Foam

Immersion

05 Nov 2010 - 12 Feb 2011

© Alexandre Maubert
Utopia, 2010
Foam_3h: IMMERSION

Alexandre Maubert, Justine Pluvinage and Vera Schöpe

In collaboration with Maison Descartes en Museum van Loon
5 November 2010 - 12 January 2011

This autumn Foam_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam joins Maison Descartes and Museum Van Loon in presenting work by three young French photographers. Alexandre Maubert, Justine Pluvinage and Vera Schöpe all studied photography at the École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie (ENSP) in Arles. The three institutions, located within a stone’s throw of each other, offer a variety of multimedia presentations in which the relationship between the individual and society forms the principal theme. The three photographers complement each other well, in form and substance, since they all tackle overlapping subjects such as environment and identity in their own unique way. Entirely new projects are shown at Foam and Museum Van Loon, while Maison Descartes presents the photographers’ final exam work.

At Foam, Vera Schöpe shows a city undergoing permanent reconstruction. In her installation Another Beirut, the focus is on everyday urban scenes and the way individual people deal with a sense of uprootedness. In a multimedia presentation, Utopia, Alexandre Maubert examines the development of an ideal city in South Korea. New Songdo is the prototype of a future city in which new technologies will play a decisive role. Maubert explores how the inhabitants experience living in a city that is inextricably bound and dominated by information technology. Justine Pluvinage presents video portraits of individuals who have chosen to opt out of the rat race of today’s world. Music is the theme that runs through the four portraits of people who have liberated themselves from society and have chosen to follow their own path.

Alongside the Foam exhibition, Museum Van Loon presents new work by the photographers in the form of interventions inspired by the collection and design of the museum. Schöpe presents a projection and sound installation in which she reflects on identity, memory and language in relation to the Van Loon Museum collection. Maubert shows a video-installation comprising photos and 3D animation, and incorporating pictures of the Van Loon family. Pluvinage also offers a sound installation showing interviews in which people associated with the museum speak about their memories. The exhibition at Maison Descartes features work that the three photographers produced for their final exams in 2009.

Immersion was made possible with support from Van Bijlevelt Stichting, &samhoud and the Institut Français des Pays-Bas.

Immersion is on view from 5 November 2010 until 12 February 2011 in Foam_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam. Open daily
from 10 am – 6 pm, Thursday/Friday from 10 am – 9 pm. Admission: € 8,00.