About MU

MU zooms in on the hybrid here, now, and later of visual culture. MU is an adventurous guide to all art lovers with a keen interest in the energetic mix of design, fashion, music, architecture, and new media that contemporary art is. Attracting a wide audience, MU is a meeting place and inspirational breeding ground for creative Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and the world. MU initiates and co-produces. MU regularly challenges international artists to realise their dreams, or to stage their first large presentation, solo, or in a group.

MU shows what art can be, not what art should be.
The name MU is derived from a Japanese character meaning ‘synergy’. In Zen Buddhism, however, mu has a deeper meaning, one that is even more typical of MU. In Zen, mu stands for ‘nothing’, ‘not one’, ‘not zero’, ‘not yes’, ‘not no’. It creates the possibility to put an end to black-and-white thinking, to leave questions unanswered, and to show what is happening next.

Many of the projects that MU has realised in the past ten years have been made possible through a branched-out network of contacts. Among the cooperating artists were illustrious names such as Kim Gordon, Susan Cianciolo, Han Hoogerbrugge, Ari Marcopoulos, Peter Sutherland, Swoon, D-Fuse, Scanner, Geoff McFetridge, Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher, Genevieve Gauckler, and Eva + Franco Mattes aka 0100101110101101.org. For a complete overview see: exhibition/archives

Since 1998, MU has been located on the first floor of De Witte Dame, a former Philips factory in the centre of Eindhoven. Among the other parties located in De Witte Dame are Design Academy Eindhoven, Philips Design, Openbare Bibliotheek (Public Library), and CBK De Krabbedans (Centre for Visual Arts De Krabbedans).

MU is subsidised by the City of Eindhoven, the Province of North-Brabant, and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. In addition, MU is financially supported by a number of structural and project-driven sponsors. The exhibitions in MU attract annually around 20,000 visitors, many of whom are young people.

The director of MU is Angelique Spaninks. Projectmanager and educational coördinator is Simone Dresens. Productionmanager is Kor Smeenge. Monique Claessen is the Facility manager and Bjorn Telkamp is the counter assistant.