Koen Vandendriessche
From Sweet and Tender
[edit] Me
Hey, I am Koen Vandendriessche aka the Wiki Administrator of this site. I was born in Waregem (Belgium) on the 22nd of February 1980. I got a Master's degree in both Philosophy and Knowledge and Information Management at Ghent University (UGent).
I am living in Sint-Amandsberg (Gent). I worked as a technical writer, information architect and interaction designer. Since August 2009 I'm responsible for communication and knowledge management for LOCUS (http://www.locusnet.be), an organisation supporting local culture in Flanders.
[edit] Sweet and Tender & Me
In the Spring of 2007, I met two artists participating in Sweet and Tender Collaborations at the Performing Arts Forum in France. We were soon discussing opportunities for the support of a globally dispersed, international network of constantly travelling artists. I came up with the idea of creating an interactive website (wiki), completed with diverse tools for sharing texts, videos and pictures. The idea was greeted with great enthusiasm and I was asked to think of the best way to set this up. After evaluating the possibilities, I decided to set up this website (http://www.sweetandtender.org) in my spare time.
I built the framework for the wiki. The idea was to create a tool that allowed the network to share ideas, coordinate efforts and make practical arrangements for meetings and projects initiated by Sweet and Tender artists. The possibility to share pictures, sound bites and videos enhanced project discussions and also generated new ideas. The role of the website is merely to support the network of artists: the real soul of the group lies in the real-life meetings. The website helps to create these opportunities for real-life meetings by allowing easy communication and group discussion all year through.
In the Summer of 2007 I took part in Sweet&Tender/SKITe 2007 in Performing Arts Forum in France. I presented the framework I had prepared and I teached the artists how they could contribute to the Sweet and Tender-website. In the following days the website gradually was filled up with this user-generated content. The artists created their own personal pages and the projects and workshops were instantly documented on the website.
In the Summer of 2008 I took part in SKITe/Sweet and Tender Porto 2008 in Porto, Portugal. I teached the new artists how they could contribute to the Sweet and Tender-website. And was part of several projects:
I initiated the Try-outs for Elegance project (video) with Anja Müller.
And I took part in:
- Holding on to nothing with everything I've got (workshop/performance), initiated by António Pedro Lopes
- A song to Porto (performance), initiated by Mia Haugland Habib
- Knitting and Philosophy (discission group), initiated by Mariella Greil
- Foreign correspondence - fantasy journalism (radio play), initiated by Domenico Giustino
- Re:run (performance): a remake of the 1992 Running piece. With Meg Stuart
