Stijn Terpstra


Visual artist & Researcher
Bio & Info
Installation views
contact@stijnterpstra.com
@stijnterpstra

Info
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 between photography, writing, moving images, and found media.
Selection of Exhibitions
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’

Publications / Press
2025 / Geologies of Violence, Aesthetics of Non-Alignment, Kunstlicht Vol. 45, no. 3-4

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)


Education
MA, Comparative Arts and Media Studies, VU Amsterdam [cum laude]

PMA, Comparative Arts and Media Studies, VU Amsterdam

BA, Photography and Film, St. Joost School of Art & Design, Breda

2BA Photography (Erasmus exchange), KASK & Conservatorium / School of Arts, Ghent

Preliminary Program St. Joost, Den Bosch / Breda

© 2025 Stijn Terpstra. All rights reservedLast Updated 01.12.2026

Portfolio / Selected Works

Index 

1. Commissioned photography
2. [Spatial] design
3. Research / Audio
4. Editorial work
5. Installation views
4. Published works

1. Commissioned photography
Commissioned photography for cultural and commercial events



2. [Spatial] design
Spatial design for exhibition spaces and other commissioned design projects



3. Research 
Podcast and publication design






4. Editorial work
Visuals for the journalistic platform Red Pers




5. Installation views
Installation view of selected visual projects



6. Published works
Published visual and research projects


2025 / Geologies of Violence, Aesthetics of Non-Alignment, Kunstlicht Vol. 45, no. 3-4 
2025 / Through the Opera Glass, Noorderlicht Biënnale: Machine Entanglements (Catalog)
2022 / Blurring the Lines (Catalog)
2025 / NRC, “Als een tomaat tegenstribbelt” report on Noorderlicht: Machine Entanglements, featuring Through the Opera Glass, August 9.