Welcome to the pop-up Counter-Tourist Information center! The only place in Rotterdam that offers a unique personalized view of the city.
Do you want to experience the city—without being a nuisance to residents—as a local Rotterdamer would? Wait no more! Drop by the Counter-Tourist Information center for all things authentic Rotterdam: loitering, littering and anti model-citizen ettiquette. We offer personalized guides and blending-in equipment.
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Our personel is always present to provide advice catered to your interests and concerns.
<p>A critical counter map looking at city marketing & planning versus the city living and experience. It's a parody on postcard surreality and apps/websites portraying cool and flashy 2D/3D imagery without the complicated dimensions of the city without showing what's behind the scenes. Rotterdam is 'back on the map'. POINXS questions that map and looks at a city that has become less livable and affordable and reports the bugs from a hill that leads to a dead end pavement, via private transport to wheelchair inaccessible hotspots with ambitions to become a multi-user platform for reporting other people's POINXS. </p>
<p>This is a device built to counter mosquito devices and prolong possible periods of loitering.
Mosquito devices emit high frequencies and are installed by private companies and individuals to specifically target and drive away youth from hanging out. They can cause nausea, ear pain and overstimulation, and some activists have called it a 'sonic weapon'. They're frequently installed in liminal spaces, which are fruitful places for loitering and socializing.
The 'Fly on the Wall' device mimics how a mosquito works to cancel out its effects, and make room for youth to loiter without disruptions.</p>
<p>The Ministry of the Infraordinary invites you to experience the city of Rotterdam in ways you haven't imagined. Let the subjective infrastructure map inspire and guide you and search for views you haven't seen before, look up and under, listen carefully for the subtler sounds of life, consider your place and your role in this network of cables, waves and invisible connections and contribute to the photo map that aspires to make the city our own.
At the Ministry of the Infraordinary, we are concerned with noticing the subtle fabric that makes up our urban surroundings. Using qualitative and generous methods to interrogate the ever-changing ecosphere that constitute our cities. Working in close relation with partners such as trees, trash-cans, lamp-posts and the canals we want to promote considerate and intimate relations between inhabitants and inhabited.</p>
<p>INTIMACITY is an installation art piece that explores the relationship between people and the intimacy of the city. It blurs the boundaries and distinction of public and private spaces.
The installation is composed of a semi-transparent mesh mosquito net, stitched together with various materials and fabrics. One section of the net has a hollow opening designed for people to experience observing in a city/public area while maintaining a hint of privacy/intimacy. This setup might provide new perspectives or sources of inspiration and encourage contemplation on the importance of art in everyday life. Lauren Berlant once wrote, “Rethink intimacy is to appraise how we have been and how we live and how we might imagine lives that make more sense than the ones so many are living." Here, I want to invite you to explore the possibilities of intimacy within this city with me : )</p>
<p>A collection of publications includes autoethnography works exploring "why I like loitering" and components that inspire individuals and groups to envision and depict their ideal "nearby".
"Nearby" not only refers to geographical proximity but also to the closeness of emotional and social relationships, transcending the dimension of time. By sharing and exploring ideal "nearby," integrate personal visions into a collective map diary, creating the potential for a new city or parts of it.</p>
<p>In today's cities, surveillance systems are often touted as indispensable elements of urban security. Yet, despite the widespread use of these technologies over the past decades, many people, especially women, still feel unsafe in public spaces, particularly at night.
The re-secure installation lets you delve into these pressing issues by challenging the conventional perspectives on surveillance. This thought-provoking exhibit empowers individuals by hijacking security cameras, encouraging a shift in the locus of control. It raises questions: For whom are security cameras really designed? Whose safety do they prioritize?
Come visit re-secure - an experience for young and old!.</p>
<p>In games, checking points are saving the player’s state, so they could resume the point if they fail.
Checking point is a map about the camera zones in the city, related to the checking points in the games, using the camera zone as a checking point to connect the path, also explore the relationship between the player and the people behind the monitor.
In the map, the path that the player takes will leave no traces, but the camera zones will leave traces as checkpoints that save the player's status. By accepting cookies, you will navigate through various camera zones. You can do this by scanning QR codes or using GPS record settings at each camera zone checkpoint. This will generate an individual path for you, although you will never see the saved image captured by the government.</p>
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<b>EmoHooHoo</b>
<p>Specially designed for adults prone to embarrassment. EmoHooHoo supports the outward expression of unspoken emotions in public places; once you wear this device, it clumsily reflects your emotional changes, whether you like it or not. 💨💨💨
In urban life, emotional expression is confined to specific occasions, often requiring an entry fee. To achieve emotional freedom in a consumer society, we must first dissolve this embarrassment. EmoHooHoo helps you break free from societal constraints. If burdened, attribute responsibility to our device.💨💨💨</p>
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<b>Scripts to Read the City</b>
<p>The project imagines an urban environment that can be read, analyzed and criticized as a text. By reading the city in this way we find other possible ways of seeing, moving and listening. In a scripted city, marked by escalating levels of perfection, efficiency and control, the emancipatory aspects of urban life are undermined, allowing little room for anything that doesn't fit the image of the "norm".
