Photo by Bieke Depoorter.
Magnum Foundation invites you to an evening with Bieke Depoorter, Magnum Photographer, in honor of her latest photobook, Blinked Myself Awake. Depoorter will read a selection of excerpts from the book before being joined in conversation with writer and artist, Gideon Jacobs who served as an editor for the publication.
A limited number of books will be available for purchase at the event for signing by Depoorter.
Tuesday, September 30, 2025 | 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM ET
In-person and online
Doors open at 6:00 PM
59 East 4th St, 7W | New York, NY 10003
** RSVP Required to Attend In-Person **
For virtual attendees, the zoom link is available via the RSVP button
This event is presented in conjunction with Magnum Photos, This Book Is True, and Hannibal Books.
About the book:
In recent years, photographer Bieke Depoorter has sought out amateur stargazers, visited state-of-the-art observatories, and researched the history of astronomy. Never especially interested in the field earlier, she gradually realized that her new obsession was related to childhood memories lost due to trauma. The night sky is, after all, a kind of shared memory: the light from celestial bodies can take hundreds or thousands of light-years to reach our eyes on earth. Some observable stars may have disappeared long ago.
Depoorter felt reluctant to look at stars herself but was drawn to observing others as they observed the universe. In Blinked Myself Awake, she investigates the fragility of memory, photography's unreliability, the human desire for objectivity, and the elusive nature of ‘truth.’ She connects the dots of a highly personal narrative, interweaving images of stargazers with diaristic texts and fragments from the history of astronomy – a science that was forever changed by the invention of photography.
About the presenters:
Bieke Depoorter earned her master’s in photography from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent in 2009 and became a full member of Magnum Photos by 2016. She has received numerous awards, including the Magnum Expression Award, the Larry Sultan Award, and the Prix Levallois, and was recently nominated for the Deutsche Börse Foundation Photography Prize for her solo exhibition A Chance Encounter at C/O Berlin. Depoorter exhibits internationally and has published several books, including Ou Menya, I am About to Call it a Day, As it May Be, Sète#15, X., and her latest, Blinked Myself Awake (2024). In this recent work, she turns the camera inward, blending diaristic text with imagery of amateur astronomers in an effort to reconnect with lost childhood memories and explore universal questions.
Across her career, Depoorter has consistently questioned the boundaries of the photographic medium. Her work can often begin with a chance encounter and evolves into collaborations with her subjects, as seen in As it May Be, where those depicted annotated her images, and X., a deeply personal project exploring identity and performance through a prolonged exchange with a woman she met in a nightclub. In Sète#15 and the film Dvalemodus, she experimented with fictionalizing reality, turning her subjects into characters within imagined narratives. Her ongoing project Michael investigates the life and disappearance of a man who entrusted her with his personal archive—an inquiry that continues her exploration of authorship, representation, and truth in photography.
Gideon Jacobs contributes to magazines on arts and culture, writes short fiction, and is working on a novel. He has lectured at the Institute of Fine Arts, Jeu de Paume, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, the School of Visual Arts, the New School, and elsewhere. He has had artworks exhibited at Crystal Bridges, the Romanian National Museum of Art, Het Lijsternest, Deli Galley, Entrance, and elsewhere. Projects include: Images: A Show (2025), a 50-min performance as a Second Commandment fundamentalist preacher, directed by Ruby McCollister, debuted at Earth NY; Murder Suey (2020), a novella co-written exquisite-corpse-style with Brad Phillips, published by Autre Magazine; Etsy DeVos (2019), throw pillows made with Chloe Wise featuring erotic poems about Donald Trump’s cabinet members, raising funds for Food Bank of NY; To Get Drunk on Cold Water (2019), a written and visual portrait of a fictional town in rural Romania with Bieke Depoorter, commissioned with Magnum Photos; Landing Pages (2018), a literary installation with Lexie Smith at LGA Airport, commissioned by the NY/NJ Port Authority; and more. He lives and works in Queens, NY.
Magnum Foundation is in an elevator building and has a restroom that is wheelchair accessible and gender-neutral. For access requests or questions, please contact events@magnumfoundation.org.
Masks are currently encouraged, but not required.
Magnum Foundation events are made possible by the Henry Nias Foundation and our Circle of Friends. .
