14th EDITION
On faith and conflict, ecstasy and excess
Ancilliary shows: Abbas (Noorderlicht Photogallery) and Material World (CBK)
Is faith permissible? Or is faith compulsory? How sacred is the line separating church and state today, long the unquestioned foundation of Western democracy? How firm is the theory of evolution? How conceivable is
unbelief?

Belief: indispensable for one, unthinkable for another. Experienced individually but lived out collectively, it binds together communities of faith, and separates them. In the world called faith, truth very quickly becomes one's exclusive possession.
In a blistering and extremely timely exhibition 130 photographers from all over the world offer a probing documentary image of this veritable Tower of Babel - and its consequences.
Their photographs were made in front of the gates of Paradise - and Hell. Sometimes they are very personal, sometimes detached. At one moment they are confrontational or critical, another loving or surprising - but never indifferent.
At the same time the exhibition illuminates the versatility of photography today as a socially engaged, narrative medium. With photographs varying from portraits to landscapes, diaries to documentation, Act of Faith is a journey through the world and through photography: a double intention that has characterized the Noorderlicht Photofestival from its very beginning.
An impression of Act of Faith:
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1rst part: VIP-opening exhibition Abbas - Children of Abraham in the Noorderlicht Photogallery
2nd part: grand opening of the festival in the Der Aa-kerk by Koen Schuiling (chairman of the board of Noorderlicht) and Max van den Berg (Royal Commissioner of Groningen).
video: Perrie Hoekstra
The press on earlier Noorderlicht Photofestivals:
'Fascinating, original, (..) with depth' (NRC Handelsblad, The Netherlands)
'A not-to-miss event' (De Volkskrant, The Netherlands)
'Very strong concept' (Dagblad van het Noorden, The Netherlands)
'A household name' (Vrij Nederland, The Netherlands)
'Diversity and (...) surprising contents make an interesting festival' (Telegraaf, The Netherlands)
'One of the most progressive photofestivals in the world' (South China Morning Post, China)
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