A Tail of Little Monkeys

ARTIS Zoo has one of the most unique open area exhibits I've ever seen, in that it appears to be one thing, and turns out to be so much more than you are expecting. When you enter the ARTIS Zoo, the first thing you see are the Watusi Bulls, with their enormous horns and their placid nature, comfortably sharing space with Camels and Donkeys. The space is small, but they showed no signs of frustration or agitation, by pacing the enclosure. That's saying something about a zoo or wildlife park. Too often when visiting these places the animals are pacing, even in a large area they pace the walls. The tighter the pacing pattern the more agitated the animal. In the ARTIS Zoo, which has very little space to afford each animal group, there was little to no signs of this behavior. The animals were content enough to nap, to groom each other in family groups, to play and to eat without much worry.

Nowhere else is this more apparent, than with some of the smallest of the Zoo's inhabitants. Their house is covered in plant life on the outside, each providing extraordinary amounts of cover for the birds that live in each area. So much foliage is in each enclosure that visitors can't see if there are birds in there or not. It also hides entrances to inside spaces when the weather is bad. This may be frustrating for the visitor to the zoo, but for the bird this is very comforting. To see the inside of the bird house, there is a timed entrance. It keeps crowds from entering at once by waiting for five minute intervals, opens for a brief period of time and then closes for another five minutes. Inside, you are met  with a hot house, high humidity and warm. There are trees and shrubs, and areas of running water, but it isn't as dense as the outside areas. There are no birds in this area, but it does have many small inhabitants. Pygmy Marmosets.

They are among the smallest of monkeys, and fit in the palm of your hand. Having seen other exhibits for these tiny creatures, they are usually set up to shield the view of humans from them. In other words, humans can see the marmosets, but they can't see the humans. Generally this makes for some fairly awkward looking enclosures that block a lot of sunlight. A second reason for these heavy duty enclosures is because humanity has a habit of taking what they want, and unfortunately this has resulted in marmosets being taken from their homes to be kept as pets. There is also a third reason for the lengths many zoos go to to keep humans away from the marmosets. Marmosets see humans as predators, and seeing humans in many cases can cause them to have heart attacks.

So, when I walked into this area in the bird house and realized that I was standing eight inches from a pygmy marmoset was not only a shock, but also showed just how well ARTIS zoo caters to the animals in their care. I don't know of another zoo that has managed an exhibit in which you can get this close to marmosets and have them be so completely comfortable with that, that they continue their normal social behaviors. For me that really set the tone for the whole zoo.

There are of course minders to keep people from grabbing a marmoset, but for the most part, it was such a well balanced exhibit. A rare magical moment in time when the wild and the human exist together and no harm comes to either species. It is only calm and wonder, singular genuine curiosity in both parties. Humans marveling at how close these little monkeys were, and little monkeys eating lunch and watching all the different humans walk by. You just aren't going to get this type of experience very often, and this includes some of the best zoos in the world. This was an ingenious exhibit.

The relationship building for pygmy marmosets, humans and visitors from all over the world is evident. Buy providing this type of encounter, people become invested in the animals and thereby the zoo itself. It is difficult not to care about tiny monkeys who allow you so close while they stuff their mouths with small pieces of fruit. It creates connections. I met an older lady who said she'd been coming there twice a week for 15 years. As we walked through the rest of the bird house, which did indeed have birds in it, some of them knew her and came to say hello. She spent time showing me all the bird's favorite hiding spots that no one else knew about. She also introduced me to people she knew from coming there every week. She said she'd watched some of them grow up, and then bring their kids to the zoo. Some of them even worked there now. All of them really loved coming to ARTIS, and cared about it. I saw many tourists, but there were so many more Dutch there with their families than tourists, invested in this place through memories and amazing exhibit/enclosure spaces that allowed the animals to have what they needed to be content, but also to allow people to be there too.

