Frank van der Stok (b. 1967) studied art history at the University of Leiden from 1987 to 1993. He majored in photography and lens-based arts. From 1989 until 2000 he was a staff member at Fotomania Gallery, Rotterdam. Alongside his work as a representative for the Amsterdam-based artistic photography agency Solar (1999–2009), van der Stok set up The Past in the Present – a self-initiated programme of lectures, exhibitions and commissions that explored the representation of history in the field of the visual arts. The programme culminated after ten years in the exhibition Questioning History (2009), which was accompanied by a book with a compilation of 17 essays.
Van der Stok’s other activities as an independent curator include venues such as the three-day festival To be Continued (about the sequel in photography and film) for the Dutch Doc Days at Centraal Museum (Utrecht, 2011) Lest we Forget (about candid photography in wartime) at Zeeuws Museum (Middelburg, 2015) and Ieder-een; Het Portret Voorbij at Museum De Domijnen (Sittard, 2022). In 2016 Van der Stok started a research-based collective, called Radical Reversibility, which was launched at Unseen, Amsterdam (september 2017) and the venue Seeing without a Seer followed in 2018 at Looiersgracht 60, Amsterdam. Apart from part-time curating, Van der Stok is a frequent editor and producer of art books. He also works as an advisor, writer and intermediary for professional artists and institutions was a tutor at the Master Photography and Graphic Design, Avans AKV/St. Joost (Breda) from 2004 – 2018.