2020, the Vision Tours (2017)
A hurried 15 minute tour about the future at This Art Fair in and around De Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam. Seven artworks were shown along the tour, ending with a short poem about waiting, while standing in line at the Dirk Supermarket located 400 meters from the fair. Groups from 2 to 10 people could join at any time during fair opening hours. The tour was done 47 times in four days. At the start of every tour the audience could choose between an English or Dutch version of the tour. A flag representing the chosen language was then put on top of De Haan's helmet. Because the tours took place in winter extra fleece jackets were offered to the audience. |
"It's almost 2018. That means we only have two years left to realise all the goals we set for the year 2020. And there are a lot of them. Let me show you a few examples: There will be tests with flying cars in 2020, China is about to invade Taiwan and beards will be as weird again as they were about ten years ago. I will support anything I am stating with a news article. For example this one: 'There are still people who believe the Earth is flat'. I think that's quite strange. Mostly because we are living in a time where another group of people are busy exploring and maybe even colonising Mars. In 2020 they will send a new advanced car into space which will make us know a lot more about this mysterious red planet. I actually already did some Mars research myself and found out the following: come with me."
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"I believe a the small space car will land on Mars in 2020 to find out Mars actually was the one that's flat. I hope both NASA and the Flat Earth Society will be satisfied with this result."
"Let's move on. Please be careful to not hit any sculptures in this room. During my first tour I found out some are very fragile. As you can see there are some nice power cables hanging down from the ceiling. I think they look great." |
"Unfortunately there is a German research going on about wireless charging with a lot of companies involved. They are trying to realise it in 2020. Long story short: the wire as we know it is about to disappear. I hope that when we no longer need wires for functional use, we at least use them aesthetically."
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"This is the Herringbone Braid Extension Cable, an example of how to use wires aesthetically in the future."
"I've been talking about Mars and about a German research. Both places quite far away. Also here in Amsterdam a few things will change in 2020. For example Kunsthalle will open it's doors and the Amsterdam Arena will be one of the locations for the European Championship of football. Pretty cool, because according to this article the Netherlands even has a double chance of participating this time. As a kid I always liked it when the Dutch team was playing. Everyone was in front of their TV's watching it, so the streets were completely empty. Definitely the best moment to play a game of football yourself. As a kid I used to do that using the official Eurocup ball replica from 2008. But because I've been playing with it for many years it's a bit worn out now. To make sure I will still be able to play with it during the 2020 Eurocup I designed a sustainable addition for the ball." |
"Some wheels are added to the ball. Now it will still be able to roll once it's leak. This one is definitely gonna make it till 2020."
"You often see the same solution for dogs who got hit by a car. Their lost legs then get replaced with a small wheelchair. It works great for some animals. Lately a lot of snakes were ran over by cars. Usually snakes use their typical movement to push themselves forward through sand, but on asphalt this technique doesn't work. They don't have enough grip. For snakes a small wheelchair also isn't the right solution in case their bottom (tail) is missing after an incident. I had to think of something to give these snakes a second chance." |
"This is a sketch version of the 'Center for Snakes Without a Tail'. It should be opened officially in 2020. Here my model snake is looking for a new tail from which it thinks it fits it's personality best. Let's continue the tour outside. Follow me."
During the tour De Haan has been walking in a high tempo, some people were already left behind at this point. Nonetheless this was the moment the audience really was about to find out it was a hurried tour. |
"I dropped my glass, no problem, just let me clean it a little. The bottom looks like it can be used still. Let me try this. I'm lucky I always carry my own water bottle with me."
"Thank you for all running with me by the way. That went quite well. Are there some sports people in this group? None? Okay, that's pretty regular for an art fair audience. Sporting seems to become more and more important though. At least, on my social media. I've been following the hashtag #fitgirl for a while and it's growing at high speed. It has about 24 million posts right now. With this hashtag woman show themselves during their workout. Showing off their good shapes maybe. But you know, the perfect shape also changes every now and then." |
"For example ten years ago, everything needed to be super thin. Nowadays people still prefer a lot of things to be thin, except for the ass. That one seems to be okay to be round and big right now. In 2020 the perfect shape will also change. I did some research myself, without calculating too much."
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"Here it is, the perfect shape of 2020. It's in purple just to make sure I wouldn't confuse it with my grey fleece jackets. Just have a good feel and pass it around. It's an important thing to still remember in two years."
"Let's continue to the Dirk Supermarket. It's around the corner from here. I like to go shopping there. I've been there about every 20 minutes the last few days so I know all the employees. Unfortunately this ING research shows physical supermarkets are disappearing since more and more people are shopping their groceries online. According to this research most people switch to online shopping because the grocery bags often are too heavy. I actually think this Dirk commercial is a big player in the cause of this problem." |
"This commercial shows a very unrealistic image of a grocery bag. If you try to imitate this as a consumer, you'll definitely end up with back problems. That's why I would like to propose a new commercial for Dirk Supermarket. This is what it should look like."
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"To complete my proposal I also designed a grocery bag. This should become the grocery back of the future. It will completely take away the problem of bags being too heavy. As you can see I've already filled up the bag with ultra light material for a big part. I just left a little space for the groceries. In this way the bag is full quite easily. Let's give it a try. For example this leek, it fits perfectly. The bag is full and still very easy to carry. Let's pay for it and get out of here."
To fill up the time with the tour group while standing in the line at the pay desk, De Haan prepared a short poem about waiting. Because you are the audience now, and you're not standing in line but looking at this documentation on the internet. De Haan isn't about to perform his waiting poem for you. Would you like to read another poem? Email [email protected] with the message 'I would like to have another poem". De Haan then will send you one. "This is the end of the tour. Thanks all of you for your participation. If you'd like to go back to the fair, follow me and I will let you back in." |
At the end of every tour De Haan would walk back to the fair building with a leek as a leftover. When no one in the audience wanted to take the leek home they were collected at the starting point of the tour. In the end of the four days 44 leeks were stacked. Some of them later were used in a soup to celebrate 2018 during a new year's reception.
Special thanks to Koen Kievits, Bo Bannink, Dirk van den Broek, Liemers Art Museum, Vandenbroek Foundation and This Art Fair This project was featured in Het Parool and on Patty Morgan |