Foam Magazine has been awarded several prizes for both its high-grade graphic design and the quality of its content. Most recently, Foam Magazine was awarded Photography Magazine of the Year at the Lucie Awards 2017 and 2019.

Foam Magazine is an international photography magazine published three times a year by Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam.

Foam Magazine is sponsored by Igepa Netherlands BV, supplier of excellent paper.

From art, literature and media to academia and internet culture, the visual and the written language have crossed paths many a time, creating a genre of their own. Learn more about the current issue of Foam Magazine

Image from the photo series 3eib!

Foam Magazine #60 Glyphs – The Image + Text Issue

Foam Magazine #60: Glyphs - The Image + Text Issue

Text-to-image generators have gained tremendous popularity over the past years. This specific application of artificial intelligence allows users to create digital images based on textual input. It seems that any desired image is just a few clicks away, with little to no technological knowledge about the inner workings needed.  

But what happens underneath the hood? How does a text-to-image AI exactly work? This step-by-step explainer will lift (some) of the curtains of image generation and shed light inside the black box of AI. 

Disclaimer: this is a simplified explanation of text-to-image generation. In reality, there are many different types of generation models, approaches and techniques. To learn more about this complex technology, we recommend reading 

Inside the Black Box


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, an exhibition that features work from Dutch photographers who captured the consequences of the German occupation during the 1944-45 ‘famine winter’ in Amsterdam. 

De verborgen camera van fotograaf Cas Oorthuys, mei 1945

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Twee vrouwen op de terugweg van een hongertocht begin 1945

Illegale opname vanuit fietstas van commandopost Kriegsmarine, genomen vanaf het Emmaplein de Emmalaan in, Amsterdam, 1944

Afsluiting Jodenbuurt bij de Waag, Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam, 1941

“The exhibition The Underground Camera captures the hunger and hardship in Amsterdam during the final year of World War II, but also sheds light on the untold stories behind the images, offering fresh perspectives.”

De Ondergedoken Camera

Foam proudly presents the solo exhibition 

by Hiền Hoàng, which encourages a multi-sensory reflection on the connection between humans and nature. Her practice is deeply shaped by interdisciplinary collaborations with scientists and technologists which reveal the ambivalent role of technology as both a means to understand nature and a force that distances us from it. 

Scent from Heaven, Still from the Film No. 3, 2023

A new best life, 2021

A scan from the Photo album of the artist's late aunt.

Made in Rice, backstage from the left video, 2021.

Lidar-Mesh from the experiment, 2024

Hiền Hoàng - Garden of Entanglement

Opening of Loading... Works from the Foam Collection

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Pink Ladies and Pear, 2012

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Wedding day from the series Las Flores mueren dos veces, 2022

Louis Vuitton Jeff Koons Rubens Bag, 2020

From the series Home Leaving One for Another

"Mohlokomedi wa Tora", Scene 2, 2018 

Killa from the series Madre

In a sandstone mine 1 from the series This isn't Divide and Conquer

Dialect, 2020

authenticity (2 CHAINZ) from the series BLACK SNAFU, 2022

Wait from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here, 2022

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Opening of Tyler Mitchell, photo by Almicheal Fraay

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Created by Gerco de Ruijter in 2003. The artwork is a c-print on aluminum and displayed at 50 x 50 cm.

Today one might think that this image was taken with the help of a drone. However, back in 2003, drones weren’t all that common. Instead, the Dutch photographer Gerco de Ruijter attached an analogue camera to a kite to get a bird's-eye view of the construction site. De Ruijter’s artistic practice is characterised by his use of unique perspectives, allowing him to search for patterns from the sky to create abstract representations of the landscape. The geometric shapes in the image consist of areas from the building site in different stages of construction, giving the image a mosaic-like feel. 

In the early 2000s, several photographers were invited to capture the construction of the financial district of Amsterdam (Zuidas). 

 belongs to a series that presents Gerco de Ruijter’s interpretation of this project. 

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Created by Betty Ras in 2006. Using inkjet on FinArt Baryta by Hahnemühle as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 50 x 50 cm.

