Hans van der Meer

This first retrospective exhibition of the Dutch photographer Hans van der Meer will feature photographs, videos and artist's books from the period 1984 to 2008. "Quirk of Fate", Van der Meer's first book of photography, forms the starting point of the exhibition.

It presents a collection of photographs taken in Budapest between 1984 and 1986, where the artist was living at that time. This book, along with his "Werk" (Work) project at the beginning of the 1990s, reveals his central interest: the situation of the individual in socially defined spaces. As an artist and mediator, he explores our behaviour patterns and gestures of participation in public life, questioning the social function of photography in the context of contemporary image culture. This is the red thread that runs through the exhibition, in which further themes include the observation and exploration of urban space (in projects focusing on the urban development of Amsterdam) and, particularly, his films and photo series about the world of minor league football clubs – "Dutch Fields" and "European Fields" – that are probably most well-known internationally. In collaboration with Camera Austria in Graz; with the support by Mondriaan Fondation, Amsterdam.