IBCoMagazine issue 3

Dream job or just a job What is it like to work in a creative industry? (p. 6)

Up close and personal with

IBCoMmittee Chairman

Karim Hussainali (p. 12)

Humans of Rotterdam

Discovering the people around us (p. 22)

Backstage with

Roman Weber

An exclusive interview with the brains behind ‘Wild Youth’ (p. 8)

EDITORIAL

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ike many of you, I am not a local native of Rotterdam. Most of us IBCoM students have moved from all over the globe to this city, just for our education- to develop ourselves in multiple ways. However, even though I have only lived here for almost 2 years, I can condifently say I wouldn’t choose to live anywhere else (in Holland that is).

Rotterdam is in itself a unique blend of old and new, of different nationalities and cultures. In light of the 75th anniversary, the city has donesome crazy stunts. I’m sure you’ve noticed the huge ferris wheel at Blaak, the transformation of the metro stations, the creepy baby installations all over the centre, and finally the greatly anticipated ‘stairway to heaven’ (or high way to hell??). The city never seems to sleep when it comes to creative city branding, and so is creating its own culture.

The creative industry of Rotterdam is on the rise, and for this issue we choose to explore how it has manifested in- and outside the world of IBCoM. Within our course, we’ve discovered how creatively talented our fellow students are as we take a look at the IBCoM Awards, IBCoMittee, and Wilde Theatre group. We also look off-campus, and see how the student’s are connected to different cultural activities, as we check out the most common clubs and creative internships that many second years are involved in. Besides all this, we take a closer look at museums and monuments that the city has provided us over the recent months.

All in all, the third issue of IBCoMagazine is packed with creativity. It’s an exciting time to live in Rotterdam as a student, with so many possibilities to develop us not only academically, but also culturally. I would like to think that we never stop learning, from each other, from our mistakes, and also from what we see around us.

This issue will be probably the last one that will take on this format. In light of developing ourselves creatively, IBCoMagazine wants to experiment with our fourth and final issue of the year by focusing all our energy on the blog. The transitioning might not please everyone, but we see it as a positive development that has to happen as media-use is changing.

More information will follow soon!

For now, I invite you to sit back and relax as we take you on an exciting journey through the creative world.

Jessica van Wijgerden Editor-in-Chief

CONTENT |04| International Film Festival Rotterdam |06| IFFR: An intern’s perspective |08| Venour: a creative industry |10| Backstage with Roman Weber |12| The Big Wheel |14| Up close and Personal: Exclusive Interview

with Chairman of the IBCoMittee Karim Hussainali |16| IBCoM Awards 2016 |18| Most Inspiring Lecturer: Daniel Trottier |20| Blender: What’s the next step? |22| Humans of Rotterdam |24| Art Mania

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International Film Festival Rotterdam

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lthough it has been a while ago that an abundance of flags decorated Rotterdam, the annual International Film Festival is an event which should not be forgotten in this section. From 27 January until 7 February, the 45th edition of this festival took place in our city.

An event to inspire, enjoy and to develop some square eyes.

When thinking about a film festival, it is often thought to be just an opportunity to watch an

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endless amount of films. Sure enough, with a selection of approximately 500 films and only two weeks time, it does seem like an intense film marathon. However, soon enough I learned that there is so much more about this festival. Whether you join one of the Talks with well known film professionals or dance the night away during Dance Dance Dance, a dull moment is never to be found. The most intriguing events this year were probably the sound // vision nights at

Worm, where German and Japanese audiovisual performers showed how film as a medium can be used in many artistic ways. The hypnotising elements and techno sounds of the performances could take you away from a while, but, after a long day in the cinema, even make you a bit sleepy.

