About the Green Heart Biennale

About the Green Heart Biennale

From May 30 to June 21 2026, the first edition of the Green Heart Biennale will take place, a new festival of art and design for ecological regeneration focused on the Green Heart region in The Netherlands. The Green Heart Biennale is simultaneously international, local, and regional. The festival explores how art, design, and citizen initiatives can contribute to the restoration and improvement of the local living environment for all forms of life.

This first edition consists of local public programs organised over four consecutive weekends at various locations in the Green Heart: Nieuwkoop and the Nieuwkoopse Plassen, Boskoop, Gouda, and Gorinchem. Four ‘seedling projects’ featuring international artists are specially developed for these locations and actively involve local cultural organisations and initiatives as well as the local population.

The program includes presentations by artists, designers, researchers, ecological initiatives, practical workshops, public discussions and educational programs, and explorations of the surrounding area. Throughout the entire festival period (May 30 to June 21), the central exhibition can be seen in Gouda at GOUDasfalt, the extensive bottom-up creative hub on the Hollandse IJssel, directly opposite the city’s historic center.

The exhibition brings together local and international eco-regenerative art and design projects around the four main themes of the festival:
Swamp Imaginaries, The Underground, Arboreal and Under Water.

Participating artists, designers and speakers include: Eva-Maria Lopez (DE), Christine Hvidt (DK),Nicole Spit (NL), Anne Zarske (DE), Sensing Peat (Jeanna Kolesova, Juliane Tübke, Kallia Kefala, Kim Bode, Marina Naprushkina, Philipp Modersohn, Suza Husse, Turakella Editha Gyindo), Urban Reef (NL), Dnipro River Integrated Vision (Oksana Hrabchak, Svitlana Usychenko, Fulco Treffers, Lilet Breddels, UA), Minji Kim (KR), EcoSenda / Green Office KABK (NL), Pierre Oskam (NL), Sissel Marie Tonn (DK/NL), David Bollier (US), Natasha Hulst (NL), Fred Booy (NL), Klaas Kuitenbrouwer (NL), JUST ART (Katia Kwastek, Rob Lubberink, NL), Green Office & Ecosenda KABK (NL).

Organisation

The Green Heart Biennale is organised by Terrestris, the new platform for eco-regenerative culture, initiated and lead by Eric Kluitenberg en Tania Goryucheva, in collaboration with an extensive network of regional and (inter)national partners. The aim is to organise the festival every two years in the Green Heart region.

Contact: info@groenehartbiennale.nl

Artistic and general direction

Eric Kluitenberg
Curator, writer, theoretician on culture, media, technology and ecology.

Tania Goryucheva
Art historian, curator, writer and researcher.

Festival team

Omer van Soldt, production-co-ordination

Production team
Bokyoung Shin
Roos Aimée van Asdonck
Xandri Driscoll
Nienke Roth
Greta Berge
Mikolaj Stojanowicz
Thom van Kasteren
Wouter van den Elzen
Anaïs Lossouarn
Anabel Vasquez Cedre

Design
Joost Hoekstra & Frederik Nysing – 178 aardige ontwerpers

Website design:
Tijmen Luisman

Video documentation:
Ruben Dijkstal

Advisory council

Letizia Artioli, architect, artist and researcher on architecture and climate change.

Pieter van Boheemen, researcher, director Post-X Society.

David Bollier, author, activist, blogger and consultant on the Commons.

Fred Booy, tree nursery Het Groene Huis

Arthur Elsenaar, artist, researcher, tutor ArtScience Interfaculty, University of the Arts The Hague.

Wouter Enderink, co-ordinator cultural events GOUDasfalt.

Jens Hauser, curator and writer, Paris / Copenhagen.

Klaas Kuitenbrouwer, researcher and curator at Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam / director Zoönomic Institute.

Aymeric Mansoux, artist and researcher, Piet Zwart Instituut, Permacomputing specialist.

Rasa Smite, artistic director of the artist organisation RIXC, Riga.

Alice Smits, artistic director Zone2Source – testing ground for art & ecology, Amsterdam.

John Thackara, author and design theoretician.

Kees van Velzen, chairman of Stichting Groene Hart, Alphen a/d Rijn.

Support

The Green Heart Biennale is financially supported by:
Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, LEADER Hollandse Plassen, Province of South Holland, Municipality of Gouda, Co-financed by the European Union.