Noorderlicht (Dutch for "Northern Light") is an international platform for photography and lens-based media based in Groningen, The Netherlands. In addition to the Noorderlicht Biennale, Noorderlicht organizes exhibitions, an educational program, a publishing house, and its own print lab.[
]
History
Noorderlicht photogallery was founded in 1980. Ten years later, the photofestival was launched, becoming one of the most important international photographic events.
In 1991, the festival became a biennale, until 2000, when it was restored as an annual event. From this date, the festival site has alternated between
Groningen and
Friesland. Since 2021, Noorderlicht has been a biennial for photography and lens-based media in the three Northern provinces of the Netherlands. Ton Broekhuis, co-founder of Noorderlicht, served as director until 2016. Kees van der Meiden succeeded him. Since 2024
[1],
Roosje Klap has been the general and artistic director of Noorderlicht.
Photofestivals
List of Noorderlicht Festivals (1990–2025)
-
1990 – Groningen: Noorderlicht I
-
1991 – Groningen: Noorderlicht II
-
1993 – Groningen: Home
-
1995 – Groningen: Common Lives
-
1997 – Groningen: The Garden of Eden – Imagining a Dynamic Reality
-
1999 – Groningen: Wonderland – The Boundaries of Documentary Photography
-
2000 – Friesland, Leeuwarden: Africa Inside – Photography from Africa
-
2001 – Groningen: Sense of Space – The Human Experience of Space
-
2002 – Friesland, Leeuwarden: Mundos Creados – Photography from Latin America
-
2003 – Groningen: Global Detail – The Effects of Globalization
-
2004 – Friesland, Leeuwarden: Nazar – Photography from the Arab World
-
2005 – Groningen: Traces & Omens – On the Passage of Time
-
2006 – Friesland, Leeuwarden: Another Asia – Photography from South and Southeast Asia
-
2007 – Groningen: Act of Faith – On Belief and Conflict, Ecstasy and Excess
-
2008 – Friesland, Leeuwarden: Behind Walls – Eastern Europe Before 1989
-
2009 – Groningen: Human Conditions – Six Curators Share Their Personal Views
-
2010 – Friesland, Leeuwarden: Land – Country Life in the Urban Age (Part 1 of the Urbanization Diptych)
-
2011 – Groningen: Metropolis – City Life in the Urban Age (Part 2 of the Urbanization Diptych)
-
2012 – Friesland, Leeuwarden: Terra Cognita – The Relationship Between Humans and Nature
-
2013 – Groningen: TWENTY – Celebrating Twenty Editions of Noorderlicht
-
2014 – Friesland, Heerenveen: An Ocean of Possibilities – Human Resilience in Times of Crisis
-
2015 – Groningen: Data Rush – Tension Between Freedom and Control in a Virtual World
-
2016 – Friesland, Heerenveen: Arena – Visible and Invisible Traces of Humans in the Landscape
-
2017 – Groningen: Nucleus – On Art and Science
-
2018 – Friesland, Heerenveen: In Vivo – The Ambivalent Relationship Between Humans and Nature
-
2019 – Groningen: Taxed to the Max – The Influence of Global Corporations on Everyday Life
-
2020 – Heerenveen & Groningen: Generation Z – The Worldview of the Post-1996 Generation
-
2021 – Friesland, Groningen & Drenthe: The Makeable Mind – How Today’s Image Makers Shape Our Perception of the World
-
2023 – Friesland, Groningen & Drenthe: Regenerate – Restoring and Renewing Human and Natural Relationships
-
2025 – Friesland, Groningen & Drenthe: Machine Entanglements – The Interrelationship of Technology and Ecology
External links
