Pien Niehe
Europe Press Office,Amsterdam
The Amsterdam office hosted its first Penguin Pool event themed around the ‘senses’ on September 26.
The Penguin Pool is a global series of parties presented by Arup to inform, inspire and entertain.
The evening started with an intro to neuroscience by Devika Narain, engineer and specialist in cognitive psychology and applied mathematics. She provided a glimpse into the workings of the senses and the tricks they play on human perception.
Divided in small groups, the participants were challenged to test their smell and taste in fun and instructive exercises, provided by Catering company Hééérlijk and scent experts of Annindriya.
Theatre maker Roos van Geffen coupled everyone to a perfect stranger in an intimate workshop, entrusting to observe and describe each other. By pulling the participants out of their comfort zones, she managed to provoke (self) reflection.
In a workshop by Mindfree a volunteer was connected to a device that measured the data activity in the brain. This demonstrated the possibility to train the brain, a method used to train athletes and business people to achieve ‘optimal mental state’ for peak performance.
Furniture designer Michiel van der Kley presented his design of Project Egg, building that will be printed entirely by desktop 3D printers and will be presented at the Furniture Fair in Milan in 2014.
Enlivened by the music of Basterdsuiker, food and drinks were shared in a vibrant atmosphere and a lot of new and inspiring connections to the creative community were established.
A video impression of the event can be found here.