Tropenmuseum

Later the same day I visited the Tropenmuseum. I missed the class site visit, so I'm sure I missed out on a tour, or a lecture. It's a beautiful museum to spend time in, if for nothing else simply to admire the stunning architecture. But I soon found myself lost among the exhibits, which varied widely. I appreciated the fact that this was one of the very few museums that confronted Dutch colonialism, or tried to as much as possible, which is difficult with established long standing exhibits. Some plates appeared to have been changed to indicate items stolen or appropriated without consent, while other plates hadn't been touched at all. There were full exhibits talking about Islamic faith, and the journey to Mecca, which I honestly did not know much about, so I spent quite a lot time there listening to the video stops and reading. Another exhibit fully delved into colonialism, with interviews and information boards having to do with slavery in Dutch Colonies. Because I don't know that much about Dutch Colonial history, I need to do some reading up on the subject before I would feel comfortable giving an opinion on how well it represented the topic. I suspect that it makes necessary inroads into the subject, but probably not far enough.

The Cool Japan exhibit was almost out of place given the topics of surrounding themes, but it was interesting to walk through. Especially because I've been watching Anime and reading Manga for a very long time, and I lived in Japan for a while, so I was familiar with popular characters that the exhibit represented... and could name just about every character without having to look at the information placards. I think my favorite spot was the area where you could sit down and watch Anime clips, or read through a manga on one of the couches the museum provided. I have no idea where they managed to find the Japanese drum game, but that was very popular while I was there. Perhaps a little too popular, as I watched a group of teens beat the drums with steadily increasing force and enthusiasm. I kept waiting for something to crack. But that room was very engaging for someone with an interest in Japanese entertainment culture.

Looking back on all the museums I visited while in the Netherlands, I think the Tropenmuseum was my favorite simply because it was not afraid to be eclectic or look difficult topics head on. While the rest of the museums in the Netherlands tended to be nationalistic in nature, the Tropenmuseum goes around a lot of that by presenting their collection in a different light, and showing completely different cultures that are out there. While it did still have collections that spoke of a colonial past, it also had very new topics to the Netherlands, introducing cultures that were joining the landscape as more and more peoples from all over the world move. This is not just a trend as the weather pattern changes, forcing large movements of people because of lack of resources. Currently the movements have been attributed to conflict for the most part, but some countries have begun to see a higher rate of movement due to encroaching sea levels, or lack of rainfall, or too much in an area that hasn't seen rain in literally hundreds of years (the Atacama Desert). The Dutch seem to be rather tolerant of those moving into the country, but having had some long conversations with the locals, that tolerance and understanding is beginning to wane as anti-immigrant sentiments are voiced among certain Dutch political parties.

The Tropenmuseum is doing some really good work, with well thought out exhibits, and taking steps that I didn't see in other museums. Actively engaging the public in their exhibits was well done, but they also spoke with the public and included them in some of the exhibits. That's an excellent step forward outside "the lane". I have a suspicion that museums may have farther to go in changing with the times than libraries do, because there seems to be a sense of being upper crust so to speak? I'm not sure if that makes sense, but there is this inflated sense to a lot of the older museum people I've spoken with, as if they have a certain privilege that other public offices don't. Libraries by their very nature must adapt with their community, but museums seem to think they are above that to some extent. Just an impression I had while speaking with some of the staff, especially at the Van Gogh Museum. They weren't rude exactly, but they sure were very full of themselves.

Catching up.... Way too slow!!

I’m finally feeling somewhat good, so I decided to take Friday (July 5th), which was the day that everyone was supposed to be going to Efteling Amusement park and catch up on Museums I missed while I was sick. To the average person Efteling sounds like a fun, but because of an old back injury I can’t ride the rides even if they are low key. This means I end up sitting on a bench, reading a book on my phone, watching everyone’s bags while they go on all the rides. Or I wander aimlessly around the park, which is fun for a while, but it gets old quickly. So, I ended up going to three museums today instead. Or rather, two and a half. The Moco Museum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijks Museum... except the last we quite abbreviated.

