After Robert, 2026

Designer: Sander Coers

Bio of the designer:

Sander Coers (b. 1997) is an artist based in the Netherlands working with photography. His practice looks at the ways personal and collective histories are shaped by memory, imagination, and inheritance. Drawing from family archives, found photographs, and artificial intelligence, he uses photography as a place where fact and fiction can exist alongside one another. Rather than seeing photographs simply as records of the past, Coers is interested in what happens when images are incomplete, altered, or missing altogether. His work often starts from these gaps, using reconstruction and speculation to imagine moments that were never photographed.

title: After Robert, 2026

short description:

Drawing inspiration from a photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe, this work explores masculinity, intimacy, and the traces of human presence. A pair of worn leather biker boots and blue jeans lie discarded, as though someone has just stepped out of them. Removed from the body, these familiar symbols of masculinity become strangely vulnerable. The installation suggests an absent figure, inviting the viewer to imagine who was there, what happened, and what remains. In doing so, the work continues Coers’ exploration of memory, desire, and the fragile boundaries between presence and absence.

materials used: Leather boots, denim, leather belt