Science & Cocktails: The Melody of Nature

Monday 16 February 2026

In Tolhuistuin - Club

Doors: 19:00, Support: 19:30, Main programme: 20:30

Event in English, semi-seated

Program is half seated, half standing

This show is part of

Kosmos

Science & Cocktails is a series of public talks by scientists with live music and smoky dry-ice chilled cocktails in your hand.

19:00 doors open for cocktails
19:30 No Plexus (live)
20:30 Ivo van Vulpen (talk)
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The Melody of Nature – the magical world of the very small

The answers to many of the mysteries about how nature works are hidden somewhere in a world that is invisible to the human eye. Particle accelerators have allowed us to descend deeper and deeper into the world of the very small. Probing nature at these scales and studying the elementary building blocks of nature is an exciting adventure. Each step down the spiral staircase has revealed new secrets about how nature works and the strange new insights - like quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity - have found their way into applications that form the basis of our modern society.

The Nobel Prize winning discovery of the Higgs boson using the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European center for particle physics, was not the end of the journey. Far from it! There are many unsolved mysteries left: what is that ‘dark matter’ that fills the universe, where did all the anti-matter go, are there more dimensions of space and where does everything come from in the first place? These riddles and our visions of hidden worlds that could provide answers drive the journey onwards. Deep underground in Switzerland. Adventure!

About
This event is an initiative by the Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (DIEP) with the support of the University of Amsterdam. Science & Cocktails Amsterdam is presented in cooperation with Paradiso Amsterdam

Line-up

Club

Ivo van Vulpen
No Plexus

Podcast with Ivo van Vulpen

About the speaker

Ivo van Vulpen is an experimental particle physicist working at the University of Amsterdam and Nikhef, the national institute for subatomic and astro-particle physics in The Netherlands. His research focusses on studying the properties of the Higgs boson, produced at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European center for particle physics. He is also affiliated to Leiden University, where he works as a professor of science communication in physics.

Ivovan Vulpen crop Photograph by Bob Bronshoff

About No Plexus

No Plexus is a Dutch-Australian composer-producer duo based in Amsterdam, bridging electronic pop and contemporary classical music. Distinguished by their innovative sound and immersive artistic universe, they combine electronic experimentation with compelling scenographic elements, from audiovisual experiences to organic stage installations.

The act found a shared love of science fiction aesthetics and techno-futuristic perspectives with scenographer and stage designer Amalia Jaulin. Together, they premiered a new live show at Rewire 2025: an evocative, interdisciplinary performance featuring two very large textile banners which transformed the stage into a space which felt reminiscent of a temple. The stage design echoes the artistic ideas of the project, while the music flows from one track to the next, sliding between expressive vocal performances and moments of improvised, textural sound design.

Listen here

No Plexus

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How to get to Tolhuistuin

Tolhuistuin (formerly Paradiso Noord) is located at IJpromenade 2 in Amsterdam North. A free ferry runs from Amsterdam Central Station to Buiksloterweg. From there, turn left and you’ll walk straight into Tolhuistuin. For club nights, the rear entrance (Buiksloterweg 5C) is used. This entrance can be reached via Overhoeksplein

Restaurant
Tolhuistuin also has a restaurant where you can enjoy a meal before the show. We recommend making a reservation in advance via this website.

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