JR - Face to Face
15 June - 2 September 2007

Foam presents 'Face 2 Face', an exhibition by French photographer and street artist JR from June 15 to 2 September 2007. JR owns the biggest art gallery in the world: he exhibits freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not necessarily museum visitors. In what will be his first exhibition in The Netherlands, JR will be showing his work, intriguing portraits in very large formats, inside and outside Foam, as well as in the streets of the city of Amsterdam.

The exhibition 'Face 2 Face' is based on a project JR and his friend Marco embarked in March 2007; the biggest photo exhibition ever. For the Face 2 Face project JR shot portraits of Israeli and Palestinians doing the same job and posting them face to face, in huge formats, on both sides of the Wall of Separation / Security Fence, as well as in eight Palestinian and Israeli cities. Turning his lens on Amsterdam for his first exhibition in The Netherlands, JR will use these portraits as a starting point for discussion. The Face 2 Face portraits will be posted on the façade of Foam, as well as inside the museum. And a custom-made Amsterdam-themed installation will also be on display inside Foam. With the Face 2 Face project, JR wants to show the face of "the other". He wants to surprise people and make them rethink the things they believe in, to show the resemblance in expression of those photographed and the complexity of the situation. 

Face 2 Face is the second part of 28 millimètres project. The work that firmly established JR's name as a photographer was the first part 'Portrait of a Generation'. In this work the young photographer showed the Paris ghettoes and their inhabitants in all their rawness/glory. With a 28 millimetres lens JR - who has been working in the French ghettoes long before the riots occurred and all sorts of media outlets took an interest in these long-forgotten, often desolate urban spaces - took up-and-close photos of the suburban youths of the banlieux. The photos were posted on a grand scale in the bourgeois districts of Paris, and later on the outside of Paris city hall and the Museum of Photography (MEP).

JR is currently working on new ways of exhibiting, always in urban areas. According to the artist, the streets and other locations he exhibits his work must reveal the meaning of the pictures he posts. JR purposely keeps a distance from cultural institutions, except when they can provide an added value to the project.

Face 2 Face is accompanied by the release of JR's third book 'Face 2 Face' published in 2007 by Les Editions Alternatives.

Both JR, Face 2 Face co-author Marco, and guest curator Anneloes van Gaalen will be present during the exhibition's opening, on Thursday 14 June, 17.30 hrs in Foam.

The exhibition is made possible with the help of the Foundation Arts & Ex's of Pieter van Huystee Film.

Foam is supported by Stichting DOEN, T-Mobile and VandenEnde Foundation.