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Image courtesy of the artist
While visiting an ex soldier training area in Maastricht turned into workshops for designers, swanky bar, park, playground with swings and vintage gas pumps, i met an artist observing butterflies, noting his findings into notebooks and pulling out all sorts of instruments from a bike that doubled as a cart, laboratory and small educational space.
Stefan Cools explores human relationships to other living species: other humans, animals and even plants. Over the past few years, his research has focused entirely on butterflies with a body of artistic, scientific and education works called the “Butterfly House of Stefan Cools.’ He observes the life of the colourful insect, uses as pigment the red fluid that butterflies eject after they leave the chrysalis and travels around the world to work with cultural institutions and schools. Cools has also recently teamed up with the Science program at Maastricht University, to investigate with both scientific rigour and a creative perspective the transformation process of butterflies.
Image courtesy of the artist
Image courtesy of the artist
Image courtesy of the artist
I didn’t have the time to interview him properly while in was Maastricht so i caught up with him over emails:
Hi Stefan! Could you tell us something about your research into butterflies?
My artistic research examines the transformation process of the butterfly: specifically meconium, a substance butterflies secrete after leaving the chrysalis. Not much is known about meconium, except that it contains a lot of hormones and faeces.
The meconium of thistle butterflies (Vanessa cardui), a butterfly species I often study, is red in colour. The research aims to distinguish different meconium colours of various butterfly species. This results in a pallet of colours for use as pigment. Recently I discovered a second colour: ochre from the Silver Y moth (Autographa gamma).
I came for the first time in contact with the art world during a long stay in Australia. I was doing research to some tropical plants in Queensland that live in symbiosis with animals. While we were doing field research in the tropical rainforest we came across some bowers of different types of the bowerbirds. The complex bowers of these birds, decorated with flowers, shells and other small decorations and their strange courtship behaviour were fascinating myself so much that I started to do research to the bowerbirds. The bowers that these birds build are complex architectural master pieces where they work on for weeks. After the “buildings” are finished they start decorating them. During the courtship the female is choosing the male to mate with on the bower they have build and decorated so they must have as I believe, some sense of beauty. Speaking about this with some biologist; they didn’t agree with me about this and in their believe I was more seeing it from the human perspective instead of the natural perspective. I was projecting my own ideas on the birds they were saying. And from that moment I saw the value of my way of looking into nature. The freedom of interpreting my own thoughts on the topic of research. On the same moment when I was doing the research on the bowerbirds I came in contact with a curator of the art museum in Cairns, The Cairns Regional Gallery. As a regular visitor of musea and galleries we have spoken a lot about art, aboriginal art and the relation of aboriginal art with nature. The curator was working on a new exhibition about nature and art and she invited me to join the show with the results of the research I was doing to the bowerbirds.
Image courtesy of the artist
The freedom as artist gives me the freedom during my research to think on a different way than biologists do. You called me a biologist but I haven’t any paper for that, so I don’t call myself a biologist. I understand because I present my work like biologist do that sometimes it’s not very clear for people if I’m an artist, biologist or scientist. I feel myself more like an artist with a background as botanist. And the knowledge as botanist I can use in my research I do nowadays.
For the project’s scientific development, I recently teamed up with Maastricht University, who are going to make scientific studies on the transformation process of butterflies using my artistic perspective as their starting point. The questions like:
‘What is the compositon of the meconium?’ How can you manipulate this (food, temperature etc.)? What other uses are there? ‘Why is the colour of the meconium colourfast and doesn’t oxydize?’ ‘What other colours are there?’ Can you manipulate the colour?
We don’t know yet what could come out of these studies but I can believe that there will be lots of interest for example on the outcome of the question why the meconium of butterflies is colourfast instead of the colour of most natural liquids that oxydize.
Image courtesy of the artist
Image courtesy of the artist
Image courtesy of the artist
What is the Vlindermobiel? How do you use it? and what is it made of?
The Vlindermobiel is a project that I had for a long while in my mind. And now after a very successful crowdfunding campaign we have realised the Vlindermobiel.
I often do fieldwork and I always have to take a lot of tools with me. I was having the problem that I couldn’t take all the tools with me that I wanted and that was frustrating me. At the same time, I was working on an idea for an educational project with children. But I wanted to do a project not only on a school but also on a festival or a museum or in nature too. So the idea of the Vlindermobiel was born.
