Tokyo Tokyo, 2010

WassinkLundgren

Created by WassinkLundgren in 2012. The artwork is displayed at 50 x 40 cm.

Maldoror #6, 2014

Foam is supported by the VriendenLoterij, Foam Members, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, the VandenEnde Foundation and the City of Amsterdam.

In 2021 Foam receives additional support from the Mondriaan Fund and Kickstart Cultuurfonds

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Is this an example of landscape photography, or a still-life? In the series 

This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land

, the artist duo WassinkLundgren (consisting of Thijs Groot Wassink and Ruben Lundgren) present various images of pieces of earth against a blank background. Although the images may seem straightforward at first, the focus on an apparently insignificant clod of soil triggers the viewer.  

 was made as part of the Virtueel Museum Zuidas, a long-term project documenting the construction of Amsterdam’s financial district, De Zuidas. For this series, the duo dressed up in smart suits to collect several pieces of land at De Zuidas, which is one of the most expensive stretches of real estate in the Netherlands. By adding a document that shows the origin and the price of exactly this piece of land, reaching as high as €15,250 in some spots, an almost surreal image emerges. WassinkLundgren’s work offers a critical interpretation of developments in today’s society, combined with a healthy sense of humour. 

My Land_02 from the series This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land

my Land_02

Rupert Bear Jacket De-Mothing #1 from the series In the Shadow of Things

Léonie Hampton

Created by Léonie Hampton in 2009. The artwork is a photo face on 6mm low iron glass, polished and bevelled edges, polyester back & MDF split batten and displayed at 17 x 25.40 cm.

What atmosphere does this photograph evoke? Does it give you a tense, mysterious or perhaps ominous feeling? The somewhat worn and abandoned children’s shoes trigger the imagination, further enhanced by the location and the light. The moss-covered tiles, the dry leaves that have accumulated inside the shoes, and the gloomy light suggest that the shoes were left behind out in the garden a long time ago. Photographer Léonie Hampton deliberately plays with the interaction between the subject, the location and the light to amplify the atmosphere of the photograph. 

 is part of Léonie Hampton’s intimate series 

, which documents daily family life with a mother suffering an obsessive-compulsive disorder. 

The Thrush #1 from the series The Jewels

The Trush #1, 2009

Living in permanent fear of dirt and contamination. Stacks of stuff that make rooms uninhabitable. Fully withdrawing from the rest of the world. People suffering an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are subject to obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions that often clash with social activities and relations.  

 is the result of an agreement between mother and daughter. The English photographer promised her mother to help her deal with the compulsive disorder, as long as she was permitted to document her daily life with OCD. 

 shows a yellow jacket that seems to have been tossed out with coat hanger and all, and has now been covered by dry autumn leaves. The title and image suggest a certain contradiction: getting rid of moths for fear of contamination clashes with the dirt accumulating on the jacket as it lies outside. 

Rupert Bear Jacket De-Mothing #1 from the series The Jewels

Rupert Bear Jacket De-Mothing #1, 2009

How does this image make you feel? This nighttime scene of a house in the woods may evoke an ominous feeling as to what’s about to happen. Or does the warm light shining through the windows instead transport you to a cosy living room during a cold winter night? 

, in which English photographer Leonie Hampton gives the viewer an intimate peek at her everyday family life. The series was conceived when Hampton offered to help her mother, who suffers from an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), to tidy up the house, as long as she was permitted to photograph the process. The result is an intimate and personal portrayal of the complex relationships that can exist within a family, which might not be apparent to the world around. In the 

 addresses the myth of the perfect family, while showing the unbreakable bonds and the love within a family. 

Night Time #1 from the series The Jewels

Night Time #1, 2009

Adam and Eve, 2016 from the series Collateral Visions

Clément Lambelet

Created by Clément Lambelet in 2016. The artworks are wooden light boxes (white) with plexiglass and duratrans, both displayed at 200 x 105 cm.

Developments in image recognition systems are leading to more and more automated forms of surveillance and personal identification – but how reliable are these new systems? Clément Lambelet looks for the loopholes in this rapidly developing algorithmic ecosystem. The central piece of the 

 series is a variation on an engraving of the Biblical figures Adam and Eve made in 1504 by the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer. Dürer was convinced that the ideal proportions of the human body could be captured in mathematical formulas. For his own interpretation, Lambelet used the kind of body scanner used by airport security. Through his works, Lambelet questions the reduction of human bodies to mere numbers, by showing that algorithms can be functionally biased. 

