We Are Rhythm

This story brings together all stories from previous episodes. It shows how people need rhythm in their lives. It shows that tuning to rhythm is how we live together and how we survive.

The story is written by Caroline Nevejan, the Chief Science Officer (City of Amsterdam) and professor by special appointment at the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research of the University of Amsterdam.

The illustrations for this story are made by Huda AbiFarès. She is the Founding Director of the Khatt Foundation and Khatt Books publishers. She specializes in multilingual typographic research and design, with focus on Arabic typography and design history. She is a designer, writer, researcher, editor and design curator. To view the artwork that was made for this story, please check out this link.

The story in this episode is read by Caroline Nevejan.

This story is about how people tune to each other and their surroundings. Even when we are not together we can tune to each other in online environments, as was the case many times during the Covid-lockdowns of last year.

This story is written by Satinder Gill who is a research fellow with the Centre for Music and Science at the University of Cambridge. She investigates why the rhythm of our bodies and voices helps us to make sense of each other and be present, and how and why this changes when we use technology.

The illustrations for this story are made by graphic designer Naji el Mir, With over 15 years of experience in the different areas of graphic design and visual communication, Naji today considers himself a visualiser; he translates words and meaning into shapes and forms.

To view the artwork that was made for this story, please check out this link.

The story in this episode is read by Satinder Gill.

This story is about a little girl in North Africa who dances every day to protect her soul from the male oppression she faces in her environment.

The story is written by Kaouthar Darmoni who has almost twenty years of experience with gender and media studies and is also an experienced entrepreneur, and speaker on female leadership and media personality. In recent years, she has also been active as a goddess dance coach, to empower women. Since 2019, she has been director of Atria, a knowledge institute for emancipation and women’s history.

The illustrations for this story are made by Wissam Shawkat, an award-winning Iraqi calligrapher. Though he studied civil engineering, Shawkat dedicated his life and work to calligraphy and graphic design. He is known for a new calligraphic style that he invented and named al-Wissam.

To view the artwork that was made for this story, please check out this link.

The story in this episode is read by Kaouthar Darmoni.

This story is about the beauty and art of catching waves as a surfer.

The story is written by Ivo Lima Do Carmo, who graduated in philosophy from the University of Lisbon. He is a writer, he has a post-graduate degree in “surf and performance”, and opened a surf school ‘Club Vagabond’, where he teaches. Do Carmo is also president of the local surf and environmental association.

The illustrations for this story are made by Barrack Rima who is a comic artist, a filmmaker and a member of the Beirut-based Samandal comics association.

To view the artwork that was made for this story, please check out this link.

The story in this episode is read by Ivo lima Do Carmo.

This story is about stardust and spaceships and everything in between. From small bacteria that live on earth to stars in faraway galaxies, the writer of this story, Angelo Vermeulen, explores the rhythms of the universe.

Angelo Vermeulen is a space systems researcher, biologist, artist and futurist. He is a co-founder of SEADS (Space Ecologies Art and Design), a cross-cultural collective of artists, scientists, engineers, and activists. Its goal is to reshape the future through critical inquiry and hands-on experimentation.

The images for this story are made by Arise Wan and Heeyoun Kim. Wan is an architect based in Germany. She is also an active SEADS member and a guest researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Kim is an architect based in Seoul/Amsterdam. He is an expert in architectural computation and technical works and he has an interest in how to implement architectural language and beauty, not only in the field of architecture but also in artistic projects.

To view the artwork that was made for this story, please check out this link.

The story in this episode is read by Angelo Vermeulen.

This is the story of the girl Elsa, who is late for school and discovers a whole new world; the world of the connected traffic lights.

This story is written by Alessandro Bozzon, Professor of Human- Centred Artificial Intelligence at the Delft University of Technology. His research lies at the intersection of human computation, user modelling and web information retrieval. His goal is to improve well-being and foster inclusion through web-based, personalised social computing systems.

The images for this story are made by Richard Vijgen. They are based on real traffic data from the City of Amsterdam. Vijgen is an artist and designer whose work focuses on artistic data visualization. He creates multi-sensorial data experiences that visualize the invisible technological dimensions of reality.To view the artwork that was made for this story, please check out this link.

The story in this episode is read by Alessandro Bozzon

In this story, the writer Lipika Bansal, tells about her personal connection with the making process of textile and the history and the trade routes of textiles between India and the Netherlands. She also tells about the fashion industry.

Lipika Bansal is a creative researcher and social designer. She works in the public domain. Lipika founded Textiel Factorij, uses co-creation and artistic research methodologies for empowerment and change. 

The images for this story are made by Hitankshu Bhatt, who is a photographer, graphic designer, nature lover, researcher, and Rumi lover. Hitanshu’s work is primarily centred on Indian craft and folk-art practices and documenting these traditions.

To view the artwork that was made for this story, please check out this link.

The story in this episode is read by Lipika Bansal.

This story is about carefully looking at fights. Maybe fights are not as chaotic as they seem when you understand their rhythms.

The story is written by Marie Rosenkrantz Lindegaard, who is an anthropologist and criminologist. Her research focuses on public space behaviour, in particular rule breaking and rule compliance and how people deal with conflicts and violence.

The illustrations for this story are made by Cyprian Koscielniak. He is a renowned illustrator and graphic designer of posters, TV stage design, film leaders, book illustrations, newspaper illustrations, magazines and commercial work. Among other things he had collaborations with newspapers as NRC Handelsblad, Financial Dagblad, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Der Spiegel and New York Times.

To view the artwork that was made for this story, please check out this link.

The story in this episode is read by Marie Rosenkrantz Lindegaard

This story is about a Food Forest in Amsterdam Southeast. It talks about how we notice the world around us and how we can notice together and see more. It is also about noticing more than human beings around you.

The story is written by Debra Solomon. Solomon is an artist-researcher, developing multispecies urbanism as a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam.

The illustrations for this story are made by Gijs Frieling. Frieling creates murals, and in his work he focusses on the relationship between painting and architecture, with a special interest in ornamentation and decoration.

To view the artwork that was made for this story, please check out this link. The story is read by Rachel Walker.

In this story, the writer, Sirishkumar Manji tells about how he was introduced to the tabla at the age of six and about how one can recognise different rhythms by listening carefully to the world around you.

Manji is a multi- percussionist and Indian classical tabla player who experiments with rhythm as a way of life.

The illustrations for this story are made by well known graphic designer Max Kisman. He uses the physicality of the curve and the ‘presence of absence’ in his (digital) imaging and this became his signature style.

To view the artwork that was made for this story, please check out this link.

The story is read by Sirishkumar Manji. The Tabla in this episode is also played by Manji himself.