A lecture on darkness, starry skies, and our relationship with the night in a world where true darkness is becoming increasingly rare.
As part of the exhibition *From Dusk Till Dawn*, writer, poet, and theater artist Marjolijn van Heemstra will give a lecture on the cultural significance of the night. Drawing on her fascination with darkness, starry skies, and our place in the bigger picture, she explores what the night has offered people throughout the centuries—and why that experience is regaining significance today.
While *From Dusk Till Dawn* shows how people in the seventeenth century lived, worked, traveled, and dreamed in a world where the night was still truly dark, Van Heemstra connects this past to questions that are relevant today. How does darkness affect our imagination? Why do people need the night? And what does it mean when stars, silence, and darkness are becoming less and less a given?
About Marjolijn van Heemstra
Marjolijn van Heemstra is a writer, poet, theater artist, and journalist. Her works include *In Light-Years, No One Is in a Hurry*; she has collaborated with scientists from the James Webb Space Telescope; and through her initiative *Het Nachtverbond*, she is dedicated to raising awareness about the value of nighttime darkness.