Adam & Eve from the series Collateral Visions, 2016-2017

Adam and Eve, 2016

No 8. from the series Project 2085, 2015-2017

Wang Juyan

Created by Wang Juyan in 2015-2017. The artwork comprises of four prints on Hahnemühle baryta paper (matte), mounted on aluminium boards, each displayed at 250 x 150 cm.

, shows a misty mountainous landscape divided across four panels. Wang Juyan’s mountainscape is reminiscent of the art of traditional Chinese painting, 

, but it was actually created through a complicated technical process. During his many travels between London and Beijing, Juyan took hundreds of aerial shots of Chinese mountain ranges. Using digital technology, he combined the images he captured over a period of two years to create a fictional landscape of steep mountains, valleys and rivers. The message behind the piece is as serious as the piece itself is magical: the collage refers to the political value of landscapes in both Eastern and Western history. Traditional Chinese scroll paintings, propagandist murals, cartography, surveillance material captured by airplanes or drones… The title of the series is a reference to George Orwell’s influential novel 1984 (plus 101 years) and the fear of being constantly watched by the authorities.

Fake Flowers in Full Colour – Blue, 2008-2009

Jaap Scheeren & Hans Gremmen

Created by Jaap Scheeren & Hans Gremmen in 2009. The artwork comprises of four c-prints, each of which is displayed at 30 x 24 cm.

Do you notice anything particular about these four colours? They represent the four colours of the CMYK colour system. In contrast to the RGB colour system that dominates the representation of colours in the digital world, the CMYK colour system is central to print colours. Like RGB, CMYK is an acronym: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key. These four colours form the basis of the entire colour spectrum in printing. 

Photographer Jaap Scheeren and graphic designer Hans Gremmen conduct an almost absurdist investigation into the impact of digitalisation on the colour of an image. 

 comprises four images of the same flower bouquet, each in a different base colour. If the photos were to be layered on top of each other, they would create a lifelike still life of a bouquet. Instead they create a brightly coloured, artificial-looking image. The artists use this to question the apparent realism of the photographic medium. 

Fake Flowers in Full Colour - CMYK

Fake Flowers in Full Colour

exhibitions

Popel Coumou

Created byPopel Coumou in 2019. The artwork is a archival pigment print and displayed at 41 x 28 cm.

How does this work fit within the photographic medium? The abstract, three-dimensional image may well make you think of graphic design. It is precisely through this kind of confusion that artist Popel Coumou challenges the traditional conceptions of photography, in terms of how you use images. Must a photograph always be a representation of reality? In fact, this image is a collage created used several photographs of the sky. Take some time again to look at the image. Can you see how the sky has been processed in the geometrical shapes? From the golden hue of a setting sun to the deep blue when daytime gradually passes into night. Coumou’s work centres on the progression of light and colour. In this way she deftly examines how the human brain tends to fill in any uncertainties and is able to create its own reality to accommodate whatever it sees.  

113_untitled 2019

Hinde Haest about Drew Nikonowicz in On Earth

Drew Nikonowicz

Created by Drew Nikonowicz in 2016. The artwork is a archival pigment print and displayed at 30.4 x 38.1 cm. 

From the highly manipulated and stylised images on Instagram to the use of ‘green screens’ in films and the digital worlds in video games: how we record and represent the world around us has changed drastically. Are we still able to distinguish between what is real and what is digital? Inspired by 19th-century photographers like William H. Jackson and Timothy O’Sullivan, whose task it was to document new territories on camera, Drew Nikonowicz embarked on his own expedition to document the world and worlds around us. Looking at this black-and-white image of a narrow road disappearing around the corner, you might not notice anything odd at first. Only after reading the title, you realise that you’re actually looking at a miniature replica of the real world. The photograph was taken behind the scenes at the miniature fun fair ‘Italia in Miniatura’ in Rimini, Italy. By combining computer models with analogue photographic processes, Nikonowicz blurs the boundaries between what is real and what is not. 

01 (Italia in Miniatura Behind The Scenes) Title: 2016-10-24 12:38:33 PM 44°05'31.22" N 012°31'03.07" from the series This World and Others Like It

1 (Italia in Miniatura Behind The Scenes), 2016-10-24 12:38:33 PM 44°05'31.22" N 012°31'03.07" E 00034

Lightning Storm Flare from the series Experimental Lake

artworks

Guillaume Simoneau

Created by Guillaume Simoneau in 2015. The artwork is a pigment print. It explores themes as environment, ecosystems and science.

