The Financial Zone (2019-2020)

The Financial Zone is a documentary on office life at the headquarters of major financial companies in the Netherlands and Belgium. The series pays particular attention to the spatial aspect in contemporary office design.

We remember Tayloristic offices with tight rows of desks from movies. Under the impulse of digitization, the organic office islands from the 1970s evolved into modular systems and a clean desk policy. The new workplace is social and flexible, fashionable and homely, ergonomic and technological. There are informal meeting rooms for brainstorming, call capsules for more privacy, quiet areas to concentrate, game rooms and intimately lit lounges for relaxation. Glass partitions stand for openness and transparency. Company restaurants offer healthy meals and corporate mindfulness is on the rise. There is fitness, prayer room and wall art. Well-being in the workplace is important in a time characterized by stress and burn-outs.

Hannes' photos are subtle observations of an astonished outsider. In a universe not exactly known for visual spectacle, he focuses on the relationship between humans and their workplace. He searches for personal accents in a generic environment, meandering along the thin line between banality and surprise, between humor and alienation.

The Financial Zone was commissioned by the Noorderlicht photography platform and the University of Groningen. The series was exhibited in 2021 at Kunstenpunt Groningen.

Thanks to all the companies that have cooperated: Aegon (The Hague), Argenta (Antwerp), Baloise (Antwerp), Bank J. Van Breda (Antwerp), Belfius (Brussels), KPMG (Zaventem), PwC (Amsterdam), Rabobank (Utrecht).