However, do not think that all these events push the importance of the films to the background. After all, it is still a film festival. After having travelled the world to find filmmakers who have something to say and to show with their films, the organisation came up with a diverse selection. Whether you find yourself in a bizarre Japanese horror, a stop motion or an English costume drama, there is something for everyone. But, most importantly, the festival gives you the opportunity to broaden your taste in films. So, do not let your preferences guide your choices, and step out of your comfort zone; you might find that masterpiece you were looking for in an unexpected genre.

by Lianne Dusseldorp

Other aspects of a film festival which may come to mind, may be glamour, paparazzi and an endlessly long red carpet. Although the latter is present at some events, the others certainly are not. Instead, the festival is characterised by an informal atmosphere, which make many barriers nonexistent. This makes the festival so accessible and loved by many. For instance, after seeing a great film, you can just walk up to its director and tell him what a great job he did, maybe even accompanied by a beer or two. However, although a few blockbusters can be shown during the festival, do not expect to meet the typical Hollywood star. Instead, you get the chance to meet upcoming film professionals from all over the world and hear about their -often fascinating- stories. And who knows, maybe that same actress who you just sat down with, will receive an Oscar a few years later.

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IFFR:

an intern’s perspective Julia (23) is a film student at Breda’s art academy. When she got the chance to do an internship at International Film Festival Rotterdam, she naturally did not hesitate; how did that go?

How did you experience the working culture?

How did you end up at IFFR and what was your main function?

J: I was doing my internship as a sort of assistant to one of the programmers of the festival; I did all the small, as well as sometimes bigger tasks that he didn’t get to himself. An example was doing research for finding potential films - very exciting of course! I have done this for about half a year and I actually got it through my boyfriend. He knew the guy, as he was his former teacher back in Gent (Belgium); such a small world, right?

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J: What a lot of people don’t know is that IFFR is actually an organization all year round; not just during the festival.

There is a constant small staff that arranges things (which I assisted), which then turns into this huge network of people once the festival comes closer.

However, the main thing that struck me is that no matter how many (sometimes famous) people are involved, everyone always remains sincere. From what I’ve heard, that is also what distincts IFFR from many other festivals.

With for example Cannes, everything gets blown out of proportion and it becomes this huge spectacle. IFFR really represents more of a Rotterdam mindset, meaning that the emphasis is mostly on the movies and not so much on all the fame and spectacle around it.

The organization simply wants to provide new, upcoming movie artists with a platform.

Did you bump into other unexpected things too?

J: As I said, the organization becomes bigger and bigger once the festival is approaching. At a certain point, I was simply astonished by how well everything was organized. Literally any type of education comes together in the organization; communications, management, finance, and so on. There is a different person for every single task; booking hotels, picking movies, contact with sponsors, etcetera. The financial department was actually already busy planning everything for 2018! However, it was not as cultural as I expected; the movies are what make the festival cultural Do you see yourself working here later on as well?

J: No, I actually want to make my own movies, so I hope IFFR will become one of my platforms haha. But this was a great way to see how actual movie makers are treated and I got to socialize with these movie makers as well - overall, an amazing experience and I would not have missed it for the world.

by Ece Topcuoglu & Ted Hoogkamer

by Ilayda Hagens

a crea tive ind ust ry

| Could you tell something about Venour and what you do for Venour?

Venour is a creative collective which is specialized in creating concepts in the area of new media, entertainment and art. Our goal with these creative concepts and projects is to trigger and touch the inner child of every person.

My role within Venour is that of office manager and creative producer. Together with my colleagues I manage all the projects we are working on in terms of communication and production. | What way does Venour in your eyes contribute to the culture of Rotterdam?

Saskia Pique | 33 years old | Creative producer

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Venour contributes to the culture of Rotterdam because of its humor. We, at Venour look at life, art and culture through rose colored glasses, our creativity is and what we put out there (every type of project big or small) is created to make people smile. A good example is an art work we did at Kruisplein in Rotterdam where we made a huge wall painting that reflected all the types of different people living in the area of West-Kruiskade in their own right but we did it with a Venour twist: with a smile

| What are for you other inspiring places or organisations in Rotterdam?

There are many inspiring places to find in Rotterdam. Every part of this city has its own charm if you ask me but I would like to highlight two of them. First of all, Het Hoogkwartier (also where Venour is located) is an area where you can find many creative start ups, Het Industriegebouw for example is a huge building where many new creative studios are located that help and support each other because they are so clustered together. In the same area you can however also find creative organizations like Venour which have been in the game for a longer while and this combination of young and old is very interesting and effective. Second of all, Rotterdam West/Centre, where I live, is very inspiring since you can find back many elements of art, streetart and charm of historic Rotterdam. But also this

area is growing and innovating so there is a visible and nice combination of the idyllic old Rotterdam and the raw, new and urban culture of Rotterdam.

