The Night of Arts & Science, which was held last Saturday night in Groningen city centre, attracted an estimated 15,000 visitors.
The free festival, which concluded the celebrations of the 395th anniversary of the University of Groningen, was officially opened on the Vismarkt by Max van den Berg, Jacques Wallage and Sibrand Poppema with a chain reaction of scientific experiments.
The party then got underway with various performances, lectures and workshops throughout the city centre.
In the Academy Building, the ‘rijdende rechter’ Frank Visser gave his ruling in a fictitious court case to a packed aula. At the same time, Don Braden, the world-famous jazz musician, was performing on stage with the Prins Claus Conservatorium Big Band on the Vismarkt. The Grieg Piano Duo and astronomer Prof. Peter Barthel brought art and science together in a remarkable way – the position of the stars were converted into a musical composition. The Der Aa-Kerk housed all kinds of scientific experiments that could be viewed and experienced, and in the Groninger Museum, Ronald Giphart and Bas Haring explained how they write a book. In the University Library, visitors could follow a spooky trail through the stacks, emerging, surprisingly, in the University Museum.
Later that night, visitors could enjoy performances by big name performers like Miss Montreal, The Opposites, Bertolf, Giovanca, GEM and Lucky Fonz III. The night was rounded off by Junkie XL. This was only the second time this year that he has played in the Netherlands. A Vismarkt full of fans enjoyed this spectacle.
The organization is delighted with the large number of visitors and the way that the evening passed off without incident. ‘There was a very relaxed atmosphere in the city centre. We couldn’t have hoped for a better end to the lustrum celebrations!’ according to lustrum coordinator and organizer of the festival Bianca Pander.
