Jan Fabre

Not to be confused with Jean Fabre.

Jan Fabre
Jan Fabre (center) in 2008
Born	(1958-12-14) December 14, 1958 Antwerp, Belgium

Jan Fabre, born on December 14, 1958, in Antwerp, Belgium, is a versatile artist known for his contributions to theater, literature, and visual arts. With a career spanning nearly four decades, Fabre has established himself as an influential figure in the artistic landscape .

Consilience Artist

Jan Fabre often refers to the concept of ‘Consilience’ – the unity of knowledge – a concept that was elaborated by William Whewell (1794–1866) and further developed by the American entomologist, biologist and philosopher Edward O. Wilson (1929–2021) in his book 1998 Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge.

Fabre describes himself as a consilience artist, explaining: ‘It’s a merging of elements from different disciplines guided by fact-based theory and practice across disciplines. An understanding of entomology can, for example, lead to new interpretations within the visual arts. Or vice versa – you see connections (For example across art, theatre, science, religion, medicine), you make new interpretations. This is consilience.' Fabre identifies with this idea of consilience, taking a multifaceted and far-reaching approach. Thanks to this undertaking, Fabre offers fresh interpretations to the world of visual art, theatre and literature . 

Biography and career

Fabre studied at the Municipal Institute of Decorative Arts and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (BE).

He wrote his first scripts for theatre between 1976 and 1980 and also did his first solo performances. During his 'money-performances', he burned money and wrote the word 'MONEY' with the ashes. In 1977, he renamed the street where he lived to "Jan Fabre Street" and fixed a commemorative plaque "Here lives and works Jan Fabre" to the house of his parents, analogous to the commemorative plate on the house of Vincent van Gogh in the same street. In 1978 he made drawings with his own blood during the solo performance 'My body, my blood, my landscape'. From 1980, Fabre began his career as a stage director and stage designer. In 1986 he established the Troubleyn/Jan Fabre theatre company with extensive international operations; its home base is Antwerp, Belgium.

Fabre became known for his Bic-art (ballpoint drawings). In 1980, in 'The Bic-Art Room', he had himself locked up for three days and three nights in a white cube full of objects, drawing with blue "Bic" ballpoint pens as an alternative to "Big" art. In 1990 he covered an entire building with ballpoint drawings.

Fabre also explored relationships between drawing and sculpture creating sculptures in bronze (among them The man who measures the clouds and Searching for Utopia) and with beetles. He decorated the ceiling of the Royal Palace in Brussels with one million six hundred thousand jewel-scarab wing cases for his work Heaven of Delight. In 2004 he erected Totem, a giant bug stuck on a 70-foot steel needle, on the Ladeuzeplein in Leuven (BE).

In September 2016 Fabre made an attempt to not break cyclist Eddy Merckx's 1972 hour record at the Tête d'Or Velodrome in Lyon. Fabre completed a total of 23 km in an hour, compared to Merckx's record of over 49 km. Merckx, fellow cyclist Raymond Poulidor, and veteran cycling commentator Daniel Mangeas commentated the event, which was performed as the opening of his "Stigmata" retrospective exhibition organised by the Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon. Fabre described the attempt as "how to remain a dwarf in the land of giants".

Conviction

In September 2018, twenty former members of Fabre's performing arts company, Troubleyn/Jan Fabre (Antwerp, Belgium) accused him of sexual harassment, abuse of power, and assault. These accusations strongly diminished Fabre's standing in the artistic community.

On 28 June 2021, Belgiums' Labour Auditor, acting in his capacity as prosecutor since the alleged offenses were committed in the workplace, indicted Fabre on charges of violence at work and sexual harassment.

On Friday April 29, 2022 Fabre was condemned for violations on the law of well-being of workers regarding 6 ex-performers of Troubleyn, it concerns the following facts (as published in an open press release by Attorney Eline Tritsmans):

• "A ‘French kiss’ exchanged with an ex-performer during a photo shoot. The judgment ruled that, in addition to a violation of law on well-being at work, this fact also constitutes the offense of ‘assault on the decency’.

• Regarding two ex-performers, a directive given by the artist during a rehearsal that, according to the judges, was sexually transgressive. It concerned the directive to a male performer that he should be able to describe the vaginas of the female performers in the ‘Tantalus Scene’ in Mount Olympus. In this scene the female performers were tempting the male performer with their vagina, a goal that was unreachable for him (the scene was based on the Tantalus Myth where it is impossible for Tantalus to drink the water that is at his feet or eat the fruit that is hanging above him while he is tied to a tree).
• Giving a nickname (Brazilian chocolate) and a comment to an ex-performer that she danced like ‘a headless chicken’ (note: ‘headless chicken’ is a Flemish expression saying that you are not concentrating). The judges said such comments, even if they were not intended as such, could be perceived as insulting and degrading.
• A pose that Fabre suggested during a professional photo shoot. This photo shoot was inspired on several works of grand masters (Rubens and others). Several male and female performers were photographed naked, in the presence of professional photographers and other assistants and had to take different poses. Jan Fabre is convicted because of one instruction that he would have given to this ex-performer, i.e. to turn around, spread her legs and place her head in between. The judges ruled that there was no evidence that this pose had any artistic value and even less so that this pose would have been inspired by the work of Rubens.
• An attempt to approach an ex-performer during a photo shoot that took place in Fabre’s apartment. The judge ruled that Fabre put his hands on her breast and tried to kiss her, and that this was inappropriate even if, by her own saying, he immediately stopped when she asked him to. Although this ex-performer only wrote her declaration in a letter and was never interrogated during the investigation and although Fabre has always firmly denied the facts, the judges ruled the written declaration trustworthy."

