After a day with 10 inspiring speakers, entrepreneurs, farmers, scientists, a world-renowned pastry chef, thinkers, and doers, we take a short walk with more than 200 guests from LantarenVenster to Pakhuis Santos, the new home of the National Museum of Photography (Nederlands Fotomuseum), for an exclusive preview of the Good Food exhibition.
"Photography can be many things, from documentation and testimonies to stories, messages, beauty, and other possible realities. It is all in this exhibition."
Zippora Elders TahaleleGeneral and Artistic Director of the Nederlands Fotomuseum.
Frits Gierstberg
“What I find beautiful is that Sies does not position himself against the photographic tradition but finds his own way to continue it. However, Sies does not employ his documentary style to tell us about what is far removed from us in an economic, social, or cultural perspective (which is also a tradition in photography), but rather brings places, people, and situations closer in a subtle way. Whether that be in Uganda or Romania. For me, his portraits and accompanying landscapes are introductions through the image. The camera’s gaze is a balanced, calm, ‘natural’ gaze, which facilitates perception in such a way that it is as if I, the viewer, am standing there myself. The camera is positioned at a carefully calculated distance and height, the choice of lens excludes any visual spectacle, and the light is exclusively natural, present light. The subjects are at ease, at home or in a familiar workplace, which gives their narratives a natural and therefore authentic character. In the landscapes, I can imagine my own presence without much difficulty. I see people—positioned by the photographer as strategically as they are casually—standing or sitting opposite me in a friendly, open, and sometimes even vulnerable manner, telling their stories to me candidly and honestly (not everything they do succeeds, as it turns out).
As a result, this work aligns so beautifully for me with the demands and expectations of our time: human, unhurried, engaged, and open to dialogue.”
Frits Gierstberg
Art historian, curator, researcher, and writer.
Frits Gierstberg is the curator of the exhibition Good Food: A Journey Through the World of Food and Resilience
Photocredits preview ©Fred Ernst Fotografie
Photocredits preview ©Fred Ernst Fotografie
Photocredits preview ©Fred Ernst Fotografie
On June 9, 2026, Ruud Sies and Hanneke van Hintum launched the Resilience Food Stories project with the seminar Good Food and the preview of the Good Food exhibition in the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The exhibition is on view from June 12 to November 1, 2026
Photocredits preview ©Fred Ernst Fotografie