Hope to see you on Wednesday 25 September, when I will take part in an episode of De Donkere Kamer at C-mine Genk, together with Belgium photographer Lara Gasparotto and hosted by Kaat Celis and Nicky Aerts.

Twelve years ago, I worked in the Russian North Caucasus, to create a story about the long history of violence and the gross human rights violations. We considered the region to be the backyard of Sochi, where the Winter Olympics would soon take place. We hoped that these Games would bring some attention for this neglected region.⁠
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Western media rarely report on the ongoing civil war in the North Caucasus, not least because it is complicated for foreign journalists to work there. As a correspondent, you risk having your accreditation revoked if you plan to cover the civil war. Arnold and I are living proof. After our work in the North Caucasus, our next visa was refused⁠.⁠
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Russians knew little about what was happening in the North Caucasus. Our friends in Moscow were less informed than we were about the region, even though they believed they were very well-informed. They thought we were crazy for going to an area full of terrorists. The one-sided reporting in the Russian media (“Russia is being attacked by terrorists on its own soil”) was effective even then. Russian journalists, far braver than we are, paid with their lives for trying to expose the Russian regime’s role in fueling all the atrocities. If not killed, they were mutilated, or placed in prison.⁠
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The story we made back in 2012 can be viewed here. Looking back, I feel that our story, filled with history and misery, did not have enough impact at the time, to bring the horrific human rights abuses of the Putin regime enough into the spotlight.⁠
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As a counterpoint to all atrocities we covered, we also worked on a series about one of the most beautiful sports in the world and the region’s most popular sport: Wrestling. We visited a zillion wrestling schools filled with kids training to follow in the footsteps of their local hero, one of the greatest wrestlers of all time: Buvaisar Saitiev. This series of fifteen portraits is from the book ‘Life Here is Serious’, which is temporarily made available in my shop for 35 euros. Half of the proceeds go to Protect Ukraine, which supplies equipment to the Ukrainian army.

Please help us expanding our network! For our project The Europeans, Arnold Van Bruggen and I are seeking collaboration with photography schools in the European hinterland. This could be a school for applied photography, a regional art academy, or a vocational training institution. Funded by Erasmus+, we aim to locally create and present new work together with students. In addition to gaining work experience, we offer students a platform to learn from each other and to build an international network.

The Europeans will become the narrative photography document of Europe in the 2020s—Europe off the beaten track, outside the major centers, and beyond well-known stories. The more students, aspiring creators, and regional institutions that participate, the broader and more inclusive this historical document will become.

Since we are not focusing on well-known art academies in large (capital) cities, we have started a search for photography schools in the European regions. Do you happen to know of (or have contacts at) a photography school in a regional town in Romania, North Macedonia, Denmark, Albania, Latvia, Norway, or any other European country? Please send me a message. You can also help us by sharing this message or forwarding it to international contacts who are familiar with the education system in their native country.

Thanks for your help!

Over the course of six subsequent summery Tuesdays, The Europeans was invited to supply content for the middle pages of Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant (big thank you Volkskrant!). The decision was made to publish a series of group portraits made in six different countries. To do so, we quickly had to go to Thueringen, in order to include Germany in this series. Where we photographed groups at a medieval festival, a performance of a brass band and a shooting club. That last one made it into the newspaper. The different episodes can be viewed online.

French Réponses Magazine (#370) published a portfolio from The Europeans combined with an interview beautifully spread over ten pages last summer.

For an article in the context of the European parliamentary elections, The Europeans was invited by D Magazine - a weekly publication of the Italian newspaper la Repubblica - to provide 30 portraits of young people from different regions of Europe.

Please come and join my talk on The Europeans at Brussels Street Photography Festival. Entrance free and more information via link below.

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In early April, I conducted the two-day workshop ‘Photography - Book - Impact!’ with Rafal Milach at my studio in Utrecht. We run this workshop again during the Brussels Street Photography Festival on 30 (Rob) and 31 (Rafal) May 2024 in Brussels. In addition, I will give a lecture on Thursday evening. More information on their website.

This is how Joerg Colberg starts his superb review: “Ordinary People, the catalogue produced at the occasion of Rob Hornstra‘s mid-career retrospective at Fotomuseum Den Haag, might feature the most atypical cover photograph. It’s slightly wonky, and it has six people pose who, this much is clear, ordinarily do not assemble in this fashion.

At the right-hand side of the group, there is a boyish looking man whose body posture betrays being tall and thus having to more or less constantly accommodate to people of more regular height. That’s Rob. There is another interloper, a man with curly hair. That’s Arnold van Bruggen, a writer and Rob’s artistic partner. Together, they have been producing some of the smartest contemporary documentary photography over the past two decades.”

In the retrospective exhibition Ordinary People, Fotomuseum Den Haag offers a fresh look at the work of Dutch photographer Rob Hornstra (1975). Over the last twenty years, Hornstra has created a human portrait of his own time by photographing people in their everyday situations, with a focus on Russia and Europe. Everywhere he goes, he looks for everyday scenes, such as a butcher at his block, an official at his desk or children on the street. Ordinary People highlights the categories that underpin Hornstra’s series, an approach that has faded into the background in his previous publications and exhibitions. This exhibition explores his working method and shows how he, consciously or unconsciously, forges connections between people that extend far beyond national borders.

Please join me on Tuesday March 19, 2024 at 6 pm for a talk about our latest chapter The Black Country in the Enhance Lecture Theatre at Dudley College.

(Update: Fully booked)

By Rafal Milach & Rob Hornstra on April 8-9, 2024 in Utrecht (NL)

Are you a photographer with the ambition to publish your own photo book? Do you want to make more impact with your next photo book in the art world or beyond? Is it a mystery to you how to finance a photo book? Do you wonder how to approach a publisher or do you consciously consider to self-publish? Or you just want to better understand the industry behind the world of photo books?

Join Magnum photographer Rafał Milach and Rob Hornstra for a two-day intensive workshop focusing on sharing information and experience through presentations and conversations.

This workshop is a crash course for photographers who want to prepare for publishing their (next) photo book. In the morning, relevant topics will be covered, such as whether every work is suitable for a book, collaboration with designers and publishers, is there a formula for success and how to apply for financing a book. In brief afternoon session, you can test a book project for feasibility and chances of success.

Rafał Milach (1978) and Rob Hornstra (1975) are experienced workshop teachers. Together they have (self-)published more than 30 books in small and larger print runs and unconventional forms of publication such as free newspapers. They have accumulated a wealth of experience, not only in publishing but also in reaching an audience. More detailed information in the biographies at bottom of this page.

Monday 8 / Tuesday 9 April, 2024
From 9:30 until 17:00
Achter de Dom 22-24, Utrecht
Max. number of participants: 15
Workshop fee: €375 excl. VAT
Language: English

Coffee, tea, water and lunch during the day included and free entry to the FOTODOK Book Club in Tivoli Vredenburg on Thursday 8 April 2024 from 20:00 - 21:30.

Hope to see you at the next FOTODOK Book Talks in Tivoli Vredenburg Utrecht. The FOTODOK Book Talks is the platform for the stories behind photo books. In this live talk show, together with Giya Makondo-Wills, I interview visual storytellers, photographers, designers and publishers.

In this edition, Viviane Sassen with her retrospective work Phosphor. Through vividly coloured portraits, landscapes, still lifes and abstract compositions, Sassen explores a range of themes and topics such as identity, gender, body, race, fashion and environment. Hristina Tasheva with Far Away From Home. Born and raised in communist Bulgaria, Hristina has lived in the Netherlands for 21 years. Yet she still struggles with finding her place in society: do locals see me as a communist? Sandra Minten with her book 90 eggs and one omelette about Leen, a homeless, to drugs resident of a small community, the City Nomads. And Kristof Titeca with his research project on Nasser Road in Uganda, a mythical place known for its print trade and as a hotbed for fraud. In Nassar Road, Titeca draws attention to one of its main products: posters and calendars depicting politicians and well-known personalities as superheroes.

If you cannot attend the live talkshow in Utrecht, discounted tickets are also available for a live stream of this event.

Damian Zimmermann of the German Photonews Zeitung für Fotografie visited the exhibition Ordinary People. Afterwards, I had a talk with him in the restaurant of Fotomuseum Den Haag.

Update: This work is sold out.

This handmade, analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of Khajimurad from Dagestan is now available for only 195 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. Once the season is over or print sold out, the image is no longer reprinted. This offer runs until 31 March 2024. Prints will be shipped in April 2024.

I have been running these special offers since 2017 from the ideology of making art accessible for anyone. More than 400 unique works including numbered certificates have found their way to buyers all around the globe. After thirty editions, this is my last Season Print Offer. Producing handcrafted analogue prints is becoming increasingly time-consuming and expensive. Valuing this process is difficult to reconcile with online sales. On top of that, the number of prints that get damaged or lost during shipment increases every year. As a result, packing and shipping becomes a time-consuming military operation. In case of Season Prints, my ideology is losing out to the investment it costs.

Title: Khadjimurad, Osmanyurt, Dagestan, Russia, 2012
From the series: The Sochi Project
Original: Medium Format 6x7 negative film
Print technique: Analogue handmade C-print
Paper size: 36 x 42 cm (14.2 x 16.5 in) / Image 30 x 36 cm

Click on the link to listen to the episode where I was interviewed by host Nicky Aerts on Pompidou, Radio Klara’s cultural programme (in Dutch).

Interview conducted by AD journalist Nico Heemelaar and published in both the Haagse Courant and Tubantia. On Russia, The Europeans and Borne.

Het Financieel Dagblad magazine: “The fascinating thing about Hornstra’s photographs is that, as time passes, what we see on them becomes more and more special.”

I got to join Femke van der Laan in Hilversum in the middle of the night for an hour-long interview about the new exhibition and book Ordinary People, about previous projects and all kinds of other, more personal, backgrounds. Nooit Meer Slapen can be found in any podcast app. In Dutch.

For daily newspaper Het Parool, photographer Koos Breukel portrays leading figures from the art world At least, according to the newspaper. Thank you Koos!

In Beeld in Dutch daily newspaper NRC about Ordinary People: De aangeklede, ingeklede mens, daarom draait het in Hornstra’s overzichtswerk Ordinary People, dat Fotomuseum Den Haag tentoonstelt.

Extensive 4-page article by Mark Moorman about retrospective book and exhibition in Fotomuseum Den Haag with lots of space for photography in Dutch daily newspaper De Volkskrant.

Interview (in Dutch) on Radio 1 Villa VdB with Jurgen van den Berg: Hoe Rob Hornstra de schoonheid in het alledaagse vastlegt.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade, analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) is now available for only 175 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 31 December 2023 (or sold out). Prints will be shipped including a signed and numbered certificate of authenticity in January 2024.⁠
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Anyone passing by the former Abkhazian seaside towns of Gagra and Pitsunda cannot overlook them: Georgian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli’s extraordinarily, beautifully designed bus stops, created in his early years. In the surrounding area, everything seems fallen apart, but the bus stops based on the shape of, miraculously survived the 1992-93 war.⁠ (Tsereteli was criticised by many throughout his career, not only for his pompous and kitsch-like structures, but also for his close involvement with the Russian government to this day.)⁠

Article by Joke de Wolf in Dutch daily newspaper Trouw: ‘Ik maak gemiddeld vijf goede foto’s per jaar, dus niet alles wat hier hangt is perfect’.

My first retrospective exhibition Ordinary People opens on 8 December 2023 at 6 pm. And you are welcome! Click on the link below to view the invitation and register for the opening.

Almost a year ago, I asked writer Lynn Berger if she would be willing to write a text for my book Ordinary People. She wanted to and I was very happy about that. When she was ready, I forwarded her text to publisher Lannoo. The editor responded within an hour: “I don’t think I have ever read such a good essay on photography as Lynn Berger’s for your book. Made my day, really.” Now in De Correspondent in Dutch, English translation in the book.

Hope to see you at the next FOTODOK Book Club in Tivoli Vredenburg Utrecht. The FOTODOK Book Club is the platform for the stories behind photo books. In this live talk show, together with Giya Makondo-Wills, I interview the story makers – photographers, designers and publishers.

Sebastián Bruno will speak about his books The Dynamic and Ta-Ra. In How shall we greet the sun, Thana Faroq explores the personal stories and complex emotional lives of a small group of young female refugees living in the Netherlands, including Thana herself. Peter Pflügler takes us on an intimate journey through the labyrinth of a family secret in Now is not the right time. Finally, Tanya Habjouqa will be present by video link to talk about her book Occupied Pleasures (2012/2013).

Announcement of exhibition Ordinary People in Belgium daily newspaper De Standaard.

The Netherlands has voted and will get a far-right and ultra-conservative government. Besides consequences for climate and migration, the majority in the Netherlands has thus voted for devastating cuts to art, culture and media. Critical makers, independent journalists and free-thinkers are an indispensable necessity for a healthy democracy. Now that our future government deliberately wants to marginalise these democratic values, in the coming years more than ever a responsibility lies with the well-thinking part of wealthy people to protect our democracy. The survival of The Europeans, the independent narrative photo project about the tumultuous 1920s, depends largely on private donors who value autonomy for critical writers and artists. If you are considering supporting our project, please sign up for our meeting on Friday 8 December at 4pm.

For Museum magazine, MuseumTV went with me to AAP Lab to interview and film the proces of analogue printing in preparation for the upcoming retrospective exhibition. In Dutch without subtitles.

This is a story about the Black Country… Its history is grand and proud. It is where the foundations of the industrial present were laid. Socialism, social democracy and climate change were all born here. But today, the Black Country has been relegated to the margins of world history. Between the shops of migrants from all over the world, empty buildings and theatres stand like black holes in decaying gums. As locals moved away, migrants saw opportunities for new beginnings. The Black Country has become a haven for people fleeing big cities and war-torn countries.

Softcover 170 x 213 mm
Language: English / Punjabi
Print run: 1,000 copies
Retail price: € 14.50

This is the fourth and last consecutive exhibition by The Europeans in the former H&M fashion store in the Kroonpassage in Den Helder, now Kunsthal45. The texts in the exhibition have been translated into Dutch. The bilingual English-Basque publication is also being sold along within the exhibition.

‘Our Ancestral Home’ is the story of a stunningly beautiful region of Europe where the locals cherish their traditions, speak a mysterious language and pass down the picturesque houses and farms from generation to generation. That’s how it has always been. But tourists and wealthy urbanites have now discovered the region, and the original inhabitants are succumbing to the lure of the exorbitant amounts that outsiders are willing to pay for a rural retreat. “We have sold our country,” activists lament. But who can resist the laws of capitalism?

The exhibition is on display until Dec. 17.

This year, I celebrate my 20th anniversary as a photographer. A great moment to take a fresh look at my work over the past 20 years. I am doing so together with a retrospective exhibition at Fotomuseum Den Haag, starting from 9 December 2023, and a 320-page retrospective book, published by Lannoo. As the book has become a pretty ambitious project, designed by Kummer & Herrman and collaborating with writers like Lynn Berger and Merel Bem, I have started the pre-sale of a numbered Special Edition, in order to make all plans financially feasible.

My upcoming book Ordinary People will be consisting of around 160 photographs from the various series I have worked on over the past 20 years. My categorical working methodology is the starting point in the image selection, ranging from previously published images to unknown work. Fish processors from Iceland and Den Helder find each other, and civil servants from Russia and France match brotherly next to each other. General information including sample pages of the trade edition of Ordinary People can be found via link below, shipping of the book starts in December 2023.

This is the third consecutive exhibition by The Europeans in the former H&M fashion store in the Kroonpassage in Den Helder, now Kunsthal45. The texts in the exhibition have been translated into Dutch. The bilingual English-Basque publication is also being sold along within the exhibition.

‘Our Ancestral Home’ is the story of a stunningly beautiful region of Europe where the locals cherish their traditions, speak a mysterious language and pass down the picturesque houses and farms from generation to generation. That’s how it has always been. But tourists and wealthy urbanites have now discovered the region, and the original inhabitants are succumbing to the lure of the exorbitant amounts that outsiders are willing to pay for a rural retreat. “We have sold our country,” activists lament. But who can resist the laws of capitalism?

The exhibition is on display until Aug. 6. Then we will convert to our fourth chapter, The Black Country, which opens October 22, 2023.

Since 2020, I have been working with writer Arnold van Bruggen and designers Kummer & Herrman on The Europeans 2020 - 2030. Our latest story, entitled The Black Country, will be sent to the printer this week. Pre-order your copy now for only €14.50 or buy one of the hardcover editions including print and thus contribute to the continuation of our project.

This chapter is a story about the Black Country. Its history is grand and proud. This is where the foundations were laid for the industrial present. Socialism, social democracy and climate change were all born here. But today, the Black Country has been pushed to the margins of world history. Between the shops owned by migrants from around the world, empty buildings and theatres gape like black holes in rotting teeth. When everyone else moves away, migrants see opportunities for a new beginning. The Black Country has become a haven for those fleeing big cities and countries at war.

If you order the numbered hardcover edition (1-120) including fine art print of our latest @theeuropeans.fm publication The Black Country before Sunday AUGUST 27, your name will be mentioned in the back as a big thank you.
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Since the first publication within The Europeans 2020 - 2030, we offer the possibility to adopt a region for 120 euros. If you do so before the printing deadline (27 AUG 2023), we will include your name in the colophon of the Special Edition. Afterwards, this unique hardcover edition in a print-run of 120 copies plus print in the same size will remain available as long as stocks last.⁠
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The Europeans is a ten-year quest to find the contemporary European at a time when Europe is struggling. Growing nationalism and populism are reviving old ghosts. For the first time in many years, a territorial war between nations is costing lives and threatening European security. Authoritarian regimes are on the rise and the political dream of a united and peaceful Europe is proving increasingly fragile.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of Olya in the reception hall of Dom Kultury Druzhba is now available for only 175 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 30 September 2023 (or sold out). Prints will be shipped in October 2023.

For my project 101 Billionaires, published in 2008, I regularly visited Cement Town, a small suburb of the Siberian industrial city Angarsk. Including the dilapidated cultural center built in 1976, that once must have been the sparkling meeting point for families working at the cement factory. The old lady at the cloakroom does not allow me to take her portrait. “You better leave and do not come back here after sunset. Next morning, the floor will be littered with needles and blood.”

This is the second consecutive exhibition by The Europeans in the former H&M fashion store in the Kroonpassage in Den Helder. On this occasion we are showing work that has its origins in this city: De Marinebasis / The Naval Base.

In 2021 we stayed for three months in Het Pompgemaal, a beautiful artist-in-residence in the dunes on the outskirts of Den Helder hosted by the Mondriaan Foundation. To conclude our working period, we presented this same work there in October 2021. When Peter Kramer of Housing Corporation Den Helder saw our work, he thought it would be a good idea to present it again, but this time in the heart of Den Helder: De Kroonpassage. The exhibition is on display until Aug. 6. Then we will convert to our third chapter, Our Ancestral Home, which opens Aug. 20.

