Jan Rosseel »
Belgian Autumn
Exhibition: 27 Jun – 20 Aug 2014
foam
Keizersgracht 609
1017 DS Amsterdam
Sat-Wed 10-18 . Thu, Fri 10-21
Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam
Keizersgracht 609
1017 DS Amsterdam
+31 (0)20-5516500
pressoffice@foam.org
www.foam.org
Mon-Wed 10-18; Thu-Fri 10-21; Sat-Sun 10-18
Belgian Autumn. A confabulated
history is a visual research into one of the
greatest enigmas in Belgian history: The Gang of Nivelles, also
known as the Brabant killers. Based on objective information from
police reports, files and newspaper clippings as well as
eyewitnesses and personal accounts about the violent crimes of the
gang, documentary photographer Jan Rosseel (Brussels, 1979) has
reconstructed events that took place almost thirty years
ago. At Foam, and in
collaboration with artist Mischa Daams, Rosseel
will present his project Belgian Autumn as an installation for the
first time.
Belgian Autumn. A confabulated history is highly
relevant. In mid-May of this year a suspect in the case of the
notorious Belgian Gang of Nivelles was arrested. The gang committed
a series of extremely violent crimes in the beginning of the
eighties, and amongst these several raids on the Delhaize
supermarkets caused a major disorder. Twenty-eight of the Gang's
victims were murdered. One of them was Jan Rosseel's father. To
this day nothing is known about the motives of the gang. There are
rumours that the gang wanted to destabilise Belgium and were
protected by high-ranking politicians and officials within the
judicial system, but this has never been proven.
Jan Rosseel's work shifts between narrating a story and
documenting an event. His work is based on research into factual
information combined with witness accounts. Moreover Rosseel is
fascinated with the reliability of the human brain. How does the
brain store experiences from the past and how are gaps filled
within the memory? To what extent do stories change over time? The
events surrounding the Gang of Nivelles are among the most painful
in Belgium's collective memory. Through his project, Rosseel subtly
touches a raw nerve. He ensures that this episode in Belgium's
recent history isn't forgotten when the limitation period applies
for the investigation in 2015.
Jan Rosseel graduated from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, in 2013 with the exhibition and publication Belgian Autumn. A confabulated history. Prior to this he studied photojournalism at the Danish School of Media and Journalism in