Christian Pagh
For years public events have been organized around "feel good" experiences, but even "feel good" experiences require public convenience for the most urgent of matters. UiWE is a multidisciplinary design agency based in Copenhagen, Denmark that brings together architects, designers and cultural researchers to create ambitious and original site-specific solutions. Christian Pagh, founder of UiWE, joins us to talk about the agency's Culture Design-approach to creating sustainable solutions from a holistic understanding of how people act, interact and communicate within urban environments. How todesign public urinals for both sexes for instance?
On Friday June 26 Christian will also give an exclusive masterclass: Pissing in the Park. Together we will investigate how we can turn the Dijkspark into a public urinal and use that as a positive identity for the area.
Thought Collider
Through the combined narratives of traditional Chinese medicine and modern technology, Susana Camará Leret and Mike Thompson of Thought Collider visualises personal metabolic development and health with the help of their own urine.
The project, Aqua Vita, utilises archival potential of urine metabolites to map the body's ecosystem, proposing a new understanding of health as a dynamic system while also visualising the narratives the system creates. The duo will tell us about what they learned from their urine and talk about the process of the project.
Michelle Hammerton
What is the nutritional capacity of urine-based fertilizers? And what is the uptake of micro-pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals, in the plants that you fertilize with these fertilizers?
Michelle Hammerton from Metabolic is here to help us answer these questions. She is currently growing tomatoes in the greenhouse of Mediamatic and she will be joining the Pis’talk to tell us more about her research.
Theo Brandwijk
What started as a joke many years ago is now a collection of over 150 photographs. Self-proclaimed "wildplaskunstenaar"(outdoor pee-artist) Theo Brandwijk utilises urine as both an artistic material and a design subject. Throughout the past 16 years the designer has been leaving his mark in very temporary, urban street-art fashion by peeing eagles on walls. His interest in urine, however, is not exclusive to the eagles. Theo is also working on designing a modern, separating toilet.
Arie Altena
How and when do you pee as a rider participating in a race as intense as Tour de France? Do you just pee in your pants? Or do you get off your bike? This year, the two first stages of the race will depart from Utrecht on July 4th and 5th. It is the sixth time the race begins in the Netherlands. In light of this, co-organizer of Sonic Acts and resident Tour de France-expert, Arie Altena, joins us this evening to give us some insight into peeing at cycling events.
Portable Peeing
The girls of our very own Pis’team here at Mediamatic have been testing female urination devices. They will join us to talk about their experiences with the portable urinals. Is it absolutely necessary to have one of your own? Or should you ditch the idea all together? Find out at the Pis’talk.
Info
Pis’talk 2
Thursday, June 25th
Talks begin at 20.00
Doors open at 19.30
Biotoop Mediamatic, Dijksgracht 6, Amsterdam
Tickets: €8,50 (€3,50 for members)
Students pay only €5! Fill in the discount code 'student' at the check-out. NB: we will ask you to show your student id at the ticket service.
You can also read about it on Facebook. You find the event page here.