Shining in Absence
A homage to Frido Troost
3 – 12 April 2015

Foam presents a short-term exhibition on the publication of the photobook Shining in Absence. It is a special honour to the photography historian Frido Troost (1960 – 2013), who passed away in 2013. Both the book and the exhibition are edited and designed by the advertising specialist and curator Erik Kessels. The book is published by AMC Books (London) and will be presented on Thursday April 2, 2015 during the opening of the exhibition.

‘I wish you many happy returns of this day. July, 18, 1951,’ is written on top of the page in this photo album. But the image to which the caption refers is torn apart, only glue residues are visible. Graceful, careful captions are sometimes accompanied by lines made with a ruler. A plastic folder affected by time and moisture, once used to protect the photograph, now only shows a vague imprint of what appears as 4 sisters. The care with which the photos were once glued and archived, stands in contrast to the way in which they disappeared.

Frido Troost and Erik Kessels connected through their common fascination for vernacular photography: photography of the everyday, often made by amateurs or unknown photographers. Troost was, besides a photography historian and professor, a co-owner of the ICM (Institute for Concrete Matter): an antique photography store in the Dutch city of Harlem, where photo albums and photo collections were collected and sold. After he passed away, the whole collection of the ICM was bought by the AMC (Archive of Modern Conflict), a comparable institute in London.
It would be impossible to capture the diversity of Troost’s knowledge and interests in just one book. That’s why Kessels decided to focus on something else, namely that which is no longer there. Shining in Absence is a photography exhibition without photography, and a photobook without photos. Because of the absence of the obvious, Shining in Absence forces you to search for meaning. This surprising selection of the apparently empty pages of Troost’s collection, provides us with endless possibilities for interpretation.
The exhibition is a spatial elaboration of the book. This means that for the first time, there will be an exhibition in Foam without a single photo. This way, Kessels typically reflects on the values and meanings of photography and its conservation. It is an homage to the non-professional photographer. Indeed, Frido Troost expressly chose to focus on everyday photography, and approached this with great fascination and interest.

The past years, Foam and Erik Kessels have collaborated on several occasions. Together with the museum, Kessels made the opening exhibition Dutch Delight in 2001. More recently, in 2011, the exhibition 24 hrs of photos was on show at Foam. And in 2012, Foam presented the exhibition Album Beauty about Kessels’ collection of photo albums. Erik Kessels is the co-founder of KesselsKramer, an independent and international office for communication, based in Amsterdam and London.

The photobook Shining in Absence is edited and designed by Erik Kessels from the collection of Frido Troost, Institute for Concrete Matter, with thanks to the Archive of Modern Conflict.