Created by Gerco de Ruijter in 2003. The artwork is a c-print on aluminum and displayed at 50 x 50 cm.

Today one might think that this image was taken with the help of a drone. However, back in 2003, drones weren’t all that common. Instead, the Dutch photographer Gerco de Ruijter attached an analogue camera to a kite to get a bird's-eye view of the construction site. De Ruijter’s artistic practice is characterised by his use of unique perspectives, allowing him to search for patterns from the sky to create abstract representations of the landscape. The geometric shapes in the image consist of areas from the building site in different stages of construction, giving the image a mosaic-like feel. 

In the early 2000s, several photographers were invited to capture the construction of the financial district of Amsterdam (Zuidas). 

 belongs to a series that presents Gerco de Ruijter’s interpretation of this project. 

Mahler IV

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

Created by Jack Davison in 2015. The artwork is mounted on PVC and displayed at 53 x 43 cm.

Waves from the Web, 2009

Visible in

What is probably just a randomly composed street scene – a red traffic light with an advertisement banner in the background – is transformed by the dark context into an abstract composition in which the elements lose their original meaning. It gives 

 a collage-like appearance. In his work, photographer Jack Davison often draws on the historical canon of photography. This image is reminiscent of the abstract works created by iconic photographers like Ernst Haas or Saul Leiter. It is typical for Davison to use a wide variety of cameras. This particular photo was made with a Nikon D800, which is a digital mirror reflex camera. For other images he used for instance an analogue Mamiya RB67, a medium-format camera, and even an iPhone. 

Untitled, 2015. New York, USA from the series Personal work, 2006-2016

Untitled, 2015. New York, USA.

Created by Jean-Vincent Simonet in 2014. The artwork is an inkjet print and displayed at 90 x 120 cm.

When Jean-Vincent Simonet chanced upon the book 

 (The Songs of Maldoror), he felt hugely attracted to its dark, theatrical, repulsive character. This avant-garde book, written in 1869 by the French poet Comte de Lautréamont, is an ode to the rebelliousness of youth, blasphemy, and the triumph of dreams over reality. Simonet decided to breathe new life into this literary mystery. His photographs are based on the atmosphere conjured up in the book: gothic angels framed against an overwhelming and digitally enhanced blue starry sky; dead branches that melt into pink and blue shapes and call to mind plucks of hair. The eclectic style inspired Simonet to use both analogue and digital photography, applying digital techniques to distort and blend together photographs. As a result, the book’s mysterious atmosphere becomes palpable in the images. It will likely not come as a surprise to learn that this book was once banned on account of its blasphemous character. 

Maldoror #2, 2014 from the series Maldoror, 2014

Maldoror #2

Created by Marnix Goossens in 2012. The artwork is a c-print and displayed at 160 x 125 cm.

Nature is a constant source of inspiration for Goossens, without needing to seek out spectacular views or pristine wilderness. In his series 

, Goossens explores different representations of nature in derelict interiors. Tiles with plant motifs, adhesive foil with wood grain or flowery wallpaper: they are all attempts to escape from the stifling interior space of a home. His work is a quest for people’s hidden longing for exotic places and snow-capped mountains. The photograph 

 illustrates how Goossens observes the everyday and offers us a view of subtle details and quirky corners. What do you see in the geometrical surfaces shown here? 

Catch from the series Yonder

Catch, 2012

Created by Ester Vonplon. The artwork is a black and white print displayed at 54 x 42 cm.

The imperfections and damage apparent on this black and white portrait add a nostalgic feeling to the image. It seems as if the photograph was made in a long-lost era and damaged through the passage of time. The man’s distracted, somewhat sad look is a good example of the deep yet subtle melancholy that typifies photographer Ester Vonplon’s work. With her photographs, she beautifully captures the transience of life. The damages in the print were not intentional but the result of using dirty tap water in Kosovo during the photo-development process. Vonplon realised that this adds even more power to the story she wishes to narrate. About the series, she says: 

“Life in Kosovo is far from perfect, so a perfect digital shot would not fit what I was feeling”

, Ester Vonplon was part of the Foam Talent 2011 selection. In addition to a group exhibition, the work by all talents was presented in Foam Magazine #28 Talent Issue. 

