Casper Kofi

/VISUAL ART/

Casper is a self-taught Dutch-Ghanaian photographer mainly working in fashion. Kofie focuses on the representation of cultural diverse male identity and uses portraiture and fashion photography with collaging techniques in order to explore male identity and the ways in which this is expressed. Kofi’s vibrant and colourful work offers diverse yet intimate vignettes of his subjects that often communicate a nostalgic aesthetic. Through the deliberate interplay between distinctive lighting and selective casting, his work paradoxically brings together intimate settings and theatrical qualities, highlighting the vulnerabilities of his subjects as strengths.

PRESENTING

SELECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY WORKS
Taking inspiration from writer Edouard Glissant who insists on opacity as a strategy for the survival of Black people, much of Kofi’s work is informed by his interest in embracing and emphasising intimacy and opacity. He looks for ways to create work that allows my subjects to be opaque, to not be completely understood and defined. A more introspective approach to imagining and representing men, especially Black men or boys on their way to adulthood. Through experiments with color and light, layering and combining images and using different transparencies to reveal or disguise information, Kofi has explored ways to bring in elements of abstraction to encourage viewers to interpret the work more freely.



Stimulating and facilitating top talent with affordable living and working space, a budget, and a network – that is the goal of the 3Package Deal. This successful program of the Amsterdam Fund of the Arts (AFK) and Bureau Broedplaatsen in collaboration with renowned Amsterdam institutions is now regarded as the best practice in the field of talent development.



The Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK) invests in the arts which enrich the experience of life in the city of Amsterdam. The AFK encourages the quality, dynamism and diversity of the arts in Amsterdam, and contributes to the city's strong and richly varied cultural climate. The fund is available to all disciplines within the cultural sector, for cultural organizations and artists. The AFK supports both experimentation and proven quality, established organizations and those that are relatively new, the professional arts and amateur arts - from every district of the city. As a metropolitan cultural fund, the AFK offers support to high-quality cultural activities, it functions as a booster for the arts within the city and is an investor in a sustainable future for the cultural sector.



Bureau Broedplaatsen is part of the municipality of Amsterdam. Its task is to realize more affordable studios and (residential) workspaces for artists and incubator groups. Bureau Broedplaatsen does this in collaboration with target group organisations, city districts, central services, corporations, real estate agents, developers, and banks.

We thank our partners, the renowned Amsterdam cultural institutions listed below who take part in the 15 coalitions that select the participating artists and provide them with guidance and a supportive network. They are of vital importance to the program.

Film and Interactive Media: Filmacademie / IDFA / EYE / Fashion: HTNK / OSCAM / AMFI Visual Art: FOAM / Rietveld Academie / De Appel Arts Centre / Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam / Kunstverein / Rijksakademie / Engaged Art: Veem House of Performance / De Balie / De Ateliers / Urban Realm: NDSM-Werf / Over het IJ Festival / Das Arts (AHK) / Theatre: Academie voor Theater en Dans/ Amerpodia / Theater Bellevue / Dance: ICK Artist Space / Frascati Theater / AHK / SNDO (AHK Dans) / Music: Conservatorium Amsterdam / Muziekgebouw aan het IJ / Melkweg / Cabaret: Academie voor Theater en Dans / De Kleine Komedie / Amsterdams Kleinkunst Festival / Interhistoricity: Oude Kerk / Museum van Loon / H401 / Reinwardt Academie / Publishing Performance: Werkplaats Typografie (ArtEz) / If I Can’t Dance / Sandberg Instituut – Critical Studies / Social Design: Waag / Hackers&Designers / Framer Framed / Self-taught: Likeminds / Theater Bellevue / Theater De Meervaart / Bio Art and Design: Waag / Mediamatic/ VU Amsterdam

Event credits:

Curated by Bogomir Doringer.
Event production by Rafael Kozdron.
Felix Meritis production by Rivka van der Berg.
Press contact: Charlie Thole (AFK.
Project leaders: Johanna Brils (AFK) and Naïma Bouchtaoui (Bureau Broedplaatsen).