NOWHERE – Imagining the Global City

  • NOWHERE – Imagining the Global City The central theme of Frank van der Salm's work is urban development as an...

    NOWHERE – Imagining the Global City

     

    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 centrally placed, 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 analysis of 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.

     

    Text /Frank van der Salm

  • ARTIST: Frank van der Salm Frank van der Salm (b. 1964) is a Dutch artist and photographer whose work critically...

    ARTIST: Frank van der Salm

     

    Frank van der Salm (b. 1964) is a Dutch artist and photographer whose work critically explores the visual language of global cities and the technologies that mediate our understanding of urban space. Educated at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, where he studied Photography and Audio/Visual Design, Van der Salm has built a practice rooted in interrogating the systems—both visual and infrastructural—that shape the contemporary metropolis.
     
    At the core of Van der Salm’s work lies a fascination with the evolving identity of cities in an age of rapid urbanization and digital mediation. His large-format photographs, often devoid of human presence, investigate the layered complexity of constructed environments across Europe, Asia, and the Gulf region. These images confront viewers with abstracted views of architectural repetition, infrastructural growth, and spatial fragmentation—inviting questions about authenticity, authorship, and the role of image-making in shaping public consciousness.
     
    Rather than documenting cities in a conventional sense, Van der Salm challenges photographic conventions to expose the ideological and technological frameworks that underpin the built environment. His work reveals how global urban centers are designed, perceived, and replicated—offering a critical reflection on themes such as surveillance, simulation, and digital control. This interest in the intersection of image and infrastructure is further enriched by collaborations with leading architecture studios including OMA/Rem Koolhaas, Herzog & de Meuron, and MVRDV.
     
    Van der Salm’s photographs have been exhibited internationally at venues such as the Venice Biennale, the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, Haunch of Venison Zurich and the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam, and are held in numerous public and private collections.
    His recent exhibition and monograph, NOWHERE – Imagining the Global City, provides a 30-year retrospective that underscores his ongoing inquiry into how cities are imagined and visualized in the 21st century. NOWHERE shows how Van der Salm continues to question the visual codes of urban representation, offering a sophisticated commentary on space, perception, and modernity.
  • CURATOR: Bas Vroege Bas Vroege (b. 1958) is a Dutch curator and producer renowned for his contributions to contemporary photography...

    CURATOR: Bas Vroege

     
    Bas Vroege (b. 1958) is a Dutch curator and producer renowned for his contributions to contemporary photography and visual storytelling. He studied economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam and photography at the Academie St. Joost in Breda.
     
    Vroege is the founder and director of Paradox, a platform based in Edam, the Netherlands, dedicated to producing projects that explore the intersection of photography, documentary film, and digital media. Under his leadership, Paradox has initiated numerous international collaborations that challenge traditional narratives and engage with pressing social and political issues.
     
    His production credits include acclaimed books, exhibitions, international festivals, short documentaries and web-based narratives, which have been recognized for their innovative approaches to storytelling.
     
    In academia, Vroege imparted his expertise as a lecturer in curatorial practice at the Master's programme in Film and Photographic Studies at Leiden University, influencing a new generation of visual artists and curators.
     
    Vroege's work often interrogates the evolving nature of photographic truth in the digital age, emphasizing the need for transparency and critical engagement in media consumption. His contributions continue to shape the discourse around the role of imagery in contemporary society.

  • Frank van der Salm, Link, 2004 ©Frank van der Salm

  • Frank van der Salm, Mirage, 2006 ©Frank van der Salm

  • Frank van der Salm, Bouquet, 2008 ©Frank van der Salm

  • Frank van der Salm, The Next Level, 2016 ©Frank van der Salm

  • Frank van der Salm, Signal, 2019 ©Frank van der Salm

  • Frank van der Salm, Gaza 00.49.83, 2025 ©Frank van der Salm

  • Frank van der Salm, True/False, 2025 ©Frank van der Salm