Eric Schrijver

The minimalist design of everyday electronics hides vast infrastructures of extraction and exploitation. Branché·e, a nano festival of artistic research in the maison mauve in Anderlecht, reveals joyous reimagings of the interfaces of daily live. Curated by author and designer @copythisbook who tries to conceive of technological objects that aren’t afraid to take up space, to wear color, to be hacked — that are not smooth, clean, and straight. April 9th, doors open 18:30, start 19:00. @gilbard.e.s are a collective that work from reused materials to conceive local projects around art and a design. They are based in Anderlecht since 2019. Gilbard’s Alexandre Barbé and Marie Pirard collaborated with Eric to create a scenography in the maison mauve: a stage, a table and a work bench integrating technicality in unconventional ways. A new version of 2010’s cult blog I like tight pants and mathematics launched last month, designed by @roxannemaillet . Interested in lesbian semiotics and language strategies of resistance developed from the margins, her style is particularly bold and colourful and resists existing notions of good taste. At branché·e editor Eric will introduce the blog and its team of authors. Designer and author @bloomcascade presents The Archive of Patchy Studies, their newsletter that connects disparate nodes of insight and hope outside of racial capitalism. Their works of theory, a proletarian praxis, often begin in the environment designed by Gilbard and shared with Eric, as well as in the adjacent milieu, such as the Marais de Biestebroeck. @claraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa_ will inaugurate the new stage. A singular voice in feminist reggaeton for years, she is now expanding her universe to include French lyrics, Galician rhytms and love in times of apocalypse. Branché-e was redeveloped as part of an artistic research project with support of the FNRS/FRArt, accompagnied by @art_research_asbl in collaboration with art school @esa_le75_ The title, branché·e, refers to the current tendency in consumer electronics to hide cables. It’s also a no longer hip word for hip. Address: write [email protected]

The copies of @sophie_cure and @dimitri_charrel / @arp_is_arp get a special dédicace ! (vidéo dimitri 🖤)

Counting down to Wednesday’s blog launch at @le29.paris of « I like tight pants and mathematics » with @julieblancfr @roxannemaillet @copythisbook and of course habitus, bnf, glit, jenseits, tellyou and baseline! We’re at Rue Marthe 31 and double bill with @uncivilized.collective ’s book launch at no 29! The talk is 18:30 – 19:30. Made possible by FNRS/FRArt and @art_research_asbl / @esa_le75_ #sustainability #design #masculinities #technology #publishing #bringbackblogs

In the early 2010s, author, artist and designer Eric Schrijver edited the blog I like tight pants and mathematics. The title is a juxtaposition: there is no inherent opposition between tight pants and mathematics. However, it evokes two distinct semantic fields, one of which is associated with the figure of the nerd. This March, we relaunch the blog @le29.paris , with a focus on a new experiment: is an alternative aesthetic for consumer electronics feasible? Could we conceive of technological objects that aren’t afraid to take up space, to wear colour, to be hacked—that are not smooth, clean, and straight? And could such an aesthetic help accept the more bulky, modular, wired objects that would tax our environment less? Devices such as smartphones, laptops, and headphones are deliberately shaped around minimalist aesthetics that hide vast infrastructures of extraction and exploitation. The cultural codes of technology also reinforce social hierarchies through regressive design. Technological competence is rarified, linked to whiteness and masculinity: the nerd is a gatekeeper. The blog has six authors: glit the glamorous, bnf the technical, habitus the critical, tellyou the didactical, baseline the graphical, jenseits the mystical. This form allows for multi-voiced narration faithful to the medium of the web. The comments are open to the public, who regularly slip into the conversations between characters—and vice versa. The design is by @roxannemaillet . Interested in lesbian semiotics and language strategies of resistance, her work takes the form of collective readings, publications, and typographic experiments. Her style is particularly bold and colourful and resists existing notions of good taste. At le29, researcher @julieblancfr , whose PhD deals with graphic designers using web technologies for print, will interview the authors, allowing those present a first peek at the project. Roxanne makes cheeky cocktails. A custom red button is wired to launch the site to the public. I like Tight Pants and Mathematics was redeveloped with support from the Art Research Fund (FRArt) (@art_research_asbl ), in collaboration with art school @esa_le75_

Is an alternative aesthetic for consumer electronics feasible? Could we conceive of technological objects that aren’t afraid to take up space, to wear color, to be hacked — that are not smooth, clean, and straight? And could such an aesthetic help accept the more bulky, modular, wired objects that would tax our environment less? I’ve been experimenting with answers to these questions, enabled by the Art Research Fund provided by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS). They fund artists-researchers in collaboration with the art schools in French speaking Belgium (In my case, @esa_le75_ ). The research is communicated through @art_research_asbl I’ve started collaborating with a wonderful chast of characters, and we’re ready to release projects into the wild, both in cyberspace and on physical territories. We’ll soon announce the line-up and the subject of two upcoming presentations in Paris (10e) and Brussels (1070), I already invite you to save the dates!