I had planned to go to the Van Gogh Museum first, but I didn’t manage to get ticket times until noon, which was fine. It wasn’t crowded while I was there, no huge lines, although it was rather substantial. Given the crowds they must get, the strategy of having people buy tickets online, or from ticket machines at a different part of the museum upon arrive helps to alleviate the giant lines seen at some other tourist attractions I’ve been to in other countries. In this case it allowed the museum to clump attendees into clusters that would be manageable to move in and out. 

Considering I had some time to kill before being able to enter the Van Gogh Museum, and it was fairly earlier, I went down to the Moco Museum and went in to see what it was like. Almost no one was in there when I was there, so I got to really look at the exhibits, most of which are Banksy works, with other other artists mixed in. I think I said this to a couple of people who asked me what I thought of the Banksy museum and I was sort of weirded out by the fact that they were hanging in a museum rather than on the street which is generally their natural environment. I missed the outdoor art museum talk, so unfortunately I can’t compare and contrast, but ... knowing what I do about Banksy’s reasons for putting up his art, it was truly bizarre seeing them inside a building, when i think they would have had a much larger impact for the viewer outside, where art is often much more feral, territorial and aggressive. It states something when you see art in the street. It is meant to talk, even if all it says is, “I was here! View my scribble!! Hear my colorful roar!” Banksy’s work is generally statements on politics, injustice and anti-capitalist in nature. It’s blunt, simple and to the point.... but by putting it in a museum, it loses much of its momentum with it’s removal from place and context, the streets. It was very much like viewing a caged big cat that had had it’s fangs and claws removed for “public safety” and left to pace it’s container, a benign object to view, robbed of effectiveness. 

Leaving the Moco, feeling off kilter and confused about how I felt about the Moco’s contents, I made my way over to the food stands and got a cup of tea. I sat in the shade and watched tourists go here and there without really making up their minds. Several people sat down at the table I occupied. An older lady and her daughter from Italy. Neither spoke English well, but they had decided to take a holiday together after the recent passing the husband and father. The older lady said it was a long illness and neither could stand to stay in the house for a while, so they decided on a long trip. I made my condolences, and the older lady smiled and patted my hand and said that it was okay, that it was a blessing he passed because it had gone on too long, and that she and her daughter were finding little bits of joy easier and easier to find every day. Such sweet people. They sat with me the longest asking about Seattle, and what it was like. I asked about their town and it sounded beautiful. A German couple sat down next, but didn’t say much, which was okay. They did say goodbye when they left, and lastly, I sat with a couple from Spain, who were very young and very head over heels for each other. They were cute, and kept trying to share their enormous lunch. Very emotive and funny, always looking for ways to make each other smile, and me. I left them with a wave laughing at something the guy said. He was a big tease, and I think he mostly said things to me to make his girl jealous, but they both knew exactly what they were doing. There was a lot of trust there. I wished them the best. 

I arrived at the Van Gogh Museum a little bit early, but the lady said they weren’t as busy as they had expected, and let me in. It’s a striking building, in which you have go in one building to get into the other. Interesting use of misdirection so the entrance doesn’t get mobbed. Most of those waiting to get in had their tickets and wandered away to one of the other museums while waiting for their time slot. Entering the building it’s very striking, with the open area, and the escalator heading downward. The light makes you want to breath more deeply stretch. I refrained, because I didn’t want to fall down the moving stairs with the teeth. 

After checking my backpack and getting several different answers for, “Can I take pictures with my camera?” I took my camera along. I should have brought my phone. The official answer is, “No. Only in designated areas.” Hmmm.... I glanced away from the guy I was talking to only to witness about 75 people snapping pictures of everything with their phones. 

“So, you can take pictures with your phone?”

“.... no”

I turned back to the wall of people all snapping pictures. Hmm...... I turned back and squinted at the fellow, as several people used their cameras with the flash on. He looked uncomfortable and said, “It is to prevent reproductions.” 

