Mediamatic 2018

Scroll down for a quick overview of our highlights, go here to see the full overview of our 2018 program or click here to view who we worked with this year.

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Nineteen crates of cabbage straight off the land - Anisa Xhomaqi

Kool Kabbage

The winter of 2017/2018 delivered an abundant cabbage harvest. This resulted in a surplus in farming, and farmers were unable to sell the harvest for a fair price. This prompted Mediamatic to take in the surplus cabbage and devote our winter program to food surplus, value and abundance. We've stacked, fermented, buried, learned, eaten lots of cabbage soup, and with that, reinstalled value into something the economy deems valueless.

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Anastasia Loginova reads Tolstoy to cabbages - Can classic literature nourish plants the same way it nourishes human minds? Anastasia Loginova reads Anna Karenina to white cabbage to connect to the plants. Caitlin Sarah Watson

Various artists found different ways to connect with the white cabbage. Anastasia Loginova read them Tolstoj, Tomislav Feller wrapped himself in the white leaves for a dose of sonic manipulation. For Arne Hendriks, the abundant harvest mostly prompted him to ask questions regarding satisfaction in the midst of abundance.

Kool Abundance

Together with artist Arne Hendriks we organised a series of Tuesday nights on which we started a conversation about the current food economy. With several guests and chefs, we tried out the best cabbage dishes. This resulted in a white cabbage in a salt crust, a sushi made entirely from white cabbage and discussions and conversations regarding the value of our food in times of globalisation.

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Rococo-kool tafel door Arne Hendriks tijdens het Abundance Dinner - Het Abundance Dinner werd samengesteld door  Arne Hendriks en chef Thorwald Voss . Temidden van de heerlijkste gerechten enkel gemaakt van witte kool, zochten we naar een toekomst waarin er een balans ontstaat tussen vraag en aanbod, verlangen en tevredenheid en overvloed en schaarste. Anisa Xhomaqi

Abundance Dinner

Eventually we mainly celebrated the abundant harvest with our festive Abundance Dinner. This dinner, during which the dozens of dishes all featured white cabbage as their main ingredient, was put together by Arne Hendriks and chef Thorwald Voss. Together with various speakers, we tried to find a future wherein there exists a balance between supply and demand, desire and satisfaction, and abundance and shortage.

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Super Skinny Thai Cabbage Roll - A delicious light and zingy street food dish from white cabbage during Abundance Dinner. Crisp finely sliced vegetables such as green beans and fragrant herbs wrapped in cabbage paper and served with delicious soy sauce made by Chef Thorwald Voss. Anisa Xhomaqi

Communication through Smells

In January, we organized our first international multi-day smell symposium. Together with artist Klara Ravat and Saskia Wilson Brown, director of the Institute for Art and Olfaction in Los Angeles, we invited dozens of smell professionals. During a two day program, they attempted to find new systems for classifying smells. How does one categorize things as immediate as smells, and is it even necessary?

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Deelnemers ruiken materialen tijdens Scent-Hackathon - Kan je communiceren met geur? Julianne Lee, Frank Bloem en Marcello Aspira onderzoeken verschillende manieren om geuren te benoemen tijdens de scent-hackathon bij Mediamatic. Giulia Menicucci

Art Olfaction Amsterdam

In the summer of 2018 we started an intensive collaboratino with the Institute for Art and Olfaction, a sister institute in Los Angeles. Together, we organized an extensive summer program around scent and scent culture.

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Opening Art Olfaction Amsterdam - Mediamatic en The Institute for Art and Olfaction bundelen hun krachten voor een zomerprogramma dat innovatieve vraagstukken rondom geur onderzoekt. Tijdens het vierweekse programma is The institute for Art and Olfaction uit Los Angeles  in residency bij Mediamatic. Maxwell Williams

In our renovated and expanded Aromalab we held weekly perfume making workshops, open blending sessions and an open lab for anyone interested in discovering and learning about scent as a creative medium.

 

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Uitleg door Saskia Wilson-Brown tijdens workshop experimentele parfumerie - In het eerste deel van de workshop experimentele parfumerie gaat Saskia Wilson-Brown in op geur-geschiedenis tot aan de huidige parfumindustrie. Tegelijk ruiken de deelnemers aan verschillende materialen, waarna ze een aantal materialen selecteren om in hun eigen parfum te verwerken. Anisa Xhomaqi

We organized 10 events on sex smells to lab safety, 8 open sessions in which you could be guided into perfume blending, 6 beginners workshops in experimental perfumery and soap making and two meet-ups with artist in residence Aleesa Cohene. Every Thursday from Sunday everyone could drop by in our open lab.

