Hello and welcome to the first Extra Practice bulletin.

This months letter is coming to you in October, the 10th month of our calendar year and is for some reason a month I could characterise as cosy and intellectual. This letter is going out via the internet, typed on a 2015 Macbook Pro whilst riding on a train between Rotterdam and Zwolle in the Netherlands. It is 8:23am and the skies are looking moody.

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If you're wondering why you've received this digital letter, it's because you have either voluntarily signed up to the Extra Practice newsletter or your email address has been submitted to the list by one of our members.
So what is Extra Practice? First and foremost, it's a space in the north of Rotterdam on a street called Zwaanshals. It is about 40m2 and contains several tables, a stack of shelves, lots of chairs and a small kitchen. It is currently inhabited by five young artists and designers who are engaged in an acts of research, making and publication. This letter can be thought of as a taste or a teaser of what is going on in and around the Extra Practice space.

A large group of swans just flew over the train. What is the name for a group of swans?

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How can I begin to summarise the conversations, ideas, sketches, renders and other activity that goes on in the Extra Practice space? I'll start with recent past.

At the end of September, Extra Practice took part in the Groot Rotterdams Atelier Weekend. We opened all three of our doors to the public and put on what could be described as a realistic display of activity. Good Times Bad Times, a community radio station run by Kirsten Spruit, Jack Bardwell and me, Benjamin Earl, hosted a long broadcast over two days that featured interviews, DJing and a synthesiser jam session. Alongside the radio, there were several objects and videos that had been created by Extra Practice members. We mostly invited those visiting to come in and talk to us, to discuss what they had seen around the city of Rotterdam and talk about the subjects, topics and issues we were (and are) currently engaged with.

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So what are the members of Extra Practice currently engaged with?

Lets start with Emma. This month Emma has been co-organising and teaching a video and place making workshop with a group of refugees that takes place every Saturday morning. The project is being organised with two researchers from Erasmus University, Amanda and Camilla. Alongside that she is revisiting her younger years through a series of experiments with Mermaids, and also making a film about her stewardess/life coach/yoga instructor Mum.

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Gijs just handed in his MA Thesis in Philosophy of Technology. In his own words it explores 'how the design of things invites a certain self-understanding.' He jumped straight from one educational institute to another as he has organised a special reading room at Design Academy Eindhoven called Aesthetic Anatomy with the students of the MA Critical Inquiry Lab to understand the seduction and complexity of ‘problematic’ ideas. Emma and Gijs have just embarked on a grand tour of Europe, which will finally give them both a break.

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Returning from his travels in Italy and Germany, Jack has arrived back in Rotterdam. He gave a radio workshop and participated in a symposium organised by Robida Collective in Topolò, Italy. You can listen live at 7am every morning for nature sounds and readings on their brand new radio station. Thanks to this trip, Jack is also rediscovering Amsterdam through the Robida family: Francesca Luchitta, Nicola Baratto, Virgine Gauthier, Sans Serriffe and Sasha van Aalst. Jacks also working on a project in Vreewijk that is prompting some research into the use of flag in cities and towns in the Netherlands.

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Kirsten has also been giving a radio workshop, this one was at the Design Academy Eindhoven with the MA Information Design students. She will also be presenting a brand new work in an old shipping container at the NDSM Werf in Amsterdam as part of the Orchid and the Wasp’s “I Prefer Not To” programme on October 29th. Kirsten will also be exploring (non)productivity together with Meghan Clarke in the Staging Stasis residency between October 25th and November 21st. Her research is leading her to think about essaying, documenting, metadata and the process of preparing to start.

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As for me (Ben), I finished a project about the fabrication of mountains in Disneyland that is currently on show in the exhibition The Architecture of Staged Realities at Het Nieuwe Instituut. Whilst working on the project I found solace in mixing music together and put a little sample of my experiments online. I'm now in the process of putting together a curriculum for the Design Inquiry Group at the KABK on the topic of Doing Nothing. Alongside that I'm beginning a new project that involves looking closely at landscapes and I did just that in a workshop I gave with Roberta last week with students from the Willem de Kooning Academy. This projects also led me to think about modelling water, the colour green and the life time of things.

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Good Times Bad Times has also been active over the last few weeks. Earlier this month we had a show about Extra Practice with all the members on the radio. That was followed by one of Katrina's Come To Your Senses and a Dreamscape radio mix by Karoliina. Today at 5pm (CET) we will be talking to two members of Varia (Cristina and Angeliki) followed by a country mix from Wietske and a recorded walk with Personae. At the weekend we will be hosting a workshop with some of the new radio hosts that are joining GTBT, so look out for more to come.

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A group of swans, also once game birds, is a wedge when they're in flight, likely because of the shape a group of swans takes in flight. And while we can call a group of swans a bevy, a herd, a game, or a flight, they can only be a bank when they're on the ground. (Merriam-Webster)

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Here is a list of things being read, recommended and looked at by the XP members:
– Pedagogy of the Oppressed
– Sonic Agency: Sound and Emergent Forms of Resistance
– The Pole
– Comrades of Time
– A Year With Swollen Appendices
– No Internet No Art
– LaaLa La LaaaLa Laa A Moment and a Song

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this bulletin. Enjoy the rest of the day and make sure to pick up the nicest looking leaf you see that has fallen from a nearby tree and take it home.

Warm regards,
Extra Practice