Florence, Piazza della Signoria Palazzo Vecchio 15 April – 2 October 2016 Forte di Belvedere 14 May – 2 October 2016 Art Direction Sergio Risaliti Curated by Joanna De Vos and Melania Rossi
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Foreword
Places of History and Invention
Dario Nardella
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Jan Fabre. The Knight of Despair in the Prince’s Footsteps Sergio Risaliti
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Jan Fabre. Spiritual Guards Joanna De Vos and Melania Rossi
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And I feel safe in my inner fortress Melania Rossi
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The Power of Imagination Joanna De Vos
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Jan Fabre, Palazzo Vecchio and its Spiritual Guards Arabella Natalini
Photographs by Attilio Maranzano
Carlo Cinelli
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Works in the Exhibition
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Biographical note
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Group Exhibitions
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Solo Exhibitions
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Selected Bibliography
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Jan Fabre. The Knight of Despair in the Prince’s Footsteps —
Sergio Risaliti
Room has been found for dialectic, to the benefit of both the thinking and general sensitivity. For example, the Renaissance, as idealized as it is fossilized in the image of an immeasurable era, now seems to be a Renaissance in progress: a Renaissance that remains to be wholly understood and redesigned, an incomplete epoch whose achievements still need to be seen and updated in an era in which humanism and de-humanism are at times even dramatically opposed. The references to material and spiritualized beauty, the single individual’s creative qualities, the rebirth of ancient paganism and platonic philosophy, the still current and global force of symbols and myths, make for an inseparable bond between artists present and past, Florence and the world. The different and changing proposals have gradually taken on new meanings and fresh, unpredictable forms in the hands of great artists who are constantly redrawing cultural limits and horizons by overcoming prejudices and prudery, demolishing ideologies and stereotypes, creating new Renaissances and a new humanism. It is up to the artists to take on the whole history of art and re-mould it according to perceptions and experiences, inventions and exemplary behaviours, to give rise to the new and regenerate the past. The dialectic presence of contemporary artists in Florence, centre of Western philosophical and artistic civilization, is therefore all the more necessary and urgent, also because this comparison can take on such a universal dimension. Here, between Piazza della Signoria and Forte di Belvedere, Palazzo Medici-Riccardi and Palazzo Vecchio, history, art, politics, spirituality and creativity have given the urban setting its structure. The architectural space has become a theatre, a spectacle, its icons at the service of the self-contemplation of republican and autocratic power. Displaying a work of contemporary art in a Florentine piazza or palazzo necessarily causes a collision between values and paradigms, codes and genres. Some are widely historicized and even idealized,
Where is my knightly order? Where are my Don Quichotes? Where is my society of wandering souls? Jan Fabre, History of tears, 20051
In recent years some of the best contemporary artists have tackled the spaces of Forte di Belvedere, Palazzo Vecchio and Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Piazza della Signoria and Piazza Santa Croce, even the Limonaia Grande in the Boboli Gardens at Palazzo Pitti, magnificent testimonies to republican and Medici Florence: among them Zhang Huan, Giuseppe Penone, Antony Gormley, Jeff Koons, Mimmo Paladino, Domenico Bianchi, Remo Salvadori and Marco Bagnoli. Without counting that as long ago as 2003, the same bastions of Forte di Belvedere hosted installations by Mario Merz and Nancy Rubins, Giulio Paolini and Maurizio Nannucci, Anish Kapoor and Tony Cragg, Marisa Merz and the young Massimo Bartolini. All these events have put a city such as Florence, so rich in history and ancient masterpieces, almost impenetrable to the art of our times, on a crash course in the contemporary mood. With a focus on these locations, a perimeter has been drawn around what can today be considered the “centre” of contemporary art in Florence, so big and dense in history and art as to make it one of a kind on the world stage. The rooms of this “centre of the arts” are mainly out-of-doors, world heritage sites which combine daily life and cultural tourism, diachronic experiences creating a stunning alternation between contemplation and worldliness, marvel and distraction, playful gratification and aesthetic pleasure. Some thoughts immediately come to mind: these events have always been monumental, spectacular even, given that the “noise” of the past, with its perfect sounds and matchless harmonies, has always seemed to drown out every contemporary sign or gesture. And yet an opening has been made in this densest of pasts, so magnetic and overabundant.
