The FotoMuseum Netherlands, hence forth known as FotoM, is dedicated to all things photographic. On the first floor is an intricately pieced together exhibit aptly titled The Darkroom, which covers the history of photography as it related to mostly the Netherlands. Upon entering the exhibit, you pick up a 16x20 inch white board from bins marked English & Dutch...obviously you're choosing which language you want to interact with. Spread across the installation are around 20 stands with what-at-first-glance appear to be empty darkroom chemical trays. Slide your handy-dandy blank board into the tray face up and a projection of water sloshing back and forth morphs into a short film on any number of topics covered...in the language you chose your board to be. Well done FotoM! You can learn all about the humble beginnings of photography in Holland, the history of the technology involved, movements in the photographic arts, and specific photographers. It's a great exhibit and accomplished in quite the inventive and interactive way.
Also on exhibit is Christian Boltanski's Chance, which wasn't exactly working at the time due to a technical difficulty of some sort. You can see a short video that I got while they worked on it below to get a drift of how it works. Also, there's a few photos to pique your interest. See more about the exhibit HERE and more about Boltanski HERE.
The rest of FotoM is mostly relegated to interactive exhibits which inform the viewer through multimedia about the history of photography in Holland and contemporary practices in the country. Of particular interest to some of our group was an interactive cinema of sorts where you could choose your own video projection from a long list of works by an equally long list of artists. The crowd favorite was commonly referred to as "A Man on a Horse." It's quite humorous, trust me...you'll be engaged for minutes, 16 of them to be more precise.
Swinging cool photo from FotoM's collection
Christian Boltanski's Chance installation
Boltanski's Chance - detail
Boltanski's Chance - detail
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