Liz Johnson Artur - of life of love of sex of movement of hope © Foam. Photo: Christian van der Kooy.⁠

Opening Liz Johnson Artur & Foam 3H 

How to look at a photograph? 

One possible answer can be found in the performances by theatre collective LostProject—a multidisciplinary storytelling collective from Amsterdam Zuid-Oost. Four creative makers each respond in their own unique performative way to the works of Liz Johnson Artur.

Dance Performance by LostProjects

Screenshot of spoken word performance LostWords by Lavinia Aronson

Dialogue performance LostWords by Ryan Pinas and Georgiefa Boomdijk

Ways of Responding: Performance Art

Photography is a powerful tool that plays an important role in constructing cultural identity. <a href="/book-a-visit/public/zooming-in-photography-performance-and-the-mythical/21-07-2021">Sign up</a> to join us on 21 July for a Zoom conversation with Foam Talents Plantation (Ayomide Tejuoso) and Lisandro Suriel, along with artist-archivist Angela N. Carroll.

This Summer, we dive deeper into Foam Talent 2021 by pairing up the selected artists in an online Zoom conversation. Each of the three events will be divided into two parts. The first part introduces the artists and their projects, focussing on their approach and motivation. After this, we take a closer look at the topics connecting the artists' work, aiming to contextualize their series within the photography field as well as current discourses in society. Each conversation will feature special guests to share their unique perspectives and reflections.
EPISODE 2: PHOTOGRAPHY, PERFORMANCE AND THE MYTHICAL Foam Talents: Plantation (Ayomide Tejuoso) and Lisandro Suriel Special guest: Angela N. Carroll Date: 21 July 2021, 18:30 - 20.00 hrs CET
Photography is a powerful tool that&nbsp;plays an important role in constructing cultural identity.&nbsp;Questions on its influence on the viewer&rsquo;s perception, bias, and thoughts contribute to an important&nbsp;discussion on representation. Plantation (Ayomide Tejuoso) and Lisandro Suriel have developed unique approaches weaving photography, performance and mysticism, offering a visual exploration of identity and belonging.
In their practices, both artists relate to the metaphysical and integrate performance into their work processes. Centring on the body of the artist, Plantation (Ayomide Tejuoso)&rsquo;s work is about finding her space in the world to reflect on issues like sexism, racism, and homophobia. Lisandro Suriel&rsquo;s project Ghost Island stems from his research on forgotten histories in Saint Martin and combines academia and indigenous knowledge to create new imaginary.&nbsp;
In their own ways and rooted in their individual cultural backgrounds, both artists contribute to a more expansive visual representation of Black identity. Together with Angela N. Carroll, artist-archivist and investigator of art history and culture, Plantation (Ayomide Tejuoso) and Lisandro Suriel will share insights into their artistic processes, research and the context of their work.
WATCH BACK
<ul>
<li>21 June:&nbsp;Intimacy in Times of Social Distancing&nbsp;with&nbsp;Ana Vallejo, Leonard Suryajaya and Gem Fletcher. -&gt;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q79jOhTZz48">Watch it here</a></li>
<li>21 July:&nbsp;Photography, Performance and the Mythical&nbsp;with Lisandro Suriel, Plantation and&nbsp;Angela N. Carroll. -&gt;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNZpxY24sJg&amp;t=17s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watch it here</a></li>
</ul>
<a href="/book-a-visit/public/zooming-in-photography-performance-and-the-mythical/21-07-2021"><img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/113697/2964x4752/76efb19ebd/15.jpg" alt="" width="596" height="956" /></a>Image from the series Jesus is white and other confessions &copy; Plantation (Ayomide Tejuoso), courtesy of the artist.
UPCOMING EPISODES
<ul>
<li class="p1">25 August 2021, 18.30 hrs CET: On Belonging&nbsp;with&nbsp;Delali&nbsp;Ayivi&nbsp;and Sol&egrave;ne&nbsp;G&uuml;n.</li>
</ul>
The Foam Talent Programme and the annual Talent issue of Foam Magazine are supported by&nbsp;the Deutsche B&ouml;rse Photography Foundation and the VandenEnde Foundation.
Foam Magazine is sponsored by Igepa Netherlands BV, supplier of excellent paper.
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.

