Orbis Pictus or the Gate to the World of Creative Human Imagination is one of the big events accompanying the European Year of Creativity and Innovation. The outstanding Czech artist Petr Nikl has, together with other 15 creators, conceived an interactive exhibition which is being presented in Brussels as part of a world tour. Orbis Pictus has also a special meaning for the EU, as it refers to one of the main works of the Czech renaissance humanist and scholar Comenius, who gave his name to a major EU education programme for schools.

Orbis Pictus will excite visitors’ imagination and give them food for thought from the 16th till the 23rd of June and during the Couleur Café Festival on 26, 27 and 28 June, with its 75.000 expected visitors. The Couleur Café Festival, a music festival that proposes a full array of music styles coming from all over the world, started in 1990 and it is definitely an urban festival anchored in the heart of Brussels and its social reality, but with a pan-European reputation. The impressive industrial site of Tour & Taxis with its unique buildings is the perfect spot for this festival that reflects the European Capital's population diversity and mixes of cultures.

The popularity of Orbis Pictus stems from the originality of its conception. You won’t see any signs saying “Don’t touch the exhibits”; on the contrary, it is necessary to touch them! The installed instruments and objects do not contain any electronic equipment, computers, recorded music or film loops. Human energy and creative imagination are the only things that can bring them to life, set them in motion and make them ring out. This is the only way in which you can see how the exhibits operate in all their beauty.

Examples of some of the items on display include The Songster Butterfly, The Dreamers’ Horologes, The Fountain of Delight, The Water Organs, and the event’s centrepiece The Heart. The spontaneous, enthusiastic reactions of visitors to Orbis Pictus wherever it appears demonstrate how the phenomena of games and play work as a universal means of communication, regardless of age, nationality or religion. The possibility of getting to know the world and how it works through one’s own sensual perception and energy is genuinely fascinating and enticing. The quality of this creation has already delighted half a million visitors in Paris, Vancouver, Florence and in different places in the Czech Republic.

More information on:

www.pampaedia.cz/cs/index1.html

www.couleurcafe.be