Current Exhibition
Jan Locus
Mongolia has recieved ‘The Plantin Moretus Award’ and was selected for ‘Photobook Belge’, a publication and exhibition by FOMU, Photo Museum Antwerp (2019).
Often Locus’s work focuses — either directly or indirectly — on religion and problems that relate to it. In his book Devoted (2012) for example, he shows all sorts of expressions of Christian faith: from pilgrims in Spain and Poland to ecstatic worshippers in Mexico.
Garbage City (2013), Locus’s first film, shows various positions with regard to the different ways of treating rubbish and the miserable living conditions in (the outskirts of) Cairo. Garbage City combines long shots of scrapheaps, compressed plastic and hard-working labourers with the sound of rattling machines, cars hooting and pigeons cooing.
Locus’s often subtle soundtrack has a prominent part in other works as well. Confusing Drum (2016) uses drum-rolls and voice-overs — opinions and political statements by locals — to talk about the deep-rooted conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. Confusing Drum premiered at DokFest Kassel (2017).
In The Distance between Us (2017) the soundtrack plays once more a crucial part. It mixes religious songs and emotionally charged messages from a Moroccan mother to her two sons in Molenbeek, who belong to the first generation of immigrants. For this soundtrack, the artist uses found footage: he uses a few rare cassette tapes that served as alternative correspondence. The Distance between Us premiered at IFFR Rotterdam (2018) and was nominated for the Found Footage Award at IFFR.
Murmur (2019), a collaboration with sound artist Stijn Demeulenaere won the second prize at The Engine Room International Sound Art Competition, London (UK) and world premiered at IFFR Rotterdam (2020).
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS / SCREENINGS
2020 IFFR, International Film Festival Rotterdam (NL) – (upcoming)
2020 Schönfeld Gallery, Brussels (BE)
2020 FotoForum Brasschaat, Antwerp (BE) – (upcoming)
2019 VIDEO BAR, On Screen Writing, ARGOS, Brussels (BE)
2019 IKLECTIK Art Lab, London (UK)
2019 51. Ausstellungsprojekt, Kunstverein: projektraum-bahnhof25, Kleve (DE)
2019 Photobook Belge, FOMU, Antwerp (BE)
2018 International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (DE)
2018 IFFR, International Film Festival Rotterdam (NL)
2018 De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam (NL)
2018 Un|settled EXPO, KAAP, Ostend (BE)
2018 EUROVIDEO, European Videoart Festival, Liege (BE)
2018 Symposium, ISELP, Brussels (BE)
2017 DOKfest, Kassel (DE)
2017 COM NU TIES, ARGOS & ISELP, Brussels (BE)
2015 Brugge Foto Festival (BE)
2013 Devoted, Kadoc, Leuven (BE)
2012 Devoted, Museum Dr. Guislain Gent (BE)
2011 Flanders Gallery International House, Osaka (JP)
2011 In The Margin, Belgian Documentary Photography, Guislain Museum, Ghent (BE)
2011 BELvue museum & Royal Palace, Brussels (BE)
2010 BELvue museum & Royal Palace, Brussels (BE)
2009 Work in progress, Nadaar, KASK, Ghent (BE)
2008 Traces of Devotion, Provinciehuis Louvain (BE)
2008 Kulturpolis, Poznan (PL)
2007 Noorderlicht International Photo Manifestation Groningen (NL)
2006 7 Photographers & 1 Smits, Jakob Smitsmuseum, Mol (BE)
2005 Mongolia, book presentation & exhibition, FOMU, Antwerp (BE)
2003 Agfa Internationaler Preis Für Jungen Bildjournalismus (DE)
AWARDS / GRANTS
2019 Second prize, The Engine Room, London (UK)
2018 Found Footage Award, nominee IFFR Rotterdam (NL)
2016 Project Grant, Flemish Community Commission, Brussels (BE)
2016 Project Grant, Fonds Pascal Decroos The Distance Between Us (BE)
2015 Grant, Flanders Audiovisual Fund, VAF (BE)
2011 Project Grant, Pascal Decroos Fund for Investigative Journalism (BE)
2010 Nikon Press Award Stories: Garbage City (BE)
2010 Project Grant, Pascal Decroos Fund for Investigative Journalism (BE)
2009 Project Grant, Pascal Decroos Fund for Investigative Journalism (BE)
2006 Plantin-Moretus Award (BE)
2004 Project Grant, Spes, Belgian Foundation to support creation (BE)
2003 Laureate Internationaler Preis Für Jungen Bildjournalismus (DE)
2001 Project Grant, Pascal Decroos for Special Journalistic Projects (BE)
1998 Laureate BP Young European Artists contest (BE)
1998 Laureate Prix National Photographie Ouverte (BE)
1995 Laureate Internationaler Preis Für Jungen Bildjournalismus (G)
1995 Laureate Prix Kodak & Photographies Magazine (Fr)
1995 Grant Fondation Belge de la Vocation (BE)
1994 Kodak European Panorama Award (Fr)
1994 Nikon-Agfa Portrait Award Benelux (BE)
BOOKS
2012 Devoted, Lannoo
2005 Mongolia, FOMU, Museum for Photography Antwerp & Cypres
1997 De Bewegende Stad, FOMU, Museum for Photography Antwerp
COLLECTIONS
Argos, Brussels (BE)
FOMU, Museum for Photography Antwerp (BE)
Musée de la Photographie Charleroi (BE)
Hasselblad, Gothenburg (S)
ING Bank, Brussels (BE)
Gands, Antwerp (BE)
Museum Dr. Guislain Gent (BE)
DOCUMENTARY ASSIGNMENTS
2013 European Parliament, Act React Impact campaign, Agency Ogilvy, Bucharest, Barcelona, Brussels
2012 Architectural Review Flanders, Radical Commonplaces, European Architectures from Flanders. VAI
2008 Traces of Devotion, Processions in Flanders, Documentary Assignment for Kadoc, Louvain
2004 Overwerk(t) in de actieve welvaartstaat, Documentary Assignment for KU Leuven
2001 Dam, The Slaughterhouse, Documentary Assignment for the City of Antwerp
1997 De Bewegende Stad, Documentary Assignment, FOMU, Museum for Photography, Antwerp