Betty Ras is one of the photographers who took part in 

, a long-term project recording the construction of the financial district of Amsterdam, De Zuidas, in the early 2000s. Each year different photographers were invited to give their own interpretation of the continuously changing construction side. De Zuidas is characterised by high-rise buildings, housing the offices of large multinationals and top accounting and law firms.

 shows the outline of one of the first high-rises in the area as seen from a nearby park. Ras worked with black-and-white photography, giving the image a timeless feel. The bright cut-out in contrast to the dark surroundings of the park stands out. Through this intervention, Betty Ras emphasises how the high-rises from De Zuidas form a new skyline, fundamentally changing the scenery of this area. 

Beatrixpark

by Augusta Curiel. Augusta Curiel (1873-1937) was one of Suriname’s first women photographers, running a highly successful photography studio in Paramaribo together with her sister Anna (1875-1958). The exhibition offers a contemporary perspective on the people and landscapes of Suriname as captured through the lens of the ‘Curiel Sisters’ in the early twentieth century. Featuring both well-known and rarely seen images, this exhibition highlights their versatile practice and unique role in Surinamese society during the Dutch colonial era.

Aankomst van het stoomschip HM Hertog Hendrik op de Surinamerivier bij Paramaribo, 6 februari 1928

Anna en Augusta Curiel in actie tijdens landing van het watervliegtuig de Dornier DOX op de Surinamerivier 18 augustus 1931

Augusta Curiel - Surinaamse fotografe 1873-1937

by Ajamu X. On this festive evening, we will explore what it means to archive from Black queer perspectives together with the artist and guest speakers 

. No traditional panel, but a rhythmic, instinctive curated programme filled with space for encounter, nuance and vulnerability.

During this event, artist JeanPaul Paula will show a performance that is physical, concentrated and ritualistic in nature, with the body acting as both a sculptural and political medium.

Ajamu X and JG Basdew, November 2024

JeanPaul Paula, 2025

Bete van Meeuwen, 2025

Black Queer Archiving: Questioned at the Intersection, 2025

Opening Ajamu X - Us in the Frame

 is the well-known Photoshop selection tool of the same name. For Xin Li, the tool is much more than a handy feature to edit images. It becomes a means to draw parallels with societal control and censorship during the COVID lockdowns in China.  

The magic wand tool selects areas of images based on colour and hue—allowing smart selection and quick manipulation of images. Enforced with machine learning, it nowadays easily predicts which objects a user would like to see selected. Xin Li uses the tool to distort images, obscuring their original meaning behind layers of other images, often of other artworks.  

For Xin Li, this process symbolises the mechanisms of hiding and revealing facts and fake news, regulating the flow of information and controlling the dominant narrative. Metaphorically captured in the overwhelming fusion of shapes and colours, the visually explosive works tempt the viewer to look what lies beneath the apparent chaos. 

Xin Li

 weaves together several historical routes: that of his mother, growing up in Botswana after escaping the Apartheid regime of South Africa with her parents. That of his great-uncle, Zephania Mothopeng, the anti-Apartheid activist, imprisoned on Robben Island. And that of his grandfather, and his love for music, inspiring Makepe to pursue a creative career.

What at first glance may appear as a personal family narrative, in fact reveals the painful, racist and discriminatory political history of South Africa and the remnants of its colonial regimes. The series unfolds as a multi-dimensional, visual journey along these historical paths, touching on land dispossession, activism and colonialism.

includes striking portraits of his close relatives, sometimes re-enacting historical scenes, documentary photographs of important landmarks, as well as documents from Makepe’s family archive. Accompanying the visual material is a playlist of music, curated by the artist himself—connecting the work beautifully through the shared love for music. 

Sentlhane, 2022, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Monna Wa Mmino III, 2020, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Re A Hlopela Tombstone Unveiling from the series We Didn’t Choose to be Born Here, 2019

Archival footage from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Hippolytus Mothopeng [left] (1958), from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Hippolytus Mothopeng Citizenship, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

The Metronome Swing Orchestra in Botswana (1966), from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Garden, 2022, from the series We Didn't Choose to Be Born Here

The Aunt I Almost Had, 2021, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Wait, 2021, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Kgomo Tsaka Deile Kae, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Kereke, 2019, from the series We Didn't Choose to Be Born Here

Sello, 2021, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Martha and Hippolytus Mothopeng (1982), from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Robben Island University, 2020, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Mama Mo Metsi, 2019, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Under Surveillance, 2021, from the series We Didn't Choose to be Born Here

Thero Makepe

Stuck at home during the COVID-19 lockdown, Shwe Wutt Hmon was unable to visit the hospital for her regular check-ups and scans, necessary because of a life-long health issue. Coming to terms with this limitation, she started scanning her body, as well as flowers and medical records, by herself with an ordinary at-home scanner, creating a variety of abstract self-portraits. 

 that emerged from these experiments, reveal a poetic and symbolic documentation of the ongoing assault of medical procedures and operations on her body. Hmon’s image-making practice strongly ties together process and concept: the withering flowers symbolise the decay of the body and dark colours reflect somber emotions experienced right before scheduled operations.  

