About
Anton Kusters (Belgium, 1974) focuses on the human condition, exploring transmission between generations, post-witnessing and the loss of experience of time and place.
He draws upon specific events, biographies and objects, connecting them to political and social histories and data patterns.
The research and creation process determines the medium, the works ultimately presenting themselves as remnants of fragmented narratives.
Master of Political Science, University of Louvain (KU Leuven, 1996)
Exhibitions
2021
“Blue Skies”, Arles (FR) - Les Rencontres d’Arles
“1078 Blue Skies, 4432 Days”, Genk (BE) - C-Mine cultuurcentrum
2020
“The Blue Skies Project”, Landskrona (SW)
“The Blue Skies Project”, Deutsche Börse Foundation, Frankfurt (DE) – cancelled (COVID-19)
“The Blue Skies Project”, The Photographers’ Gallery, London (UK)
2019
“The Blue Skies Project”, Fitzrovia Chapel London (UK) – ass. Photo London
“The Blue Skies Project”, Washington DC (US) – US Holocaust Memorial Museum
2017
“Mono No Aware & Yakuza”, Hasselt (BE) – Cultuurcentrum Hasselt
2016
“Mono No Aware”, Antwerp (BE) – Ingrid Deuss Gallery
2014
“Yakuza”, Aalst (BE) – Cultuurcentrum DeWerf
“Yakuza”, Genève (CH) – Galerie Focale
“Yakuza”, Barcelona (ES) – TagoMago Gallery
“Yakuza”, Hong Kong (HK) – Asia One / AOV Gallery
2013
“Yakuza”, Liège (BE) – Monos Gallery
“Yakuza”, Rome (IT) – Officine Fotografiche
“Yakuza”, Genk (BE) – C-Mine cultuurcentrum
Group exhibitions
2022
“Performa”, Genk (BE) – C-mine Cultural Centre
2021
“Nouvelles Vagues”, Marchin, Modave & Clavier (BE) – X Biennale de Condroz
“Re-Collect”, Antwerp (BE) – FoMu FotoMuseum
2019
“The Waiting Room”, Genk (BE) – C-mine cultuurcentrum
“Forever//Now”, Derby (UK) – FORMAT19
“photo+sphere”, Asheville (US) – Elizabeth Holden Gallery
2018
“Post Conflict – Reframing A Dialogue”, Getxo/Bilbao (ES) – Getxo Photo
“The Artist Studio”, Hasselt (BE) – Z33 Huis voor Actuele Kunst
2014
“Les Boutographies”, Montpellier (FR) – Pavillon Populaire
2013
“Head On”, Sydney (AUS) – The Muse, TAFE Sydney Institute
2008
“Viaggi Sentimentali”, Milan Photo Festival VIII – Galleria Spazio Farini 6
Installations
2019
“The Blue Skies Project” (repr.), Washington DC (US) – US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Collections
Victoria & Albert Museum permanent collection, London
Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation collection, Frankfurt
International Center for Photography collection, New York
FoMu Foto Museum collection, Antwerp
Fundación Banco Sabadell, Barcelona
Collection Vanmoerkerke, Ostend
Grants, awards
2022
Kranszna-Krausz Book Awards, longlist
2020
Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize, finalist
2019
Prix Pictet, nomination
Individual Arts Grant, Government of Flanders
2018-
VONK Ateliers (BE), resident
2014
STROOM grant, Province of Limburg (BE)
Essays
“The Abyss Beneath Us: Anton Kusters’ The Blue Skies Project”, Ulrich Baer (NYU)
“Blue Skies: A Conservation View”, Jane E. Klinger (USHMM) & Joan M. Walker (NGA)
“The Eternal Present and the Contested Past”, Fred Ritchin (ICP Museum)
“Anton Kusters: The Blue Skies Project”, Martin Barnes (V&A Museum)
Books, catalogues
2021
“1078 Blue Skies / 4432 Days”, Anton Kusters, Kehrer Verlag
“Arles 2021, Les Rencontres de la Photographie”, Actes Sud, France
2020
“Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2020”, The Photographers’ Gallery, London
“1078 Blue Skies / 4432 Days”, Anton Kusters – collectors' edition
“The Bioarchaeology of Disaster”, Danielle S. Kurin, University of California
2018
“Images in Conflict”, Fred Ritchin, Jonas Verlag
2016
“Odo Yakuza Tokyo” third edition, Anton Kusters, Zabrozas*
2014
“Mono No Aware”, Anton Kusters, Zabrozas*
2011
“Odo Yakuza Tokyo” second edition, Anton Kusters, Zabrozas*
“Odo Yakuza Tokyo”, Anton Kusters, Zabrozas*
2010
“893 Magazine”, Anton Kusters – issue #1
