The Foam Collection grows with emerging artists
Foam holds work by more than two hundred artists. Its online collection shows how broadly the museum understands photography.
Foam presents changing exhibitions on Amsterdam’s Keizersgracht. It also builds its own photography collection. On its collection page, the museum presents work by more than two hundred artists from around the world. That figure describes the collection, not the number of artists currently on display.
The online collection can be explored by subject and medium. Foam lists conceptual photography, identity and portraiture among its themes. Its media categories include analogue photography, collage, mixed media, painting and text. Together they show that a photographic work can be more than a print from a single exposure.
Part of this collection is linked to Foam’s attention to emerging artists. Foam 3h is a permanent exhibition space for innovative work by young talent, although its displays change. For an exhibition running from October 2021 to February 2022, Foam selected work by Foam 3h artists that had also been acquired for the collection. That past exhibition showed how a temporary platform can feed a lasting collection.
The programmes and the collection are distinct. Appearing in Foam 3h or being selected for Foam Talent does not automatically mean that work is acquired. The collection page is therefore a separate route into owned works, while the programme shows what is currently on display. The two photographs with this article show the facade in 2011, not a current exhibition or collection work.
Foam is at Keizersgracht 609. An online visit to the collection can be paired with the exhibitions on view at the museum. Its website has the latest information on the programme, admission and access; the historic building is not fully wheelchair accessible.