Maldoror #6, 2014

Jean-Vincent Simonet

Foam is proud to present a special collaboration between visual artist Jean-Vincent Simonet and producer Trippin Jaguar at Het Stenen Hoofd.

<div>Both artists continuously question the definition of what truth is, through different dimensions. Simonet created a life-sized installation at Het Stenen Hoofd, and his psychedelic imagery is intensified by Trippin Jaguar&rsquo;s spiritual sounds for a unique audio-visual experience.&nbsp;The installation is on view at Het Stenen Hoofd from 19 October until 12 November. Hook up your headphones to Soundcloud and enjoy the ride: </div>
<div>
<iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/347804039&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true&amp;visual=true"></iframe>Foam X ADE Playground, Het Stenen Hoofd, 2017 &copy; Daniel Lewensztain
</div>
<div>ABOUT JEAN-VINCENT SIMONET Jean-Vincent Simonet (1991, France) graduated with high honours from &Eacute;CAL in 2014 before starting his career of mixing editorial, fashion and experimental photography. His personal work was exhibited at Pla(t)form 2015 in Fotomuseum Winterthur and he also won a Swiss Design Award in Basel this year. Simonet was selected as a Foam Talent in 2015 and in the same year his exhibition <a href="/museum/programme/jean-vincent-simonet">Maldoror</a> was presented at Foam 3h, Foam's project space for emerging talent. He lives and works in Paris.&nbsp;</div>
 ABOUT TRIPPIN JAGUAR After being re-introduced rather serendipitously to hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms, Francesco Robustelli's&nbsp;alter ego Trippin Jaguar was born. Set on a course of spiritual growth and psychedelic and musical exploration, his music became the story of this journey. This brought him from Amsterdam to London, Tokyo and Berlin, and set his career on an entirely new path. Listen to Trippin Jaguar's tracks on <a href="https://soundcloud.com/tripjag">Soundcloud</a>.
COLLABORATE! A YEAR OF VISUAL ENCOUNTERS To celebrate our 15th anniversary, Foam is organising a broad range of activities throughout 2017 united by the theme of collaboration, under the title Collaborate!. Foam X ADE Playground is part of this programme and goes beyond the limits of photography and fine arts, and help develop ties between different artistic disciplines, as well as venturing into scientific and technological fields.
The installation at Het Stenen Hoofd is made possible by City of Amsterdam, District West.
The Collaborate! programme is made possible with the support of Fonds21, the Mondriaan Fund, the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds and VSBfonds.
Foam is supported by the BankGiro Loterij, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, City of Amsterdam, Delta Lloyd, Olympus and the VandenEnde Foundation.

<div class="sidebar__content">Exhibition info 
19 October - 12 November
 LOCATION Het Stenen Hoofd, Amsterdam <a href="https://www.google.nl/maps/dir/''/het+stenen+hoofd/data=!4m5!4m4!1m0!1m2!1m1!1s0x47c609cb439ffa67:0xadc0018f4bd831ce?sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiXy6bH3MLWAhWMb1AKHd4QCekQ9RcInAEwDw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Directions</a>
 PRICE Free</div>

Jean-Vincent Simonet X Trippin Jaguar

When the young French photographer Jean-Vincent Simonet (Lyon, 1991) came across the book Les Chants de Maldoror (The Songs of Maldoror), he felt hugely attracted to the dark, theatrical and transgressive character. The cutting-edge book praising youth revolt, blasphemy and the victory of dream over reality was published in 1869 by Comte de Lautr&eacute;amont. Jean-Vincent Simonet decided to revive the literary enigma by transforming the classic novel into a contemporary book and exhibition Maldoror.

