- MARTON PERLAKI: RAISING UNCANNY QUESTIONS
- NIKOLAS VENTOURAKIS: WHO DEFINES THE LINES?
- DEPICTION, EXISTING, DEPICTION, EXISTING
- MANON WERTENBROEK: SCULPTOR, PAINTER, PHOTOGRAPHER, NONE OF THE ABOVE
- A VISUAL HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
- ALONA PARDO: ON MY MIND...
- WE CAN DESTROY IT
MARTON PERLAKI: RAISING UNCANNY QUESTIONS
Inspired By… by Marton Perlaki
Archival image from New York Public Library, Harmsworth Magazine ca. 1892
An insurance illustration from the 19th century depicts in an oddly pleasing way how much money you get paid in case you lose one or more limbs.
“This image is beautiful, elegantly simple, creepy and heartbreaking at the same time. All these feelings together don’t typically match... yet here they do.”
Estimated reading time: 1.30 min.
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NIKOLAS VENTOURAKIS: WHO DEFINES THE LINES?
Interview by Kim Knoppers
Motorcross and Radars, from the series Defining Lines, 2015 © Nikolas Ventourakis
In a world full of invisible boundaries, this Greek artist stresses the importance of equality. Through his photographs, he makes the viewer question their perception of borders.
“I shot a quick photo of a boulder, and then moved literally two meters to the left and took a second photo. The geo-tagging revealed to my astonishment that the first photograph was shot in Cyprus while the second was shot in the UK.”
Estimated reading time: 7 min.
DEPICTION, EXISTING, DEPICTION, EXISTING
Inspired By… by Sofia Borges
The entrance of the Chauvet Cave replica, 2015 © Sofia Borges
Sofia Borges (now in Foam 3h) was inspired by massive 36.000-year-old cave drawings. They helped her understand what humankind has been trying to do since the very beginning.
“It was looking at this one, the hand prints at the very the entrance of the cave, that got my eyes to fill with tears and finally realised one thing I was trying to solve for many years: my problem was their problem.”
Estimated reading time: 1.30 min.
MANON WERTENBROEK: SCULPTOR, PAINTER, PHOTOGRAPHER, NONE OF THE ABOVE
Interview by Mirjam Kooiman
Tandem Noir, 2014 © Manon Wertenbroek
Remember Manon Wertenbroek from the Second Skin exhibition in Museum Van Loon, or her Foam Magazine Talent #42 cover? Mirjam Kooiman interviewed her on her extremely interesting way of working and her new series.
“Many people have said that the portraits frighten them, because of the explosion of emotion: the portraits express something I can’t put into words to the subjects themselves.”
Estimated reading time: 5 min.
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A VISUAL HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
Profile by Hinde Haest
Family, from the series Pedestal, 2016 © Indrė Šerpytytė
Indrė Šerpytytė’s Lithuanian background features heavily in her work, which deals with her father’s mysterious death, the end of the Soviet Union, and a waning collective memory.
“Her images are accompanied by archival voice-over fragments describing the dismantling of the statues, reading lines such as: ‘Lenin’s torso is driven away in the back of a truck. His only remains on the pedestal are his two feet cut off at the ankle’.”
Estimated reading time: 5 min.
ALONA PARDO: ON MY MIND...
On My Mind: Chen Wei
In The Waves, 2013 © Chen Wei
Alona Pardo introduces us to the young Chinese artist Chen Wei. He creates carefully crafted nightclub scenes, attesting to power of the music to foster authentic self-expression, tolerance, and community.
“Imbued with a dream-like quality, Chen’s striking sense of composition is combined with neon highlights reminiscent of old-school nightclubs to create an intoxicating haze. Architectural details appear out of a sea of darkness and leather jackets are bathed in a seedy red glow.”
Estimated reading time: 3 min.
WE CAN DESTROY IT
Inspired By… by Maya Rochat
Vivienne Westwood, 2011 © Juergen Teller
In her own unique tone-of-voice, Maya Rochat explains to us why most of her favourite images lost all feeling over time, except one picture of Vivienne Westwood with an axe.
“The thing is: with the way my look at things changes over the time, all iconic images that I really was fascinated by, did at some point lose some of their effect, like a great song you abused by listening in a loop. I appreciate them still, but I feel towards them something like a non-emotional sympathy. But this image has an actuality, a relevance in the contemporary context.”
Estimated reading time: 2.30 min.