From the series (Inter)Faces of Predictions

, Sheung Yiu looks into different practices of face reading, facial prediction and facial recognition. For this multi-medial series, consisting of a video essay, a series of self-portraits and an extensive research notebook of visual references, he submitted his own face as a test case: scanning, screening and analysing his features in order to understand the processes behind it. 

In his practice, Sheung Yiu combines East-Asian traditions of facial readings, promising to predict one's future based on facial features, with contemporary facial recognition technologies, drawing a striking parallel between Eastern and Western practices around facial studies.  

On a deeper level, the project questions the way different technologies, whether digital or analogue, algorithmic or esoteric, shape the perceptions and biases connected to our faces. Through this, he recognises that a face is never just a face: it is what we, or the systems we use, want to read into it. 

Animation

Notebook scan, from the series Interfaces of Prediction

Facial landmarks (2023), from the series Interfaces of Predictions

Twisted Face (2023), from the series Interfaces of Predictions

Fortune in My Thirties from the series Interfaces of Predictions, 2023

Faceless (2023), from the series Interfaces of Predictions

Scan (2023), from the series Interfaces of Predictions

Between Two Charts (2023), from the series Interfaces of Predictions

Old and new moles (2023), from the series Interfaces of Predictions

Face Mesh (2023), from the series Interfaces of Predictions

Ancient Prediction (2023), from the series Interfaces of Predictions

Sheung Yiu

The West Desert, located on the western shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah (USA), is the ancestral home of the indigenous Goshute people. Though officially public lands, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, this area is largely used for various privatised or military purposes, ranging from mining operations, testing grounds for weapons and improvised gun ranges.  

, Jaclyn Wright visited these cluttered sites, full of discarded targets and shattered clay pigeons. The bullet-holed remains, which she collected, photographed and filmed, are pieced together into performative installations, that reflect on the colonisation of ancient lands by bureaucratic systems.  

By inserting herself into the scene, wearing a skintight bodysuit made out of orange clay pigeons, Wright comments on the hyper-masculine culture of land dominance and cowboy fantasies. The synthetic orange colour becomes symbolic: used to enhance visibility, it signifies the strong opposition and rejection of its natural environment. 

Untitled (BLM arrows I)

From the series High Visibility (Blaze Orange)

Antelope Island (Utah) Buffalo Hunt photograph collection, Digital MSSC782, No. 6, Altered

L. Clyde Anderson photograph collection (1910- 1959), P0158, Box 1, Folder 27, Altered

Charles James Neal photograph collection (1900 - 1920s), P0694, Box 1, Folder 4, Altered

The West Desert is located on the western side of the Great Salt Lake [UT, United States]. Historically, this area has been documented through photography and land surveys, supporting the violent exploitation of the landscape. 

Archives, II

Untitled (grid)

Nearly one-third of the West Desert's 7.7 million acres are used as biological and chemical weapons testing grounds. The remaining areas of the West Desert are open to various uses, including improvised gun ranges.

Collected Targets

Collected Targets, from the series High Visibility (Blaze Orange)

L. Clyde Anderson photograph collection (1910- 1959), P0158, Box 1, Folder 6, Altered

Stansbury Island, the second largest island in the Great Salt Lake, echoes with gunfire and is littered with bullet holes, clay pigeons and improvised targets. The Bureau of Land Management refers to this detritus as "trigger trash".

Found Clay Pigeons

Archives, V

Jaclyn Wright

Dream-like figures appear in dense forests, dancing and floating around smoke and fires like magical figures. For 

Cansu Yıldıran collaborated with fellow queer artists based in Turkey to create a fantastic world where they could feel safe and sheltered —a feeling that is often lacking in their daily life.

The dreamy visuals are fittingly accompanied by a fairytale, written by Yıldıran themselves, which tells about the heavy norms enforced on the queer community by society and how this collaborative project helped them to believe in another world, a deep mysterious realm within them.

 offers an escape: inspired by their dreams and childhood fairytales, Yıldıran’s images unravel a certain state of mind, a deeper meaning of what it means to be queer within a hostile environment. The photographs are all analogue—a technical yet vital element of the project. Not knowing anything about the visual outcome during the process, it allowed Cansu Yıldıran to approach each portrait intuitively and independent of the rest. 

From the series Fathom

Cansu Yıldıran

 in 2004. The artwork is an analogue c-print and is displayed at 61 x 80 cm.

System 8, from the series Kosmos, 2011

visible in

is the main business district of Amsterdam, located south of the inner city. Starting in 2001, every year two to four photographers and visual artists received an assignment to capture this area and its rapidly changing environment. The ten works by Jasper Wiedeman that feature in 

 are a documentation of the garden that he created in the middle of the Zuidas.