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Deelnemers selecteren materialen uit het geur-orgel - De workshops tijdens Art Olfaction Amsterdam werden gehouden in ons hernieuwde Aroma Lab met het meest uitgebreide geur-orgel van Nederland. Een geur orgel is een geordende verzameling aromatische materialen die een parfumeur gebruikt bij het maken van een parfum.  Anisa Xhomaqi

In additon to our open lab, we organized a weekend around scent and Intellectual Property. Who owns an aromatic molecule? Is it possible to restructure this property? On July 28th, Willem Velthoven and Saskia Wilson-Brown talked to Paul Keller, Tobias Cohen Jehoram and other invited guests and interested parties. 

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21-07-2018 Digital Smell during the Olfactory Wiki-thon - This Olfactory wiki-thon is part of the Open Sourcing Smell Culture weekend. It i s a year-long collaborative program between the  Institute for Art and Olfaction ,  Pochpac  and Mediamatic that   explores alternative attribution and sharing strategies   for the perfume industry. The program  will take the shape of workshops and working groups, and will culminate in 2019 with the publication of a set of recommendations for open source methodologies in scent creation, perfumery, and related… Saskia Wilson-Brown

 

On July 21st, Maxwell Williams led an international Wikipedia Edit Day. From Amsterdam to Montreal and LA, we edited a great number of Wikipedia pages on aromatic substances, aromatic molecules, and various perfumers.

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Kendra Gaeta, the fabulous game show host - The nose (and you) knows more than you think! Be amazed by your knowledge and compete in Kendra’s Smelly Game Show . Ever watched a spectacular game show and thought: 'Hey, I could do this much better'? Well, now’s your chance. Step into this live studio experience and prove the power of your sniffer-whiffer! Saskia Wilson-Brown

With: Kendra Gaeta

We closed the intensive smelling month with a bang in a big Olfactory Game Show, led by Kendra Gaeta.

Bodily fluids, medicine and beauty products

In 2016, we shifted our focus from the possibilities and applications of human urine, to those of all bodily fluids. In 2018, we continued our research under the name Secretopia. In September, we started a year-long collaboration with Isabel Burr-Raty, who, among other things, presented her Beauty Kit Focus Group with us. Beauty products made from bodily fludis question the power of the vagina, and question Western science.

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- Tia Török

During Science Weekend, Kuang-Yi Ku presented his clinic for future Chinese Medicine, based on a hybrid combination of traditional medicine and synthetic biology. During the Tiger Penis workshop he questioned the way in which the values of traditional Chinese medicine clash with those of Western science.

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Kuang Yi Ku and his assistants during his Tiger Penis Workshop - Tia Török

With: Kuang-Yi Ku

Neo Futurist Dinners

After the succesful start of our Neo Futurist Dinners in 2017, we organised new spectacle dinners, for which we invited various artists to come into our kitchen.

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Kool Steak in Zoutkorst - Deze derde editie van onze experimentele diner-reeks werd samengesteld door Arne Hendriks en chef Thorwald Voss . Temidden van de heerlijkste kool-gerechten, zochten we naar een toekomst waarin er een balans ontstaat tussen vraag en aanbod, verlangen en tevredenheid en overvloed en schaarste. Na het succes bij Mediamatic volgde een spin-off bij  Baltan Laboratories in Eindhoven. Anisa Xhomaqi

Fashion designer Schueller de Waal and the chefs from Haagse Hapjes brought a dinner that was entirely made up of substances that promote happy feelings. From slurping together, to a course of meditation and edible frustration during dessert, our guests went home well-fed.

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Light Therapy during Endor-Fine Dining - Light Therapy glasses helped the guests to reach their right level of endorphins during the meditation-course of Endor-fine Dining. Giulia Menicucci

Together with students from the Deisgn Academy Eindhoven, Man and Food department, we organized DimensionAir. A dinner during which the food changes shape and substance between courses.

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Guests expect the next course during the Dimension Air dinner - Food changes shape and taste throughout space. During this course the guests wear a masks that distorts their vision while the food is served on their hands. Anisa Xhomaqi

The next edition, with four dinner evenings, took place in September. Together with food designer Giulia Soldati and chef Tommaso Buresti we ate A La Mano. A five course meal designed to eat with your hands, to experience taste in a more direct and completely tangible way.