.... okay. I have a 10 year old camera. It’s lens hasn’t been at the top of its game for years, and it has trouble focusing at the best of times. There is no way that my camera would ever come close to the pixel density that can be achieved nowadays with an iPhone. Easily reproduction capable! I decided to just cut my losses and not take any pictures rather than argue with him. 

The lens cap stayed firmly in place for my entire visit, and despite this every monitor on every floor felt the need to tell me not to take pictures, despite the fact that massive picture taking was going on within 4 feet of them. The thing is, I’m not even really annoyed with this, it just boggled my mind that they hadn’t reassessed this particular issue. Or if they had, they certainly didn’t tell the people who monitored the floors. 

Aside from that I very much enjoyed seeing some beautiful artwork by several different masters, some of which were a surprise. I probably should have looked to see whose works the Van Gogh Museum had hanging in their galleries, but it didn’t occur to me. Of all the exhibits I viewed that day my favorite was the one having to do with Van Gogh’s dreams. This really brought him to life for me, his thoughts, fears and curious twists that take place while one is asleep often shapes a person. That they had tried to bring some of it into reality through sight and sound was something I found very innovative because it requires that you stop, listen, and look. It also opens the door to reflect on Van Gogh’s life through his eyes and how to saw the world, his fear and worries. A lot of understanding is gained there. For those who are sight impaired I think this would have worked well, because it was voice and there were things that could be touched. My friend who is legally blind would have very much enjoyed this exhibit because she would have been able to hear it, and touch. It didn’t rely heavily on things hanging on walls that she can’t interact with. Because she is not completely blind, she may also have been able to see some of the colored lights as well. It was a well thought out exhibit that I very much enjoyed

Yes, I’ve been told about the exhibit they did for the blind, but unfortunately this was another day I missed. I was so looking forward to that site visit with the class because I wanted to tell my friend about it, but I was so sick that day there was just no way I was going to make it. The dream rooms made up for that. 

Leaving the museum got a little tricky because for reasons unknown, there was a literal hoard outside the exit doors. I turned around and went right back down to the cafe and had lunch, and did a little shopping. I’m afraid my suitcase it half full of Miffy the Rabbit dolls now. I am a sucker for those, and it doesn’t help that they tailor make them for all the different places in Amsterdam. When I get home, the challenge will be where to put them all.

The Rijks museum was going to be my last stop of the day, but that got cut off very quickly as 4 different hoards (tourist groups I think) descended on the museum at the same time and I decided to get out while I still could. Inside was almost as bad. I think my timing was just bad. I have a couple of days after the program ends, and I might be able to sneak back down to take a look before my flight back to the states. We shall see though. I am done with pushing myself with this illness, because I’m so very tired of being sick. 

Next on the agenda: ARTIS Zoo and the Tropenmuseum! (Quite possibly pre-empted by the Innovation story which I know I was supposed to do, but will show up soon!)

More Bears....

Bear with me on this post, because I have had trouble uploading to my blog, but I’ve been writing posts! So everything is stuck together, but with clear delineation between different subject topics and lectures we attended, complete with dates. If I manage to get this uploaded it’s going to be extremely long. 

July 2, 2019 - Utrecht University - Utrecht

It’s the second week already. I can’t believe I spent the majority of the first week sick, but sometimes this stuff happens. My fingers are crossed for my voice coming back today or tomorrow so I can actually say something instead of hissing words at everyone. It’s not the way I was hoping to interact, with from what I’ve observed, an amazing set of people, but they’ve been willing to step up and have conversations with the voiceless classmate. 

I have to say that yesterday (July 1st), when I couldn’t talk for my group, Stephanie and Emily really stepped up. We sat and talked about what we were going to do the night before and although the idea was simple, seeing it in action was so very effective and satisfying. The discussion and sharing rather than having my group talk really highlighted what a good director should be, and do, and Stephanie really didn’t underline that until the end. The Director lets everyone else shine, and works behind the scenes to showcase and support the group as a whole. And that is what she did. SO impressed with them both!! 

