Apollo-Utrecht-Decode

Puzzle of Second-hand Experiences

Introduce Utrecht.
Google: search: Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Google: search: Utrecht blogs.

I have experienced this city in a different way than most people experience a city.
I have geographically never visited this place. Geographically, I have only been present behind a computer screen. I have been lurking, observing, exploring. All this time, it was me, this screen, and Their stories of Utrecht. Who are They? They all travel, they all stay, go, leave, come back, live and they all do, all they do, in, around and about, Utrecht. What They also have in common is that They tell me all about it. They don't ask me what I want to know, they just tell me what they want me to know. And I carefully read. My Utrecht, is a puzzle of second hand experiences. I have never walked the streets, I have never smelled the air, I have never made a picture there.
I place this Utrecht in my universe, in my world, in my system. This is what this Utrecht of theirs looks like in my world. I am drawing, as they describe. The system of mine is structured in a few categories which became obvious to me after reading all of these stories. The categories are cosmic and just general at the same time. At whichever scale, they are the vehicles of the same aspects. The aspects that characterize the city that I have learned to know through Their experiences. It is Their Utrecht. I am the filter, the translator, the mediator and thereby make it My Utrecht too.

The categories of my second hand experience of Utrecht:

Apollo (Beauty): Art, Architecture, Music, Crafts, Social Events
Penta (Disruption): War, Disorder, Sport, Wheather, Nature
Code (Conduct): Structure, Restrictions, Rules, Politics, Local Authorities, Tradition
Neptune (Illusion): Mass Media, Religion, Peculiar
Decode (Exploration): Technology, Tourism, Travel, Routes, Visionary

Try to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Each time you click on "create experience" a new story is created, a mix of all the stories. New evidence of the existence of this place. So you can see and experience it each new time.

This experience is part of a graduation project at the Utrecht School of the Arts in collaboration with Casco - Office for Art Design and Theory.

Links
Portfolio Simona Kicurovska
Utrecht School of the Arts
Casco - Office for Art, Design and Theory