22 to 24 September

The leading international art fair for contemporary photography, Unseen Photo Fair 2023, will once again take place in Amsterdam’s Westergas. With 72 exhibiting galleries, 10 special installations and 65 participating publishers of photography books, this 11th edition is already a hit from the start. The overarching theme, nature, results in fascinating explorations of the relationship between humans and the environment. Besides works by established international artists, the fair also shows a multitude of work by emerging talents.

Unbound

Unbound, the section dedicated to projects that explore the outer edges of the photographic universe, is curated by Unseen director Roderick van der Lee this year. The theme Suspended Matter – an ecological term for tiny particles of matter adrift in air or water – refers to feelings of powerlesness we can experience as individuals when confronted with the forces that impact our environment. Stijn Elshuis, for instance, inspired by the social unrest around the polluting Tata Steel factory, presents the installation Holy Mountain. Morvarid K shows his installation This Too Shall Pass in which he depicts the consequences of the climate crisis through forest fires. Korean artist Jaehun Park is represented with his digital work Overheated Windmill. In it, black clouds of smoke erupt from a spinning windmill, symbolising the dark consequences of our efforts to tame nature.

Unbound Outdoors

For the first time, this year, Unbound also includes a large outdoor presentation set in greenery. The internationally renowned photographer Awoiska van der Molen will show The Prelude – a series of photographic works on large sculptural glass plates – in the hidden Japanese garden behind the gas holder. The title refers to a verse by the romantic poet William Wordsworth about the great importance of nature, written during the rise of the Industrial Revolution.

Meijburg Art Commission 2023

This eleventh edition of Unseen will also see the announcement of the winner of the Meijburg Art Commission 2023. With this prestigious prize, KPMG Meijburg & Co wants to offer photography talent the chance to develop new work and show it to a large audience. The theme of the Meijburg Art Commission 2023 is ‘Environment’. The work of the nominated artists refers in its own unique way to the relationship between man and his environment. The nominees are:
Mathieu Asselin – The Ravestijn Gallery, Amsterdam
Florence Di Benedetto – Podbielski Contemporary, Milaan
Lonneke van der Palen – Galerie Fleur & Wouter, Amsterdam
Misha de Ridder – Caroline O’Breen, Amsterdam
Mohsen Yazdipour – Ag Galerie, Teheran