Today we spent the day out at Utrecht University listening so a very interesting talk by Dr. Nienke Boesveldt and her research into stopping the loop of homelessness in the Netherlands. From questions asked for clarification and what Dr Boesveldt was saying, the research to stop this cyclical process of people losing their homes repeatedly for various reasons only deals with a very small part of that demographic. Agencies that deal with housing and mental health assistance appear to be siloed and don’t interact with one another and this results in people falling through safety nets that were put in place to keep this from happening. Others factors have to do with drug addiction and mental health issues, and aging out of protective child services. In short there are many many reasons for someone to be homeless in the Netherlands, as with anywhere else in the world. 

I suspect for the research that Dr. Boesveldt did, she needed hard numbers and facts that could be verified because her target audience were government officials. To get a ball rolling in political arenas you often have to start with what they can see and understand, so many facets of homelessness reality in the Netherlands are not touched on. My classmates seemed concerned about this, because back home those aspects are talked about, seen, noted all the time, so we’re all sensitized to it. The lack of it in this report I suspect got some people ruffled. The thing is when dealing with a problem this big, you have to start somewhere and often that’s with the demographic that are recognized by the government entity being addressed.

Hopefully the program Dr Boesveldt was talking about will be adopted by the Dutch government, because it seems like one that would work given a chance. I remember hearing about something similar on a much small scale for refugees coming to New Zealand from refugee camps. A disused house is seized by the government, and the community is encouraged to fix it up, furnish it, and then welcome the family coming in. Other support systems are also put in place to support the new family or people. This has been highly successful there. I realize the circumstances are different, but it CAN be done successfully if the people involved are willing to take the necessary steps. (I’d put a link in here, but the discussion was one taking place on a Zoom guest lecture in a class and I’m fairly sure it was not recorded and archived. Ricardo Gomez’s Information and Migration 598 - Fall 2018).

Later the talk by the fellow at the Salvation Army shelter really illustrated the issues on the ground having to do with homelessness. Many of the situations discussed were ones I encountered when working for public libraries. I did not have a fall back system of a relationship with the social services office or the local sheriffs department. However I did have good relationships with some of the homeless who would come to sit in my library for a few hours, and because they knew I was often working alone in a rural area, they policed themselves. If they saw someone coming that they knew was trouble, they’d go run interference for the library. I was told it was for their benefit as much as mine. By keeping the library a safe space, they kept a safe space for themselves. Honestly I did not mind. My only rule was that they come in sober and stay that way while they were there, and for my time as manager there I did not have trouble at all. This was not the case for other managers so I count myself lucky. Eventually we had panic buttons installed at all the libraries, because a lot of us ran rural branches alone.

Ultimately I think there is a third aspect to the issues facing government and other agencies trying to do something about the homeless, and that’s a cultural viewpoint. In the U.S. as soon as you are unable to keep a home, you’re viewed as a failure. In the Netherlands I was a bit unclear on how the homeless are viewed, but it seemed that it was agreed that yes, the homeless should be helped... but no one seems to actually pick up the ball. Or if they do, it is done without the coordination across agencies to be successful. Lastly... the people who are homeless have to want the help. If there is no effort there, then all the help in the world isn’t going to work. I met a lot of homeless who were homeless because they liked the freedom it afforded them. “No strings to tie me down,” I was told years ago, and that they liked it that way. 

July 3, 2019 - Het Nieuwe Instituut - Rotterdam

My voice was still gone this morning when I set out with the class to Rotterdam to see the institute there and I think I was supposed to be learning or hearing about how the institute was exploring new ways of exploring the future and what that might look like. I got through the video about Beyoncé and Jay Z’s music, “Apeshit”, and the responses they got from those asked to comment on it. I would talk about this further, because I was just getting into the topic when I had a pretty bad coughing fit, and to keep from disturbing the class I left so I could cough up a lung (not literally). Downside, I missed the rest of the talk while I was in the bathroom coughing. Upside, after the coughing fit, my voice was starting to come back. I know this isn’t supposed to be about coughing and my voice, but because it impacted so much of my time here... 

