Sander Dekker — Press Kit 2026 ↓ Download PDF
Sander Dekker
Artist  ·  Amsterdam, NL  ·  b. 1980
Photography  ·  Installation  ·  Publication
Sander Dekker
Biography

Sander Dekker (Amsterdam, 1980) is an artist working with photography, installation and self-published books and zines.

His work centres on how people present themselves — to each other, to cameras, and to the world they build around themselves. The core of his practice is The Social Media Project, a decade-long series of encounters with strangers photographed in their own homes after first contact online. It caught something specific: a brief moment when reaching out to a stranger felt open, easy and charged with possibility. That openness is slowly disappearing.

The questions that project raised have continued to drive everything since — through permanent installations, handmade publications, participatory work, and ongoing projects centred on people who push back against external pressure simply by being fully, visibly themselves.

Selected Press
"While embracing his own strangeness, he makes a true connection with his models. It's what makes his work so very appealing."
Marloes van Vugt — foreword, My Name Is Sander Dekker Nº.2
"What makes his work so remarkable is the individuality and autonomy of his characters: they refuse to relinquish their power and above all: they seem to be unapologetically themselves."
Flor Linckens — Gallery Viewer
"It's a reflection of the zeitgeist: how normal it has become to show so much of yourself on social media, and how easy it was — or is — to make contact."
Margot Pol — de Volkskrant
"Like Arbus, Clark and Sultan, Sander Dekker is a child of his time."
Edo Dijksterhuis — Het Parool
NL Het Parool  ·  de Volkskrant    International Juxtapoz  ·  VICE  ·  Purple France  ·  CODE Magazine  ·  Lodown Magazine  ·  BLINK Korea  ·  Snoecks  ·  Le Petit Voyeur    Platforms FOAM  ·  Gallery Viewer  ·  ABC Video
The Social Media Project
The Social Media Project
Photography  ·  2011–2021

In 2011, Dekker began reaching out to strangers on social media with a simple request: let me photograph you in your own home. Most said yes. A decade-long document of a specific kind of human openness — caught just before it closed. An archive of encounters that increasingly feel like they belong to another era.

View project →
The Social Landscape — TenFifteen
The Social Landscape (TenFifteen)
Installation  ·  2012–present

Thousands of black-and-white photographs, each ten by fifteen centimetres, presented side by side in a large-scale installation. Individually intimate. Together an overwhelming landscape that mirrors the endless social media scroll. Permanently installed at Hotel Not Hotel Amsterdam, Torch Gallery, Strayfield Gallery Copenhagen, and Leica Store Lisse.

View project →
The Zine Project
The Zine Project
Self-published  ·  2021–2025

Ten handmade, limited-edition zines made between 2021 and 2025 — each a short trip to Paris, Warsaw, Mexico, Amsterdam, Asia. No publisher, no brief, no compromises. All ten editions sold out. The complete set shown at Josilda da Conceição Gallery and Torch Gallery Amsterdam.

View project →
Innate Curiosity
Innate Curiosity
Installation  ·  2026–present

A series of physical installations that withhold — demanding that you lean in, reach in, look for yourself. Closed aluminium blinds concealing a backlit photograph. A railway bin containing a handmade 1980s magazine. What happens to curiosity when discovery is served rather than earned?

View project →

Solo exhibitions (selection)

2025Torch Gallery, Amsterdam NL
2022Torch Gallery, Amsterdam NL
2020Strayfield Gallery, Copenhagen DK
2018Torch Gallery, Amsterdam NL
2018Amsterdam Central Station NL
201630Works Gallery, Cologne DE
2015Walls Gallery, Amsterdam NL

Art fairs (selection)

2026NAP+, Amsterdam NL
2024NAP+, Amsterdam NL
2022Unseen Amsterdam NL
20176voor6 Art Fair, Amsterdam NL
2015KunstRAI, Amsterdam NL
2014PAN Amsterdam NL

Group exhibitions (selection)

202440Y Torch Gallery, Amsterdam NL
2022Caesuur & Lípa, Middelburg NL
2022Luxfer & Lípa, Česká Skalice CZ
2020Strayfield Gallery, Hellerup DK
2018Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam NL
2017Josilda da Conceição, Amsterdam NL
2016Bright Side Gallery, Amsterdam NL
2013FOAM, Amsterdam NL
2013Nuit Blanche, Amsterdam NL

Permanent installations

2026Leica Store, Lisse NL
2020Strayfield Gallery, Hellerup DK
2018Torch Gallery, Amsterdam NL
2018Hotel Not Hotel, Amsterdam NL

Publications (selection)

2025The Zine Project — Collector's Box (all 10 zines)
2021–25The Zine Project — 10 handmade limited-edition zines. All sold out.
2016My Name Is Sander Dekker Vol. 2 — ISBN 9789082111330
2015My Name Is Sander Dekker Vol. 1.5 — ISBN 9789082111323
2013My Name Is Sander Dekker Vol. 1 — ISBN 9789082111316

Zine Project (selection)

2025Nº10 TenFifteen · Ed. 150
2025Nº9 A.S.I.A. · Ed. 40
2024Nº8 The Warsaw SAGA · Ed. 40
2023Nº5 Mexico · Ed. 35
2022Nº2 Girls in Paris · Ed. 35
2021Nº1 Annemarijn · Ed. 25