In the genre of documentary photography, it is quite common to produce work in series: multiple photographs that together tell a certain story. Each individual image contributes in a certain way to the bigger story, and it is the photographer who determines how and in which form. For example, in the documentary series 

 the photographer Guillaume Simoneau follows a group of scientists studying the impact of climate change and human interventions on nature, in the so-called ‘Experimental Lake Area’ in Canada. 

 is a close-up of a pair of hands repairing a net. How does this photo relate to the other images in the series, such as 

On Earth – Imaging, Technology and the Natural World

. In this exhibition, 27 contemporary artists reflected on the relationship between humans, technology and nature. 

Mending net, on location ELA, Canada, 2015 from the series Experimental Lake

Mending, on location ELA, Canada, 2015

Created by Guillaume Simoneau in 2015. The artwork is a digital pigment print and displayed at 40 x 31 cm. It explores themes as environment, ecosystems and science.

Just as scientific researchers meticulously record their observations, the Canadian photographer Guillaume Simoneau meticulously observes the paradoxical relationship between humans and nature. His series 

 documents how a group of scientists perform ecological experiments at remote lakes in the vast wilderness of North-west Ontario, Canada. These experiments are part of their study into the impact of human activities on vulnerable ecosystems, for example through pollution and climate change. 

 offers an inside view of the mundane aspects of important scientific research, in which ordinary items such as a bucket, kitchen towel and plastic camping table play a useful role. Guillaume Simoneau’s series 

Location lab two from the series Experimental Lake

Location lab two, on location ELA, Canada, 2015

Created by Guillaume Simoneau in 2014. The artwork is a pigment print and displayed at 40.5 x 30.5 cm. It explores themes as environment, ecosystems and science.

Everything in the world, including humans, consists of atoms; they are the tiny building blocks of life. In this photograph, atoms are represented as black, white and red spheres and combined to form molecules. In his series 

, photographer Guilaume Simoneau follows the daily activities of a group of scientists investigating the human impact on nature. The cool blue hue in the image appears well chosen to reflect the sterile, scientific atmosphere of a laboratory. At the same time, the playful molecule model, dangling from the ceiling like an improvised star constellation, contrasts unexpectedly with the professionalism and serious nature of the scientific research taking place here. Guillaume Simoneau’s series 

Mobile, ELA field station, Canada, 2014 from the series Experimental Lake

Mobile, ELA field station, Canada, 2014

The Orangun of Ila, Oba Abdul-Wahab Kayode Adedeji Oyedotun (Arutu-Oluokun Bibiire I) from the series Kaabiyesi: Courts of Influence

Muyiwa Osifuye (Olumuyiwa Osifuye)

Created by Muyiwa Osifuye (Olumuyiwa Osifuye) in 2007. The artwork is a diptych of two c-prints on aluminum, each image displayed at 75 x 100 cm.

Untitled from the series Bible, 2008-2014

A diptych is a type of artwork that consists of two parts, for instance two photographs combined within a single frame. This informs the viewer that there is some relationship between the two images. The top image is a portrait of Oba Abdul-Wahab Kayode Adedeji Oyedotun, a Yoruba king in Nigeria, seated on his throne in traditional dress. The photograph underneath offers a view across his domain, the city that falls under his rule. The work is part of the series 

, in which the photographer  Olumuyiwa Osifuye examines the role of traditional leaders in Nigeria and Benin. Although their domains continue to play an important historical and religious role, their political power has largely faded away. Today these leaders find themselves in a complicated split between tradition and modernity. The ‘Kaabiyesi!’ greeting is exclusively used for the Yoruba king and is used as a tribute when greeted by his underlings, acknowledging that his words and decisions are inviolable.  

The Orangun of Ila, Oba Abdul-Wahab Kayode Adedeji Oyedotun (Arutu-Oluokun Bibiire I)

Hugo (Figure #2), from the series The Wake of Dust

Thomas Hauser

Created by Thomas Hauser in 2015. The artwork is a pigment print on argentic photo paper (Ilford RC Deluxe) and displayed at 60 x 50 cm.

As time passes by, our memories of the past fade and distort. Some disappear for ever, while others can remain with us for a long time. In his series 

, Thomas Hauser explores the notion of memories and the role that photography plays in this. This reference to nostalgia and impermanence not only concerns the image itself, but also the photograph as an object. This photograph is the result of a complex silkscreen printing process, in which Hauser prints the photograph on silver paper using glue and toner (the powder used in laser printers). Vulnerable as it is, with the passing of time the photograph undergoes changes. The faded effect resulting from this process infuses Hauser’s images with a certain nostalgia, which is further enhanced by the handprint visible above the boy’s head. 

The Wake of Dust (Hugo)

Hugo (Figure #2), 2015.

The Element, 2018 from the series Your Next Step Would Be To Do The Transmission

Valentine Bo

Created by Valentine Bo in 2018. The artwork is a c-print and displayed at 164 x 124 cm.

