Multimedia artist Doug Aitken (USA, 1968) first became known through his music videos, that were aired regularly on the music channels. Coming from this background, he developed a piercing artistic vision, on the borderline between media art and pop culture. In 1998 he published his photographic works in the book 'Metallic Sleep'.

The images by Anders Petersen (Sweden, 1944) were made in Groningen in the spring of 2003 in the context of a photography assignment that was handed to him by Noorderlicht. Petersen made a photographic journal if his encounters with the inhabitants of Groningen.

Petersen's photographs will later be shown in the exhibition 'Land of Promise', together with photographs by Adriënne van Eekelen, Antoine d'Agata, Ken Schles and John Davies. The exhibition is an overview of the Noorderlicht commissions that were given between 2001 and 2003.