noochi

for a number of years, i have sponsored a little family in kap verde through bornefonden. i pay a monthly fixed amount and a number of money gifts. in return, i get an annual report on how the family is doing, and thank you letters for each extra gift. the thank you letters include a complete list of what was bought, typically a sack of rice, a gallon of oil, a pair of shorts and a pack of crackers and similar extremely modest purchases… no wiis and whatnot there. this concept has a very good educational/ moral aspect to it, as in addition to helping someone in need, it puts my own purchases in heavy contrast. however… this is mainly done for me, which makes me wonder if the resources couldn’t have been spent better. isn’t there a way to achieve transparency and a sense of a personal relation, without wasting resources on the feel-good-factor? of course there is. thanks to good people and the wonderful web:

kiva.org is the answer… its a person-to-person micro-lending website that allows you to support a lot of different types of entrepreneurs in the developing world. Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. i have just made my first donation (help me to upgrade this 26 year old father of 2 who works with mobile phones in tajikistan now!). all are worthy causes! and i hear from others - and can see on the website - that you may very well get your money back… it is a loan, and in principle not a donation. not much to think about is there..? only who/ how many and how much. don’t be cheap… it does not become you.

this is what the world needs.

para bailar dawanda
para bailar dawanda
una poca de gracia
y otra cosita

i will not comment much on this seemingly very healthy newborn german sister of etsy.com… dawanda… you bug me, girlfriend. with the little red-white heart and the cute little tagline “products with love”… ok, ok… this shop rocks. the concept in particular. but i am not too worried, because breaking news is coming up… it involves a .net knight in shining armour…

once again, i commend rumkammerat for the urban treasure hunt. the delay in following up is due to 2 things; i didn’t want to ruin the surprise for anyone planning to attend while it was still going on, and i have been offline for a week (felt fine). although slaughtered at post 9 (out of 14) by a visual riddle on a higher level than what could be faced by the joint intellect of co-hunter ab fab o and yours truly, we truly enjoyed the hunt… (at the time it was also getting cold and dark and the craving for a frozen yogurt from birkegade overwhelmed us). i have searched the net for similar arrangements, but didn’t find any. i’ve found tourist attraction treasure hunts (which is quite common and also a fun and educational fine idea) and photographic treasure hunts, but nothing like this. will make it a tradition to attend - and will start earlier next year, and let nothing stop me to go through successfully.

i have never been one to appreciate the concept of hunting, but here is a hunt that i will definately attend! rumkammerat - copenhagen art collective that i’ve previously praised - is hosting a street art treasure hunt (for the second time) here in copenhagen. it starts at 500 year old ruin jarmers tower, located in the centre of copenhagen, and moves on to 14 posts in the city centre and nørrebro. i have a strong feeling that the treasure may be rumkammerat itself, since their newsletter explains that you can follow the hunt night and day from this friday and until august 1, but that the treasure itself is only accessible between 12-17. rumkammerat boasts visual riddles, a swarm of bees, and dog poo as part of the fun. look for an orange square with a number in it - and write down each number as you move along.

the treasure hunt is a celebration of the great street art of copenhagen. on august 1, rumkammerat celebrates the opening of their pink army exhibition (sweet/ cool/ silly web site). and while you visit rumkammerat - why not buy a bed bug or a kissmama tee or a DIY do it yourself street art kit?

happy hunting and thank you to rumkammerat for the inspiring initiative

this must be the future: eco-friendly clubbing, where dancing power equals electricity. club4climate started in the netherlands, and have just had an eco-friendly party in london. i would love an eco-friendly dance floor here in copenhagen. visit dr. earth who operates under the motto: all you have to do is dance to save the world (and “partying not parasites”). further initiatives to make clubs self-sufficient, for example flushing toilets with rain-water and making energy out of sweat and urine (!?) are being worked on. for now; club owners (and the rest of us) could embrace just some simple eco-friendly starting points. read springwise’s coverage.

another eco-friendly business idea is to make money with reverse graffiti. again, clever dutchmen are first-movers (and even TM’ed the name GreenGraffiti) in proving that commercial messages can also be eco-friendly. although the case GreenGraffiti is showcasing at present is cleverly extending the notion of “outdoor advertising”, it is pretty lame… i have mixed emotions with this concept. in one way, i think all aspects of businesses should be as eco-friendly as possible, yet in another way, i think most of us would appreciate that public spaces remain free of commercial messages…

it is a safe assumption though that many a good business starts with arts!

thanks to inreallife.dk, i feel inspired on several levels! i attended a really good lecture/ workshop on community building today, where a very competent and charming expert on communities, portuguese pedro custodio (developer at sapo, the biggest portal/community in portugal) shared his insights. the key take-aways (to me), were

on top of a really good lecture, i am impressed with inreallife.dk - founded by the pretty cool chicks henriette weber and laura kiralfy, and with their approach to networking and seemingly to the world. i felt extremely old-school when asking henriette if they were planning on making money with their newest initiative… as if that was key…

i have previously written that money makes the world go ’round… i am not taking that back, but i have put my apartment up for sale… i am so “#¤%&*>¤ privileged that it would be an awful shame to use money as an excuse not to carry out more experiments (with that said, i also really feel like getting some experience with community building, which i have great opportunity for, in my current job). it’s all good! thank you henriette, laura and pedro! have a pleasant reboot.

this is hip, baby (or it was in 2003, but now i am realizing it too)! reverse graffiti. all you need is a dirty facade and some eco-friendly cleaning agents… and you can bring nature (or whatever) back into the streets. it is not even against the law (although the british authorities have had their doubts).

found on inhabitat through my best web buddy stumble. graffiti nowadays is also made out of moss… and i also stumbled upon another artsy dirt lover… (the infamous car tag: “wash me” is likely where the inspiration to reverse graffiti arose). if you like these, you are welcome to check what other good stuff i am happily stumbling upon.

2 major fluctuations since october; food is making headlines in the news and the searches for love increased quite a bit… the downward trend in art and business continues, whereas the mentioning of freedom and business continues to slightly increase in news articles.

i am listening (passive and reflective) at the moment. to inspiring voices in my network, and to critical voices too. some believe it, some don’t. and i am looking. at courage in others (henriette who quit her job and started a network and event organization with a friend, and dorthe who sells slippers with a friend, for example). and i am trying to think like a genius:

8. Prepare yourself for chance.
Whenever we attempt to do something and fail, we end up doing something else. That is the first principle of creative accident. Failure can be productive only if we do not focus on it as an unproductive result. Instead: analyze the process, its components, and how you can change them, to arrive at other results. Do not ask the question “Why have I failed?”, but rather “What have I done?”

all it takes is doing… says my own inner voice.

here is another web shop i wish i had made: new york based mastodont picture box. it is an artsy publishing and art shop that produces and sells literature, art books, comics and graphic novels. it also offers other stuff such as prints, posters and hooded sweaters, which reminds me of artrebels.com that i have previously written about, and which could be seen as a danish baby sister version of picturebox. picturebox seemingly reach (a number of) niche markets, and it has all the fancy amazon sales features like “if you liked this…” etc. which makes it work quite efficiently.

PictureBox specializes in bringing artists’ visions to print in startling and unexpected ways. […] The web site functions as both the PictureBox catalog and a hub for a carefully curated international selection of artists products.

the site is edited by Dan Nadel who is also behind the ganzfeld (among many other things), an annual book on arts (and a web site with the coolest header ever seen - don’t forget to caress it!). credits to my superb brother for links and insights.

i think picturebox is cool because it runs its own show while curating others’. i would love to do something like that.