RECYCLE-X: THE VOORSTRAAT MANUAL

A project by The Patching Zone and Noordkaap

Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2010

Coordination Kristina Andersen and Anne Nigten

Editing Kristina Andersen

Copy editing Lyndsey Housden

Authors Kristina Andersen, Jingni Wang, Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento, Javier Busturia, Jelle
Dekker, Zeljko Blace, Anne Nigten, Katja Diallo, Gilberto Esparza, Kitchen Budapest, Johannes
Brechter and Burning Athens

Recycle X
Photography Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento, Jingni Wang, Jelle Dekker, Javier Busturia, Zeljko
Blace, Anne Nigten, Kristina Andersen, Gilberto Esparza, Membrandt, Kitchen Budapest, Jean
Michel van Braak, Nuria Sofía Gonzalez Tugas, María del Carmen Saez Martínez

Ilustrations Jingni Wang, Javier Busturia, Jelle Dekker, Gilberto Esparza and Ricardo de Oliveira
Nascimento

Design Javier Busturia

ISBN 978-90-817051-1-0
The Voorstraat Manual
Recycle-X: The Voorstraat Manual is licensed under a Creative Commons
License Attribution-NonCommercial

Sponsors and funders

Trivire, SNS Reaal Fund, Prince Bernhard Culture fund, Stichting Doen Bank Giro Lotery, VSB
Fund, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Ministry of Economic Affairs

www.recycle-x.nl
www.patchingzone.net
www.noordkaap.org
index Introduction
Recycle-X: How it began. Anne Nigten
Recycle-X about the programme. Katja Diallo, Noordkaap
How to use this book. Kristina Andersen
Who we are. Jingni Wang
Light. Kristina Andersen and Javier Busturia
Making light. Jingni Wang
Make your own fruit power. Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento
Build your logo with Arduino, LEDs and metal structure. Jelle Dekker
Seeing and drawing each other. Jingni Wang
A Strategy for Drawing What is in Front of You. Jingni Wang
Looking At and Painting Over [painting over Herman Brood with
Membrandt]. Zeljko Blace
Growing. Kristina Andersen and Javier Busturia Cerezo
Talking to plants. Javier Busturia Cerezo
Sound circuit. Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento
Growing food. Javier Busturia Cerezo
Making paper-cups. Kristina Andersen
Composting. Kristina Andersen
Fighting bugs!. Jingni Wang and Javier Busturia Cerezo
To the Streets ... Some Useful tips to Enhance your Urban
Experience. Burning Athens [friend of the Recycle-X house]
Staying with Strangers. Zeljko Blace
Water. Kristina Andersen
Traveling without money [how to open the world]. Zeljko Blace
Bottling and storing water. Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento
Cooking. Kristina Andersen
Generate energy by cleaning water: coal filtering. Gilberto Esparza
How to do a community Dinner. Zeljko Blace
Building. Javier Busturia Cerezo and Kristina Andersen
Spanish Omelet. Javier Busturia Cerezo
Make a bench [sit in nature]. Jelle Dekker
Couscous. Zeljko Blace
Make a strawberry blackboard with recycled wood. Jelle Dekker
Coca Cola Chicken. Jingni Wang
How to create a flexible circuit. Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento
Quinoa. Zeljko Blace
How to make an interactive map. Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento
Tea Time. Jingni Wang
How to Build a Slow Wagon. Javier Busturia Cerezo
Sun Tea. Kristina Andersen
Make sculpture / a figure out of garbage. Johannes Brechter
Hot Tea. Jingni Wang
People. Kristina Andersen
How to Eat Up. Kitchen Budapest
Strategies of Trust. Zeljko Blace
Sharing Food. Jingni Wang
How to talk to strangers. Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento
Now the work is up to you. Kristina Andersen
Investigations. Jelle Dekker
Biographies
How to make a cultural probe. Jelle Dekker
How to Make a Slow Wagon Investigation. Jingni Wang
introduction
Recycle X, How it began
By Anne Nigten
in collaboration with Noordkaap in the Recycle-X project. At the time
In 2007 Noordkaap invited The Patching Zone to join their work in Dor-
of our initial conversations Noordkaap had just established their head-
drecht, to make an artistically critical and sustainable contribution to
quarters in the new Werkstatt incubator centre for small cultural and
the redevelopment of the Dordrecht shopping street Voorstraat Noord.
creative entrepreneurs in the Voorstraat. When we arrived in January
We shared an interest in new, sustainable and critical approaches for
2010, Noordkaap and all the other organisations had already moved
the improvement of Dordrecht’s local cultural life. Recycle-X sprang
out of the Werkstatt incubator centre and the building was waiting for
from our own motivation, Recycle-X is our response to the top-down
wealthier and well-incubated firms to move in. This brought along a
political agenda of the area. We aimed to contribute by enhancing and
very different collaborative setting for our team, as we now found our-
diversifying the cultural appeal of the city, through a short and inten-
selves to be the only Voorstraat based Recycle-X party instead of the
sive collaboration between international talents and local stakeholders,
outsiders. We started in the mist of an unusually cold winter, but by the
residents and entrepreneurs.
time the sun was there our team had established themselves as active
cultural producers in the Voorstraat community.
The whole trajectory from the early plans through to its realisation
pointed us to a very refined notion of sustainability, by this I’m not re-
In the meantime, the Werkstatt building remained empty and by the
ferring specifically to the project’s ecological aspects, rather to the sus-
time the Recycle-X project was coming to an end, Noordkaap had
tainability and the long-term effect of our work as part of a social and
moved back to their former building as ‘temporary users’. Through this
cultural eco-system in Dordrecht. After our early conversations and in-
strange co-incidence we ended up in a sustainability relay race where
itial planning with Noordkaap at the end of 2008 we organized the
the cultural players filled the continuity gaps in the local cultural policy.
Test_Lab goes Noordkaap event, hosted by V2_. Here artists, designers
The street, consisting of the local situation, the residents, the entrepre-
and policy-makers discussed the effects of interventions and design
neurs, is the constant factor for sustainability and we, the cultural acti-
tactics with locals and a diverse, interested audience from elsewhere.
vists, are the runners in the race. The Recycle-X team worked in the
This Test_Lab event set the tone for the Recycle-X project.
street as if it were a ‘living lab’. As one of the last outcomes we present
this booklet as a gift of appreciation for our collaboration. By handing
As the fundraising and our busy programmes caused some delay, it was
over our experience and findings to the street, we hope to contribute to
in January 2010 when The Patching Zone team arrived in the Voorstraat
a sustainable development of the local cultural environment in the future.
Noord, this delay implied a significant shift regarding our role
Recycle X, about the programme
By Katja Diallo, Noordkaap
The more effort is being put into achieving a sustai-
nable society, the more the goal and terminology it-
self seems to be degrading into a worthless fashion
item. Through the collaborative Recycle-X project,
Noordkaap aimed to shake the hyped-up recycling
theme by inviting artists and designers that test
strategies and give new meaning to the recycling of
space, economic systems, energy and waste. In
Recycle-X the participants explored issues ranging
from sustainability and open source, to reuse and
Do It Yourself, all within the tangible context of a
specific shopping and living area facing urban res-
tructuring; the Voorstraat Noord in Dordrecht.
Highpoints were amongst others, Gilberto Esparza
(Mexico City) with his project ‘Stadsparasiet’ (Urban
Parasite). After Gilberto shared his knowledge on
the concepts of biomass with the Recycle X team,
they in turn brought Gilberto in touch with relevant
green connections in the city. It resulted in the both
ingenious and delightful installation ‘Plantas Parlan-
tas’ (Talking Plants). Via performances and works-
hops the installation allowed the public to really
experience the green streams of energy, through
sound and image.
In ‘Scratch that Itch’ Melinda Sipos (Budapest) and
András Sly Szalai (London) guided the participants
via the basic principals of toy hacking to rethink and
consider the re-use of small electronics. The works-
hop took place within an exhibition by Kitchen Bu-
dapest (KIBU), the Hungarian lab for new media.
The space functioned as a temporary research and
play lab, where the public as well as the artists
could participate in typical KIBU experiments. After
seven months Recycle-X was concluded with ‘Scrap
Addicts’, a series of interventions in public space by
Munich artist Johannes Brechter. Famous for his ins-
tallations in urban environments and his favorite
medium plastic, he created cartoon figures from
waste such as milk bottles, advertising stickers and
plastic cups and placed them in more or less forgot-
ten corners in the public space.
Sound was an interesting addition to the multitude
of art forms, including the hysterical screaming
plants by Gilberto Esparza and Recycle-X, the trans-
formed Chinese pagoda garden and kitchen gadgets
with their typical plastic clanking, to the sweaty
psychedelic beats from transformed vacuum clea-
ners and electric children’s guitars through a live set
of Logosamphia and POYS1PATRON.
The overriding impression the project leaves behind
is the willingness of the artists to work towards fin-
ding concrete solutions for current recycling issues,
while taking their artistic practice as a starting point.
They contributed to new ways of thinking towards a
sustainable society.
How to use this book Who we are
By Kristina Andersen By Jingni Wang