On Sunday, July 9, at 3 p.m., my colleague Arnold van Bruggen will talk about the motivation and methods of The Europeans.

Two years ago I worked with writer Arnold van Bruggen in Den Helder on The Naval Base, a chapter within our multi-year project The Europeans. One of our goals specifically linked to that place was to portray local club life. This is how we first came across the nearly 100-year-old Sea Swim Club Marsdiep. Beautiful characters, mainly consisting of people in their sixties and seventies, even rising up to 93 years old. Every day they dive into the sea. We visited them once during their daily morning dive. ⁠
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This weekend 10 pages in Volkskrant Magazine. Thanks to all the wonderful swimmers of Swim Club Marsdiep.⁠

Recently, I have been working with writer Arnold Van Bruggen to complete The Black Country, a new chapter within our multi-year project The Europeans. The original idea was that The Black Country - after The Former Capital - would be the second chapter within The Europeans and would be published in 2020. That turned out differently.

Due to corona, we had limited opportunities to travel for a while and decided to make the chapter The Naval Base in our own country first. Then, in 2022, we got a great opportunity to work in the French Basque Country, leading to Our Ancestral Home. After three completed chapters, it is now finally the turn to The Black Country. The work is done, the concept is set, photos have been selected and texts written. At the end of September, The Europeans’ new publication will finally be released.

Since The Europeans’ first chapter The Former Capital, interested people are welcomed to adopt a region for 120 euros. As a thank you, these contributors receive a numbered hardcover edition with print. More importantly, this group helps us to make it possible for the regular paperback edition to be offered locally at the lowest possible price. So far, we have managed to offer the publication at local presentations for €9.50. And it works! People who don’t buy expensive photo books do buy our publications. And that’s what we are aiming for.

We recently received the latest quote from the printer for production of the paperback and numbered hardcover editions of The Black Country. The cost price for the regular paperback edition has increased by 35% in three years, for the hardcover even slightly more. Our economic model around these publications has thus become unsustainable. We need to raise the price (against our ideology), downsize the publications (rather not) or come up with another solution. Who knows may speak up.

In case you have not yet adopted The Black Country, you might want to consider doing so. This will allow us to accommodate some of the extra costs involved in the upcoming publication. Also, it is the last chance to order a numbered hardcover edition with print from us at this price. Click on the link for more information on our adopt-a-region donation system.

Together with writer Arnold van Bruggen and designers Kummer & Herrman we converted parts of a former H&M store in Den Helder into an exhibition space as part of our project The Europeans.⁠ Prior to our first exhibition (we plan to do four in a row), we removed some wobbly walls blocking off windows and doors and converted the clothing displays into exhibition walls. In the storefront windows of the former H&M, we have a permanent advertisement of the different exhibitions, with some framed pictures changing every other time.⁠
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Our first exhibition The Former Capital is on view from April 21 until June 11. Subsequently, The Naval Base opens on 25 June, followed by Our Ancestral Home from 20 August and concluding with The Black Country from 22 October until the end of the year. Please come and visit the former H&M fashion store in Kroonpassage Den Helder.

This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) is now available for only 175 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 30 June 2023 (or sold out). Prints will be shipped with a signed and numbered certificate of authenticity in July 2023.

In 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space. By achieving this major milestone in the Space Race he became an international celebrity, and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union. Gagarin became one of the most popular and best loved public figures in the Soviet Union. His effigy reached into every corner of the Soviet Union, even at the bus stop along the access road to the small mountain village of Kutisha in Dagestan, a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus.

Title: Gagarin Tribute, Kutisha, Dagestan, Russia, 2012
From the series: The Sochi Project
Original: Medium Format 6x7 negative film
Print technique: Analogue handmade C-print
Paper size: 36 x 42 cm (14.2 x 16.5 in) / Image 30 x 36 cm

The next edition of the FOTODOK Book Talks, which I curate and co-host together with Giya Makondo-Wills, will take place on 6 April 2023 from 8 - 9:30 pm at TivoliVredenburg Utrecht. Vanessa Winship will talk about Snow (Dead Beat Club, 2022), Karine Versluis about her new book Debaltsevo, Where Are You? (The Eriskay Connection, 2023) and Mashid Mohadjerin about Freedom is Not Free (Royal Academy Fine Arts, Antwerp, 2021). You can order single tickets via this link. Students can get a discount by using the code FOTOSTUDENT23 at checkout. Also group discounts are possible. Please contact FOTODOK for that.

At the invitation of Helder Vastgoed and in collaboration with our designers Kummer & Herrman, we are currently preparing to exhibit four consecutive chapters of The Europeans in a former H&M clothing shop in de Kroonpassage in Den Helder. The first exhibition will be The Former Capital and launch on 21 April 2023. As a teaser towards the start of this series of exhibitions, we have decorated 20 metres of shop windows.

This presentation in Den Helder fits seamlessly with The Europeans’ ambition to present work in both art institutions and alternative venues to engage with a broad audience. To further expand our project, we are looking for a producer/fundraiser who can join us in taking The Europeans to the next level. If you think you are that person, please send a message. Proficiency in the Dutch language is a must. In a month’s time, Arnold and I will leave for The Black Country to finish our next chapter. If you value our project, please consider making a donation by adopting this region.

The Europeans 2020 - 2030 is a project by writer and filmmaker Arnold van Bruggen and me to document Europe in an era of drastic change. Click below for more information.

Since the launch of the first chapter within The Europeans in 2020, we have been recreating our regional exhibitions online in 2D or 3D on the free access platform artsteps.com. Although initially born out of necessity - that initial exhibition remained closed due to corona - we valued the fact that in this way local exhibitions can be visited by everyone. Anywhere in the world and open 24 hours a day. The platform is quite limited in possibilities, and our designers Kummer & Herrman use all their creative tricks to make it look as genuine as possible. That was also the case with our latest exhibition at Station V, a gallery situated in a former petrol station on a busy roundabout in Bayonne. Due to all the commotion that surrounded the opening, we completely ignored to highlight the online version at the time. But here it is. We aim to run our own online The Europeans museum by 2030, with twenty different rooms in which former region presentations can be visited.

During Art Rotterdam, Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen will present two never-before-seen works from The Sochi Project: A beach landscape from 2011 (108 x 133 cm) and a World War II veteran from 2009 (50 x 60 cm). Both works are limited edition analog c-prints from large-format negative. PS: My works may not yet be visible on the Art Rotterdam website because they were only available in analogue form and only very recently were digitalized:)

Yes we did it again! Together with co-host Giya Makondo-Wills and FOTODOK, we have managed to put together a wonderful program for the upcoming FOTODOK Book Talks in TivoliVredenburg Utrecht. Renowned Magnum photographer Susan Meiselas will talk about her Carnival Strippers (Steidl, 2022), first published in 1976 and now in its third printing already sold out! Very possibly we still might have a remaining copy for sale. Zahra Reijs will talk about her first photo book Dear Future (self-published, 2023), full of colorful portraits of Generation Z and Belgian photographer Vincen Beeckman will talk about La Devinière (delpire & co, 2022), a book he made together with residents of a psychotherapy center. Our new booksellers De Utrechtse Boekenbar will come and talk about their favorite photobooks and we are proud to launch the latest edition of the amazing Trigger Magazine. And all in just an hour and a half on Thursday, Feb. 9, from 8-9:30 pm. Get your tickets now!

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of 92-year old Nikoloz Charashvili at Vake Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, is now available for only 175 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 31 March 2023 (or sold out). Prints will be shipped with a signed and numbered certificate of authenticity in April 2023.

Title: Nikoloz Charashvili, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2013
From the series: The Sochi Project
Original: Large Format 4x5” negative film
Print technique: Analogue handmade C-print
Paper size: 36 x 42 cm (14.2 x 16.5 in) / Image 30 x 36 cm

Hope to see you at the next FOTODOK Book Talks with our new co-host in Tivoli Vredenburg Utrecht. Our guests and books on Wednesday December 8, 2022, starting at 8 pm, are Youqine Lefèvre with The Land of Promises, Laia Abril with On Rape, Friso Keuris with TiTo, we talk with the new Dutch ‘Fotograaf des Vaderlands’ Marwan Magroun about his favourite photo books and much more in just an hour and a half!

I feel incredibly honored that The Unknown - Russia 2003 has been included by de Volkskrant in the selection of ten best Dutch photobooks of 2022.

De Volkskrant: “Nothing is intact in the photographs taken by a young Rob Hornstra in 2003 in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, in the southern Urals. Hornstra, now 47 and awarded documentary photographer, was there for his graduation project from the Utrecht Art Academy. He had been advised to portray as many people as possible during his trip. […] The flash-lit portraits show every detail, every scar, but also the refinement, grace, authenticity and beauty of the Russians met by Hornstra. With him, we wonder: what has happened to them, twenty years later?”

In Nederland kan je momenteel bij deze boekhandels/museumshops een exemplaar van The Unknown - Russia 2003 aanschaffen:

• Amsterdam, FOAM
• Amsterdam, Huis Marseille
• Den Haag, Kunstmuseum Den Haag
• Rotterdam, Nederlands Fotomuseum
• Utrecht, Centraal Museum
• Utrecht, De Utrechtse Boekenbar

How do you create freedom to follow your passion and be able to invest your time in doing what you love: Creating your own independent visual stories?

Are you a photographer/storyteller working on long-term projects with the ambition to publish or exhibit and thus reach an audience? Are you wondering how to generate attention for your photography project among all the other amazing projects? Do you struggle with funding your projects? Or you hardly find time to work on your own project because the majority of your energy goes to earning a living?

Join Laia Abril and Rob Hornstra for a two-day intensive workshop, focusing on sharing information and experience through presentations and conversations. The aim of the workshop is to sharpen your career path and prepare your work for publication or presentation with the potential to stand out from other projects. A larger objective is to help you in creating more independence and become liberated photographers/storytellers, ready to begin sharing your stories with the world.

Thursday 8 / Friday 9 December, 2022
From 9:30 until 17:00
Achter de Dom 22-24, Utrecht
Max. number of participants: 18
Workshop fee: €275 excl. VAT
Early bird discount until Nov 10: €50
Language: English

The pre-sale of The Unknown - Russia 2003 is a massive success. My gratitude goes out to the large number of people who pre-ordered the book. From the second half of November, The Unknown will be available for €68 in many bookstores in the Netherlands and abroad. If you have NOT yet ordered at the discounted price of €58, this is your last chance. If you plan to pick up your copy at Kominek’s booth during Paris Photo, you can avoid shipping costs by using the discount code PICKUPPARIS at checkout. Please join me over a drink at the informal launch of my new book The Unknown - Russia 2003 at Kominek’s booth at Polycopies Paris on Thursday, November 10, at 7 pm.

Thursday 10 Nov, 7 pm.
Polycopies Paris
Bateau Concorde-Atlantique
Booth Kominek Books

If you want to escape the madness of the Paris Photo VIP opening on Wednesday 9 November, you are welcome for an informal presentation of The Europeans at the legendary Paris bookstore delpire & co starting at 6pm. Among other things, I will be in conversation with François Hébel, director of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation. The photographer Henri Cartier Bresson published his book Les Européens in 1955. He looked beyond nationalism or local customs in the individual countries. He sought evidence for a greater identity, a European parable shared by the people and the landscape. Together with writer Arnold van Bruggen, we share this ambition and believe it’s time to come up with a new version of The Europeans.

Wednesday 9 Nov, 6 pm.
Delpire & co
13 rue de l’Abbaye 75006 Paris
Free entry

On Thursday 10 November, I will be interviewed as part of the Paris Photo programme Artist Talks by The Eyes by author and independent curator Marc Feustel, amongst others about The Europeans and, in particular, our French-Basque chapter within The Europeans: Notre Maison Ancestrale.

Thursday 10 Nov, 4 pm.
Grand Palais Ephémère, Paris
The artist talks by The Eyes Space

Today marks the presale of my new book The Unknown - Russia 2003. Pre-sales are an indispensable part of financing my books. As a thank you for your trust, your name will be mentioned in the book. Additionally, the first hundred buyers will receive a numbered and signed copy [Update 02.10.2022: Numbered copies sold out].

The Unknown presents previously unseen portraits taken in 2003 as part of my graduation project. I travelled through the Russian province of Chelyabinsk to do something about the first generation of Russians growing up after the collapse of communism. One month later I came home with 1,148 medium- and large-format negatives. The majority of these are portraits of people I met during my wanderings through the provincial capital and surrounding villages.

For my book Communism & Cowgirls (2004), I mainly selected personal images that I took in people’s homes. The chance encounters on the street remained untouched in my negative folders for years.

Two decades later, I look back at those encounters with amazement. How are these people faring in today’s Russia, which has changed so dramatically since we met? The liberty that I, as a foreign photographer, had to capture random people on the street has disappeared. The developments that have taken place since my first trip to Russia give those encounters in 2003 a certain poignancy. The former Iron Curtain is being redrawn. Russia has never felt so far away.

The Unknown will be launched during Paris Photo 2022. If you pick up your copy at Kominek Books during Paris Photo, you can avoid shipping costs by using the discount code PICKUPPARIS at checkout.

Hope to see you at the next FOTODOK Book Club that I am presenting together with Sterre Sprengers in Tivoli Vredenburg Utrecht. Our guests and books on Wednesday October 12, 2022 are Prins de Vos with Boys do Cry, Valentina Piccinni and Jean-Marc Caimi with Fastidiosa, Ed Kashi with Abandoned moments, a love letter to photography and Gabriella Angotti-Jones with I Just Wanna Surf.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of six-year old Kamila at school in the North Caucasian republic of Dagestan is now available for only 175 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 31 December 2022 (or sold out). Prints will be shipped in January 2023.

PS: The Summer Print 2022 is still available until 1 October 2022. Please click on the link.

Initiated by Chiara Capodici of the Italian Leporello Books, I will present The Europeans on Friday 30 September at 8 p.m. during Fruit Independent Art Book Fair in Bologna. More information via the link.

Last summer, writer Arnold van Bruggen and I presented our latest chapter within The Europeans in the place where the work was created: The French Basque Country. After selling out the accompanying English-French publication Our Ancestral Home, we have just started shipping the brand new English-Basque edition (with new cover!). The print run is limited to 500 copies.

Our Ancestral Home / Notre Maison Ancestrale is from July 13, until August 20, 2022 on display at Station V, a former petrol station located on a very noisy roundabout in Bayonne in the French Basque country. Especially the free newspaper Money Always Wins, which is presented on an outside wall yet also free to take home, catches the eye of random passers-by. We received a lot of feedback on our stories from locals regarding the most divergent topics, something that we deliberately look for in order to incorporate into the future of this project.

Join us for a small gathering around the launch of Our Ancestral Home / Notre Maison Ancestrale and the free newspaper Money Always Wins / L’Argent Gagne Toujours at the magnificent leboudoir2dot0, rue La Fontaine 2bis Arles in partnership with Leporello Books. Depending on audience and the needs, I might speak about inspirations behind The Europeans. There will be a tote bag lottery and free newspapers for everone.

Now that our stock of the French-English edition has run out, we make use of the opportunity to reprint Our Ancestral Home. And to fulfil an additional wish: to make a Basque-English edition. Besides the change of language and the cover photo, the book will be exactly the same as the French-English edition. You can already pre-order, we expect to ship by the end of August.

In the run-up to the exhibition at Station V in Bayonne, MediaBask introduced our project to a broad local audience. Starting next week, this newspaper will publish a full-page portrait of our new work prominently in the paper every month. Very happy with this collaboration!

In addition to the publication Our Ancestral Home, we have produced a 16-page newspaper that highlights the current difficulties on the housing market. The newspaper is not for sale. It will be distributed for free during the opening week of Rencontres d’Arles and also during the exhibition at Station V in Bayonne. More information about these events at the bottom of this newsletter.

Oh … and if you are going Arles and would like to help distribute the newspaper, please let me know. I could still use some more hands.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of a residential block in Sukhum, Abkhazia is now available for only 169 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 30 September 2022 (or sold out). Prints will be shipped in October 2022.

In early spring, a low-hanging sun casts its evening light on residential blocks in the centre of Sukhum, the capital of Abkhazia. In the distance, snowy peaks of Caucasus foothills can be seen. This tiny subtropical country on the Black Sea was once the Riviera of the Soviet Union. Sanatoriums and hotels stood shoulder to shoulder, like palaces for the proletariat. Stalin had no less than two dachas there…

Looking for Our Ancestral Home / Notre Maison Ancestrale? Please buy your copy at one of the following bookstores:

Foam, Amsterdam, NL
Huis Marseille, Amsterdam, NL
FoMu, Antwerp, BE
Kominek, Berlin, DE
Fotomuseum, Den Haag, NL
Café Lehmitz, Koln, DE
Setanta Books, London, UK
Micamera, Milan, IT
Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, BE
Photo Book Corner, Lisbon, PT
Photobookstore.co.uk, Online, UK
Photobookstore.nl, Online, NL
Photoeye, Online, US
La Nouvelle Chambre Claire, Paris, FR
Picto la Comète, Paris, FR
Leporello Books, Rome, IT
Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, NL
De Utrechtse Boekenbar, Utrecht, NL
Anzenberger, Vienna, AT

Café Lehmitz and Leporello sell copies during the opening week of Rencontres d’Arles

Today the first books Our Ancestrale Home / Notre Maison Ancestrale were sent to people who bought a copy in pre-sale. The official launch of this new chapter within our multiyear project The Europeans will take place on Wednesday, July 13 at 6 pm at Station V in Bayonne. Want a sneak peak? Order now online or buy this brand new publication during Les Rencontres d’Arles at the following bookstores: Café Lehmitz at Fondation Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, Leporello Books at Le Boudoir 2.0 and KABK at the Capitole and collège Saint-Charles.

By purchasing a work in edition from The Europeans, you are supporting our project in a very essential way. This work from The Naval Base, our previous chapter within The Europeans, is offered at a discounted price until 1 August 2022. From each chapter within The Europeans, two defining works are chosen and offered at a 20% discount for a period of three months. The framed works measure 42 x 51 cm (16 1/2 x 20 inch) in an edition of 7 copies.

The Europeans 2020-2030, the project I am working on together with writer Arnold van Bruggen, is starting to get up to speed. Six months after launching The Naval Base, we hereby announce our next chapter Our Ancestral Home.

Our Ancestral Home is the story of a stunningly beautiful region of Europe where the locals cherish their traditions, speak a mysterious language and pass down the picturesque houses and farms from generation to generation. That’s how it has always been. But tourists and wealthy urbanites have now discovered the region, and the original inhabitants are succumbing to the lure of the exorbitant amounts that outsiders are willing to pay for a rural retreat. “We have sold our country,” activists lament. But who can resist the laws of capitalism?

