MC's Mindgames

A temporary exhibition full of experiences

Escher's art continues to fascinate. In the 125th year of Escher's birth, new life is being breathed into the universe of Maurits Cornelis Escher. To this end, curator Mary Hessing of BinnenhofBuiten selected six young artists and designers to give shape to their visions: Teun Zwets, the duo Alissa + Nienke, Iris Toonen, Grietje Schepers, Berndnaut Smilde, and the duo Leon de Bruijne and Willem van Doorn.

MC's Mindgames is an experience route along six special installations around the Binnenhof. At each location, an interior is designed in a special way by a leading designer or artist reflecting on Escher's work. The concept combines the effect of popular instagram museums with the special aesthetics of presentations at the Salone del Mobile in Milan.

Time and location

You can visit MC's Mindgames from 6 to 29 October on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Museum Quarter The Hague: Huize Voorhout, Lange Voorhout 78 and Kazernestraat 23A. During Museum Night on 7 October, it will be open until 01.00 am! 

Teun Zwets - Room in green

Teun Zwets is a practical designer who makes new objects from strips of sawdust. That it is sustainable is a nice bonus, but Teun does it mainly because he enjoys puzzling away until a chair, bed or table becomes recognisable. Teun's method creates contours that seem somewhat strange but also sympathetic. During Dutch Design Week 2022, Teun's 'Nachtwacht' caught the eye of visitors, who reacted enthusiastically to the cornflower-blue room for the night porter of the new Hotel Piet Hein Eek. For MC's Mindgames, Teun packed his own thinking into a closed box that contrasts firmly with the distinguished interior of Huize Voorhout.

Location: Lange Voorhout 78

Alissa + Nienke - Metamorphosis

At Milan's 2022 Salone del Mobile, Alissa + Nienke's installation surprised with a mix of ethereal futurism and tactile craftsmanship. The young designers are inquisitive makers, integrating technical solutions into their textile and interior commissions. For instance, they developed a sunshade for the Ministry of Culture and Science that reacts to sunlight and opens and closes like a flower. They also enjoy working for healthcare institutions where patients respond positively to a tactile environment. Alissa + Nienke believe that the sensory experience of a space is often underestimated; perhaps subconsciously but sound typifies the experience of architecture just like colour or a different finish.

Location: Lange Voorhout 78

Iris Toonen - Three Worlds

Fabrics are as old as the world, but are also proving highly future-proof. A seemingly endless wealth of colours, materials and patterns exert enormous attraction on innovative minds like Iris Toonen. As a textile designer, Iris experiments with the constructive properties of weaving and building. Her recent installations Woven Bricks present a fusion of soft and hard elements: fabrics of wool and steel combined with glass building blocks. The image is unusual yet recognisable: a grid of threads carries a masonry context of reflective bricks.

Location: Kazernestraat 23A

Grietje Schepers - Sleeping Gold 2.0

Designers like Grietje Schepers, who studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven, think conceptually. That attitude usually creates unusual solutions. These can sometimes take the form of functional products, but also frequently lean towards visual art. Grietje developed great sensitivity for transforming a small thought into a grand gesture. With a keen eye for material, colour and experiment, she creates monumental installations that almost overwhelm the visitor with strong colours and spatial effects. Sleeping Gold 2.0 seems to breathe and looks like a fictional natural phenomenon. Gretel exhibited previous variants at Zero Power Smart Fashion in New York and the Museum of Craft and Design San Francisco.

Location: Lange Voorhout 78

Leon de Bruijne and Willem van Doorn - Scaffolding

Kinetic art is back. The idea of making objects move could have come perfectly well from Leonardo da Vinci's mind. Yet it took another five centuries until Marcel Duchamp's bicycle wheel (meant to spin) shocked the art world in 1913, more than a century ago. There is a lot involved: electric motors, chains, stones, pneumatic cylinders, tiles, gears and electronics. What sounds like the inventory of a garage is a list of everyday parts and tools needed by Dutch artists Leon de Bruijne and Willem van Doorn to make movable art. Apart from being a rare object, Scaffolding is also a performance. And (insofar as you can say that about art, of course) also fun.

Location: Lange Voorhout 78

Berndnaut Smilde - Nimbus

Nimbus; a cloud as a temporary sculpture is an icon of modern art. With a huge series of exhibitions including in London, Perth, Arnhem, Bristol and Landskrona, Berndnaut Smilde has been extremely successful with his poetic interventions in space. The Groningen-based artist broke through with 'Nimbus', which Time Magazine hailed as one of the best inventions of 2012. Smilde manages to float a small, perfectly white cloud in the middle of a room. This is also a matter of precision: temperature, humidity and lighting must be tuned. If the parameters are right, Berndnaut conjures a cloud in the room with a smoke machine. Wonderful though this is.

Artist Berndnaut Smilde had the unique opportunity to create an installation for the exhibition MC's Mindgames in the form of a photograph of a cloud shot in the imposing 'Handelingenkamer' of the Lower House of Parliament building in the Binnenhof.

Location: the photo will be exhibited on the monumental cast-iron billboard column on Lange Voorhout.

MC's Mindgames locations

Huize Voorhout

The Russenhuis or Huize Voorhout (next to Escher in Het Paleis) is the main location of MC's Mindgames. Huize Voorhout was built in the late nineteenth century for the court of Prince Hendrik, the brother of King William III. The mansion boasts a richly decorated interior that has been preserved in good style. The current owner is working on careful preservation and is temporarily opening Lange Voorhout 78 for MC's Mindgames.

Kazernestraat 23A

Chic families on Lange Voorhout didn't just leave their carriage, berline, calèche or Achenbacher, on the street. That's why there are typical buildings along Kazernestraat with large garage doors and mostly one-storey buildings, built in the 19th century as coach houses.

MC's Mindgames is a production of BinnenhofBuiten, a project of The Hague & Partners. BinnenhofBuiten organises events and activities in the Museum Quarter during the renovation of the Binnenhof, such as previously BlowUp Art The Hague in May this year.