The opening of the forth annual Mercator Art Contest, the Vernissage 2006, took place last Friday (Nov. 24) in our common room. The event was marked by several pleasant surprises. The first of them was the presence of IUB's president, Prof. Dr. Joachim Treusch and the Dean of the School of Engineering and Science, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Kramer. As our college master, Prof. Dr. Klaus Boehnke was leading the group of distinguished guests, students and student-artists, they stumbled upon the second surprise: a live temporary art installation, comprising of almost a complete floor of students dining at one of the tables which had been set up to provide refreshments for the guests of the event. The artist, Mercatorian Simona Balan, gave a short description of her art-piece as the live "models" froze their movements (forks and food hanging in mid-air) to emphasize the meaning of the creation.

With the opening of the fourth annual Mercator Contest, Mercator College has added another fourteen art pieces to its considerable collection of student art. Its success throughout the last four years has helped in establishing the contest as a young, but stable tradition which will hopefully live on for many years to come.

For more pictures, click here.