University without Walls: Bucky Balls & Functional Movements (2008)
In a preliminary, ground breaking edition of the Open Mind sessions, two teams consisting of professor in neuro-mechanics Bert Otten, professor Organic Chemistry Kees Hummelen, theatre designer Maarten Kastelijns and media artist/composer Jan Klug participated in a small-scale collaboration. Subjects were the tumultuous technological development of solar cells through ‘Bucky balls’ and a fascinating movement research in which functional movements triggers specific bodily and mental effects. The outcomes were presented as two performance-lectures in public space.
Open Mind: How do Birds fly? / How does Nature fold? (2009)
In this edition, to teams of artists and scientists worked side by side, resulting in two presentations in public space.
How do birds fly?
Professor John Videler (biology), an expert in bionics, explored the question ‘how birds fly’ with media artist Adri Schokker (Snow Video) and dancer Jussi Noussiainen (Random Collission) Videler has researched the build and working of the wings of swifts intensively for a number of years. His findings, that could very well be applied in the development of new aeroplane wings, was the basis for an artistic self-analysis of the artists. Adri Schokker researched the desire to fly, and the (im-)possibilities of his own body to be able to, with a cinematic approach. Jussi Noussiainen researched how the wing movement of swifts could be translated into a vocabulary of dance movements. The presentation of their findings in public space was a performance lecture in which dance and audiovisual images were integrated.
How does nature fold?
Professor Julian Vincent (biology) collaborated with Onix Architects, designer Carolijn Slottje and the composers of Soundbase on the question ‘How does Nature Fold?’ Vincents’ statement that everything in nature unfolds was the basis for a an exploration into folding in the arts. The presentation in public space involved a self-unfolding pavillion, an unfoldable lamp in which the construction consisted of a mechanism and an exploration on ‘unfolding moments’ in musical composition.
Open Mind: Resonance choreographies (2010)
In this edition, a team of two artists and one scientist worked together, resulting in a small series of ‘pop up’-presentations in an empty shop.
Choreographer Guy Weizman (Club Guy&Roni) and media artist Adri Schokker (Snow video) teamed up with professor Henk Broer (mathematics) who is specialized in dynamical systems, to explore the nature of both the 4th dimension and of resonance in the universe and look for the possible development of a ‘choreography machine’.
Open Mind: Misdirection (2010)
In this edition, a team of two artists and one scientist worked side by side, resulting in one presentation in a shopping mall.
Filmmaker Mo Stoebe and composer Arnold Veeman teamed up with professor Julian Vincent (biology), in an exploration of different modes of camouflage that are being used in nature and how this could tie in with misdirection techniques in art and music. The presentation in public space consisted of a lecture interwoven with video and music.
Open Mind: Time what makes us tick? (2010)
In this edition, two teams of two artists and two scientists worked together side by side, resulting in a communal presentation at the Noorderzon performing arts festival.
Animation filmmaker Max Hattler teamed up with professor Eric Bergshoeff (theoretical physics) and professor Martha Merrow (chronobiology) to explore by means of video and animation what time means on a subatomic, social and cosmic level and how it works inside the human body. Topics involved the interrelation between time and light, vertical time, the Big Crunch, social jetlags. The outcome was an installation piece, presented at the Noorderzon performing arts festival.
Open Mind: Families/ Lines of Belonging (2011)
This extended session involved 3 teams of artists and scientists working side by side. Three presentations were shown as part of an urban expedition through public and private spaces.
Team 1 Media artist Chantalla Pleiter teamed up with professor Jan Komdeur (biology) and professor Melinda Mills (sociologist) to explore partner matching research in biology and sociology, through the interactive matching machine Matchclab.
Team 2 Media artists Sophie Clements and Mo Stoebe teamed up with professor Elisabette Pallante (theoretical physics) and dr. Ryan Chiechi (organic chemistry) to explore the abstract nature of connections on a subatomic, molecular and human level through a video triptych of different transition phases after connections have been broken.
Team 3 Visual Artist/writer Jantine Wijnja and Media artist/composer Jan Klug teamed up with professor Mineke Bosch (modern history) and dr. Jean Christophe Billeter (biology) to explore the biological and cultural features that define a family, through an interactive poetical performance in which strangers are interwoven into a family structure.
Open Mind: Imagination Sparks Movement (2012)
In this edition, one team consisting of 3 artists and 2 scientists worked together on different presentations in an empty factory building.
Visual artist Michael Horsham (Tomato) and filmmaker Dinanda Luttikhedde (Peergroup) and media artist/composer Jan Klug teamed up with professor Bert Otten (neuromechanics and prosthetics) and PhD student Barbara Nordhjem (cognitive neuroscience) to explore the way the mind influences movement and vice versa, through 2 films and an interactive installation.