Since the start of The Europeans 2020 - 2030, we offer the possibility of adopting a region for 120 euros. If you do so before the printing deadline, your name will be mentioned in the colophon of the Special Edition. The deadline for inclusion in Our Ancestral Home is 22 May 2022. After that date, the hardcover edition including same sized print will remain available as long as stocks last. There are 120 numbered copies available. By purchasing one of our Special Editions, you help us keeping the price of the regular edition at €9.50 and by doing so you support our ambition to make our work accessible to a wide audience.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of a beach guest in holiday resort Loo in Russia is now available for only 169 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 30 June 2022 (or sold out). Prints will be shipped in July 2022.

In the summer of 2011, writer Arnold van Bruggen and I travelled by train from beach to beach along the endless coastal strip around the Russian resort of Sochi. In the evenings we visited restaurants to portray the karaoke singer on duty for our book Sochi Singers. During the day, I photographed people on the beach. Not exactly my favourite thing to do. I always feel terribly awkward between all those half-naked sweating and frequently drunk people. This young lady strolled casually towards me on the pebble beach of Loo. My question whether I could photograph her was redundant. One click. Off she went.

In connection with the nomination of the series of board members of hobby and volunteer clubs for the national SO awards, the board members of Klaverjasvereniging De Jutter are now on advertising dispalys in Amsterdam. Also work by the other 19 nominees is spread throughout the city. Please vote for my work via link below (takes 3 seconds).

On 12 April, the next edition of the FOTODOK Book Club will take place in TivoliVredenburg. The Russian invasion in Ukraine dominates the programme for this evening. British photographer Mark Neville will be present in connection with his new book Stop Tanks With Books. Four days before the start of the war in Ukraine, 750 copies of the book were delivered to politicians, diplomats, celebrities, international media, and negotiators, all those, in short, who we feel have it in their power to support Ukraine’s continuing fight for independence. Magnum photographer Jérôme Sessini will be present - live or via Skype from Ukraine - to talk about his book Inner Disorder: Ukraine 2014 - 2017, which was published last year. And Nicole Segers about Blood and Honey, a book she made together with writer Irene van der Linde. And there is more. Book your ticket (in TivoliVredenburg or online screening) via this link.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of a young ballet dancer in Sochi is now available for only 169 euros excluding framing and shipping. This offer runs until 31 March 2022 (or sold out).

Over the past weeks, newspapers in the Netherlands have been littered with stories about the Russian star ballerina Olga Smirnova, who spoke out against the war in Ukraine after which she fled from Moscow and joined the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam. Just like Dasha in this picture, she probably made her first ballet steps in an old, cosy local Dom Kultury. I made this portrait of Dasha in 2009 at the Dom Kultury in Sochi, where I shot a whole series of portraits with my large format camera. Until 1 April you can buy a carefully produced analog print. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. After that, the photo will never be reprinted.

I am happy to announce that my portrait series of board members of volunteer clubs is nominated for the national SO Awards. Before, this series won the Second Prize Portraits Series in the national Zilveren Camera Award. The series is part of the story The Naval Base, about a town that is excessively dependent on the attention of the national government. The accompanying publication, which includes this series of portraits, can still be ordered from my website for €9.50. The publication is also for sale in museums and selected bookstores. By purchasing this publication you are contributing to the overarching project The Europeans, in which I document Europe between 2020 and 2030, together with Arnold van Bruggen.

You can vote online for your favourite nomination. The entry that receives the highest number of votes wins the Audience Award. The announcement of the winners of the SO Awards takes place on 14 April in Amsterdam.

A long conversation with Joerg Colberg about The Europeans, print sales, education, The Sochi Project, book printing and much more: “The art world is in a major shift from the romantic era towards a new era. That’s fantastic. Why is an insanely expensive framed photograph by, say, Andreas Gursky considered more important in the art world than a free newspaper by Rafal Milach?”

BUY THIS BOOK and we will donate the ENTIRE PROCEEDS (47.50 per book) to the Ukrainian Red Cross. PLEASE HELP US PROMOTING by SHARING this message within your network. Together, we can reach more people and raise more money.

Earlier this month, Arnold van Bruggen and I sold 84 books in just a few days and donated the entire proceeds of €3,990 to the Ukrainian Red Cross. We stopped the campaign because our book stock was running out. After contacting Aperture, they generously decided to replenish our stock free of charge. On top distributor Idea Books offered to take care of the transport from America to the Netherlands. Brilliant! What a generosity in support for Ukraine!

In 2015, the 2nd edition of our book An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus came out. We used on the cover the quote ‘This is the new face of Russia, our Russia’, from a propaganda speech made by the CEO of Sochi 2014, a Putin-supporting clown, during the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi. The book - released in first printing before the Winter Games - extensively covers the blatant human rights violations under Putin and his regime. We regularly received a frowning look, wondering if we hadn’t exaggerated things. After all, it couldn’t be that bad in Russia, could it? Again and again we explained: The Putin regime violates human rights on a large scale, is corrupt, criminal and dehumanizing. Disguised as a democracy.

Read about it in this book and support the Ukrainian Red Cross at the same time!

Tonight I will give a 20-minute presentation about my work during the Festival voor Nieuwsfotografie at Museum Hilversum. Other speakers are Henk Wildschut, Marjolein Bijpost and Nicole Segers. The program starts at 19:30. Buy a ticket via this link:

One week ago, Arnold and I started our support campaign for Ukraine out of a state of anger and powerlessness. We sold a whopping 84 copies of our Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus for 47.50 euros each and have now donated the total amount of 3,990 euros to Red Cross giro 5125 for aid in Ukraine and the surrounding countries. Thanks to everyone - including Russian online trolls - who helped promote our messages on social media.

We realise that this is a drop in the ocean. We are working on a follow-up action, given that the atrocious war crimes under the leadership of war lord Putin seem to have no end in sight. We encourage everyone - governments and citizens - to continue to support Ukraine so that this huge country is not lost within a free Europe and becomes the domain of a totalitarian regime that runs on oppression and lies.

This war is not a war between Russia and Ukraine. This war is a war between a sickly power-obsessed dictator and Ukraine. We sympathise with the many incredibly brave Russian citizens who dare to speak out against this war on a daily basis. Meanwhile, more than 13 000 people have been arrested all over Russia. These people deserve praise, but instead they face imprisonment and a huge fine.

Humanity is cruel.

Buy this book! We - Arnold van Bruggen and Rob Hornstra - will donate the entire proceeds (€47.50 per book) to the Ukrainian Red Cross. ⁠⁠
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Seven years ago, the 2nd edition of our book An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus came out. We used on the cover the quote ‘This is the new face of Russia, our Russia’, from a propaganda speech made by the CEO of Sochi 2014, a Putin-supporting clown, during the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi. The book - released in first printing before the Winter Games - extensively covers the blatant human rights violations under Putin and his regime. We regularly received a frowning look, wondering if we hadn’t exaggerated things. After all, it couldn’t be that bad in Russia, could it? Our National Olympic Committee, for example, thought so. Our crown prince and his wife had a nice beer with Putin, the human rights violating ruler, during these very same Games. We were shocked. Again and again we explained: The Putin regime violates human rights on a large scale, is corrupt, criminal and dehumanizing. Disguised as a democracy. Read about it in this book. ⁠⁠
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Like many, we feel powerless in the light of the horrific events in Ukraine. We want to do something, we want to support Ukraine. That is why we decided on this action, buy this book and the entire amount will be transferred to the Ukrainian Red Cross. Do you already have the book? Buy again and give it as a gift to friends or acquaintances.⁠⁠

On Monday 21 February, the next edition of live talkshow FOTODOK Book Club will take place in TivoliVredenburg Utrecht, presented by Sterre Sprengers and me. We have curated a fantastic line-up for the evening. Mohamed Bourouissa comes by train from Paris to talk about his great project Périphérique, which was recently newly released by Loose Joints. Jan Banning presents his new The Verdict. Eva Roefs talks about Studio Trompettersteeg, Henk Wildschut about Afstand and more to be announced! According to current calculations - due to Corona restrictions - about 100 people will be allowed to join us IRL, so be quick to book your ticket.

I am super excited that my exhibition Man Next Door, shown last year in the former house of my neighbour Kid, won the Prize voor Storytelling at the national Zilveren Camera Awards. Almost a year ago I temporarily rented the former house of my deceased neighbor Kid before imminent demolition. After weeks of cleaning, organizing and installing, the exhibition opened in June 2021. Photos were alternated with texts and film clips, Kids’ voice was echoing one more time in the corridors and an occasional photo wallpaper took you fifteen years back in time. A small backyard shed - emptied multiple times by police - was temporarily transformed into a cinema. The exhibition welcomed over a thousand people, ranging from family and friends to an international audience. All nominated and winning projects can be seen until April 3, 2022 in Museum Hilversum.

Interview around my series of portraits of volunteer clubs and association boards in times of lock down as result of nomination at the Dutch Zilveren Camera Awards.

More good news from Zilveren Camera. My series of portraits of volunteer clubs and association boards in times of lock down won the second prize in the category ‘Portraits Series’ at the Dutch Zilveren Camera Awards. This series of portraits is part of the recently presented chapter The Naval Base as part of The Europeans 2020 - 2030, a ten-year project I am working on together with writer Arnold van Bruggen. Click on the link below for more detailed project information.

You can find our latest publication The Naval Base / De Marinebasis for €9.50 at Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Huis Marseille, Museum Hilversum, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Fotomuseum Den Haag, Citymarketing Den Helder and via online bookstore photobookstore.nl. In Germany at Kominek bookshop Berlin and Café Lehmitz Photobooks. In Belgium at the shop of Fotomuseum Antwerpen - FOMU. In Austria at AnzenbergerGallery and in the US for only $10.95 at photo-eye. We are always looking for more selling points worldwide. We offer phenomenal discounts for booksellers who want to work with us until the end of the project in 2030.⁠⁠

Looking for CHRISTMAS CARDS and also tired of romantic white snowflakes, fairytale Christmas trees or Rudolph the red nosed reindeer? The Sochi Project produced a leporello with six large size Christmas cards depicting Christmas decorations all over the Caucasus. In an attempt to make people think a little more about those places where people celebrate Christmas in less fortunate conditions. By buying anything from The Sochi Project, you support our new adventure The Europeans.

On Friday 12 November, between 6 and 7:30 pm, I present the live talk show FOTODOK Book Club - Paris Photo Edition, just a few steps away from Grand Palais. With amazing guests, including two nominees for the Paris Photo Aperture PhotoBook Award: Rahim Fortune (I can’t stand to see you cry) and Bieke Depoorter (Agata). I also talk to Rafal Milach about his brand new book Strajk and the vibrant protest movement in Poland. And young talent Michelle Piergoelam who’s work The Untangled Tales is exhibited at the place where this edition of the FOTODOK Book Club takes place: Atelier Néerlandais, 121 Rue de Lille, 75007 Paris.⁠
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Afterwards books will be sold and signed, including my own brand new The Naval Base, the latest publication within The Europeans 2020 - 2030.⁠
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If you want to attend, order your ticket ASAP for €14.30 via www.fotodok.org. Due to corona measures the number of seats for this event is limited. For a reduced rate you can also watch the talk show live from your couch at home.⁠

Het Parool writes about our modest exhibition The Naval Base at DNPG: “The Portrait Gallery Studio, the new home of the Dutch National Portrait Gallery at the Marineterrein, opens with an applicable exhibition: The Naval Base by photographer Rob Hornstra.”

After the presentation of The Naval Base in het Pompgemaal Den Helder, part of the works will travel immediately to the Dutch National Portrait Gallery on the Marineterrein in Amsterdam. More information on the website of the Dutch National Portrait Gallery.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of a young wrestler in small village near Grozny in the North Caucasian Republic of Chechnya is now available for only 169 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 31 December 2021 (or sold out).

Wrestling and the North Caucasus are inextricably linked. Not only is wrestling the most popular sport in the region, it is also the birthplace of many Olympic champions. A wrestling coach once explained it to us as follows: “If a boy starts wrestling at seven or eight, he does so as a serious man. It’s not just a game, but a serious fight between two men. Serious because the whole upbringing and education system here is serious. If you’re 14, then you need to be a fighter. You should be aware of that when you watch a wrestling match between two boys.”

As one of the few non-local journalists, Hilbrand Rozema of the Nederlands Dagblad travelled to the cold and windy naval city to write a column about the opening of our self-initiated exhibition The Naval Base: “The creators of this project, Arnold van Bruggen and Rob Hornstra, are going to portray cities in Europe that are far from the centres of power. And where better to start such a project than in our own naval city?”

The online VR version of our first regional presentation The Former Capital was a massive success and has been viewed more than 25,000 times. So we have decided to recreate The Naval Base exhibition on location in its entirety again on Artsteps. Including easter egg. Although we understand that Real Life and Virtual Reality are different experiences, we try to make it possible for people who are not able to come to het Pompgemaal to experience the work. Use 3D goggles for an even more real experience. Follow the link below and please share and like and such…

Announcement of our exhibition The Naval Base in Het Pompgemaal: “There is something strange about the photograph Rob Hornstra made of the street row of shops on Marsdiepstraat. Who wants to know what exactly, should go and have a look in the former Pompgemaal in Huisduinen”.

In Het Pompgemaal in Den Helder, a Mondriaan Fund artist residency, the exhibition ‘The Naval Base’ will take place from 27 to 31 October 2021. For two months, photographer Rob Hornstra and writer Arnold van Bruggen roamed through the naval base and made a portrait of the town. They portrayed hundreds of inhabitants of the town, from fishermen to chairmen of associations and from sea cadets to naval officers. Together they and many others form the social network of the naval base. For five days, a selection of their work will be exhibited in Het Pompgemaal and the 112-page publication The Naval Base / De Marinebasis will be presented.

The photographs and stories that Hornstra and Van Bruggen made in Den Helder will be part of the project The Europeans. Between 2020 and 2030 they will document Europeans in countless regions and mid-sized towns at a time when Europe is under pressure. The ambition of The Europeans is in line with illustrious predecessors from the last century: an engaging historical document in the tradition of Robert Frank’s The Americans or Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Les Européens.

Visual material for promotion can be requested from studio@robhornstra.com

Titel: De Marinebasis / The Naval Base
When: 27 t/m 31 oktober van 10:00 – 18:00 uur
Opening: Wednesday 27 oktober om 17:00 uur
Location: Het Pompgemaal, Duinweg 50 in Huisduinen
Online: More information www.theeuropeans.fm

“Some say The Naval Base is the end of the world. They are wrong. This is where Europe begins.”⁠
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This is the cover of our forthcoming publication The Naval Base. The Naval Base is a town built, bombed and rebuilt by the government. When the government invests in the navy, the city flourishes. When the government withdraws, the city fades away. There are many more like The Naval Base in Europe: towns, cities or regions that are excessively dependent on the attention of the national government. A city where the population is unilaterally composed according to the demand of the largest employer.

Order your copy today for only 9.50 euros and receive it in your mailbox before 1 November, 2021.

This framed work (80 x 96 cm. / 31.5 x 37.8 in) of a summery beach in Adler near Sochi, Russia from 2011 is available again in my Photo Rental starting from the 1st of November. It is the last copy (in an edition of 5). For 174 euros it will be at least one year in your home or office. Additional benefit, the rental price is fully deductible if you decide to acquire the work.

If you have seen a work that you would like to rent but is not yet in the Photo Rental’s online database, please send a message to rental@robhornstra.com.

Together with writer Arnold van Bruggen, I will present our new chapter The Naval Base through an exhibition and launch of the accompanying publication in Het Pompgemaal in Den Helder at the end of October. The Naval Base is a new chapter within our ten-year ongoing project The Europeans, a document on Europe in a time of drastic change. Mark the date, the official opening is on Wednesday 27 October at 5 pm. You are invited! More information will follow in the upcoming weeks.

Until next Friday, 1 October, you can still adopt this region. By adopting regions like this for 120 euros, you will receive a numbered hardcover edition including the same size print without additional shipping costs and your name will be mentioned in the colophon. Your support makes it possible for us to continue working on The Europeans.

On Wednesday, 13 October in Tivoli Vredenburg, together with Sterre Sprengers, I will present the next FOTODOK Book Club (finally again with live audience!). Guests that evening are Bertien van Manen, Mafalda Rakos and Raimond Wouda. If you don’t have the opportunity to be present in TivoliVredenburg, you can also follow the talkshow online. Tickets for (both in the hall and online) can be ordered through the website of FOTODOK.

Since I left my job as co-head of the Photography Department at the Royal Academy of Art The Hague last February, I have very much enjoyed picking up my old passion for portrait assignment. For instance this one of the European Parliament member Tineke Strik for Amnesty International’s magazine Wordt Vervolgd, which appears early October.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of Sergey Ivanovich in 2003 is now available for only 159 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 30 September 2021 (or sold out).

Former pilot Sergey Ivanovich - ninety-one years old - is practically suffocating under the weight of the many decorations on his jacket. He is standing in his living room in the heavily nuclear contaminated village of Argayash in Russia. As part of my graduation project at the art academy in Utrecht, I travelled in 2003 with medium and large format camera through the Chelyabinsk region in Russia. This region is heavily polluted as a result of a nuclear accident that took place in 1957 in the Mayak Production Facility…

Interview written by Damian Zimmermann in the great German magazine L.Fritz on the subject of “Krise in der Fotografie”. The link takes you to the author’s page where you can access a PDF of the article (in German).

A nice article today in Trouw newspaper by art historian Joke de Wolf in which she links the exhibition Man Next Door to current affairs, in this case the demolition of the Rotterdam Tweebosbuurt.

Wil je de tentoonstelling Man Next Door in de Utrechtse volkswijk Ondiep bezoeken, lees dan via onderstaande link alle benodigde informatie, waaronder de wijze van aanmelding / registratie.

With only four exhibition days left, a full-page article / interview in the local newspaper AD Utrechts Nieuwsblad. Meanwhile, over 250 people have registered for the coming days. There are few places left on Thursday between 2:30 and 4:30 pm. On Saturday, there are few places available after 5 pm. Sunday still offers the most flexibility. If you want to make a reservation, please send an e-mail to tentoonstelling@robhornstra.com with your preferred day and time.

Local internet newspaper DUIC features the exhibition Man Next Door.

On National Radio 1 in conversation with Patrick Lodiers (in Dutch). Please watch/listen the interview via the the link to their website. All time slots for this weekend are gone. You’re welcome to try at the door. Next week Thursday 24 June - Sunday 27 June is last opportunity before demolition. Please send a message via DM or tentoonstelling@robhornstra.com.

Tonight on Radio M Utrecht in conversation with Jeroen Latijnhouwers (in Dutch). You can listen to the interview via the article on their website. There are a few open slots remaining for tomorrow (Thursday), at 15:30, 17:00 and 18:30. Please send a message via DM or tentoonstelling@robhornstra.com.

