Vrije Vogels (Birds) '23

Aviary of the world

Vrije Vogels is like an aviary of the world, from familiar city birds to birds in faraway lands. The different perspectives of the photographers invited visitors to admire the birds in their natural habitats. Sometimes as rapidly passing shadows against the bright light of the sun, sometimes face to face in close-up. The photos reveal the variety of worlds in which birds live and simultaneously raise questions about threats to their habitats, of which climate change is the most alarming.

Dutch premiere

Bernard Plossu, Pentti Sammallahti, Yoshinori Mizutani, Terri Weifenbach, Graciela Iturbide, Michael Kenna, Leila Jeffreys, Albarrán Cabrera, Byung-Hun Min, Rinko Kawauchi, Paolo Pellegrin, Christophe Maout, Roger Ballen and Kyunghee Lee are the contemporary photographers from ten different countries, each presenting their own artistic vision of birds. 

They were brought together by Atelier EXB in the series of books Des oiseaux and now also in an exhibition. At the Grote Kerk Breda, this exhibition had its Dutch premiere under the title Vrije Vogels. Moreover, the work of Kyunghee Lee, the most recent addition to the series, was shown here for the first time.

Extra activities

There were many other activities during Vrije Vogels. These included a scavenger hunt for young and old that allowed you to spot birds both in the exhibition and in the church and to learn more about their meanings. You could also combine your visit to the exhibition with a walk and discover some of the most remarkable birds in and around Breda city centre. You could enjoy the complementary film programme we organised in collaboration with Filmhuis Breda, including the critically acclaimed documentary All That Breathes by director Shaunak Sen and the children's film Kauwboy, or join one of the public guided tours on Saturday afternoon or the Early-Bird Reclining Concert(c) Bach & Beatles or the Early-Bird Reclining Concert(c) Canto Ostinato & Best of Einaudi on Sunday morning.