biography & cv

Frank van der Salm (1964)
Delft, The Netherlands

After studying Photography and Audio/Visual Design at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, The Netherlands (1992), his main focus has been the Urban Landscape in it’s broadest sense. Over the years early influences of the New Topographics have evolved into a diverse oeuvre about the control of landscape, lack of space, infrastructural issues and the pressure on time and space in contemporary metropolises, reflecting our ways of communication and it’s speed.

Now that the world has developed from separate cities with local activities to one world of (re)-presentation, that is photography, video, film, internet, games, news and entertainment, reality exists in the images that represent it. Focussing on the specific vs. the ordinary and the original vs. the copy, his work elaborates on this medium's dualistic position. Lately, attention has shifted to the new centers of economic power, resulting in projects next to but including the United States and Asia over the last couple of years. He's also working with architects like OMA/Rem Koolhaas, Herzog & de Meuron and MVRDV and on infrastructural and cultural projects like the Atelier HSL. Working with professionals in other media has influenced increasing diversity in approaching the contemporary environment. Thus, 'The City' is created with an 'imaginery status' of reality, where 'real' images are remporary. This 'real' is part of Sim-City: a micro-cosmos of urban existence. The city and it's images are real and unreal at the same time. 

His photoworks and videos are published widely and have been exhibitied in galleries and museums around the world, among which the Biennale of Venice, Italy (2001), Haunch of Venison, Zürich, CH (2005), Akinci Gallery, Amsterdam, NL (2009), and the Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam, NL. These works of art are collected around the world. 

For more detailed information on activities, download CV as PDF.