SOLO

“A City of Dreams - A Dutch Master reimagines the Metropolis - in pictures”

The Guardian

NOWHERE – Imagining The Global City focuses on the past 25 years work of Dutch artist/photographer Frank van der Salm and consists of a large-scale exhibition featuring a video wall (powered by Artificial Intelligence), a collection presentation, a public program and a book. Paradox (project initiator), Nederlands Fotomuseum (partner and venue) and Frank van der Salm (author) are collaborating with the University of Amsterdam, RNDR – design studio for interactive media, architect Winy Maas, composer Henry Vega, graphic designer Irma Boom and Hartmann Books (co-publisher).

Concept
We are currently living in a media society in which the image is omnipresent: experiences are guided by images we have seen before in the (social) media. In architecture this is taken a step further: buildings are increasingly designed (or cloned) with the eventual resulting image in mind. The traditional relationship between (physical) original and (digital) copy is reversed.

Exhibition
The exhibitionspace at the Nederlands Fotomuseum has been divided in half by a 18x3m wall. The front is an ‘open urban space’, on a long facade an AI-driven montage of the work will be projected. Behind the wall, physical works are on display. This second part is an extreme contrast to the urban environment and dynamic projection; ultimate white cubes with a restricted selection of physical works.

Artificial Intelligence & Video Wall
In his PhD research at the University of Amsterdam, Gjorgji Strezoski (MK) studies the interpretative capacities of artificial intelligence. He co-developed a model fed with Van der Salm’s complete oeuvre and concepts that were relevant to him; they were all attributed with a high or low value. Based on subjective concepts like 24/7, environment or alienation and the values attributed to them, the computer indicates objective relationships between the images. Total images, crops, and details from Van der Salm’s work will be combined in a projection with a visual translation of the data, to make visible what happens inside the computer.

Data Visualisation & Sound Design
The visualization of verbal concepts, the images, the values they represent and the underlying machine language was translated into a monumental 18x3m projection by RNDR – design studio for interactive media. The accompanying sound design was produced by composer Henry Vega (US).

Monograph