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And I feel safe in my inner fortress —
Melania Rossi
ordered the bombing of the city, which had embraced the revolutionary government. The government then ruled that the fortress be demolished in honour of the independence of Italy and freedom. However, its historical and artistic worth enabled it to resist the cynical cruelty of politics – albeit libertarian – so much so that, after careful restoration, it would become a place where danger and threat were replaced by stupor and magnificence. Above these “beautiful, most strong and impregnable walls”,1 with Spiritual Guards a journey now begins, a path on several levels, as twisting and circuitous as the history and architecture of the space suggest. The Belgian artist’s imagination makes the matters of ancient men re-emerge and recounts the gestures of contemporary knights, stories of disarmament and defence, physical fatigue and mystical contemplation. So the fort becomes a place of the mind where the man, the artist, can give shape to the never-ending flow of thoughts, the maze of contradictions and the throng of opposites characterizing human existence. “What does an artist do? Does he have high aspirations? No! All he has is the desire to make us see life in a different way, through the variety of his revelations. He helps us to unravel the darkest book of all: ourselves,” wrote the young Jan Fabre on 3 October 1983.2 A book read and written at the same time, only by going steadily on our way, only if we are open to a conscious and anarchical voyage. To depict this journey, the artist starts from himself and draws out his shining, spiritual and ironic troops in the heroic attempt to transcend space and time.
I live in an era where there is a solution for every problem I live in a society ready to fight twenty-four hours a day in which conflict is no longer celebrated There’s no respect for the enemy anymore I’m ready again Willing to tear apart with love with the tip of my tongue every real or imaginary enemy. Jan Fabre, Residui, 2015
Where are you? It is the most ancient question, the one that God would ask Adam, as he hid out of fear and shame after his sin. It is the request to gain awareness in the space of a story. It is a challenge to come out into the open. Biblically speaking, it is only by answering this question that man can begin his journey; existentially speaking, it is only by asking himself this question that man will have the courage to look at himself in the eternal duel with the other. With an approach free from set canons and the audacity of a visionary mind, Jan Fabre answers in several voices, calling upon an army of doubles of his imaginary or real self. He shows them in this exhibition in a fantasy that blends with memory in a place – Forte di Belvedere – whose name continues to remind us of a history made of opposites. This fortified citadel, overlooking the city on the plain below, guaranteed a ready defence from external incursions but at the same time allowed the powerful Medici family to sleep peacefully in the event of uprisings in the city. Its underground chambers housed a considerable amount of Medici treasure, hidden, it is said, in the bottom of wells, beyond labyrinths and behind secret keyholes. From here, the last of the Grand Dukes, Leopold II,
Sometimes I stand on the tower like a knight. Like a true strategist defending my castle. (And I feel safe in my inner fortress.) Jan Fabre, Rotterdam, 8 November 19913
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The Power of Imagination —
Joanna De Vos
guards” figure into Jan Fabre’s solo exhibition of the same name here on this square, in the Palazzo Vecchio and Forte di Belvedere. Since 17 April 2016, something has changed in Piazza della Signoria, and the charged atmosphere indicates that it is more than the arrival of two bronze sculptures by Jan Fabre. Between Searching for Utopia (2003), The man measuring the clouds (American version, 18 years older) (1998-2016), and the classical sculptures, an invisible trail leads into the Forte di Belvedere, to a room in the central villa. No sooner have we taken our places in front of the flat screen, than, under the gaze of the Belgian artist, we are catapulted back to Piazza della Signoria. It is past midnight, 23 April 2016, and we meet Jan Fabre, dressed for the occasion, in the centre of the square. He is ready for a ritual performance that begins with two women, one who enters the screen from the left and the other from the right. These are the exhibition curators – Melania Rossi and myself, Joanna De Vos – who have come to wrap Jan Fabre in tape from head to toe at his request. This act symbolizes – no, not the curator immobilizing the artist in the straitjacket of an artistic concept, but the artist giving the curator the opportunity to connect the