“Do a small thing well.”

The Team:
pay attention to each other and the process of ma-
This is a collection of what we learned from each We are artists, cultural activists and designers from 5
king itself. This process is a place where we can meet
other and our neighbours whilst we lived and worked countries, coming together for 8 months for Recycle-X.
across our differences, and this is a way we can make a
in Voorstraat 183 in 2010. It is a series of recipes and During this project, we investigated the sustainability of
difference, in our own life and in the lives of each other.
how-to’s. How to do a simple thing and how to do it society and nature and motivated by this we made art
well. We feel that every big change must start small works together. Through this process we learned from
The book is divided into a number of themes that are
and every big project is truly made up by many little the people who live in Dordrecht, and we shared our
all related to our main concern of sustainable living
ones. If you want to change the way you work or the work with them.
and community thinking. Each theme has a small in-
way you live, you start by changing one little thing, and
troduction and a number of recipes related to the
from that little change a bigger change may follow.
theme. We wrote them down for us, so that we will
remember, and we wrote them down for you. We
We work together by making together, we cook and The Place:
hope you will enjoy making together with us...
garden, we build and draw. By making together we Recycle-X took place in Dordrecht, the oldest city in
The Netherlands, in the middle of the Voorstraat to be
precise. Making connections with the people there
isn’t hard, communication happens in daily life wi-
thout us even noticing.

The Space:
No. 183 Voorstraat is the house where we would
live and work. The ground floor was our work lab
with an exhibition space in the front and a kit-
chen with the canal right behind it. It was not
only a work place but also a place for meeting pe-
ople and hosting their exhibitions and activities.
The second and third floor was where we lived.
 Light
By Kristina Andersen and Javier Busturia

We arrive in the Voorstraat in the middle of a dark January. The

Christmas lights are still hanging in the street and people hurry
by, on their way to the shops or home. Daylight is over at 4pm.
Many of us are new to The Netherlands and we are here to find
social and artistic ways of living sustainably. Making light is a lo-
gical place for us to start. In the depth of winter, we wake up in
darkness and we come home in darkness. In January, Sinter-
klaus has left, the big Christmas market has closed and spring
seems like a distant possibility. Can we even imagine it?

The Voorstraat is full of little shops and in the late afternoon

until evening we walk through the streets from one little pool
of light to another. We hear stories about the Christmas lights,
and how some people find them pretty and others ugly - but
the main story we hear is that no one can imagine that they can
just make their own. Light is central to our happiness; it makes
us beautiful and helps us work.

Our first move was to make workshops, to work out simple

ways to create our own lights for the streets and the windows.
From this came the idea to make energy and we began to expe-
riment with fruits, plants and solar energy.
 Making light
By Jingni Wang

Sometimes we feel that the light in the street is too much,

sometimes too little, sometimes not in the right place, not in
the right color and often far from perfect. When walking in
the street we can imagine beautiful but perhaps unrealistic
alternative lights. Use the following recipe to release your
imagination and help you share your lighting ideas with other
people.

You will need a photocopied picture of the street, chalk and

sticky tape, some Light Emitting Diodes (LED’s), ordinary
3volt button batteries, one for each LED.

• Take a photo of the neighbourhood where you want to de-

sign the lights.
• Print or photocopy it onto paper.
• Using the chalk Draw your ideas on the picture of the
street. Use your imagination and ideas will fly onto the
paper. When we did this we saw beautiful things such as a
dragon in the sky. It may take you half an hour to play with
and design your ideas.
• Place the LEDs onto your drawing where you want the
lights to be, next push the LED legs through the paper.
• Tape the legs to the battery. The LEDs have two legs, one
longer and one shorter. The longer leg goes to the positive
side of battery and the shorter leg the negative.
• Show your ideas to other people and together you can
now have a new view of street.
Make your own fruit power
By Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento

Food is not only a good source of energy in the form of calories; it can also be source of electricity. Inspi-
red by the light experiments, we tried to extract electricity from several fruits and vegetables (we found
that the best one is the potato). Fruit and vegetables have chemical properties that make them work just
like electro-chemical cells. To use the potential chemical energy two types of metal are needed: zinc and
copper. Follow this recipe to see this for yourself:

You will need:

A potato, mandarin, apple, chili or other fruit you have at hand. A piece of Copper and piece of Zinc, a Di-
gital or Analog Multimeter to measure the Voltage or Current, and leads with alligator clips.
• Insert copper and zinc into the potato, close but not touching each other.
• Using the clip leads, connect the Zinc and Copper to the Multimeter. (Make sure to test your multimeter
by connecting its Positive and Negative wires to each other, this should show no current and no voltage).
• See how much energy you can get from one potato.
 is
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 ou
ing What is in Front of Y
or Draw
A Strategy f
By Jingni Wang

How to draw something outside of the real world.

Ask these questions to yourself.
What kind of person or thing do I want to be?
What kind of world do I want to live in?
When you answer, remember that you have the free-
dom to answer anything you dream of. Don't answer
your questions by writing or speaking, draw it. When
you draw, you don’t need to make sense or be logical.

You will find out to some degree, that you have more fre-
edom on paper. When you consider where you want to
live, you don't have to consider the house price, job hun-
ting, or where your family wants to be. You can choose to
live under a leaf in the roots of a big tree, you can live in
the clouds, or you can live without air and water.

The only key point is to choose the elements you like to

put into your paper life. And build your ideal world inside
your heart. If you ask what's the purpose, I would say just
for fun, and perhaps it helps you to find your true self, if
you are honest with yourself.
Seeing and drawing each other

By Jingni Wang

This is a self-portrait game. We played it at the very first event we held in the Voorstraat, a brunch at Pictura. When people are strangers to each
other and you want to help them open up to each other, this game is very helpful.

To play this game you need more than four participants. The game takes about one hour for 20-30 people. You will need paper and pens.

Each person in the group is given a piece of paper and draws two pictures, one is a self-portrait and the other is a drawing of someone in the group.
The identity of the person in the second drawing is not be revealed yet. When the group begins to draw, it's important to tell them they don’t have
to imitate reality, but instead try to think: What colour are you? What do you taste like? This way of thinking can be realistic, romantic or even
magic. This takes about 20-25 minutes.

When everyone in the group is finished, place the portraits on a board so the whole group can see all the drawings.

Then each person takes their own drawings and describes themselves and the other person in only three words.

