Jan Locus, Stijn Demeulenaere: Murmur | Video | 4k | black and white | 0:10:21 | Belgium | 2019

Synopsis

Brussels was built on a swamp. Today, only one tiny part of Brussels is still officially a swamp. Although continually threatened by development the area stayed intact, largely due to being ensnared between two railroad tracks. Further enclosed by high-rise social housing and industrial areas just behind these railroads, the swamp is a mix of damp prairies and patches of bushes and trees. It’s home to a lot of small wildlife such as birds, rodents, bats, amphibians and even ringed snakes. A small green oasis, in the middle of a concrete landscape.

Murmur is a collaboration between film maker Jan Locus and sound artist Stijn Demeulenaere.  Just before first light, Jan and Stijn recorded the dawn chorus at the swamp. The city drone permeates the sound of the swamp, and a strange mix enfolds between the sound of an awakening nature and a human presence. Urban drone and bird song merge into an (un)familiar murmur presence in the twilight hour of the morning.

Biography

Jan Locus lives and works in Brussels. Spanning the mediums of film, photography, and sound, his work often addresses landscape as a tool for the creation of national and social identities, focusing on environments altered by extraction and industrialization. In his latest work, he explores the tension between found footage, still photography, and the moving image, emphasizing the ambiguity of our perception of reality and fiction.

His films have been presented at numerous international festivals, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, Le FIFA – International Festival of Films on Art (Montreal), Kasseler Dokfest, Asolo Art Film Festival, Stuttgarter Filmwinter, CROSSROADS Film Festival (San Francisco), ANTIMATTER Media Art (Victoria), Festival ECRÃ (Rio de Janeiro), PROYECTOR Plataforma de Videoarte (Madrid), SPLIT Film Festival, ONION CITY Experimental Film Festival (Chicago), BISFF Beijing International Short Film Festival, and Flight / Mostra Internazionale del Cinema di Genova among others.

Stijn Demeulenaere lives and works in Brussels, he is sound artist and field recordist. He creates installations, soundscapes, performances, and does sound design for dance and theatre. Stijn researches the relationship between identity, sound and listening. His work was shown at, among others, Concertgebouw Bruges, NIMk (NL), Den Frie (DK), STUK (BE), Kaaitheater (BE), New adventures in Sound Art (CA), and IFFR Rotterdam. His work was nominated for the LOOP Discovery Award, the European Sound Art Award, and it won prizes at the Engine Room International Sound Art Award and the Musica Soundscape Award.