Local TV station Ondiep made a beautiful item on Man Next Door (in Dutch), the exhibition in the former house of my deceased neighbour Kid. They also included the neighbouring studio sell-out in their coverage. If you would like to book a time slot for the exhibition, please send an email to tentoonstelling@robhornstra.com.

A big thank you to journalist Linda van Mil, photographer Pauline Niks and newspaper De Volkskrant for the beautiful article they published about my entirely DIY exhibition Man Next Door in the former house of my deceased neighbour Kid. The article is written in Dutch. If you want to book a time slot for the exhibition, please email tentoonstelling@robhornstra.com.

A house in the Utrecht working-class district Ondiep is transformed from a former drug users’ home into a temporary Gesamtkunstwerk. Photographer Rob Hornstra is organising the exhibition Man Next Door in the former home of his deceased neighbour Kid. After the exhibition, the house is cleared for demolition to make room for new buildings.

In 2004 Rob Hornstra moved to the Utrecht working-class district Ondiep. There he regularly photographed his now-deceased neighbour Kid. Hornstra met Kid for the first time while moving into his new home: Kid appeared at his front door with his torso bared and asked: ‘What are you doing here?’ From that moment, Kid regularly keeps an eye on the house when Hornstra is abroad. The photographer helps his neighbour by lending him his phone when he has no credit and with his mail.

It becomes quiet in Kid’s house when his wife and their eight-year-old son flee to a women’s shelter. Kid has diabetes and is addicted to drugs and alcohol. During good times he is at home, where Hornstra photographs him. When things are bad, Kid often wanders through the city centre. In the last year Hornstra has seen little of Kid. On 12 June 2013, Kid’s body was found between two boats in the Utrecht Singel. He is 42 years old.

The exhibition Man Next Door at Laan van Chartroise 46 in Utrecht is accessible by public transport bus line 6 or 7 from Utrecht CS or a 15-minute walk from Utrecht Zuilen Station. Parking in the Laan van Chartroise is free.

In connection with prevailing Coronation measures, registration is mandatory. This can be done by sending an e-mail to tentoonstelling@robhornstra.com. Please state the number of people and the desired date and time.

The exhibition can be visited free of charge after registration and runs from Friday 11 June to Sunday 27 June 2021 from 12:00 to 20:00. Closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Een woning in de Utrechtse volkswijk Ondiep transformeert van een voormalig gebruikerspand tot een tijdelijk Gesamtkunstwerk. Fotograaf Rob Hornstra organiseert de tentoonstelling Man Next Door in het voormalige woonhuis van zijn overleden buurman Kid. Na de tentoonstelling wordt het huis klaar gemaakt voor de sloop om ruimte te maken voor nieuwbouw.

De tentoonstelling Man Next Door aan de Laan van Chartroise 46 in de Utrechtse wijk Ondiep is geopend van vrijdag 11 juni tot en met zondag 27 juni van 12:00 – 20:00 met uitzondering van maandagen, dinsdagen en woensdagen. Aanmelden / registratie verplicht via tentoonstelling@robhornstra.com.

Download het persbericht voor meer informatie.

A house in the Utrecht working-class district Ondiep is transformed from a former drug users’ home into a temporary Gesamtkunstwerk. Photographer Rob Hornstra is organising the exhibition Man Next Door in the former home of his deceased neighbour Kid. After the exhibition, the house is cleared for demolition to make room for new buildings.

The exhibition Man Next Door at Laan van Chartroise 46 in Utrecht is open from Friday, June 11 through Sunday, June 27 from 12:00 - 20:00 except on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Registration is required via tentoonstelling@robhornstra.com

For more information, please download Press Release.

After again several postponements due to the Corona pandemic, the next edition of the FOTODOK Book Club will take place on Wednesday, May 12 from 8 - 9:30 pm in TivoliVredenburg Utrecht. This episode can be viewed online only, anywhere in the world and from the comfort of your couch. You can purchase an access ticket for 5 euro via the link below. Language is English.

Currently I am working on one of the most exciting exhibitions I have created in my career. After my neighbour Kid - protagonist in Man Next Door - died in 2013, his house was rented by students for several years. The students have left. Soon our housing block will be demolished (I still use the house I used to live in as my studio).

On 11 June the exhibition Man Next Door will open in the house where the work was created. A one time opportunity to transform a former drug house into a gesamtkunstwerk prior to demolition. I am looking for volunteers to be a host / attendant for one day during the exhibition in the periode 11 June - 27 June 2021. In addition to eternal gratitude, you will receive a book Man Next Door as a gift. Please send me an email by clicking on this link.

As part of our multiyear project The Europeans, writer Arnold van Bruggen and I have recently worked on an extensive series about local associations in Corona times. How do the numerous associations and clubhouses cope with the absence of community? The series is presented now during Europe Day 21!

How do the numerous associations and clubhouses cope with the absence of community? This new work is featured in newspaper De Volkskrant with a text by Olaf Tempelman.

With support of the Steunfonds Freelance Journalisten, Arnold and I have recently worked on an extensive series about local associations in Corona times. From the pigeon club to a Christian men’s choir and from the pinochle association to country and line dancers. How do the numerous associations and clubhouses cope with the absence of community? Over a period of eight weeks, a full-page article on Saturdays in the Noordhollands Dagblad.

In the second half of 2021, the house of my former neighbour Kid will be finally demolished. Kid is the protagonist in Man Next Door. I portrayed Kid in his house for years until an abrupt ending in 2013, when his body was found floating between two boats in the Utrecht Singel. In 2017, book and exhibition Man Next Door were launched in the presence of Kid’s relatives and others interested at Centraal Museum in Utrecht. Now - years later - Man Next Door returns to the place where the work originated: Kid’s former house in Ondiep, Utrecht. The exhibition will take place from 4 to 20 June 2021.

Would you like to be kept updated, receive an invitation or press release or sign up as a volunteer (still needed!) for this exhibition? Please send me a message by clicking here.

With support of the Steunfonds Freelance Journalisten, Arnold and I have recently worked on an extensive series about local associations in Corona times. From the pigeon club to a Christian men’s choir and from the pinochle association to country and line dancers. How do the numerous associations and clubhouses cope with the absence of community? Over a period of eight weeks, a full-page article on Saturdays in the Noordhollands Dagblad.

Despite the lockdown, I started working with writer Arnold van Bruggen on chapter 3 in our long-term project The Europeans, titled The Naval Base. The Naval Base portrays a town whose fate is in the hands of the government. A town in the periphery of a country, where many people vote populist parties that promise change. A portrait from the perspective of all kind of inhabitants, through community life, the navy and people in danger of being excluded from society. 

In October, we will exhibit The Naval Base in Het Pompgemaal in Den Helder and present the publication of the same name. The search for supporters to adopt this region is in full swing, in order to contribute to the production of the publication. By adopting a region for €120 you will receive the hardcover edition including the same size print on your doormat. If you pre-order before production date, your name will also be mentioned in the publication.

With support of the Steunfonds Freelance Journalisten, Arnold and I have recently worked on an extensive series about local associations in Corona times. From the pigeon club to a Christian men’s choir and from the pinochle association to country and line dancers. How do the numerous associations and clubhouses cope with the absence of community? Over a period of eight weeks, a full-page article on Saturdays in the Noordhollands Dagblad.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of a retired MIG-23 next to the Victory Museum in Angarsk (2008) is now available for only 159 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 30 June 2021 (or sold out).

In January 2008, far away in an ice-cold Siberia, I was working on 101 Billionaires. In the city of Angarsk, I had arranged to visit the Victory Museum with a WWII veteran (the museum is visible on the right). In the small courtyard next to the museum, a retired MIG-23 is somewhat forlornly displayed. It was parked there for unknown reasons in 1990, after 18 years of service. Traces of vandalism - or resistance - were visible already: Graffiti, a smashed cockpit and some ripped-off sheet metal.

With support of the Steunfonds Freelance Journalisten, Arnold and I have recently worked on an extensive series about local associations in Corona times. From the pigeon club to a Christian men’s choir and from the pinochle association to country and line dancers. How do the numerous associations and clubhouses cope with the absence of community? Over a period of eight weeks, a full-page article on Saturdays in the Noordhollands Dagblad.

This month writer Arnold van Bruggen and I are working on a new chapter within our multi-year project The Europeans based out of the Mondriaanfonds residency Het Pompgemaal. Although we are facing a total lockdown and defying harsh winter weather, we are grateful that so many people are making time for us. Our focus during this work period includes the pandemic impact on community life and people in crucial jobs. We will return here in September to continue working on this chapter, after which we plan to present publication and exhibition on the same place in October. More on that later. Meanwhile meet some Europeans.

A great article (thank you Diane Smyth) about The Europeans, the new multi-year adventure of writer and filmmaker Arnold van Bruggen and me.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of a rocket in a park in Cherkessk (2008) is now available for only 158 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 31 March 2021 (or sold out).

Together with Dutch journalist Jelle Brandt Corstius and a dramatic hangover I stroll through a typical huge Soviet city park called Zelyony Ostrov (Green Island). We are in Cherkessk, the capital of the North Caucasian republic of Karachay-Cherkessia. “Even for a small nation, the history of the Karachays is not very cheerful”, Jelle writes back home in his book about different small nations. Although it is summery and hot as hell, most attractions are out of service. Undoubtedly this has something to do with the technical state they are in.

Already before Corona I announced my departure at the KABK. My personal work ambitions can no longer be combined with the demanding job as co-head of the Photography Department at the KABK Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Due to Corona everything took longer than planned. It was an incredible privilege to be able to work with so many colorful, critical and talented colleagues and students. So here is the announcement of two great job vacancies!

On December 3, during the FOTODOK Book Club, I spoke out a column with a retrospective on cancel issues in 2020 and a message for 2021: “Let’s put the hard rhetoric behind and make 2021 the year of a renewed openness to critical reflection, to nuance, to shades of grey, and also to forgiveness, to empathy for people who make mistakes. And especially to building a beautiful, diverse, inclusive art world together. With everyone. Also with people who make mistakes and want to do better.” Click on the link for a Dutch translation of the column on the website of FOTODOK. English version can be sent on request.

After several postponements due to the Corona pandemic, the 22nd edition of the FOTODOK Book Club will take place next Thursday, December 3 from 8 - 9:30 pm in TivoliVredenburg Utrecht. Only 30 persons are allowed to be physically present (annual subscribers only). But.., this edition can also be viewed live online, anywhere in the world and from the comfort of your couch. You can purchase an access ticket for 5 euro via the link below. Language is English

Some brilliant books have appeared in the Netherlands in recent months. That is why we have titled this edition The Dutch Edition (ok, also a bit for corona reasons:). The spotlights will be on Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Award nominee Hoarder Order by Thomas Kuijpers, Tree and Soil by Antoinette de Jong & Robert Knoth and the brand new Horse by Heleen Peters. Also in this brimming evening Marvel Harris’ first book Inner Journey, a column by Delphine Bedel, Louisiana van Onna designed a book with photos by Ed van der Elsken and of course favourite books of 2020!

In the run-up to the upcoming edition of the FOTODOK Book Club next Thursday, Nynke van Spiegel has interviewed me for Utrecht UIT magazine (in Dutch). In two days will be the first time that you can watch comfortably in your couch anywhere in the world. The FOTODOK Book Club is a live event (also online) and you can purchase an access ticket for 5 euro via fotodok.org. The evening is in English.

Because of continuing restrictions due to the Corona pandemic, we felt it sensible to look for an appropriate region not far from home to work on chapter three. We are extremely fortunate that in the months of February, September and October 2021 we will be able to use Het Pompgemaal in Den Helder, an artist-in-residence that is operated by the Mondriaan Foundation. We will not only use Het Pompgemaal to produce new work for The Europeans, but also to temporarily transform the space into The Europeans headquarters with exhibitions and activities in October 2021. Stay tuned.

In episode #116 on photography podcast Nearest Truth, Brad Feuerhelm and I talked about publishing, education, some projects and else…

Earlier this year Arnold van Bruggen and I worked in The Black Country on the second chapter as part of The Europeans. The work wasn’t finished. We wanted to go back one more time to create a follow-up. And then Corona made its entry in Europe. A huge number of mandatory quarantine days back and forth makes The Black Country currently practically unattainable for us to work. The launch of the publication - which was scheduled for this autumn - has been postponed until the spring of 2021. Despite this delay, we intend to complete the second chapter soon in one of many Black Countries in Europe.
 
Help us to make this second publication of The Europeans happen and to keep the work accessible to a broad audience by adopting this region for €120. A unique numbered hardcover edition will be sent to you as a reward.

Article in Israeli newspaper Haaretz. I guess it is about my Instagram account.

The Standout Photographer episode #23: Rob Hornstra on The Importance of Collaborating, Learning by Teaching, Renting Prints & Self Publishing. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or on your favourite podcast platform.

I had the pleasure of joining Ed Kashi, Michal Iwanowski and Todd R Darling in the live talk show The Art of Politics, hosted by Jonathan Groubert during Breda Photo. The interview can be watched in its entirety via the link below.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of a roundabout in Karachayevsk in 2008 is now available for only 158 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 31 December 2020 (or sold out).

When we talk about the North Caucasus, most people think of republics like Chechnya, Dagestan or North Ossetia. Karachay-Cherkessia is less known. In 2008 I travelled to Karachay-Cherkessia together with Dutch journalist Jelle Brandt Corstius in order to understand more about small peoples with exotic names like the Karachays, the Cherkess, the Abazins, the Nogais and here and there some Kumyks. The latter live mainly in Dagestan, however they share the same incomprehensible language as the Karachays.

On the first day we pass Karachayevsk, the capital of the Karachay part, where mainly Islamic Karachays live. We shortly visit the mosque, which has just been completed. That turns out to be a good decision. While Jelle is listening to the imam talking about the brand-new chandelier made in China, I photograph the stunning view of the adjoining roundabout that connects three roads to different peoples.

Five Art Accounts to Follow on Instagram Now (according to New York Times). Please click on the link to read and check the other accounts.

From 17 to 20 September 2020, Forum on European Culture will take place for the third time in De Balie Amsterdam. Forum on European Culture is a biennial forum on the strength, impact and value of art and culture for Europe. Work from our first chapter The Former Capital will be shown on the ground floor of De Balie. In addition, as part of this event, posters and stories of The Europeans will be displayed at various cultural institutions such as Stadsschouwburg, European Cultural Foundation and Athenaeum Boekhandel.

Once again, Corona forced us, writer Arnold van Bruggen, designers Kummer & Herrman and me, to come up with an alternative exhibition for The Europeans. And to be honest, we like! From the start of BredaPhoto, posters of Europeans are all over Breda behind windows and on panels crisscrossing the city. If you see one, scan the QR code for the story behind the photo. And if you live in Breda, please sign up for a poster via the link below, so that we all together can transform the streets of Breda into a grand BredaPhoto The Europeans museum!

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of Mikhail Filipovich Frolov in Sochi is now available for only 158 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 30 September 2020 (or sold out).

Mikhail Filipovich Frolov, eighty-eight years old, grew up in Minsk and later in Siberian Krasnoyarsk. “I grew up in freezing cold. When I was sent to the Polish front during the Great Patriotic War, I was used to it. Soldiers who grew up in Azerbaijan had a fever more quickly”. After being wounded four times during the war, Frolov served in the army until he was 39 years old. He was able to retire thanks to the right connections. “I always dreamed of staying and growing old in Siberia, until I discovered the beauty of Sochi during a stay in a sanatorium. The trees are more beautiful here than in Siberia.” Frolov has been living permanently in Sochi since the early 1980s.

Rob Hornstra è il sesto autore di questa nuova edizione di ULTRA//THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE. Con Man Next Door esamina la stigmatizzazione della classe operaia di Utrecht offrendo allo stesso tempo una rara visione della vita del suo vicino di casa Kid. Vi aspettiamo il 31 Luglio in Corte Genova a Prato

Everything comes to an end. So does the stock of our book Empty land, Promised land, Forbidden land. In 2010 writer Arnold van Bruggen and I made the first edition of the book, which to our surprise quickly sold out. Three years later - in 2013 - we returned to Abkhazia, among other things to investigate whether a second edition of the book was actually relevant. Against all the fine promises of politicians from Russia and Abkhazia, the country turned out to be virtually unchanged. We decided to make a second edition of the book, replacing some photos with a remake we made during our stay in 2013. Few people noticed.

As a tribute to the almost sold out book and because we desperately miss Abkhazia and its inhabitants, I am currently featuring a series of fifteen precious images from the series Empty land, Promised land, Forbidden land on my Instagram account. If you want to order one of the last copies, please click on the link below.

Sixteen pages on our new project The Europeans in the latest issue of GUP Magazine, loaded with a great interview by Daniel Boetker-Smith plus visual reporting on The Europeans.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of school children in Krasny Vostok is now available for only 158 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 30 June 2020 (or sold out).

I took this photo of schoolchildren after lunch during our first visit to Krasny Vostok in 2009. It is one of the last pictures before we were evicted from the village. While it started as a promising day. After an extensive tour by a talkative WWII veteran in the local school museum we were told that the harvest festival was about to start. Around us children were running around dressed as cucumbers, onions and carrots. Until a typical math teacher - colouring glasses and sweat stains under the armpits - angrily walks at the principal and swears that foreigners are not allowed to be in the school building. The principal calls the mayor, the mayor calls local authorities, local authorities call Moscow and the final answer is always: Get out! And thus a positive story about the difficult resurrection of an energetic village with cheerful children changed again into a story about Russian paranoia and xenophobia.

On May 28 (Thursday), 5 p.m. conversation with the authors of the exhibition and the accompanying publication “The Former Capital” – photographer Rob Hornstra and writer Arnold van Bruggen will be broadcasted live on Kaunas Photography Gallery Facebook account. The conversation will be held in English, later the Lithuanian translation will be added to the recording.

One month ago our first region exhibition The Former Capital was postponed due to Corona. We immediately recreated the exhibition in the virtual world using the digital exhibition platform Artsteps. So far, 14K people visited our online exhibition space. Then suddenly the positive news arrived that the ‘real’ exhibition was allowed to start. And so the exhibition was reconstructed from the virtual world into the real world. The exhibition in Kaunas Gallery will last until 14 June 2020. The one at Artsteps infinite (to visit via our website www.theeuropeans.fm).

In the most recent issue of FOAM Magazine, 16 pages are devoted to Man Next Door, the project about my neighbour who - after a turbulent life - drowned in the Utrecht canal in 2013. You can find more about the project under Stories on my website. The link below directs you to the website of Foam Magazine, where you can order single copies.

