The central theme of Frank van der Salm’s work is urban development as an expression of our time. Over the last 30 years, the Rotterdam based Dutch photographer has travelled the world -China, Southeast Asia in particular - focusing on urban landscape in its broadest sense. He photographs what he sees, simulating nothing. It is the way he frames his shots and experiments with colour, light, scale and depth of field that make his photos so irresistible. The result is an oeuvre in which imagination triumphs over reality.
Aestheticism plays a major role in the work of Frank van der Salm. It is the means by which he criticizes the urban world we now inhabit. He shows that urban architecture is increasingly interchangeable. Whether and how buildings are put up seems to be determined by the visual images that can be made of them. Instagrammability is the criterion.
Identifying and defining critical meaning within an oeuvre has traditionally been the job of the curator. In this exhibition, curator Bas Vroege shares that role with other players of our time: computer learning and artificial intelligence (AI). Computers use AI to identify patterns in raw data and take autonomous decisions based on them.
The AI-driven projection, featuring most of Frank van der Salm’s photographs, is overwhelming and dynamic. It explores and substantiates the links between the images, based on their underlying meanings. The images themselves are immaterial.
The videowall serves as an introduction to the exhibition dedicated to the ‘authentic’, physical works, of specific size and appearance. Profusion is replaced by austerity and concentration. Here, Frank van der Salm’s aesthetic acts as a vehicle for his critical attitude towards the built environment and our perception of ‘the real’ that the projection has opened up for us.