world of his imagination, his flesh and blood, with the world around him and with the public. The tape makes it impossible for him to stay upright, gravity pulls him inescapably to the ground, and so he wriggles humbly yet resolutely onward over the cobblestones of Florence. The artist-worm, the holy anarchist of Antwerp2, makes a surprising entrance in the Piazza della Signoria and sets out on a self-selected route along the bronze sculpture Searching for Utopia, his illustrious sea turtle with himself firmly in the saddle, gazing sagely out into the distance. He stops at the equestrian sculpture of Cosimo I, the Grand Duke of Tuscany responsible for the outward glory of Florence. Fabre’s creation lies – surely not by chance – in the line of sight of Cosimo I, who has on the front and back of
The world of my imagination is a worm. Nothing more, nothing less. Take that worm away and I die. Jan Fabre, Amsterdam, 10 February 19891
So here we are. Where are we? We find ourselves in Piazza della Signoria, on the eastern side of the Florence city centre. Florentia / Firenze / Florence, a compact metropolis that was once Italy’s capital (1865-1870), derives its identity – despite its Roman roots (59 BC) and medieval spirit – from its role as the cradle of the Renaissance. Every year, more than fifteen million tourists from every part of the world pour into Florence to savour its rich store of cultural treasures. It is the city of politics, art, and power, and nowhere is that more in evidence than on the square where we are now. The word Signoria in the square’s name, meaning “governing authority”, hints at its democratic role; since its creation, Piazza della Signoria has been the city’s main public gathering place. Made up of palaces, museums, and galleries, it is above all an extension of the Palazzo Vecchio – the city hall – and serves as a stage for the regime that defends and protects the city. Its public importance remains undiminished to this day – most of all, perhaps, because of the impressive sculptures that have transformed it into a remarkable open-air gallery. The historic works of such artists as Michelangelo, Donatello, Bandinelli and Giambologna owe much of their expressive power to their sublime craftsmanship, of course, but still more to their vivid evocation of the city’s spirit. Even now, centuries after they were placed in the square, David (1501-1504, 20th-c. copy, Michelangelo), Judith and Holofernes (1460, also a modern copy, Donatello), Hercules and Cacus (1530, Bandinelli), and the equestrian monument to Cosimo I de’ Medici (1595, Giambologna), still appeal to the imagination. These “spiritual
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Jan Fabre, Palazzo Vecchio and its Spiritual Guards —
Arabella Natalini
di Belvedere, it is between Piazza della Signoria and its Palazzo that this new adventure begins publicly. Here visitors will encounter works made at different times, their chronology and story re-formed by creating a dialogue with the context hosting them, which, in exchange, receives new lifeblood. A group of out-of-the-ordinary figures has come to inhabit an equally as extraordinary place, Palazzo Vecchio, whose appearance the public imagines to be firm and immobile. However, not only has the imposing building taken part in and witnessed the city of Florence’s transformations over the centuries, the edifice itself has been transformed too. Originating as Palazzo dei Priori, around the end of the fifteenth century it was named after the Signoria, to then be “transformed” into Palazzo Granducale in 1540 before, lastly, in 1565, suddenly becoming old – “Vecchio” – when the court moved to Palazzo Pitti. Exactly three centuries later, the Palazzo came to host the government once more, albeit for a short period, in the form of the parliament of the Kingdom of Italy (1865-1871), and since then it has been the seat of the municipality and the mayor’s offices. However, its metamorphoses do not end with the change of name: its actual structure, altered by numerous extensions, bears the traces of the history that it helped to forge. The symbolic power of this palazzo continues, accompanied, and strengthened, by its current functions. Every day its thresholds are crossed by a mix of people: politicians, administrators and clerks going to their place of work; citizens who have to carry out tedious bureaucratic procedures or want to celebrate their registry office wedding in a setting laden with history; and a multitude of tourists who visit the palazzo/ museum and its masterpieces, thronging halls, stairways, rooms and corridors in search of the traces of the glorious pomp of Florentine civitas. Seven exceptional guests, in turn “populated” by a myriad of “miniature inhabitants”, have made their way into the crowd of those more or less fleetingly passing through these rooms.