Simonet&rsquo;s photos don&rsquo;t literally follow the text of The Songs of Maldoror but are related to the universe of Lautremont: romanticism, chaos, bestiality, science, intimacy and literacy.
The photographs of Simonet are based on the atmosphere it evokes. The eclectic style of the book inspired Simonet to use a diversity of photographic techniques and layouts. Simonet used iPhone pictures, 20 x 25 and large format. He works in both analogue and digital, in black-and-white and in colour. Many of the photographs are 35 mm. Simonet works with digital techniques, glitching and merging of photographs. He does not shrink from theatricality. His photos of gothic angels are provided with dramatic blue photoshopped skies full of stars. The glitching becomes visible in the thick shrubbery that is portrayed by the photographer in pictures of arid-looking overgrown landscapes without a central focus, in which dead branches merge into pink and blue shapes that look like hairs. The immersive, mysterious and overwhelming atmosphere that is created by these pictures will be tangible in the exhibition.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X-gksyIVKGU?rel=0&amp;controls=0&amp;showinfo=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
ABOUT JEAN-VINCENT SIMONET Jean-Vincent Simonet (b. 1991, France) graduated with high honours from ECAL in 2014 before starting his career of mixing editorial, fashion and experimental photography. His personal work was exhibited at Pla(t)form 2015 in Fotomuseum Winterthur. He also won a Swiss Design Awards in Basel this year. He lives and works in Lausanne where he juggles between commissioned photography and personal explorations. Simonet was selected as one of the Foam Talents 2015.
This project is made possible by the Van Bijleveltstichting. 
Foam is sponsored by the BankGiro Loterij, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Delta Lloyd, City of Amsterdam, Olympus and the VandenEnde Foundation.

Foam 3h: Sem Langendijk - Haven, 2023

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Foam 3h

Created by WassinkLundgren in 2012. The artwork is displayed at 50 x 40 cm.

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

visible in

Is this an example of landscape photography, or a still-life? In the series 

This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land

, the artist duo WassinkLundgren (consisting of Thijs Groot Wassink and Ruben Lundgren) present various images of pieces of earth against a blank background. Although the images may seem straightforward at first, the focus on an apparently insignificant clod of soil triggers the viewer.  

 was made as part of the Virtueel Museum Zuidas, a long-term project documenting the construction of Amsterdam’s financial district, De Zuidas. For this series, the duo dressed up in smart suits to collect several pieces of land at De Zuidas, which is one of the most expensive stretches of real estate in the Netherlands. By adding a document that shows the origin and the price of exactly this piece of land, reaching as high as €15,250 in some spots, an almost surreal image emerges. WassinkLundgren’s work offers a critical interpretation of developments in today’s society, combined with a healthy sense of humour. 

my Land_02 from the series This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land

my Land_02

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.

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 Trush #1 from the series In the Shadow of Things

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 In the Shadow of Things

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 In the Shadow of Things

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

Created by Wang Juyan in 2015-2017. The artwork comprises of four prints on Hahnemühle baryta paper (matte), mounted on aluminium boards, each displayed at 250 x 150 cm.

, shows a misty mountainous landscape divided across four panels. Wang Juyan’s mountainscape is reminiscent of the art of traditional Chinese painting, 

, but it was actually created through a complicated technical process. During his many travels between London and Beijing, Juyan took hundreds of aerial shots of Chinese mountain ranges. Using digital technology, he combined the images he captured over a period of two years to create a fictional landscape of steep mountains, valleys and rivers. The message behind the piece is as serious as the piece itself is magical: the collage refers to the political value of landscapes in both Eastern and Western history. Traditional Chinese scroll paintings, propagandist murals, cartography, surveillance material captured by airplanes or drones… The title of the series is a reference to George Orwell’s influential novel 1984 (plus 101 years) and the fear of being constantly watched by the authorities.

No 8. from the series Project 2085, 2015-2017

Created by Jaap Scheeren & Hans Gremmen in 2009. The artwork comprises of four c-prints, each of which is displayed at 30 x 24 cm.

Do you notice anything particular about these four colours? They represent the four colours of the CMYK colour system. In contrast to the RGB colour system that dominates the representation of colours in the digital world, the CMYK colour system is central to print colours. Like RGB, CMYK is an acronym: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key. These four colours form the basis of the entire colour spectrum in printing. 

Photographer Jaap Scheeren and graphic designer Hans Gremmen conduct an almost absurdist investigation into the impact of digitalisation on the colour of an image. 

 comprises four images of the same flower bouquet, each in a different base colour. If the photos were to be layered on top of each other, they would create a lifelike still life of a bouquet. Instead they create a brightly coloured, artificial-looking image. The artists use this to question the apparent realism of the photographic medium. 

