LUDICROUS VEENHUIZEN
INTERACTIVE CYCLING ROUTE
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ABSTRACT
Veennhuizen as a metaphor for Babylon; with its rigid grid and high prison watch towers, this village in Drenthe demands rising above it... The goal is to create an opposite experience by implimenting nature's laws of on top of Veenhuizen through an interactive cycling route. The route is about reconnecting with that primal instinct, which is a must for progression, and embedding a new set of laws that transform the daily reality.
RESEARCH
Homo Ludens
Johan Huizinga's 'Homo-Ludens' philosophy is about the the importance of the play element in culture and society. It shows how 'play' is a primal instinct, that is also a fundamental need for progression. According to Huizinga, play is fun, it's about feeling free and disorientated with time and space in a new world where there is no material profit.
The Latin word 'luden' (play) has a letter root: L-U-D, which still exists in the English language as 'allude', 'ludicrous', and even ‘illusion’.
‘Ludicrous’ is an adjective deriving from the Latin word ‘luden’ (play) and the later ‘ludicrum’ (stage play).
This word has the ability to ‘play for both teams’ as for it’s located in the middle of the positive / negative word spectrum.
Visiting Veenhuizen
I experienced an old place that is ruled by 3 things: coservative heritage, prison culture and beautiful nature. Taking upon myself the role of the Homo-Luden, I went in search of new sensations and was drawn to the embedded nature and witnessed a fight between regularity and irregularity in an area between law and chaos.
A New Set of Laws that Transform Daily Reality
Like nature, human history has also led into an area between law and chaos, where we play ‘the game of classes' with capitalism as the backdrop. Like in any game, there is a set of laws that maintain the order. Part of being a designer is to redesign that order, to change a way of life, to progress a mind-set and transform the daily reality.
The laws of nature were present before Veenhuizen existed. In 1818, general Johannes van den Bosch built a society (of humanitarianism) on top of this nature, with laws that seem ludicrous today. This society proved that living in physical constraint doesn't mean you will be free-minded and vice-versa. I believe that the vision of Nieuwenhuys's 'New Babylon' project (physically rising above the 'bourgeois' and allowing for a new set of laws to take effect) must be implemented in Veenhuizen if it is to take a step towards utopia.
Veenhuizen = Ludicrous
