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Groningen Museum Night

Ever wanted to experience a ‘night at the museum’? It’s not just something you see in films – you can do it right here in Groningen. On Saturday 19 September, a number of museums in Groningen will be opening their doors at night. For €15, you can take a look around six different museums during the Groningen Museum Night, each offering an extensive and varied programme. Get ready for a night full of art, music, workshops, talks and more.

Groninger Museum

Discover a varied programme of exhibitions and live performances. ‘The Architect & The Housewife: Cleaning the House, Building the Future’ explores the unequal division of roles between those who design and those who care, featuring work by twenty international artists including Zaha Hadid and Mierle Laderman Ukeles. In ‘Playing House’, artists working with children and young people challenge social norms and role models. ‘Nieuw Licht 1’ features a new episode of Ani Schulze’s soap opera ‘The Convent of Pleasure’, filmed in the museum and inspired by the artists’ collective De Ploeg. ‘Keramikos Carrier Bag’ showcases a new acquisition: over 300 ceramic pieces by Matthew Lutz-Kinoy and Natsuko Uchino. There’s plenty to enjoy on the music front too: DJ Katayoun takes visitors on a journey through the history of Iranian sound, whilst Brik Tu-Tok delivers an energetic live show featuring synths, raw beats and poetic lyrics.

Forum Groningen

The Forum is centred around the exhibition on Marilyn Monroe. Even a hundred years after her birth, she remains an unmistakable style icon, businesswoman, actress and feminist. Delve into her life and view her clothes, personal belongings, photographs and more. Cartoonist Jan-Willem Spakman will be on hand to sketch visitors, whilst Miss Helena will be putting on a musical performance featuring burlesque influences, pop, jazz and electro-swing. You can even take part in a ‘Heels’ dance workshop, inspired by Monroe’s flair. Film scholar Timna Rauch explores Marilyn’s multifaceted nature in her lecture ‘So Much More Than a Dumb Blonde ’. At the ‘Seven Year Itch’ photo booth, visitors can step into Marilyn’s shoes themselves, complete with her famous billowing dress. In between the activities, Stockholm Lounge Unit will provide music reminiscent of a 1950s nightclub.

GRID Graphic Museum x Universiteitsmuseum Groningen

The ‘ Universiteitsmuseum ’ is hosting the exhibition ‘Puin Hoop: A Reprint of the 1980s’, in which visitors can stroll through Groningen as it was 40 years ago. The entrance has been transformed into a retro pop-up shop full of vintage finds. In the inner courtyard, a makeover station provides matching hairstyles, whilst students from the Prince Claus Conservatoire play 80s hits. Detroit Soundsystem will be hosting several DJ sets featuring classics and hidden gems. In the basement, everyone is welcome to visit the Punkbunker to make badges or paint graffiti on the Berlin Wall, amongst other things. Listen to a talk on the 1980s squatters’ movement in Groningen and on the creative process behind the ‘Puin Hoop’ exhibition, followed by an aerobics class. On the second floor, you can visit the Aletta Jacob Room, the Anatomical Theatre and the permanent exhibition ‘Masterminds’ on the history of the University of Groningen, as well as the exhibition ‘From Experiment to Public’ marking 225 years of the Royal Groningen Society of Natural Sciences.

Museum aan de A at Academie Minerva

Academie Minerva is hosting the exhibition ‘BE HERE, BE YOU, BELONG’: work by Sarianne E. Breuker and fellow artists in the Koepelzaal, complemented by a growing ‘Salon’ featuring work by Minerva students and alumni. There will be talks by Loes Faber and Hannah Zondervan, a henna workshop, a crash course in the Groningen dialect by Olaf Vos, poetry by city poet Jaimy Hendriks, a bingo show with drag queen Lola Lasagna, and performances by, amongst others, Sapphire’s Classroom, Noorderpoort talent and DJ Boes. Two historic ships – the Emma/PW17 and Beppe Baukje – will also be sailing between Museum aan de A and the Groninger Museum . On board will be, amongst others, storytellers Luna Hamelink and Marja Corten, theatre collective Semi-Succesvol, bagpiper Chris Lubbinge, folk duo Clahrlin, singer Yas Jeanine and brass band Koper&Co.

Synagoge Groningen

Synagoge Groningen During Museum Night, the doors will open to the audiovisual installation by Koster&Knoef, in which music and video art come together around themes such as identity and technological advancement. There is also a fifteen-minute ‘flash tour’ highlighting key pieces from the collection and Groningen’s Jewish history. You can also listen to a personalised audio tour by Bertien Minco, who talks about her family history and her parents’ involvement in the restoration of the synagogue in the 1970s. You can also visit the exhibition ‘Holy Earth’, in which twenty artists present their perspectives on nature, as well as the permanent exhibition ‘House of Life’ and stories about Jewish festivals, traditions and tales.

Noorderlicht in Niemeyer

At Noorderlicht in Niemeyer, everything revolves around the exhibition ‘Thinking Hands’, which centres on the question of what the body still knows now that technology is increasingly thinking and deciding for us. In The Hmm’s ‘Ink Your Online Identity’ workshop, visitors explore their digital versus physical identity and design a temporary tattoo. You can also take part in a palm-reading workshop or ‘Date a Work of Art’, in which a piece from the exhibition is examined up close. The Great Household Competition will provide light-hearted entertainment this evening, with drag queen Lola Lasagne acting as referee. The evening’s musical entertainment will be provided by DJs Begane Grond and aotp with experimental electronic sets.