So, I missed the talk, but I did very much like the institute and the interactive exhibits they had set up for the public. I can’t say I understood all of them, but there were some I did enjoy playing with. Emily and I played with a computer screen and camera that layered pictures on top of older ones as you went, and the resulting pictures were really fun. We had hands and fingers and a teddy bear layered all over the computer screen. It was an interesting concept of time too. How many people, items, things had been there before us? All the things that weren’t captured in that space? It makes you think about use of space and what the concept of space actually is. Everything moves through this small spot eventually. What did all of that look like? It was interesting. 

There was also the timeline explaining how the intranet, became the internet. I could hear Joe Janes in my head talking about this from the 520 MLIS class, as I looked over this exhibit. It was quite well done, explaining concepts of distribution differences that usually baffle the general public. I was also very interested in what appeared to be a 3D printer, and figures it had created. I remember reading about how advanced this tech was getting, being able to use DNA sequencing to write different organs or even skin to match the person who needed the organ. That’s all still in testing phase, but the possibilities are enormous. 

Moving on to the Sonneveld House and taking the guided tour was really interesting. Not just because of the restoration, but because of all seeing what the innovations of the era where, some of which I thought had pretty good potential, but apparently never really caught on. Or perhaps they were just something that the rich could afford and the company discontinued production after they failed to sell as well as expected. The entire house was built with comfort in mind with every convenience that worked for the house and those living there. It could be said it was ahead of it’s time with multiple phones for everyone, phones that could be used to call directly throughout the house and those that called outside lines. Cell phones today could be considered the equivalent with the ability to call anyone anywhere. I found the heated towel racks a nice addition to the bathrooms, but I suspect, much like the multiple shower head situation in Mr and Mrs Sonneveld’s private bath, that such things are not common place today. Or if they are, they are only found in opulent hotels or in lavish editions to the restrooms of the rich and famous. 

The renovation and restoration of the house was also very well done, with original furnishings used when they could be found, or rebuilt using pictures of the items. The attention to detail was lovely. I think it shows in each generation what the height of modern living could be, and it is interesting to see what they thought would be fabulously popular, but never really took off. Again it was a bit of time frozen in place, and had me asking myself about the layered nature of what space is. It changes and stays exactly the same all at once. In the case of the Sonneveld house, it stood still while the rest of the world evolved around it with very little interference from the outside except for age. Restoration of age related deterioration was really the only thing they really did to the house, leaving it’s thoughtful architecture to showcase itself. It is a lovely house although I’m not sure I’d want to live in it. Although I did like it, there was a very creepy feel to walking through it. Akin to walking back in time, and seeing everything as it was, but missing the people who lived in it. 

There was also a level of intrusion to the experience that made me uncomfortable after a while and eventually I just started speeding up through the rooms, not because I found the recorded tour boring, but because at the back of my mind there was a slowly increasing feeling of being unwelcome. Caught in the ambiguity of the space of someone else that has long since passed from the house, long since moved on, just still present, reflected in every piece of furniture and corner of the property. Very weird feeling. 

July 4, 2019 - Netherlands Institute of Sound and Vision (NISV) - Hilversum

Voice is back! Hallelujah! Now to more important matters.

This was perhaps one of the most enjoyable visits for me because I very much loved learning about how to collect and archive media that can be problematic. Plus I learned about a bunch of websites that I didn’t know existed which I will be exploring when I get home. Very much liked the world radio website where you can find out what is being listened to in other countries. Also, the idea of marrying electronic music with heritage photos was a wonderful idea as it benefits all parties involved. It is a great way to spread awareness of them both in venues one would not normally look at. 

