REVIEW: Foam Museum Amsterdam

Hello everyone!

I thought I'd tell you about Foam Museum which I visited earlier this February in Amsterdam.

Foam is a museum mainly focusing on displaying photography but they go above and beyond this through their magazine publications and promotion of young artists through their store as well as on their website.

Their museum is always changing as they have a rotating set of different exhibitions meaning there's always something new and different to enjoy at Foam.

Before telling you a little about the exhibitions I saw, it's worth mentioning a little about the museum itself.

It's not a standard museum, in fact it's a combination of old canal houses which have been combined together and remodeled to give a modern look. Unfortunately it does turn into quiet a maze and we did get lost but hey, it adds to the adventure and excitement!

When I went there they were displaying three exhibitions:

- Ren Hang- Naked/Nude

- Hiroshi Sugimoto -Black Box

- Harley Weir - Boundaries

Ren Hang's exhibition wasn't what I would call appropriate for children but it really was a beautiful exhibition.

Untitled, 2016 © Ren Hang/courtesy Stieglitz19

Untitled, 2013 © Ren Hang/courtesy Stieglitz19

Ren Hang, a Chinese photographer, used pictures of both naked men and women with the use of animals such as swans, peacocks, fish and snakes and other props to provoke emotions (well, for me at least) of love, spontaneity and impulsiveness.

Safe to say I wasn't surprised when I found out he was also a poet.

The next exhibition we saw was that of Hiroshi Sugimoto called "Black Box." The exhibition showed a small glimpse into the photographer's major series, some of which dated back to the 70s but are still an ongoing project.

Lightning Field, 2014 © Hiroshi Sugimoto

The five major sections of this exhibition were titled "Theaters," "Lightning Fields," (my personal favourite) "Dioramas" "Portraits" and "Seascapes."

Hyena-Jackal-Vulture, 1976 © Hiroshi Sugimoto

His photographer is what the rest of my generation would describe as "deep." Considering his photography mainly compromised of different shades of grey, white and black, he did amazingly to make every piece so unique and intriguing.

The third and last exhibition we saw was Harley Weir's "Boundaries" exhibition.

This for me, was the most interesting exhibition as sometimes it wasn't even sure what you were looking at. It was very ambiguous and my boyfriend and I spent almost five minutes in front of one trying to agree on the photograph's message.

The title boundaries is very relevant to Harley's work. She crosses boundaries as well as making political statements all, of course, very open to interpretation but all discussion provoking. Well summarised in her press release information "Harley Weir often portrays intriguing personalities, irrespective of gender, ethnicity or age."

She also had some sexual photographs of both homosexual and heterosexual lovers which I thought was also something that made her exhibition that little more admirable.

Her work is definitely worth looking out for and I'm sure you'll see some too, knowing she's published shots for magazines as well as shooting campaigns for renowned fashion brands!

Overall, I really enjoyed my visit and I hope this post has tempted you to give them a visit next time they're in Amsterdam! You won't regret it that's for sure!

For more practical information, have a look at their website: https://www.foam.org/

The Frugal Teen

* Disclaimer: Complimentary visit for the purpose of this review but all views are my own

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