Total artist, cultured and audacious, for decades Jan Fabre has been fighting to defend the imagination with the proud weapons of art. Invited to exhibit in Florence, the artist entered the city with a mindful and explosive gait: taking up residence in Palazzo Vecchio, arriving in Piazza della Signoria and then climbing up towards the overlooking hillside to “occupy” the Palazzina and bastions of Forte di Belvedere. It is these places, laden with history and symbolic elements, that inspired to devise Fabre’s Spiritual Guards, a project that ties spaces with different appearances and functions back together (centres of power, places for fighting or shelter, but also for cultural exchanges and trade) through highly imaginative and striking dramaturgy. Continuing in his never-ending search for beauty and harmony, the Flemish artist “instinctively” dialogues with Florentine history and its brilliant Renaissance, which, like Fabre, would not have been able to illuminate gazes and souls without understanding its past, its lights and shadows; at the same time, Spiritual Guards re-weaves old relations with the Low Countries – extremely significant as of the mid-1400s for the city’s artistic and commercial developments1 – to offer us a new richness nurtured by passions, obsessions and a profound love for life and art. Together, the works presented in Florence make up an organic whole. Each of the elements refers to the others, making the spaces hosting them resound like an ever-changing instrument. And it is this very metamorphosis, the never-ending change of everything – human being, animal or inanimate object – and the continual shift between life and death, that lies beneath all of Jan Fabre’s poetics, now becoming the fulcrum and common thread of the Florentine exhibition. Works woven together from recurring images and topics appear in the city, as if by magic, giving shape to a multifarious corps of perturbing subjects: self-portraits, skulls, insects, animals, weapons and armour... While the most prominent set of works is presented at Forte
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Works in the Exhibition —
Forte di Belvedere Holy dung beetle with walking stick 2012 silicon bronze 38 × 42 × 79 cm (cover, pp. 2-3, 18-19, 22, 35-38, 90-91) Holy dung beetle 2011 silicon bronze 38 × 42 × 76 cm (cover, pp. 2-3, 18-19, 23, 41) The man who bears the cross 2015 silicon bronze 394 × 200 × 100 cm (pp. 2-3, 33, 35-38, 41) Chapter I 2010 (Series: Chapters I – XVIII, 2010) silicon bronze 44 × 25 × 35 cm (pp. 2-3, 42-43) Chapter II 2010 (Series: Chapters I – XVIII, 2010) silicon bronze 115 × 31 × 118 cm (pp. 2-3, 18-19, 44-45) Chapter III 2010 (Series: Chapters I – XVIII, 2010) silicon bronze 66 × 33 × 35 cm (pp. 2-3, 18-19, 44-45) Chapter IV 2010 (Series: Chapters I – XVIII, 2010) silicon bronze 64 × 25 × 27 cm (pp. 2-3, 42-43)
Chapter V 2010 (Series: Chapters I – XVIII, 2010) silicon bronze 68 × 31 × 37 cm (pp. 2-3, 42-43) Chapter VI 2010 (Series: Chapters I – XVIII, 2010) silicon bronze 64 × 31 × 32 cm (pp. 2-3, 18-19, 44-45) Chapter IX 2010 (Series: Chapters I – XVIII, 2010) silicon bronze 78 × 29 × 74 cm (pp. 2-3, 18-19, 44-45) Chapter X 2010 (Series: Chapters I – XVIII, 2010) silicon bronze 116 × 53 × 64 cm (pp. 2-3, 42-43) Chapter XII 2010 (Series: Chapters I – XVIII, 2010) silicon bronze 42 × 26 × 25 cm (pp. 2-3, 42-43) Chapter XIII 2010 (Series: Chapters I – XVIII, 2010) silicon bronze 87 × 79 × 43 cm (pp. 2-3, 18-19, 44-45) Chapter XIV 2010 (Series: Chapters I – XVIII, 2010) silicon bronze 107 × 109 × 48 cm (pp. 2-3, 42-43)
Chapter XVI 2010 (Series: Chapters I – XVIII, 2010) silicon bronze 127 × 22 × 67 cm (pp. 2-3, 18-19, 44-45) Chapter XVII 2010 (Series: Chapters I – XVIII, 2010) silicon bronze 100 × 25 × 26 cm (pp. 2-3, 42-43)
