Created by Jaya Pelupessy & Felix van Dam in 2014. The artwork is displayed at 95 x 76 cm.

Waves from the Web, 2009

Visible in

In how many ways can you create a photographic image? From the complicated chemical procedure in the medium’s early years to the advanced technology that underpins digital cameras: besides being an art form, photography can also be seen as a consistently evolving science. The artist duo Jaya Pelupessy and Felix van Dam became intrigued by the idea that a silkscreen print is, in principle, also light sensitive and hence can serve as a photo negative. Despite being told by others that the idea was ‘impossible’, the duo was determined to create their own unique ‘silkscreen’ camera. Eventually they managed to coat a silkscreen with a light-sensitive emulsion and to expose this to direct sunlight for two hours. You might wonder what this story has to do with the white sculpture wearing sunglasses. The point is that, in an attempt to reduce the required exposure time, the duo decided to experiment with ultraviolet light. The required amount of UV light forced Pelupessy and Van Dam to wear sunglasses, to protect their eyes against the intense light.  

Glasses, 2016 from the series Traces of the Familiar

Glasses - Traces of the Familiar

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

From the series Eyes Dazzle as They Search for the Truth

What is the relationship between the photographer and the one that is photographed? In an attempt to answer this question, Amin Yousefi turned to photobooks, documenting the Iranian Revolution of 1978-1979 in his home-country. Zooming in on archival images of large demonstrations, he looked for protestors who locked eyes with the camera. 

Anonymous faces stare into the photographer’s lens, clearly showing awareness of being captured, inviting the viewer to look. Interestingly, the photographer at the time was most likely 

 aware of the returning gazes—due to the size of the crowds and the limitations of a 35mm camera viewfinder. In this case, Yousefi argues, it seems that the photographed is in control of the image, rather than the photographer, as one might assume. 

With the help of a magnifying glass, he rephotographed each of them—connecting himself with these individuals across time and space and isolating them into a newly formed crowd. Consisting of fifty portraits, 

Eyes Dazzle as they Search for the Truth 

examines how our knowledge about the past is formed through archival images. By turning his camera to those who looked back, Yousefi tries to understand the impact of one of the most influential events in Iranian contemporary history.

Untitled from Eyes Dazzle As they Search for The Truth.

Untitled from Eyes Dazzle As they Search for The Truth

Amin Yousefi

 in 2018. The artwork is an ice photogram digitally printed on glass, and is displayed at 33 x 40 cm.

System 8, from the series Kosmos, 2011

visible in

In an attempt to minimize the devastating effect of global warming on the glaciers of the Swiss Alps, each summer they are covered with geotextile blankets that are designed to keep the ice cool. Douglas Mandry journeyed his native country, intrigued by this desperate attempt to prevent the receding glaciers from further melting. The artist collected disused pieces of geotextile from the mountains, and later processed them as a base for found photographs of early twentieth-century alpinism in the region. Mandry also took bits of broken ice from the glacier with him in a cool box. In the darkroom, he put the ice in the enlarger, where it started to melt and drip onto the photo paper, creating a colourful aura of the glacier. Mandry then reproduced these photograms on glass plates. 

could be considered an index of the vanishing glaciers of Switzerland: frozen time, captured in an instant by the principles of photography.

Monuments, Aletsch #2, 2018

Created by Simon Wald-Lasowski in 2010. The artwork is a c-print and displayed at 92 x 65 cm.

The American rapper Victor Vazquez was part of the hip hop squad 

. This group was known for their political and social messages, packaged as jokes. But how do you portray a rapper known for his layered and humorous texts? Exactly as you would expect: tongue in cheek. In Simon Wald-Lasowski’s portrait, Vazquez holds a croissant in front of his mouth, upside down. In this way it resembles a sad smiley, which the rapper then accentuates by pretending to wipe away a tear behind his glasses. 

Simon Wald-Lasowski’s work was displayed during 

, an exhibition staged in collaboration with Amsterdam’s music magazine Subbacultcha. 

 was the second exhibition of a series in which Foam focused on the overlap between photography and other artistic media.  

Victor Vazquez (Das Racist)

Created by Léonie Hampton in 2009. The artwork is a photo face on 6mm low iron glass, polished and bevelled edges, polyester back & MDF split batten and displayed at 17 x 25.40 cm.

