James Foley - Week in review 2024-27

And weeks 21, 22, 23 etc. It’s been a while.

Notes on the week

I’ve started a Substack. This is a term that is quickly becoming the new “I’ve started a podcast”, but I’ve been looking for an outlet to write about my favourite sport, Formula One, for a while now and thought that it might be fun to play around with a weekly newsletter. Hopefully I’m a little more diligent about it than I’ve been with this blog. If you want to check it out, it’s here . The F1 Gods were smiling down on me this weekend by giving me plenty to write about after a shocking moment in the Austrian Grand Prix.

The hackerspace I joined in Rotterdam, the Pixelbar has moved to a new location. This time last year the Pixelbar, and a number of other organisations, were the victims of a terrible fire at the Keileweg, where they had been situated for the previous eight years. Thankfully no one was hurt, but years and years of projects, progress and memories were gone in a matter of moments. For the past few months the Pixelbar has been operating out of a small temporary space, but last month we got the keys to our new space, at De Kroon, a former electrical factory that is now a home to over a hundred different businesses, artists, makers and more.

As a group we’ve spent the last few weeks preparing the new space - building new walls, making workbenches and storage spaces, rewiring the electrics and so, so, so much cleaning. This weekend was moving day, and over the course of about 14 hours we moved everything from the old space to our new home. Just like any move, we’re still finding our feet, and there’s lots more to do, but it feels amazing to be part of a little community of like minded people that have a new, permanent place to call our own in the city.

We’ve been in the middle of a bit of heat wave the last few days, so we took a trip out to Hoek van Holland over the weekend to cool off. After a day of chilling out in the sun and going for a swim we had a beautiful dinner at one of the restaurants along the beachfront. During the day we had seen lots of families out flying kites, and it came up that Elle had never flown a kite before. A quick trip to one of the beach shops quickly remedied this situation, and we spent the last part of our time on the sand learning to fly our new kite. With the heat finally starting to calm down, we hopped on the metro and travelled back to the city, and have been finding sand around the apartment for days since!

Elle has finished her first year of her Masters! It’s hard to believe that it has come around so fast, but this week she’ll hand in her final assignment for the semester, officially drawing to a close the academic year. One thing I’ve learned is that doing an MFA is not at all like doing a typical Masters programme, as much as it is about research and academic rigour it is also deeply tied to your creative output, and all the potential pitfalls that come with that. What happens if inspiration doesn’t strike? What if the fear of knowing that a grade is associated with your creativity holds you back from experimenting and trying new things, forcing you to stick with what you know? I’m so proud of how she’s handled the transition from B.A to MFA, and she is building a really impressive body of work here, taking on new mediums and really immersing herself in the experience. I can’t wait to see where it takes her as she prepares for her Grad Show this time next year.

Speaking of Grad Shows, we went to the Grad Show for the current crop of second years. It was a really nice evening hosted at the Piet Zwart Institute, where each graduate took over one of the large studio spaces in the building to show off the culmination of their two years of work. A drinks reception was hosted outside, and thankfully the weather in Rotterdam has been amazing the past couple of days, so there were plenty of people milling about. Towards the end of the evening the students hosted an auction to raise funds for the annual trip I mentioned a few weeks ago. Both students and faculty members submitted pieces of work to the auction and every last piece sold! We picked up a few pieces throughout the event, and I’m looking forward to brining them home next week to decorate the new apartment.

Reading

“The Lie of Locke Lamora” by Scott Lynch is the first in his Gentleman Bastards series, and was recommended to me over a year ago by a friend of mine. I never quite got around to starting it, but a few days ago I finally gave it a chance and adored every second of it. It tells the tale of a group of professional thieves, raised from a young age to be masters of their trade. I devoured it, and fell in love with the characters, the world and the premise. I’ve already started book two.

Listening

It’s Tour De France time, so it’s daily episodes of the Lantern Rouge Cycling Podcast. I got into listening to these guys during the 2022 tour, when I was watching with my Dad. They are clearly extremely knowledgable about the sport, but present in a very approachable manner, and it’s actually helped me learn a lot about the intricacies of grand tour racing.