We’re ending the year with a brand new website ✨ A tailor-made one-pager designed and built for Diego Luna @lunaquintanilladiego , to accompany the launch of his new architecture & urbanism practice: Caobo Studio 🌿 With my team mate bestie Eric Schrijver @copythisbook , we translated Caobo, its narrative, approach and strategy into an animated scrolling experience. Inspired by the Caobo tree (mahogany), the website is built around a strong vertical structure: echoing foundations, growth and continuity. Scroll, and Caobo’s mission, vision, and services unfold. Go and take a look 👉🏼 caobostudio.com We are very proud of our first project together, and we couldn’t be happier to have collaborated with Diego on this launch. And hyped to tackle more digital projects in 2026 💫 #caobostudio #graphicdesign #websitedesign #uxdesign #uidesign

My yearly mix at the private micro-festival ‘Chateau’. Much ❤️ shared at a castle in the shadow of a nuclear power plant. You can find it on my mixcloud (link in bio) along with song ID’s. These songs vary in tempo but they talk to my bum. The lyrics too, talk of booties in many languages: ‘watch me pop it like a pro’, ‘tot de grond, schudden met je kont’, ‘clappe tes fesses’… It’s polyglot booty, my Brussels experience ! It opens with an excerpt from an interview with the writer Françoise Sagan, which more or less translates as: “I like nightclubs, I like the people that are there, I like drinking, I like dancing, I like to talk bad and be bad… I’m not going to start living like a piece of dry bread just because I’m a so called intellectual !” Sound recording @henry.baboy Rosalia’s flame crop top copied by @lorainefurter

S/S 2025. Copiez ce livre – I like to spend my weekend in pools nested in-between a castle and a nuclear power plant. Vive la Belgique ! Packed the sun screen ? A copy of Copiez ce Livre might be just what’s missing for your easter getaway. Disponible en librairie proche de chez vous (aussi en France) 😋

Un smartphone représente le sommet de toute une série de technologies, conçues par des milliers de personnes extrêmement malines. Il contient de millions de transistors fabriqués à une échelle microscopique. Des métaux rares en plus, pour lesquels on a violenté la terre un peu partout. Il contient un cerveau numérique véloce, un écran tactile et une dizaine de senseurs. Et cet objet finit dans un tiroir, à cause de l’obsolescence des logiciels installés dessus. Dans cet atelier nous tenterons de les ressusciter, de transplanter le cerveau numérique, et de commencer à expérimenter des nouvelles utilisations artistiques pour ces objets. Nous utiliserons des logiciels conçus en communauté (PostMarketOs), mènerons ensemble une réflexion sur la durabilité des objets électroniques dans nos quotidiens et envisagerons des futurs alternatifs. L’atelier est ouvert aux étudiant·es de toutes les options, jusqu’à 10 personnes. Une demande d’inscription est à envoyer par mail au plus tard le 19 mars à [email protected] Dans votre mail, spécifiez si vous avez un smartphone qui peut être utilisé lors du workshop (voire slide 3). Idéalement un smartphone que vous n’utilisez plus, car il va vivre dangereusement. Ce workshop s’inscrit dans le projet de recherche artistique d’Eric Schrijver, soutenu par le Fond de Recherche en Art (FRArt) en collaboration avec l’ESA 75. Une recherche qui pose la question : peut-on envisager un langage de design des objets technologiques qui n’ont pas peur de prendre de la place, de s’habiller en couleur, de se faire pirater – qui ne soit pas lisse, clean et straight ? Appel à donation de smartphones: voire slide 3. À propos d’Eric Eric Schrijver @copythisbook est designer, artiste et auteur. Né à Amsterdam en 1984, il vit et travaille à Bruxelles, où il anime le blog de group I like tight pants and mathematics. Ancien membre clé du collectif Open Source Publishing, il a enseigné le design d’interaction et la programmation informatique au sein du département Graphisme de la KABK, à La Haye, et a également animé des ateliers dans de nombreuses écoles. Son livre Copy This Book est sorti en 2023 en adaptation française : Copiez ce livre.