Fake Flowers in Full Colour - CMYK

Fake Flowers in Full Colour

Created byPopel Coumou in 2019. The artwork is a archival pigment print and displayed at 41 x 28 cm.

How does this work fit within the photographic medium? The abstract, three-dimensional image may well make you think of graphic design. It is precisely through this kind of confusion that artist Popel Coumou challenges the traditional conceptions of photography, in terms of how you use images. Must a photograph always be a representation of reality? In fact, this image is a collage created used several photographs of the sky. Take some time again to look at the image. Can you see how the sky has been processed in the geometrical shapes? From the golden hue of a setting sun to the deep blue when daytime gradually passes into night. Coumou’s work centres on the progression of light and colour. In this way she deftly examines how the human brain tends to fill in any uncertainties and is able to create its own reality to accommodate whatever it sees.  

113_Untitled, 2019

113_untitled 2019

Created by Drew Nikonowicz in 2016. The artwork is a archival pigment print and displayed at 30.4 x 38.1 cm. 

From the highly manipulated and stylised images on Instagram to the use of ‘green screens’ in films and the digital worlds in video games: how we record and represent the world around us has changed drastically. Are we still able to distinguish between what is real and what is digital? Inspired by 19th-century photographers like William H. Jackson and Timothy O’Sullivan, whose task it was to document new territories on camera, Drew Nikonowicz embarked on his own expedition to document the world and worlds around us. Looking at this black-and-white image of a narrow road disappearing around the corner, you might not notice anything odd at first. Only after reading the title, you realise that you’re actually looking at a miniature replica of the real world. The photograph was taken behind the scenes at the miniature fun fair ‘Italia in Miniatura’ in Rimini, Italy. By combining computer models with analogue photographic processes, Nikonowicz blurs the boundaries between what is real and what is not. 

01 (Italia in Miniatura Behind The Scenes) Title: 2016-10-24 12:38:33 PM 44°05'31.22" N 012°31'03.07" from the series This World and Others Like It

1 (Italia in Miniatura Behind The Scenes), 2016-10-24 12:38:33 PM 44°05'31.22" N 012°31'03.07" E 00034

Created by Guillaume Simoneau in 2015. The artwork is a pigment print. It explores themes as environment, ecosystems and science.

In the genre of documentary photography, it is quite common to produce work in series: multiple photographs that together tell a certain story. Each individual image contributes in a certain way to the bigger story, and it is the photographer who determines how and in which form. For example, in the documentary series 

 the photographer Guillaume Simoneau follows a group of scientists studying the impact of climate change and human interventions on nature, in the so-called ‘Experimental Lake Area’ in Canada. 

 is a close-up of a pair of hands repairing a net. How does this photo relate to the other images in the series, such as 

On Earth – Imaging, Technology and the Natural World

. In this exhibition, 27 contemporary artists reflected on the relationship between humans, technology and nature. 

Mending net, on location ELA, Canada, 2015 from the series Experimental Lake

Mending, on location ELA, Canada, 2015

Created by Guillaume Simoneau in 2015. The artwork is a digital pigment print and displayed at 40 x 31 cm. It explores themes as environment, ecosystems and science.

Just as scientific researchers meticulously record their observations, the Canadian photographer Guillaume Simoneau meticulously observes the paradoxical relationship between humans and nature. His series 

 documents how a group of scientists perform ecological experiments at remote lakes in the vast wilderness of North-west Ontario, Canada. These experiments are part of their study into the impact of human activities on vulnerable ecosystems, for example through pollution and climate change. 

 offers an inside view of the mundane aspects of important scientific research, in which ordinary items such as a bucket, kitchen towel and plastic camping table play a useful role. Guillaume Simoneau’s series 

Location lab two from the series Experimental Lake

Location lab two, on location ELA, Canada, 2015

Created by Guillaume Simoneau in 2014. The artwork is a pigment print and displayed at 40.5 x 30.5 cm. It explores themes as environment, ecosystems and science.

