Murmur
26 September 2019

single channel HD video, 2020, 10 min 21 sec

a film by Jan Locus and Stijn Demeulenaere

  • Awards
  • 2020, Second prize at The Engine Room: International Sound Art Competition, London (UK)
  • 2020, Grand Prix, Split videoart festival, Split (HR)

Brussels was built on a swamp, today there is only one tiny part of Brussels that is still officially a swamp. Although continually threatened by development the area stayed intact largely due to being ensnared between two railroad tracks. Just before first light, filmmaker Jan Locus and sound artist Stijn Demeulenaere recorded the dawn chorus. 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 to a (un)familiar murmur.


Murmur still Jan Locus Stijn Demeulenaere

Reviews

Martin Gignac in Métro (CA), 23/03/20

“The little what rest of the swamp where the city of Brussels was erected, awakens slowly in this intriguing immersive object by Jan Locus and Stijn Demeulenaere. The work stands out with its magnificent black and white photography and its exemplary sound work. In this film anxiety and beauty are one. It’s impossible to resist this hypnotic outdoor odyssey.”  

(FR ) “Le reste du marécage où a été érigée la ville de Bruxelles s’éveille lentement dans cet intrigant objet immersif signé Jan Locus et Stijn Demeulenaere. Dans cette œuvre qui se signale par sa magnifique photographie en noir et blanc et son travail sonore exemplaire, l’angoisse et à la beauté ne forment qu’un. Impossible de résister à cette odyssée hypnotique en plein air. “

Get out of yourself. An in-depth study on the Laterale Film Festival 2020
by Marco Grifò

Perhaps in the most absolutely immersive act of the LFF shorts, in Murmur [2019] by Jan Locus and Stijn Demeulenaere, the viewer is able to “become time” by observing the night and the arrival of dawn in a wood.

(IT) Forse nell’atto più assolutamente immersivo dei corti del LFF, in Murmur [2019] di Jan Locus e Stijn Demeulenaere, lo spettatore è in grado di “diventare tempo” osservando la notte e l’arrivo dell’alba in un bosco.