Unseen Photo Fair closed its doors on Sunday 23 September with reports of strong sales and a high level of gallerist and visitor satisfaction. With the collectors and institutions visiting Amsterdam's new photo fair from the Middle East, South America, across Europe and the USA, Unseen was an international success.

Expectations were exceeded

Over 22,000 visitors came to Unseen, far exceeding the expectations of the organisers. The optimistic atmosphere of the opening night lasted to the end, aided by the ‘spoke’ system of booth layout by designers Müller van Tol within Westergasfabriek’s Gashouder building. Large numbers of visitors were also reported at the Fashion! exhibition and the launch of the Foam Magazine Talent issue. The first winner of the Unpublished Dummy Award was also announced at Offprint Amsterdam during Unseen - congratulations Shinji Otani!

© Tue Juelsbo

Fair directors Marloes Krijnen, Pjotr de Jong and Roderick van der Lee commented: "We could not be happier with how the initial Unseen Photo Fair has gone, and are very grateful to the four parties of the Blockbusterfonds (the BankGiro Loterij, the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, the VSBFonds and the VandeEnde Foundation) and especially, the winners of the BankGiro Loterij for exchanging their vouchers for works of the Unseen Collection. We would also like to thank the City of Amsterdam and, of course, the Westergasfabriek for making Unseen possible. The standard of works in the galleries was exceptional, enticing collectors and a public from afar and bolstering a shared festival atmosphere. We are already looking forward to the next edition of Unseen!"

Press also positive about Unseen 2012

The international press applauded for Unseen. For example, Germany’s Der Tagespiegel said: “Unseen could establish itself as a fair for new discoveries”. The French Le Figaro described the design of the fair as “clean, efficient and ergonomic”, going on to say that “the first Unseen Photo Fair captures the zeitgeist and shows… A new generation of artists.” Similarly, Belgium’s De Morgen emphasised the efforts that the fair has made to open photography out to a wide public, be that by including the Unseen Collection, or by the series of talks by people such as Simon Baker (Curator of Photography at Tate Modern) and Fred Ritchin (former Picture Editor of The New York Times Magazine.”

© Tue Juelsbo


The Dutch newspaper, De Volkskrant described it as a photo fair with a “museum feel”. Amsterdam-based Trouw said that “Unseen is a beautiful homage to the printed image, for both a large and select audience. Too bad that it only lasted for four days.”

Unseen was not left without coverage in online media, either. Le Figaro featured the fair on the culture-section, We Like Art! described Unseen as "sharp, stylish and hip", and Ourageis13 wrote numerous articles, including one about the launch of Foam Magazine #32.

Stay connected with Unseen

Despite the first edition of Unseen being over, Unseen will keep onto its festival flair. You can admire the Unseen Collection online, order your own copy of the Unseen Book 2012, and stay up-to-date with Unseen on one of our online platforms (i.e. Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr).

© Tue Juelsbo


Reaching a peak of 180,000 people after the fair, the Unseen online community has been the heart of Unseen. The online community continues to grow, both on the Unseen website and through the social media platforms. The website reached its maximum number of visits on 20 September with 10,114 visits in just one day. The Unseen Community has registered a total of 1,170 active users who have favourited 5,032 photographs, photographers, galleries and event listings on the website since 24 August. Today, the Unseen Facebook page has more than 7,700 Facebook Likes, and reached an impressive 187,812 people during the week of 17 to 23 September. In addition, the Unseen iPhone App has been downloaded more than 1,900 times from the iTunes Store since its launch on 12 September. We thank you all again for your continued support!

After a brilliant inaugural edition, Unseen is looking forward to welcoming you in Amsterdam next year. Stay connected with Unseen to hear the latest news about next year's details.