Gold Fever
In the middle of the nineteenth century two great dreams became reality: the possibility of filling your pockets with gold, the most valuable of metals, and the possibility of having your likeness recorded by means of two metallic salts: gold and silver.

The association of photography of the past with yellowed images is often called old, but calling these historical photographs ‘old’ is a paradox. The people who were amongst the very first to take up photography were at the leading edge of technology at a time when everything was possible and so much remained to be invented and perfected. Embracing photography at the dawn of the medium was as adventurous and high-tech as the developments in cryptocurrency are today.


Newspaper article, part of the project Zilverbeek (2017-2018) by Lucas Leffler

On 7 June, we welcome various guest speakers at Foam to take you back to the glorious days of the Gold Rush before we travel back to modern days. Foam curator Kim Knoppers will introduce contemporary artistic projects, such as Lucas Leffer’s Zilverbeek (2017-2018) involving photography, gold and silver and delves into the modern day Gold Rush; cryptocurrencies.

With guest:

  • Luce Lebart, photo historian, curator and writer of the book Gold and Silver. Daguerréotypes, ambrotypes and tintypes from the gold rush. (RVB BOOKS);
  • Lucas Lefner. MA Photography KASK. Lives and works in Brussel. He will speak about his project Zilverbeek

> Sign up now

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
The exhibition Gold and Silver offers a modern-day look at the nineteenth century gold rush in North America. Contemporary projections, nineteenth century daguerreotypes and albumen photographs allow you to travel along the rivers of California and across the snow-covered mountaintops of the Yukon to fathom the ambitions, dreams and illusions of an entire generation of gold seekers.
> Read more

The exhibition Gold and Silver is a collaboration between the Canadian Photography Institute of the National Gallery of Canada and Foam, in partnership with Library and Archives Canada.

Gold and Silver was made possible thanks to the gift of “The Origins of Photography” from the Archive of Modern Conflict to the Canadian Photography Institute.

Foam is supported by the BankGiro Loterij, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Gemeente Amsterdam, Olympus and the VandenEnde Foundation.

explore connections

Gold Fever