Dana Lixenberg: Set Amsterdam

In 2009 photographer Dana Lixenberg was commissioned to take portraits of the lead actors from the Dutch television series A’dam – E.V.A.. Intrigued by the locations that the production company used for the drama—including the Hotel The Globe, De Witte Koets bridal shop, and Tattoo Peter, the oldest tattoo shop in the Netherlands—she subsequently recaptured them unpopulated. The resulting series of haunting landscapes and interiors, titled Set Amsterdam and previewed here today, reflects her observation that the very absence of life only serves to highlight its presence. “I think about the transience of things and what you leave behind,” explains Lixenberg. “What I’ve tried to do is study the space and lift something that captures the essence of it—a mood, a moment or an emotion.” Based in New York, Lixenberg has shot for publications including The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker, as well as exhibiting internationally. Her books Jeffersonville, Indiana and Last Days of Shishmaref were both awarded the Best Dutch Book Design award in their respective years of publication. Set Amsterdam will simultaneously open at Foam in Amsterdam and be released by Roma Publications on 25 March.