Alfons always helps me out on projects, I think for over 15 years already. From prototyping book covers, simulating silk-screen prints, making miniature models of cars as if they would be life size to building expositions, transforming spaces and whatever is needed. Knowing the Dolsma family dramatically enriched my capabilities as a designer. And they are truly nice people as well.

Amazing. Yesterday, I had a meeting with him to transform education, a topic that we both are deeply passionate about. At that table were three other people. Ellen of course, but also two others. When they introduced themselves, their story linked back to the time they worked with Roel at the places where Roel worked. And now, they work for themselves and work with Roel again because they liked what they did when working with him. Powerful. I think the secret is that you always work with him and never for him.

Made me think about a small video that is on the Disney Tinkerbell dvd as an extra, that Susa also enjoys very much. It’s a story about the role of elfs, how they are responsible for the things unseen but noticeable, how they turn winter into spring. Magical. Obviously, Roel is not an elf. He is a tall 52 year old guy, that climbs the Matterhorn or Mont Blanc frequently, but in a way he makes me always feel like spring when it’s winter. Yes, he can.

After a long day, everybody was kind of wasted. And we decided collectively not to do the performance at the Spuiplein. It missed out on a lot. We decided to do a final session with Itay and then call it a day and together enjoy the TodaysArt festival instead. The majority of people joined in for the closure session. To see if we could get something to work. We ended up standing in a big circle, with Itay in the center, challenging the group to do things. Almost nobody felt like doing much. All ideas ended up in more collective ideas. And not in music but in ‘noise’ as Itay calls it. Screaming and shouting, but nothing structural, nothing really creative. So at a certain point we were doing a wave by voice instead of hands. At that point, Ritzo came in. With a phone in his hand. That he had ANP on the phone, the general Dutch press service. He told me that I had to explain Mastermundo. So I did. The lady on the otherside ended the call with: ‘Can you ask Ritzo to call me back, to share if the record attempt succeeded?’ ‘Okay.’ Then we hung up. ‘What record attempt, Ritzo?’ So he explained.

Vocal Domino. A record attempt Vocal Domino. Which was similar to the voice wave we were already doing. So, we tried to find a way to do that as a group, define the rules, the how, etc. Then Ritzo received a sms message: we made it to the AD. It was national news now:

Den Haag doet recordpoging ‘vocal domino’
DEN HAAG (ANP) – Op het Spuiplein in Den Haag vindt zaterdagavond een recordpoging ‘vocal domino’ plaats. De Israëlische dirigent Itay Talgam hoopt zoveel mogelijk mensen op de been te krijgen die achter elkaar een toon uitstoten. De recordpoging maakt deel uit van een chaosconcert, waar ook een improvisatieorkest deel van uitmaakt.

Hij rekent op tussen de duizend en vijfduizend deelnemers aan de recordpoging.

It was exactly what the group needed. Apparently need to have an incentive to participate. A lot of laughs and a bundle of energy. It became a group instantly. After agreeing to go for it at 10.30pm we rounded up, packed our stuff and finished the day at the auditorium of the KABK.

When I brought Itay to his hotel, I bumped into Olof van Winden, the director of TodaysArt and explained him what the situation was. We arranged a guerilla beamer set-up, contacted the social web godfather Roeland P. Landegent who was in control of everything social web at TodaysArt and we spread the word. In the restaurant the rules were made up. What is Vocal Domino? How does it work? Who is presenting it? What should be visible on the screens? Mark Ridder joined to make the screens and then left to make all the arrangements. So cool. The rest is history:

And such a great ending for the day. When we started the day, we had no clue where we would end up with. It was truly building an airplane while flying. And we had a great flight. For a large part, thanks to Ritzo.

It was one of this magical moments. We met for lunch at 11. And it simply was a great energetic moment, likemindedness at first sight. It felt like continuing a conversation even though we hadn’t met before. Dagan is simply great. Creative, passionate and visionary straight from the heart. Since then we meet often, have great conversations on how to change the world, one world at the time.

Since then, Fons is on my list of hero’s. And it’s nice to meet your hero’s, so we since then had several lunches, endless phone calls at night and he always participated in any project I initiated. But more importantly, he simply gained strength as a creative like a tornado over a warm ocean of creativity. And it’s quite unimaginable the load of work he creates and the body of work he has created.

Those phone calls are always a pleasure. Yesterday, he called. Fons now lives and works in Berlin, but he was in the Netherlands for an opening. If we can meet for lunch or drinks. Unfortunately I was swamped with things to do. But that phone call reminded me again how absurd those calls always become. Beautiful. Made me also check out his site again.

Still a hero. See for yourself.

We kept in contact ever since. For my internship, I decided not to go to an agency, because I already did a lot of work besides school. But asked Jan if I could do my internship with him, to work on my conceptual capacity. What followed was a period where I made a lot of conceptual work like Residue from a nearby past and also helped on the projects Jan was working on, like the Millennium Emergency Hospital. It was great and it helped me a lot.

I will always remember him as that man, didn’t matter where you bumped into him, that had a pile of papers under his arms, being up to something new. Another great plan. And I hope that when I will be 50+ I will do the same.