When we got to the part about how websites are catalogued I had to wonder if eventually their methods might trip them up. Especially the screen shot method as that takes a lot of time, and more space than the other methods mentioned at the beginning. Although they don’t at this time have their own catalogue program, it might be a good idea to look into adding one. It would be intensive writing a program for cataloging websites, but at the same time eventually it would save them time as a tool. Perhaps offer it as an open code source so that many individuals could work on it with one person that NISV hires to oversee the work to make sure there are no backdoors or hiccups in the code writing. Just a thought, as they seemed to be straddling three different gathering options. 

My very favorite thing in the NISV was the radio room, in which they stored hundreds of old radioes of every type. I would have loved to go through that room with my Dad, as he would have been extremely interested in seeing all of them, and I like discussing old tech with him. He was technician for Hewlett-Packard testing mainframes for years and knows his older tech backwards and forwards. I wanted to take a lot of pictures, but it was a closed room to the public and we were on a tight schedule. So many radios and so much history contained therein. I wrote a short paper years ago about the history of radio introduction to Australia which was at some points hysterically funny, because of how the Australian government decided to preside over broadcast systems, and the agreements they made with Marconi (who in turn was nearly as fanatical about his radios and broadcasts as the Aussie government, but for very capitalist reasons) in order to set up broadcast systems. I was unclear if they ever haul that radio collection out of mothballs, but that’s something I would love to design an exhibit for. No one really thinks about how important radio is anymore, or why in the U.S. it is illegal for foreign companies to own U.S. radio stations or have a controlling share. Anyway, just an aspect that really got me excited and had to wonder if they do anything with them besides let them sit in storage moldering away (not that they were actually moldering...). I get excited over the weirdest stuff. 

The fellow who took us on the second part of the tour to talk about audio and visual recovery for archiving purposes was also interesting, but he was trying to talk about the topic at speed, which actually slowed him down quite a lot. The process he talked about it terribly intensive and I would imagine actually takes longer than what he told us, which was anywhere from five to seven hours for audio recordings to months for video recordings. Having just two people going through all those taped materials, even with the help of machines, is going to result in lost materials no matter how fast they are able to go. Especially the nitrate film that which is extremely explosive, so they keep it in an old bunker site near the ocean. Our first guide Mel, said it’s set to explode towards the ocean if it ever goes up, away from populated areas. That’s a lovely thought. Who knew NISV dealt with such exciting materials? (Pun absolutely intended) There is also a third vault which is kept at freezing temps to preserve color film as it degrades very fast due to acids used in the film. All of this has me rethinking having anything to do with archival work dealing with recorded material. Yes, not all of it is explosive, but it is so very delicate. There would also be the problem of getting the right machines to even access some of it in the first place. Getting to a digital archival stage is also extremely expensive, involving a machine that cost nearly $750,000, and only about 100 of them exist at the moment. They are built on demand. This is not an easy process, and I suspect that they have more failures than successes, but I’m just going off impressions I got from the fellow who was showing us the process of digitizing analog material.

This whole institute was fascinating from the top down, and I mean that quite literally, as part of the place is literally below the ground level by several stories. I can see why our first speaker said he would probably be fielding questions about how to get a job in the Netherlands with NISV. It would be a seriously fascinating place to work for. At the same time, they seem a bit understaffed for some of their projects, but at the same time they have found ways to step up through partnerships, clever usage of free programs, and building what they could not find to fill those holes. It was impressive how much they have been able to do with the materials and then taking steps to make it available to the public at large for their use and knowledge building. Having the funding from the government can go a long way. Seeing something like this in the U.S would be amazing, but given the current administration, I don’t see something like that happening soon. 

I’m going to stop this blog here, because this has reached ridiculous levels of wordage, and I don’t want to choke blogspot to death. I’ll add another post for Friday after we get to Delft, for the museums I missed seeing the first week. It’s been a super fast two weeks!!