Paradox is based in Edam (20 kilometres north of Amsterdam). The not for profit organisation develops projects around contemporary issues with documentary authors: photographers, filmmakers, visual artists, writers and researchers. Paradox does not programme its own exhibition space but collaborates with venues in the Netherlands and abroad.

Since 1993 Paradox has developed more than 40 distinctive activities, travelling to some 120 venues worldwide.

 Paradox was founded in 1993 with the aim of stimulating the development in photography. To reach this, Paradox produces travelling exhibitions, organises symposia and publishes audiovisual, digital and printed publications. The recording of history as it is unfolding, and the interaction between social, economic and technical factors, with the changes in society which flow from these changes, are recurring aspects in both our thematic and monographic projects.

Within these projects we experiment explicitly with multimedia forms of presentation, and the interaction between different disciplines (photography, film, audio, writing) as well as platforms (exhibitions, websites, books, DVDs, tablet Apps and educational programmes). Our main goal is to reach a wide audience without losing the nuances that the addressed social issues require. This is the main reason behind our multiplatform strategy: one reaches a different audience with a diversity of platforms. But the synergy between different media as well as platforms also creates new experiences for an audience, raising questions in unexpected ways. Furthermore it challenges the notions and conventions around the presentation of (photographic) material leading to experiments mixing of old and new technology, media and platforms.

Paradox seeks partners in realizing these kind of projects, in particular publishers, designers and partner institutions in the Netherlands and abroad. Exhibitions are created in close collaboration with museums and as a result travel to a broad variety of institutions, both nationally and internationally. Past projects include: (Alter) Ego Documents (Amsterdam, 1995), Avatar (Amsterdam, 1998), >Play (Carel van Hees, 2001, Rotterdam/Ludwigshafen), East Wind, West Wind (Bertien van Manen, 2001, Rotterdam/Paris/Chicago,) Go No Go (Ad van Denderen, 2003, Amsterdam/Vienna/Rennes/Paris/Sofia), Why Mister, Why? (Geert van Kesteren, 2005, Rotterdam/Arles/Krakow/Mannheim), The Wars (Oscar van Alphen, 2008, Rotterdam/Mannheim), The Last Days of Shishmaref (Jan Louter/Dana Lixenberg, 2008, Rotterdam), So Blue, So Blue – Edges of the Mediterranean (Ad van Denderen, 2008, Rotterdam/Winterthur) and WATW (various artists, 2009, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou).

Until 2009 Paradox was entirely project-financed thanks to a number of loyal funders and sponsors, including the VSBFund, SNS Reaal Fund, the Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund, the Sem Presser Archive and the Mondriaan Foundation. Paradox received structural support from the Mondriaan Foundation for 2009-2011 and for the year 2012, as well as for 2013-2014. We are able to realize our projects with additional support of the above mentioned cultural funds.