Frits Gierstberg (1959, Haarlem, the Netherlands) is art historian and critic. He works as Head of exhibitions at the Nederlands Fotomuseum Rotterdam since 2003. Since January 2006, he is also Extraordinary Professor of Photography at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Gierstberg has curated numerous exhibitions of contemporary photography, including 'Wasteland: Landscape from now on' (1992), ‘Human Conditions. Intimate Portraits’ (Montreal, 1999), Still/moving, Contemporay photography, film and video from the Netherlands' (Kyoto, 2000), 'Surface: Contemporary photography, video and painting from Japan' (2001) and Experience, the media rat race, Foto Biennale Rotterdam V (2003).

He publishes regularly on international photography in the Netherlands and abroad and is also (co-) editor of a number of books about photography and visual culture, among which 'The Image Society. Essays on Visual Culture' (2002) and ‘Documentary now! Contemporary strategies in photography, film and visual arts’ (2005). He was co-initiator and editor of ‘Dutch Eyes, A Critical History of Photography in the Netherlands’ (2007). In 2006 he was appointed by the Mondriaan Foundation as photography curator for the ‘Dutch Dare!’ cultural programme celebrating 400 years of relationships between the Netherlands and Australia. He has recently curated exhibitions on contemporary visual media from Brazil and on new movements in Dutch photography. He published an extensive monograph on the Dutch photographer Oscar van Alphen in 2008. Gierstberg has collaborated with artists such as Raymond Depardon, Julian Germain, Osamu Kanemura, Susan Meiselas, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, Joachim Schmid, Paul Shambroom and Manfred Willmann.

Extra information: Inaugurational oration of Frits Gierstberg, ‘Waarom fotografie?’ (why photography?) can be downloaded (pdf-file, dutch only).