Jan A. Staiger

Opinion | Brussels Is the Heart of Europe, and It’s Not Going Well Brussels is nearing the end of its experiment in urban autonomy.

“Brussels, it seems, is nearing the end of its experiment in urban autonomy,” Anton Jäger writes. “The significance of this eclipse goes beyond Belgium.”

Outtakes from my recent @nytimes.com assignment, which accompanied an opinion guest essay by Belgian author and lecturer Anton Jäger. The essay explores the severe societal, infrastructural, and budgetary consequences of the deadlock in forming a Brussels government.

Thanks Jacob !

For @nytimes.com I had the privilege to visually accompany an opinion piece, titled „My City Is at the Heart of Europe, and it‘s Not Going Well“, written by Belgian essayist and NYT contributing writer Anton Jäger. The piece examines the severe consequences of the government deadlock in Brussels.

My portrait of Frans van Daele, initially taken on assignment for @tijd.be, was published in last weekend’s issue of @fd.nl, accompanying an extensive interview with the former high-level diplomat.

I am thriled that my book dummy „A Circle of 12 Gold Stars on a Blue Background“ has been shortlisted for the first edition of the PHMuseum Photobook Award! The selected books will be on display at Photobook Mania in Bologna, Italy, on 18-19 October.

A small update to the portrait section of my website - now featuring portraits from editorial assignments and personal projects, taken between 2019 and this month.

Dominique Michel, CEO of Comeos, photographed for @lechobe.bsky.social at his company’s headquarters in Auderghem around a week ago. The text by Dominique Liesse has been published in this weekend’s edition of the paper.

Impressions from this week’s truly remarkable NATO Summit in The Hague, NL. A summit that quickly turned into a one-man show, hosted by Secretary General Mark Rutte. In the end - except for Spain - all member countries agreed to a defense spending target of 5% GDP until 2035.

For @spiegel.de I had the chance to meet with Pierre Kompany, father of Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany. The great longread by @meynj.bsky.social and @dmontazeri.bsky.social tells the unlikely story of the path Vincent took to become head coach of one of the most prestigious football clubs.

Over the course of a year, @szde.bsky.social Brussels correspondent @diesteldorf.bsky.social followed MEP Damian Boeselager around Parliament, joined him for meetings, and listened to his plenary speeches. I am grateful for having had the chance to document certain elements of this reportage.

My first institutional solo exhibition “A circle of 12 gold stars” on the aesthetics of political communication on an European level, will be on view at Neues Museum Nürnberg until the end of October. Thanks to everyone who attended the opening last week - I feel blessed !

Conner Rousseau, chairman of the social-democratic Vooruit party, photographed for @tijd.be at the party‘s headquarters in Brussels.

Spread from a recent assignment for @spheresmagazine.bsky.social. Thanks to Simon Rossi I had the pleasure of spending a beautiful afternoon in the countryside, taking portraits of Belgian traveler and filmmaker Grégoire Kengen. Check out the interview by Célia Petre in the magazine’s current issue.

Kaja Kallas, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, photographed for @spiegel.de at one of her offices in Brussels. Great piece by correspondent @lehmann.bsky.social in the current issue of the magazine.

Very happy to be able to contribute two images to one of EU Commission President Von der Leyen’s rare interviews with German media - in this case with @zeit.de. The interview was conducted by @derbernd.bsky.social and @ladurneru.bsky.social. Thanks go out to Andreas Prost for thinking of my work.

New work for @zeit, shot at the Volvo factory in Gent. Author @zacys.bsky.social and I visited the company’s Belgian plant to find out why the Chinese-Swedish brand has been so successful with regard to the number of sales of their electric fleet despite the general predicament within the industry.

New work from Brussels and Mons for @szde.bsky.social on the money laundering allegations against former Belgian EU commissioner and finance minister Didier Reynders. Great text as always by Brussels correspondent Josef Kelnberger. Published on today’s Seite Drei of the paper.

New feature of my work “A circle of 12 gold stars on a blue background” on @decorrespondent.nl, accompanying an essay by political scientist Joris Melman on the future prospects of a confident European Union after the transatlantic diplomatic fallout. Big thanks go out to Veerle van Herk.

Images taken in the Quartier Européen in Brussels on the day of the historic Special European Council Summit on 6 March, 2025.

In light of current events regarding EU-transatlantic relations, an image from my M.A. work “A circle of 12 gold stars on a blue background”, taken prior to a reception for state leaders at the European Council in 2021.

The recent German elections led to the abrupt political retreat of a man who many considered one of the most promising German politicians in recent years. This image was taken on assignment for @zeit.de at the Green party‘s convention in Berlin late January.

Assignment for @zeit.de, covering the convention of the German party Bündnis 90 Die Grünen in Berlin, GER. At the end of the event, the delegates adopted the election platform for the upcoming German federal elections. Text by Katharina Schuler.

Katharina von Aufschnaiter, interpreter at the European Commission, photographed on assignment for Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Scanned pages from a recent feature of my work “A circle of 12 gold stars on a blue background.” in Opus One’s current publication, presenting the selected photographers of 2024. Thanks go to Mats Pylyser for designing this beautiful collection of work.

Side image from the last 2024 European Council Summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Brussels, Belgium. It marked the first time, the new President of the European Council, António Costa, hosted a summit of this kind.

This year‘s Karlspreis recipient, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The prize is viewed as the most important award for services to European integration. The image was taken during a group photo-op at an EUCO summit in Brussels in 2024.

2024 @nytimes.com publication, accompanying an opinion piece, titled „My Country Shows What Europe Has Become”, by Belgian essayist Anton Jäger. The two images are extracts from my M.A. graduation work on the visuality of (EU) political communication and were both taken in Brussel’s EU district.