06.09.2004

 in 2011. Using c-print as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 99 x 129 cm.

 is reminiscent of outer space; it is a familiar picture  of the infinite, of the unknown and total chaos that surrounds us. The photographs in the series 

 by Joris Jansen refuse the reading of the medium of photography as a method to make things visible. His photographs rather make things invisible. Jansen rephotographs the surface of an analogue photograph. By doing so he creates an imaginary universe full of milky ways and swarming planets. This new universe is far removed from the initial photograph and thus only the materiality of the analogue photograph seems to be relevant for the creation of a completely new universe. 

System 8

 in 2009. Using c-print as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 60 x 83 cm.

Deborah, from the series Week– End, 2009

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

Deborah

 in 2014. Using inkjet print as the main medium, the artwork is displayed at 120 x 90 cm.

Maldoror #6, 2014

When Jean-Vincent Simonet came across the book 

 (The Songs of Maldoror), he felt hugely attracted to the dark, theatrical and transgressive character. The cutting-edge book praising youth revolt, blasphemy and the victory of dream over reality was published in 1869 by Comte de Lautréamont. Simonet decided to revive the literary enigma. His photographs are based on the atmosphere it evokes: gothic angels provided with dramatic blue photoshopped skies full of stars and dead branches merged into pink and blue shapes that look like hairs. The eclectic style inspired him to shift between analogue and digital, using digital techniques to glitch and merge photographs. This enables the mysterious atmosphere of the book to become tangible in the pictures. That the book was once banned because of its blasphemous character, comes as no surprise.

Maldoror #6

Lilac from the series Flamboya

 series. Using C-print on  as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 80 x 65 cm.

Codex from the series Parasomnia, 2010

more artworks

 shows a young Kenyan man standing in a white shirt with a pink book on his head. He's looking up, but his face is not visible. The photograph is part of the 

 series, which for a large part consists of portraits of young Africans in Zambia, Kenya, and Tanzania. They were often constructed as part of an intuitive collaboration with the subject. Remarkably, it is often impossible to see the subject’s expression: the face and parts of the body tend to be wrapped within a shadow, turning away from the viewer or only display the lower half of the body. This makes it hard to identify with the subject in the photo. The (in)ability to properly register a person’s identity, the limitations preventing the viewer from forming an accurate picture, and the role of photography are recurring themes in Sassen’s work. She plays an intriguing game with perception, undermining our assumptions and stereotypes.

Codex from the series Parasomnia

 series. Using inkjet print on archival paper as the main medium, the artwork is displayed at 100x80 cm.

Lilac shows a loving entanglement, in which two models appear to merge as one with their intertwined limbs. The photograph is part of the 

Still from the On Earth video tour: Drew Nikonowicz

On Earth Video Tour - Drew Nikonowicz

In a four-part series led by acclaimed Polaroid artists Rhiannon Adams, Ellen Carey & John Reuter, and Marcel Veldman and Foam 3h alumnus Ece Gökalp, the participating students were able to use the recently launched Polaroid I-2 camera – the first advanced instant camera with built-in manual controls. Moreover, they had the chance to discuss their perspectives about the possibilities of storytelling and the enduring relevancy of this unique medium.

Students as well as young, self-made creatives approached the medium from various angles and shed light on its artistic, social, and technological significance by pushing the boundaries of what instant film can achieve. The results of their collective efforts are now on display as part of an exclusive online exhibition.

This programme is made possible with the support of Polaroid.

Foam is supported by the VriendenLoterij, Foam Members, the VandenEnde Foundation and the City of Amsterdam. 

PORTRAITURE
AND
THE PHYSICAL
PHOTOGRAPH

“Polaroid photo processes are completed in situ, there is no external hand involved. It’s pure – just me, the camera, the environment, and the film.” 

POLAROID PHOTOGRAPHY 
AS AN ARTISTIC MEDIUM

CAPTURING 
REAL 
               LIFE

“In between all the skateboard tricks and stuff, I like something contrasty. Instant film for me is the perfect way to do this. It gives you an example of the free life aside from the actual skateboard.”

Polaroid Photography in Multiple Perspectives

Kismet: online exhibition intro

Variations of an Erosion op. 1, 2023

Eye 4 - Detect, perceive, explore, 2023

articles

Still from the video Foam 3h: Ece Gökalp - After Anahit, 2023

Foam 3h: Giath Taha Becoming a Ghost

Still from Foam 3h: Sem Langendijk - Haven, 2023

Foam 3h

Still from the video Foam 3h Steffi Reimers - Guilty Grounds

Foam 3H: Steffi Reimers Guilty Grounds

Polaroid x Foam: Artist Talk Rhiannon Adam

Artist Talk with Rhiannon Adam

⁠⁠“Now I think I know why gods⁠⁠ Are so partial to heights—to mountain⁠⁠ Tops and spires, to proud iroko trees⁠⁠ And thorn-guarded holy bombax,⁠⁠ Why petty household divinities⁠⁠ Will sooner perch on a rude board⁠⁠ Strung precariously from brittle rafters⁠⁠ Of a thatched roof than sit squarely⁠⁠ On safe earth.”⁠⁠  Flying from Collected Poems by Chinua Achebe⁠⁠

Maybe my eyes turned blue, 2021

Flying from Collected Poems by Chinua Achebe⁠⁠

Explore

How does a new generation of image-makers from Turkey use photography to reflect on the world around them? 