“There are many inspiring places to find in Rotterdam. Every part of this city has its own charm�

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Backstage with

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ROMAN WEBER

hrough a series of fortunate events, Roman Weber found himself as the chairman, director, and script writer of Wilde Theatre group. How did the second year IBCoM student end up in this position and what does it exactly entail? To get to the bottom of it, I treated the German native to a round of beers to loosen up his tongue.

‘’When Wilde Theatre group started in February 2015, its sole purpose was to produce a play in just three months,‘’ Roman started to explain, ‘’the group’s focus was very internationally oriented, as it was set up by three Italian master students.’’ However, after the play was succesfully carried out, and the Italian students graduated, there was a empty space within the leadership. Since Roman was involved as an actor in the last play, he saw this as an opportunity to take on a new challenge. ‘’It fitted with my personal ideals,’’ Roman mentioned, ‘’ I believe that university should not only help with your future career, but also to help you discover new things, new skils, without any social and/or financial pressures.’’

The theatre group facilitates this personal growth specifically for international students. There are many cultural associations on campus, however Roman believes there are only limited opportunities for non­ Dutch speakers. ‘’It is slowly changing,’’ he admits, ‘’ English lectures are increasingly more common, however many social events remain in Dutch.’’ According to Roman, the problem is that Dutch rooted associations are organizing these events. They are trying to cater to the international students’ extracurricular needs, without really knowing their target audience. To succesfully identify the desires, it would be easier to have these groups organized by international students themselves. This is happening at Wilde Theatre, where Roman proudly exclaims ‘’Every single person in our group is from a different country.’’

Since Roman took on the big challenge, an increasing amount of acting workshops, free of charge, were held. This is not a coincidence, as he clearly values the cultural education that the professional volunteers give to further develop the students’ acting skills. ‘’My favourite part of being part of Wilde Theatre is to see people stepping out of their comfort zone through these workshops.’’ Roman answered as I asked him what he enjoys most in his position. ‘’ Theatre can be scary at first, and through such activities the students can get a little taste of acting and turn it into confidence. I really enjoy helping people to get to this point.’’

As a chairman, Roman saw that he could use his own position to further develop his skills. Besides being involved with acting in high school and in last year’s play, Roman doesn’t really see himself as an actor. ‘’I identify more as a script writer’’ he confessed to me, ‘’which is one of the reasons I took on this position, so that I could work on my very own play.’’ Currently, the chairman/ director/ writer is working on a brand new production which will be shown in the Paviljoen on May 20.

The upcoming play, named ‘Wild Youth’, tackles themes that any (international) student might face during their college years abbroad. ‘’How people cope in a foreign environment can have a transforming effect.’’ Roman proclaimed, ‘’Being in such a situation, where you have no social pressure because no one knows your background, can give space to reinvent yourself.’’ The story takes a look at how relationships,with people at home and the current environment, are formed by the dynamic phases of a student life.

As we ordered another round of beers, and talked further about the production (#no spoilers), I realized how much it sounded like someone wrote a play about my own life. I am officially not an ‘international student’, but these topics are universal for us who’ve lived and loved abroad. The constant desire for change and always searching for something perfect, is just one elements of what the characters endure within ‘Wild Youth’. I am a little anxious these topics will hit a little too close to home, wherever that may be, but I sure am curious enough to find out.

by Jessica van Wijgerden

tHE W

WHEEL

by Jessica van Wijgerden

hen I first encountered the Big Wheel next to Markthal, my heart skipped a beat. I finally had the chance to live my childhood dream and ride the attraction. The ferris wheel is an astounding 55 metres high, has 42 cabins, and is called the largest portable wheel in Europe. ‘’The View’’ has been available to the public from March 12 to April 10, in celebration of the 75th anniversary commemorating Rotterdam’s resurrection after the war.

Together with the Cubehouses, Markthal, the ‘pencil-building’, and even the (quite hideous) library, the wheel seems to fit perfectly amongst the oddly shaped structures. This small area of Rotterdam seems to be packed with iconic monuments, and it’s picturesque qualities have attracted many visitors all around the globe.

