline going – perfect to ward off the blues”. The results are published in Pantone view and help costume-oriented companies to guide their designs and planning for future products. It becomes a service for the ‘need’ of people.

pantone + rain = Reinventing the colour range

My textiles are a result of a research on circumstances that not only influence colour, but also the perception of colour. As an alchemist, I transform the pantone colour chart into an amorphous new colour palette. An unfixed digital printed textile is exposed to water, which mixes the colours of the surface. The project starts with the basics of printing. I do not design a print, I de-sign a production process in order to create another dimension. This because the result becomes an imprint of time and space. My research into colours started out of the hydrographic rainfabrics. I found a framework wherein I investigate the possible expansion of a material.

Travelling concept #1 52Process Travelling ConceptWork53

Just rained uponJust printed

Fluid colours II

Travelling concept #1 Made by Rain54 55Work Process

Made by RainWork57Travelling Concept Work 56


Newspaper article: de Volkskrant, August 13, 2010

Travelling concept #1 Made by Rain60 61 WorkWork

EXI|s|T

Contextile Collection #1 – Made by Rain

Travelling concept #1 62Work

Travelling concept #1 Research 64

Colophon

This publication is a result of CONTEXTILE; a project of Aliki van der Kruijs that is part of a research into colour, context, text & textile.

Travelling Concept #1 Made by Rain

Graphic Design: Lena Steinborn & Aliki van der Kruijs

English editor: Geert Slits

Printing: Xerox

All images by Aliki van der Kruijsunless marked otherwise

Thanks to Lena Steinborn for editorial help, Frans Verbunt and the Audax Textiel Museum Tilburg for the textile printing & thanks to all who have been a support.

Financial support by Materiaalfonds

© Aliki van der Kruijs July 2012, Amsterdam

travelling concept #1 - made by rain

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