From the series Tí, Waidua Sebái, Novi Sebái, Filemon Nato, Eta Nato © Koos Breukel & Roy Villevoye / Courtesy the artists, Motive Gallery and Van Zoetendaal Collections
FOAM - Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam Keizersgracht 609 1017 DS Amsterdam Pays-Bas
Koos Breukel » Roy Villevoye » Tí
12 April – 19 June 2013
Stephen Gill » Best Before End
17 May - 14 July 2013
Monica Nouwens » Look At Me And Tell Me If You ..
17 May - 14 July 2013
Lara Dhondt » Memento
17 May - 17 July 2013
Koos Breukel » Roy Villevoye » Tí
12 April – 19 June 2013
The Asmat in the Indonesian part of New Guinea (previously Dutch New Guinea) is a largely impassable mangrove swamp, roughly the same size as The Netherlands. It contains a unique culture of hunters and gatherers, still living isolated from the rest of the world. Visual artist Roy Villevoye and photographer Koos Breukel visited the small Asmat hamlet of Tí together at the end of 2011. This small village is situated on the upper reaches of the Unir river in the northeastern part of the Asmat. Tí can be reached by sailing for three days upriver from the central small sea harbour Agats using a motorised canoe. The people of Tí have been living in the tropical rain forest completely isolated from the rest of the world for generations. However, the Asmat has been undergoing rapid changes during the last few years. Indonesia is encouraging the commercial exploitation of the area. For the time being Tí seems to remain unaffected by the economic changes taking place.
http://www.foam.org/press/2013/koos-breukel-roy-villevoye-ti
From the series Tí, Waidua Sebái, Novi Sebái, Filemon Nato, Eta Nato
© Koos Breukel & Roy Villevoye
Stephen Gill Best Before End
17 May - 14 July 2013
The exhibition Best Before End by the British photographer Stephen Gill (Bristol, 1971) incorporates a number of photographic series that Gill made in and around the London Borough of Hackney over the past fourteen years. Having made straight descriptive photographic studies for many years, his approach shifted as he discovered the limitations of this type of aesthetic to convey all ideas. Gill made various attempts to jump outside the technical boundaries that photography imposed. He began to work with, and to explore photography’s weaknesses and invited an element of chance to help convey the spirit of the subject. His processes include burying photographs, making exuberant flower collages, placing objects inside the camera so that their traces could be encapsulated within the film emulsion thus adding confusion of scale. Gill’s most recent series, entitled Best Before End, resulted from part processing negatives in energy drinks, bringing forth the most fantastic, abstract and vibrantly coloured works that somehow reflect the intensity of modern inner city life. Pushing the boundaries of the photographic image, Gill shows that photography still offers endless possibilities to surprise the world with great marvel. A true pleasure for the eye.
http://foam.org/press/2013/stephen-gill
Artist Talk: Stephen Gill
Friday May 17th
Foam organizes an Artist Talk with chronicler, visual poet, anthropologist, sociologist, alchemist, photographer and conceptual artist Stephen Gill, as part of his exhibition Best Before End. During this evening Gill will speak extensively about the work included in the exhibition.
http://www.foam.org/visit-foam/calendar/2013/artist-talk-stephen-gill
London Energy Drink From the series Best Before End © Stephen Gill
Monica Nouwens » Look At Me And Tell Me If You Have Known Me Before
17 May - 14 July 2013
With her project Look At Me And Tell Me If You Have Known Me Before Dutch photographer Monica Nouwens dedicated herself to portraying the ambivalent appeal of one of the world’s largest cities: Los Angeles. As the sunlight fades and the twilight appears, the city turns into an entrancing wonderland whose charm can disappear in the blink of an eye. Her work condenses a mixture of roughness, sensuality and emotional moments and turns it into a fragile but timeless image of beauty and the human condition.For Look At Me And Tell Me If You Have Known Me Before Nouwens focuses on the LA bohemia, a subculture of people who seem to have withdrawn from the dominant consumer culture. These groups shape more personal, small-scale alternatives that operate outside the standard economic structure. Monica Nouwens is a fellow of the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam. During her fifteen years in Los Angeles, Nouwens has built a reputation for her photography of architecture and urbanism.
http://foam.org/press/2013/monica-nouwens
Artist Talk: Monica Nouwens
Tuesday May 21th
Foam and Paradox organize an extended Artist Talk with artist Monica Nouwens, as part of her exhibition Look At Me And Tell Me If You Have Known Me Before. During this evening Monica Nouwens and curator Frank Ortmanns, will talk about the project and the exhibition. Hripsimé Visser, curator photography at the Stedelijk Museum will discuss her work in the context of other photographers interested in subculture, who take on an insider's perspective. Josien Pieterse, political scientist and director Netwerk Democratie, will place the work in a broader social context. She will discuss the phenomenon that people (consciously) withdraw from social structures and no longer take part in the political system. Ultimate form of subversion or permanently absent from the public debate?
http://www.foam.org/visit-foam/calendar/2013/artist-talk-monica-nouwens
Trenton, 2012 © Monica Nouwens
Lara Dhondt » Memento
17 May - 17 July 2013
This spring Foam 3h will premiere Memento, the latest series by Lara Dhondt. In her work, Dhondt documents forgotten and found objects, materials and locations in the urban landscape. She does this in an effort to give marginal places a human dimension or dignity. Dhondt’s interventions seem casual and are often nearly invisible. If one looks very closely, however, the care and precision with which the interventions are constructed become clear. The exhibition in Foam will feature black-and-white images from the Memento series, printed on rusted steel, cardboard and wood – materials that change over the course of time by reacting to their physical circumstances. Three-dimensional work from the Primary Stages series (2012), a map and Antropomorphe (2012), the 8-mm projection that she made in collaboration with Portuguese artist André Catalão, will also be shown. Lara Dhondt (Turnhout, 1979) lives in Antwerp and works with the urban landscape. She makes use of various media in her work, such as photography, installation, video, typography and performance.
http://foam.org/press/2013/lara-dhondt