Hallo Eindhoven!

Hallo stranger!

There’s a bit of a trend of that’s going to hit the streets of our town soon. Some of it has already arrived. Strangers to and in Eindhoven.

Vreemd in Eindhoven (Foreign in Eindhoven)
This is a project by Museum Kempenland and  Historisch OpenluchtMuseum Eindhoven (Historical Open Air Museum). From June, these museums have put together a joint exhibition over two locations (rather something new in the museum world, they say). The exhibition gives a voice to foreign (non-Western) amateur artists (and much more).

Dialoog en Diversiteit in Eindhoven (Dialogue and Diversity in Eindhoven)
Photographer Saskia Holtjer took on the challenge to capture, in image, the 158 different nationalites that call Eindhoven home. I asked her more about the experience in an interview (see below), and had a mugshot taken as well. This exhibition will be shown at the Van Abbemuseum, and portraits of the residents printed on gargantuan banners and posted all around the city in early November.

Hallo040.nl summer series
This summer I was commissioned to write a bunch of stories about newcomers to Eindhoven in all their forms. So I started off with Saskia (above), and then I looked for random tourists, expats, temporary visitors for work, uni students and even someone on their way here. Good fun, and hopefully I’ll work with Hallo040 some more in the future.

The Voice Of
Onamatopee, a local hub of reflection on communication and design, is doing a research project on opinion-forming as citizenship. I’m one of the four teams working with the very cool Amsterdam based artist Rob van den Nieuwenhuizen. He and I are going to investigate an idea close to my heart, something on the tip of my tongue, but something I can’t share until it’s unveiled in mid October (and posted up all around town). Should be interesting, to see my viewpoint posted in public spaces around Eindhoven. I’m as curious as you probably are. I’ll post about it when it happens!