The Future of the Photography Museum
Foam press release | 17 October 2011
What's Next?
The Future of the Photography
Museum
Guest curators: Lauren Cornell, Jefferson Hack, Erik Kessels,
Alison Nordström
5 november - 7 december 2011
Four concepts, four guest curators, four visionary
presentations and one museum in which they all come
together.
Foam is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. For
this occasion, Foam has created 'What's Next?', a project exploring
the future of photography. Foam has posed the question of 'what's
next?' throughout this anniversary year to a variety of people in a
variety of locations. What will the future of photography bring?
For photographers? For photography institutions? For Foam? The
Future of the Photography Museum exhibition marks the conclusion of
this investigation and of Foam's anniversary year.
For a month, Foam will be different than usual. During the
entire month of November, Foam is offering its visitors a glimpse
into the future of a photography museum. In The Future of the
Photography Museum, Foam explores not only how photography can
be shown in the form of an exhibition, but also how audiences can
be made partners in numerous activities. Presenting, informing and
participating; the exhibition offers a unique visual experience on
every level as well as a great deal of material for thought.
For The Future of the Photography Museum, Foam has
invited four guest curators in the field of international culture,
each of whom has interpreted the theme in their own way. The result
is an intriguing exhibition with four distinct and sometimes
provocative presentations.
The guest curators are:
Lauren Cornell (New Museum, NY)
| Photography and multimedia
In a visual economy with an abundance of images and exhibitions, a
photo is not only read and remembered in relation to its subject
matter, but also through the moment of discovery, classification
and the interplay of forces in which meaning is created. In her
presentation, Cornell exhibits images by photographers who show the
effect that the limitless circulation of images has on the meaning
of photography. She accomplishes this with works by a new
generation of artists who do not view themselves primarily as
photographers, but who make use of photography in combination with
other media, such as video, internet and installations.
Jefferson Hack (Dazed &
Confused, London) | Photography as
image
The digitalisation of photography has freed the medium from the
tangible, physical object. Thus, photography is now predominantly
viewed as purely image, experienced via screens and projections.
In two large-scale sculptures entitled 'Mother Sculpture' and
'Rise Sculpture', created from dozens of monitors, Hack shows new
work by photographers who have long worked for his magazine
Dazed&Confused. However, he also provides space for
new talent. Work by established names, young photographers and
amateurs are explored in a presentation which incorporates the
newest technology and interactivity as well.
Erik Kessels (KesselsKramer,
Amsterdam) | Photography in
abundance
Through the digitalisation of photography and the rise of sites
such as Flickr and Facebook, everyone now takes
photos, and distributes and shares them with the world - the result
is countless photos at our disposal. Kessels visualises 'drowning
in pictures of the experiences of others', by printing all the
images that were posted on Flickr during a 24-hour period and
dumping them in the exhibition space. The end result is an
overwhelming presentation of a million prints.
Alison Nordström (George Eastman
House, NY) | Photography as object
It isn't the image, but the object itself that we write on, tear up
in anger, kiss or touch, that we keep in our wallet, beside our bed
or hang up on the fridge. And museums preserve, maintain and
catalogue this object. Part of the power of photos is that they
survive us, and their meaning changes with time and place.
Nordström's selection from the George Eastman House collection -
with images from nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries -
emphasises the value of the physical print as a source of
information within the museum as a place for concentration, study
and reflection.
A museum, however, consists of more than just exhibitions. In
addition to the museum galleries with the theme of
'Presenting', other spaces in the museum have been
specifically designed with a clear focus during The Future of
the Photography Museum. The theme of the entrance hall and the
library on the third floor is 'Branding', an
important aspect of the contemporary museum. The young people of
Foam Lab have carried out a critical investigation here. A 'What's
Next?' study and information centre has been created in the front
galleries, and given the title: 'Informing', so
that visitors can read about, consider and discuss the future of
photography. The focus of the atrium is
'Activating' - here visitors can become active
participants instead of passive observers.
Foam.org/whatsnext
News and activities on the What's Next? website are
updated regularly. Go to /whatsnext for
the latest information.
What's Next? has been made possible with the
support of: the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the
Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Oschatz Visuelle Medien, BeamSystems,
AgentschapNL, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, Dienst Maatschappelijke
Ontwikkeling, Eizo high-end-monitors, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Mondriaan Foundation, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Sony Ericsson, SNS
Reaalfonds and VSBFonds.
Note to editors: For more information and
visual material please contact our press department
(communications) foam[at]foam.org / +31 20
5516500.
Foam is sponsored by the BankGiro Loterij, the VandenEnde
Foundation and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek.
foam
Keizersgracht 609
1017 DS Amsterdam
+ 31 20 5516500
foam[at]foam.org