solo exhibition The Baltic series / series 9

Opening on 29 September 2023 at 19h, at cultural centre the factory in Zaventem

Be welcome!

For The Baltic Series / Series 9, Koen Broos travelled to Estonia, Lithuania & Latvia in search of imagined impressions. It is a series in search of the story beyond the narrative.

"Koen Broos is all about showing us the world as it is when we are not looking; when we fold our eyelashes in front of our pupils and knead the outside world through a narrow cavern without touching it. That we look away flat-eyed and therefore see better; think we see better or want to see better what we desire. That our slanted eye corners and our dampened retinas will tell us more than a high-resolution scan of the world in microscopic pixels. That we may suspect what is, has just been or is yet to come. That you never know for sure what is before you before you have un-seen it. This is also how the Estonian poet Jaan Kaplinksi doubts what is now east and west, where he is now again, in this second or in gind room, and which pixels and shadows suggest something of a border or an enclave." Gerry the mole 2022

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the upheaval in 1991, a huge transition has been taking place in these countries. The rich heritage that old history shows is still there but at the same time, current tensions with neighbouring Russia are prominent. Broos explores where the boundaries lie. Can his images depict the tension between the past and the new world? Can you photograph something you don't literally see? Can you feel it? He asks the viewer to surrender and jump into his images.


Opening photo exhibition on Friday 29 September at 7pm, in the presence of koen broos.
Please make reservations via: https://www.ccdefactorij.be/nl/programma/the-baltic-series-serie-9/6065/

Cultural centre De Factorij, Willem Lambertstraat 10, 1930 Zaventem
the expo can be visited from Friday 29 September until Saturday 23 December 2023
Opening hours: Monday to Friday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday: 12 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Series 9 / EAST ENDERS 

Expo opening 27 November 2022 at 3 pm in Cultuurcentrum Hasselt

For EAST ENDERS, I travelled to Estonia, Lithuania & Latvia in search of imagined impressions. During this expo, they present this new work for the first time. It is a series in search of the story beyond the narrative.

 
"Koen Broos is all about showing us the world as it is when we are not looking; when we fold our eyelashes in front of our pupils and knead the outside world through a narrow cavern without touching it. That we look away flat-eyed and therefore see better; think we see better or want to see better what we desire. That our slanted eye corners and our dampened retinas will tell us more than a high-resolution scan of the world in microscopic pixels.  That we may suspect what is, has just been or is yet to come. That you never know for sure what is before you before you have un-seen it. Likewise, the Estonian poet Jaan Kaplinksi doubts what is now east and west, where he is now again, in this second or in over there room, and which pixels and shadows suggest something of a border or an enclave."
Gerry the mol 2022

EAST ENDERS translates the thematics of transition and imaging to so-called Eastern Europe. Or should we stick to former Eastern Europe, given that there is only one Europe?

Historically, we could say that Eastern Europe disappeared under the bricks of the Berlin Wall. One night literally hammer and chisel and East and West had become non-utilitarian concepts. Or, it seemed so anyway. For a decade, cultural-historical differences were eagerly absorbed into European expansion and there seemed little offense. On the contrary, during the first decade of the 21st century, European internal evolution was completely overshadowed by global terror and war. From 2010, with the financial crisis, the gaze was turned back inside Europe, but then the schism turned out to be north-south rather than east-west oriented. The Greek financial crisis, the dire Italian crisis and, in the slipstream, suspicion against Portugal and Spain put the split on edge: the austere north versus the south, areas of impoverishment, fraud and profligacy. But an old scar remains a scar. Pretty soon, in the 2010-2020 period, east-west issues resurfaced: Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Belarus and now, as a sad climax, Ukraine.

EAST ENDERS is thus about TRANSITION and about the fixed image.

Expo East enders,

together with Sébastien Cuvelier, Lieven Gouwy, Annika Haas & Koen Broos
From 27 November 2022 to 1 April 2023

Be welcome to the opening opening Sun 27 Nov 2022 at 3pm,

afterwards Tuesday to Saterday from 1 to 5 p.m. Hasselt cultural centre, Kunstlaan 5, B-3500 Hasselt

‘Letting go of all that you already know. Looking differently without knowing where it ends’ '

This series is different. A logical continuation for me. A search for more complex images with more layers. A traditional first impression. Monochrome colours, a strong presence of colouring. Light that makes the images vibrate. Until you take a closer look. I love showing that things are not unambiguous. Images show nuances, can be radical sometimes, take hold of you and suck you in. Finally lost! Letting go of all that you already know. Looking differently without knowing where it ends.' Koen Broos  

Koen Broos (1972) is De Spil's in-house photographer this season. He exhibits his series 'finally lost / series 7' in Ter Posterie in Roeselare. A selection of photographs he made during his many quests in Belgium and abroad. The real topic is light. The darker the pictures, the clearer this becomes. Koen Broos does not show what you are used to see, but he tries to find the tension. His camera forces him to look at reality differently. As the viewer, the artist searches for something to hold on to.  

Ter Posterie becomes a space where you can weigh up the inner world of Koen Broos with your own thoughts and emotions. An expo as a journey in the subconscious. Images are posted on a large billboard outside De Spil during the entire season. Koen Broos has specifically made these images for - and in - De Spil. A new picture will appear every month.  

https://www.despil.be/koenbroos

AntwerpPhoto: een nieuwe fotobiënnale

Herbeluister hier het gesprek in Pompidou dat ik daarstraks had met nicky aerts waar Maroesjka Lavigne & ik vertelde over antwerp photo dat dit weekend open gaat

https://klara.be/antwerpphoto-een-nieuwe-fotobiennale

INBETWEEN expo januari -march 2018 CC mechelen / belgium

with koen broos, filip dujardin, tine guns, charlotte lybeer, jo op de beeck, max pinckers, veronika pot, arno roncada & lieve segers.