Not only tourists, but alsothe local residents have noticed Blaak’s unique aesthetic. Particularly Luka van Opstal, photography student in Rotterdam, has paid very close attention. His Instagram account (@dopeandgabbana) regularly features the trending area, including the Big Wheel. The camera comes close to capturing our surreal, and slightly child-like, fascination with this fleeting beacon of light.

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Up close and personal Exclusive interview with IBCoMmittee chairman

Karim Hussainali

by Jeroen Adriaanse & Reyhaan King

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ights, red carpet and fancy suits set the tone for the night of the IBCoM Awards, a night that brought all years of IBCoM together in elegance as opposed to the regular nights of debauchery we get up to. The IBCoM awards presented a pleasant change and fun filled night, but more on that later, as for now let’s explore the behind the scenes and find out what it’s like organizing and event like this straight from the horse’s mouth, Chairman Karim Hussainali.

Q: How did you feel in the days leading up to the event?

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Karim: well its quite hectic..we have been planning this since December, but you know in the last week as you tick off the list, there are always things that go wrong here and there, maybe a little differently, so you have to sort some things out last minute.

Photo credit: Reyhaan King

Luckily I had the whole team behind me, they helped out with everything, the event night went smoothly mostly, and I am happy with the result.

Q: What would you do differently?

Karim: Definitely keep a better eye on the budget; you can’t afford a loss in most cases, so you need to be aware of that. Also a bunch of little things like taking pictures after the event, getting more variety of acts, because we always want to bring something different to the table.

Q: What would you advise anyone looking to join the ibcomittee or do any sort of event planning?

Just make sure you are motivated, as far as tangible rewards go, you do get any since it’s not paid. So you really need to be committed to the

event and ready to put time into it otherwise it won’t work out well or you might not enjoy the process. Aside from a few compliments and the smiles on people’s faces you just have to be satisfied with throwing a decent event. I’m part of 4 committees so you could say I really enjoy event planning, it helps when you get work with a creative team and build something from nothing.

It sure does Karim, it sure does. The IBCoM awards truly were an Oscar themed extravaganza, and it’s no surprise it took quite a bit of organizing, blood sweat and tears. But the result was worth it, so if you attended the awards, you now know a little of what it takes to put something like that together, if you feel inspired why not join a committee yourself and let loose some creativity. For those of you who missed the event, check out the rest of the magazine for the vibe at the event, for now, keep it classy.

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he IBCoMmunity is packed with future stars, enthusiastic entrepreneurs and other promising talents. The IBCoM Awards, therefore, is the perfect event to give the floor to these talented students. Yet again, this year’s Awards succeed in creating an Oscar-like atmosphere where students, teachers, and staff members were all brilliantly dressed up for the occasion.

On the 11th of March 2016, the 6th edition of the IBCoM Awards was held at the renowned Erasmus Paviljoen. A place, which has already seen many awards come and go, that again hosted a night full of smiles and praises. This year’s hosts Roman Weber and Viki Rusin did a fantastic job by welcoming the audiences and the nominees with a hilarious introduction video.

Moreover, traditionally, this year’s teachers and staff members were more than happy to not only award but also present the various categories, which included: Most Fashionable Student, Best Summary Maker, Midnight Warrior, Life of the Party, Most Inspiring Lecturer, Mr/Ms. Sunshine, and Best Start-Up. The winners were lucky enough to receive their awards from the likes of Etienne Auge and Sarah van der Land, who handed out the award for Best Start-Up.

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by Jeroen Adriaanse Eventually, Tom Hollestelle was able to add this one to his list of accolades with his start-up Tom’s Cake, which he started in Prague a couple of years ago. “It [winning] felt great, but also a bit funny. I really didn’t expect to get nominated in the first place. In fact, it’s more of a surprise than anything else. I can definitely use this as promotion material. It’s an award I won’t take for granted and one that I will cherish and remember. Let it be one of many.”

After the winners of the first two categories were announced, it was time for the first act of the evening.