Articles, reviews, references
2022
“In Order to Know, We Must Imagine for Ourselves: How Artworks by Penny Siopis and Anton Kusters Re-present Traumatic Histories for Participatory, Open-Ended Re-imaginings”, Dale Washkansky, University of Cape Town, South Africa
“Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt”, Pauline Vermare in “Vortex” by Kikuji Kawada
“Op stap met tien Vlaamse kunstenaars”, Danny Ilegems, De Morgen
“Slow Burning Blue Skies”, Colin Pantall, Blind Magazine
2021
“Die neuen Relativierer”, Maxim Biller, Die Zeit
“Avec ‘Blue Skies’, le photographe Anton Kusters documente l'Holocauste et la fragilité du souvenir”, Jean-Sébastien Stehli, Madame Le Figaro
“Pompidou”, Nicky Aerts, vrt Radio Klara
“Inventaire Macabre”, M Le magazine du Monde, nº 514
“Photographie: les Rencontres d’Arles à la croisée des chemins”, Jean-Marie Wynants, Le Soir
“Les ciels au-dessus de 1 078 camps de concentration nazis photographiés par Anton Kusters”, Donnia Ghezlane-Lala , Konbini Arts
“Luchten als getuigen van de Gruwel”, Rik van Puymbroeck, De Tijd
“Techniek staat voor mij ten dienste van het Narratief”, Rudi Smeets, De Standaard
“Arles 2021: my week at Arles”, Ghislain Pascal, L’Oeil de la Photographie
“Expo ‘Blue Skies’ van Anton Kusters richt blik op blauwe hemel boven 1078 voormalige concentratiekampen”, Mathijs Bijnens, VRT NWS
“Les obsessions d’Anton Kusters”, Baudouin Eschapasse, Le Point
2020
“Anton Kusters reframes memory in a work that maps the atrocities of the Holocaust”, Cat Lachowskyj, BJP British Journal of Photography
“Meine Fotos sind Spiegel für Alle”, Carola Padtberg, Der Spiegel
“Deutsche Börse Foundation Prize 2020”, GUP Guide to Unique Photography
“Smukke, smukke, blå, blå himmel. Hvad er det for et helvede, du har været loft over?”, Politiken dk
2019
“Kunst für eine Bessere Welt”, Claudia Bodin, Art Magazin DE
“You Cannot See Colors in Moonlight”, Sarah Jasmon, A Thousand Word Photos
2018
“Anton Kusters’ The Blue Skies Project”, 1000 Words magazine
“1.078”, Beeldverhaal De Standaard dS Weekblad
“Inside the World of the Yakuza”, Malestrom
“Beste Anton Kusters”, Gaea Schoeters, Rekto/Verso magazine
“Carrying the Weight of Genocide Through Photography”, Rachel Gould, Culturetrip
“Reimagining History and Trauma”, Vantage
2017
“Settembre 2017. Alderney (Kanalinsel)”, Arianna Rinaldo, Internazionale
“Pompidou”, Kurt van Eeghem, vrt Radio Klara
2016
“Inside Job”, Pallet magazine
“Yakuza”, Stern Crime
“Gangs of Tokyo”, Sonja Blaschke, Wunderwelt Wissen
2015
“Anton Kusters”, Take Magazine
“Inside the Syndicate”, The Economist
“Mother look I’m almost…”, Sofie Crabbé, hART magazine
“Mono No Aware”, De Standaard dS Weekblad
2014
“Japan’s Godfathers”, Leica M Magazine, Hamburg, Germany
“Tokyo”, China National Travel
“Au plus près des yakuzas”, Marie-Adèle Copin, La Côte
“Son Criminales que quieren contribuir en so sociedad”, Ima Sanchís, La Vanguardia
“Inside the Family”, Marcus Webb, Delayed Gratification
“On the Yakuza Trail”, The New York Times
“De Wereld in Beeld”, Jan Desloover, De Standaard dS Weekblad
2013
“Fotograaf Anton Kusters bij de Japanse Maffia”, Beeld Express
“Constant op Eieren Lopen”, Het Belang van Limburg
“Impero Yakuza”, Pio D’Emilia, l’Espresso
“893”, Zuiderlucht
2012
“Yakuza – wszystkie odcienie szarości”, Foto Magazine Poland
“Odo Yakuza Tokyo”, Photo Magazine Romania
“Por Dentro Da Yakuza”, Revista da Cultura
2011
“Inside the Yakuza”, BBC Radio 4 - The Today Show
“Kirsebærmafiaen”, Per Asbjørn Risnes jr., Dagens Næringsliv
“Twee Jaar bij de Yakuza”, De Standaard dS Weekblad
“780 Días con la obscura Yakuza”, Toni García, El Pais
“YAKUZA”, Anja Herold, GEO Epoche
“Anton Kusters: Yakuza”, Information dk
“Eastern Menace”, The Sunday Times, Spectrum
“True Glimpses of the Underworld”, Manami Okazaki, The Japan Times
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