Musical serendipity at Centre Céramique

As a student in Maastricht, books and, nowadays, e-readers, constitute the bulk of my daily diet. Yet, although a familiar visitor of the University Library, I confess that it took me some time to venture further to the city’s main library at Centre Céramique.

I knew that the chic and semi-transparent building on Plein 1992 hosted the municipal library and organised cultural events throughout the year. I had even stepped inside a couple of times to visit some exhibitions such as the World Press Photo exhibit, never however exploring further than the ground floor.

My real discovery of Centre Céramique was a matter of chance, and a musical encounter, too.

The encounter
A talented friend who was looking for a place to play the piano for free on Sundays, found out that the building keeps a public clavier.

We went there on a beautiful, sunny Sunday, and found a piano waiting for us in one of the building’s music rooms. After my friend had played most of Chopin’s sonatas, we relinquished the room to another eager pianist, and with melodies still resounding in my head, I started wandering through Centre Céramique, which, I found out while strolling through its corridors, is strikingly similar to an extraordinary public clavier.

The keyboard
Just as a keyboard to a piano, books are a library’s very soul. Upon entering the second floor of Centre Céramique I was mesmerized by the great amount of volumes that unfolded before me, and by the beauty of their exposition.

My literary discoveries ranged from a touristic guide to Lebanon to Robert Kaplan’s realist essay on Afghan warlords, through vegetarian recipes, analyses of Andy Warhol’s work, do-it-yourself handbooks and reflections on anarchy. Curious to test the thoroughness of the collection, I made use one of the many electronic databases and yes, the library also hosts a copy of Dante’s Divina Commedia in original language.

Centre Céramique currently possesses 280.000 books in the public stacks, and some 250.000 in the deposit, in six different languages, director Eric Wetzels told me when I spoke to him on a recent meeting.

The number of lendings has significantly decreased from 2006 to 2008, from 494.000 to 474.000, while the number of visitors has remained steady and the number of website visits has boomed.

This shows that the very soul of a library is changing in nature- a seismic shift to which Centre Céramique is trying to adapt. “People read less,” said director Eric Wetzel, “There will be a change in the library from the old analog to more digital means”. Indeed, the centre already provides a wireless network, computers, printers and scanners on each floor.

But on my pilgrimage, I stumbled upon much more.

On the first floor, glossy shelves exhibit plenty of newspapers and magazines for every taste, local, global, mainstream or slightly more niche.

The modern library also pays attention to the local reality and history, in the typical Maastricht blend of cosmopolitanism and tradition.. This is particularly evident on the fourth floor, where collections of old Limburg literature and press are available to the public.

The Céramique collection is not only limited to written publications. Video, dvd and most importantly music material – Cds from rock to jazz to opera, and musical sheets – are a welcome addition.

“I heard that they have a lot of music here” said Belgian student Alyx, holding piano scores of Beatles’ songs. There are tens of stacks of musical sheets from all genres, which can be used to play in one of the cells of the building dedicated to music lovers of any level of expertise.

This wide offer of material however might still not be enough to explain why, despite of the fact that people tend to spend less time reading, the number of visitors to the Centre has, all in all, kept steady. The answer to this, director Wetzel explained, lies in the ground floor, where neither books nor newspapers are to be found.

“We use Centre Céramique for art, photo and historical exhibitions,” he said. Some of these, such as the dinosaur exhibition of 2008 or the annual World Press Photo exhibit, draw large crowds to the building. For the first time this year, the centre’s booklet contains the words “Library, Exhibitions, Cultural Heritage”. The many initiatives such as workshops and small conferences planned throughout the year form another pillar of the cultural centre.

The pianists
Coming from the town’s crowded streets, Centre Céramique seems extraordinarily quiet. Part of this is due to the size of the building and to the sensation of wideness it conveys. It is not just a perception, however. Those who only make use of the Centre’s material resources don’t need to come physically to reserve material or to extend lendings. They can do it via internet from their own couch, and come by just to collect and drop material.

However, some still venture further than the information desk. These visitors can be divided into two categories: the occasional pianists and the regular players . To the first group belong those who pop in to borrow something and then head off, in the fashion of “I do sports, I come and go”, like the busy woman searching for books for her daughter. Part of this group are also the Céramique wanderers, who stroll around on the ground floor to take a peek at the exhibitions, currently ranging from an display of local art over a period of hundred-and-fifty years to a collection of ceramics, reminding us that Centre Céramique was built on the site of a former ceramics factory.

The second group of visitors consists of those who take their time and spend a considerable amount of hours within the glass and glossy walls of the building. Some of them are children, whom their parents bring to use the crayons, material and space available at the Centre.

Others are students of different ages and academic interests, who can be seen bent upon the mahogany desks from which they occasionally raise their head in a pensive way.

“We come here because it is much more quiet than the University Library, and we’d like it to stay that way,” said Malthe, German UM student. “You shouldn’t write that there is such a good atmosphere. You should say chairs are quite uncomfortable. And the staff is so unfriendly!” Which is, as far as my observation goes, far from true. Helpfulness and kindness have been, as of yet, all I have encountered at Centre Céramique. Francine, an employee at the library since 1981, said that she enjoys her job in helping visitors and in taking care of the Limburg section of the collection. “There have been many changes at Céramique, but they have always worked”, she said.

Many visitors come with a purpose. But not necessarily. Although he enjoys reading the international newspapers at Centre Céramique every week, Emil is not only looking for journalistic investigation. He said the internet provides many more independent sources of information than the fancy magazines stocked upon the Centre’s shelves, which are in his view an expression of the dominant culture. He strongly opposes what he calls the “low-brain perspective of ‘you want that? We do that!’” present in the logic of providing only the material for which there is more demand, and he criticizes the absence of concern for sustainability. “This is 90 percent heat and 10 percent energy” he observes pointing at the lightbulb above his desk. “My Centre Céramique would be one-hundred-percent sustainable, and it would be a place where mainstream and underground meet and produce something new”. Despite all this, however, he keeps coming back. “I like serendipity, and I find that here”.

The melody
My stroll gave me a chance to evaluate the Céramique clavier. The keyboard is well-built and tuned, and the players are appreciative and interested. So what about the melody that is produced? It is hard to come up with a verdict, but the feeling is that it sounds delicate and slightly immature, somehow below its potential. Director Wetzel believes it’s a matter of time for the young and growing Centre to fulfill its cultural, social and educational functions within the city of Maastricht and surroundings.

On the cultural level, things seem to be working out, with a busy agenda of exhibitions and workshops and tons of material from all ages and latitudes at hand. As for the two other dimensions, however, there is a need for more effort. “We want people to come into contact with things they don’t know: unexpected things, surprising things,” explained Wetzel.

Wetzel also envisions more cooperation from the citizens in the future, and I agree with him that this is a capital point. A better social interaction could be beneficial for all, making knowledge truly interactive and shared. The more players, the richer the melody. And the melody will be more intense if it brings together different types of players.

A good start for example could be to establish more collaborations with other local associations, and to reach out a firm hand to other initiatives, private or collective, which might need and could benefit from some of the financial and spacial resources of the Centre.

However, there is need for more practice, and, as Wetzel said, it is also a matter of time. But broadening communication channels will certainly be crucial to make sure that all the potential and knowledge available does not remain locked in a beautiful glass building.

By Sofia Tussis

Sofia Tussis is an Italian student at University College Maastricht, specialising in European Studies. She loves the town, its people and its bicycles, its weather a little less.