The process is quite simple but maybe you will find something interesting in your own observations and other people’s observations of you.
 a i n t i n g
an d P
ki ng At Brood with
Loo o ve r H e rman
painting
with Memb
By Zeljko Blace

randt When arriving at the Voorstraat 183 earlier this year I found two offset
reproductions by the Dutch artist Herman Brood in my room. They were
of two cliché scenes, one of a newly wedded couple in a boat and the
other of an equally romanticised pose. I am not a big fan of reproduc-
tions of art that fake to be originals, especially when they use similar but
not the same material and are reproducing artworks that evoke senti-
ment rather then sensory / intellectual stimulation. I immediately wan-
ted to intervene.

After talking to Christa Membrandt, a Voorstraat based painter and

friend we came up with the idea for a joint painting project called ‘the
misfits’. Christa told me about Herman’s misfit character and drug abuse
that lead to suicide and post-mortem fame in a life that was romanticized
in a cliché at least as much as the subjects of his paintings. We presented
a micro exhibition of our paintings, re-cycling the two canvases by pain-
ting over them, the works were exhibited on small easels that were pro-
duced by 'the prisoners' from Roosendaal, where Christa was born.

MISFITS 2010
'Away from the trees' 2010 Membrandt
'No problem just brood en SP€L€N 2010 Željko Blacé

Looking At and Painting Over [painting over Herman Brood with Mem-
brandt]. Shopwindow of Recycle-X, Voorstraat 183 - Dordrecht
 Growing
By Kristina Andersen and Javier Busturia

Finally in March it became lighter in the Voorstraat. Slowly the pos-

sibility of spring became real and we started thinking of growing and
producing our own food. Where food comes from and how it is pro-
duced is central to any thinking about sustainability. The existence
of cities is only made possible by systems that provide city dwellers
with food. The nature of such systems means that food is always
grown out of sight of the people who eat it.

We became interested in looking at how we might be able to re-

claim at least some local production and connection with the food
we were cooking in the house. We walked the streets and saw the
weeds between the stones - the unlawful gardens - as well as the
city-sanctioned decorative plant boxes with their low maintenance
flowers. We began to grow food from seeds in paper cups and eggs-
hells, shoes or even toys, we collected seeds from our supermarket
food and the gardens we visited.

With the warmth of spring it all started growing and we built a gro-
wing-installation-garden in the window on Voorstraat 123. The care
taking and the watering was a constant companion to the other pro-
jects we were doing in the street that summer and throughout the
rest of the growing season.
 Talking to plants
By Javier Busturia

When Gilberto Esparza arrived at Recycle-X, we were already

experimenting with making energy from fruits and growing
our own vegetables. Gilberto was at looking for new ways of
working with green energy. This was a great coincidence. The
synergy of thoughts between Gilberto and us led to the pro-
duction of the installation Plantas Parlantes which was exhibi-
ted in Voorstraat 123 for a month. The Talking Plants
consisted worked on two levels: The installation controlled
the supply and flow of water, inspired by the ingenious water
management in The Netherlands. On the second level the
system allowed an energy exchange between the plants and
a person touching the plants to produce electronic sounds.

We wanted to create of a system capable of establishing rela-

tions between the human world and nature. We asked our-
selves how is our relationship with nature? Can we use
technology and alternative sources of energy to create a
more horizontal relation with nature? These questions were
materialized in the sonic sculpture in which plants and elec-
tronic circuits generate tangible moments of contact between
humans and plants. Plantas Parlantes makes sounds that poe-
tically embodied this relationship. Just touch the water and
the plant and she will sing for you!
Sound circuit
By Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento

This circuit was used in the installation Plantas Parlantes, it creates sound when you close the circuit by tou-
ching the water and the plants, creating a variable resistance.

You will need:

Breadboard, wires, 71hc14 chip, 10K resistor, audio plug, speakers for testing, battery (2.5 to 12v)

Steps:
• Take the breadboard and connect the components as showed in the schema
• Connect the plus and the ground to the circuit
• Test first with only one pin and touch the wire of the variable resistance, you should hear a sound
• If does this not work double check the connections. It should look like the picture bellow.
• You can connect one side of the variable resistance to the plant and the other to the ground. To close the
circuit and generate the sound you should touch both ends.
 Growing food
By Javier Busturia

To start a garden at home is simple, all what you need is some space,
some pots, soil and seeds, and lots of love and care for your plants.
Normally we use flowers to decorate our houses, but we could also de-
corate with growing food. It is beautiful when summer arrives and you
see finally the energy of plants, expressed in the growing of a vegeta-
ble.

After some experimentation we found that it is indeed possible to

grow food in cities. At our house we grew plants in every pot you can
imagine: first seeding in eggshells and paper cups. When the seedlings
are about 10cm big and strong enough, they can be transplanted into
bigger pots. We built our garden in four different growing areas: in
front of the house in a street plant box-bench; at the back terrace in
old recycled wood boxes; the balcony on the 1st floor and at the win-
dow of Voorstraat 123 where we built a green house inside the gallery
space.

A garden on your balcony is not only about the possibility of growing

food, this is a work that you can share with flat mates, family or neigh-
bours, a garden can be a collective work. It’s a great therapy against
stress to help plants grow and they will pay you back with nice fruits.
Just remember when you plant some flowers, add some tomatoes and
cauliflowers too, you will appreciate it!
Making papercups
By Kristina Andersen

You can use these paper cups are for growing seedlings in the spring.

You will need newspaper and a straight-sided glass

• Take a page of newspaper and fold it in 4 lengthwise
• You should now have a thick strip
• Place the top of the glass halfway onto the paper-strip
• Roll the paper onto the glass, allowing the paper to go over the top/edge of the glass.
• Push the over-hanging edge of paper into the glass
• Carefully remove the glass
• You now have a paper pot to plant your seeds in
• Fill the cups with soil and seeds
• Water and place them in a cardboard box and cover with plastic

Compost is a mixture of decaying organic mate-
rials derived from plant and animal matter that
has been decomposed largely through aerobic
decomposition. This is used to improve soil
structure and provide nutrients.
Composting with worms is the most effective
way of turning your vegetable waste into soil.
This process of composting is simple and possi-
ble to practice at home. By using compost in
your garden you can avoid using chemicals and
agro-toxics, which is harmful for the ecosystem.
What can be composted:
Raw vegetable matter, coffee grounds, eggs-
hells, teabags, brown paper, unbleached card-
board, algae, weeds, etc. The ingredients
normally come from the kitchen and garden in
same parts: a good compost is made half from
green humid fresh material (rich in Nitrogen)
and dry materials (rich in Carbon).
Composting
By Kristina Andersen
It’s not a good idea to compost:
Plastics, cigarette filters, cooked food, oil, meat,
bones and fish as these will attract flies and ani-
mals into your compost!
You can buy worms on the Internet or from the
local fishing store (we brought ours on the Vo-
orstraat) where they sell them as bait. Ask a
local gardeners association they will usually give
you some for free.
Building a compost box:
Anything can be a compost box as long as it is
dark, has holes in the bottom for drainage and
at the sides for ventilation.
• Find or build a suitable box with a lid on top.
• Cut four small holes in the bottom for drainage.
• Cut holes along the sides for ventilation.
• Fill the box with cut up moist newspaper.
• Introduce the worms.
• Start adding your vegetable waste etc.
• Do not add cooked food, meat, oil etc.
Fighting bugs !
By Jingni Wang and Javier Busturia

The arrival of spring brings thousands of small insects to your garden. They would like to suck the blood and energy from your plants, if you find that
your vegetables are full of bugs and you don’t act fast, your crop will be destroyed. There are two ways of doing this: You can run to the closest gar-
den store and buy insecticide, a fast solution that is bad for your health as well as the local water system. The alternative is slower, you can fight the
bug infestation with a natural insecticide like Ladybirds. In the closest countryside to your place you will find a lot of them. They are easy to catch
and save in a small box until you arrive your garden, where you can just let them out and wait for them to do their work.