<div class="sidebar__content">EVENT INFO 
<div class="sidebar-widget">
25 August 2021
 TIME 18.30 hrs CET
&nbsp;
PRICE Free
&nbsp;
PLEASE NOTE This is an online event.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.foam.org/book-a-visit/public/zooming-in-on-belonging/25-08-2021">Sign up</a> to receive a link to the online Zoom event.
</div></div>

Zooming In: Photography, Performance and the Mythical

You are invited to join us on 20 February for the public opening of the new Foam 3h exhibition with a musical performance by Yung-Tuan Ku.

With this public opening, Foam 3h kicks off 2020 with Sheng-Wen Lo&rsquo;s (Taiwan, 1987) exhibition Extendable Ears (2019). This project shows how, for a month, Lo continuously exposed himself to ultrasound waves in order to investigate the subjectivity of sound experience. Ultrasound waves exceed the audible human capacity, but can be heard by animals such as cats and dogs.
During the opening of Extendable Ears, the Taiwanese percussionist Yung-Tuan Ku will perform the piece Do you hear them sing? The piece is inspired by and created for this exhibition. By using different objects that create ultrasound waves, like a snare drum and a bat detector, the percussionist lingers between the hearable and the inaudible. Afterwards, there will be time to view the exhibition, have a drink and meet the artist.
<a href="https://foam.org/museum/programme/sheng-wen-lo-extendable-ears"><img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/113697/595x298/4e538667d0/vlcsnap-2019-12-19-21h36m20s256_595x298.jpg" alt="" width="595" height="298" /></a> Sleep-time Recording, 21-06-2019 &copy; Sheng-Wen Lo
Extendable Ears consists of Lo&rsquo;s documentation of his month-long experiment. His findings are reproduced in 360o photos, videos of his everyday activities, surveillance-style images of Lo sleeping, and photographic scans of the dream diaries he kept during the experiment and shortly before it began.
In Lo&rsquo;s view, human-animal relations reflect the values, attitudes and collective memories that people have with respect to their environment. Lo encourages audiences to discuss the relationship between humans and animals. His investigative, yet slightly absurd approach to these issues allows the audience to think about deeply serious topics from a humorous and playful point of view.
<a href="https://foam.org/museum/programme/sheng-wen-lo-extendable-ears">&gt; Read more about this exhibition</a>
This exhibition is made possible with the support of the Van Bijlevelt Stichting and the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten.
Foam is supported by the BankGiro Loterij, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, City of Amsterdam, Foam Members, Olympus and the VandenEnde Foundation.

<div class="sidebar__content">Official Opening 
Thursday 19 March from 17.30 hrs onwards
&nbsp;</div>

Opening & performance: Sheng-Wen Lo

Foam invites you to a musical evening inspired by the exhibition Fixing Shadows with visual artist Eric Gyamfi and composer Danny van de Lugt.

