The city is a constant source of visual stimulation, but what happens when we stop to examine the mundane, the banal, the infra-ordinary?
Exhibition master department Information Design
Location: former Mu art Space @ Building De Witte Dame (directly opposite the library) Emmasingel 20, first floor
Opening: Thursday 19 May, 16.30
Open on: Friday 20 May and from Monday 23 till Thursday 26 May 15.00-18.00 (closed Sat-Sun)
Guided tour: Tuesday 24 May, 12.30-13.30
In 1974 The French writer Georges Perec (1936-1982) sat on a street corner in Paris for three days and wrote down everything he saw. He was especially interested in describing what he called the infra-ordinary, events ‘which [are] not noticed [and have] no importance: what happens when nothing happens other than the weather, people, cars, and clouds.’ In his work, Perec observed and recorded everyday life and his familiar surroundings so exhaustively that they felt somehow new.
Over the course of six months, ten students of the Master program Information Design took the work and methods of Perec as a starting point for detailed observations of different spots around Eindhoven, to analyze and re-contextualize common situations by locating the normal. What Happens Where Nothing Happens catalogs these observations in the places and non-places of the city.
Different observation techniques were introduced through lectures and five different workshops led by Frans Bevers - spatial designer and tutor ID, Joost Grootens - graphic designer and Head ID, Kim Bouvy - photographer and coordinator ID, Cilia Erens - sound artist and Manet van Montfrans - lector in modern European literature, writer and Perec specialist.
With works by Iga Alberska, Melani De Luca, Cecilia Denti, Miruna Dunu, Chelsea Hsu, Phoenix Huang, Marie Povoleri, Nicole Stoddard, Irene Stracuzzi and Yoko Wong
Overall coordination and content: Frans Bevers