Op 26 mei gaf Bill Jacobson bij Noorderlicht een eendaagse masterclass voor fotografiestudenten en recent afgestudeerde fotografen.

Deelnemers:
Piera Campo (Academie Minerva, 4e jaar)
Judith Dekker (Koninklijke Academie Van Beeldende Kunsten Den Haag, afgestudeerd 2001)
Dorien Dolsma (Academie Minerva, 3e jaar)
Tine Eelman (Academie Minerva, afgestudeerd 2004)
Mike Gale (Arts Institute at Bournemouth, afgestudeerd 2005 BA, studeert voor MA)
Mathieu Keuter (Academie Minerva, afgestudeerd 2004)
Marrigje de Maar (Academie Minerva, afgestudeerd 2004)
Judith Quax (Photo Academy Amsterdam, afgestudeerd 2005)
Annet de Vries (Academie Minerva, 3e jaar)
Maaike Wechgelaer (Academie Minerva, afgestudeerd 2006)
Sam Weerdmeester (Academie Minerva, 3e jaar)

Fotograaf en curator Alex Supartono (Jakarta) was een paar dagen bij Noorderlicht op bezoek en sloot zich aan bij de masterclass.

Oblique Strategies
The title Oblique Strategies is borrowed from a deck of cards created by Brian Eno in the seventies. Each card in the stack has a phrase which essentially encourages the user to approach a situation in an alternative, more open, and hopefully more creative way.
The master class encouraged participants to 'think outside of the box' while deepening their own practice.

The first part of the morning session began with an overview of artists and photographers who have used the photographic medium in a variety of nontraditional ways. Beginning with Man Ray, Joseph Cornell and other pioneers, and continuing through contemporaries such as Adam Fuss, Anselm Keifer, and Thomas Demand, a variety of approaches, or strategies, was considered which extend beyond the photograpic tradition of taking a straight picture of something in the real world. The merger of photography with painting, sculpture, installation, theater, and conceptual practices was all looked at.

The remainder of the class was spent doing critique of participants' work (traditional or not), and dialogue amongst all participants. Participants were requested to bring approximately 10 images which best represent their thoughts and vision.

Bill Jacobson is well known for work that negates -through the application of a defocused lens- the specificity of photographic vision, suggesting instead the immateriality of the physical world.