Maldoror #6, 2014

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

What atmosphere does this photograph evoke? Does it give you a tense, mysterious or perhaps ominous feeling? The somewhat worn and abandoned children’s shoes trigger the imagination, further enhanced by the location and the light. The moss-covered tiles, the dry leaves that have accumulated inside the shoes, and the gloomy light suggest that the shoes were left behind out in the garden a long time ago. Photographer Léonie Hampton deliberately plays with the interaction between the subject, the location and the light to amplify the atmosphere of the photograph. 

 is part of Léonie Hampton’s intimate series 

, which documents daily family life with a mother suffering an obsessive-compulsive disorder. 

The Thrush #1 from the series The Jewels

The Trush #1, 2009

Living in permanent fear of dirt and contamination. Stacks of stuff that make rooms uninhabitable. Fully withdrawing from the rest of the world. People suffering an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are subject to obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions that often clash with social activities and relations.  

 is the result of an agreement between mother and daughter. The English photographer promised her mother to help her deal with the compulsive disorder, as long as she was permitted to document her daily life with OCD. 

 shows a yellow jacket that seems to have been tossed out with coat hanger and all, and has now been covered by dry autumn leaves. The title and image suggest a certain contradiction: getting rid of moths for fear of contamination clashes with the dirt accumulating on the jacket as it lies outside. 

Rupert Bear Jacket De-Mothing #1 from the series The Jewels

Rupert Bear Jacket De-Mothing #1, 2009

How does this image make you feel? This nighttime scene of a house in the woods may evoke an ominous feeling as to what’s about to happen. Or does the warm light shining through the windows instead transport you to a cosy living room during a cold winter night? 

, in which English photographer Leonie Hampton gives the viewer an intimate peek at her everyday family life. The series was conceived when Hampton offered to help her mother, who suffers from an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), to tidy up the house, as long as she was permitted to photograph the process. The result is an intimate and personal portrayal of the complex relationships that can exist within a family, which might not be apparent to the world around. In the 

 addresses the myth of the perfect family, while showing the unbreakable bonds and the love within a family. 

Night Time #1 from the series The Jewels

Night Time #1, 2009

Created by Clément Lambelet in 2016. The artworks are wooden light boxes (white) with plexiglass and duratrans, both displayed at 200 x 105 cm.

Developments in image recognition systems are leading to more and more automated forms of surveillance and personal identification – but how reliable are these new systems? Clément Lambelet looks for the loopholes in this rapidly developing algorithmic ecosystem. The central piece of the 

 series is a variation on an engraving of the Biblical figures Adam and Eve made in 1504 by the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer. Dürer was convinced that the ideal proportions of the human body could be captured in mathematical formulas. For his own interpretation, Lambelet used the kind of body scanner used by airport security. Through his works, Lambelet questions the reduction of human bodies to mere numbers, by showing that algorithms can be functionally biased. 

Adam & Eve from the series Collateral Visions, 2016-2017

Adam and Eve, 2016

Educatieprogramma's primair onderwijs, 2024

Over de workshop

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More for primary education

Primair Onderwijs - Workshop - Kiekie Kids Nieuws

Tophane, Istanbul, 1958

Podcast

Galata Docks, Istanbul, 1962

Foam Talks about Ara Güler, iconic images, and photo archives, with Claartje van Dijk and Tuana Pulak

Primair Onderwijs - Workshop - A.I.dentity

In a four-part series led by acclaimed Polaroid artists Rhiannon Adams, Ellen Carey & John Reuter, and Marcel Veldman and Foam 3h alumnus Ece Gökalp, the participating students were able to use the recently launched Polaroid I-2 camera – the first advanced instant camera with built-in manual controls. Moreover, they had the chance to discuss their perspectives about the possibilities of storytelling and the enduring relevancy of this unique medium.

Students as well as young, self-made creatives approached the medium from various angles and shed light on its artistic, social, and technological significance by pushing the boundaries of what instant film can achieve. The results of their collective efforts are now on display as part of an exclusive online exhibition.

This programme is made possible with the support of Polaroid.

Foam is supported by the VriendenLoterij, Foam Members, the VandenEnde Foundation and the City of Amsterdam. 

