10-year old world champion kicks off GIRLPOWER exhibition

Playing sports in a museum? Yes, please. GIRLPOWER kicked off with a bang with 10-year old Dutch world champion kickboxing, Amira Tahri, opening the NorthernLight-designed exhibition. While Rotterdam sports celebrities Leontien van Moorsel, Fatima Moreira de Melo, Nelli Cooman, Melaica Tuinfort and Jolanda Paardekam took centre stage during the opening, Girlpower immediately did what it was designed for: moving visitors into action.

The streets of Rotterdam form the stage for GIRLPOWER, an exhibition whose three pillars are inspiration, motivation and activation. Every aspect of the exhibition – the urban look and feel, iconic photography, empowering activation videos, activating quotes, and playfully designed interactive sports courts – stimulate young people to move.
GIRLPOWER is action-packed: visitors can cycle alongside Leontien, swing a hockey stick with Fatima, sprint with Neli, powerlift with Melaica and spar with boxer Nouchka. Exhibition-goers also learn about the emancipation of women in sports, discover the evolution of sportswear, and find inspiration in the backstories of Rotterdam sportswomen from young talents like Amira to historical icons like Rie Mastenbroek.

Getting youth into action is of importance to the city of Rotterdam, where insufficient exercise is all too common among children. The action continues once people leave the museum; they can register for free at many of Rotterdam’s various sports clubs, taking up anything from football and hockey to (kick)boxing and swimming. Set to be the most active exhibition of the year, GIRLPOWER can be visited until 8 March 2020. For this project, NorthernLight worked in close collaboration with Heijmerink Wagemakers.