While some artists rediscover analogue techniques, others experiment with the very latest technological developments. The futuristic images by the Ukrainian artist Valentine Bo seamlessly blend into the science fiction genre. Inspired by a present-day religious movement called Raëlism, the series 

Your Next Step Would Be To Do The Transmission

 imagines a future where this ideology prevails. Followers of Raëlism believe that life on earth was created by an extraterrestrial race named the ‘Elohim’. It seems appropriate for Bo to use the most advanced technology available to present such a story. Although the 3D print of the face in 

 is sufficiently realistic to create a sense of unease, viewers soon enough realise that it isn’t a real face. 

The Element, 2018

Quantified Landscape 3 from the series Quantified Landscape

Florian Amoser

Created by Florian Amoser. The artwork is a color photo on Hahnemühle matt paper on dibond 2 mm and displayed at 110 x 137.5 cm.

What technique did the photographer use to create this image? In his series 

, the Swiss photographer Florian Amoser bridges the gap between two extremes: wild nature on the one hand, and data-driven technology on the other. Amoser is known for his conceptual approach to photography, and in this series, he creates works that combine landscape photography with data visualisation and manipulation, resulting in a new perspective on nature. Think back to your last experience of nature. Was that truly, physically, in the open air? Or was it mediated by a screen? Amoser took this photograph with an analogue camera. Inside underground caves he traced the outline of the rock wall using a laser. While the laser drew contour lines on the walls, the camera recorded the emerging line drawing for hours on end. The result catches the movements of the laser in a single photograph. 

Quantified Landscape 3

Flowers for donald #13 (artificial flowers [with power tie]), 2017 from the series Flowers for donald

Gregory Eddi Jones

Created by Gregory Eddi Jones in 2017. The artwork is an inkjet print of a digital collage constructed from appropriated images and digital drawings, displayed at 91.44 x 76.2 cm.

As a ‘post-photographic’ artist, Gregory Eddi Jones composes works that he did not necessarily create himself using a camera. Instead, he works with existing, edited or found digital images which he collects and combines to build a digital photo montage. Take some time to discover all the elements used in this playful still life. What do you see? The title of the series, 

, is an ironic reference to the political situation of 2016, when Donald Trump won the American presidential elections. With this collection of collages, Gregory Eddi Jones comments on the chaotic political climate of that period and the sensational reporting in American media. Notice how Jones deliberately includes a piece of the photo editing software Photoshop in the background, as if to underline how manipulable and changeable photographs are in the digital domain. 

Flowers for donald #20 (channel surfing [with a flock of birds and some good dogs]), 2017 from the series Flowers for donald

Flowers for donald #21 (talent show [in 3-d])

In the early 20th century, artists associated with the Dada movement experimented with politically charged photo montages for which they cut and pasted existing materials. This technique is still used in today’s digital era, but then applied using computer screens and mouse clicks. For his series 

, the American post-photographic artist Gregory Eddi Jones created such photo montages using both digital and digitalised visual materials, and applying photo editing software. More than ever before, the 2016 American presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton played out in digital space, ranging from social media platforms to news media TV programmes. With his artificial flower still lifes, Jones offers a playful take on the American elections. Using screenshots and collected materials plus some of Trump’s visual cues and slogans, Jones creates a collage that shows his experience of this chaotic time. 

Flowers for donald #20 (channel surfing [with a flock of birds and some good dogs])

Politics is a frequent subject for the arts, often a means to come to grips with a certain situation or to express critical views. This also applies for the American presidential elections of 2016, when Donald Trump added a wholly new dimension to the political battlefield. Drawing on the traditional art genre of flower still lifes, Gregory Eddi Jones’ series 

 reflects on these notorious elections. A recurrent element in the series are the references to Donald Trump and his supporters. In photo montage number 

, Trump’s characteristic red tie hangs on a vase that shows a black-and-white image of what appears to be a demonstration. The work is a digital collage, composed by Jones using different digital ‘materials’ and techniques, including images taken from the internet. Can you discover what else he uses for his collages?  

Flowers for donald #13 (artificial flowers [with power tie])

Mimetic Gestures, 2013 from the series Liquid Portraits, 2013

Christto & Andrew

Created by Christto & Andrew in 2014. The artwork is a print mounted on pvc and displayed at 68 x 100 cm.