Untitled from the series The Stillness of Existence

Untitled 2 from the series The Stillness of Existence

Created by Ester Vonplon. The artwork is a black and white print displayed at 70 x 88.5 cm.

Can you see the subtle transition between the different shades of grey, and how they transform the snowy landscape into an abstract interplay of flowing organic shapes? The interplay of light and dark creates a strong sense of depth, even in black and white. The soft light and delicate focus appear to flatten the landscape into a two-dimensional composition. In her series 

, Vonplon lets us see nature in an unusual way: one filled with a sense of nostalgia and melancholy. Her images of snow-covered mountainous landscapes emanate serenity, silence and solitude, inviting the viewer to contemplate life against the backdrop of majestic nature. 

Untitled 1 from the series The Stillness of Existence

Gemaakt door Mayumi Hosokura in 2009-2011. Het kunstwerk is een c-print met een afmeting van 26 x 35,5 cm.

A turbulent sky is in the offing: is rain on its way, or will it blow over? The biggest part of this photograph is taken over by the menacing clouds. Just a stroke at the bottom shows a bit of the landscape. While these cloud formations symbolise the brutal energy of nature, they also represent its constant changeability. Comparing this image by the Japanese artist Mayumi Hosokura with other photographs in her series 

, this photograph appears to be much darker. Hosokura seems to have deliberately underexposed the photograph to enhance the sense of menace. The monochrome use of colour, on the other hand, is typical for the images that make up this series. 

Mayumi Hosokura was one of the artists selected for Foam Talent 2011. Her series 

 was presented in Foam Magazine #28 Talent Issue and the accompanying talent exhibition. 

Untitled from the series Kazan

Untitled 6 from the series Kazan

Created by Mayumi Hosokura. The artwork is a c-print and displayed at 35,5 x 26 cm.

What strikes you about the shapes captured by this photograph? The moss-covered tree trunk is pictured from an angle that makes the branches radiate outwards like sunrays. The tree trunk is precisely at the centre, like the hub of a wheel. In her 

 series, Japanese artist Mayumi Hosokura applies a certain aesthetic that infuses her images with a dreamy, mysterious atmosphere, contributing to the poetic character of the series. Besides using soft and diffuse light, Hosokura’s images are often monochromatic, with a subtle palette of pastel shades and tones of grey. This subdued use of colour accentuates the focus on texture and shape, and imbues the photographs with a sense of fragile beauty. 

Untitled 5 from the series Kazan

Created by Mayumi Hosokura in 2009-2011. The artwork is a c-print and displayed at 35.5 x 26 cm.

Take a moment to absorb the calming image of the small waterfall. What strikes you about the water as it streams down? By using a long exposure time, the flowing water gains a soft and hazy texture. One of the remarkable aspects of the work by Japanese artist Mayumi Hosokura is that the images can be viewed both in isolation, and in relation to each other. Compare for instance this image with other photographs in Hosokura’s series 

 of a woman lost in thought. The subjects could hardly be further apart, yet they convey the same sort of intimacy. It is only be placing the images side by side that a tender embrace between humans and whimsical nature comes to the fore.    

Untitled 4 from the series Kazan

Created by Mayumi Hosokura. The artwork is a c-print and displayed at 35.5 x 26 cm.

A photograph is able to capture unguarded moments that would otherwise pass by unnoticed. In this image by Mayumi Hosokura from her series 

, a naked woman sits on the backseat of a car. She seems lost in thought, gazing upwards absentmindedly. The speed of the moving car distorts the background landscape into a blur, and the light as it flickers between the trees is reflected on the car window. The peace of the scene inside the car forms a vivid contrast to what is happening outside. In her series, the Japanese artist plays with the idea that photography can stop the passage of time, so that people and landscapes preserve their beauty for ever. Instead of suggesting a certain meaning, Hosokura seems to stimulate the viewer to use their own imagination.   