This happened to us too, we had a problem with aphids for weeks and in order to rescue the plants, Javier was ready to cave in and use chemicals.
We had already collected ladybirds and introduced them into the garden, but the natural insecticide was still not working. Javier had already bought
the chemicals and went to poison the insects when he came back saying: Oh, it's amazing! He had found a lot of strange black bugs in the window
garden, and the harmful insects were reduced a LOT. Our garden was rescued! After looking on the Internet, he found out that the strange black
bugs were just the next generation of Ladybirds, their pupa. Ladybirds eat a lot of aphids, but their children, the pupa, eat like bulldozers in the fo-
rest, they are really hungry while growing into adult Ladybirds! We had tomatoes in mid July!
Water
By Kristina Andersen

Dordrecht is a watery world. When you first arrive it seems like the Voor-
straat starts in the water of the harbor and ends in the water of the harbor.
In that sense the street can be seen as a bridge from one view on the water
to another. The waterways are full of movement, from our balcony at the
back of the house we could always see boats and people passing, bird life
and even fish, deep in the green waters.

When Gilberto Esparza arrived we took the opportunity to investigate the

water itself. The Dutch take water seriously. We talked to the engineers
that clean and manage the quality of the drinking water. We were thinking
that there would be organically dirty water in the harbor we could use to
build an installation around. Instead we found that the water of the water-
ways in Dordrecht are organically cleaned and well managed. Suddenly the
children swimming in the canal outside made more sense.

But water is more than a transport medium, an ecosystem and a drink.

Water is also a potential source of sound and of memories. Throughout our
stay in Dordrecht we have drunk and cooked with the water, washed in it,
watched it and watered our plants with it. We recorded the sounds of the
canal outside and even from within the water. When we leave the house it
will be the water we will remember. The plenty and the taste. The constant
movement outside the window. The possibility of living on a bridge bet-
ween one watery place and another. The feeling of living on an island and
under the sea.
 Bottling and storing water
By Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento

You might want to store water for many different purposes: drink, sho-
wer, flush the toilet, or just collect it, to name a few. Depending on
what you want you can bottle it differently. Here in Recycle-X we like to
just collect water (inspired by Membrandt) so I will assume you are a
sort of crazy collector as well. Here is what you need to know:

• Decide which kind of water you want to store:

from a river? tap water? Mineral water?

• Once decided you have to find a nice glass bottle. If you want to co-
llect it, it’s a good idea to use several bottles of the same shape.

• Fill the bottle with water and close the bottle with a cork.

• Label the bottle with the place you collected it from, the date and
time.

AQUA IN VITRO 1994 – 2011 (ongoing) Membrandt

Installation of engraved European water bottles, photographs,
public Google map with locations and audio

http://goo.gl/f33LC
Generate energy by cleaning water : coal filtering
By Gilberto Esparza, Carlos Godínez Seoane and Sergio Sánchez Segado (INQUICA Grupe)

Gilberto Esparza created an experiment that cleaned polluted water by the action of working bacteria, producing electricity from this process: the
Microbian Fuel Cells. It is a complex system to build, but quite simple to understand how it works:
The microbian fuel cell is a bioelectrochemistry system capable of producing certain amounts of energy through effective wastewater purification.
You will need: Cylindrical chamber of 5 x 7 cm diameter, volume: 28ml, Anode made of graphite granules, a carbon Cathode made of special paper
with two parts, a diffusion layer to improve oxygenation, platinum catalyst
• First we filled the Anode chamber with sewage.
• Bacteria in the water will colonize the electrodes, creating a conductive film in between the graphite granules.
• The bacteria generate electricity through metabolism, 36hrs later it generates constant voltage of 0.625 volts.
www.plantasnomadas.com
 Building
By
By Javier
Javier Busturia
Busturia and
and Kristina
Kristina Andersen
Andersen

On
On the
the street
street outside
outside Recycle-X
Recycle-X we we made
made aa bench
bench from
from scrap
scrap wood,
wood, on on
each
each side side ofof the
the bench
bench are are planter
planter boxes
boxes filled
filled with
with berries
berries and
and growing
growing ve- ve-
getables;
getables; edible edible plants!
plants! Passers
Passers by by slow
slow down
down to to taste
taste the
the berries
berries and
and when
when
the
the sun
sun shines
shines they
they stopstop andand sitsit on
on the
the bench.
bench. The
The dark
dark coloured
coloured wood
wood
soaks
soaks upup the
the sun.
sun. ItIt isis aa good
good place
place to to land.
land. When
When we we are
are working
working inin the
the
front
front space
space conversations
conversations flow flow inin and
and out
out asas curious
curious neighbours
neighbours participate
participate
in
in or or comment
comment on on the
the odd
odd thingsthings that
that we
we areare building.
building. The
The bench
bench isis an
an obs-
obs-
truction
truction to to the
the flow
flow of of the
the street,
street, itit turns
turns the
the eye
eye towards
towards the
the building,
building, and
and
itit forms
forms that
that first
first question.
question. This This isis what
what anan old
old piece
piece of
of wood
wood cancan do,
do, make
make
people
people sit
sit closely
closely and
and talk.
talk.

In
In the
the window
window hangs
hangs an
an embroidered
embroidered map map ofof the
the street.
street. Many
Many handshands wor-
wor-
ked
ked onon that
that map,
map, holding,
holding, tucking,
tucking, and
and moving
moving over
over the the same
same piece
piece of of cloth
cloth
in
in concentration.
concentration. AA needle
needle inin mouth,
mouth, hand
hand meme the the scissors,
scissors, isis there
there any
any
more
more of of the
the red
red thread?
thread? II am
am not
not sure
sure about
about this
this line,
line, what
what do
do you you think?
think?
Will
Will you
you finish
finish this
this cloud
cloud for
for me?
me? Coffee?
Coffee? Now,
Now, itit isis impossible
impossible to to see
see who
who
did
did what,
what, which
which hand
hand started
started that
that line
line and
and which
which one
one finished
finished it.
it. Who
Who drop-
drop-
ped
ped the
the stitch
stitch and
and who
who picked
picked itit up.
up. We We made
made itit together.
together.

Today
Today II saw
saw Johannes
Johannes harvesting
harvesting hundreds
hundreds of of bottles
bottles from
from the
the neighbours’
neighbours’
garbage,
garbage, what
what does
does he
he want
want them
them for?
for? Apparently
Apparently hehe builds
builds sculptures
sculptures out
out
of
of them!
them! shower
shower gels,
gels, shampoo,
shampoo, water
water and
and soap
soap bottles,
bottles, any
any kind
kind of
of plastic
plastic
garbage
garbage isis good
good for
for him
him to
to re-use,
re-use, giving
giving new
new life
life and
and value
value to
to the
the big
big
amount
amountofofwaste
wastewe wethrow
throwaway
awayininour
ourconsumer
consumersociety.
society
Make a bench : sit in nature
By Jelle Dekker

One thing we made by recycling old wood was a bench-plant-pot. It started when Javier and I found some old planks in the attic of Voorstraat #183.
This was a true exercise in recycling, even the nails were recycled and taken from the walls and floor earlier.
During the summer seasons you often see Dutch people enjoying the weather and sitting outside. In Mediterranean climates it is usual to see the
same, enjoying the fresh air of the summer evenings and talking together. It is an ancient habit, collectively using public space as if it were private.In
The Netherlands people often grow plants outside their homes but normally only flowers are considered beautiful, what about the beauty of gro-
wing tomatoes? They’re amazing!

This was our idea, to build planter boxes surrounding a bench, using the street to grow food. The added bonus of sitting in a nice place in between
the plants is that you can take the fruit to eat!

See the images for the building instructions and don’t hesitate to do it differently!
 Make a strawberry blackboard with recycled wood
By Jelle Dekker

Waste wood can often be found when looking in the house or on the street. Old floor planks and pallets can be recycled into new furniture using
simple tools, some paint and a bit of imagination.

