CLICK HERE FOR FULL SCREEN FLASH VERSION WITH SOUND.

(Shift = Zoom In. Ctrl / Command = Zoom Out. Hot Spots = Continue). (To view the above panorama you need QuickTime. For the full screen version you need Adobe Flash Player).

This work is part of a series in which the relation is being examined between national identity and commerciality. That is, on the one hand an inquiry into national branding; its control and its artificiality. On the other hand into the phenomenon that by anticipating on national desires arbitrary products are being sold. The whole is being placed within a historic framework, among others to test the legitimacy of several claims that by both are being made. The topical issue of national identity, which is usually being approached from a political standpoint, is here in the first place being addressed from the given of marketing. Inevitable however this leads to a dialogue about the "foreigner problem", populism and other political issues, both are indissolubly connected.

The completely computer generated spaces literally are in a concept phase, somewhere between fact and fiction (a HalluciNation). Is this the brand Holland, the idealised version of our culture? Or is it a future / doom scenario, the accidentally leaked plans of the Party for Freedom or General Intelligence and Security Service? As well the UltraChrome Prints as the interactive panorama views show a uniform and sterile environment in which consistent the same corporate identity has been carried through. Throughout these commercial spaces several "typical" Dutch historic elements have been used; the ball shooting game, the quinces, the Rietveld chair and the colour orange. However, the exact function of the rooms remains diffuse, what could be interpreted as the search of the modern Dutchman for his identity. It's unclear whether the depicted spaces show the world of the tourist or maybe even that of the asylum seeker. Also is it left an open question whether the to artist impressions related images welcome or menace the user. The in marketing always present tension between seduction and fear is translated to the topical issue of globalisation. Hereby the national logo can be read as a metaphor for the upcoming commercial identity at the expense of a decreasing classic national identity.

The archetypical Dutch barrel organ has been chosen as the mechanical score. The thereby used punch system underlies directly our computer technology, together with the 3d-software this refers to the us more and more controlling technique. (Flash version with sound click here).

__________________________________________________________________