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Nothing left to lose

Winnings

Jeroen Olyslaegers

Donald, an art dealer, thinks he could put his family jewels to use to create golden opportunities. These are intense times: the euro has crashed, the days are colored by fear, despondency and paranoia, and Donald is about to lose everything he holds dear. But then a diamond merchant asks him to organize a big exhibit in Berlin. Donald senses that his luck is about to change for the better and he embraces the opportunity for a foreign adventure.

Olyslaegers has raised his book to a universal level.
Humo

But the Berlin he knew in the party years after 1989 has changed drastically. No one’s waiting for yet another art exhibit. Together with his ex-wife and his son, Donald spends a long night in this new Berlin: a city divided by apocalyptic extravagance and stark helplessness. Before long, Donald’s dream turns into a terrible nightmare… 

In ‘Winnings’ Jeroen Olyslaegers asks pertinent questions about social engagement, art, spirituality, love and sex and does so with flair and devilish suspense. ‘Winnings’, because we have nothing left to lose. Along with We and WILL, ‘Winnings’ forms a triptych on the troubled times we live in.

Olyslaegers performs a high-wire act between monumental and over the top, between cool and affected. And he makes it to the other side, gloriously so.
De Standaard