Rebel Café: Nocturnal Garden
Friday, October 31
WORM, Rotterdam
On Friday, October 31, we organised a special edition of Rebel Café at WORM in Rotterdam – an evening where ideas, inspiration, and creativity came together in true Rebel style.
The program started with the thought-provoking talk “Samenwerken Natuurlijk!” (“Working Together, Naturally!”) by Koos Biesmeijer, Scientific Director at Naturalis and professor at Leiden University. Koos is an internationally recognized expert on biodiversity and pollinators, studying how species interact, adapt, and what we can learn from nature’s ecosystems. In his talk, he showed that cooperation in nature is not as harmonious as it may seem – yet still works in surprisingly effective ways. And when it comes to building societies, no one does it better than ants: what lessons can we take from them?
Afterwards, people immersed themselves in Nocturnal Garden — an electronic music concert with live VJ visuals by Well, oh boy and Elsbeth van Noppen, revealing the hidden nightlife of plants and flowers. Well, oh boy and Elsbeth van Noppen previously collaborated during the legendary Now&Wow club nights in Rotterdam. This experimental and immersive performance showed how nature and technology can beautifully merge.
During the drinks (19:00-20:00), Jonne Velthuis from the Flora & Fauna team of Rebel gave a short demonstration of his bat research, making the high-frequency squeaks of bats audible. This way, we could all get into the Halloween spirit together!