Untitled 3 from the series Kazan

, Mayumi Hosokura seeks a delicate balance between the tangible and intangible, blurring the boundaries between dream and reality. A constellation of stars blazes across a boy’s bare back, creating a sense of mystery and intimacy. Hosokura subtly contrasts the impermanence of the human body with the infinite grandeur of nature, revealing the fragility of human experience in the face of cosmic timelessness. Her images radiate a gentle melancholy, rooted in an awareness that everlasting beauty is in truth an illusion.  

Untitled 2 from the series Kazan

In this photograph by the Japanese artist Mayumi Hosokura, what immediately stands out is his use of light and colour. The cool blue tones create a sterile and cold atmosphere. This has an alienating effect on the two subjects, which we normally would not perceive as unnatural. But there’s also something vulnerable about the image: how the white, overexposed hands, devoid of all colour and liveliness, tenderly embrace the bird and hold it so that it hides the naked body in the background. As other images in the series show, beauty and impermanence are important themes in Hosokura’s work. Beneath the surface of alienating and mysterious images, Hosokura often depicts a tender fusion of man and nature.  

Untitled 1 from the series Kazan

Created by Ivor Prickett in 2011. The artwork is a c-print and displayed at 79 x 79 cm.

At first sight, the four figures in this photograph appear to be waiting calmly in a row. But their gazes and the crowd in the background reveal a tense situation. 25 January 2011 marked the start of the Egyptian revolution that culminated in President Hosni Mubarak’s resignation on 11 February. In his series 

, documentary photographer Ivor Prickett documented the mass protests on Tahrir Square in Egypt’s capital city, Cairo. Rather than the chaos that dominates in the heat of the battle, Prickett is intrigued by the moments in between. For instance this moment, at which a group of anti-government protesters stand guard at a make-shift barrier to prevent any Mubarak supporters from entering the ‘liberated’ Tahrir Square. This unique approach is what distinguishes Prickett’s work from the many journalistic photo reports from conflict areas.  Although the tensions and traces of the revolution are clear to see in 

, the photographs emanate a sense of serenity through his use of light and colour. 

Untitled from the series Days of Anger

Untitled 2 from the series Days of Anger

12 February 2011: it is one day after the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak resigned, and a group of soldiers are keeping an eye on the crowds at Cairo’s Tahrir Square. After three weeks of incessant public protest, Mubarak’s 30-year regime had come to an end. Although the men look alert, they also seem to pose at ease in front of the camera. On the left we can just catch a glimpse of someone carrying an Egyptian flag as he passes behind the group of armed men in military uniform. Despite the intimidating scene, the soft light and pastel shades infuse the photograph with a sense of serenity. In this way, the Irish photographer Ivor Prickett manages to capture the uncertainty of the moment in a poetical manner. During his stay in the Middle East, Prickett documented the revolutions in both Egypt and Libya, also known as the Arab Spring. His series 

 shows how a protest held on 25 January 2011 evolves into an 18-day struggle against the government, culminating in Mubarak’s resignation. 

Untitled 1 from the series Days of Anger

Created by Viviane Sassen in 2013. The artwork is a c-print on aluminum and displayed at 102 x 83 cm.

 for the first time, you might wonder whether the image was accidentally presented upside down. But this is precisely how the Dutch artist Viviane Sassen intended it to be. Turning the image upside down affects our sense of gravity. Instead of dangling down from the adult’s shoulders, the child’s hands now seem raised and appear to radiate a certain power and grace, like an angel in a classic painting. But it isn’t just the upside-down presentation that creates an alienating effect: it is also the odd posture that the two entangled figures form and the invisibility of their faces and facial expressions. The result is a mysterious atmosphere and a certain unease on the part of the viewer. Viviane Sassen performed a lot of photography work in Kenya, the country of her earliest childhood memories. The surroundings, the light, the colours and the people in this East African country had a strong impact on her iconic visual language. Compare this work with her other images in the Foam collection: 

, an annual photography event in Amsterdam’s Westergasfabriek, of which Foam is one of the co-founders. 