The Vlindermobiel is a mobile that just like a butterfly can transform in different shapes. It can be a butterfly cage for living butterflies to study, it can transform into a laboratorium and the Vlindermobiel can transform into another shape for education. In the educational project, children can learn about butterflies and their transformation process.
So it depends where the Vlindermobiel is travelling too, how he is packed and in what kind of shape it will transform in.
Image courtesy of the artist
Image courtesy of the artist
Image courtesy of the artist
Image courtesy of the artist
Could you tell us something about the work you created for the Verbeke Foundation?
There is a short description online but it is not super clear.
http://www.verbekefoundation.com/en/all-artists/stefan-cools-nl-o1981/ is it a permanent piece or a temporary installation?
Geert Verbeke has seen my work two years ago during an exhibition at RAM Foundation in Rotterdam. Verbeke invited me to the Verbeke Foundation and asked me if I was interested to join the summer exhibition with my research. There I have build in one of the greenhouses my installation that is now on permanent view. The Verbeke Foundation has given me the possibility to do my research for the coming years at the foundation. In fact it’s an installation with nectar plants and host plants for the butterflies and a laboratory. The outcomes of the research together with new pieces that I make are added to the installation. So the installation is growing and transforming every year.
Image courtesy of the artist
Image courtesy of the artist
I think you’ve traveled to many countries for your research. Could you tell us about the differences your encountered from country to country regarding the butterflies?
I think that the big difference is the season of the butterflies. In the Netherlands because of the cold winters some butterflies stay in the Netherlands as butterfly, some butterflies overwinter as cocoon and some immigrate to a warmer climate. So we have have two peak moments that we see lots of butterflies. That’s in spring and end summer beginning of the autumn. Next year I’ll do research in Australia in the tropics of Queensland. In the tropics there are not much differences in winter and summer so there are during the whole year butterflies. That means that instead of one or two and sometimes three generations of butterflies in Europe, there will be probably more generations born in Australia in one year. That will be very interesting to see because that means that the climate in the tropics is very good for the butterflies and the time of transformation from egg to butterfly will be faster than in Europe. I can imagine that this can have consequences of the colours of the meconium of the tropical butterflies.
I believe that wonder is one of the most important things in live. I wonder every day while working in and with nature. That’s the basic that I need for my art, without wonder I can’t work. It can be found in the simple things of life. And that is something I want to show to the public with my educational projects. I believe that wonder is something that makes you feel more connected to everything you are surrounded with, I think that this is something we are loosing nowadays if we are not learning again how to wonder.
When i met you in Maastricht, i asked you if climate change was having any negative impact on the butterfly population but you seemed to say that it was actually good for them. Could you tell us more about it? How are the new condition benefiting (or not) the butterflies? How do you explain it?
That’s not completely true, at the moment climate change is negative for the butterflies. Like the last winter was so warm that some of the butterflies were coming out of their cocoon too early because they where thinking seen the temperature that it was spring. But on that moment so early in the year the butterflies can not find any nectar plants to feed from. Because those were not yet in blossom.
But what I meant to say is that what we see is negative doesn’t need to be negative for the butterflies. Butterflies are very good at adapting to new conditions. I think the monoculture is something more to worry about. That is what we want to tell to the people with the Butterfly Gardens we are creating. Plants that we see as weeds in the garden and parks are very important for butterflies. Most of the host plants where the caterpillars eat from are weeds. Without those weeds the butterflies will disappear.
Image courtesy of the artist
Image courtesy of the artist
Any upcoming research, project, event you could share with us?
I’m heading to Australia again next year. This time I will be working at the laboratory of The Butterfly sanctuary in Kuranda for 2 weeks. And after that at Tanks Arts Centre / Botanical Gardens in Cairns for 3 weeks. These residencies are part of my long term project. During this period I will perform research on the tropical butterflies that can be found in Cairns and surroundings. The results of these projects will be presented at The Verbeke Foundation in Fall 2017.
After the research period in Australia I’ll go in June 2017 to do a Residency at the Van Gogh Huis in Zundert (NL). During a month I will research the butterflies Vincent could have seen during his childhood in Zundert. I will make a reconstruction of the garden of his parental house.
Thanks Stefan!
The Tapijnkazerne area which i visited during the Week of New Maastricht:
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In addition to asking the 4A’s to meet in October, the ANA wants the association to acknowledge that there’s a transparency problem in the U.S. media buying industry.
