Amsterdam – New York: Transnational photographic exchange in the era of globalization

Abstract

This article examines the impact of globalization on the urban imaginary in relation to two recent photography exhibitions – one held in Amsterdam and the other in New York City – which were designed as transatlantic mirror events to celebrate the 400-year anniversary of the Dutch ‘discovery’ of Manhattan. Registering a long history of transnational exchange between the two cities, the exhibitions invited a group of New York artists to photograph Amsterdam and a group of Dutch artists to photograph New York. Both exhibitions claimed that seeing the city from these outsider perspectives enabled new and surprising photographs capable of challenging established images of both cities. Interrogating this claim, the article analyses individual artworks and artists, the marketing and staging strategies of the exhibitions, and the urban branding campaigns with which the events were associated.