As most people - like photographers - have to stay at home, the British Journal of Photography has smartly started a series entitled ‘Great works made from home’. Man Next Door, the series about my early deceased neighbour Kid, is featured in the second episode. From the article: ‘For those of us experiencing extended periods of isolation, the project also takes on a new significance, emphasising the importance of checking in on our neighbours and those in need.’

Join me tomorrow (Saturday) May 9th, 2020 at 8 pm (CET) / 2 pm (CDT) on Instagram Live for a conversation between Lesley A. Martin and me about photobooks and much more!

Work from The Europeans is part of the online edition of Europe Day 2020, organised by our partner European Cultural Foundation. A series of windows to experience Europe. The festival lasts until 29 May, after that the website will go offline.

One month after the launch of our first region publication The Former Capital, only a few copies of the Special Edition are still available. Make sure you buy it before they are all gone! It’s an incredibly beautiful mainly handmade signed and numbered edition including print of your choice (!) at a very reasonable price. And yes, last but not least, you big time support the continuation of our new project The Europeans Project!

One month ago I was approached by a bloke named Dan Briston, who asked if he could write an article about the work of Arnold van Bruggen and me for his website Another Observer. Yesterday he reported that the article had been published. Well, article… Better a comprehensive essay of more than 5,000 words dealing with almost every topic related to the creation of slow journalism projects like content, organizational structure, funding, social media, photographic style, visual referencing, online exhibitions and yes, even critical comments. Thank you Dan!

We are genuinely surprised by the success of our first virtual exhibition. In one month, more than 8,000 people visited the exhibition. If you also want to visit the exhibition, click on the link (desktop) or download the artsteps app (which also allows you to look in VR).

Article about our online exhibition (in Dutch): “Met een VR-bril op heb je het ­gevoel dat je er echt bent, maar de ervaring zonder bril is ook de moeite waard. Door de cursor te bewegen kun je door de galerie ‘lopen’ en foto’s aanklikken voor extra ­informatie. Op een tafeltje staan twee boeken uitgestald: een speciale en een budgeteditie van dit eerste hoofdstuk van het project, te koop in de webwinkel. Buiten is er een steegje dat naar de zee leidt. Het is een grappige verwijzing naar The Sochi Project die alleen online mogelijk is; midden in Litouwen kijk je uit over de Zwarte Zee.”

The Europeans is a multi-year storytelling project that cannot exist without financial support. Fortunately, there are people who support our work and help tremendously by adopting a region. They provide the foundation for our work, for which we are infinitely grateful. In order to be able to continue the project, we are also reliant on grants and sponsors. And that’s the reason why we are delighted to announce that the European Cultural Foundation (ECF) has committed to the project with an intention for five years. With the only task for us of continuing to create stories in our own way and occasionally sharing them through their distribution channels. Thank you ECF!

Of course I don’t want to discourage you from ordering the first regional publication of The Europeans through my online store, however, in case you live in America or Canada it might be more convenient to buy from the US bookstore photoeye.com.

Article by Merel Bem in Dutch daily newspaper De Volkskrant on the occasion of our virtual exhibition The Former Capital: Virtueel wandelen door een Litouwse galerie mét Zwarte Zee.

Our virtual exhibition is de Volkskrant tip of the day for an online doses of art and culture: The Europeans is the intended successor to the renowned The Sochi Project, which among other things developed new ways of presenting documentary photography. For The Europeans, local partners, newspapers and galleries were sought all over Europe. In Lithuania, the first regional publication The Former Capital was to be launched this week, at the same time as the opening of a similar named exhibition in the Kaunas Gallery in Kaunas, the country’s second largest city. This will not happen, but the makers have now created the exhibition online, by virtually recreating the gallery space, including the square in the heart of Kaunas, where the gallery is located.

If you have VR goggles or Google Cardboard at home, you can visit our exhibition The Former Capital in VR. How does it work? Very simple. Download the free app Artsteps on your phone and open the app. Click on ‘guest’ and scroll to the right. After a few exhibitions you will see The Former Capital by The Europeans. You can choose whether you just want to watch in 2D or watch in VR, so that you really feel like you’re in space. Have fun!

The Former Capital is the first regional publication of The Europeans, the new multi-year project by Arnold van Bruggen and Rob Hornstra. The Former Capital is a region where in the wake of newfound independence, nationalism and militarism are on the rise. The search for a strong, own identity is strengthened by a stagnating economy and the consequences of depopulation. The surge of globalism, open borders and a new morality often clashes with those clinging to the values of the conservative class.

An endless number of art events have been cancelled worldwide due to the Coronavirus. Also the launch of our regional publication / exhibition The Former Capital - programmed on April 2 - was postponed. Transport of exhibition and books was already on its way.

After digesting the setback and with help from our partner Kummer & Herrman, we decided to work hard on recreating the exhibition online, exactly like we imagined it to be. When you put on VR glasses, you almost feel like you’re there. But without VR glasses you can also go inside.

And so the launch of the publication and exhibition The Former Capital is still a reality on the intended day. A local audience can now still visit the exhibition. However, also the rest of the world can take a look. The Coronavirus is forcing us to follow new paths. Who knows this may lead to beautiful and surprising insights.

You can visit our exhibition from behind your computer screen by following the link below or via the Artsteps app on your phone and in VR.

As of today, a number of works from The Europeans are for sale as well as available in Photo Rental. The starting price of a 42 x 51 cm framed work in an edition of 6 + 1 AP is €975 including VAT. More information about editions and prices is available on request. Renting the same work will cost you €9.50 per month. Additional benefit, if you decide to purchase the work after the rental period is over, the paid rent will be deducted from the sales price.

As many of you know by now, Arnold van Bruggen and I have embarked on a new multi-year venture entitled The Europeans. In the coming years we plan to document about twenty heartland regions and in the past few months we have made an incredible amount of new work. Now our first official presentation moment is approaching: The launch of the first regional publication including exhibition on 2 April, of course in the region where the work was created: The Former Capital!

And you can help us. This weekend is the last moment to adopt the first chapter AND get your name mentioned in the special hardcover edition of the upcoming first chapter publication ‘The Former Capital’.

By adopting a region you make it possible for us to pursue this multi-year project, but also you help us to fulfill our ambition to keep the sales price of the trade edition accessible to a broad audience.

And the three guests/books for the upcoming FOTODOK Book Club on 5 February 2020 are: Jack Latham with Parliaments of Owls, Marine Caneve with Are they rocks or clouds? and Paolo Woods with State.

Jack Latham can not be missed during this edition, as I had chosen his book as the best photo book of 2019. Marina Caneve’s book also ranked high on the same list. She graduated in 2018 with the eponymous project in dummy form that immediately won prizes. The final book came out more than a year later. And although Paolo Woods’ book is a bit older, I’ve wanted him in the FOTODOK Book Club already for a long time because of his unconventional ideas regarding reaching audiences. Last but not least, also Koen Suidgeest is coming to explain how he sold more than 6000 copies of his first photo book Why I Cry On Airplanes.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of former lieutenant colonel of the KGB Nikolay Felipovich Khokhlov is now available for only 158 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 31 March 2020 (or sold out).
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Nikolay Felipovich Khokhlov - 89 years old - has worked for the secret service all of his working life. He started at a young age during the Second World War, where he visited hospitals in the region around Krasnoyarsk searching for soldiers who had injured themselves on the way to the front in order to avoid the war. During his career with the KGB he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and transferred to Sochi. There he became responsible for spying on foreigners. “If you’d walked around Sochi at that time, you can be sure I’d have been watching you every minute of every day,” he laughs.

Between 14 January and 26 January 2020, I am working on chapter 2 of our new project The Europeans in The Black Country. Supported by the amazing Multistory and Creative Black Country.

A nice story about our new project The Europeans. Thanks to The British Journal of Photography!

Where the staggering ambition of The Europeans is striking, this extends further than the breadth of its subject matter alone. As with The Sochi Project, commitment lies here in Hornstra and Van Bruggen’s intention that their work should transcend the confines of the photography world and have an impact on society at large – beyond the echo chambers of those who already see and think like them – connecting and working closely with countless Europeans along the way.

It’s listmas time again in the world of photobooks! The time of year when everyone feels the need to share what his or her favourite photo book of the past year was. I love photo books and I love lists, so I can’t resist publishing my own list. My favorite of favorites 2019 can be found at photoeye.com and the complete list is now available at photobookstore.co.uk magazine.

Note: Lucas Leffler, author of one of my favorite books, will be a guest at the FOTODOK Book Club in TivoliVredenburg on Thursday night. Besides other great bookmakers including Cristina DeMiddel (Afronauts!). Buy your ticket now using the link below.

One of many ambitions Arnold and I have in our new project The Europeans is that we want to use our work to engage people in the heartland regions where we work. We do this for example by first launching our region publication during an exhibiting in a local gallery. In addition, we are trying to team up with a local newspaper, in order to reach a wider audience than just cultural enthusiasts. In the first region where we worked, this has led to a great partnership with the local newspaper Kauno Diena. Every week until the opening of the exhibition at the beginning of April 2020, they publish a full-page portrait from our project in the Saturday issue. The Former Capital is starting to warm up!

Lately I have added quite some new works - that have come back from exhibitions - to the Photo Rental. Like for example this work of 80 x 96 cm. (31.5 x 37.8 in.) from 2013 of the Georgian_Russian Friendship Monument in Gudauri. I also expect new photos to be added in the near future. Please follow the link below to discover how easy it works.

I was lucky to play a small role in the creation of this magazine, which, in my opinion, is about the greatest challenge photographers are facing: How do you trigger impact? I would like to applaud editors, authors and others who have worked so hard on it. Wonderful job! More of this please!

In collaboration with The Fort Institute of Photography I will teach my workshop Do-It-Yourself-Storytelling in Warsaw, Poland during the weekend of 23 and 24 November 2019. It’s the only workshop I’m doing this year. The next opportunity will come at the earliest at the end of 2020. Application deadline is next Sunday November 3, 2019 via the website of The Fort Institute of Photography (link below).

Our first publication of work from our new project The Europeans: The Black Country in Slanted Magazine, which is entirely dedicated to Europe for this issue. You can order the magazine via the link below.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of a girl in a kommunalka in Chelyabinsk is now available for only 150 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 31 December 2019. ⁠
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In 2003 I travelled for a month across Chelyabinsk region in the Russian Ural. Andrey, a befriended student who often accompanied me, took me to his family in a typical kommunalka; an apartment building where several families share one apartment. Everywhere people were hanging around in dark corridors and haphazardly I started making portraits of whoever I met.

On Thursday October 3, 2019, the 19th edition of the FOTODOK Book Club will take place in Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht. In this edition the focus is mainly on the African continent. I am very proud that one of Central Africa’s leading contemporary artists, photographer Samuel Fosso, is with us to talk about his upcoming publication Autoportrait, that’s going to be published by Steidl. Photographer Lebohang Tlali will talk about the project that originated after he discovered the photobook Welcome in South Africa (1991) in which Dutch photographer Ad van Denderen and writer Margalith Kleijwegt documented the last days of apartheid. Our own Utrecht Ilvy Njiokiktjien talks about her book Born Free about young people who were born after the end of apartheid in South Africa. And Ben Krewinkel will tell something about Africa in the Photobook. We also have Theo Derksen as our guest with his new book Disneyfication and Csilla Klenyánszki, whose book Pillars of Home is nominated for the prestigious Aperture Paris Photo First Book Award. So much in an hour and a half live talk show!

On each sold Summer Print 2019, I had promised that I would donate 10 euros to Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF), a NGO that support local activists and stands for an ecofeminist tomorrow. Thanks to a sold-out Summer Print, I was able to donate 250 euros today.

If you’ve been to Unseen Amsterdam, you’ve most likely seen our free introductory newspaper or maybe even brought it home with you. In the near future we will try to distribute the newspaper as much as possible through selected organisations such as FOTODOK Utrecht, Photoq Bookstore Amsterdam, Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol or events such as Paris Photo and the FOTODOK Book Club. Also, a free newspaper will be included with every order in my online store.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This exclusive handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of Nikolay Semilitov in Muslyumovo in Russia is now available for only 150 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25.

In 2004 I graduated with a book entitled ‘Communism & Cowgirls’. On the back of the book was this portrait of Nikolay Andreyevich Semilitov, which I made of him with my large-format camera while he patiently waited on the side of his bed. He lived in a small one-room apartment in Muslyumovo, one of the villages I visited in the region that had been severely affected by nuclear pollution.

Since the launch of The Europeans during Unseen Amsterdam, our website TheEuropeans.fm is also online. This temporary website is intended to provide information during the start-up phase of the project. And, because also this project depends on supporters, ways to support us in accomplishing this ambitious project. We hope to be able to transform TheEuropeans.fm into a narrative website after the completion of the first chapters in 2020.

On Saturday 21 September 2019 Arnold van Bruggen and I will give a short introduction on our new project The Europeans during Unseen Amsterdam. Join us for fun and freebies.

Announcement of our new project The Europeans and launch at Unseen Book Market in daily newspaper Het Parool.

Our first interview in connection with The Europeans was recently published on the website of local newspaper cum collaborative partner Kauna Diena.

Excerpt from grant application: “Europe is at a crossroads. The dissatisfied are more powerful than ever, pushing the united Europe into the forefront of drastic measures. This is precisely why this is the moment for an extensive time document in the tradition of Robert Frank’s The Americans or Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Les Européens. In Les Européens, Cartier-Bresson looked beyond nationalism or local customs to find evidence for a greater identity, a European resemblance shared by the people and the landscape. Arnold and I feel inspired by this ambition and want to create a time document of a continent that seems to be prelude to rigorous change.”

I am happy to announce that in the coming months I will have the opportunity to fully focus on setting up a new long-term project: The Europeans. To make that happen, I will be leaving my current job as co-head of the Photography Department at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK), for a while. In collaboration with The Sochi Project team Arnold van Bruggen and Kummer & Herrman, we will be using this period to determine the viability and ultimate form of the project. Within this start-up period we will produce, publish and exhibit the first two chapters of the multi-chapter project in collaboration with the Kaunas Photography Gallery (Europe) and Multistory in the Black Country (Europe). The start-up phase of The Europeans is generously supported by the Mondriaan Fund.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This exclusive handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of Sverrir’s garden in Iceland is now available for only 150 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 30 June 2019. Update: Sold out!

I took this picture in 2005 at the Holmur farm when I was working on the series Roots of the Rúntur. The owner of the dilapidated estate is sixty-six-year-old Sverrir Valdimarsson. He is proud of the long family history of the estate and sees it as his duty to preserve it for the future.

Here we go again! The fifth season of the FOTODOK Book Club kicks off with The Power Edition and contains conversations with an amazing trio of photobook makers. Spanish Laia Abril comes to talk about her book On Abortion, recently winner of the prestigious Paris Photo/Aperture Foundation’s Photobook of the Year Award. I’ll talk to Guy Martin about The Parallel State, a story about power, authoritarianism, and the theatrics of politics. And Jonas Bendiksen comes to tell more about his latest book The Last Testament, for which he traveled all over the world to meet and photograph 7 men that believe they are the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

A single ticket for a Book Club costs €11.00 (students €5.50) and can be purchased via the website of TivoliVredenburg. For €32.50 you become a member for a year, meaning you are guaranteed a seat in all four episodes and you receive 10% discount on the books on the table and of course, you support the FOTODOK Book Club. More information via FOTODOK.

As most people will know by now, next to being a photographer, I am also co-head of the BA Photography - full-time and part-time - and the MA Photography & Society at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (KABK). As we are an international academy with over 50% foreign students, all our lessons are taught in English. If you are considering studying Photography, you are more than welcome to join the Open Day at the KABK in Den Haag on Saturday 26 January 2019 from 10 am until 5 pm. And if you don’t plan to study photography, but just want to know what we do, please also drop by for a drink or a talk. The day is packed with opportunities to attend interviews, have your portfolio reviewed, follow guest lessons and workshops, talk to students and teachers or to simply look around and see work of the leading photographers of the future. Hope to see you there! Photo by Frederik Klanberg.

Extensive interview with the great magazine Revista Old. If you understand the next sentence, you are most likely able to read the full interview: Rob Hornstra é o entrevistado da OLD Nº 75. Conversamos com ele sobre sua trajetória, mudanças na fotografia documental e seu interesse pelas publicações fotográficas.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This exclusive handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of boys listening to music next to their Lada is now available for only 150 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 31 March 2019.

In 2007 I traveled to Abkhazia for the first time, together with colleagues #tomaskaan and @arnold_vanbruggen. A bit lost we walk around in the center of the capital Sukhumi. Now and then a car screeches past. There is no middle ground between luxury Mercedes and BMWs, and the most dilapidated Ladas, Volgas and trolley buses. A group of boys is hanging around an old Lada. Loud music emanates from the sound system. ‘We don’t have much else to do,’ they say. ‘Sukhumi is deadly boring.’

It was somewhat foreseeable, but this last edition of the fourth season of the FOTODOK Book Club sold out in a few days. If you would like to be considered for the waiting list, please contact FOTDOK (not me). The photographers participating in this 16th edition are Dana Lixenberg with her new publication Tupac Biggie, Bryan Schutmaat with Good Goddamn and Martin Parr with Beach Therapy.

De FOTODOK Book Club is a live talk show in which interviews with makers of photo books are interluded with extraordinary trivia and tips for lovers and collectors. Since its inception in a dark basement four years ago, FOTODOK’s Book Club has relocated several times and grown into crowded evenings for a broad audience in Tivoli Vredenburg.

FOTODOK Book Club 16th Edition
Thursday December 6, 2018 from 8 until 9:30 pm
Tivoli Vredenburg Utrecht

My project Man Next Door has been published over 12 pages in the amazing German Dummy Magazine: “Als ihn Hornstra über jahre immer wieder mit der Kamera besuchte, entstand die Dokumention einer vielschichtigen Persönlichkeit”

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This exclusive handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm) of children in a refugee shelter in Ingushetia is now available for only 148 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 31 December 2018.

Milana, Rizvan, and Ravida were born as refugees. Their father fled from the Prigorodny District in North Ossetia to Ingushetia and found shelter in a communal building that had previously housed prisoners carrying out community service. The other refugees are slowly drifting away, allowing the Dezaurov family to take over their vacant rooms instead of being confined to the single room in which they had lived until recently.

Very excited to hear that Man Next Door is announced as one of two Runners-Up in the Fotofilmic Solo VI Exhibition Award. Congrats to the award winner Matthew Barbarino!

From 22 to 28 October 2018 I will take over the Instagram account from Photocaptionist. In 21 posts I will tell the story Man Next Door, with backgrounds that have never been highlighted before.

The 15th edition of the FOTODOK Book Club will feature amazing and in some cases controversial books and makers like The Sweating Subject by Jan Banning, Shadows of the State by Lewis Bush and Robert F. Kennedy Funeral Train - The People’s View by Rein Jelle Terpstra. Laura Cnossen, who told about her graduation dummy Love Klink in an earlier edition, explains why her dummy recently has been published by the English publisher Here Press.

