The Noorderbrug Project

In this project, UCG students collaborate with art students from Academy Minerva and clients from De Noorderburg, an organisation that provides care and housing for people with acquired brain injuries. This collaboration entails research using arts-based, participatory methods within these mixed teams. The project is an example of community engagement during which students explore processes and instances of in- and exclusion in Groningen by undertaking various activities together. The teams travel by bike/ wheelchair or bus to visit and assess accessibility and inclusivity of cafés and pubs in town, and each other’s homes.

Photography plays a key role in documenting and analysing experiences together.- In their research, students combine insights from medical sciences, psychology, sociology, geography and arts. Project outcomes include photo-based exhibitions in academic and nonacademic settings, with the goal of engaging communities in dialogues on experiences and implications of difference in shaping ‘inclusive cities’. In addition, students presented their research at an international conference in Ireland in 2018 and wrote an article for a journal.

Dr. Bettina van Hoven, Project Supervisor on the project:

"The Noorderbrug Project turned out to be a meaningful space of encounter. Students experienced they had more similarities with their teammates, some of whom were in wheelchairs or communicated via eye-tracking operated speech computers, then they initially thought. This mosaic, made of bits and pieces from all team members, represents their sense of sameness, rather than their perceived differences".