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The second course is served A La Mano - For the sixth Neo Futurist Dinner, Giulia Soldati and Chef Tommaso Buresti designed a dinner that extended the experience of eating to the realm of touch.  Anisa Xhomaqi

During Bodemdrang, our seventh Neo Futurist Dinner, we connected to the ground underneath our feet. In six courses, food artist Suzanne Bernhardt and Chef Thorwald Voss led us into an underground world of edible clay, mud and lava. Digging deeper into the earth, layer after layer, the visitors experienced a unique culinary trip. We connected to the world, but also to the people around us, by sharing food using utensils, custom made by the artist.

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The last course of the night, edible plastic. -

Expeditie Oosterdok

2018 also saw the festive start to the collaberation between the eleven programming institutions surrounding the Oosterdok. On April 21st, we organised an open day together, where there was much to see and do, in and around the Oosterdok. In our CleanLab you could get a tattoo done of your favorite microorganism, as they were drawn by Ernst Haeckel.

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21-04-2018 Haeckel-tattoo - On Saturday the 21st of April we held an open day at MediaMatic, in collaboration with eleven participating institutions a long Oosterdok. With lot of activities. You could also set a free tattoo based of your favorite micro-organism.    Giulia Menicucci

To complement this, we exhibited the most beautiful of Hernst Haeckel's Kunstformen Der Natur posters in our lock gate warehouse. This exhibition can be visited during the spring.

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People inspect the Ernst Haeckel exibition in the Sluisdeurenloods - Giulia Menicucci

Het Parfum

Mediamatic developed in collaboration with The Institute for Art and OlfactionPlay the City and five perfumers, a sensuous game around city planning for the Uitmarkt 2018.

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Smelling Station of Het Parfum - Vijf op maat gemaakte geuren geven uitdrukking aan verschillende stedelijke toekomsten. Aan de hand van je favoriete geur kon je tijdens de Uitmarkt bij Mediamatic onderhandelen over de toekomst van het Marineterrein. Alle Uitmarkt bezoekers werden uitgenodigd het spel te spelen en de geur van hun voorkeurstoekomst te krijgen.  Het Parfum is een spel waarbij we mensen stimuleren na te denken over de toekomstige invulling van het Marineterrein, een centrale plek in onze stad. De vijf parfums… Anisa Xhomaqi, Margherita Soldati

Five tailor-made fragrances give expression to various prospective visions of the city. All Uitmarkt visitors were offered the possibility to consider these potential futures and play an interactive fragrance game to get their perfume or future of preference. 

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Deelnemers krijgen hun prijs bij het eindstation van Het Parfum - Het Parfum Love and Tonic werd gemaakt door Ricardo Moya en  is geïnspireerd op een verlangen om te feesten in een zomers Amsterdam. Voor Het Parfum , Mediamatic's spel tijdens Uitmarkt 2018, ving Ricardo Moya de geur van een feestend Amsterdams festivalterrein.  Bingyan Ding

With: Ricardo Moya

The game stimulated people to think together about the use of the Navy Terrain. People were brought in contact by the use of scent and encouraged to discuss future possibilities. The smells are now permanently on display at Mediamatic. 

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Het Parfum: Start Station - Mediamatic developed  in collaboration with   The Institute for Art and Olfaction ,   Play the City   and   five perfumers, a sensuous game around city planning for the Uitmarkt 2018. Five tailor-made fragrances give expression to various prospective visions of the city. A ll Uitmarkt visitors were offered the possibility to consider these potential futures and play an interactive fragrance game to get their perfume or future of preference. The game stimulated people to think together about the… Anisa Xhomaqi

Museumnight

This Museumnight was all about enjoying art with our senses except sight. During this night four projects were on show: The Skin Is An Extension Of The Brain by Margherita Soldati, O’Tristana by Zeger Reyers, Inverted Soundwalk by Natali Blugerman and the Invisible Collection.

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Margherita Soldati in Passaggio - The Skin is an Extension of the Brain  is a collection of tactile installations inside the Mediamatic building that alter standard architectural elements in order to stimulate the sense of touch and to reflect on the behaviour of the visitors within the space. Tia Török, Maxim Damper

Preceding Museumnight BLIND we opened new works by Margherita Soldati and Zeger Reyers. 