Everything in the world, including humans, consists of atoms; they are the tiny building blocks of life. In this photograph, atoms are represented as black, white and red spheres and combined to form molecules. In his series 

, photographer Guilaume Simoneau follows the daily activities of a group of scientists investigating the human impact on nature. The cool blue hue in the image appears well chosen to reflect the sterile, scientific atmosphere of a laboratory. At the same time, the playful molecule model, dangling from the ceiling like an improvised star constellation, contrasts unexpectedly with the professionalism and serious nature of the scientific research taking place here. Guillaume Simoneau’s series 

Mobile, ELA field station, Canada, 2014 from the series Experimental Lake

Mobile, ELA field station, Canada, 2014

 in 2015. The artwork is a digital pigment print. It explores themes as 

Experimental Lake is set around a world-class research facility looking into human impact on nature. It is situated within the pristine natural environment of the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) in north-west Ontario, Canada. 58 lakes comprise a natural laboratory where a community of international scientists test the effect of new chemical substances and other human inventions on the environment. Their daily activities are monitored by Simoneau as a complex ecosystem in its own right, much like a scientist studies his specimen. Results from case-studies done in the ELA inform environmental policies worldwide. Similarly, Simoneau’s small observations speak of a universal interconnectedness between man and nature, as increasingly mediated through science – and photography. 

Location lab one, on location ELA, Canada, 2015 from the series Experimental Lake

Location lab one, on location ELA, Canada, 2015

 in 2018. The artwork is a digital pigment print and displayed at 41 x 55 cm. It explores themes as 

Lightning Storm Flare from the series Experimental Lake

Lightning Storm Flare

Mayflies by D. McLeod, on location ELA, Canada from the series Experimental Lake

Mayflies by D. McLeod, on location ELA, Canada

 in 2016. The artwork is a c-print soaked in Lake Vyrnwy water and is displayed at 76.2 x 50.8 cm. The artwork makes use of 

Using his surroundings as an additive medium, Brandt’s printed photographs are bathed in a mixture of water collected from the site in which the composition was derived. Through this experimental process, the artist becomes closer to his specific subjects and gains a better understanding of his surroundings as a whole. This controlled technique mirrors the chemical composite of the photographed landscape and therefore symbolises today’s ecological concerns about the deterioration of our natural world.

Lake Vyrnwy, Wales D1, 2016 (dyptich)

 in 2014. Using inkjet print as the main medium, the artwork is displayed at 120 x 90 cm.

When Jean-Vincent Simonet came across the book 

 (The Songs of Maldoror), he felt hugely attracted to the dark, theatrical and transgressive character. The cutting-edge book praising youth revolt, blasphemy and the victory of dream over reality was published in 1869 by Comte de Lautréamont. Simonet decided to revive the literary enigma. His photographs are based on the atmosphere it evokes: gothic angels provided with dramatic blue photoshopped skies full of stars and dead branches merged into pink and blue shapes that look like hairs. The eclectic style inspired him to shift between analogue and digital, using digital techniques to glitch and merge photographs. This enables the mysterious atmosphere of the book to become tangible in the pictures. That the book was once banned because of its blasphemous character, comes as no surprise.

Maldoror #6

Foam Collection

Mariage á Loèche-les-Bains (Marriage in Leukerbad), from the series Ekaterina, 2012-16

Current Study #3, 2013

#14 from the series Sun Set, 2011

Boys of Walthamstow, 2018

Bouquet V, 2008

The Crossroads from the series My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, 2014

w Face, 23 March, Tokyo, Japan, 2015

Cosmic Chakra, 2016

Pat Blake for Vogue NY 1954

Deborah, from the series Week– End, 2009

Collection

Mardin, September 2020 

The recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria have left an enormous number of people, families, and communities in urgent need of assistance. Given Foam’s longstanding collaboration with Turkish artists, institutions and communities through the ongoing Kısmet project, we are committed to supporting those affected by these devastating events. We therefore support the 'Pictures for Purpose' print sale fundraiser, featuring works by 39 artists with proceeds going to two volunteer organisations working locally: AHBAP and White Helmets. We spoke to artist Olgaç Bozalp (Foam Talent and part of Kısmet) about his contribution to the fundraiser. 