The Noorderzon Performing Arts Festival is an international and interdisciplinary summer festival in Groningen, known for its unconventional programming. Throughout the city, with the Noorderplantsoen (a city park) as the heart of the festival, there are shows, concerts and performances on the border area of dance, circus, theater, comedy, literature, art and music.
For a number of times, WERC designed the campaign image of this festival, in addition to its (graphic) identity. With the campaign image, WERC gives shape to the communication with which the Noorderzon campaign is carried out. This includes the design elements of the magazine, the posters in the city and the first image you see on the website. Noorderzon adopts a new campaign image for each edition. WERC has left its mark on this image since 2014.
In 2016, WERC designed an alphabet with 3D-printed letters especially for Noorderzon. In this alphabet, each letter was given its own style, structure and character. These letters symbolize the diversity of the festival.
In addition to this alphabet, WERC made an entirely self-created world in which this 3D typography was placed. This world was shaped on the basis of a model, which was digitally designed and then 3D printed. WERC designed such a model for three Noorderzon editions, each one symbolizing the character of this festival. The 11-day Noorderzon festival creates a temporary bubble in which everything around you ceases to exists and where it’s possible to end up at a theater play from China after you’ve just witnessed a dance performance from Rio. The self-created world of WERC, in the form of a model containing the 3D typography, is therefore a symbol of this Noorderzon bubble.
WERC’s campagne image for Noorderzon is more than just a poster; it is the fantasy world in which the festival is set. For WERC, in addition to taking care of communication for the festival, this collaboration is also an ongoing autonomous investigation into the preconditions of contemporary communication.