PORTRAITURE
AND
THE PHYSICAL
PHOTOGRAPH

“Polaroid photo processes are completed in situ, there is no external hand involved. It’s pure – just me, the camera, the environment, and the film.” 

POLAROID PHOTOGRAPHY 
AS AN ARTISTIC MEDIUM

CAPTURING 
REAL 
               LIFE

“In between all the skateboard tricks and stuff, I like something contrasty. Instant film for me is the perfect way to do this. It gives you an example of the free life aside from the actual skateboard.”

Polaroid Photography in Multiple Perspectives

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

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Announcement Winner Foam Paul Huf Award 2024

ROC: Educatieprogramma's voortgezet onderwijs, 2024

Hoe en waarom toon je jezelf online? In deze workshop ga je hiermee experimenteren en kijken we samen naar toonaangevende portretfotografen.

v(s)o - Be Yourselfie

Wie ben je in de digitale wereld? Wie wil je zijn op social media platforms [...]

p(s)o - A.I.dentity

Get Surreal voortgezet onderwijs, 2024

Wanneer zijn fotografische beelden echt en wanneer zijn ze nep? In deze workshop experimenteren we met het maken van surrealistische fotocollages en genereer je met Artificial Intelligence nieuwe fotografische beelden.

v(s)o - GET (SUR)REAL!

New workshops for 2025

Current & upcoming exhibitions

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DIY with Foam: inspired by Mark Dorf

DIY with Foam

Klokhuis Masterclass

Flowers for donald #20 (channel surfing [with a flock of birds and some good dogs]), 2017 from the series Flowers for donald

Untitled, 2012. London, UK from the series Personal Work, 2006-2016

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After Anahit, 2023

Dad And Omani Friends, November 2018

How do different generations of Turkish image-makers give shape to the worlds they live in? With shared heritage as the starting point, multi-year project Kısmet explores the complex and rich perspectives of Turkish visual culture. Initiated by the longstanding cultural, diplomatic and economical connections between Turkey and the Netherlands, Kısmet was created by artist Ahmet Polat and further developed with Foam. 

Online Exhibition - Kismet: New Perspectives. Four Contemporary Image-makers from Turkey

articles

Current exhibitions

Dad and his Indian Friends, April 2017

The Golden Horn, Istanbul

Listen to the Foam Talks episode about an Armenian statue, an emptied lake, and a fig tree.

Foam Talks with Ece Gökalp and Larissa Araz

Ahmet Sezer being photographed by his son Ahmet, Dark Moon Tales of the Afro-Turkish Diaspora, 2005-2022

Watch the visual podcast about the history of the Afro-Turkish community around Izmir, Turkey and their connection to image-making.

The Coffee Reading: Tales of the Afro Turkish Diaspora

From the series Double Portrait, 2021

Listen to the Foam Talks episode with artist Cemre Yeşil in conversation with Ahmet Polat where they speak about the Turkish photography scene.

Foam Talks with Cemre Yeşil and Ahmet Polat

podcasts

past exhibitions

Kısmet

How does a new generation of image-makers from Turkey use photography to reflect on the world around them? 

As part of the multi-year project Kısmet, this online group exhibition gives a snapshot of the emerging community of contemporary image-makers from Turkey. Kısmet is inspired by longstanding cultural, diplomatic and economic ties between Turkey and the Netherlands and delves into the diverse and intricate facets of Turkish visual culture, as seen through the lens of different generations of image-makers. Here, we present the work of four talented visual artists, born after 1990, whose voices will shape the vast visual landscape in Turkey, and beyond, in the upcoming years. 

Showing a diverse range of visual styles, what connects these four artists is the profound personal investment they put in their work. Their photography holds a personal dimension that goes beyond ‘merely’ having an affinity for the chosen subject matter. Rather, their practice and the resulting bodies of work reveal a deep connection to their perception of the world around them. What stands out are the distinct translations of their inner worlds, whether this is in the methodology, subject matter or aesthetics. 

For Oğulcan Arslan, the personal comes forward not only through the story he documents, but also through photographic techniques he uses. In 

, he intimately captures a friendship by adjusting light, exposure and composition to the emotions he experiences himself or from his friend. 

Alp Peker finds solace in their photographic practice to voice their protest against unspoken issues and social taboos they experience on a daily basis. Their photographs, shown here under the title 

, are an ode to the community Alp lives in, their goals, struggles, and weirdnesses.  