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Oester - Zeger Reyers - Oesters zitten opgesloten in een zelfgemaakt huis. Als ze eenmaal een plek hebben verhuizen ze nooit meer. Een trieste zaak, vindt kunstenaar Zeger Reyers. In 2018 realiseerde hij een nieuw werk in de Mediamatic Biotoop genaamd 'O' Tristana, over een opgesloten vrijheid. Voor dit werk opende Zeger honderden oesters en maakte hij de binnenkant tast- en zichtbaar. De oesters worden tentoongesteld in het restaurant van Mediamatic. 

With: Zeger Reyers

During Museumnight only blindfolded visitors and their buddy were allowed access to the exibits in Mediamatic.

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Binnenkomen op Museumnacht BLIND - Op 3 november ontdekten we de museumnacht met alle zintuigen behalve onze ogen. Bij Mediamatic was er enkel toegang voor geblinddoekte mensen met ten minste één buddy. Zo volgde een rondgang langs nieuwe installaties, en werd ons terrein opnieuw ontdekt door aan te raken, te proeven, ruiken en goed te luisteren. Tia Török

After exploring the sensorial art, food was served in Mediamatic ETEN. Dishes that could be enjoyed while being blindfolded. While experiencing these works of art one got to explore what it means to enjoy art without the sense we rely on the most: sight.

 

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03-11-2018 Blindfolded couple eating one of our dishes from the menu - At the Amsterdam museum night 2018 people could witness BLIND, an exhibition were you could experience all the senses except with your eyes.  During the Museum Night we focused on people able to see but afterwards we organised the same program for the visually impaired. This way to could experience an art exhibition tailored to them. Maxim Damper

Invisible Collection

What do you hear, smell and feel while enjoying an artwork? In November we launched the Invisible Collection podcast. The Invisible Collection holds the most beautiful compilation of auditory artwork. Art connoisseurs described the experience of a piece of their own choosing. Narrators Dirk van Weelden, Valentijn Byvanck, Wim Pijbes and Charles Esche share their experience with an artwork. The invisible collection will be continued in 2019.

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17-01-2019 A visitor listening to one of the podcasts - The Invisible Collection holds the most beautiful compilation of auditory artwork. Art connoisseurs described the experience of a piece of their own choosing. People like   Dirk van Weelden ,   Valentijn Byvanck ,   Wim Pijbes  and   Charles Esche   are among the narrators. Mediamatic had opened an exhibit where you can enjoy art without needing to see. Tia Török, Maxim Damper

The Taste of the Elder

Together with Zeger Reyers and local brewer Oedipus we launched a year with the Elder. We brewed five local beers in which we explored the tastes of a common tree: the elder. Every season we brewed with a new ingredient and presented the beer during a tasting at Mediamatic. The tastes of the season will culminate in a cuvée in which the whole year is captured. This will be presented at the Oedipus Brewry in 2019. 

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Elderflower beer in Oedipus bottle - Karenina van den Crommenacker

Workshops

Our workshops enable our audience to learn to work with various techniques and materials. During the winter months we organized several workshops around white cabbage. For instance, we taught people to make kimchi from European cabbage, as opposed to the Asian cabbage variety. We also worked with an authentic pit-fermentation technique.

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Bury the cabbage - Anisa Xhomaqi

During the summer months we started new monthly soap workshops with product designer Liza Witte, in our clean lab. During an intensive day, the audience learns how to make soap using the cold-process method.

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The process of melting the fat - Tia Török

With: Liza Witte

After the perfume workshops and our daily Open Aroma Lab during Art Olfaction Amsterdam, we continued, after the summer, with perfume workshops with local perfumer Frank Bloem. These workshops are primarily aimed at introducing scent as a creative medium. Participants get to know various materials, and learn about the make up of synthetic and natural aromats, and how they differ.

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Wouter is adding spawn to the pasteurised straw during a mushroom growing session - During the Grow Your Own Fungi workshop you learn the basic principles of mushroom cultivation and mycomaterial growing. Giulia Menicucci

In addition, we continued our (at this point) regular basic workshops around new biomaterials: for instance, we learned to grow our own mushrooms, to make Tempeh, and to build a circular urban farming Aquaponics system.

Collaborations

Also, we are proud to mention our collaborations with the following partners: Design Academy Eindhoven, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Body in Revolt, ICK, Grachtenfestival, Baltan Laboratories, L.A Design Festival, Play The CityNewLands Festival, We Make The City, Weekend van de Wetenschap, Expeditie Oosterdok, Koninklijke Academie voor Beeldende Kunsten, Summer School Food and the City van Universiteit van Amsterdam, Summer School Amsterdam Sensescapes van de Universiteit van Amsterdam, Universiteit Wageningen, Brouwerij Oedipus, Iscent, NEMO, Scheepvaartmuseum, Muziekgebouw aan t IJ.