Scripts to Read the City is an attempt to foster diverse experiences and uses of space, similar to a theater script interpreted differently by each actor. The tools of navigation are a device indicating which character to play and a guide, including a set of directions and instructions.
The project explores a relation between scripts and spontaneity, chance and control and how scripts and unpredictability can enhance each other, stimulating imagination, encouraging us to engage with space from another perspective. </p>
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<b>Portable Mosquito</b>
<p>What if anti-loitering devices such as Mosquitos foregrounded dialogical, rather than monological interaction? Mosquitos buzz away at the margins of perception: for some people the devices may be inaudible, for others the noise may be incessant. Make a journey to the portable mosquito. It functions with a combination of analogue and digital circuitry. Connect to the open WiFi network called 'moz'. To adjust the sound emitted by the analogue circuit visit `http://mosquito.local` in a browser on your phone.
<p>The Counter-Tourist Information Center is nothing more than a front. They receive funds from and frequently collaborate with the Tourist Information Center. They aren't invested in helping people have a more meaningful connection with the city, they just want to make money off of hype, same as the Tourist Information Center... They're really part of a much larger issue. If you want to support actual local businesses and not gentrify the area by being a tourist, stay away from this.
<p>the counter tourist info center delivers on what it claims to offer: the possibility to go thru the city as a local. no more of people looking at you strangely because your not familiar with the local culture and traditions. with this center you not only get to blend in, but experience the city for what it is to be!! even if it turn out to be a bit rotten. that's part of every city tho ;))
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<p>⭑⭑⭑✩✩</p>
<p>Got in here via a speakeasy. Had to knock 5 times saying "Feyenoord Attentie Sparta Buurtpreventie Excelsior".
The person at the door said "What are you talking about?". I said "Why are you asking me that?" Door person then replied: "Very well then." As soon as I got in, there were 5 shady figures standing in line. They all had something to say or ask:
1. "How have you traversed here? Could you name 5 surveillance objects you've seen along your path?"
2. "How long will you be staying? When are you leaving? Isn't it time for you to go? Don't you have a train toc catch?"
3. If you follow the trail of drops, you will be in the humid center of the area.
4. Does this place even exist? Are we in a movie? Are we being watched? What are you looking at? Leave me alone
5. Rambled something about seamless peripheral derivé structurelessness, seemed confused
After those 5 blurbs I went to see if I could get a drink. I saw the bar in the distance and asked for their brightest cup of water. The waiter looked suspicious and tapped 6 times on the bar. Out of the blue, 7 gemeentewerkers en 3 bezoekers grabbed me by the shoulders and threw me out. The moment I realized what happened I took my phone and started typing this rev- [redacted]</p>
<p>The counter tourist info center offers me a free apple tart and coffee, so nice and friendly! Also, the person told me about their secret local hotspots in Rotterdam.</p>
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<p>⭑⭑✩✩✩</p>
<p>Offers mid activities that confused me. Why are they based in a bakfiets?!? I just feel disoriented </p>
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<p>⭑⭑⭑⭑✩</p>
<p>Turns out they don't Queensday anymore </p>
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<p>⭑⭑⭑✩✩</p>
<p>The 4-piece set includes a fitted sheet, flat sheet, and pillowcases – all essentials for a well-made bed. The fitted sheet securely stays in place, ensuring a neat appearance and minimizing the hassle of constant readjustment. The flat sheet and pillowcases complement the ensemble, offering a cohesive and inviting look to my bed.</p>
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<p>⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑</p>
<p>The Counter-Tourist Information Center opened my eyes to True Rotterdam. I was so tired of all the other information centers, that promoted the Euromast and the Maritime Museum but tried to hide so many things that constitute this unique urban experience, but now I am really informed and feel like a local. More importantly, the Counter-Tourist Information Center changed the way I will look at cities forever. Thank you Counter-Tourist Information Center! :* </p>
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<p>⭑⭑⭑⭑✩ </p>
<p>They bring noisy devices everywhere thta they claim make 'human music', that only 'civil citizens' can 'appreciate'. 4 out of 5 stars.</p>
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<p>⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑</p>
<p>Geachte Contratoeristeninformatiecentrum Rotterdam, wij willen onze dank uitspreken richting Storm die ons heeft geholpen met het vervangen van oude papieren cadeaubonnen alsmede het vervangen van een geblokkeerde cadeaukaart.
Mvgr Jaap-Hendrik van Barendrecht-Doetinchem
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<p>⭑⭑⭑✩✩ </p>
<p>Update I showed human music to band practise and they really really like it. I think I will be promoted from bass to guitar soon. 3 out of 5 stars.
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<p>⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑</p>
<p>Tot het Counter-Tourist Information Center op mijn pad kwam, wist ik niet eens dat ik verdwaald was! 2 jaar is voorbij gevlogen, merci!</p>
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<p>⭑⭑⭑⭑✩</p>
<p>Update I got kicked out of band. Said Im never 'down to hang'. To whom I say well who is ever 'down' to 'hang' nowadays? 'Where'? I ask you this. 4 out of 5 stars.</p>