The strawberry blackboard is a classic way to communicate to the street, like a sandwich board advertisement for a shop or café. We made our
blackboard from pieces of waste wood, found on the street and in our own building. In addition to the classic blackboard design we added a box on
top filled with strawberry plants, to catch your attention. The strawberry blackboard is an opportunity to add more greenery and food produce into
the street and in the right season the strawberries can function as an extra present for those reading the information on the board.

You can also use drawings to deliver your message on the board. As the projects progressed Javier made drawings and texts to tell the street what
we were up to.
How to create a flexible circuit
By Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento

To build a flexible circuit you will need a piece of fabric, conductive thread, conductive fabric, 3v coin
battery and battery pouch, foam, normal thread, fabric glue or fusible interface.

You will also need some tools: a pair of pliers, scissors, needles, and an iron.

We are going to build the circuit below. To work, a circuit needs to be closed and we are going to make
a fabric button to close it. When you press the button you close the circuit and make the LED light up.

• Take a piece of fabric you like and draw the circuit on it.
• Sew the LED to the circuit on the fabric, using the conductive thread. Pay attention to the polarity of
the legs. The short one is the ground.
• Use conductive thread or conductive fabric to complete the circuit.
• Sew on the battery pouch
• Make the button using two layers of conductive thread. In between you should put the foam with
some holes in it. Sew it all together. When you press the button the two pieces of fabric should touch
each other through the holes in the foam.

Have fun with your flexible circuit. You can add these to t-shirts, bracelets, necklaces, etc. You can find
more projects like this at www.instructables.com
 How to make an interactive map
By Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento

During the Urban Explorers festival in Dordrecht, we worked together with our neighbours the Wereld-
wijven (World Women) to build an interactive map of the Voorstraat. This big fabric map was embroide-
red intensively over several weeks by a team of volunteers from Wereldwijven and the street. The map
was designed collaboratively with the volunteers and showed a street view of the buildings on the Vo-
orstraat.

Part of the embroidery was made using conductive thread, a thread with copper woven into its compo-
sition to make it conductive. Here you can find a small introduction on how to make your own interac-
tive touch map.

• Find a piece of fabric and draw the map onto it. Choose the points you want to make interactive.
• Embroider the outlines of the houses and objects with ordinary embroidery thread.
• On the interactive spots you embroider little pads with conductive thread. When the pad is done,
leave the a thread line a bit longer on the back of the map.
• Connect the line into the touch sensor QT 113 following this circuit.
• Connect the sensor to the analog input of the Arduino. You can find the code on the website: www.ar-
duino.cc
• From here you can use different types of software to design the interaction you would like to develop.
How to Build a Slow Wagon
By Javier Busturia Cerezo

We love slowness. A slow trip, slow love, slow cinema, slow food, and of
course in the following project, a slow wagon to slow down our entire way
of living.

At the end of July we spent a week looking for and documenting organiza-
tions and people working or living in a sustainable way in Dordrecht. This
was an exploration and an opportunity to learn how local people incorpora-
ted sustainability into their lives. We only knew a few people when we star-
ted, but they soon introduced us to new people and we started to build a
network. We kept a diary every day, and began to build a sustainable net-
work map. Just one week was enough to start to change your own life ha-
bits and rethink the possibilities.

On the Sunday we went into the street with our diary printed as a booklet
and a small homemade slow wagon full of organic vegetables, some of
them grown in our own garden and the rest from local organic producers.

You can easily build your own slow wagon. You just need some waste wood,
an old pram and some paint. In the same way you can also build your own
sustainable local network. Just start asking the few people you know and
they will take you to other people and you network will grow.
 Make sculpture a figure out of garbage
By Johannes Brechter

You will need:

Wasted packaging and other waste, plastic bottles, Styrofoam, wires, metal-sticks, wood-sticks, cardboard, fabric and
so on, look for things you like, maybe its shape is inspiring. All of this material can be found easily around you, look in
your own daily scrap, garbage boxes, waste bins and building containers. Take time to find your favorite material.

Use the following to assemble and collage your sculpture:

Glue, tape, duck tape, hot glue, wire, screws, nails
The glue or fixing can also become a protective surface layer, for this you can use hot glue or sticky-back plastic.
Don’t forget to consider how you want your sculpture to stand, for example a weight placed at the base of your
sculpture to keep it standing, or cables such as fishing wire to hang it from the ceiling.
 People
By Kristina Andersen

How do you ask a question? How do you tell a secret? How do you make yourself availa-
ble for inquisition and inquiry. I am thinking about us and how we came to be here, I
want to see you clearly. Tell me something. What changed? How did it happen? And did
you change too?

In the summer, the street became warm and light and our work moved towards collabo-
ration, sharing and the distribution of work and thoughts. We visited people and asked
them questions. We harvested our garden. We built a little vegetable wagon and used it
to distribute vegetables and ideas about sustainability.

The people in the street were wide open. They slowed down to look through our win-
dow, they asked questions, they made jokes, comments and gave advice. They were
happy to meet us, smiling at our Dutch. They were passing through the street, to shop,
to meet, talk and they were looking for something that wasn’t on the shopping list. And
that is good, because so were we.
Strategies of Trust
By Zeljko Blace

There are not many strategies of trust that just work, for this reason it’s important to consider multiple approaches. Some find the friend-of-
a-friend network to be the most reliable, but it‘s likely that such a trust doesn’t go beyond two degrees of separation, few would consider ex-
panding it to four degrees of separation, especially since theory of 6 degrees of separation is well known.

Having shared affinities and value systems go a bit further. CouchSurfing in that sense is network of traveling and hosting enthusiasts, as well
as of people interested in sharing their resources non-commercially. An additional layer of common interest, for example a specific type of
art, camping location or subculture establishes a more specific common ground, which is a good basis for initial engagement and developing
trust.

The amount of social connections you have in common can be a good reference for developing trust, people with bigger social networks ob-
viously have more social engagement. However some networks (like FaceBook) can generate huge amounts of vague and superficial connec-
tions that are not representing individual qualities, dynamics or the nature of connections one has, just mere volume. CouchSurfing in that
sense is a much better source of reference.

www.couchsurfing.org
How to talk to strangers
By Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento

Sooner or later in life we will face a situation where we need to talk with strangers. This is especially true if
you are new to a country and if you are a bit shy that task can turn into a very difficult situation.

This is a list of tips about how to approach people you don’t know. They are maybe obvious but it was inte-
resting for us to write them down.

• Smile
• Always start the conversation with good morning, good afternoon or good evening
• Be polite
• Make eye contact.
•Be prepared to receive no as an answer
• If you want something concrete, get to the point quickly
• Keep it simple
• Don’t ask intrusive questions
• Think positive of the outcome
• Be yourself, don’t pretend to be something you are not
 Investigations
By Jelle Dekker

An important aspect of our project has been to get to know the neighbourhood and the people. We were curious to see
what was going on. We wanted to understand our neighbors. We wanted to know what makes the area special. We imagi-
ned that hint of these things might be found in everyday things that people would not normally consider special. So besides
to talking to people and observing, we wanted to make investigations that highlight existing things, make space for reflec-
tion and reconsider the local environment.

During the project we tried several methodologies, both in our research and our thinking. The Cultural Probe and the Slow
Wagon initiative are examples of such approaches, the latter was designed to make people conscious of ecological manu-
facture and gift-shop initiatives in the city. We will explain the Slow Wagon and the Cultural Probe in the following texts.
How to make a cultural probe
By Jelle Dekker

A cultural probe is a package made of several items, a mix of formal and playful things, such as maps, question cards, a diary and more creative
items like clay or a small sound devices. These items are a starting point for investigation, creative tools that help to express thoughts and ideas
about our questions for the Voorstraat. We wanted to avoid obvious answers by offering unusual and creative ways to think about our ques-
tions and the probe can also be fun!

