Centre for Fine Arts
10, rue Royale Koningsstraat 10
Brussels
02 507 82 00
Jan Fabre, Borrowed time
March 7-May 18, 2008

This exhibition shows the work of stage director, choreographer and visual artist Jan Fabre, seen through the eyes of famous photographers.

In Borrowed time Fabre juxtaposes a selection of his project sketches and drawings executed in Chinese ink or blue ballpoint pen with photographs photographer friends have taken of his theatre productions during rehearsals or during the actual performances. It is as if the director's gaze crosses that of the photographers, resulting in a personal view of Jan Fabre's universe, with a strong visual bias and the focus of the 'ideal spectator'.

Born and bred in Antwerp, Jan Fabre is at home in all the art disciplines and moves freely from one to another. In the last 25 years he has produced more than 30 dance, theatre and opera productions in addition to his work as a visual artist. Twelve photographers (Helmut Newton, Carl De Keyzer, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jorge Molder, Malou Swinnen, Dirk Braeckman, Maarten Vanden Abeele, Wonge Bergmann, Jean-Pierre Stoop, Pierre Coulibeuf, Filip Van Roe and Patrick Selitto) have captured his productions on camera since the 1980s. Each photographer reacts differently to Fabre's work, turning what he sees into his own imagery and thus abandoning the customary documentary approach to theatre photography.

The exhibition comprises a total of 251 works: black & white and colour photographs (119) by the above-mentioned photographers and crayon drawings (122) and maquettes (10) by Jan Fabre himself. The most recent relate to Fabre's Requiem für eine Metamorphose, created for the Salzburger Festspiele in the summer of 2007.

Jan Fabre (Antwerp, 1958) is known as one of the most innovative and versatile artists of his day. Over the last 25 years he has produced work as a performance artist, theatre-maker, choreographer, opera-maker, author and visual artist.

Jan Fabre studied at the Stedelijk Instituut voor Sierkunsten (Municipal Institute for Decorative Arts) and at the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten (Royal Academy of Fine Arts). Between 1976 and 1980 Fabre wrote his first theatre scripts and gave his first solo performances. In1980 he began to direct: Theater geschreven met een K is een kater (1980). In 1982 his Het is theater zoals te verwachten en te voorzien was won him international acclaim. In 1984 he created the theatre performance De Macht der Theaterlijke Dwaasheden at the invitation of the Venice Biennial. In 1986 the non-profit Troubleyn was founded as a production structure for initiating and producing the artist's theatre, dance and opera productions. The name Troubleyn means 'being faithful' and expresses Fabre's desire to work with like-minded people in confidence and on a long-term basis.

He breaks away from the codes of the existing theatre by introducing 'real time performance' — sometimes called 'living installations'. His writings for theatre, mainly monologues, form an exceptional collection of miniatures with an open and poetic style. The invitation to help give artistic shape to the Avignon Festival in 2005 and his recent invitation to stage his own text Requiem für eine Metamorphose for the notorious Felzenreitschule in Salzburg and his creation I am a mistake with Wolfgang Rihm and Chantal Akerman, commissioned by ECHO, can undoubtedly be seen as the pinnacle of his performing arts work so far.

Furthermore, Jan Fabre is a talented draughtsman and is famous for his ballpoint pen drawings. He is also a sculptor. There are the bronze sculptures like De man die de wolken meet (1998), De man die vuur geeft (1999), Searching for Utopia (2003), Totem (2004) on the Ladeuzeplein in Leuven, and Astronaut die de zee dirigeert (2006). In the 1990s he began working with the wing-cases of beetles. These works include The grave of the unknown computer (1994) and Zelfportret als Joker (1997). In 1990 he wrapped Tivoli Castle in paper covered in ballpoint drawings. In 1988 he did the same with an indoor space: De blauwe ruimte. In 2000 he wrapped slices of ham round the columns of a university building in Ghent. Then, there is his very famous Heaven of Delight commissioned by Queen Paola for the Royal Palace in Brussels (2003).

Finally, from the end of the 1970s onwards Jan Fabre made numerous short films, which culminated in an installation entitled The Angel of Death (2003).

Besides being an artist, Fabre also aspires to be a thinker. In 1999 he published the first edition of the multidisciplinary magazine Janus.

In 1992 he was awarded the “Flemish Community Prize for Visual Art.” In 1994 he was appointed artist in residence at de Singel in Antwerp. In 2004 he was made Grand Officer in the Order of the Crown.

De macht der theaterlijke dwaasheden. Foto: Robert Mapplethorpe.

As long as the world needs a warrior soul, Dessin de | Tekening van | Drawing of Jan Fabre.

Tannhäuser. Photo | Foto : Wonge Bergmann.