Northern Lights 2060

Noorderlicht 2022 – With the Door in the House

Northern Lights 2022is a socially connecting event. The aim is to organize a warm, low-threshold and accessible, connecting neighborhood event for a mostly foreign-speaking audience from various social classes in Antwerp-North.

The Northern Lights Project (Paradeone year,Happeningthe other year) is a socially engaged art project, where the inhabitants of the district 2060 become participants of a lively collaboration between the Royal Academy of Fine Arts & the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, local (socio-)cultural organizations and individual artists. The commissioner is the District of Antwerp and since 2016 the project is organized and curated by the AP University College.

For the Noorderlicht Project of 2022, 15 places/locations spread over the territory of 2060 will open their doors for free visits and entertainment on Thursday evening the 24th of November, from 18 until 21h. The encounter continues with a party from 21h until 00h at the Community Center Het Oude Badhuis, Stuivenbergplein 38.

The project responds to the needs of the environment; in this part of Antwerp (2060), different nationalities and their corresponding cultures are living next to each other, with very little interaction and thus understanding between them. The Noorderlicht Parade/Happening brings these different communities together in one place at one time. This moment functions as an artistic catalyst to enlarge mutual understanding and trust. This trust will have a positive impact on the neighbourhood, it is the first important step to increase the feeling of togetherness and belonging, it marks the difference between a house and a home.

Noorderlicht 2022 is not about one artist making art, but about one hug collective, Antwerp North, sharing one big artwork; a happening, with many tentacles, on one night.

Coordinated by Kris van 't Hof and Mahmoud Saleh Mohammadi With Adam Clarke, Ulysses Ost, Mieke Verdickt, Anton Van den Broucke and many teaching colleagues from studios and departments of AP

In collaboration with:

District of Antwerp

AP University College: Departments Health and wellbeing, Management and Communication, Education and Training.

Schools of Arts: (leading the project) Royal Academy of Fine Arts and Royal Conservatoire Antwerp

Community centers of Antwerp-North: Community center DeBuurt, Community center Het Oude Badhuis, Community center Cortina, Community center De Wijk, Community center De Elegast, Collective Fundament, Permeke Library, Wisper-Antwerp, St. Willibrordus Church, Metal, Archipel, M HKA-Panamarenko house , CROSS

(image: © Frederik Beyens, Parade Noorderlicht 2021)