EYE CONTACT

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Thirty portraits on easels, featuring people and photographers from around the world. Accessible yet powerful working methods for different age groups. Together, they can make a strong contribution to a greater sense of connection, the development of empathy and respect, and thus to strengthening a positive learning climate.

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The Academy of Understanding (BegripsAcademie) has existed for more than 15 years. With that, we also celebrate 15 years of working on our mission: promoting mutual understanding and appreciation of differences. In our practice, we experience time and again how seemingly simple and everyday actions, such as making eye contact, can be powerful and disarming tools in this process.

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Through eye contact, we learn to read without words and to understand without explanation. We see something of the other, but also of ourselves. We experience a sense of connection that may be hard to put into words, yet is undeniably there, like a bridge made of points of contact, where you meet each other somewhere halfway.

For students in special secondary education (Dutch: VSO), we offer exercises that are safe, predictable, and do not cause sensory overload, while still inviting reflection, connection, and meaningful contact.

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In the exhibition, you not only make eye contact with the portraits, but also with one another. The activities and exercises that are offered help participants to look in new ways and make surprising discoveries. And when it happens, something remarkable occurs: almost unnoticed, the atmosphere in the room, the group, or the class room beings to change.

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Any secondary or higher education institution can host EYE CONTACT for one week. The costs are minimal: €350 for transport, installation, and dismantling within the Netherlands. Please contact us for rates outside the Netherlands.

 

Would you like to know more?

​Call or email Miriam Zwaan.

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