Village Portraits
"The centre of the world is the place where you live."
When Wijk aan Zee proclaimed itself Cultural Village of Europe for 1999 the village organiszed two kinds of events. Ten visits from the villages of the later so
called Network "Cultural Villages of Europe" and ten other projects for amateur and professional filmmakers, thinkers, youth, elderly, sculptors, musicians, for village experts, for theatre/opera
makers and for photographers.
The project for photographers was the competition "Village portraits". The instruction was: "Portray a village according to the people who live there".
25 photographers from five countries participated. The photos were exhibited behind the windows of houses, shops and pubs in Wijk aan Zee. Walking through the
streets the photos could be seen. A professional jury choose the winner - Jindrich Steit from Czech Republic. Later the exhibition was shown in Nagele (NL), Llanes (ES), Bystré (CZ),
Pergine Valdarno (IT) and Schachdorf Ströbeck (D).