Out of Place

Out of Place is a photographic essay that provides insight in the psychological journey of street life in modern megacities. At the rise of the "Urban Millennium" Bas Losekoot embarked on a visual exploration, considering how population density affects human behaviour. While placing his camera in the liminal spaces of the city, he addresses the state of in-between-ness of the modern urban experience. With an intuitive eye, he observes the "presentation of self" and "micro-second meetings" of everyday urban encounters. By adding drama to the trivial, Losekoot is painting the theatre of the real life, where small gestures become dramatic events.

The book includes photography from the cities of New York, São Paulo, Seoul, Mumbai, Hong Kong, London, Lagos, Istanbul, and Mexico City.

In january 2021 a book of this project is published by Kehrer Verlag. Renowned photobook designer Teun van der Heijden translated the project into an extraordinary book. The design emphasises the cinematic quality of the photographic series. It is structured with different page formats and positions, that mimics the stratification of life in modern megacities.

Out of Place - seems more relevant than ever: during a lockdown, cities are not attractive environments any more. Streets are no longer places of engagement and people seem even more alienated from each other. Passing a stranger in the street has become an awkward choreography. This crisis makes us rethink the city; considering new demographic possibilities.

The questions that were at the core of Losekoot's research are now very actual: Does large-scale urbanisation and high population density, provide a basis for human well-being? And how do we define personal space, in the new one-and-a-half-meter society?

In many cities around the world, life has brought to a halt. Suddenly, the so called "progress" is set to pause-mode. The photography of Out of Place emphasises this frozen movement with the use of flashlights in combination with fast shutter speeds.

"Bas Losekoot created photographs with a heightened sense of drama that freeze moments of movement, halting the frenetic pace of passing inhabitants in megacities. His project also explores how, counterintuitively, the commute can be a time for introspection and psychological divorce from reality." - Ruby Goldberg/The New Yorker

Visit the special project website: www.baslosekoot.com