De FOTODOK Book Club is a live talk show in which interviews with makers of photo books are interluded with extraordinary trivia and tips for lovers and collectors. Since its inception in a dark basement four years ago, FOTODOK’s Book Club has relocated several times and grown into crowded evenings for a broad audience in Tivoli Vredenburg.

FOTODOK Book Club 15th Edition
Thursday October 4, 2018 from 8 until 9:30 pm
Tivoli Vredenburg Utrecht

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This exclusive handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm) of a frozen vessel in Siberia is now available for only 148 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 30 September 2018.

The Summer Print 2018 features two girls portrayed in a park in Chelyabinsk at the end of May 2003. I was there to produce a series for my Graduation from the art academy. A selection of that work has been published in my graduation book Communism & Cowgirls. Recently, for the first time in fifteen years, I started looking back at that archive. The largest part of the work consists of portraits of unknown people in the public space. Together with Kominek Books I am working on compiling a selection from this archive, which we want to publish in a book titled The Unknown. This photo is part of that selection.

After an intense day of serious roaming, searching, browsing and chatting, we’re there! The guests for FOTODOK’s Book Club - The Special Edition at Unseen Amsterdam are: Todd Hido, Rafal Milach and Ania Nalecka, Mafalda Rakos and Wendy Marijnissen. Better be on time. The number of seats is limited, and available on first come first served basis. Start today at 13:45. Follow link for more information.

During Unseen Amsterdam there will be a Special Edition of the FOTODOK Book Club in the intimate ‘Annex - Leidinghuis’ for a limited number of people. This edition will take place on Saturday 22 September 2018 from 13:45 - 15:00. The guests will be announced one evening in advance via Instagram accounts of FOTODOK, Unseen Amsterdam and myself. Seats are available on first come first served basis. 

On Thursday October 4th and December 6th, the next editions of the FOTODOK Book Club will take place in Tivoli Vredenburg. If you want to know more about books and guests to expect or to buy a ticket, please click on the link below. Confirmed guests on October 4th are Jan Banning and Lewis Bush. More soon.

My latest book about my neighbour Kid has been shortlisted for the 2018 Photobook Award at Rencontres d’Arles. Man Next Door examines the stigmatisation of the working class while offering a rare insight into the life of a working-class Utrecht boy.

Very proud on this bunch of students who just graduated from the Photography department at the Royal Academy of Art The Hague (KABK). With projects ranging from crooked cucumbers to the community in Junction Boulevard New York. Come and see their fascinating projects during the graduation festival. Follow the link for more information on the program.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This exclusive handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm) of a frozen vessel in Siberia is now available for only 148 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 30 June 2018.

The Spring Print of a frozen vessel is made early 2008 in the bend of river Angara that meanders through the Siberian city of Irkutsk. Irkutsk is the most important economic centre in East Siberia and famous for the Trans-Siberian Railway that stops here. Ten years ago, I travelled to the Russian Urals and Siberia, among other places, as part of my project 101 Billionaires. Far away from the glitter and glamour of Moscow, 101 Billionaires portrayed the vast majority of other Russia.

Update June 13, 2018: The Spring Print sold out.

Workshop for photographers, designers and storytellers who wish to learn how to construct and present long-term photography projects. This workshop is about creating freedom to do what YOU want to do: Make stories and present them in the way you wish by finding the right audience and funds. Sign up before March 30, 2018 via link below.

On Friday April 13, 2018 at 7 pm I will do a talk about The Sochi Project at the Museu Valencià de la Il·lustració i la Modernitat. Hope to see you there.

Very much looking forward to the 14th edition of the FOTODOK Book Club, starting at 8 pm on April 5, 2018 in Tivoli Vredenburg Utrecht. It promises to be an exciting evening with fabulous books made by Andrew Phelps & Paul Kranzler (The Drake Equation), Christian van der Kooij (Anastasiia) and Robin de Puy (Randy). Tivoli Vredenburg is located next to Utrecht Central Station. Buy your ticket via the link below.

I’ll do a public talk on The Sochi Project at the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) on 27 February 2018 from 18:30 until 20:00.

Three months ago, the book Man Next Door was launched during the opening of the exhibition of the same project at the Centraal Museum in Utrecht. It was a great kick off in the presence of many friends and family of my former neighbour Kid, the protagonist of the project. Since its launch, many media have paid attention to the work, from local television to national radio and international magazines. Newspapers such as De Volkskrant and Libération selected the book among their favourite photo books 2017. The book stock is running at its end and the exhibition is almost over. Only one more week, to be seen until 4 March in the Centraal Museum Utrecht.

Article at British Journal of Photography about the brand new MA Photography & Society starting in September 2018 and lead by Lotte Sprengers, Donald Weber, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin and myself (with others soon to be added): “Understanding and taking responsibility for the impact that an image can have once it is released into the world is a central focus of the MA”.

On Tuesday 13 February 2018 Pakhuis De Zwijger in Amsterdam organizes the live talk show Fotokroniek, focusing on contemporary documentary photography and storytelling through photo books. Guest are Donald Weber, Eddo Hartmann and Rob Hornstra.

Exhibition review in Dutch daily newspaper NRC: “Hornstra documented their close relationship and decided not to create a sentimental monument after Kid’s death. His life was not adequate for this due to its enormous sadness. Instead he gave him a great, dignified salute. In the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, this salute - Man Next Door - can now be seen in all its objective sensitivity.”

Article on Man Next Door featured on It’s Nice That: “Designed as both a publication and a scrolling timeline on Rob’s website, the photographs categorise his time spent with Kid from 2007 until his unfortunate passing in 2013. While some of Rob’s photographs are difficult to look at upon learning the full story of Kid’s unsettled life, being shocking never appears to be the aim. Instead, the subtle hints at someone unstable make you think about how easily life can spiral downwards from one misunderstanding or mistake.”

Interview and photo series Sochi Singers being featured on ALLACCESS-ONSTAGE, a digital platform focused on the visual side of music.

Book review by Joerg Colberg at Conscientious Photography Magazine: “Whatever you might want to say about Kid, he was a man in need, and when society was unable to provide for those needs, there was not going to be a happy ending. Seen that way, Man Next Door amplifies the humanism that underlies all of Rob’s work, a humanism a bit masked by the style of photography and the intensely smart storytelling, with its many different devices.”

There we go again! On February 1,2018 at 8 pm, the thirteenth edition of the FOTODOK Book Club takes place with wonderful guests AND we have moved again! In order to make the Book Club more accessible - also for visitors from outside Utrecht - we have decided to move to Tivoli/Vredenburg, a stone’s throw away from Utrecht Central Station. (Feels like a kind of coming home to me as I worked there for ten years as a bartender / host to finance my Photography studies and the start of my professional career.)

The books in this edition of the Book Club are about the aftermath of a conflict: The Egyptian Revolution in 2011 (As It May Be by Bieke Depoorter), The Bosnian War in the early nineties (Lost Takes by Tobias Bijl) and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Stone by Ad van Denderen). Of course, all books are available for viewing or buying and authors are there to sign your new acquisitions.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This exclusive handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm) of young wrestlers in Abkhazia is now available for only 145 euros excluding framing and shipping. Once the season is over, the image is no longer reprinted. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. This offer runs until 31 March 2018.

Wrestling is not only popular in the North Caucasus, but also in neighboring Abkhazia. These boys train in a room in the cultural centre of Tkuarchal. If they aspire to international competitions, the question remains whether they can ever participate under their own Abkhazian flag. The Olympics authorities have forbidden Abkhazian athletes from competing under their own colors.

Update February 9, 2018: The Winter Print sold out.

Three years ago I organised my first two-day workshop Do-it-yourself storytelling in my home town of Utrecht. The current exhibition of my new project Man Next Door in the Centraal Museum is a good occasion for a reprise. The workshop will take place in the Centraal Museum educational room adjacent to the Man Next Door exhibition. Both days will conclude with a guest lecturer’s contribution: On Friday Donald Weber will arrange a crash course in grant writing and on Saturday Arnold van Bruggen about online publishing. Afterwards drinks in a local pub.

The workshop is fully booked. Click on the link below to be placed on the waiting list.

Last week for The Sochi Project exhibition The Secret History of Khava Gaisanova and the North Caucasus in Rijksmuseum Twenthe. The Secret History of Khava Gaisanova paints a grim yet compelling picture of the North Caucasus. In 2007, Khava’s husband Mukhazhir disappeared, like so many men in the North Caucasus disappear – kidnapped, arrested or simply executed and buried in anonymous graves. In this exhibition, broadsheet newsprint photos are interspersed with framed photos, videos, wall texts and an award-winning publication.

Man Next Door chosen by French newspaper Libération amongst ten best photobooks of 2017. Please check out the link to view the full selection: “Sous les motifs d’accusation, se dessine alors un portrait tout en bosses, en bleus, en désespoir et en fantaisie. Il montre une autre facette des Pays-Bas, souvent perçus comme une vitrine de réussite sociale.”

I am very honoured that Dutch daily newspaper de Volkskrant has chosen Man Next Door as one of the best photo books of 2017. Please click on the link below to find the other selected titles.

Beautiful article (in Dutch) by Annabel van Heesbeen in the Utrecht newspaper DUIC (online and print), with a report of the opening of the exhibition.

Article written by Mark Moorman in Dutch daily newspaper de Volkskrant: How the addicted neighbour of photographer Rob Hornstra became his subject.

The next of the FOTODOK Book Club is on Thursday December 14th from 8 - 9:30 pm. For once, the location of the Book Club is the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, allowing visitors to also see my new exhibition Man Next Door between 7 and 8 pm (for free).
I am thrilled about the excellent line-up in this twelfth edition: Simon Roberts (UK) about a decade of British landscape photography in Merrie Albion, Mathieu Asselin (FR) about his Paris Photo First Book Award winning on Monsanto and Esther Hovers (NL) about intelligent surveillance systems in her promising first book False Positives. Jan Banning (Utereg) will introduce us to his new book Red Utopia in the returning item ‘Van Eigen Bodem’.

There seems to be only one minor downside: As far as I know the tickets already SOLD OUT. Bummer. Please send an email to FOTODOK for information and ticket requests.

Interview / article on Dutch VICE Creators: ‘In 2013 Kids dead body was found in a canal in Utrecht, but in the project Man Next Door he lives on with a wonderful message.’

Group photo in front of the giant snake wallpaper of (part of) friends and family who were present last Friday at the official opening and book launch of ‘Man Next Door’; a story about a typical Utrecht working class man. All of them received a free copy of the Family and Friends Edition, made possible by sixty people who pre-bought this edition last summer for a double price (paying for two copies). Thanks to all family and friends, thanks to all pre-buyers and thanks to the Centraal Museum for making this happen!

RTV Utrecht made a report on the opening of my new exhibition Man Next Door and broadcast the report in the 6 pm. news. You can scroll a little forward, it is the last item in the broadcast.

LIMITED TIME PRINT OFFER: This exclusive handmade analogue c-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in) of Kids house pet on his bed is temporarily available for only 145 euros excluding framing and shipping. This offer runs until 31 December 2017. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25.

My neighbour Kid – the subject of my new project Man Next Door – was a huge animal lover. He lost his beloved pit bull after it viciously attacked someone and had to be put down. When his wife left him, he stayed on in the house with his other great loves: two ball pythons named Kleintje and Pikachu. The snakes only needed food every 40 days. He usually fed them in their terrarium, but he also liked letting them loose on his sofa or bed where, if it was feeding time, he gave them live mice and rats. Kid never felt sorry for the rat: “Basically, he presses him to death immediately. More or less.”

Radio reporter Inge ter Schure came to Ondiep to talk about my new project Man Next Door. Beautiful item broadcasted in the VPRO radio program ‘Nooit Meer Slapen’.

Interview together with Kids sister Miep and his brother Reinier in the light of tomorrow’s book launch and exhibition opening Man Next Door at Centraal Museum in Utrecht.

Our exhibition The Sochi Project: Empty land, Promised land, Forbidden land about Abkhazia is on display until December 2, 2017 at Foto-Forum in Bolzano.

In addition to my own online shop, Man Next Door is currently also available in the following specialised bookshops (this list will be updated regularly):

AUSTRIA

• Bookshop Anzenberger Gallery, Vienna

BELGIUM

• FoMu Shop, Antwerp

FINLAND

• Luova.fi, Helsinki

FRANCE

• L’Ascenseur Végétal, Bordeaux

GERMANY

• Café Lehmitz, Köln
• Kominek Books, Berlin

INDONESIA

• Unobtainium, Bandung (online only)

ITALY

• Leporello, Roma
• Micamera Bookstore, Milano

NETHERLANDS

• FOAM, Amsterdam
• Huis Marseille, Amsterdam
• Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
• Photoq Bookshop, Amsterdam
• Boekhandel Hijman Ongerijmd, Arnhem
• Aleph Books, Utrecht
• Broese Boekverkopers, Utrecht
• Centraal Museum, Utrecht
• FOTODOK, Utrecht
• Steven Sterk, Utrecht
• Westerhof Boeken, Zwolle

UNITED KINGDOM

• Photobookstore.co.uk (online only)

POLAND

• PIX.HOUSE, Poznan

PORTUGAL

• Photobook Corner (online only)

SPAIN

• Dispara, Pontevedra

US

• photo-eye books, Santa-Fe (online only)
• Printed Matter, New York

Looking for CHRISTMAS CARDS and also tired of romantic white snowflakes, fairytale christmas trees or Rudolph the red nosed reindeer? The Sochi Project produced a leporello with six large size Christmas cards depicting Christmas decorations all over the Caucasus. In an attempt to make people think a little more about those places where people celebrate Christmas it in less fortunate conditions.

Together with Donald Weber we will be signing our new books Man Next Door and War Sand on Thursday, 9 November at 19:00 onboard the Polycopies bateau! Please join us during the Polycopies Book Fair. Our table is located on the lower deck, where throughout the weekend we’ll be offering free drinks and discounts.

Article written by Erik Vroons in collaboration with Simon Bainbridge for The British Journal of Photography about new book and exhibition Man Next Door.

Opening of the exhibition The Sochi Project: Empty land, Promised land, Forbidden land at foto-forum Bozen, Italy will take place on Tuesday October 24, 2017 at 7 pm. The opening will be followed by a talk about The Sochi Project at 8 pm.

Currently the exhibition The Secret History of Khava Gaisanova and the North Caucasus is on display at the Rijksmuseum Twenthe as part of the Fotomanifestatie Enschede until 7 January 2018. In 2007, Khava’s husband Mukhazhir disappeared, like so many men in the North Caucasus disappear – kidnapped, arrested or simply executed and buried in anonymous graves. The Secret History of Khava Gaisanova paints a grim yet compelling picture of the North Caucasus. Last week local newspaper Tubantia published an interview in connection with this exhibition.

I have just returned from Kaunas (Lithuania) where my book Man Next Door was printed. It is difficult to put into words how incredibly amazing it is to see years of work falling totally into place in a publication. Making a book is a wonderful yet exhausting process of endless decisions about editing, design, fonts, colors, papers, endpapers, head- and tail bands and endless more details that seem unimportant but can make or break a book at the end. I am incredibly happy with the modest and subtle design of -Syb- and the determined lithography and printing supervision of Colour & Books. Of course, many thanks to the large group of people who have already bought the book in advance. That too is desperately needed in order to be able to pay all invoices on time.

Until 7 January 2018, my work will be on display at the Rijksmuseum Twenthe in Enschede. This presentation is part of the Fotomanifestatie Enschede 2017 with exhibitions on various locations by Henk Wildschut, Bob Siers and Martin Roemers amongst others.

There it is! My first printed newsletter. I still have no clue on how to distribute this thing. But it looks great and that’s thanks to the amazing designer Serge Scheerpers (who also designed my website). For now, if you want a copy, try to find it. (Obviously, it is sent for free along with orders placed in the online store).

The pre-sale of my new book Man Next Door has started. Until the launch on 1 December 2017, the book can be ordered for the discount price of 35 euros. Shipping of the book will start in the second half of November. Please follow my Instagram account for a sneak peak of Man Next Door.

Update: Workshop is fully booked! No spots available anymore.
Workshop for photographers, designers and storytellers who wish to learn how to construct and present long-term photography projects. This workshop is about creating freedom to do what YOU want to do: Make stories and present them in the way you wish by finding the right audience and funds. Come to Bozen on October 21 and 22, 2017 and join me for an intensive two days. Tuition fee is €250.

It is nine years since the Russo-Georgian war took place, a war between Georgia, Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Writer Arnold van Bruggen and I have made a book and exhibition about Abkhazia, not so many people know that we also covered South Ossetia as part of the The Sochi Project. This month I am featuring a series of photos made in South Ossetia on my Instagram account. And yes, we also met president Eduard Kokoity, though he was pushed aside already several months later.

Due to summer holidays, my studio will be closed. Orders placed in my online store will be processed after August 7th, 2017.

For over ten years I have been working on Man Next Door, a new project that examines the stigmatisation of the working class while offering a rare insight into the life of a working-class Utrecht boy. I am very happy to announce that Man Next Door will be exhibited from December 2, 2017 until March 25, 3018 at the best conceivable place for this work: the Centraal Museum in Utrecht. Opening plus book launch will take place on Friday, December 1, 2017 at 3 pm. A pre-launch of the book might be organized during Paris Photo (if planning allows).

In order to be able to share free copies of the book Man Next Door to family and friends of Kid, I ask for your help. By purchasing a numbered copy (1-60) of the Family and Friends Edition with special dust jacket, you fund one extra copy that will be given free of charge to family and friends of Kid during opening of the exhibition in Centraal Museum. This way, you make it possible that all friends and family members can receive a free copy. As a thank you, your name will be mentioned in the colophon of the book.

Without doubt my favorite vodka-soaked evening while photographing Sochi Singers in 2011 was in restaurant Lilya in Lazarevskaya, where Dimitry Bum performed the song ‘Digi Digi’. Despite the English lyrics, the song is wildly popular all over the Caucasus. Actually, we have never heard the song outside the Caucasus. Please click on the link below to see a video of Dimitry performing ‘Digi Digi’.

Until October 1, 2017, an analogue handmade c-print of this work can be purchased for only 145 euros excluding framing and shipping. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. Once the season is over, the print will no longer be reprinted.

Every month I am featuring series of photos from my archive on Instagram. This summer month is the turn to Sochi Singers. In 2011 Arnold van Bruggen and I travelled to more than 60 restaurants over 100 miles of coastline to make 37 photos for the book Sochi Singers. Follow my Instagram account - not only to see the end result - but also to see some moving image and photos of how Sochi Singers in the end has been presented on billboards.

