…but preferably on another location in the inner city
The province of Brabant recently expressed its support for the establishment of a national design museum in the Evoluon. This is in response to the intended sale of the iconic building. Ton van Gool, editor-in-chief of the NatLab-based VPRO Medialab, does not think a museum is a good plan. He has a different idea.
By Ton of Gool
Philips is selling the icon from the 1960s and I do not think the plans for a technology or design museum fit the city of Eindhoven. The concept of a museum belongs in the last century, so we should not go for that. Eindhoven is the city of innovation, of new concepts and the new Evoluon is proof of this.
Just try to imagine…
The new Evoluon is a celebration of revolutionary ideas, inspiring prototypes and inventions; it is the place where Eindhoven celebrates the future.
The pulsating heart of the Evoluon is a Überlab, the lab of the labs. It is a showcase for new technology that is not yet on the market, it is a test lab where the audience can play with robots, digital assistants and drones. It is an interactive playground full of games, experiences with light and design.
Visionary designers and artists, clever inventors and developers combine their new research with social issues. The new Evoluon has a serious social agenda, and technology can help us to realise that agenda. The Evoluon acts as an accelerator of positive energy.
The inspiration of the Evoluon never dries out because there are artists from South Africa, Korea or Iceland in the artist-in-residence workshops at Ring 2. Ring 3 is inhabited by brilliant young nerds from India, Brazil and Latvia who contribute their ideas to the necessary solutions. The world comes to Eindhoven and we export Eindhoven to the world.
In the basement of the Evoluon there are always parties of the Nachtdieren and on Ring 1 you will find Jalila’s Bio Art Lab and Next Nature Network by Kurt van Mensvoort. There are night-time Lan Parties and Costume Plays and experiments with electronic music.
In the Evoluon, technology is not only glorified. The Evoluon is the questioner, the place in the world where we are constantly talking about the pros and cons of living together with people with ever-increasing technology.
The new Evoluon is thus a playful crossover of MIT, Pakhuis de Zwijger, the Stroomhuis, STRP festival, the Ontdekfabriek, Ars Electronica, Studium Generale and the workshops of Design Academy.
The Evoluon is not a museum but a mentality, it is a living icon of a liquid future.
But of course, the Evoluon has an odd location. Easy to reach from the highway, nice in the greenery, but it is mostly lonely and lost. While our inner city is actually crying out for a statement, for a landmark with content.
An inner city with Primark as the top attraction is unworthy of Eindhoven.
So I’ve been playing together with Volle Kracht. We picked up the Evoluon and moved it to the city center.
We can also clone the Evoluon so that in the city center illegal children of the Evoluon appear in various places, which together form a route where we celebrate innovation, technology, design, art, and light every day.
