📣 OPEN CALL: NOORDERLICHT BIENNALE PLAY! 2027

Play makes room for possibility.

It gives us space to experiment and look at the world differently. Play can bring joy, cause friction or challenge the way we see things. And sometimes, it gets political.

Digital platforms have turned play into a business model of scrolling, scoring and chance. PLAY! shifts the focus back to what play can open up.

For Biennale PLAY! 2027, Noorderlicht invites photographers and lens-based artists to show us what play can do.

Photography, video, installation, AI and generative work, interactive and game-based work, publications and hybrid forms are welcome. Submit existing work, adapt something you’ve already made or propose something new.

Around 75 artists will be selected for PLAY!, opening September 2027 across Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe. Selected artists receive an artist fee, and Noorderlicht takes care of production, including printing and framing, insurance and transport.

Deadline: 15 December 2026, 23:59 CET Submission fee: €5 per project

Curated by Marijn Bril & Grażyna Siedlecka.

📷: Pelle Cass, Choi Hung Estate, Day Two, 2023. From the series Crowded Fields.