Eigen Grond tells the story of the the garden of Hof van Cartesius. The garden plays a key role in the multispecies community living here. This hybrid space grounds the daily encounters and relationships among human, leafed, water, feathered, and furry bodies. These encounters are not always harmonious but riddled by frictions and conflicting agencies, leading to continuously renegotiate the boundaries between human and non-human, tame and wild, care and surrender.

Through this display of archival and newly recorded materials, the garden emerges as a dynamic space of attunement: a direct interface to engage with the complexity of ecological relations.

🗓️ Tuesday 24 March, 14:00-14:30
📍De Loods, Vlampijpstraat 94, Utrecht
🎫 Free
🗣️ English

The terrain of Het Hof van Cartesius has a long history. After leaving its industrial past behind, it had no human purpose for a while. This wild piece of land became increasingly green, and the trees that grew there provided shade for this small ecosystem.

The area was given a new purpose: the Hof of Cartesius. In the construction plans the Boomtoren was erected, now living between willow and oak.

The residents of the Tree Tower tried to be good neighbors to these two trees. They deepened their relationship until they discovered that they were no neighbors, but part of the same ecosystem. And in that new relationship, they suddenly wondered: how old are they, actually?

By measuring the circumference of the trees and looking up their growth factors, they found that both trees were from 1946.

Now, 80 years later, we're celebrating! Come celebrate the birthday of the willow and the oak.

🗓️ Saturday 21 March, 12:00-12:30
📍CCU Studio, Vlampijpstraat 84, Utrecht
🎫 Gratis

CCU opens its studio to a unique Living Lab, where artist and researcher Ivan Henriquez is working on his installation Ecoshroom. This project challenges our perception of intelligence in nature by exploring fungal decision-making and its impact on crop resilience. By making the invisible visible, Ecoshroom reimagines our relationship with food systems and the environment.

This interdisciplinary experiment offers a glimpse into a future where technology and nature collaborate—not just to cultivate crops, but to deepen our understanding of life’s complex networks. Join us to experience how art, science, and ecology intersect in this Living Lab!

📅 20 March, 15:00-17:00
📍 CCU Studio, Vlampijpstraat 84, Utrecht
🎫 Free

Correction: the time of this workshop is 14:30-17:00 as stated in the text!

James Holden Live Coding Benny – a night of algorithmic encounters
Date: 24 April 2026
Time: 20:00
Location: Pandora TivoliVredenburg

Creative Coding Utrecht and TivoliVredenburg present an evening featuring James Holden, Turbulente & Eloi el Bon Noi, Sabrina Verhage & Lucretio, bringing together live electronics and improvisation.

From layered melodies and IDM influences to minimalist rawness and live visuals, the artists demonstrate how digital tools enhance their artistry. The evening concludes in the Pandora foyer with an Algo Afterparty hosted by NL_CL

Tickets are available here: https://ticket.tivolivredenburg.nl/nl/buyingflow/tickets/55523/116158
More info: https://creativecodingutrecht.nl/en/calendar/james-holden-live-coding

CCU and Amarte Fonds invite Netherlands-based artists to apply for Practices of Alliance: a research-driven residency for an artist working at the intersection of art, technology, and ecology.

Through an open-ended research trajectory, you will develop site-specific, scalable prototypes (e.g., performances, installations) that explore the transformative potential of making-with human and more-than-human others.

📅 End of May — July 2026
📍Hof van Cartesius, Utrecht
🌿The residency concludes with a one-week Summer Camp at Artphy Wessinghuizen in Groningen, July 12th- 19th

Find more info here: https://creativecodingutrecht.nl/en/news/practices-of-alliance-residency

Ready to witness live coding in its most dynamic form—playful, hypnotic, and deeply immersive—this weekend?

🌟First up: dance with us in Tivoli on Friday with performances by James Holden, Turbulente, Eloi el Bon Noi, Sabrina Verhage en Lucretio and an afterparty by Netherlands Coding Live with Dago Sondervan, Kasper Jordaens, Saskia Freeke and Timo Hoogland (https://creativecodingutrecht.nl/en/calendar/james-holden-live-coding)

🪐Learn from live coding legends on Saturday: James Holden and Lucretio will stick around in Utrecht just a while longer to deliver a double feature masterclass on open source software, modular synthesis and much more! (https://creativecodingutrecht.nl/en/calendar/algorithmic-encounters)

See you there!

