Jan Rosseel: 'Back-up'

2 December 2017 - 18 February 2018
Opening reception: Saturday 2 December, 17 hrs
Location: Hogewal 1-9, The Hague
Open: Wednesday - Sunday, 12- 17 hrs
>> Download exhibition guide Stroom (pdf)
>> Press images and information
See also Flash Memory by Jan Rosseel.

Stroom School: Jan Rosseel
Public program accompanying the exhibition  >> read more

Jan Rosseel's exhibition Back-up at Stroom Den Haag is the final instalment of a triptych that started with a presentation almost a year ago at Amsterdam's De Brakke Grond and continued at Museum Dr. Guislain (Ghent, Belgium). The Stroom exhibition reflects a new maturity and deepening of the artist's themes, as well as adding a large number of new works. The presentation focuses on the relationship between history, politics and power.

The tryptich Back-up by Jan Rosseel consists of:
De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam
Memory and Media >> view video
Download exhibition guide
10 December 2016 - 29 January 2017
Museum Dr. Guislain, Ghent (Belgium)
Memory and the Psyche >> view video
Download exhibition guide
11 March - 28 May 2017
Stroom Den Haag, The Hague
Memory and Politics
Download exhibition guide
2 December 2017 - 18 February 2018

How is it possible that in recent articles about the identification of possible members of the Gang of Nivelles, the papers didn't use the well-known news photos taken at the time, but mysterious images created by Jan Rosseel? Is a personal, artistic re-imagining a more effective medium for dealing with an exceptionally complicated history - one that still hurts like an open wound?

What do we personally remember of collective events? What makes an image iconic? Can we even forget historical events in our own times - with so many images being produced of everything that happens? And in which ways are our personal and collective memories stored for the future? Over the past five years, these questions served as a point of departure for the artistic research of photographer and ‘visual storyteller' Jan Rosseel. This research intensified further during a fellowship at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS) in 2015. Rosseel was the very first artist to be awarded this honor.

Insights gained in this period form the foundation for Rosseel's project Back-up, which takes the shape of three consecutive exhibitions. After previous exhibitions at Flemish Arts Center De Brakke Grond in Amsterdam and Museum Dr. Guislain in Ghent (B), the third part of the triptych at Stroom Den Haag focuses on a new theme: the trial of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu in 1989. This subject connects to the very foundations of Rosseel's research: the merging of personal recollections, the shaping of our collective memory and history by the media and the role played by public perception and images in these processes.

Jan Rosseel (Brussels/The Hague, 1979) studied documentary photography at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague and photojournalism at the Danish School of Media and Journalism in Aarhus. Rosseel's work is best described as ‘visual storytelling'. It lies somewhere between a fictional narrative and a record of reality - between art and journalism. His projects both reconstruct historical events in artistic terms and question the reliability of our memories and mental processes. A striking and well-known example is his visual study Belgian Autumn, which centers on the violent robberies perpetrated by the Gang of Nivelles. Rosseel's photos have been published in variety of magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, Le Monde, De Volkskrant / Volkskrant Magazine, Vrij Nederland, De Standaard / DS Magazine, De Morgen, Stern and Foam Magazine. His work has been presented in venues at, among other places, Amsterdam, Antwerp, New York, Paris, Rome and Tokyo.
www.janrosseel.com

Organisation and acknowledgements:
Jan Rosseel: Back-up is a co-production of: De Brakke Grond, Museum Dr. Guislain and Stroom Den Haag.
Special thanks to: Mondriaan Fund, City of The Hague, Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS), The Art of Impact,
The scent dispenser works in the exhibition were created in collaboration with Tanja Schell / Geurlab.
Jan Rosseel is represented by The Ravestijn Gallery, Amsterdam.

PRESS
Metropolis M (website), 2 February 2018
Jegens en Tevens, 30 January 2018
de Volkskrant, 26 January 2018
Den Haag Centraal, 7 December 2017
de Volkskrant, 3 January 2017
BABEL (monthly Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen UvA), December 2016-January 2017
De Telegraaf, 21 December 2016
Het Parool, 17 December 2016
dS (de Standaard) Weekblad, 8 December 2016
VPRO: Nooit meer slapen, December 2016

Video specials Jan Rosseel on his exhibitions at:
1. De Brakke Grond
2. Museum Dr. Guislain

02 Dec '17 - 18 Feb '18
Stroom Den Haag, Hogewal 1-9, The Hague
Entrance: free