An ‘Island Of Thoughts’ in the library

The heads are a series of busts of famous philosophers. You might recognise a few, Bertrand Russell, Voltaire, Rene Descartes, Friedrich Nietzsche and even Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza. The exhibition isn’t limited to the busts, however, there’s an interactive component where visitors can give feedback, flyers with information on all of the philosophers including some of their famous quotes and a video of artist Eveline van Duyl working on the busts. There’s even a birthday calendar available for sale.



The eighteen busts featured at the library are among some thirty-four created by van Duyl. Originally from Groningen, she has been working on the sculptures for four and a half years. “My late husband studied philosophy and when he passed away, I found myself missing the conversations we used to have,” she says. She has now completed thirty-two deceased philosophers and has moved onto two who are currently living.



Marion Vredeling, Program Manager at the TU Delft library, brought the exhibition to TU Delft and selected the busts that would be displayed. “We had space for about eighteen,” she says. Busts were selected from those available, many of them came directly from another exhibition in Rotterdam. She’s especially proud of the interactivity of the exhibit and hopes visits will take the flyers of their favorite philosophers, thus running an informal competition to see who the TU Delft community likes the best.



The exhibition will run until September 9 2014. It is free and open to the public, located in the foyer of the TU Delft library. The birthday calendar is available for sale at the Service Point in the library for  €17.50.