As part of the multi-year project Kısmet, this online group exhibition gives a snapshot of the emerging community of contemporary image-makers from Turkey. Kısmet is inspired by longstanding cultural, diplomatic and economic ties between Turkey and the Netherlands and delves into the diverse and intricate facets of Turkish visual culture, as seen through the lens of different generations of image-makers. Here, we present the work of four talented visual artists, born after 1990, whose voices will shape the vast visual landscape in Turkey, and beyond, in the upcoming years. 

Showing a diverse range of visual styles, what connects these four artists is the profound personal investment they put in their work. Their photography holds a personal dimension that goes beyond ‘merely’ having an affinity for the chosen subject matter. Rather, their practice and the resulting bodies of work reveal a deep connection to their perception of the world around them. What stands out are the distinct translations of their inner worlds, whether this is in the methodology, subject matter or aesthetics. 

For Oğulcan Arslan, the personal comes forward not only through the story he documents, but also through photographic techniques he uses. In 

, he intimately captures a friendship by adjusting light, exposure and composition to the emotions he experiences himself or from his friend. 

Alp Peker finds solace in their photographic practice to voice their protest against unspoken issues and social taboos they experience on a daily basis. Their photographs, shown here under the title 

, are an ode to the community Alp lives in, their goals, struggles, and weirdnesses.  

Kıvılcım S. Güngörün defines her work as autobiographical fiction. The collages in 

are a direct translation of her inner workings: intuitive visual responses to questions that pop into her mind, or new questions that arise during the process.  

, Cansu Yıldıran studies the power dynamics and gender inequality that they encountered in their ancestral village in Northern Turkey. Inspired by the personal stories of the women of their family, Cansu creates emotional atmospheres that investigate their own sense of identity, of belonging and the continuous search for a safe space.

How to

Oğulcan Arslan 

From the series All the Rivers Flow In the Nuthouse

               

Alp Peker

Untitled

From the series Amel Defteri: a notebook of deeds

From the series Amel defteri: A Notebook of Deeds

             

Kıvılcım S. Güngörün 

From the series I lab yu

From the series I Lab Yu

“My day becomes my laboratory, and I lab back.” 

                          

Cansu Yıldıran 

From the series The Dispossessed

      

Image from the series After Anahit, 2023

The Golden Horn, Istanbul

Dad and his Indian Friends, April 2017

Kısmet: New Perspectives. Four Contemporary Image-makers from Turkey

Installation view 'High Visibility / Blaze Orange' by Jaclyn Wright in Foam Talent 2024-2025

[Wright's project] 'High visibility (Blaze Orange)' represents the development of the ecofeminist perspective that has underpinned much of Wright's work, and a turning of her lens towards the broader plains–conceptually, visually, and historically—on which grasps for power are made.

Foam Talent Digital 2024-2025

Foam proudly presents the work of a new generation of artists in the group exhibition 

. The 20 participating photographers address the pressing problems of our times. Together, they explore and extend the boundaries of what photography is today.   

As a diverse group of artists, each of them presents their own visual language. Through their works, they critically look at the world around us. They use the photographic medium to question collective affairs and ongoing issues happening in the world. At the same time, they explore how these issues have an impact on a personal level, moving between a local, historical, symbolic, emotional and bodily perspective. 

This group of artists uses a wide range of photographic genres to tell their stories. With portraiture and documentary photography, digital created images and archival material, the talents create a space for the viewer to sit with situations and current events, to reflect and respond to.   

Complementing the physical experience at Foam, this digital exhibition offers a deeper look at the Talents and their works. What goes on behind the surface? What is the inspiration? What techniques are used? This exhibition combines artistic context with educational perspectives. Read, see, and hear more about the themes and topics and explore, engage, and interact with the works! 

 are: Marwan Bassiouni, Myriam Boulos, Olgaç Bozalp, Laura Chen, Kata Geibl, Lina Geoushy, Marvel Harris, Alexandra Rose Howland, Ange-Frédéric Koffi, Czar Kristoff, Yushi Li, Carla Liesching, Seif Kousmate, Pavo Marinović, Diego Moreno, Donja Nasseri, Ghazaleh Rezaei, Linn Phyllis Seeger, Ritsch Sisters, Donavon Smallwood.

Talent issue of Foam Magazine are supported by the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation.