The probes were handed out in the beginning of Recycle-X, after the first light workshop. They contained an empty map to “draw what the Vo-
orstraat is for you”, several questions, a diary and a photo camera. Two out of the five probes were returned to us, one was filled with lots of
great ideas and this person continued to contribute through email, sending photos and other information. To get the best results from the cul-
tural probe try to find people who are already interested in your project or express an interest in taking part.
 How to Make a Slow Wagon Investigation
By Jingni Wang

In the summer we made a Slow Wagon investigation: A six-day experience towards a sustainable life.
We used these 6 days to find people who live in a sustainable way, talk to them and write a research
report in the form of a diary. Based on this experience, we have some recommendations that might
be useful if you would like to conduct your own personal investigation.

If you want to make an investigation of a place, it is an advantage if you live there for some time.
Getting to know someone is not only about talking. When you go to a shop in the street, you pay,
you smile to the owner, that's a invisible way of getting to know a person. In this process, you re-
ceive a lot of messages through your body but your mind might not realize it.

Don't be in a hurry, take your time. Don't make yourself into a goal-orientated person. If you think:
"hurry up, get USEFUL information from this man!" Those thoughts may not come out in what you
say, but will be indicated from your behavior, people will feel it. “Useful” is not a good reason for pe-
ople make friends with you, and because you are not a businessman, if you don’t make friends with
people, you will never get information for your investigation.

Be sensible about the information, take notes, and review them. If you have topic you are paying
special attention to, you might be more sensible to the information you get either in daily life or
through interview. It's hard to say, how can we be more sensible.

Be sure to have a notebook and a video recorder, at hand during the interview. After finishing the in-
terview, make a diary entry the same day, no matter how tired you are, otherwise you will doubt
how exactly you got the information. You should also review the video. The video can also be revie-
wed again after a month as it is likely you will find something you missed before.
To the Streets ... Some Useful tips to
Enhance your Urban Experience
By Burning Athens [friend of the Recycle-X house]

The locus of production is no longer the factory; the city has become the site not only of circula-
tion, but also of production. As a result political struggles have been moving into the streets in
order to disrupt the circulation of commodities, of value and more importantly of consumers and
of producers. The movement towards the city centre is not just a political gesture of assuming pro-
minent sites of power and culture; it is a real attempt to harm the urban-machine of (re)-produc-
tion. Such gestures may seem to be loosing some of their impact due to the expansion of a
real-virtual system of relations, but the recurring often violent demonstrations in many European
metropolises has reaffirmed the importance of street politics as one if not the main vehicles of po-
litical antagonism. It is not a sixties revival, but rather a reinvention of a traditional tool of popular
politics, partly enhanced and partly co-opted by the new media that are dominating culture, eco-
nomy and politics in the dawn of the 21st century.

Blocking a street is necessarily a disruption to the organized system of circulation in the metropolis
and will be treated as such by the state and the police. The bigger and more central, the longer and
more importantly the more unexpected, the better. The simplest way to do it, is to get enough peo-
ple on the street, just standing there, defying the rules of traffic and the police will show up for
sure (remember the police itself also blocks traffic and very effectively so). Numbers are always im-
portant, but creativity is also essential. The most successful action is the one that can attract
bystanders and passers by in the action. Creating small open spaces in the highways of urban circu-
lation by re-appropriating them and putting them into different uses. Parties, dinners, games, cir-
cus or carnival and any other imaginative types of participatory fun is the best possible strategy,
and the one that requires fewer numbers on behalf of the demonstrators and the least use of vio-
lence. Alternatively, a riot, a direct confrontation with traffic, along with self-made barricades by
material that are always available near by (cobblestones, garbage bins, even cars turned upside
down) is an age old, almost romantic, way to stop traffic. Finally, and more un-interestingly the ea-
siest and most boring way to block the street is to obtain a license for a legal demonstration. The
police will happily assist you, escort you and decide when you should go home. Legal demonstra-
tions have the advantage of safety and can always be derailed to a more interesting and unexpec-
ted expressions of disobedience and fun. Good Luck!
 Staying with Strangers
By Zeljko Blace

When traveling and relying on zero/no budget housing using CouchSurfing or similar hospitality networks, one has
to consider that they are built on enthusiasm by enthusiasts. In this sense, both the hosting and surfing is part of
this experience and exchange, benefiting only from the free hosting is to miss the ethos and half the fun of such
initiatives. Consider the stranger as a future friend! Returning a favor to a host, taking part in the housework or
helping with food or cleaning is considered good manners. If you’re not in the social mood - perhaps it’s better to
consider accommodation at a hostel or bed & breakfast with professional service and predictable conditions.

When looking for a hosts check where they are traveling and where would be a good option for a short breaks,
smaller cities are likely to have more enthusiastic hosts than a metropolis (like Amsterdam) which is non-stop pac-
ked with tourists, Southern/coastal regions tend to have more tourists while continental and rural areas will have
fewer.

Remember you will be joining someone’s private space and life, which might be busy, messy or even hectic - this
might require your energy and time. Try to respect the other person’s choice of lifestyle and dynamics, as long as
it doesn’t interfere with your own. Bear in mind that verified hosts with
many previous references are more open and might be helpful in directing
you to alternatives when they can’t host you. You might also want to ap-
proach hosts who share a common interest, would consider interesting to
meet, later keep in touch with and return the favor by hosting them.
Traveling without money: how to open
the world
By Zeljko Blace

Theory of time and space continuum permits us to be at many places in the same time,
the practice of daily life limits us to areas, which are within economic reach and comfort
of traveling.

Ideas of our capacity to travel allows us to consider certain options and avoid others - so
that Trans-Atlantic travel is possible to achieve only with significant funds, while local tra-
vel can be super cheap or even free.

If we dedicate more time to travel and consider it part of the experience it’s possible to
find many ways to travel cheaply, outside of our immediate proximity and region. Car-
share options, group ticket discounts or even hitchhiking can reduce costs or eliminate
them altogether. Informing your friends and social networks of your plans might offer a
free trip or a travel companion to share the costs.
 Cooking
By
By Kristina
Kristina Andersen
Andersen

When
When youyou are
are aa stranger
stranger amongst
amongst strangers
strangers in in aa new
new house
house you
you must
must cook
cook
together.
together. Sharing
Sharing aa kitchen,
kitchen, becomes
becomes sharing
sharing of of food,
food, becomes
becomes sharing
sharing his-
his-
tories
tories and
and understandings.
understandings. Allowing
Allowing aa stranger
stranger toto your
your table
table is
is both
both aa risk
risk
and
and aa gift
gift to
to yourself.
yourself. At
At the
the Voorstraat
Voorstraat cooking
cooking food
food for
for new
new friends
friends be-
be-
came
came both
both aa comfort
comfort and
and aa way
way to
to work.
work. WhatWhat does
does itit mean
mean toto be
be from
from the
the
other
other end
end of
of the
the world?
world? What
What does
does itit mean
mean to to be
be here?
here? Coca
Coca Cola
Cola chicken
chicken
and
and quinoa
quinoa joining
joining each
each other
other at
at an
an international
international meetings
meetings ofof taste
taste and
and
ideas.
ideas.

At
At the
the table
table we
we meet
meet and
and talk.
talk. Day
Day after
after day,
day, this
this is
is what
what wewe do,
do, onon aa good
good
day
day we
we eat
eat together
together and
and on
on aa bad
bad day
day we
we also
also eat
eat together.
together. TheThe kitchen
kitchen
table
table is
is where
where we
we end
end up,
up, no
no matter
matter how
how things
things are
are going:
going: II am
am making
making
lunch,
lunch, do
do you
you want
want to
to join
join me?
me? Will
Will you
you cut
cut the
the onion?
onion?

