Season 2025

In the countryside in northern Uganda, armed with petri dishes, cardboard cups and a vacuum cleaner, internationally renowned malaria researcher Teun Bousema, along with PhD student Daniel Ayo and his team, seeks to unravel the mysterious life cycle of the malaria parasite. But the parasite is elusive, constantly mutating, which increases the threat of drug resistance. Is this mutated parasite more infectious to mosquitoes? Interplay depicts the daily reality of the tireless scientific battle against this formidable and multifaceted opponent. The malaria mosquito is born ‘clean’. Only after an infected blood meal and taking on various forms does the malaria parasite end up in the mosquito’s saliva, ready to claim a new human victim when the mosquito next bites. ‘It’s such a clever beast,’ says Bousema.

From homework to grocery shopping and from health care to farm life - the human experience is changed drastically by the seemingly unstoppable onset of data, algorithms and AI. But is this an improvement? Ethicist Tamar Sharon researches how digitalisation changes our lives and how Big Tech embeds itself into ever more aspects of the public domain. Do we profit from this development, or does it primarily pad the pockets of Silicon Valley giants? Sharon advocates for regulation as well as a shift in thinking so that technology once again serves the public interest.

Many people, including Muslims, have a uniform, static image of Islam. However, there is enormous diversity in how Islam is experienced across different regions and periods. In The Five Senses, Islamic scholar and Arabist Christian Lange takes us on a journey through the multifaceted nature of Islam. He does so based on his research into the five senses: the windows through which we listen, see, hear, smell and feel the world. Strolling through the fragrant streets of Fez, Morocco, Lange shares his personal motivation for this unique, long-term project and his mission as a non-Muslim to bring East and West closer together. What is it like to step into another person's world?

How do you hold on to hope in times of violence and oppression? For visual artist Mounira Al Solh, born in Lebanon and based in the Netherlands, making art is her lifeline: a way to ‘resist the feeling that we are doomed.’ Remarkably, this does not result in somber work. Dancing on the Ruins shows how Al Solh fearlessly builds a multifaceted and playfully activist body of work. Through textiles, ceramics, installations, video and paintings, the artist creates a colorful universe in which she blends personal stories with ancient myths and musical traditions. Her passion is fueled by a deep sense of urgency to offer optimism in a world full of injustice.

On her native soil just above the Arctic Circle, Norwegian-Dutch theater director Eline Arbo recalls her teenage spirit: "I was so bold, eager and looking for fun - I often think back on those days." Today, she feels like a fighter trying with all her might to turn the tide in an alienating and unjust world. In The Storm Within, Arbo reflects on her role as a leading theater director as she rehearses for the new play Haugtussa, based on a Norwegian cycle of poems in which a young woman with magical powers seeks refuge in nature. With a dark and mysterious theatrical adaptation, Arbo aims to create a world never before seen on stage. In her view, the ominous mythical scenes of nineteenth century Haugtussa are profoundly contemporary.