Take Off

Created by Stephen Gill. The artwork is a pigment print on Canson Platine Fiber Rag and displayed at 78,6 x 60,8 cm.

What do you experience when you look at the colours and textures in this photograph? Since there is no clear subject, the viewer is drawn into an interplay of warm colours and abstract shapes. Instead of telling a story, this photograph seems intended to convey a feeling. 

, in which Gill attempts to visualise the intensity of urban life in the London borough of Hackney. For this series, artist Stephen Gill experimented with the photographic process by soaking the negatives in energy drink. The result is a dreamy image, where virtually all traces of the original image have disappeared. 

 is like a visual poem, in which the message lies beneath the surface.  

 was introduced to the public during Foam’s first major retrospective devoted to the English photographer Stephen Gill.  In addition to 

, the exhibition showed work from his series 

Untitled from the series Best Before End

Untitled 3 from the series Best Before End

In analogue photography, a ‘negative’ image (in which the colours are inverted) is converted in the dark room into a so-called positive image, which is the resulting photograph. This is a technical procedure that requires a series of steps. Artist Stephen Gill likes to play with this process by introducing different steps. For his series 

, he does so by submerging the negative in energy drink. This not only causes a beautiful colour palette to emerge on the photo-negative, but also allows Gill to distort the photo. The sweet drink causes the light-sensitive layer of the photo film to let go, after which Gill can manipulate it with a fine brush. In this case, the process has resulted in an almost spooky portrait with unique colours and a fascinating texture. The final image is a photograph of the manipulated negative.  

Untitled 2 from the series Best Before End

After having documented the London district of Hackney for fourteen years, artist Stephen Gill felt that there was something lacking in his work. How can you capture the intensity of busy city life in an image? By experimenting with the process of making as well as of printing his analogue photographs, he found new ways to capture this feeling in images. For example, in his series 

 Gill experimented with energy drink: by letting the negatives soak in the sweet fluid for a while, the light-sensitive layer of the film softened. The result is an abstract image with wonderfully warm colours, as this picture shows. What feelings does this photograph evoke in you?  

 was introduced to the public during Foam’s first major retrospective devoted to the English photographer Stephen Gill. In addition to 

Untitled 1 from the series Best Before End

Created by Stephen Gill. The artwork is a pigment print on Canson Platine Fiber Rag and displayed at 111,76 x 111,76 cm.

What innovative approaches do photographers take towards the medium? Numerous artists like to experiment with photographic techniques in order to transcend the limitations of the medium and thereby to push its boundaries. 

, by the English artist Stephen Gill. By combining different perspectives – such as large versus small, far away versus nearby – Gill plays with the scale of the subjects of his photographs. Adding a measuring tape further enhances this effect by suggesting that the branches in the background are similar in size to the woodlouse in the corner. By highlighting details, Gill invites the viewer to reflect on the relationship between humans and nature and how other organisms understand the world around. 

Untitled from the series Talking to Ants

Untitled 2 from the series Talking to Ants

Created by Fleur van Dodewaard in 2012. The artwork is a inkjet print on aluminum and displayed at 35 x 29 cm.

How does photography relate to the arts of sculpture and painting? These are the types of questions that Dutch artist Fleur van Dodewaard explores in her work. Like her 

 is a contemporary conceptual interpretation of the classic still-life. However minimalistic the work might be, the questions it evokes are highly complex.  

, Van Dodewaard plays with the distinctions between different art disciplines and examines where these boundaries turn blurry. Image 

, showing two red stripes against light-coloured backgrounds, could just as well have been a minimalist painting. The depth contained within the composition is only revealed by the shadow cast by the red block. In this way Van Dodewaard plays with the concept of sculpture, creating a photographic sculpture that lets the viewer see a three-dimensional object through photography’s lens.  

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analogue

Mahler IV

Sheung Yiu

Jaclyn Wright

Cansu Yıldıran

06.09.2004

System 8, from the series Kosmos

Untitled, 2015. New York, USA.

Maldoror #2

Catch, 2012

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Take Off, 2013

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#4 / Red