Another dimension was added when she moved from Myanmar to Thailand in 2022. Printing her work on local Saa paper, the works received an almost skin-like texture. Again, restrictions–this time due to the delicate paper type–required her to improvise, causing her to print the works small scale at home. The final accumulated process turned out to present a healing capacity: by carefully printing, cutting and sewing her works together, Shwe ultimately was also mending herself.

From the series I Do Miss Hospital Visit

Shwe Wutt Hmon

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

How does a photograph shape our understanding of the past? 

 is a series of A.I.-generated images, combined with archival images, questioning the construction of memory and masculinity through our image culture. 

In an attempt to grasp the full story of his deceased grandfather and his Indonesian heritage, Sander Coers turned to the artificial intelligence programme 

Feeding archival family photos into its system, he asked the programme to describe them, specifically listing their technical details such as dominant colour tones and type of camera, film and lens. Altering these descriptions allowed Sander to prompt the programme to create new images, yet maintain the exact visual look and feel of the family snapshots. Finally, by blending multiple A.I.-generated images together with the originals, he created a surprisingly intimate, genuine, yet completely fictional family album. 

The way the photos are cropped stands out. Coers used an element of collaging when assembling the final images, in order to emphasise the constructed nature of the photographs, and ultimately, the constructed nature of one’s memory, too. 

 alludes to the ‘afterlife’ of his grandfather, through the photo albums he left behind, as well as to the realm of post-photography: a space where images can be generated without the use of a camera.  

Adobe Stock image

From the series POST, 2023

Image from the series POST, 2023

From the series POST

Sander Coers

Ricardo Nagaoka presents a series of intimate portraits that addresses the prevailing societal ideas on what makes a man a man. Born in Paraguay to Japanese parents, Ricardo found himself stuck between the macho culture of Latin America and the strict patriarchal norms of his family.  

The photographs, all black and white, vary in crop and position: sometimes up close, cutting off certain body parts and revealing others, whilst others zoom out and show the portrayed head to toe. All images carry a quiet, timeless atmosphere, yet they express a distinct softness. Together, they call for a more inclusive understanding of gender, away from masculine stereotypes—largely based on Ricardo Nagaoka’s own experiences and desires. 

Nagaoka’s projects are not only about breaking down the ruling ideas on masculinity, but more so about building up what this term can include in the future.  

Text

Out now: Foam Magazine #60 Glyphs – The Image + Text Issue

Text to Image explained

Visit

Cultuur Ferry

The Underground Camera

Hiền Hoàng
Garden of Entanglement

About

Mahler IV

Objectives & articles of association

Editions

Beatrixpark

Augusta Curiel Yere Mi Sten

Opening Ajamu X Us in the Frame

Xin Li

Thero Makepe

Shwe Wutt Hmon

Sheung Yiu

Sander Coers

Ricardo Nagaoka

Rehab Eldalil

MAryam Touzani

Marisol Mendez

Jaclyn Wright

Issam Larkat

Florian Braakman

Text

Out now: Foam Magazine #60 Glyphs – The Image + Text Issue

Text to Image explained

Visit

Cultuur Ferry

The Underground Camera

Hiền Hoàng Garden of Entanglement

About

Mahler IV

Objectives & articles of association

Editions

Beatrixpark

Augusta Curiel Yere Mi Sten

Opening Ajamu X Us in the Frame

Xin Li

Thero Makepe

Shwe Wutt Hmon

Sheung Yiu

Sander Coers

Ricardo Nagaoka

Rehab Eldalil

MAryam Touzani

Marisol Mendez

Jaclyn Wright

Issam Larkat

Florian Braakman

Hiền Hoàng
Garden of Entanglement