But
But also:
also: don’t
don’t talk
talk to
to me
me right
right now,
now, II am
am making
making aa cup
cup of
of tea,
tea, II amam thinking,
thinking,
II am.
am. The
The perfect
perfect cup
cup of
of tea
tea isis more
more than
than aa matter
matter ofof taste.
taste. ItIt is
is aa method
method ofof
carving
carving out
out aa slice
slice of
of time,
time, inin which
which you
you are
are only
only doing
doing that:
that: drinking
drinking tea.
tea. ItIt
is
is aa temporary
temporary sanctuary
sanctuary of of sorts.
sorts.
How to do a community Dinner
By Zeljko Blace

To define a dinner as a community event means to consider several things from start:
• Collaborative planning and preparation between a few people brings a sense of
joint contribution beyond the shared costs.
• Flexibility in time, not everyone will be able to join at same time, find a way to save
and keep food warm for those who will join later.
• Dietary requirements, consider vegans, diabetics, people with allergies and
differences in eating habits.
• Address guests privately about the needs outlined above. This way everyone feels
individually involved, beyond the group dynamics.

A few things to avoid:

• Serving food that only is available in small quantities
• Serving different sized portions (except when requested or for children)
• Drinks and food that don’t mix well.

Extra tips for a perfect community dinner:

• Involve everyone in the different stages (buying groceries, preparation, serving and
cleaning up).
• Find an element of intrigue or discovery, new tastes, ingredients or recipes.
• Stories and activities that go beyond eating (for all senses).

Having written this, there are some coincidences that can’t be predicted, such as the ab-
sence of invitees or bad cooking results. The dinner can also be a great success with poor
food and bad drinks if guests are having a great time and enjoying the social occasion!
A successful dinner will bring a buzz and energy into the community, to continue with sha-
red paths and endeavors.
Spanish Omelet
By Javier Busturia

Tortilla de Patatas also called Spanish omelet –Tortilla Española– is a popular dish throughout Spain,
it’s a dish that crosses frontiers and cultural differences, and unifies Spanish people under the same
tasty dish. Basically it’s a potato and onion omelet about 4cm thick, often served in bars as tapas
and is eaten either hot or cold.

You will need:

5 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and thinly crash sliced
6 eggs
1 onion, chopped
¼ liter olive oil
salt
paprika pepper (optional)

Recipe:
so they
large frying pan. from time to time
• Heat the oil in a ge nt ly fry un til almost soft, stirring
tatoe s;
• Salt the sliced po ain
a crisp! Just soft. Dr
do n't bu rn .
so ft. Po tat oe s m ust not be fried to
d fry until
• Add the onion an of excess oil. and onion and
ta ble s in a colander to get rid lt. Add the potatoes
the vege wi th little sa
a bowl and season
• Beat the eggs in
mix well. oderate heat. ck.
a frying pan on a m e omelet doesn't sti
• Heat a little oil in d eg gs . Sh ak e the frying pan so th te, co ve r the
s an fla t pla
• Pour in the potat
oe
t is se t, tu rn th e omelet. Use a t in a circus!
of the omele by an acroba
• Once the bottom ov er. Th is ac tio n looks like its done ing th e pa n from
ly turn e frying, shak
frying pan and quick ba ck int o th e pan and continu
om ele t
• Gently slide the y through. er the
it has set all the wa other vegetables ov
tim e to tim e, un til
n ad d pr e-f rie d paprika pepper or
p you ca flags.
• During the last ste and new colors, fo
r example building
fo r an ot he r ta ste
tortilla
 Couscous
By Zeljko Blace

Couscous is a dish of North African origin and it describes the whole meal that is constituted of steamed granule of
wheat and meat stew that includes some vegetables, local spices and fruits. It tends to be packed with different types
of meat and the grains are eaten soaked in hot stew.

The most easy and fast way to make couscous is to use hot water and steam the couscous wheat granules (1:1 to salted
water) in closed pot in the microwave. At the same time you can start frying vegetables like carrots or onions, along
with meat or substitutes like surimi, mushrooms and tofu. Next, mix the couscous with the meat/vegetables and add
peanuts and fresh herbs like parsley, rosemary and thyme. At the very end you can add some dried fruits like raisins,
figs or prunes. Keep mixing in ingredients and adjust the tastes to match one another in a playful way that might sur-
prise you.

s is: carrots,
ation of ingredient
My favorite combin to fu , black oli-
en meat or smoked
green pepper, chick pean uts an d raisins.
ves, Indian
Coca Cola Chicken
By Jingni Wang

Coca Cola Chicken is a funny dish. It is cooked in a Chinese cooking style, using ginger, chives and soybean sauce, but mixed
with Coca Cola to make it new. You have to put the Coca Cola in to make the taste, but you can hardly taste the Coca Cola itself,
if you don’t know it is there.

What you need for this dish:

500g of chicken wings - make a small cut on each wing
Groundnut Oil
One can of Coca Cola
Ginger cut into small pieces
Chives cut into small pieces
Sugar
Soya sauce

wl and marinade
Step 1, 腌 (yan) gin ger an d su gar together in a bo e
ngs, soya sauc e, e taste of the sauc
Put the chicken wi se ca lled 腌 (yan), which soaks th on e week
ess in Chine day or
for 1 hour. This proc tes, one hour, one
o fo od , it co uld be done for 10 minu
and herbs int
tasty dishes.
to make different
sh, and in Chinese
炸
ng s, th is proc es s called frying in Engli
Step 2, 炸 (zha) ger and the chicken
wi cooked.
k and then add gin n’t need to be fully
Put the oil in the wo rn to go lden, just a little bit, they do
tu
en wings until they
(zha). Fry the chick
and a little bit of
ch ick en wi ng , als o more soya sauce,
Step 3, 炖 (dun) fried
o the pan with the ne.
e cola, put cola int Try it, it could be do
Then, It’s time to us er until th e sa uc e is alm ost dr y.
Simm
sugar, mix together.
food more gently. onger and be drier
.
Tips: er; th is mak es th e taste go into the ver away, it will taste str
fla m e to simm u ta ke th e co
Use a small ll be moister, if yo
k, the final dish wi
If you cover the wo
 Quinoa
By Zeljko Blace

Quinoa is a South American plant that has one of the most nutritious grain-like seeds. It is very popular
with vegan body builders, but it is still a bit exotic for rest of the world so it is not easy to find in regular
shops. It is becoming a major substitute for couscous and rice fans.

Quinoa can have a bitter and paper-like taste if not washed so it is important to rinse it well before pre-
paration. Otherwise it is basically cooked just like rice. When prepared like rice the seeds open up and
look very attractive. Serve it with a fry-up of carrots cut in slices, red surimi sticks and yellow peppers
and flavor it with salt, hot paper and parsley.

-
ed almonds and ye
ino a is to co ok it, then mix it with fri i or sim ila r
eat yellow qu pineapple, kiw
My favorite way to n th e m ixt ure is cool, add banana, m int lea ves. So m e
llow raisins. Whe , vanilla sugar or ho
ney and
tness.
al/ M ed iterra nean fruits. Cinnamon at th e en d to break down the swee
tropic ca n be ad de d
pepper
Tea Time
By Jingni Wang

I am from a typical Fujianese family from an area where Wulong tea is produced.
Every day we have tea four times, before breakfast, after breakfast, after lunch, after
dinner, but it's not always the same, it very much depends on people's habits. The re-
ason for having Wulong tea often after a meal is that the tea helps to clean the intes-
tines and the stomach.

Normally once visitors come to a family home, the host will carry out tea tools and
they will start to have teatime as a welcome.

