NEXT is a series of classical concerts designed to dispel the staid image and conventions (written and unwritten) that are often inextricably linked to the classical music genre. In the concerts, young musicians from the Conservatoire – many of them from outside the Netherlands – experiment with various influences and instruments. NEXT brings classical music to students, with short ‘teasers’ and surprise concerts.

The concerts were a pleasant surprise for the library audience, who gave the musicians an enthusiastic hand.

This year too, the Library had a stand at the KEI information market, which is held every year on the Vismarkt. Flyers were handed out and information given to hundreds of students. There was also a photo opportunity.

Photographer Ewoud Broeksma exhibited photographs in the fourth-floor stairwell, and Mayor Peter Rehwinkel was pleased to attend the opening.

Hanging Out : A member of the student mountaineering club

The University Library is obviously an excellent setting for such a film: located in the heart of the city and of the University, and ‘neutral’ in the sense that it is used every day by students from all disciplines. In order to make it clear that the film was a corporate communication for the University as a whole, rather just the Library, it was decided that the finale would be staged in the square in front of the Library, ending with the stately facade of the Academy Building as the backdrop. In the weeks before the film itself was recorded, a trailer was filmed. It featured a drummer, in the same pose each time, playing the drums in front of a series of University buildings. Viewers could thus catch a glimpse of the important University buildings.

Obviously, the lip-dub recording had to be scheduled for a day on which the University Library is normally closed – so there were not many opportunities. The date chosen as the red-letter day was 12 June: Whit Sunday. Unsuspecting students who wandered into the Library on the Sunday morning were confused: they told that we were actually closed, so they wouldn’t be able to study in the Library that day – but at the same time they could see two hundred strangely dressed people running through the building!

Using a special camera made 360-degree shot of the final scene at the Broerplein

The second take went without a hitch. The third take was supposed to be the ‘dress rehearsal’, but since everyone was focused and enthusiastic, we decided to make it ‘the real one’. Inevitably, there were one or two minor ‘hitches’, but once we were all standing in the square, we knew there was no turning back. It was 3.10 in the afternoon, and the lip-dub film was in the can!

By the Friday morning following Whit Sunday, the sound editing was finished and the film was ready to be posted in the University’s YouTube channel. Because all those involved have extensive social networks (Facebook and Twitter …), there was a huge snowball effect. The explosion of ‘hits’ on the Friday morning took us into the top three most frequently viewed films in the Netherlands, and consequently into the list of ‘YouTube trends’, attracting viewers worldwide. To our great surprise, the counter read 20,000 views after 48 hours, and in the next 48 hours it reached 50,000 views!

Many – mainly enthusiastic – responses soon flowed in on the YouTube channel, and also via Twitter and e-mail. It was news to us that, about 5 minutes into the film, someone could clearly be seen stealing a bicycle at Broerplein – just as student policemen Matthijs and Nico were filmed driving past in their police car!

• University of Groningen lip-dub film: Mr Blue Sky
• Achtergrondinformatie over het Groningse project [Background information on the Groningen project]

Life lines, van Hector Raphaele

Healthy Ageing
The University Library programme for the Night was based on research theme Healthy Ageing, or: ‘How to stay healthy and live as long as possible’.
As the visitors climbed the stairs in the Library, they were taken on a journey through life.

• Visitors entering the building were ‘demographically logged’, so that the ‘population structure’ of the Library could be seen at any time.
• Former Library staff member Tineke van Stipriaan is now a professional chair masseuse; she loosened visitors’ painful shoulders in just a few minutes.
• In the Film Lounge on the third floor, visitors could sit down and relax for a while, watching films on the theme of health.
• On the top floor of the building, visitors could meet Paro, a cuddly therapeutic robot designed to improve the socialization of sufferers of autism and Alzheimer’s disease.

Fat furniture van Lambert Kamps

But that wasn’t all. On the platform between the ground floor and the first floor, Minerva Academy student Carlina Nauta presented an artwork inspired by the health theme.
Elsewhere in the building, artworks by her fellow student Hector Raphaele were displayed.
Here and there, examples of ‘fat furniture’ could be seen. Designed by Lambert Kamps, these chairs are a comment on Western consumer society.
From the gallery on the second floor, visitors could look down on the dance group Dialectica, and watch them perform a spectacle of light, dance, music and acrobatics below the vide between the Digital Workstations on the first floor.
Young musicians played classical pieces at various places in the stairwell. Between the Digital Workstations on the second floor, health-related games could be played on Wii devices. There was a game for the blind and partially sighted, as well as a ‘Swat the Malaria Mosquito’ game!
In the study room on the 3^rd floor, the Pandemomia theatre group performed ‘The Gift’, a play about the dilemmas surrounding organ donation.
In the lecture hall on the 4^th floor, there were interesting lectures to listen to throughout the night. These included lectures by Prof. Cees van der Schans (Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at the UMCG), Henk Goris (lecturer in Life Science & Technology) and Christiaan Pinkster, project leader for computer and communication applications (Royal Dutch Visio).

Paro de Zorgrobot!

Music!
And, of course, there was music in the air… No less than four pop bands played in the canteen on the fourth floor.
Mr. Wallace’s energetic ska got everyone dancing, and – entirely in line with the Healthy Ageing theme – Doctor Scalpel and the Incisions delivered non-stop raw hospital rock with a considerable injection of surf.

The University Library is also set to become a top attraction on the next Night of Arts & Science, to be held on 2 June 2012.
 
 

The Library had a stand at the University Fair. Flyers and souvenir gadgets were handed out, and information given. Students were mainly interested in the opening hours of the library locations, and in the studying, printing and copying facilities.

Waste Action SMOG

Household-waste campaign
One such event was a waste campaign organized by SMOG (Groningen Students Environment Group). All the waste generated in the Library in an entire week was collected, and the bags were then deposited in a pile by the entrance. The aim of the campaign was to make staff and students aware of how much waste we all create…

A table with offerings and information about the Dia de los Muertos

Dia de los muertos
A group of students from Latin America set up an ofrenda by the Library entrance, consisting of a table with foods and other offerings, a custom on the annual ‘Day of the Dead’, particularly in Mexico.
This was done with the aim of introducing students to the cultural expressions of another country.