Moderating panel discussion ‘What’s next?’ at Foam Amsterdam

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On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Foam, the innovative photography museum in Amsterdam, Non-fiction’s Michiel van Iersel moderated a lively panel discussion on ‘the ideal art (photography) institution’, critically re-examining the pillars of present-day museums: the building, the collection, the curator and the role of artists and new communication tools.

The panel consisted of Charlotte Cotton, former LACMA and V&A curator and now creative director of the National Media Museum in London, and the New York-based artist Lisa Oppenheim. The discussion focused on the shifting role of art and photography museums vis-a-vis a rapidly changing medium and an increasing institutional critique.

The panel discussion was part of the What’s Next? expert meeting, a one-day symposium on March 19 bringing together international professionals from the area of photography and many related fields, including a.o. artists like Constant Dullaart and Thomas Ruff, PixelPress director Fred Ritchin (read his contribution here), Wallpaper magazine’s editor in chief Tony Chambers and trend watcher Lidewij Edelkoort.

Attendance was by invitation only, but highlights from the meeting will be posted on this special website.

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What’s next?

For Foam Amsterdam their 10th anniversary offers an opportunity to reflect, not about the past, but about the future of photography. To do this they have asked themselves the question: ‘What’s Next?’. In short, ‘What’s Next?’ is about the future of a medium and of a society in transition.

It is about far more than ‘just’ the future of photography. It is also about the future of a society dictated by visual media, of a society in which people primarily communicate with technological tools that have been developed and made into consumer products with incredible speed.

During the course of 2011 a series of activities involving a variety of experts will address the question, ‘What’s Next?’.

Visit Foam’s ‘What’s Next?’ website.

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By Michiel — Posted March 20, 2011 — 2,477 Comments