Museum Opsterlân

In Museum Opsterlân, Noorderlicht shows artists who investigate how we as humans relate to nature. How are we connected to it and in what ways can we work together to improve our own well-being and that of the planet? The works on display show alternative ways of looking at, experiencing and relating to the more-than-only-human world.

With REGENERATE as its theme, Noorderlicht International Photo Festival refers to the desire to restore and enhance the health and resilience of nature. This can be done in various ways. Sometimes by actively intervening, sometimes by taking a step back and trusting the restorative power of nature itself. The goal is to protect our environment and keep the world livable.

Our instinctive relationship with nature encourages us to do so. Humans still feel a deep-seated emotional connection to nature, of which we, like all other living things on this earth, are a part. It is invaluable that we realize this. Especially in the Western world, where everything has to be more and more individualistic, material, faster and more efficient, we sometimes forget this. In some other cultures we do see the connection with nature come to the fore.

The various works on display invite us to reflect on what immediate impact our actions have on the environment, how ecologically fragile nature is, but at the same time how strong its self-healing and regenerative capacity is. In the global ecosystem, all life is interconnected. Nature deserves as many rights as humans and their modern developments. With this idea in mind, the festival wants the exhibited works to ask questions about where we want to go and in what way, about the time we live in and the time yet to come.

Noorderlicht International Photo Festival has been a biennial for two years and offers exhibitions throughout the Northern Netherlands, on various dates from now until early December, from Friesland to Groningen and Drenthe. The festival theme REGENERATE is motivated by the widely shared feeling that a new, fresh start is needed in our dealings with nature and society. It is about our relationship with our immediate environment, ourselves and the world we live in. We therefore look at the festival from three perspectives: REGENERATE LIFE, REGENERATE OURSELVES and REGENERATE SOCIETY.

The works shown in Museum Opsterlân are by photographer Bob Miller, Fatma Çelik and Sabine Grootendorst. They focus on the first part: REGENERATE LIFE.

REGENERATE is curated by guest curator Eefje Ludwig and Noorderlicht curator Wim Melis.