Music and Photography; this might seem like an unlikely combination at first. However, still images can most certainly contain music or sound. During this special evening image and sound will alternate each other. A conversation with the artist will be followed by a sonic performance by composer Danny van de Lugt.
<img src="https://a.storyblok.com/f/113697/595x298/4e8a0407dc/untitled_0_from_the_series_fixing_shadows__julius_and_i_c_eric_gyamfi_595x298.jpg" alt="" width="595" height="298" />Untitled, from the series Fixing shadows; Julius and I, 2018 &copy; Eric Gyamfi
Photographer Eric Gyamfi, born in Ghana, made the series Julius and I inspired by American minimal music composer, Julius Eastman. Gyamfi&rsquo;s most recent work plays with the notions around experimental compositions, repetitiveness and the fact that Eastman&rsquo;s compositions would contain theme&rsquo;s from previous pieces. In a similar fashion Gyamfi produces a countless number of variations of two images, where climate, amongs other circumstances, influenced the final outcome of his images, or more precisely; cyanotypes. The images are combined with whatsapp-messages narrated by his friends and even strangers, who explain the images in very different ways.
Danny van de Lugt, also known as Rural Juror, translates in his compositions non-audible data into sound. In previous projects Van de Lugt translated pictures and spaces into soundscapes. Van de Lugt enabled this by using an algorithm, which he wrote himself. After the performance both artists will reflect and respond to their respective works and the audience can join the conversation.
Visit this event and other&nbsp;<a href="/museum/programme/for-members">events</a> as a <a href="/about/memberships">Foam Member</a>.
Read more about the exhibition&nbsp;Eric Gyamfi - Fixing Shadows, on view at Foam from 13 December 2019 until 11 March 2020&nbsp;<a href="/museum/programme/eric-gyamfi">here</a>.
Eric Gyamfi is the winner of the 13th Foam Paul Huf Award, which is awarded annually by an international jury to talented photographers under the age of 35.
The exhibition is made possible by Kleurgamma Fine-Art Photolab.
The Foam Paul Huf Award is made possible by the generous support from an anonymous partner.
Foam is supported by the BankGiro Loterij, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Gemeente Amsterdam, Foam Members, Olympus and the VandenEnde Foundation.

<div class="sidebar__content">event info 
Saturday 14 December 2019 18.00 - 20.00 hrs
 PRICE &euro;10 regular rate &euro;8&nbsp;<a href="/about/memberships" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Foam Members</a>
 LANGUAGE English</div>

Resonance: Artist Talk & Sonic Performance

of life of love of sex of movement of hope

 by Liz Johnson Artur, artist Curtly Thomas presents the performance 

The performance will be available online for 12 days, until 8 February 2022.

The performance consists of two parts that will be presented alongside each other. The first part intervenes Liz Johnson Artur’s photographic works through a bodily projection. The second presents an ambigious scenario inspired by the vodou deity Papa Legba and the fictional spirit Doro.

Doro's Leg - Legba's Dog, 2022

smallboydanger performance at South London Gallery, 2018/2021

Doro's Leg - Legba's Dog A Curtly Thomas Performance

is a close observation of performance in everyday life. Which roles do we act out on a daily basis and how does that influence our identities? Using the metaphor of the theatre to separate private (

) spheres, Eleonora Agostini studies her mother’s behaviours, gestures and expressions in her job as a waitress. 

Puzzling together photographs, archival images, moving images and texts into various collages, Eleonora Agostini breaks down the layers of performance one by one, revealing the repetitiveness of gestures, habits and adopted mannerisms used in serving clients.  

The work is also a commentary on the feminist theory of the “gaze”. The restaurant becomes the space where her mother is both the observer and the observed, where parts of her public behaviour as a waitress bleed into her private behaviour of being an individual, woman, and mother. Through her project, Agostini examines this relationship between the female body and the different social roles it performs in different spaces. 

From the series A Study on Waitressing

Eleonora Agostini

 in 2009. Using c-print as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 140 x 110 cm.

Untitled #13, from the series Liquid Portraits, 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

more artworks

visible in

Untitled #13, from the series You Can't Stop Me Now, 2009

Untitled #13, from the series You Can't Stop Me Now

Untitled #13

 in 2011. Using c-print as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 60 x 50 cm.

Number 1, from the series Color Cocktail, 2011

Number 1

 in 2010. Using c-print on a wooden easel as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 150 x 110 cm.

Paper #1 from the series Building Images, 2010

Paper #1

Folder #1 from the series Building Images, 2010

Folder #1 from the series Building Images

Folder #1

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

Deborah, from the series Week– End, 2009

Deborah

 in 2020/2021. Using c-print as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 120 x 80 cm.

 stems from Suriel's research on forgotten histories in Saint Martin and combines academia and indigenous knowledge to create a new imaginary. 