The man who conducts the stars 2015 silicon bronze 190 × 110 × 75 cm (pp. 2-3, 52-53, 54-55) The man who measures the clouds 1998 silicon bronze 285 × 120 × 80 cm (pp. 56-57) Lancelot 2004 16mm film, colour, sound (no spoken word) 8’ 17” (pp. 62-63)
Chapter XVIII 2010 (Series: Chapters I – XVIII, 2010) silicon bronze 51 × 32 × 31 cm (pp. 2-3, 18-19, 44-45)
Spanish sword (Knight of despair) 2012 silicon bronze 20.5 × 119 × 10.2 cm (pp. 62-63)
The man who gives a light 2002 silicon bronze 165 × 77 × 65 cm (pp. 2-3, 46-47)
The way of the art 2012 silicon bronze 7.7 × 118.6 × 13.8 cm (pp. 64-65)
The man who cries and laughs 2005 silicon bronze 168 × 58 × 65 cm (pp. 2-3, 48-49, 51)
The way of the beauty 2012 silicon bronze 7.4 × 102.4 × 14.2 cm (pp. 64-65)
The man writing on water 2006 silicon bronze 63 × 78 × 170 cm (7x) (pp. 58-59, 60-61)
The mask of power 2012 silicon bronze 48 × 54 × 71.5 cm (pp. 64-65)
Sanguis / Mantis Landscape (Battlefield) 2004 silicon bronze, bark and wood installation size (pp. 86-87, 89)
Scarab dissected 2012 wax 43.8 × 20.7 × 47.7 cm (p. 25) Scarab dissected 2012 silicon bronze 44.6 × 13.8 × 47.5 cm
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The problem (Homage to Dietmar Kamper) 2001 DV cam, colour, German spoken (subtitles English) 30’
Chapter VII 2010 (Series: Chapters I - XVIII, 2010) wax 93 × 25 × 63 cm (pp. 4-5)
Holy dung beetle with laurel tree 2012 silicon bronze 38 × 40 × 80.6 cm (p. 24)
Chapter IX 2010 (Series: Chapters I - XVIII, 2010) wax 78 × 29 × 74 cm (pp. 4-5)
A Meeting / Vstrecha 1997 multiscreen, colour, Russian / Flemish spoken (subtitles English) 35’ Sanguis / Mantis (Helmet) 2006 silicon bronze 52.4 × 46 × 64 cm (pp. 67, 68-69) Sanguis / Mantis 2001 DV cam, black-white, sound (no spoken word) 26’ (pp. 68-69) Chapter III 2010 (Series: Chapters I - XVIII, 2010) wax 66 × 33 × 35 cm (pp. 4-5) Chapter VI 2010 (Series: Chapters I - XVIII, 2010) wax 64 × 31 × 32 cm (pp. 4-5)
Chapter X 2010 (Series: Chapters I - XVIII, 2010) wax 116 × 53 × 64 cm (pp. 4-5, 73) Chapter XIII 2010 (Series: Chapters I - XVIII, 2010) wax 87 × 79 × 43 cm (pp. 4-5) Chapter XV 2010 (Series: Chapters I - XVIII, 2010) wax 82 × 48 × 30 cm (pp. 4-5) Suicide? 1980 8mm film, black-white, no sound loop (pp. 70-71) Contact Disorder 1980-1982 8mm film, black-white, no sound loop (pp. 70-71)
Hyperventilation 1982 8mm film, black-white, no sound loop (pp. 70-71) The Bag 1980 8mm film, black-white, no sound loop (pp. 70-71) The Fight 1979 8mm film, black-white, no sound loop Avant-grade 2012 silicon bronze 34.4 × 96 × 8.3 cm (pp. 74-75) Avant-grade 2012 wax 34.4 × 96 × 8.3 cm (pp. 74-75) The Scheldt (Hey, what a pleasant madness!) 1988 35mm film (released on 16mm), black-white and colour, no sound 10’ (pp. 74-75) Vanitas compass 2011 silicon bronze 14 × 18 × 20.1 cm (pp. 76-77) Worm 2011 silicon bronze 31 × 131.5 × 8.8 cm (pp. 76-77)
The artist-worm crossing Piazza della Signoria 2016 HD film, colour, sound (no spoken word) ca. 30’ (pp. 78-79) Greek tragedy & Greek victory 2010 wax 19 × 35 × 17 cm / 8 × 9 × 9 cm & 17 × 33 × 15 cm / 8 × 9 × 9 cm (pp. 80-81) Homage to Zeno X (performance with my tortoises Janneke & Mieke) 1978-1980 8mm film, black-white, no sound loop (pp. 80-81)
Piazza della Signoria
Palazzo Vecchio
Searching for Utopia 2003 silicon bronze 500 × 700 × 300 cm (pp. 6-7, 98-99, 104-105, 106-107, 108-109)
Spanish sword (Knight of modesty) 2016 jewel scarab wingcases, steel 20.5 × 119 × 10.2 cm (p. 121)
The man measuring the clouds (American version, 18 years older) 1998-2016 silicon bronze 283 × 150 × 80 cm (pp. 6-7, 98-99, 111, 112-113, 115)
Armour (Collar) 1996 scarabs on iron wire 14 × 30 × 32 cm (pp. 122-123) Skull with squirrel 2012 mixture of jewel scarab wing-cases, polymers, stuffed animal 45 × 23.5 × 25 cm (pp. 122-123)
The artist-worm crossing Piazza della Signoria April 23, 2016 1 a.m. - 2:25 a.m. performance (pp. 100-101, 102-103)
