Discover Benelux | Cover Interview | Jan Fabre
JAN FABRE
An artist’s ode to Belgium Born in Belgium in 1958, Jan Fabre has been one of the most talked-about names on the international contemporary art scene for more than four decades. The acclaimed multidisciplinary artist still lives and works in his native Antwerp, where he also helms his own theatre company, Troubleyn. We caught up with Fabre to hear more about the group’s latest production: Belgian Rules/Belgium Rules. Comprising music, dance and text, the spectacle is an in-depth exploration of the creative’s beloved homeland, with an international cast of performers searching for the Belgian identity. TEXT: ANNA VILLELEGER | PHOTOS: © ANGELOS BVBA PHOTO/ FRANK BAHNMULLER
Currently touring throughout Europe, Belgian Rules/Belgium Rules will arrive in the Benelux next month with performances lined up at prestigious venues including the Concertgebouw Bruges and Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam. With music by Raymond van het Groenewoud and text by Johan de Boose, the performances sees Fabre celebrate - as well as criticise - the place he calls home. “Belgium is the country I was born in. It’s an absurd, surrealistic Monty Python country. For instance, we are the land with the most ministers in Europe. This tiny territory is divided in three parts: Flanders, Wallonia and the German part. We have three official languages! We are bursting with bureaucracy. Belgium is an artificial state,” begins Fabre. “But it is also a beautiful country! At the same time, Belgium is everything but a failed state. We are multicultural and multinational. We are united in our differences. Since the Middle Ages, we have been a relatively rich and developed country. Belgium has always been a fruitful platform for the arts, from the Flemish classical painters and polyphonists to the 20th century surrealism and Belgian cartoons.
“This piece will be an homage to Belgium. As Fellini did with Rome, I wanted to do something similar with my home country, Belgium. An ode that is at the same time a magnifying glass: all the beautiful ugliness and the ugly beauty of Belgium is shown. It is a colourful celebration and at the same time a critical examination. For example, we talk about what the Belgians have done in the Congo, which has been a taboo for a long time. It will be a festive meeting, a collision between word and image, in my own visual and theatrical language. As Fellini did with his film Roma: a critical declaration of love.”
The prince of Antwerp In November, Belgian Rules/Belgium Rules will show at the Toneelhuis in Antwerp, the city where Fabre was born and developed his passion for art. As a child he was fascinated by the Rubenshuis; the former Antwerp home of Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens. “My father passed on to me his talent for drawing. He took me as a very young guy, aged ten, to the Rubenshuis, to make sketches and drawings. He also took me to the zoo to make drawings of both animals and humans. He introduced me to
the teaching of Lavater’s physiognomy,” recalls Fabre. Fabre’s mother also had an important influence on his oeuvre. “My mother gave me the love and the passion for language. She translated for me when I was still very young the classical poets: Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine. Also, the ‘chansonniers’, such as Édith Piaf, Lucienne Delyle, Georges Brassens, and Jacques Brel.” Fabre was a pupil at Antwerp’s esteemed Royal Academy of Fine Arts, which was founded in 1663 and counts the likes of Emile Claus, Ford Madox Brown and Panamarenko among its alumni. Dutch master Vincent van Gogh even spent a few months there prior to his departure to France. Belgium’s second city, long famed for its thriving art and fashion scene, has had a profound impact on Fabre. “I am the prince of Antwerp. I love the United States of Antwerp. Every corner and gutter of that city is in my blood,” he asserts. “I am a very provincial artist. For that reason, maybe, my work is universal. I do not have the disease that is called ‘Internationalitis’. I love the Antwerp diaIssue 46 | October 2017 | 49