"For these violations combined, the tribunal imposed a suspended sentence of 18 months on Jan Fabre. The sentence was given with suspension, meaning that the judges ruled an effective punishment is not necessary. The judgment also refers to the 169 positive testimonies that were given to the court from people who worked with Jan Fabre over the last 20 years." - Attorney Eline Tritsmans

A number of these testimonies have also been published on a website created by past and present members of the Troubleyn company named Reframe Platform.

Civic rights, in many European jurisdictions, include political rights (such as the right to be elected to office), judicial rights (representing or assisting a party in a judicial process) and guardianship rights (such as the right to be a guardian or conservator for another person's estate).

Controversy

The heaven of delight inside the Hall of Mirrors of the Royal palace, a part can be seen above the fireplace.

On 26 October 2012, several media outlets reported on a shoot in the Antwerp town hall for a forthcoming film exploring Jan Fabre’s artistic practice, living cats were thrown into the air, after which they made a landing on the steps of the entrance hall (which was covered in a protective layer). The owner of the cats and vet was present during the filming. Later that day, Fabre claimed all cats were still in good health.

Then in February 2016, Jan Fabre was appointed by the Greek Ministry of Culture as the Creative Director of the annual Athens – Epidaurus Festival. He resigned less than two months later, on 2 April 2016, after controversy over his plan to turn Greece's major arts festival into "a tribute to Belgium" and devote eight of the festival's ten productions to those from his homeland.

In October 2016, the Russian State Hermitage museum staged a Fabre exhibition which drew a lot of criticism from visitors and institutions such as the Russian Orthodox Church. Stuffed animals in strange poses sparked outcry among Russian social media network users who launched a campaign under the hashtag #позорэрмитажу, or "Shame on you, Hermitage". The museum then organized an event to meet the public and explain the exhibition. The artist confirmed that the animals used were taken from roads where they had been killed and denied any accusations by critics of cruelty.

“The animals featured in this installation were found near Antwerp, because many people in Belgium, Holland and France buy dogs and then abandon them on the street during the summer and so they are killed. This installation is essentially a kind of a homage to these animals...I think this exhibition also talks about the power and the force and the vulnerability of humankind and animals.” – Jan Fabre

Exhibitions

• The Angel of Metamorphosis exhibition, Louvre Museum (2008)

Theatre productions

• Theater geschreven met een K is een kater (1980)
• Het is theater zoals te verwachten en te voorzien was ("It is Theatre as to be Expected and Foreseen" 1982)
• De macht der theaterlijke dwaasheden ("The power of theatrical madness", Venice Biennale 1984)
• Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1987)
• Prometheus Landschaft (1988)
• Das Interview das stirbt... (1989)
• Der Palast um vier Uhr morgens... A.G. (1989)
• Die Reinkarnation Gottes (1989)
• Das Glas im Kopf wird vom Glas (1990)
• The Sound of one hand clapping (1990)
• Sweet Temptations (1991)
• She was and she is, even (1991)
• Wie spreekt mijn gedachte ... (1992)
• Silent Screams, Difficult Dreams (1992)
• Vervalsing zoals ze is, onvervalst (1992)
• Da un’altra faccia del tempo (1993)
• Quando la terra si rimette in movimento (1995)
• Three Dance-solos (1995)
• A dead normal woman (1995)
• Universal Copyrights 1 & 9 (1995)
• De keizer van het verlies (1996)
• The very seat of honour (1997)
• Body, Body on the wall (1997)
• Glowing Icons (1997)
• The Pick-wick-man (1997)
• Ik ben jaloers op elke zee… (1997)
• The fin comes a little bit earlier this siècle (But business as usual) (1998)
• Het nut van de nacht (1999)
• As long as the world needs a warrior’s soul (2000)
• My movements are alone like streetdogs (2000)
• Je suis Sang (conte de fées médiéval) (2001)
• Het zwanenmeer (2002)
• Swan lake (2002)
• Parrots & guinea pigs (2002)
• Je suis sang (2003)
• Angel of death (2003)
• Tannhäuser (co-production) (2004)
• Elle était et elle est, même (2004)
• Etant donnés (2004)
• Quando L'Uomo principale è una donna (2004)
• The crying body (2004)
• The King of Plagiarism (2005)
• History of Tears (2005)
• I am a Mistake (2007)
• Requiem für eine Metamorphose (2007)
• Another Sleepy Dusty Delta Day (2008)
• Orgy of Tolerance (2009)
• The Servant of Beauty (2010)
• Preparatio Mortis (2010)
• Prometheus–Landscape II (2011)
• Drugs kept me alive (2012)
• Tragedy of a Friendship (2013)
• Attends, Attends, Attends... (Pour mon Père) (2014)
• Mount Olympus. To Glorify the Cult of Tragedy. A 24-hour performance. (2015)
• Belgium Rules/Belgian Rules (2017)
• The Generosity of Dorcas (2018)
• The Night Writer (2020)

Searching for Utopia (Nieuwpoort)

External links

• Official website