NEW: PORTAL PAGE (BOUNDARY OUTPUT AS THRESHOLD)

SUBSTRATE now opens with a white-field boundary-output page — an instrument panel you pass through before the black UI resolves.

Not a splash screen. A threshold.

Why:

Boundary-output as boundary: the visitor has to cross a diagnostic surface before the system “lands.” Interface, not interior.

Polarity flip: white → black reads like a deliberate inversion (specimen sheet → containment system).

{ ENTER } / ∅: quiet procedural symbols — access implied, disclosure refused.

The HUD stays minimal: enough telemetry to suggest presence without turning it into a catalogue.

Revisit: from the homepage, press p to reopen the portal.

Object, text, performance (for the Amsterdam Rainproof Symposium March 14, 2013 ) January - February 2013 

The Rainproof symposium took place on March 14, 2013. During this day, 300 professionals from different fields, as well as citizens, discussed the problems and followed workshops with the focus on 3D water management and how to develop a Rainproof Amsterdam for 2015. An important aspect was the rainwater in public space and how we can accept, adopt and communicate this.

A part of the project consisted of making a personal interpretation of rainwater. I made a cape of soluvlies, a material which is dissolvable in water. The text about it is a part of a Rietveld publication made for this event and distributed among symposium participants. 

Discover rain like a child

I remember dancing in the rain as a child. The music of deafening thunder, the wind and the enormous amount of water pouring out from the skies accompanied this wild dance. I felt joy as my soaking wet dress clang to my body, I felt joy feeling my wet hair like some kind of water plants and I still felt joy while sitting in the warm bath afterwards.

And now I am an adult. Things have to be done. I have responsibilities. I dislike rain now. It became an obstacle in my daily responsibilities. There is no bad weather, only unsuitable clothes. It is true, but you can still be grumpy and nag about the weather while sitting in the car (the best rainproof “clothing”).

I found a big rain cape in bright yellow; it shined upon me like a sun. It had a simple design – a hood and a big patch of waterproof material. It was like a shelter and a mole heap on the top, to peak out. The idea was so simple and so good that I felt powerless and unwilling to alter it. However, I discovered a task for me there. I made two more rain capes, one from a few newspapers and another one from a water-soluble material (soluvlies). I taped and glued the paper cape. I stitched a raster on the soluvlies, so there would be some traces left when the material dissolves.