Having tea is a good way to calm down. Throughout the whole process, you can see
how the water flows and your hand controls the flow of water. If you control the
water well that means your heart is experiencing peacefulness, and at the same
time, you will hear the beautiful sound of the water itself.
 Sun Tea

en
By Kristina Anders

th cold water. Se-

ca n clo se well. Fill the jar wi lid.
Find a clear glass jar th at e water. Close the
d pu t th e tea ba gs or loose tea in th
lect your tea an
for about 3 to 5
gh t ca n strike the container e
Place outside wher
e th e su nli in the sun. Check th
e co nt ain er if ne cessary to keep it ice an d en joy .
hours. Move th color. Pour over
tea's strength and
e
d that water so th
a wi th in a few ho urs. We never boile r a lon g tim e.
Drink all the te tea will not keep go
od fo

used to from using

ta ste m ild er than what you are out a
The tea will prob ab ly s a way of bringing
wa ter. Th is slo w heating method ha t of so lar power.
boiling
t fla vo r fro m th e tea, by the effec
slightly differen
Hot Tea

By Jingni Wang t kinds of tea and

each
re ali ze th at th er e are many differen ste go od . In the fo-
n m aking te a, it is important to ve r is alw ay s to make the tea ta
Whe al howe
of brewing. The go example.
have different ways , a typ e of Ch inese red tea, as an
ll ta ke W ulo ng
llowing I wi d immedia-
ter into the pot an
wa sh th e lea ve s by pouring hot wa
in a pot and
Place the tealeaves
th e wa te r out again. conds.
tely pouring ve it for several se
r in th e teap ot ag ain, but this time lea
uring hot wate
Make the tea by po ent the tealeaves
po t wh ile us ing a tea strainer to prev
r
a brew into anothe
Pour the finished te po t.
e se co nd
from going into th y in the hot water
for
po t is th at th e te aleaves cannot sta
w
ing the tea in a ne
The reason for keep los e th eir taste.
th ey
too long; otherwise
all
pour the tea into sm
The final step is to pe op le, or dr ink it
a wi th
cups. Share the te
alo ne.
How to Eat Up
By Kitchen Budapest

Justyna Brząkalik, Judit Boros, Anna Cséfalvayová*, Krisztián Gergely, Ula Kowal*, William Speed*, András
Szalai

The aim of the project is to develop a network for people who are ready to share their meals. The project will
be supported by a website eatup.com which helps users to search for 'eat up' meetings by area, number of
participants or dishes served; put online their own events or find people with common tastes.
The Internet helps people not only share information and data, but also supports sharing real things in real
life. Cooking and eating together is a great opportunity to meet in person, not only with people we already
know.

Using digital tools such as a website and mobile phone applications, 'EatUp' gives the opportunity to connect
personally and socialize. You can decide if you want to host an event and specify details like location, expec-
ted number of participants or dishes served.
You can also search for people with the same taste, exchange recipes and experiences. The application, which
can be downloaded on the users' mobile phones, will allow guests to search for events taking place in the ne-
arby area. Meanwhile hosts can decide if they want their event to be public or invitation-only, and also whe-
ther they want to share an entire meal or just the ingredients, which is a perfect start for some
cooking-together. After the event you can track the costs, share photos,
comment on the food, guests and hosts.

EatUp had two testing events and guests were invited through EatUp!
link with profile of the event.

This project was started as part of MOME (Moholy-Nagy University of

Art and Design) intensive course week, 2010 “Do you share? Do you
like?” by guest ERASMUS students*. EatUp website was being develo-
ped further at Kitchen Budapest, but currently exists as a concept.

www.kitchenbudapest.hu/en/eatup
Sharing Food
By Jingni Wang

Sharing fresh food is a good way to promote ideas of life with people. Food is pretty and tasty and always appreciated by people. When
we interviewed local farmers we realised that while most people (including us) buy food from a supermarket, because we think it is chea-
per, but buying from local producers can be the same price or even cheaper than the supermarket. Combined with our own experiences
of growing food in our windows and balconies, we decided that food was at the center of our investigation.

We decided to write a diary, to record our investigation and contacts and share it locally, but teaching by textbook alone is not always the
best idea, we all hate mechanical study! How could we give people a beautiful, colourful, friendly feeling? Maybe we could
start to share our new knowledge by sharing food. When we told Rachel, a farm manager we had intervie-
wed for the book, that we wanted to make an action in the street to share organic food with local people.
She refused to sell us the produce but instead gave us a lot of herbs, vegetables, fruit, and flowers for free.
We called our action and the wagon we used to transport the vegetables the slow wagon.

In the street people see this beautiful wagon and stop to try the tasty fruit and listen to our introduction,
happily they take the diary home with them. The tomato is the most popular food from the wagon, it is co-
lourful and people can eat them directly. Please allow me to make a small conclusion: Sharing food is a
good way to share knowledge and a beautiful mood.
 Now the work is
up to you
By Kristina Andersen

We have tried to distill some of our experiences of working and living together into this little manual. Initially we wanted it to include everything we
did and did not do, but instead it became a series of short notes and tricks. These are the notes on what we did, not the why or the big theory but
the how and little tricks of the trade. We wrote them down so that we will still have Nini’s tea when Nini is back in China, and we wont forget the
crucial middle step in making a good tortilla, when Javier is not there to remind us. We wrote them down, so that we won’t forget that we still have
hands and we can continue to make and change things. The 8 months we have shared a house and worked together have twisted how we work and
think. We are all changed in small important ways. It is a good thing. We were tired of who we were. We were looking for change.

This is an ‘aide de memoir’ for us and an invitation to you, to stop thinking and start making. It is like anything else, you have to start somewhere.
Why don’t you start by making a cup of tea?
Biographies
Kristina Andersen (DK/NL) Johannes Brechter (NL/DE)
is a maker and researcher. She is currently thinking about tangible sensing strategies and magical thinking. Kristina is a men- Artist who lives and works in Munich and creates site-specific and mobile sculptures.
tor at The Patching Zone, she supervised the Recycle-X project. www.johannesbrechter.de
www.tinything.com
www.patchingzone.net Gilberto Esparza (MX)
creates devices that are inspired on his passion for robotics and is a critical examination of the way technology trans-
Ricardo de Oliveira Nascimento (BR) forms our daily lives.
Sao Paulo, 1977. Likes to create experiences that let people try something new. He works as artist, multimedia developer www.gilbertoesparza.blogspot.com
and producer. Graduated in International Relations by PUC - SP (www.pucsp.br) and Multimedia Design by Art Center www.plantasnomadas.com
SENAC - SP (www.sp.senac.br).
www.popkalab.com Kitchen Budapest (HU)
is a new media lab for young researchers who are interested in the convergence of mobile communication, online com-
Jingni Wang (CN) munities and urban space and are passionate about creating experimental projects in cross-disciplinary teams.
Shanghai based artist, born in 1986, is currently a student of China Academy of art , like sharing art with people from diffe- www.kitchenbudapest.hu
rent background, like to make things with soft technologies
http://blog.sina.com.cn/niniwhatever Noordkaap (NL)
Katja Diallo, artist, writer, curator and director of the Noordkaap foundation.
Javier Busturia Cerezo (ES) Jan Kryszons, artist and co-curator of the Noordkaap foundation.
Madrid, 1977. He works with collaborative contextual environmental rural ecological art. Working on art related to local Roel Weenink, technical support for Noordkaap and Recycle X.
contexts and collective works, build site-specific interventions aimed to construct identity community on territory and land. Marleen Oud, graphic designer of the Noordkaap foundation and Recycle X.
http://javierbusturia.blogspot.com www.noordkaap.org

Jelle Dekker (NL) Anne Nigten (NL)

is a student at the Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). Joined the project as part is the director of The Patching Zone. Prior to her current position, she was the manager of V2_Lab, the aRt&D depart-
of his internship, interested in working together with the user and community, and how a design can fit into its environ- ment of V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She initiated together with Katja Diallo,
ment, triggering interaction from people. the Recycle-X project.
http://jelledekker.com www.patchingzone.net
www.processpatching.net
Zeljko Blace (HR)
Is a precarious cultural instigator - inconsistently working in(between) fields of contemporary culture, media technologies
and sport, cross-pollinating queer, media, technology and social activism.
http://zeljko.blace.name
www.patchingzone.net www.recycle-x.nl www.noordkaap.org