For a workshop with @esa_le75_ we’re looking for smartphones that we can perform brain surgery on ! If you have a smartphone from this list in your drawers that you’re happy to donate, slide in my DM’s. Don’t hesitate to repost. Part of my research project for FRART / @art_research_asbl on aesthetics of consumer electronics, more info on that soon. New smartphone brains by PostMarketOS.

This weekend—the WIELS Art Book Fair, Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th ! @les_commissaires_anonymes present, Sat @ 15h, a performative launch by @gregoiremotte of Witloof & Witty, on Belgian endive… and a performance by Eric Schrijver: Copiez ce livre / Isodore. Full program online soon @wiels_brussels Av. Van Volxemlaan 354, Brussels, Belgium 1190 PS Don’t hesitate to bring your kids; free KETS workshops on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon! Over the weekend of 5 & 6 October 2024, WIELS welcomes independent art publishers to present their work. Free and open to the public, this annual event allows book lovers, collectors, artists and art professionals to discover a wide variety of printed productions, from zines and artist books to art catalogues and artist editions. During the weekend, several of the participating publishers propose a well-filled programme of artist talks, book launches and book signings. Featured artists and speakers include Hana Miletić, Ève Gabriel Chabanon, Mieke Bal, Ernst van Alphen, Femke Gyselinck, Joachim Robbrecht, Ingel Vaikla, Diego Thielemans, Saskia Gevaert, Marc Nagtzaam, Maxime Le Bon, Simone Basani, Alice Ciresola, Alessandro de Francesco, Siemen Van Gaubergen, Karin Herwegh, Sophie Dars, Eric Schrijver, Grégoire Motte, Garance Débert, Emile Rubino, Ian Waelder, Giuliana Prucca, Denis Deprez, Emma Bombail, Pierre Leguillon, Koenraad Dedobbeleer and many more! Photo: Stephen Vincke / @lafabriquedetheatre

📣 Soirée de Lancement de la réédition de “Comment survivre après l'école d'art?” & "Dans tout le Royaume : le statut social des travailleureuses culturel·les en Belgique" 📍 le 3 octobre prochain aux @ateliersdutoner Chau. de Wavre, 150 1050 Ixelles 18h30 > 22h Programme 1. Annonce des résultats de l'enquête "Après l'école d'art : les fruits de la passion" par @chlohrt ✍️ Partagez votre expérience en répondant à l'enquête (→ linksta.cc/@surfacesutiles ) 2. Strip-tease comptable par @olivier_tramber 3. Lecture collective par @copythisbook (Eric Schriver) et ami·es 📙 〰 Comment survivre après l'école d'art?/How to Survive After Art School? @olivier_tramber @chlohrt @fontaine.clemence (éds.), EN/FR, English translation @jef.caro , 11 × 17,5 cm, 192 pages, ISBN 978-2-931110-10-2, €13. Cet ouvrage partage un ensemble de combines, trucs et astuces qui ont permis à des travailleur·euses du milieu de l’art de s’en sortir après l’école. Ces courtes consignes rédigées à l’impératif présent nous livrent, non sans ironie, quelques éléments de réponse à cette grande question. Considérant le contexte de crise économique, la question que pose ce livre semble aujourd’hui encore plus pertinente pour les jeunes artistes qu’elle ne l’était déjà en 2020, date de la première parution française de ce livre. 📒 〰 Dans tout le Royaume : le statut social des travailleureuses culturel·les en Belgique" @copythisbook (Eric Schrijver) FR, traduction de Maxime Lambrecht 14,8 x 21 cm, 36 pages, prix libre Design graphique @marius_castelle Le royaume de Belgique offre un système de sécurité sociale peu adapté aux travailleurs culturels. Il s'agit d'un petit guide pour s'y retrouver dans les différents modèles (indépendant, salarié, intérimaire) en matière de chômage, de soins de santé, de congé parental et de pension. Commandée en 2022 par @ergunlieuderecherche , cette publication a été distribuée aux étudiants de dernière année. Aujourd'hui, alors que la réglementation continue d'évoluer, le voilà réimprimé @ateliersdutoner . #artistbook #artbook #book #economy #art #printedmatter #bookshop #publishing #artschool #brussels #release #survivaltips #survivalskills