During the second half of this year two exhibitions are coming up showcasing work from The Sochi Project. From September 24, 2017 until January 7, 2018, the chapter about the North Caucasus The Secret History of Khava Gaisanova will be on display in Rijksmuseum Twenthe. Please follow the link below for more information on this exhibition. From October 24 until December 2, 2017, the chapter about Abkhazia Empty land, Promised land, Forbidden land will be shown at FotoForum Bozen. Details about this exhibition will follow later.

We have a great line up for the tenth edition of the FOTODOK Book Club, next Thursday, June 1 at 8 pm. Join us for exciting conversations with some of world’s best photobook makers and cold beers in the shadow of the Dom tower in Utrecht.
Magnum photographer Peter van Agtmael (Skype) talks about his new book Buzzing at the Sil, a sequel to Disco Night Sept. 11 that was shortlisted for the Paris Photo/Aperture Book Award and was named a Book of the Year by The New York Times Magazine, Time, Vogue and American Photo amongst others.
Awoïska van der Molen (NL) will talk about her new book Blanco, which is the successor of her previous and successful photo book Sequester. Van der Molen is nominated for this years prestigious Deutsche Börse Photography Prize.
Designer and publisher Rob van Hoesel will talk about the challenges of combining designing and publishing books. Van Hoesel founded his publishing house The Eriskay Connection in 2011. Their books have consistently earned a spot on ‘Best of the Year’ lists photo book collectors like so much.

By accident I stumbled into Cement Town in 2007, a small suburb of the East Siberian industrial city Angarsk. Several times I went to cultural center Druzhba, a dilapidated building in Cement Town that once must have been a great and sparkling Soviet palace. This girl was sitting next to the dance floor during the Friday night disco, while DJ Artiom played deafening electro-house for a crowd of 30 residents.

Until July 1, 2017, an analogue c-print of this work can be purchased for only 145 euros excluding framing and shipping. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. Once the season is over, the print will no longer be reprinted.

Six years ago, I left with a film crew from VICE to Sochi, where they followed me while working on a series about singers in restaurants. Before leaving they shot some bonus footage in the neighborhood where I lived, a working-class district in northwest Utrecht. At the time, I already worked for six years on a document about the district, not knowing where it would lead. Now, again six years later, part of that work is the foundation for Man Next Door, my next project that will be launched soon, featuring my neighbor Kid as protagonist. Kid no longer lives. In 2013 - at the age of forty two - he was found drowned in the Utrecht canal. The book, released in the fall of 2017, provides a unique insight into the laborious life of a resident in a working-class district yet at the same time raises questions about stigmatization in our society.

Soon more information about the project and the forthcoming pre-sale of the book. For now, please click the link below to see a short trailer that VICE shot in 2011 (3:30 minutes).

Finally! A freshly produced stack of billboards is available. Apologies to the orderers who had to wait for a few weeks. Collecting and packing billboards is way too much work, something we did not fully realize after designing. Please promise not to order too many in the upcoming months.

Following the quick sale of Winter prints, there were several requests if the work could be framed. The answer is yes. We looked for a durable system and an appropriate price. The additional cost for mounting on 1 mm aluminum and framing including anti-reflex, UV protective glass is 115 euros (including VAT). Shipping is not recommended due to the risk of breaking glass. Pick up from my studio in Utrecht is possible by appointment.

Of course you can also still order this analog c-print without framing. Better be quick. There are currently 4 prints left of the ballet class and 11 days to go.

With great pleasure I have been teaching for third consecutive year students of the ten-month-long intensive masterclass organized by Anzenberger Gallery. Please click on the link for more information on next year’s masterclass.

I am very proud to announce our third guest for the FOTODOK Book Club: Kirill Golovchenko. He is the eastern European answer to Martin Parr, a master in bright visual strategies and a dedicated and productive self-publisher. Come and get inspired by this extremely active and talented Ukrainian photographer. Take your English, German and Russian dictionary with you. Also in this Book Club: Henk Wildschut and Mariken Wessels.

I am very happy to announce the presence of Henk Wildschut and Mariken Wessels at the next FOTODOK Book Club on Thursday March 30, 3017. Henk will talk about his super fresh book Ville de Calais, on the growth and decline of an informal village in the French dunes. Mariken Wessels will talk about her brilliant Taking Off. Henry My Neighbour, a book on her neighbor’s obsession with amateur nude art. After multiple nominations and winning the Arles 2016 Book Award, the book got recently nominated for the Dutch Photobook Award. Third guest will be announced soon.

It was great pleasure and lots of fun to be in a jury for the Best Dutch Photobook Award 2015 - 2016, together with Edie Peters (chair), Merel Bem, Narda Van ‘t Veer, Bert Teunissen and Wannes Ketelaars. First mission: Bring 186 submitted books back to a selection of five nominations. In alphabetical order: Imperial Courts 1993-2015 by Dana Lixenberg, XXX by Bob Siers, Taking Off. Henry My Neighbour by Mariken Wessels, Vivace by Hanne van der Woude and Aeronautics in the Backyard by Xiaoxiao Xu.

Op maandagochtend 13 februari ben ik tussen 9:30 en 10:00 uur te gast bij het radioprogramma De Ochtend op Radio 1. Als u naar aanleiding van dit gesprek op de hoogte wilt blijven omtrent het aanstaande boek dat ik publiceer over mijn buurman, stuur dan een email naar studio@robhornstra.com. Ik neem contact met u op zodra er meer informatie beschikbaar is.

On Friday February 10, 2017 at 7pm I will talk about The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus at the Chocolate Factory in Bristol. And perhaps I show a glimpse of my new book, which will be launched later this year. Entrance is free for workshop participants.

The new season print is now available. Until April 1, 2017, an analogue c-print of this work can be purchased for only 145 euros excluding framing and shipping. The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. Once the season is over, the print will no longer be reprinted.

A little shout out for the Photography Department that I am responsible for together with Lotte Sprengers. Are you considering to study photography at the highest level, are you extremely ambitious and would you like to be taught by international acclaimed photographers? Come to the Open Day on Saturday January 28, 2017 to the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague for more information, presentations, portfolio reviews, master classes and more. Fulltime and part-time option. All courses are in English!

Together with The Sochi Project’s co-author Arnold van Bruggen I will teach a three-day workshop ‘How to make things happen’ in Luxembourg from July 14-16, 2017. The workshop is organized by Centre National de l’Audiovisuel (CNA), which explains the low registration fee and the fact that there is only one spot left. You’d better hurry if you want to participate this summer. Update: It is fully booked.

All spots for the workshop D.I.Y. Storytelling in collaboration with IC Visual Lab and Arnolfini museum in Bristol are reserved. Would you still like to participate, please sign up for the waiting list by sending an email to info@icvl.co.uk. Most likely a next workshop D.I.Y. Storytelling will be organized in Luxembourg this summer. Would you like to stay informed? Please send an email with your contact details to workshop@robhornstra.com.

Thank you all for attending the 8th edition of the FOTODOK Book Club and a special thank you to our guests Jack Latham, Laura Cnossen, Laia Abril (on Skype) and Jan Rosseel. Never want to be too late for a ticket next year? Annual subscription for four editions of the Book Club 2017 are now for sale via FOTODOK. Please check out sales information and dates via link below.

Today I am preparing the eighth edition of the FOTODOK Book Club. Two years ago I started this initiative in an effort to interest a broader audience for photobooks. Tonight, again, the venue sold out. One of the books in this edition is the wonderful Sugar Paper Theories of Jack Latham. The historical story about two murders in 1974 in Iceland not only tells a lot about the functioning of a scarcely populated country, but also touches on universal police investigation issues such as confessions under coercion, mass hysteria and scapegoating. A great book and not only for the small introverted photobook community. Signed copies are for sale tonight at FOTODOK.

In 2010 Arnold van Bruggen and I published a leporello containing six Christmas cards from The Sochi Project. The set was highly popular and quickly sold out. Since then, reprinting the Christmas cards was high on our wish list. For all kinds of reasons, we did not manage to organize it so far. But that has finally changed. Our new christmas card leporello is now available. While working on the new edit of the Christmas cards (which ultimately changed little compared to the previous one), we thought it could be nice to make some more sets. Not in the last place because we love postcards. Check them out and order them while you can.

After introducing my new website almost three weeks ago we made some changes, mainly to improve some foibles in the store. Most important issue: shipping costs. Some non Europeans found it rather expensive to pay € 18.00 shipping costs to receive one set of six picture postcards. Well, you are right. Sorry for the inconvenience. Costs have now dropped by eighty percent. I am very grateful to everyone who has tested my website and attempted to buy Christmas cards in my shop. Thank you all for your help and advice.

My first day to commemorate the Victory of the Great Patriotic War (WWII) took place on May 9, 2003 in Chelyabinsk. I had just landed for the first time in Russia and had no idea what was going to happen. Fortunately I had taken my large format camera that day in the hope that I could take some portraits on the streets. It happened to be a photographers paradise. Proud personalities in magnificent uniforms against wonderful backgrounds. I repeatedly had to change my films outside, with sweaty hands in a light-tight changing bag. Many of the portraits taken on that day - including this lady - ended up in my first book Communism & Cowgirls.

Until January 1, 2017, this analogue c-print can be purchased for only 145 euros (excluding frame and shipping). The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25.

Workshop for photographers, designers and storytellers who wish to learn how to construct and present long-term photography projects. This workshop is about creating freedom to do what YOU want to do: Make stories and present them in the way you wish by finding the right audience and funds. Come to Bristol on February 11th and 12th, 2017 and join me for an intensive two days. Tuition fee is €229 until December 19th, after is €275. Collaboration with IC Visual Lab and Arnolfini museum.

The Sochi Project, our comprehensive Caucasus Documentary in web doc, books, newspapers and exhibitions is chosen by an international selection of new media curators, decision makers, award-winning artists and producers for the IDFA DocLab Canon of Interactive Documentary. One of the goals is to ‘keep the many timeless masterpieces accessible to future generations’. We feel very honored.

My old website borotov.com is gone. I worked quite some time on my new website and expect it to be fully working before the end of the year. If you discover flaws, please let me know. Are you interested in such a great website yourself, please contact Serge Scheepers. Stories is of course the most important section on my website. All stories are newly edited and there is a great attention for books, exhibitions and media coverage. Simultaneously with the launch of this website, I will also start a new initiative called Photo Rental. Currently 72 works are offered for rental. That will be more than 100 before the end of the year. Given the high costs of shipping art overseas, this new initiative mainly focuses on the Netherlands and the surrounding countries.

Then this new Photo Rental might be the solution for you! Flexibility is key. Choose from over 100 works, from small to super large (175 x 210 cm). All works are framed. The rental price for small works up to 50 x 60 cm is € 9.50 per month, larger works are rented for only € 14.50 per month. Also a nice gift to others during holiday season.

“The idea of revolution has been co-opted by the right. The threat, in the form of Donald Trump’s ‘whitelash’ fascism, is not just apparent in the United States. Trump’s election has emboldened the right wing throughout Europe. …. With forthcoming elections in France, The Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe we cannot wait a single moment longer to register our fear but also our commitment to resist the voices of xenophobia, misogyny, racism, and intolerance.” Together with students from Royal Academy of Art in The Hague [KABK] and HfbK Hamburg, Adam Broomberg has set up a digital platform Hands Off Our Revolution to collectively express their concerns regarding the rise of right wing populism. Everyone is invited to participate by uploading imagery. Frieze wrote a short piece about it.

Right after my graduation in 2004 I started living and working in a district in Utrecht named ‘Ondiep’; a typical Dutch working-class neighborhood with a lot of unemployment. This is one of the portraits I took of my neighbor Kid. Kid was a very loyal guy and always keeping an eye on my belongings when I was traveling abroad. He lived on benefits and was not seldom in trouble with authorities. Since 2012, Kid’s situation was going down. He was using drugs again and shady characters were constantly occupying his house. In summer 2013 he was found dead in the Utrecht canal, according to police reports because of an epileptic attack.

Together with designer Sybren Kuiper, I am currently working on a book about Kid’s life.

Фотограф, которому запретили въезд в Россию, рассказывает о том, что делает Путин, об опасностях издательства авангардных фотокниг «за свой счёт» и недооцененных книжных проектах

I was interviewed by EFTI.tv when I was in Madrid last February for the opening of the exhibition Empty land Promised land, Forbidden land. The interview is now also available online.

On October 6, 2016 at 8pm, I will present the 7th edition of the FOTODOK Book Club in Utrecht. In addition to previously announced Nicoló Degiorgis, also Florian van Roekel, Xiaoxiao Xu and Rinske Former will talk about their latest books a.o. about why men build ornithopters in an attempt to fly. If you do not want to miss FOTODOK’s Book Club, please consider buying an annual subscription (as regular sold out).

‘The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ will be on display at Галерэя ЦЭХа as part of the Month of Photography in Minsk. This exhibition offers a glimpse into the North Caucasus and Sochi, two out of three explored regions within The Sochi Project. The exhibition is generously supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Visiting address and opening times: вул. Кастрычніцкая, 12:00 – 22:00.

Very happy that Nicolò Degiorgis is finally coming to the next FOTODOK Book Club on Thursday October 6 in Utrecht. I met Nicolò for the first time in 2014 at Vienna PhotoBook Festival. He rented a table to sell his fantastic debut book Hidden Islam. There was another book Oasis Hotel on the table. I asked about it and with a smile on his face, he explained that it would look so lean selling only one book. During the next FOTODOK Book Club we will talk about the success and impact of Hidden Islam, but also about his role as a publisher and curator of the latest book by Daisuke Yokota and Max Pinckers.

Роб Хорнстра привез на «Месяц фотографии в Минске» свой нашумевший «Проект Сочи» – «Атлас войны и туризма на Кавказе».

Organized by the Month of Photography in Minsk and financed by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, my two-day workshop Do-It-Yourself Storytelling for a selected group of Belarusian photographers took place on September 7 and 8, 2016. Stay tuned about future workshops by signing up for the newsletter.

I am pleasantly surprised by the fact that Belarus has decided to grant me a visa to attend the opening week of the Month of Photography in Minsk (MPM). The Sochi Project exhibition opening will take place on Tuesday September 6, 2016 at 7 pm at “CECH” Art Gallery. My Do-It-Yourself workshop for young Belarusian photographers will take place on 7 and 8 September. More information about both events can be found on the website of MPM.

The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus continues traveling: Early september the exhibition will be part of the Month of Photography in Minsk. In collaboration with initiator Andrei Liankevich and together with my intern Folkert Koelewijn I am currently finetuning the design for CECH Art Space in Minsk. Will keep you updated!

Many thanks to Edmund Clark and Aperture’s Lesley Martin for their contributions to the FOTODOK Book Club, my live talk show about books in Utrecht. Negative Publicity: Artefacts of Extraordinary Rendition is without a doubt one of the most impressive books of 2016. It shows how our Western societies violates basic human rights on a large scale and in a coordinated manner.

All publications produced within The Sochi Project will be on display at SELF PUBLISH RIGA during the Riga Photomonth 2016.

On June 9th I will present the next edition of the Fotodok Book Club. Very happy to announce the first guests, who will talk about their new publications: Thomas Manneke on Amsterdam and Arthur Bondar on Shadows of Wormwood. The Book Club takes place on Wednesdays June 9 from 8pm-9.30pm at Het Utrechts Archief, Hamburgerstraat 2 in Utrecht.

Sometimes you want to be somewhere, but your agenda doesn’t allow. My close colleagues Arnold van Bruggen and Anoek Steketee were doing a workshop in Riga about Long-term Documentary Projects: how to make an impact, find an audience and get the best results. I could only join them virtually on Sunday for one hour.

Very happy to announce the next FOTODOK Book Club on April 13, 2016 with Eddo Hartmann, Anne Geene, Arjan de Nooij, Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin. The FOTODOK Book Club is organized four times a year and takes place at ‘Het Utrechts Archief, Hamburgerstraat 28, Utrecht. Please follow the link below for more information and pre-ordering of tickets.

El fotógrafo holandés Rob Hornstra muestra su obra documental de cinco años sobre la posguerra en la república de Abjazia

An excerpt from The Sochi Project will be exhibited at EFTI in Madrid from March 4 - April 10, 2016. This exhibition offers a glimpse of Abkhazia, one of the three explored regions within The Sochi Project.

Address EFTI: C/Fuenterrabia 4, 6 Y 13. Madrid (Spain)

Common Sense(s), features a compilation of photozines and related ephemera by over 50 artists. Curated by CPW’s Juan Madrid and artist Carlos Loret de Mola, the exhibition examines what constitutes a “zine” in contemporary photographic practice.

In connection with the opening of The Sochi Project exhibition in Kaunas, Arnold and I were interviewed - together with curator Mindaugas Kavaliauskas - on Lithuanian LRT Kultura television. Parts are in English.

A large exhibition of all three regions including travel journal of The Sochi Project - organized by Kaunas Photo - will be on display at the Mykolas Žilinskas Art Gallery (M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum) in Kaunas, Lithuania. Mindaugas Kavaliauskas, director of KAUNAS PHOTO festival emphasizes that “The Sochi Project’s” is an unmatched success in the world of today’s art photography and independent book publishing. The exhibition will finish with a guided tour by Mindaugas Kavaliauskas. on February 21, 2016.

Very proud that our Sochi Singers billboards are included in the ‘DIY Photobook Manual and Manifesto’ by Bruno Ceschel (Self Publish Be Happy) and published by Aperture. The book offers a do-it-yourself manual and a survey of key examples of self-published success stories, as well as a self-publishing manifesto and list of resources. A must have for everyone who is interested in the photobook world or even considers to self-publish a book.

I love photobooks and I love end-of-the-year lists. Since two years I started publishing my own list of favorite photobooks. First two editions were published on Facebook. This year you can follow my count down on Instagram.

​On Friday December 4, 2015 at 11.00 am I will do a lecture at Kriterion Sarajevo, Obala Kulina bana, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnië en Herzegovina. Please follow link for more information.

​’The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ will be on display at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts as part of Delhi Photo Festival.

​On Sunday November 8, 2015 at 2.30 pm I will do a lecture at Centre Céramique, Avenue Céramique 50, 6221 KV Maastricht. Please follow link for more information.

Do-It-Yourself Storytelling workshop taking place in Delhi, end of October 2015 during the Delhi Photo Festival. This two-day workshop focusses on how to understand the current media market (magazines, books, exhibitions, grants, etc.) and dos & don’ts in self-publishing and crowd funding. How can you create the stories you want in your own voice? Learn to see opportunities and make your future.

Signed copies of the second edition of ‘An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ are now available for purchase in our online store.

​My next Do-It-Yourself Storytelling workshop will take place in Zagreb, during the highly interesting Organ Vida Photo Festival. This two-day workshop focusses on how to understand the current media market (magazines, books, exhibitions, grants, etc.) and dos & don’ts in self-publishing and crowd funding. How can you create the stories you want in your own voice? Learn to see opportunities and make your future.