“We ask that the 4A’s publicly clarify whether they accept or reject the findings of the K2 report — a report which reflects the unambiguous perspectives from current and former agency leaders and a cross section of senior leaders in the industry,” according to Mr. Liodice’s statement.
He added the associations must agree that there is a common problem if they want to have meaningful conversations going forward.
Last week my ex-partner, Al Ries, and Ad Age Editor in Chief Rance Crain picked apart Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s “Stronger together” slogan as not being unique and controversial enough. While they did indeed make some good points, I feel that his article left out some important things that play well to Hillary’s efforts.
First of all, she has repositioned Republican-party candidate Donald Trump as being “dangerous.” Hanging a negative on your opponent as a way to set up a positive is a powerful marketing strategy. His campaign has been divisive and the “Together” idea plays against this very nicely as it reinforces his anti-Muslim, anti-Hispanic and anti-women efforts that will keep him from winning a national election.
She also repositioned him as being “thin-skinned” as well as dangerous. He exhibits this weakness anytime something negative is said about him as he cannot handle criticism. This has been apparent in the wake of the Democratic National Convention.
I hate conferences. I’m not a fan of the schmoozing. And the thought of spending time away from my wife, kids and dog just to attend one never interested me at all. What creative person in his or her right mind would willingly attend a conference?
In fact, I had never been to one until last month’s Ad Age Small Agency Conference in Miami. Admittedly, I was only enticed to go because our agency was shortlisted for a Small Agency of the Year award.
Ad Age’s conference manager had sent me a personalized email saying we had been “named a medal finalist” in the 75-150 person category. For the first time ever, I decided to go and invited our executive team, which, luckily, includes my wife (the kids and dog had to stay home).
“The intent was to create a campaign that really did tell a story that centers around the many life events that exist for American consumers and in a subtle way, also convey that Nationwide can be the solution for all of those many sides,” said Terrance Williams, exec VP and chief marketing officer, noting that 75% of Americans view the brand as only an auto insurance company. “The intent was to use our jingle but use it in a new way,” he added. This is some of the first new creative work Mr. Williams has helmed since taking over the top marketing role last year at the company, which has $43 billion in total sales.
The three 30-second spots are designed to air throughout the Olympics and continue indefinitely; the door is also open for potential partnerships with additional musicians, Mr. Williams noted.
Ogilvy & Mather, which was named Nationwide’s creative lead agency earlier this year, created the campaign. Nationwide also worked with Edelman on PR, while UM handled media duties.
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What is WOW Design?
WOW Design is a Strategic Brand Design firm which has been the strength behind some of the major Brand Launches and Revamps in the country, and has been growing steadily under the able leadership of the powerful trio: Deepti Kshirsagar, Saswata Das and Saiprasad Karalkar. While it was Deepti’s brainchild fueled with creativity, it was Saswata who brought in majority of the clients and Sai who got in the best of talent, which helped lay down the strong foundations of the company. Each one of them has brought in the best industry expertise and experience to form a strategically strong, creatively fresh and technically perfect team. WOW Design, a private limited entity with a strength of approximately 40 employees, has won over the trust of its esteemed clients by its Thoughtfully Fresh approach. It’s known in the industry for its expertise in Brand Strategy, Visual Identity, Packaging, Retail and Space Design. WOW Design has been associated with the top FMCG majors in INDIA and International wiz:
ITC
Amul
JK Helen Curtis
Cavin Kare
Biersdorf,
Berger Paints,
Piramal
Abbott
Dabur
Parle
JYOTI Laboratories etc. to name a few. WOW design has been successful in implementing effective brand strategies in the NON – FMCG sectors in as well and has robust plans to extend its expertise into tapping the same in the coming years.
What was the brief given by Dabur?
The client’s brief was to extend the fruit equity of Real to the fizz category and target a new TG which was not directly being targeted by Real – the youth. It had to appeal to the target group including Males & Females, SEC A within the age group of 22-25 years living in the metro cities.
The TG looks for a drink with aspirational value and they consume the beverage as a mood enhancer, which helps them break from the monotonicity to elevate their mood. They have graduated from the Carbonated Soft Drink usage and need the fun of fizz in their drink along with tangible benefits. It is the format of the drink that is fruit & fizz which is a new appealing proposition that they want to try, also the variants is a trigger for usage due to the taste perception & exoticness of the berries.