First-year IBCoM student Lisa Stam earned a stand-

ing ovation when she finished her amazing cover of Rihanna’s Russian Roulette. Another first-year IBCoM student, Monica Spelbrink, delighted the audience as well with her powerful cover of David Guetta’s Titanium. Nevertheless, at the end of the ceremony, it was Jarek Pietas who went home with the title “Best Talent” after he performed one of his own songs about how it is to be a student. A song that he wrote a few hours before the ceremony took place.

The closing speech of Karim Hussainali marked the end of the ceremony. A final round of applause for all the nominees, winners, hosts, and the organizers was also the signal to go to Cafe De Stoep for a well-deserved drink. We asked Job Zomerplaag, who is a first-year IBCoM student, to reflect on the ceremony. “It was great, and many will agree. Such a nice ambiance; it wasn’t about winning awards.

The evening showed us that you should pursue your dreams and show your talents. The people, the atmosphere and the afterdrink at De Stoep: this is IBCoM at its best.”

Photo credit: Andreea Zotinca

MOST INSPIRING LECTURER:

DANIEL TROTTIER

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he IBCOM awards always serves as a platform to highlight talented IBCOM students and staff alike. This year marked the 6th edition of the award ceremony, and was a well-attended and enjoyable event. While awards like Best Start Up and Midnight Warrior go to the students, the teachers also get acknowledged for their work. One of the awards that does just that called the Most Inspiring Lecture and the name pretty much speaks for itself! This year, this award was given to none other than Dr. Daniel Trottier.

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When asked what he likes most about teaching IBCOM students, he says: “I’m impressed by their enthusiasm, especially in the context of a 09:00 tutorial or an 18:30 lecture. It’s also great when they draw upon ideas that we discussed previously, or even in previous years. I think that emphasizes how the programme is much more than a series of classes.”

What actually motivated you to teach in the first place?

I actually didn’t consider teaching as a calling when I was younger. However, I immediately enjoyed my first teaching duties as a graduate student. It’s doubly motivating when teaching topics that have a clear relevance to our personal and professional lives, as is the case in IBCOM. What is one piece of advice you would like to share with current students or anyone considering IBCOM? To take advantage of how close Rotterdam is to its surroundings. You can find cheap flights to the heart of London, and as a North American, I’m amazed by how many great cities are a short train ride away. But don’t neglect Rotterdam either! It’s a vibrant and remarkable city (that feasts on umbrellas, so don’t bother with those on a windy day).

by Nympha Richardson

What’s next?

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ith Crossroads as well as Blender in general being quite high on the list of party places for IBCoMmers, Belen - co-founder of Crossroads -, enlightens us on the future of the club. > What is currently happening with the new club?

B: Currently, the club formerly known as Blender is under construction and will be

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by Ece Topcuoglu & Ted Hoogkamer called “Warm Up Club” for the time being.

The staff and location of the club will remain the same, however the concept, name and design of the club will be changed. So, we can all expect some exciting changes! > Does this also involve a new image of Crossroads?

B: Crossroads will remain mostly unaffected by the club’s changes We will continue to host our regular classic Crossroads nights

with an electric music style (House, Hip-hop, R&B, EDM, etcetera) and our special montly Oldies bul Goldies nights with 80s, 90s and 00s music involved. Furtermore, after construction, we will continue with our montly special editions (Halloween, Masquerade, Havana Nights, and so on), while the Crossroads crew is also working on some new original ideas! > What is it like to work at an organization such as Crossroads?

B: Working for Crossroads is always fun and exciting, but at times, running and managing a team and planning weekly events for an average of 400 customers a week can be challenging.

Crossroads requires a lot of work and planning, and with our team of approximately 40 people,

I would have to say it is more of a team effort than anything else. > What can we expect in terms of future differences between Blender and the new club?

B: As I’ve already said, “Warm Up Club” is a temporary concept for now and the name and concept will be changed once again in the upcoming month. I cannot fully disclose all of the changes that will occur, but the staff, certain concepts that were already present at Blender, and the quality cocktails that Blender was known for, will remain the same. The biggest changes will be vivid in terms of the outlook of the club itself and the club’s new concept. We will be announcing the new name and the concept shortly after March, so stay tuned!

