AMSTERDAM.- Foam presents an exhibition of work by a new generation of photographers who work with the medium of photography in a refreshingly uninhibited, unconventional and sometimes slightly anarchist way. Five young Dutch photographers: Constant Dullaart, Katja Mater, Jaap Scheeren, Corriette Schoenaerts and Anne de Vries use photography more as a medium, rather than a self-evident end product. In the exhibition Photography – in reverse they present mostly new work in which they combine different disciplines: photography and internet, projections, film and installations.
A major motivation for organizing this group exhibition is the fundamental changes the medium of photography has gone through in recent years. Digitalization, and with it the ever-expanding options have had consequences for the photographer’s professional practice. These developments have not only caused questions to arise regarding authenticity, originality and authorship – the photographic image itself has acquired another status. The five photographers in this exhibition are part of a generation of photographers and artists who make use of and provide commentary on the developments referred to above.
In this exhibition a range of conceptual common grounds can be found: images are often constructed to create a world entirely of their own, often with a slightly surrealist or absurdist accent; the interplay between fiction and non-fiction is experimented with and the limits of photographic language are explored. The influence of mass media and new media is also clearly present in the work.
Constructions within the space, projections, moving images and installations make up a significant part of the exhibition, in addition to more conventional methods of exhibition.
Constant Dullaart (1979) focuses on the changes that the digital age has brought about in the medium of photography. Dullaart is an (internet) artist who experiments with the visual language of new media, including the internet. He is presently investigating the influence of Photoshop image manipulation on contemporary visual language. Katja Mater (1979) also often works with installations and focuses on the medium of photography itself: its technical characteristics and its limitations. Time and synchronicity, and dimensionality are of great importance in her work. Jaap Scheeren (1979) uses media as a source of inspiration, investigating how he as a photographer can translate the information from interesting articles into photos. Humour is a key element in Scheeren’s work. Corriette Schoenaerts (1977) constructs her photos from various layers, together creating a new image. She calls this process ‘compression’. The image that the viewer sees, is dependent on his or her way of looking: whether the viewer specifically focuses on a single layer or on the work as a whole. Anne de Vries (1977) creates new worlds, inspired by new media and our technical culture. De Vries departs from an abstract, technical concept which he explores by expressly working with extremely commonplace means. His work has an anarchist tone, adverse to conventions and good taste.
Photography - in reverse can be seen from 27 November 2009 to 21 February 2010 at Foam_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam.
