Visual artist & Researcher
Bio & Info
Installation views
Line of Sight coming soon
contact@stijnterpstra.com
@stijnterpstra
Bio & Info
Installation views
Line of Sight coming soon
contact@stijnterpstra.com
@stijnterpstra
Stijn Terpstra (b. 2000) is a visual artist, spatial designer, and interdisciplinary researcher based in the Netherlands. He holds a BA from St. Joost School of Art & Design (Breda, The Netherlands) and an MA in Comparative Arts and Media at Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). His practice explores the aesthetic and political conditions of contemporary media as both material infrastructures and systems that govern perception. Drawing on artistic and scientific methodologies, he critically navigates the entanglements of technology and nature, working with photography, writing, moving images, and found media.
2025 / Noorderlicht Biënnale: Machine Entanglements, Museum Belvédère, Friesland
2024 / Kunsthal Gent, Kunstwerkt: PET SHOP, Ghent
2023 / Kunstenaarsinitiatief B93, From Dusk ‘till Dawn, Enschede
2022 / Dutch Design Week, Class of ‘22, Klokgebouw Eindhoven
2022 / Graduation St. Joost School of Art & Design: Now show
2021 / Fotoasiel, St. Joost School of Art & Design (self-organized)
2021 / NS16 Tilburg, Nieuwe wegen, Oude sporen
2021 / Noorderlicht: The Makeable mind, Sugar Factory Groningen (Student open call)
2019 / RUIS. St. Joost School of Art & Design, Online exhibition & Live interview ‘Interne Ruis’
2024 / Kunsthal Gent, Kunstwerkt: PET SHOP, Ghent
2023 / Kunstenaarsinitiatief B93, From Dusk ‘till Dawn, Enschede
2022 / Dutch Design Week, Class of ‘22, Klokgebouw Eindhoven
2022 / Graduation St. Joost School of Art & Design: Now show
2021 / Fotoasiel, St. Joost School of Art & Design (self-organized)
2021 / NS16 Tilburg, Nieuwe wegen, Oude sporen
2021 / Noorderlicht: The Makeable mind, Sugar Factory Groningen (Student open call)
2019 / RUIS. St. Joost School of Art & Design, Online exhibition & Live interview ‘Interne Ruis’
2025 / Geologies of Violence, AESTHETICS OF NON-ALIGNMENT, Kunstlicht Vol. 45, no. 3-4, (expected)
2025 / NRC, “Als een tomaat tegenstribbelt” report on Noorderlicht: Machine Entanglements, featuring Through the Opera Glass, August 9.
2025 / Through the Opera Glass, Noorderlicht Biënnale: Machine Entanglements (Catalog)
2023 / The Annihilation of Space and Time, Zero Feedback
2022 / Blurring the Lines (Catalog)
2025 / NRC, “Als een tomaat tegenstribbelt” report on Noorderlicht: Machine Entanglements, featuring Through the Opera Glass, August 9.
2025 / Through the Opera Glass, Noorderlicht Biënnale: Machine Entanglements (Catalog)
2023 / The Annihilation of Space and Time, Zero Feedback
2022 / Blurring the Lines (Catalog)
2024-2025 / MA, Comparative Arts and Media Studies, VU Amsterdam
2023-2024 / PMA, Comparative Arts and Media Studies, VU Amsterdam
2018-2022 / BA, Photography and Film, St. Joost School of Art & Design, Breda
2020-2021 / 2BA Photography (Erasmus exchange), KASK & Conservatorium / School of Arts, Ghent
2017-2018 / Preliminary Program St. Joost, Den Bosch / Breda
2023-2024 / PMA, Comparative Arts and Media Studies, VU Amsterdam
2018-2022 / BA, Photography and Film, St. Joost School of Art & Design, Breda
2020-2021 / 2BA Photography (Erasmus exchange), KASK & Conservatorium / School of Arts, Ghent
2017-2018 / Preliminary Program St. Joost, Den Bosch / Breda
2022
We obsessively count and measure in order to better understand the world. This digital existence is in a way a primitive life, which was established by counting with our fingers. Daily life continues to shape itself within a digital framework. Over time, we have made more tools that make us see the world in a data-centric way, changing how we use our instincts and experiences to understand reality. Through the Opera Glass, a title referencing the first birdwatchers’ guide, symbolizes a shift from traditional observation to modern data collection methods. The collection of photographs, data visualizations, and found footage, visually explore ways in which birds can be translated into data and used as a source of information. The bird, a symbol of freedom, and its observer represent a larger story; the paradoxical interconnection between technology and nature, where the boundaries between observing, monitoring, and voyeurism are blurred. The project follows different stages in the lifecycle of birds, from breeding to death, including their immortalization as stuffed animals. Subjects of the images include bird species collection, behavioral research, webcam and GPS tracking, and genomics-based breeding. In the installation, a live printer outputs real-time information about observed birds with coordinates, species, spotter details, and often a small anecdote.