The exhibition is made possible by Kleurgamma Fine-Art Photolab and Oschatz Visuelle Medien.

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

In 2022 Foam receives additional support from the Mondriaan Fund and receives a contribution through the Mondriaan Fund from the Ministerie van OCW.

The Feast Inside, from the series Paintings Dreams and Love

Graphic Foam Talent 2022

How to...

Czar Kristoff

Audio fragment for To Destroy Is To Build

from the series To Destroy is To Build

The momentary monument 'To Destroy Is To Build' is not only a web-to-print project but web-to-print-to-monument-to-publication-to... It leaks and flows like new media, like the flood, like the architecture of future society.

from the series To Destroy Is To Build

Myriam Boulos

Audio fragment for Tell the Trees to Smile by Myriam Boulos

Tell the Trees to Smile

from the series Tell the Trees to Smile

I remember Andrea's tears while we were walking towards his destroyed house that he was seeing for the first time since the explosion.

“All the war memories rushed back...
We
rushed to the corridors to hide which was exactly our moves and practice during the Lebanese civil war when the bombing would start.”

Zeina
worked on a rescue mission with a Chile team for 3 days.
The Chile team thought that someone was stuck under the ruins of a building.
“During these
3 days, the hope of finding someone was controlling us.”

Michel lost
his hearing aid during the explosion.
When he wants to listen to music, he puts the radio against his ear.

On August 4, Walid was at home with me. He was on this same balcony when the explosion happened. (...) (I cried in his room and in his arms every day for a few months after the explosion.)

When I gave her this tiny flower, my grandmother told me “Dis aux arbres de sourire”, which means tell the trees to smile.

Marwan Bassiouni

Audio fragment for New Western Views by Marwan Bassiouni

from the series New Swiss Views

from the series New British Views

from the series New Dutch Views

Ghazaleh Rezaei

'Lamentation' from the series The Martyrs

'The Pieta' from the series The Martyrs

'Carrying of the Martyr's Portrait' from the series The Martyrs

Bringing to Light

'Burial' from the series The Martyrs

Kata Geibl

from the series See Daylight

from the series Nothing New Under the Sun

Audio clip for Kata Geibl - There is Nothing New Under The Sun / See Daylight

from the series There Is Nothing New Under the Sun / See Daylight

Donja Nasseri

from the series Woman, who would be King

Audio clip for Donja Nasseri - Woman, who would be King

Alexandra Rose Howland

Audio clip for Alexandra Rose Howland - Leave and Let Us Go

from the series Leave and Let Us Go

Pavo Marinović

Audio clip for Pavo Marinovic - Marble Ass

Marble Ass

Talent Digital 2022

About the artist

For more information and visual material please contact the Press Office of Foam via pressoffice@foam.org.

Note to editors

more at Foam

Foam 3h: Sem Langendijk Haven

Together, Foam and Paris Photo present a brand-new season of the podcast series Foam Talks: Talent Edition. This series presents eight talented image-makers from both the fair's Curiosa Sector and Foam Talent 2021. Each of the episodes welcomes two photographers, one of each organisations' talent programme. Brought together by a common theme and approach, the photographers speak about their projects and motivations, as well as the challenges they encounter.

analog

Sheung Yiu

Jaclyn Wright

Cansu Yıldıran

06.09.2004

System 8, from the series Kosmos

Deborah from the series Week – End

Maldoror #6, 2014

Codex from the series Parasomnia

Lilac from the series Flamboya

Hinde Haest talks about

Drew Nikonowicz in the exhibition On Earth

Polaroid Photography in Multiple Perspectives

Explore

Kısmet: New Perspectives. Four Contemporary Image-makers from Turkey

Talent Digital 2022

Foam 3h: Sem Langendijk Haven

Paris Photo x Foam Talks: Talent Edition

Link room
Spain under Franco

Introducing Foam Magazine #63: FOOD! The Nourishing Issue

Announcing the new Foam Talents

Bittersweet Fruit: Turunç - Solène Gün

Nature's Limbo

analog

Sheung Yiu

Jaclyn Wright

Cansu Yıldıran

06.09.2004

System 8, from the series Kosmos

Deborah from the series Week – End

Maldoror #6, 2014

Codex from the series Parasomnia

Lilac from the series Flamboya

Hinde Haest talks about

Drew Nikonowicz in the exhibition On Earth

Polaroid Photography in Multiple Perspectives

Explore

Kısmet: New Perspectives. Four Contemporary Image-makers from Turkey

Talent Digital 2022

Foam 3h: Sem Langendijk Haven

Paris Photo x Foam Talks: Talent Edition

Link roomSpain under Franco

Introducing Foam Magazine #63: FOOD! The Nourishing Issue

Announcing the new Foam Talents

Bittersweet Fruit: Turunç - Solène Gün

Nature's Limbo

Link room
Spain under Franco