Sangoma from the series Ghost Island

Sangoma

 in 2012-16. Using inkjet print as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 140 x 100.

Mariage á Loèche-les-Bains (Marriage in Leukerbad), from the series Ekaterina, 2012-16

visible in 

Romain Mader’s Ekatarina is notable for the humour and irony with which he addresses serious issues: solitude, love, exploitation and the female body. In this Chinese box of a project, each layer opens to reveal a new interpretive possibility. What is real here, and what is fiction? 

exhibitions

This selfie depicts Romain Mader with his wife: it’s the end of the artist’s alter ego’s search of a wife. He started his mission in Ukraine, in an imaginary city mysteriously populated only by women, all named Ekaterina, and each hoping to find a rich western husband. In an utterly naïve narration by Romain about his search for the one and only Ekaterina, a series of stereotypes take the stage, from Mader performing as an oblivious western sex tourist, to interchangeable Ukrainian brides, up to the “typical” Soviet backdrop to the whole quest for love. The gap between preconceived ideas about a place like Ukraine and its reality is what is constantly exploited to the point of absurdity in Mader’s work. In a photographic language that perfectly employs the conventions of documentary photography, the confusion between what is fictitious and what is real – or what seems real – ultimately arises as a goal in itself.

Mariage á Loèche-les-Bains (Marriage in Leukerbad) from the series Ekaterina

 in 2012-16. Using inkjet print as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 40 x 50.

Demande en marriage, from the series Ekaterina, 2012-16

This picture depicts Romain Mader with his fiancée: it’s the end of the artist’s alter ego’s search of a wife. He started his mission in Ukraine, in an imaginary city mysteriously populated only by women, all named Ekaterina, and each hoping to find a rich western husband. In an utterly naïve narration by Romain about his search for the one and only Ekaterina, a series of stereotypes take the stage, from Mader performing as an oblivious western sex tourist, to interchangeable Ukrainian brides, up to the “typical” Soviet backdrop to the whole quest for love. The gap between preconceived ideas about a place like Ukraine and its reality is what is constantly exploited to the point of absurdity in Mader’s work. In a photographic language that perfectly employs the conventions of documentary photography, the confusion between what is fictitious and what is real – or what seems real – ultimately arises as a goal in itself.

Demande en marriage from the series Ekaterina

A self-portrait of an algorithm no.89, 2023

Vistas #22, 2020

Untitled, from the series In Their Own Image of God, They Created Them

Variations of an Erosion op. 1, 2023

The ability for machines to 'see' and 'create' has improved tremendously over the past decades, meaning that computers have been trained, by humans, to recognise and generate images that come shockingly close to a photorealistic image.

From Innovation to Art: The History of AI Images in Foam Magazine #66: Missing Mirror

Ctrl.Alt.Img

It has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between a human-made photograph and an image created with AI, which threatens to shatter the foundation of photography: its claim to truth.

The Zizi Project (2019 – ongoing)

The Zizi Show (202)

The Zizi Show (2020)

The Zizi Project (2019 – ongoing) — Jake Elwes

Spread from Morehshin Allahyari's portfolio in Foam Magazine #66

Moon-faced ماه طلعت, Video (color, sound) 2048 × 3712 pixels 2 minutes 5 seconds

Moon-faced ماه طلعت,

ماه طلعت Moon-faced — Morehshin Allahyari

Behind the Scenes: Resurrect by Paolo Cirio

Mugshots.com, N2, from the series Obscurity, 2016

Visit the museum

Photography Through the Lens of AI

from the series Nothing New Under the Sun

Foam produced a series of podcasts on the occasion of Foam Talent 2022. In this third and final episode, host and curator of this year's Foam Talent exhibition Mirelva Berghout speaks with Foam Talent Kata Geibl and special guest Shailoh Phillips.

