Thursday from 16.30
Campus Tours
Eindhoven University of Technology was established in 1957 as part of the reconstruction efforts after World War 2. This tour will take you through our campus that breaths the modernistic visions of the 1960s combined with contemporary views of landscape and office design. During the tour you will also visit one of the laboratories and receive information on the types of research happing. Depending of the choice of your tour this is the nano-lab clean room (we will not enter to not contaminated the lab – but view it behind a glass wall) or the 47m long wind tunnel. More info at: https://www.tue.nl/en/research/research-groups/nanolabtue/nanolabtue https://www.tue.nl/en/research/research-labs/wind-tunnel
Philips Museum Tour (more details tba)
Eindhoven is the home of the multinational Philips, that was founded in 1891, producing light bulbs. It expanded to consumer, business and medical electronics in the twentieth century. These expansions shaped the city of Eindhoven. Eindhoven became the city of light, the Philips Sports Associations (PSV) and the Philips villages. Its research and spin-offs created today´s Brainport region in which Philips´ spin off ASML is a global leader in semiconductor equipment. The Philips museum is housed in the small factory where it all began in 1891. In the museum you will get a guided and an explanation on how this story of a company, a town and a region is told and shared. More info at: https://www.philips.nl/en/a-w/philips-museum.html
Regenerated Leather Works & Steam Engine in Oisterwijk by train (25 euro)
This tour will involves a 20 minutes train ride to the village of Oisterwijk, where the industrial complex of the former Royal Leatherworks Factory (KVF) is revitalized into a multi purpose center that includes apartments, a hotel, offices, a brewery and shops. The tour will also take you to the impressive steam engines that once ran one of Europe´s largest leader factories. There you will get explanations by the dedicated volunteers that maintain this piece of industrial heritage. The will also take you to the large underground network of tunnels. More info at: https://destoommachine.nl/homepagina-engels/
Bike Tour – Vincent Van Gogh village Nuenen (25 euro) 
This tour by bicycle of ca. 15km we will take you along the infamous bicycle lanes of the Netherlands to the village of Nuenen. From December 1883 until November1885 the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh lived in the village where his father was the protestant vicar. Here create about a quarter of his repertoire including the ´Potato Eaters´. During the bicycle route we will visit sites that Van Gogh immortalized in his paintings. The tour includes a rental bike and helmet.
Image: Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen (Source: Vincent van Gogh, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Friday from 18.30: Social Event – Party in Ketelhuis
Tensions of Europe conferences have a great tradition when it comes to social events. In Eindhoven this event will take place in the once ´forbidden city´ within Eindhoven, in the former Philips complex of Strijp-S. In 1916 Anton Philips built the first factory in Strijp-S, a glass factory for incandescent light bulbs. Later, the Philips Physics Laboratory was opened in 1914. In Strijp-S radios, televisions and other consumer electronics were massively produced. The Philips company abandoned these production sites gradually since the 1990s and in the early 2000s the land was returned to the city. Since then the area has been transforming. It became a destination for the creative sector, including technology and design, under the English headline Old Buildings, New Ideas. The old factory buildings are a perfect place for creative studios, shops and restaurants. In this place, where bustling activities are revived, we will conclude the Tensions of Europe conference 2026 with a nice diner, dance and activities that need to remain a surprise for now…
Image: Strijp-S Eindhoven. Source: Nanda Sluijsmans (Wikimedia Commons)
Saturday, July 11th 10.30-15.00: Tour Rietveld ‘De Ploeg’ factory & Bruns exhibits producer
This bus tour takes you to the former weaving mill ‘De Ploeg’ designed by Dutch De Stijl architect Gerrit Rietveld in 1958, in the village of Bergeijk. The former factory building of the socialist cooperation ‘De Ploeg’ (The Plow) and its surrounding gardens, designed by landscape architect Mien Ruys, form an ensemble. In 2007 the weaving mill closed and production was transferred to other places. The building was listed as a national heritage site in 2008 and found new users in the Bruns company, that restored the building in 2016. Bruns specializes in the development and production of exhibitions, with a particular focus on interactive displays. As they write on their website: “Bruns makes stories tangible”. Bruns offers us a behind-the-scenes tour inside their factory, where the new exhibits are produced under the iconic shed roofs of Rietveld.
The tour includes bus ride, lunch, and walk in, and around, the factory and its park.