Kıvılcım S. Güngörün defines her work as autobiographical fiction. The collages in 

are a direct translation of her inner workings: intuitive visual responses to questions that pop into her mind, or new questions that arise during the process.  

, Cansu Yıldıran studies the power dynamics and gender inequality that they encountered in their ancestral village in Northern Turkey. Inspired by the personal stories of the women of their family, Cansu creates emotional atmospheres that investigate their own sense of identity, of belonging and the continuous search for a safe space.

Kismet: online exhibition intro

How to

Oğulcan Arslan 

From the series All the Rivers Flow In the Nuthouse

               

Alp Peker

Untitled

From the series Amel Defteri: a notebook of deeds

From the series Amel defteri: A Notebook of Deeds

             

Kıvılcım S. Güngörün 

From the series I lab yu

From the series I Lab Yu

“My day becomes my laboratory, and I lab back.” 

                          

Cansu Yıldıran 

From the series The Dispossessed

      

Image from the series After Anahit, 2023

Kısmet: New Perspectives. Four Contemporary Image-makers from Turkey

Next Level: Sara Cwynar

At Foam, we believe that photography is a powerful tool for young people to express themselves. That's why fostering the next generation of photographers is at the heart of our museum's mission. Foam has partnered with Meervaart Studio over the past six years to create beautiful photography workshops for talented young people in Amsterdam, led by experienced photographers from Foam's extensive network. 

We're proud to celebrate this fruitful collaboration with a hybrid presentation in the project space of the museum and on Foam’s digital platform. This special showcase is an opportunity to learn more about the work of five young makers who have been part of our many educational photography projects over the years. These programmes have given them the tools and guidance to capture their visions of the world around them. 

As you explore the exhibition, you'll be struck by the creativity and originality of these young photographers. Each project highlights the value of providing young people with a platform to share their voices. Their work will inspire and encourage others to see the world in new and exciting ways. 

Join us in celebrating the work of this generation of young Amsterdam creatives.  

Glass

Glasses - Traces of the Familiar

Sheung Yiu

Amin Yousefi

Monuments, Aletsch #2, 2018

Victor Vazquez (Das Racist)

The Thrush #1, 2009

Rupert Bear Jacket De-Mothing #1, 2009

Night Time #1, 2009

Adam and Eve, 2016

Kiekie Kids Nieuws

Foam Talks about Ara Güler, iconic images, and photo archives, with Claartje van Dijk and Tuana Pulak

A.I.dentity

Polaroid Photography in Multiple Perspectives

Announcement Winner Foam Paul Huf Award 2024

School Programmes

Primary Education

Kısmet

Through the lens of Turkish visual culture

Kısmet: New Perspectives. Four Contemporary Image-makers from Turkey

Next Level: Sara Cwynar

Empowering the voices of Amsterdam’s youth through photography

Karin van Gilst appointed director of Foam

After Anahit
A Closer Look at the Work of Ece Gökalp

Ara Güler - A Play of Light and Shadow

Images about images: reflecting on the works of Sara Cwynar

Foam 3h: Sem Langendijk Haven

Glass

Glasses - Traces of the Familiar

Sheung Yiu

Amin Yousefi

Monuments, Aletsch #2, 2018

Victor Vazquez (Das Racist)

The Thrush #1, 2009

Rupert Bear Jacket De-Mothing #1, 2009

Night Time #1, 2009

Adam and Eve, 2016

Kiekie Kids Nieuws

Foam Talks about Ara Güler, iconic images, and photo archives, with Claartje van Dijk and Tuana Pulak

A.I.dentity

Polaroid Photography in Multiple Perspectives

Announcement Winner Foam Paul Huf Award 2024

School Programmes

Primary Education

Kısmet

Through the lens of Turkish visual culture

Kısmet: New Perspectives. Four Contemporary Image-makers from Turkey

Next Level: Sara Cwynar

Empowering the voices of Amsterdam’s youth through photography

Karin van Gilst appointed director of Foam

After AnahitA Closer Look at the Work of Ece Gökalp

Ara Güler - A Play of Light and Shadow

Images about images: reflecting on the works of Sara Cwynar

Foam 3h: Sem Langendijk Haven

After Anahit
A Closer Look at the Work of Ece Gökalp