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.

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

visible in

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

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

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.

Untitled from the series Bible, 2008-2014

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

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. 

Foam Collection

collection themes

discover by medium

featured artists

discover full collection