1 September 2023 - 10 March 2024 NDSM-Plein 29, Amsterdam (NL) NDSMFuse.eu​​​​​​​

Migration is an age-old phenomenon that has shaped and transformed the world. People have always been fleeing, driven by all kinds of motives. Today, the media strongly influences our image of refugees and, often negatively. The story of people leaving loved ones behind and braving oceans in search of a better life is complex. People flee for war, discrimination or economic malaise and the effects of climate change.

However, fleeing also takes place on a smaller scale, for different reasons, within different cultures, and even within families. What do all these refugees share? What hopes, dreams and desires drive them? What should we do to better understand the refugee? How can we show empathy for their experiences, even if they fall outside our frame of reference?

In 'Op de Vlucht (On The Run)', artists engage viewers with the phenomenon of migration with work from various disciplines, from painting to interactive installation. For instance, the exhibition restricts visitors' freedom of movement and evokes the experience of what it feels like to be stopped by ordinances, rules and fences. An examination of one's own privilege as a step towards getting closer to the other. 'On the Run' is inevitably about ourselves. I and the other, I and the refugee. I, the refugee.

Curator: Ellen Klijzing

Breaking Boundaries was part of the Op de Vlucht. A project in collaboration with behavioral scientist Ana da Silva Pinho and photographer Benny van der Plank.