Call for Entry: Theme announced for the 2010 Noorderlicht Photofestival

Noorderlicht takes the contemporary countryside as its theme for the Photofestival in 2010. The festival is held from 5 September through 31 October (opening Sept 4th) with the Fries Museum as it's central location. In a continuation of the Frisian Noorderlicht tradition, the exhibition will focus primarily on topical developments in the non-Western world, as visualised by non-Western and Western photographers. Submissions are welcome starting 15 February through 12 April 2010.

Theme: non-Western rural areas
For its upcoming photo festival Noorderlicht wants to research the contemporary changes in non-Western rural areas. UN reports sketch a sombre picture of rural life in the non-Western world. The prospects for its inhabitants are even worse than those of the slum-dwellers in the cities. Poverty is rampant and there is a lack of schooling. Social mobility is limited to an exodus of the young to the city, so that the countryside is ageing. It is expected that by 2030 only 40% of the world's population will be living in rural areas. In that year 80% of the urban population will be outside of the West, which means that particularly what are now smaller cities in Asia and Africa can expect rapid expansion by natural growth.

How is rural life changing in the current urbanised and global economy? Is it possible, against all economic logic, to find new values for rural life?

Photographers and curators who are currently working on this topic are most welcome to send in their proposals.
In 2011 Noorderlicht will shift its attention away from the rural life to the city-life. Submissions on this topic are also welcome.

For more information please visit our website:
Theme 2010: www.noorderlicht.com
Conditions for submitting: www.noorderlicht.com