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by Anna Mlikota Le Guennec & Matz Amadeus

HUMANS ROTTERDAM OF

Royal Fish, Markthal, Rotterdam “I was born in Turkey, but moved to the Netherlands when I was 6. People in Rotterdam are very direct; I like it better that way. I couldn’t live anywhere else but Rotterdam. I have been to Asia, to America, Africa… everywhere, and after one week I get homesick.”

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International Students, Erasmus University College, Rotterdam “When I think of Rotterdam, I think of business. You come to make money in Rotterdam, you spend it in Amsterdam.�

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Cheap Fashion, Meent, Rotterdam “Two words come to mind when I think of Rotterdam. First: Water! And creativity. I work at Cheap Fashion, but I also run a fashion workshop for kids. They come and use recycled clothes and make them into something special and unique. That’s how I see Rotterdam. A lot of it was destroyed and people thought it was no longer useful, but now it has been made into something special and unique through creativity.”

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Student visiting from Amsterdam, Blaak, Rotterdam “Rotterdam is a lot bigger than I expected…

It’s way more modern than Amsterdam!”

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MANIA

ART

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hen talking about culture in Rotterdam, we certainly shouldn’t forget the Kunsthal. This museum was designed in 1988 by Rem Koolhaas, who also designed De Rotterdam, and the building itself is widely adored all over the world. The building itself is a modern piece of art already. It is characterised by its abstract, innovatory forms which make it a very special building, but also very hard to find the entrance (we found it after having walked past it four times). There is a ramp straight through the museum, and the building itself seems made up of several randomly chosen pieces. The Kunsthal mainly shows modern art, but next to this, it doesn’t have a special theme. This makes that the expositions change quite often, which keeps the museum very interesting.

For this article, I visited two of the current expositions. The first one was an exposition of photographs made by Philippe Halsman, a famous American photographer. He worked together with several celebrities, from Marilyn Monroe to Winston Churchill, but the main focus of this exposition was the photographs he made of Salvador Dalí, and in particular his moustache. This focus on Dalí and his strange works was very well shown in the photographs, that were chaotic, a little bit creepy and sometimes even a bit unearthly.

Nevertheless, most of them also made you laugh, as well as think about how he even managed to depict people and objects the way he did. The thing that caught the most attention, however, was the fact that the depicted people were almost always jumping. This gave the pictures a hint of

fun and a good idea of how much pleasure a photographer like this could get out of his work.

The second exposition was a hotchpotch of several non-academic, non-famous artists. According to the information we got, a remarkably high number of them were almost always alone and didn’t like company. We, however, got the feeling that a remarkably high number of them were nuts, since the art was, however interesting, also very eerie and weird. Of course, this is not necessarily a bad thing. It was nice to look at, most of the times, but other times we weren’t really sure what we were even looking at. The combination of the disorienting art and the even more disorienting floor map of the museum made us feel lost, and finding the exit was therefore even harder than finding the entrance.

Art is, of course, a very personal thing. Some like Renaissance or Baroque paintings, others prefer modern art. If you are one of the first kind, don’t bother going to these expositions. You are not going to find beautiful paintings there, where you can look at for hours and still discover new things. What you will find, however, is a very disorienting art mania, and I don’t mean that as a negative thing. The combination of almost supernatural photographs, randomly assembled eerie art works and the illogical floor plan of the museum is a special experience in itself, an experience that cannot be absent when discussing Rotterdam’s culture.

By Brechtje Stam

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THANK YOU FOR READING From Team IBCoMagazine: Editor-in-Chief

Jessica van Wijgerden Managing Editor

Ilayda Hagens Copy Editor

Nympha Richardson

Creative Directors

Huong Vu

Joshua Kruter Advisory Team

Indira Gerards

Brenda Grashoff

Emma Hamilton

Johannes van Engelhardt Photographers

Mateo Amadeus

Beatriz Mateus

Ece Topcuoglu Writers

Jeroen Adriaanse

Lianne Dusseldorp

Anna Le Guennec

Jaerim Hong

Ted Hoogkamer

Carina Jung

Reyhaan King

Alexandra Medvedskaya

Brechtje Stam

Merle Ullrich