Steven Jacobs is an art historian specialized in the relations between film and the visual arts. His other research interests focus on the visualization of architecture, cities, and landscapes in film and photography. In addition, he has worked on various topics of Belgian modern art and architecture including the works by Raoul De Keyser, Dirk Braeckman, Willy Kessels, Henry Van de Velde, and Robbrecht & Daem.
He has published in Art Journal, October, History of Photography, The Journal of Architecture, Millennium Film Journal, and De Witte Raaf, among others. His publications include Works in Architecture: Paul Robbrecht & Hilde Daem (1998), Raoul De Keyser: Retour 1964-2006 (2007), The Wrong House: The Architecture of Alfred Hitchcock (2007), Beyond the Picturesque (2009, with Frank Maes), Framing Pictures: Film and the Visual Arts (2011), The Dark Galleries: A Museum Guide to Painted Portraits in Film Noir (2013, with Lisa Colpaert); Screening Statues: Sculpture and Cinema (2017, with Susan Felleman, Vito Adriaensens, and Lisa Colpaert); The City Symphony Phenomenon: Cinema, Art, and Urban Modernity Between the Wars (2018, with Eva Hielscher and Anthony Kinik); and Screening Statues: Sculpture and Cinema (2019, with Susan Felleman, Vito Adriaensens, and Lisa Colpaert).
Steven Jacobs curated exhibitions at SMAK Ghent (B), Marta Herford (D), Raveelmuseum (B), Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem (NL), and various film programs for KASK-Cinema Ghent (B), Cinema Zuid Antwerp (B), and Cinema Muto Pordenone (I), among others. For Cinematek Brussels, he edited the DVD set Art & Cinema: Belgian Art Documentaries (2013).
At Ghent University, Steven Jacobs teaches courses on modern and contemporary art. He also teaches film history at the Department of Literature of the University of Antwerp.