This is a drink that gives the consumer a new tasty option of a fizzy drink with the goodness of fruits, an exotic treat that uplifts their mood. The core reason to believe was an offering with exotic fruits with the excitement of fizz from the house of Real.
The two main things to focus on were ;
The premium being charged at Rs.40 needs to justify the value proposition of the product
The product being new and exciting with fruits & fizz is the main PI driving factor
The insight that the brief provided was that beverages are the easiest and fastest mood enhancers.
How was the solution arrived at?
A segment which was left out of Real’s portfolio was that of youngsters from 16-25 years of age. This new launch is intended to bring excitement to this growing target segment, therefore it demanded a thorough understanding of, their behaviour, attitude & buying patterns .Decoding the way they live their life and the way they communicate in their social circles and virtual networks was essential to learn in order to define the identity and imagery of the brand.
Capturing the essence of the brand’s core proposition of a striking blend of exotic fruit juices with sparkling fizz was imperative yet had to be communicated in a manner to the young TG to be able fosters the attitude of choosing something different. Hence the brand identity and imagery had to reflect the contemporary ideas and concept that the youth believe in.
What were the results of the solutions?
The design solution has resulted very well as an output on the cans. The brand has just been launched in a couple of markets and is yet too early to garner the actual response on the same.
Why the name Real VOLO?
The concept was carved out from the core understanding of this generation’s attitude. The brand name was derived from the concept and coined as ‘VOLO’ excerpting the initials from the ‘We only live once’ so that it sounds more inclusive to the youth. The team used ‘V’ instead of the ‘WE’ as that’s how the generation’s chats are and it sounds more inclusive to our TG. The branding and design had to be more youth centric, catchy, contemporary and competitive to grab attention of the today’s young generation. Inspired by popular art forms such as graffiti, music, adventure etc., the tessellation patterns in the identity denote the different personality facets of today’s young generation. The black circle behind the identity lockup denotes the societal norms and the tessellation glass like pieces bursting out from the fading concentrated circles signify the free spirit of the youth, breaking the barriers of the society. The bold fonts, contemporary patterns with seamless integration of the fizz story in a distinct way, are sure to differentiate the pack on the shelf space. The Exotic flavours led to defining the vibrant colours for the variants contrasting on the steel grey background. An unconventional approach adopted to appeal the young created an individualistic shelf space for VOLO.
What colours are they available in? Does each colour represent something different?
The variants are available in two vibrant colors Red and Purple. The Red colour stands for cranberry and blueberry whereas the Purple colour stands for black current and grape. The colours black and silver have a veiled meaning in it. The black color of the circle denotes the societal norms and the tessellation glass like pieces bursting out from the fading concentrated circles signify the free spirit of the youth, breaking the barriers of the society on an outrageous silver background.
How would you describe the youth of today?
I won’t say that the Youth today lives a carefree life. They live it more on their terms and also believe in voicing out their opinions and are strong headed in their attitude. The youth love to experiment and hence it’s challenging to emulate a brand for the youth. We got into several rounds of deliberation, research and surveys that led to decoding their responsiveness towards relevant stimuli in terms of imagery, colours and tonality. Our team has been able to hit the nail right on the spot for VOLO, I would say.
How much time did it take on the research to meet the brief’s objective?
An extensive secondary and primary research was done for the understanding of this category of carbonated drinks and the emergence of newer formats in the category – the consumer, the cultural standpoint. The entire research took about a month to lead to a channelized strategic solution.
Details for VOLO :
Creative Agency : WOW Design
Creative Director: Aniruddha Banerjee
Art Director : Aarti Lad
Copy Writer : Puja Shirodkar
Digital Artist/ Artworks : Vishal Shinde
The post Dabur Real Volo by Wow Design appeared first on DesiCreative.
Another video shows a restaraunt waiter loading his arm with plates of hot dogs, with the phrase “we are all weightlifters,” along with the Escape tagline, “Unstoppable.”
An ad that will run during the NBC’s coverage of the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday brings the Snapchat theme to TV. The spot, which was shot in a vertical, smartphone style, strings together several Snapchat-style videos. The scenes include a woman doing a balance beam routine on a concrete barrier at the beach and and a man doing the splits on a subway car as the phrase “We Are All Gymnasts” scrolls on screen. The campaign’s broader theme is “We Are All Fans,” which continues Escape’s “We Are All” messaging that is part of Escape’s “Unstoppable” campaign.
The agency is WPP’s GTB, which is Ford’s AOR.
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