Early bird sign up including festival t-shirt and bag: 190 euro (until July 3, 2015).

I am very honored to be appointed as member of the World Press Photo Supervisory Board. From the press release: “The journalistic field in which World Press Photo operates is in the middle of major changes. New techniques and, above all, changing revenue models have had a great impact on the profession. For photojournalists who are open to new ideas, these circumstances offer great opportunities. We can seize these uncertain times to redefine photojournalism. I think it’s wonderful that World Press Photo—led by Lars Boering—intends to take a leading role in that debate.”

​Interview at online PHOTOGRVPHY.com.

​Ballet Russes presented by Robert Morat Gallery at Photo London, Somerset House.

Together with Lotte Sprengers, I will take charge of the photography department as of 1 May 2015 at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. We will succeed the illustrious Corinne Noordenbos. Following a long teaching career, Corinne will retire on 10 April. We plan to make the excellent quality of the KABK more visible to the outside world and become more international.

Our exhibition ‘The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ is extended until 30 April 2015. Please watch video for an impression and click the link below for address info and opening hours.

​Review of our book ‘An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ on Disphotic by Lewis Bush.

​For the first time in Utrecht, Netherlands. My two-day workshop focusses on how to understand the current media market (magazines, books, exhibitions, grants, etc.) and dos & don’ts in self-publishing and crowd funding. How can you create the stories you want in your own voice? Learn to see opportunities and make your future. SOLD OUT.

​Interview and portfolio The Sochi Project in doc! Photo Magazine. Please click on the link below to read in ISSUU.

​Join me for a two-day workshop in Barcelona, Spain at the end of February 2015. Learn how to understand the current media market (magazines, books, exhibitions, grants, etc.), how to self-publish a book and how to create the stories you want in your own voice. Learn to see opportunities and make your future. 
SOLD OUT.

​Please join us for a lecture on Wednesday, a round table conversation on Thursday, a workshop on Friday and Saturday and a small exhibition at CFD Barcelona.

​On Friday January 30, 2015, Donald Weber will do a lecture on two of his recent projects: Barricade and War Sand. After this I will have a conversation with him about independent storytelling, photography, creative solutions for financing long term projects, and much more

​The Sochi Project runs a table at the Stedelijk Museum Book Fair with some discount offers, rare books and special editions. On Sunday at 12.15 there will be a live conversation with me, followed by a signing

Cover and interview by Bill Kouwenhoven about five years Sochi Project, crowdfunding, self-publishing.

Interview/article about The Sochi Project in connection with exhibition in Center for Contemporary Art in Warsaw featured in Polish newspaper Gazeta

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Exhibition ‘The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ on display at the Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw. Opening on December 6, 6 pm.

I will do a lecture about the phenomenon of Best-Photobook-Of-The-Year-lists and the madness around it. I will demonstrate how easy it is to get your book in the top of these rankings by following a few golden rules. For lovers of lists he will also introduce two new rankings: “The Most Overrated Photobook of the Year and the Most Neglected Photobook of the Year​”

​Our traveling exhibition ‘The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ is now on display at the Former Spanish Ambassador’s Residence 2801 16th St NW Washington, DC, 20009 United States as part of FotoDC.

On Monday October 27, 2014, I will do a talk about The Sochi Project at the vfg Bildersoirée in Zurich. Start presentation 19.30pm. Location: Keystone Foyer, Grubenstrasse 45, 8045 Zürich.

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My next workshop will be in Brighton, UK, organized by The Miniclick Photography Talks and simultaneously with the Brighton Photo Fringe Festival and the Brighton Photo Biennial. Enough reasons to spend your Autumn break in the south of England. My two-day workshop focusses on how to understand the current media market (magazines, books, exhibitions, grants, etc.) and dos & don’ts in self-publishing and crowd funding. How can you create the stories you want in your own voice? Learn to see opportunities and make your future​

On Thursday October 9, 2014 at 6 pm I will be giving a lecture at The Lucerne School of Art and Design Baselstrasse 61b, 3006 Lucerne from 6:00-7:30 pm. Entrance is free, you only need to register.

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Exhibition ‘Ballet Russes’ at Robert Morat Galerie in Hamburg (Germany). I will join the opening on September 12.​

​’The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ is part of the exhibition ‘On the Move: Storytelling in Contemporary Photography and Graphic Design.’ It is the latest edition of the Proposals for Municipal Art Acquisitions that the museum organizes every two years. Opening on 28 August 2014 from 7.30 - 10.00 pm

Interview on Dutch National Radio 1 together with writer Arnold van Bruggen.

​Join me for a two-day workshop in Cortona, a beautiful town in the middle of Tuscany, Italy. Learn over a two-day workshop how to understand the current media market (magazines, books, exhibitions, grants, etc.), how to self-publish a book and how to create the stories you want in your own voice. Learn to see opportunities and make your future.

The exhibition ‘An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ will be on display at Vecchio Ospedale (via Maffei 16) Cortona from July 17 until September 28 as part of Cortona on the Move Festival. Together with Arnold I will be doing a talk on Sunday July 20 at 11 am at the Teatro Signorelli.​

The exhibition ‘An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ will be on display at the magnificent City Assembly House in Dublin from July 5 until July 27 as part of PhotoIreland. Opening on July 4 at 7 pm.

​Many ambitious photographers are conservative when it comes to presenting their projects, offering their work—often free of charge—to newspapers, magazines, or book publishers. They put their fate in the hands of others and wait. That’s unnecessary. This workshop’s main objective is to help students become liberated photographers and publishers, ready to begin sharing their stories with the world

​On Thursday 26, June at 5:00 pm I will do a talk during the French Festival International du Livre d’Art et du Film (FILAF) in Perpignan, where our book ‘An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ is included in the official selection for a FILAF Award 2014

​On Wednesday June 18, 2014 at 6.30 pm I will do a talk at the Lumix Festival for Young Photojournalism. Next day at 11 am I will be in a panel about crowdfunding

​On Sunday June 15, 2014 at 11 am. I will do a talk at the Photo Book Festival in Vienna.

The Sochi Project has won the Dutch Doc Photo Award 2014. From the jury: “They were facing huge obstacles and resistance, but nevertheless realized an impressive project. Extremely broad in scope, with a large amount of historical and cultural information about an unknown part of the world that rarely hits the news.”

In Conversation: Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen on The Sochi Project at Aperture Gallery and Bookstore, 547 West 27th Street, New York, NY. Please follow link for more information.​

​A gold medal for the fourth annual publication within The Sochi Project ‘The Secret History of Khava Gaisanova’ and a silver medal for the final publication ‘An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ at the European Design Awards 2014. Big congrats to our designers Kummer & Herrman

Exhibition ‘Women and Work’ including the

The fourth annual publication within The Sochi Project ‘The Secret History of Khava Gaisanova’ is chosen as one of the winners at the PDN Photo Annual 2014 (book category). Please click the link below for more information or to order the book.

​Exhibition focussing on portraits of women at work in Flatland Gallery Amsterdam. Never shown before: ‘Ballets Russes’, a series about young girls with big dreams. Opening Saturday May 17, 5-7 pm. Address: Lijnbaansgracht 312 - 314, Amsterdam.

Exhibition ‘The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ on display at CONTACT Gallery Toronto, 80 Spadina Ave Ste 310. Opening and introduction on Saturday May 3, 2-5 pm.​

Many ambitious photographers are conservative when it comes to presenting their projects, offering their work—often free of charge—to newspapers, magazines, or book publishers. They put their fate in the hands of others and wait. That’s unnecessary. This workshop’s main objective is to help students become liberated photographers and publishers, ready to begin sharing their stories with the world.​

​In Conversation: Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen on The Sochi Project at UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art, 322 Union Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. Organized by Aperture Foundation. Please follow link for more information

Very proud and happy that The Sochi Project is shortlisted for the Dutch Doc Award. Award Ceremony on June 10, 2014 in Amsterdam (Tropenmuseum)​

Exhibition ‘The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ now at Noorderlicht Fotogalerie in Groningen (NL).

A collector’s edition of ‘AnAtlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ is now available at the online store of The Sochi Project. Limited to 25 copies.​

In 2010 we published a newspaper annex DIY exhibition ‘On the other side of the mountains’ about an insignificant village named Krasny Vostok (The Red East). Last year we went back. Our updated story on how The Red East turns Green is now featured on Landscape Stories.

I’ll be doing a seminar / mini-workshop in Chicago on Saturday January 18, 10.00 am - 1.00 pm. Location: DePaul Art Museum, 935 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL 60614 Fee: $75. Please follow the link for more info and to register.​

Please follow this link for an updated press/agenda list in connection with The Sochi Project.

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​This workshop is about what we all desire as storytellers and photographers: Freedom. Learn to see opportunities and make your future.

Lecture at Frontline Bratislava. Location: Kontakt, Ventúrska 12, 81101 Bratislava, SK​

Overview exhibition ‘An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ at Fotohof Salzburg. Opening Thursday January 30, 2014 at 7 pm.​

​I will be guest at the Live Talkshow FotoTorpedo (by Mark Moorman and Nienke Denekamp) in Torpedo-theater Amsterdam (Sint Pieterspoortsteeg 33).

Exhibition at DePaul Art Museum in Chicago covered by local Fox News TV.

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The Sochi Project largely covered in Swiss daily newspaper NZZ Am Sonntag (10 pages).

The Sochi Project article featured in Helsingborgs Dagblad.

​The Sochi Project covered by Daily Mail.

The Sochi Project ‘An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ has been nominated for the Dutch Canon prize for Innovative Journalism.

​In connection with the exhibition opening at De Paul Art University an interview by Paul Biasco at DNA Info Chicago.

Join us for the Opening Reception / Lecture / Book Signing of “The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus at DePaul Art Museum, 935 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL 60614. Friday January 17, 18.00 - 20.30 pm.

​In connection with the opening of The Sochi Project exhibition at De Paul Art Museum an interview by Nari Safavi on Chicago Radio program WBEZ’s Worldview Weekend Passport.

Interview about The Sochi Project on National Public Radio (US) ‘Here and Now’.

​Article about The Sochi Project featured in Czech newspaper Tyden.

​On Sunday 12 January 2014, 15 pm. I will do a talk in NRC restaurant about the exhibition Golden Years, which is currently on display at Huis Marseille Amsterdam. More info and tickets, please follow the link below.

​The Sochi Project slideshow ‘Strand, Tanz und Bürgerkrieg’ on Stern.de

Extensive covering / presentation of The Sochi Project in French daily newspaper Le Monde.

​Book ‘An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ highlighted in Saturday annex of Dutch daily newspaper Trouw.

Article by Damian Zimmerman about The Sochi Project in Austrian daily newspaper Der Standard.

Comparing review about exhibitions in Huis Marseille AMsterdam and FoMu Antwerp by Sterre Sprengers.

​The Sochi Project featured on independent American news website Mother Jones: “Forget Vladimir Putin’s Olympic Fantasy and Check Out the Real Sochi This brilliant new photobook chronicles everyday life in the Caucasus.”

Interview about The Sochi Project in Canadian La Press: ‘Sotchi: palmiers et misère dans une poudrière’.

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‘The Secret History of Khava Gaisanova’ has been selected as one of the best photo books of 2013 at photo-eye magazine.

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Exhibition review by Merel Bem in Dutch daily newspaper De Volkskrant.

One hour interview on Dutch national radio. Looking back on the bilateral Dutch-Russian Friendship Year and The Sochi Project. Please follow the link to listen (in Dutch).

​’The Secret History of Khava Gaisanova’ has been selected by Joerg Colberg from Conscientious Photography Magazine as one of his favourite photobooks of 2013.

Interview by Mark Moorman in dutch daily newspaper Het Parool: ‘Fotograaf Rob Hornstra (38) zat opeens in het midden van een diplomatieke storm. Een Moskouse tentoonstelling werd afgelast en een Russisch visum geweigerd. En hij werd ook nog eens vader, dus waar hebben we het eigenlijk over?’​

​Sochi Singers: ‘The Beautiful And Bizarre Faces Of Russia’s Restaurant Singers’ featured in Huffington Post.

​The Sochi Project ‘Sotchi: la guerre et les jeux’ on French website Slate.fr

Interview by Tina Remiz on IdeasTap, a creative network: ‘Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen on the Sochi Project, about crowdfunding and working across different platforms…

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An overview exhibition of my work in Russia 2003 – 2013 will be for the first time on display at Huis Marseille Amsterdam.

Sean O’Hagan in The Guardian: ‘The Sochi Project is an incredible piece of journalism, both visual and written, and a glimpse of the medium’s future.’​

Article about The Sochi Project and our latest book featured in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

​’The Real Sochi: What you won’t see on TV when you tune into Russia’s Winter Olympics.’ Extensive slideshow on foreignpolicy.com.

Interview by Edo Dijksterhuis for Dutch cultural magazine Zuiderlucht.

​Slideshow from our new book ‘An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ featured on The New Yorker Photo Booth.

​Work from Sochi featured in a seven-page article in Financial Times.

On Friday November 15 at 16 PM I will sign our new book ‘An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus’ at Aperture’s booth E22. On Saturday November 16 at 16 PM at Flatlands booth (C33) I will sign the new book and Flatland has some out-of-print books, which will be for sale during this signing. Flatland Gallery will also present recent works from The Sochi Project. Sunday November 17 at 11 AM I will talk about The Sochi Project at a conference at Le Bal (6, Impasse de la Défense, Paris).​

Interview about The Sochi Project in German Welt Am Sonntag.

​Article about Sochi Singers and the book at Phaidon’s website. There is a limited number of signed copies of ‘Sochi Singers’ available at www.thesochiproject.org/shop.

Please follow the link to read an extensive report (+ video) from the talk we did at the Frontline Club London on November 1, 2013.

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Please follow the link below to read an interview in the Art Newspaper Russia.

​Please follow the link to view an interview with Rob and also a short impression of the exhibition at FoMu Antwerp.

Interview / review about The Sochi Project and the overview exhibition in FoMu Antwerp.

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​The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus at FoMu Antwerp (Belgium). Opening Thursday October 24, 2013 at 20 PM.

​Our new website www.thesochiproject.org is nominated for the IDFA Doclab Awards 2013.

Short piece about cancelled exhibition in Saturday supplement of nrc.next.

​Online slideshow of the cancelled exhibition at Winzavod Moscow now at Lenta.ru

We cordially invite you to an alternative opening of The Sochi Project’s cancelled exhibition in Moscow. This alternative opening will take place simultaneously in the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam (Pleinfoyer) and the Sakharov Centre in Moscow on Friday, 18 October at 5pm (7pm in Moscow). 

Together with our Russian partners, we want to use these parallel events to make a statement against the cancelled exhibition and the denial of our visas, and for the dissemination of our alternative story about the Olympic Games in Russia. We sincerely hope that you can join us: the more people, the more powerful our alternative story, in the Netherlands, Russia and beyond. 

Please download PDF for more information.

We cordially invite you to an alternative opening of The Sochi Project’s cancelled exhibition in Moscow. This alternative opening will take place simultaneously in the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam (Pleinfoyer) and the Sakharov Centre in Moscow on Friday, 18 October at 5pm (7pm in Moscow).

Together with our Russian partners, we want to use these parallel events to make a statement against the cancelled exhibition and the denial of our visas, and for the dissemination of our alternative story about the Olympic Games in Russia. We sincerely hope that you can join us: the more people, the more powerful our alternative story, in the Netherlands, Russia and beyond.

Please download PDF for more information.

Izvestia writes about the alternative exhibition at Sakharov center, including installation shots.

Interview about refused exhibition, shadow opening , visa problems and more at Snob.ru

Article about Dutch - Russian Friendship Year and alternative exhibition openings in Amsterdam and Moscow in Dutch daily newspaper Het Parool.

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Article about visa refusal and cancelled exhibition in Swedish daily Helsingborgs Dagblad.

Extensive interview about The Sochi Project, visa problems and the upcoming exhibitions in Winzavod and FoMu.

Article by Arnold van Bruggen: A preview of a retrospective on the Sochi 2014 Games…

Властям России не понравился “Проект Сочи” Россия отказала в визе двоим голландским журналистам, авторам масштабного проекта под названием The Sochi Project

Роб Хорнстра: «Русские “пять минут” — это как минимум день»

Photojournalist Denied Entry Into Russia, Allegedly Due to Disparaging Project

The Moscow Times: Dutch Journalist Says Denied Entry for Sochi Reporting

Russia denies visa to Dutch journalist awarded for Sochi Project

Interview by Elizabeth Kiem: A Potemkin Village for an Olympic Home

On national television daily news show ‘1 Vandaag’.

Мы стали первыми журналистами, которых не пустили в Россию

Together with Arnold van Bruggen in live talkshow Pauw & Witteman (Dutch)

Daily news program on national TV.

Автора «Проекта Сочи» не пустили в Россию. Роб Хорнстра стал первым голландским фотографом, которому отказали в визе с момента распада СССР

Extensive interview in Volkskrant V about The Sochi Project and visa problems.

Calvert Journal: Russian authorities refuse to renew Dutch journalist’s visa.

The Sochi Project almost comes to an end. Together with photography critic and writer Jörg Colberg, we will reflect on five years of the Sochi Project. The new website will also be officially launched during the presentation. Please all come to in the Livingroom at Unseen Photo Fair Amsterdam (Westergasfabriek) on Saturday September 28, 2013 from 15.45 - 16.30 PM.

On Friday eptember 27, 2013 at 17 PM I will be in a public interview hosted by Caroline von Courten at Unseen Photo Fair Amsterdam. Please follow the link for more info and tickets.

New work from The Sochi Project will be shown at the Flatland Gallery, booth 19 at Unseen Photography Fair Amsterdam (Westergasfabriek). All available books and more will be available at The Sochi Project’s table at Unseen Book Market.

On Sunday August 11, 2013 at 6 PM, I’ll do a talk about The Sochi Project at Boreal Bash in Toronto. Location: Ciro’s pub and restaurant on Bloor West.

This workshop is about what we all desire as storytellers and photographers: Freedom. Freedom creates opportunity. Opportunity makes your future. As photographers, Rob Hornstra and Donald Weber have each found their own vision of freedom, creating significant bodies of work in their own way. Learn from both Rob and Don over a two-day workshop how to understand the current media market (magazines, books, exhibitions, grants, etc.) and bypass it altogether, allowing you to create the stories you want in your own voice. Learn to see opportunities and make your future. Sold out.

Game changer: The Sochi Project tells the real stories of Russia’s new Olympic region. The eyes of the world will turn on Sochi when it hosts the 2014 Winter Olympics. Since 2009, The Sochi Project, a slow-journalism initiative founded by Dutch duo Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen, has sought out the stories behind the spectacle and scandal of the Games