Podcast

The Feast Inside, from the series Paintings Dreams and Love

Talent Talks 2022 - Kata Geibl & Shailoh Phillips

Luxaflex from the series Of Mud and Lotus, 2017 C Viviane Sassen and Stevenson

Now on

Expected

News

Later this year

Access to press kits

Mode voor Avenue, 1966

Hugo Boserup, Copenhagen, 2016

Codex from the series Parasomnia, 2010

Want to receive news about upcoming exhibitions and events? Sign up for our press list newsletter.

Sign up for updates

about

current programme

Foam Magazine

explore more

Press Office

Foam Magazine #64 Extremes - The Environmental Issue. Cover: Abundance, 2023

Foam Magazine #64 Extremes - The Environmental Issue Cover: Scarcity, 2023.

Image from the series Theatre of Authenticity

From the series Waste Identity Passport for Plastics & Bola Bola Living

"The portfolios and essays on this side address the growth, excess, overproduction, overconsumption, and greed that drive the Anthropogenic engine to continue grinding."

Presenting Foam Magazine #64: Waste Identity: Passport for Plastics & Bola Bola Living by Aàdesokan

Waste Identity: Passport for Plastics & Bola Bola Living

PORTFOLIO – Waste Identity: Passport for Plastics & Bola Bola Living by Aàdesokan

Presenting Foam Magazine #64: Crisis of Storytelling by Gem Fletcher

LONG READ – Crisis of Storytelling by Gem Fletcher

Presenting Foam Magazine #64: Theatre of Authenticity by Natacha de Mahieu

PORTFOLIO –  Theatre of Authenticity by Natacha de Mahieu

Page 144-145 in Foam Magazine #64: EXTREMES

From the series The Eyes of Earth

From the series Master Rock

"This side shows the impact, the disintegration, and the lack of connection to native knowledge, capturing the decrease in different ways."

Presenting Foam Magazine #64: Master Rock by Maria Fusco

PORTFOLIO –  Master Rock by Maria Fusco

Presenting Foam Magazine #64: Radical Inclusivity, Relationality and Indigenous Photography by Wanda Nanibush

LONG READ – Radical Inclusivity, Relationality and Indigenous Photography by Wanda Nanibush

Presenting Foam Magazine #64: The Eyes of Earth by Solmaz Daryani

PORTFOLIO –  The Eyes of Earth by Solmaz Daryani

Foam Magazine #64 Extremes - The Environmental Issue Cover: Abundance, 2023

EXTREMES – The Environmental Issue: New ways of visualising climate change in Foam Magazine

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.

from the series Rasmi

Image from the series Being Part European, riso print, 42 x 58,4 cm

Foam and Paris Photo present a brand-new series of Foam Talks, this time featured around the latest issue of Foam Magazine M/OTHERLANDS. The topic or guiding question will be the political power of images. How do they shape not only our understanding but also our opinion of the world? 

Each of the episodes welcomes a guest speaker that will be in conversation with Elisa Medde, Editor in Chief of Foam Magazine. Paris Photo will be running from the 10th until the 13th of November. The latest Foam Magazine called M/OTHERLANDS: The Transnational Issue can be found in the book section.

Foam Talks x Paris Photo - Sarker Protick & AnaMary Bilbao

Image from the series abzgram

discover more

Paris Photo x Foam Talks: On the Politics of Images

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

Note to editors

see more

Announcement Winner Foam Paul Huf Award 2024

Installation view 'A Study on Waitressing' by Eleonora Agostini in Foam Talent 2024-2025

In its staging, we observe Agostini's desire to use the image as a theatre for performativity, where the line between performance and reality wears thin.

Foam Talent Digital 2024-2025

Foam 3h: ShuShu Sieberns

Aby Fulani

A still from Wild Encounters, 2023

"At a certain point I lost track of you. 
They make a desolation and call it peace. 
when you left even the stones were buried: 
the defenceless would have no weapons." 

