First snow!

Yesterday we had the first snowfall of the year. Eindhoven is covered in snow and the temperature is well below zero. So, let's enjoy the white landscape and let the Dutch musician Palmbomen (=palm trees) transfer us to warmer climates with his psychedelic music.

Escherian Geometry

(* Suggestion: The present post is best viewed under the influence
of a tangerine dream ... *)



Maurits Cornelis Escher was one of the most influential graphic artists of the modern times. He is greatly adored by people involved in applied sciences, mostly because his aesthetics capture a little bit of the magic that we see in engineering and architectural drawings. And indeed, his father happened to be a civil engineer, possibly playing a major role to his son's initial inspiration.



The grotesque drawings of this Dutch artist can be grouped into several categories, with respect to the visual effects that they demonstrate. Some drawings for example exhibit an unnatural circular kind of perspective that tricks the human eye:




Other drawings demonstrate the use of very uncommon tiling that involves lizards,fish,birds or other creatures:





And, of course, abundant is the high art of geometry:








As the Netherlands is a country that shows respect to its artists, there is a museum exclusively devoted to the works of Escher, the Escher's museum situated at Den Haag. Whenever you have the time to escape from the greyness of Eindhoven, we would definitely suggest that you visit the beautiful technocratic city of The Hague and its Escher museum. And thus pay your tribute to this avant-garde artist.


Before closing this post we have to mention that there exists an artefact that associates Escher with Eindhoven. More precisely, there is a creation of Escher which happens to be part of the academic history of the city. So here's how the story goes:

In 1944, World War II was reaching to its end as the allies were marching towards Germany. In the second half of this year the southern part of the Netherlands was liberated, including Eindhoven. But it took some more time and effort to liberate the northern part, which actually happened by May 5th of 1945. In the period that spanned between the liberation of the country's South and North, it happened that all the important universities where situated at the part that was occupied by the Germans. So there had to be done something for all those people that wanted to study in the free part. Because Phillips industry was already in Eindhoven by then, there were quite enough scientists there that eventually formed a small academy the Temporary Academy of Eindhoven (Tijdelijke Academie Eindhoven).

This academy served in educating the students in the free South for this short period of time. It dissolved by December 1945. To commemorate this endeavour, Escher was asked to create a wooden plaque for the professors of the academy.



This though never made it to the hands of the graduates. Either way, the plaque remains among with its beautiful implications: The owl is the sacred bird of Athena, the ancient Greek Goddess of wisdom. There appear also broken chains, an implication of liberation. The other side of the river depicts the occupied part of the country with smoke coming from the cities that were bombed (or maybe because there the war still continues).


Note that this short lived academy existed before TU/E was founded. So could it be considered as its rightful ancestor? Could then Escher be considered as the creator of the first diploma ever made for this institute? ;)

Passed Midnight

Walking back home through the silent streets of the city after midnight. A quiet winter night, except a few loud youngsters passing by on their bikes, returning home from Stratumseind. Being reminded of a song from my poor little country...

Μεσάνυχτα (=Midnight) from the band Μικρο.

Book Hunting

It is true that reading literature and poetry is not part of the general stereotype of technical university students. Yet, there do exist some of us who would rather seek for a nice mind-travelling book rather than spending some more time on youtube or chatting on facebook. Buying books from amazon is definitely a nice way to quench your thirst for literature fast and easy. But how about doing it the old way? How about going out in the local book stores looking for hidden treasures? Discovering a nice cheap book that you'd never heard of makes you more motivated to read it, doesn't it? However, for an expat staying in Eindhoven, it is an issue where to focus your quest for books written in english. Thus, in the rest of this article we pinpoint some hot spots in our beloved city where you can practice book-hunting.


1) The Saturday Kiosks at Rechtestraat




Assembled every Saturday on the street that connects V&D and Piazza and dismantled on late afternoon of the same day. Selling lots of decorative stuff yet also second hand books. Most of those in Dutch but there are always some stuff in english too. In general, very nice prices and, for some strange reason, one of those consistently offers quite enough fantasy/fiction books. Also there you can find lots of vinyl lp's and 7" ep's (thumbs up!). Especially for vinyls, you can look at the kiosk in front of the carousel (at the main square) the same day.



2) De Slegte



On the same street, just a couple of squares further towards the cathedral you will find a big book store called De Slegte. It occupies quite a few floors and it's known for its nice prices on first/second hand books. There you will find all shorts of stuff, mostly in Dutch, but there is also a distinctive section for books in english, mostly second hand. Also books in other languages (more like German and French) are there too. Seek and thou shall find. Also for those of you who are into collecting old books, you will find there some nice gems of the kind. But you shouldn't expect the latter to be as cheap, right?



3) Selexyz and yet again Selexyz



Selexyz is the big shiny corporate book-store thingie in the Netherlands, selling all kinds of, always new, books. There are three departments of the chain in Eindhoven (correct me if I'm wrong), one in Heuvelgallerie, one close to Design Academy and one at TU/e inside Hoofdgebouw building. The one in Heuvelgallerie does not have much of books in english while the one in TU/e is very small and has very limited non-Dutch stuff (though it does provide some titles in english literature). The one close to DA looks more like our actual target; it has a separate section for foreign books and a wide collection of english classics from Oxford Press and.

I hope that the above data will make your hunt more successful ;) If there is any other hot spot around that we've missed, please drop us a line to indicate it.

Good luck!

Glow 2010

Not much to say, just some interesting pics from last week's Glow event in Eindhoven. Many thanks to Amateur Aρτιστ for the photos!

(click fotos to enlarge)

Artist: Teresa Mar Location: Catharina church

Artist: Spectaculaires Location: Paters church

Artist: Mr. Beam Location: Vestdijk-Lage Landen building


Artist: Mon jardin public Location: 18 September Plein

“Amateur Aρτιστ”, as his pseudonym suggests, is an amateur photographer based in Eindhoven, Netherlands. This young “amateur” makes his first steps in photography, while studying architecture in the Technical University of Eindhoven. With minimal budget, but with great artistic taste the young student tries to present his “amateuristic results” as he says, just by using simple equipment and software.

A touch of melancholy

Fallen leaves, rain, grey skies. Inspiration for an art of grief.
A song by the Dutch melancholic rock band The wounded.

STRP Festival

It looks like it's not a bad time to be in Eindhoven. A few weeks after Dutch Design Week and just days after the lights of GLOW are switched off, STRP Festival 2010 begins. STRP is an annual art and technology festival that takes place in the former Philips industrial area, Strijp-S. Its focus is on electronic art and culture and its program includes concerts, art installations, games, workshops, lectures and films. You will find the compulsory incomprehensible artwork, but you can also play 3D Pacman and understand the literal meaning of the expression "no pain, no gain" with the Painstation.

The main attraction of the festival is undoubtedly the music program. This year's headliners are English electronic music legends Underworld and M.I.A of Slumdog Millionaire fame. Other notable participants include Jonsi, frontman of Sigur Ros, South African rap-rave sensation Die Antwoord and German electro duo Digitalism. You can find the complete program here. Even if you are not a big fan of electronic music, I think a visit to check the art and game installations is worthwhile. To tease your imagination, I close the post with a video compliation of last year's festival. Veel plezier!