"The revolutionary originality of techno-images is not that they move themselves, that they are "audiovisual", that they shine in light of the cathode ray, and so on, but that they are "models", the image of a concept of a scene." from The Codified World by Vilem Flusser (1978)

A Single Cappuccino, started as a series of 6 sound-portraits of a coffee shop on Commercial Drive in Vancouver, Canada during the World Cup soccer, 2006. Each sound piece portrays the unique atmosphere in the coffee shop during a match, an atmosphere that was for a large part determined by the countries competing. The sound was recorded through the internal microphone on my laptop and controlled by a simple computer application that would record a clip to disk each time the sound in the coffee shop peaked. I recorded as many matches as possible until the team of the country I had grownup in got eliminated and after that I did one more when I discovered that the country of my ethnic heritage made it to the quarterfinals.

Growing up in Holland one grows up with soccer, not watching it. It would have been difficult to be indifferent, which is a scary thought just in itself. My recollections of the game are not of the actual game and the images, but of the situation I was in while watching. For example, Holland-Argentina 1978 finals -On vacation in Austria my dad and I watched at some strangers house- the European cup (in 1988?) - I was on the editorial board of a magazine, which had to be at the printers at 6AM. In between copyediting, we would run downstairs and watch the game on a small TV constantly adjusting the rabbit ears to get somewhat of an image. I don't know whom they played, Germany...? I could google this, but it is not my point. It's the social moment that counted instigated by a game I love watching.

In 1998 I recall biking around Winnipeg, where I was living at the moment, looking for a cafe other then a sports bar to watch the game. This year it was different both coffee shops frequently visited by me advertised that all games would be shown on a flatbed television. So, suddenly, my morning coffee was enriched with watching soccer on television. After watching a few games, I asked myself am I watching a soccer game on television or a reality TV-show inspired by soccer stars playing in the World cup? The broadcast seemed to give a perception on the game I wasn't used to.

In the 'old days', I recall soccer on TV looked like a few blobs, divided into two colors running over a green field, with a white dot moving in-between them. Like watching pong a friend commented on. The filming angle was predominantly from a bird's eye view above the stadium, one watched the ball being passed around. There were a few close-ups, of goals, almost goals and faults. The World Cup 2006 was the first World Cup using all HDTV-cameras each stadium had 25 camera's set-up. Due to the HDTV quality of the cameras the image on TV was very different. It was a crisp image consisting of bright-saturated colors and sharp contours. The close-ups were very clear, and showed detailed pictures of emotions and the physicality of the game. I noticed lots of tattoo's, I had never noticed before. They are images that don't leave much hidden for us viewers and are meant to draw the viewer into the game, 'as if you are part of it' The editing was different less overview shots, more close-ups, and slow motion of emotional moments. At times, what happened between players was more important then the ball. Often I felt I wasn't watching soccer but a reality T.V show that played on very basic emotional level within me.

Watching the World Cup 'old days' or watching it this past month was a very different experience. The first being more analytic, about strategy, and game the team played. The accent in the recent broadcast was on the individuals' achievement, from their technical ability to their appearance, less on the team as a whole. The whole experience seems more real as if the HDTV image is closer to 'reality', but this is an illusion, an illusion sometimes very difficult to break. The HDTV image left an imprint in my mind; I can't get rid of it. It's very persistent and branded in my memory. As if the image pushed away the stories of the social moment and repeatedly presses on my perception. It screams and difficult to ignore.

In time, will I have a story to tell about the place I watched this World Cup in or will I be left with a slowly fading screaming image in my brain and then nothing or will 'something' else emerge?

A Single Cappuccino is an attempt to preserve a story of a place in Vancouver during the World cup, 2006.