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.

Local internet newspaper DUIC features the exhibition Man Next Door.

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.

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).

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.