How can interactive storytelling make complex societal issues engaging and accessible? In this hands-on session, Patrick Blenkarn & Milton Lim will guide you through their process of designing participatory narratives—then invite you to brainstorm and prototype your own.

Part masterclass, part game jam, this evening will explore how to blend humor, interactivity, and depth to create experiences that challenge and connect. Bring your ideas, collaborate with others, and leave with the tools to turn abstract themes into playful, meaningful stories.

Check out their game Asses.Masses, a live interactive performance that you can join during the Spring Festival (https://springutrecht.nl/en/programme/asses-masses/)

🎫 Regular 7,50/Student 5
https://ccu.stager.co/shop/default/events/111653430?utm_campaign=gameful-revolution&utm_source=tg

🐦 How do algorithms, birds, and other beings interact, communicate, and co-create?

During this meetup, you will be introduced to three projects that make creative use of ecological data to approach interspecies communication.

Céline Angonin will present Bioacoustic AI, which contributes to biodiversity research and conservation efforts by monitoring wildlife sounds.

Matteo Holyoke Marangoni will present Chorusing Symbionts: an investigation into interspecies music between humans, robots and animals through ecoacoustics and embodied interaction.

Niels Jansen will showcase the Vogelluisterstation: a sensor station that records, analyses and visualises bird sounds, making them accessible to both citizen scientists and professionals.

📅 22 May - 20:00-22:00
📍CCU Studio, Vlampijpstraat 84, Utrecht
🎫 Regular € 7,50 / Student € 5

Graphic: Chorusing Symbionts by Matteo Marangoni

Learn how to make complex societal issues playful and interactive with Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim, creators of the live game experience Asses.masses!

Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim are conceptual artists exploring urgent questions around the social value of art, digital labour, and the political potential of games. Mixing their backgrounds in performance, philosophy, psychology, and digital media, their collaborations have manifested in video games, participatory installations, digital archives, and card games.

In addition to asses.masses, Patrick and Milton are also the co-founders of the Canadian national video archive of performance (videocan) and the co-creators behind a performing arts economy trading card game (culturecapital).

📅 14 May, 20:00-22:00
📍CCU Studio, Vlampijpstraat 84, Utrecht
🎫 Regular €7,50/Student €5

https://ccu.stager.co/shop/default/events/111653430?utm_campaign=gameful-revolution&utm_source=tg

Whoops, we forgot a ticket link. Here it is: https://ccu.stager.co/shop/default/events/111653443?utm_campaign=meetup-more-than-human&utm_source=tg

Build your own bird detector! Learn step by step to build a fully customised animal sounds monitoring device, trained on a local dataset. This workshop is for bird nerds, sound wizards, and for those who are into DYI and low-tech solutions. New to all this? That’s great: coding experience is useful, but not required.

The workshop will be based on the bird detector developed by Matteo Holyoke Marangoni (@matteo_h_marangoni) for the project Chorusing Symbionts. He combines music with visual art, theatre, and new technologies. He develops robotic instruments and artificial creatures to compose spaces in which sound is experienced with the whole body and all the senses.

📅 June 13, 13:00-17:00
📍 CCU Studio, Vlampijpstraat 84, Utrecht
🎫 Regular €40/Student €20 - https://ccu.stager.co/shop/default/events/111659793?utm_campaign=build-a-bird&utm_source=tg

And if you'd like to get a preview of Matteo Marangoni's work, join us on Thursday evening 🦚🦉🦜

Join us for a meetup at Instituto Cervantes with our artists in residence!

Nahun Saldaña will develop a site-specific sonic intervention at the Hof van Cartesius using local bio-data and low-energy electronics to create a direct, sensory dialogue with the site's biodiversity

With a strong focus on science and spirituality, storytelling, bodily experience and audience participation, Sounak Das interrogates the metaphysical and speculative possibilities of art as a means of inquiry

Miranda Moss and Urs Gaudenz will unfurl their art-science practice of kitsch kitchen bioelectronics, to agitate knowledge hierarchies and shift collective imaginaries around science, technology and regenerative futures

What happens if we let go of the conceptual separation between nature and humans in a documentary? Werner de Valk tries to answer this question by filming a building, the Boomtoren, through the seasons, for one year

📅 10 July, 19:30 - 21:30
📌 Instituto Cervantes, Utrecht
🎫 Sign up: https://shorturl.at/Grxd9

Important notice: start time moved to 19:00!