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22-10-2018 Corpus Mobile by Federica Dauri and Kiril Bikov - Body in Revolt, a one day program curated by Bogomir Doringer and Arad Inbar during ADE. 50 razor-sharp knives hanging above a laying body: how do you move? How do you breathe? The oppressed body finds alternatives to its limitations.  Maxim Damper

All Mediamatic activities are made possible by Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst en Mondriaan Fonds.

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Claus Noppeney during Odorama: Car Smell - Giulia Menicucci

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16-12-2017 Cabbage stacks in the Sluisdeurenloods - 2017 turned out to be a good cabbage-year. In fact, the cabbage harvest turned out so good, there was more cabbage than farmer Krispijn van den Dries can process for a fair price. What to do with a food-surplus of 60,000 kilos of cabbage? Mediamatic takes them on to survive the winter on cabbage and to question the value of our food. From December 2017 to March 2018 with a variety of workshops, performances and our edible cabbage installation.    Mies Raadgever

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Tomislav Feller tijdens Cabbage, No Cabbage - Als onderdeel van ons winterprogramma Kool Kabbage wikkelde Tomislav Feller zich in witte kool voor zijn performance Cabbage no Cabbage.  Chiara Barraco

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Gentle Ink at Expeditie Oosterdok - On April 21st 2018 we publicly kicked off the collaboration between 12 art centers around the Oosterdok in Amsterdam with an open day for all. Mediamatic offered (among other things) Haeckel-tattoos during the "Open Dag Expeditie Oosterdok". Visitors could pick their favorite Haeckel organism and get a permanent tattoo by  Gentle Ink. Giulia Menicucci

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The crew of DimensionAir - Giulia Menicucci

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The last course of the night, edible plastic. - Tia Török, Maxim Damper

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Maxwell Williams on air during Scentless Apprentice: Foul Play - Scentless Apprentice is the first aromatic radio show, anywhere, ever! The live radio show was broadcasted live from Mediamatic's Tuinkamer  and was on air on LA radio as well. Maxwell Williams aired  a concoction of interviews, true stories, and cultural oddities explored through the lens of scent. Saskia Wilson-Brown

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Kendra Gaeta tijdens de Olfactory Game Show - Als knallend einde van Art Olfaction Amsterdam organiseerden we Play Party bestaande uit de eerste aromatische game show, gepresenteerd door Kendra Gaeta van The institute for Art and Olfaction. Anisa Xhomaqi

With: Kendra Gaeta
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Visitors during Museum Night for visually impaired - 2018 Have you ever wondered what it is like to not be able to see art? During the Museum Night our Invisible Collection was launched. A collection of artworks told by Peter Vandermeersch, Dirk van Weelden, Valentijn Byvanck, Ann Demeester, Zeger Reyers, Maria Hlavajova, Charles Esche and Wim Pijbes. Guest got to listen to the first pieces during this edition of Museum Night.  This night was organised to experience art by using all your senses but the sense of sight. During the Museum Night we… Maxim Damper

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Pit fermentation by Christian Weij -

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Meet the Cabbage Team - From left to right: Willem Velthoven and Jans Possel (Mediamatic), Farmer from BioRomero, Arne Hendriks and farmer Krispijn van den Dries. Anisa Xhomaqi

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Workshop: Experimental Perfumery - Blackboard Saskia Wilson-Brown

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Anna D'Errico during Scent and Movement - Maxim Damper

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Laughter & Excitement at Endor-Fine Dining - Besides delicious food, triggers like laughter, excitement, exercise, meditation help you to boost your happiness hormones at Endor-Fine Dining on 14-15-16-17 March. An experience full of happiness ingredients with a touch of humor.

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Virophilia door Pei-Ying Lin - Een omgeving heeft grote invloed op het leven van organismen. Om het verborgen leven van planten te onderzoeken onderzoekt Pei-Yin Ling  de invloed van verschillende virussen door ze te isoleren in verschillende kassen. Tegelijktijdig vindt ook een ander experiment plaats waarin de invloed van muziek op de planten onderzocht wordt. Houden ze meer van Indiase Vedische chants of van westerse rockmuziek?   Giulia Menicucci