"When the ibex rubs itself against the rocks, 
who collects its fallen fleece from the slopes? 
O Weaver whose seems perfectly vanished, 
who weighs the hairs on the jeweller’s balance?"

"If only somehow you could have been mine, 
what would not have been possible in the world?" 

‘In the lake the arms of temples and mosques are locked in each other’s reflections.  
Have you soaked saffron to pour on them when they are found like this  
centuries later in this country  
I have stitched to your shadow?’ 

Liz Johnson Artur - of life of love of sex of movement of hope, 2021

How to Love a Tree: Wild Encounter. About the work of Hira Nabi

The rich, vast cultural landscape demands a larger discussion on reclaiming identity. How can we confront stereotypes, clichés and representation within our community? 

"The writing of history is about editing. It’s about choosing a way. [...] How the personal stories can rewrite history through the power of images."

Heroínas de Tejucupapo (Tejucupapo Heroins, 2022)

ABC da Cana Typewriter

Podcast with Jonathas de Andrade

Image of Jessy's Room

Jessica de Abreu's Bookshelf: The Black Archives

[...] I questioned: what does the world look like when Surinamese people do not stand in front of the camera but are the ones able to take the photo during colonial times?

performance

Ways of Responding: Performance Art

Zooming In: Photography, Performance and the Mythical

Opening & performance: Sheng-Wen Lo

Resonance: Artist Talk & Sonic Performance

Doro's Leg - Legba's Dog
A performance by Curtly Thomas

Eleonora Agostini

Untitled #13, from the series You Can't Stop Me Now

Number 1 from the series Color Cocktail

Paper #1 from the series Building Images

Folder #1 from the series Building Images

Deborah from the series Week – End

Sangoma from the series Ghost Island

Mariage á Loèche-les-Bains (Marriage in Leukerbad) from the series Ekaterina

Demande en marriage from the series Ekaterina

Photography Through the Lens of AI

Talent Talks 2022 - Kata Geibl & Shailoh Phillips

Press Office

EXTREMES – The Environmental Issue:
New ways of visualising climate change in Foam Magazine

Paris Photo x Foam Talks: On the Politics of Images

Announcement Winner Foam Paul Huf Award 2024

Foam 3h: ShuShu Sieberns

How to Love a Tree: Wild Encounters
About the work of Hira Nabi

Blind Spots

Tracing identity and championing untold histories.

On Transience – Theme Text Foam Magazine #64: EXTREMES–The Environmental Issue

performance

Ways of Responding: Performance Art

Zooming In: Photography, Performance and the Mythical

Opening & performance: Sheng-Wen Lo

Resonance: Artist Talk & Sonic Performance

Doro's Leg - Legba's DogA performance by Curtly Thomas

Eleonora Agostini

Untitled #13, from the series You Can't Stop Me Now

Number 1 from the series Color Cocktail

Paper #1 from the series Building Images

Folder #1 from the series Building Images

Deborah from the series Week – End

Sangoma from the series Ghost Island

Mariage á Loèche-les-Bains (Marriage in Leukerbad) from the series Ekaterina

Demande en marriage from the series Ekaterina

Photography Through the Lens of AI

Talent Talks 2022 - Kata Geibl & Shailoh Phillips

Press Office

EXTREMES – The Environmental Issue: New ways of visualising climate change in Foam Magazine

Paris Photo x Foam Talks: On the Politics of Images

Announcement Winner Foam Paul Huf Award 2024

Foam 3h: ShuShu Sieberns

How to Love a Tree: Wild EncountersAbout the work of Hira Nabi

Blind Spots

Tracing identity and championing untold histories.

On Transience – Theme Text Foam Magazine #64: EXTREMES–The Environmental Issue

Doro's Leg - Legba's Dog
A performance by Curtly Thomas

EXTREMES – The Environmental Issue:
New ways of visualising climate change in Foam Magazine

How to Love a Tree: Wild Encounters
About the work of Hira Nabi