In an image full of opulence, we don’t find intestines or plastic inside this fish’s belly, but pearls and gems. The artist duo who created this photograph, Christto & Andrew, use an exaggerated and surrealistic visual language to tell a satirical story about their adopted home of Qatar. The staged images are full of symbolism and references to Qatar’s history, which in this way is reinterpreted to offer a contemporary alternative. This image specifically refers to Qatar’s long history with pearls. Before the discovery of oil in the region, the local economy revolved around pearls. The gems also refer to extreme luxury, and at the same time to the huge inequality to be found in this Gulf state. 

Mimetic advent of historical repetition, 2013 from the series Liquid Portraits, 2013

Mimetic advent of historical repetition, 2014

Created by Christto & Andrew in 2014. The artwork is a print mounted on pvc and displayed at 100 x 75 cm.

A smartly dressed lady with an eye-patch, who appears to be serving her own eye on a dish. It is an absurd image, comical and horrifying at the same time. The portraits in the series 

 stand out for their bold use of colour and overall exaggeration. As the series title suggests, the duo sees identity as something you can shape, and that morphs and changes. The vivid monochromatic background further enhances the woman’s presence. 

 is a critical reflection on Qatari society, depicting an ultramodern and extravagant life on the one hand, and extreme inequality on the other. 

Wakeful Dreams, 2013 from the series Liquid Portraits, 2013

Wakeful Dreams, 2014

Created by Christto & Andrew in 2014. The artwork is a print mounted on pvc and displayed at 100 x 70 cm.

What started as an attempt to create a contemporary portrait of Qatari society turned into a series of extravagant portraits that document the personal experiences of photographer duo Christto & Andrew during their visit to the Gulf state. As the series title suggests, the duo approaches identity as something you can shape, and that morphs and changes. Their visual language is expressive of the so-called pop-propagandistic style, which combines elements from pop culture with politically charged symbols. The use of colour and the simplicity of the image in 

 call to mind the iconic pop art created by artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. At the same time, the lively aesthetics camouflage a political and social message about the current situation in Qatar. 

Mimetic Gestures, 2014

Untitled #4, 2015 from the series I am a woman and I cast no shadow, 2015

Ilona Szwarc

Created by Ilona Szwarc in 2015. The artwork is an inkjet print on Hahnemuhle gloss baryta warmtone inkjet paper and displayed at 90 x 115 cm.

How well do you know yourself and do you express your identity? Inspired by the make-up tutorials from the theatre world, Ilona Szwarc models her own face on the back of another person’s head, who is also her lookalike. As a result, this photograph hovers halfway between a portrait and a self-portrait, and it remains unclear exactly who is who. Ilona Szwarc likes to play with the idea of identity and how we present ourselves to the outside world, but also with how women tend to be depicted and how gender is a social construct. She stresses how much we are often strangers to ourselves. The result is an absurdist image that may call to mind some scene from a scary movie.  

Untitled #21, 2015 from the series I am a woman and I cast no shadow, 2015

Untitled #21 from the series I am a woman and I cast no shadow

Created by Ilona Szwarc in 2015. The artwork is an inkjet print on Hahnemuhle gloss baryta warmtone inkjet paper and displayed at 45 x 56 cm.

How do you present yourself to the world around? Which part of you, seen by society, is a truthful reflection of who you are, and which part is shaped by external expectations? The image of an anonymous hand measuring the circumference of the subject’s skull evokes a sense of tension and unease. The subject’s empty eyes, fixed on something far off in the distance, reinforce the sense of absence. What lies behind her empty gaze? Note how the framing of the image leaves out both the model’s mouth and the owner of the hand. How does that affect your experience of this image? 

 by Ilona Szwarc is a portrait of the ‘self’, without being a self-portrait. As it happens, the portrayed person is a lookalike of the photographer. The series title, 

, could refer to the women in Szwarc’s work that are not entirely present within their own story, but are trapped in between their true identity and the roles imposed on them from outside.

Untitled #4 from the series I am a woman and I cast no shadow

Untitled, 2013

Daniel Everett

Created by Daniel Everett in 2013. The artwork is a print mounted on dibond and displayed at 68.8 x 54.9 cm.

In his practice, Everett examines how the idealised image of progress differs from the reality of the resulting objects. One of his main themes concerns the ‘by-products’ of the digital and technological innovations: for his series 

 he uses images of old-fashioned office items, modernist high-rise buildings and surveillance equipment, as once-upon-a-time symbols of order, efficiency and technological advancement. Everett also like to explore the three-dimensional aspects of his work, made clearly visible in this work by stretching blue tape across the printed image. The physical, tangible nature of the tape contrasts vividly with the sterile, uniform background. The work emphasises the question whether objects, such as telephones that have been optimised for user experience or buildings designed for maximum efficiency, still retain an individual identity, or instead succumb to the uniformity generated by a digital world.  

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