Salvator Mundi 1998 scarabs, iron, angel’s hair, bones 50 × 30 × 40 cm (pp. 124-125, 127)
Homage to Thomas More 2015 8mm film, black-white, no sound 2’25” (pp. 80-81)
Globe 1997 scarabs and longhorned scarabs on iron-wire and cast iron diameter 250 cm, height 280 cm (pp. 129, 130-131, 132-133)
Vespula vulgaris (Helmet for Marina) 2010 silicon bronze 33 × 33 × 46 cm (pp. 82-83)
Fallen angel 2000 scarabs on iron wire 141 × 48 × 33 cm (pp. 130-131)
Oryctes rhinoceros (Helmet for Jan) 2010 silicon bronze 22 × 40 × 44 cm (pp. 82-83)
Shall he forever stand with feet set together? 1997 armour, angel’s hair, jewel scarab wingcases, mirror, leather 300 × 160 × 160 cm (pp. 8-9, 134-135, 136-137)
Virgin / Warrior 2004 multiscreen, colour, sound 34’ 22” (pp. 84-85)
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Jan Fabre, 2014, Š Stephan Vanfleteren
Biographical note —
Jan Fabre earned the recognition of a worldwide audience with Tivoli castle (1990) and with permanent public works in sites of historical importance, such as Heaven of Delight (2002) at the Royal Palace in Brussels, The Gaze Within (The Hour Blue) (2011 – 2013) in the Royal Staircase of the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels and his latest installation in the Antwerp Cathedral of The man who bears the cross (2015). He is known for solo exhibitions such as Homo Faber (KMSKA, Antwerp, 2006), Hortus / Corpus (Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, 2011) and Stigmata. Actions and Performances, 1976–2013 (MAXXI, Rome, 2013; M HKA, Antwerp, 2015; MAC, Lyon, 2016). He was the first living artist to present a large-scale exhibition at the Louvre, Paris (L’ange de la métamorphose, 2008). The well-known series The Hour Blue (1977 – 1992) was displayed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (2011), in the Musée d’Art Moderne of Saint-Etienne (2012) and in the Busan Museum of Art (2013). His research on “the sexiest part of the body”, namely the brain, was presented in the solo shows Anthropology of a planet (Palazzo Benzon, Venice, 2007), From the Cellar to the Attic, From the Feet to the Brain (Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2008; Arsenale Novissimo, Venice, 2009), and PIETAS (Nuova Scuola Grande di Santa Maria della Misericordia, Venice, 2011; Parkloods Park Spoor Noord, Antwerp, 2012). The two series of mosaics made with the wing cases of the jewel scarab Tribute to Hieronymus Bosch in Congo (2011 – 2013) and Tribute to Belgian Congo (2010 – 2013) were shown at the PinchukArtCentre in Kiev (2013) and the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille (2013) and will travel to ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2016 for the 500th anniversary celebration of Hieronymus Bosch. Fabre has also been invited to create a major exhibition at The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg (2016).
For more than thirty-five years Jan Fabre (1958, Antwerp) has been one of the most innovative and important figures on the international contemporary art scene. As a visual artist, theatre maker and author he has created a highly personal world with its own rules and laws, as well as its own characters, symbols, and recurring motifs. Influenced by research carried out by the entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre (1823-1915), he became fascinated by the world of insects and other creatures at a very young age. In the late seventies, while studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the Municipal Institute of Decorative Arts and Crafts in Antwerp, he explored ways of extending his research to the domain of the human body, its fragility and its defence. His own performances and actions, from 1976 to the present, have been essential to his artistic journey. Jan Fabre’s language involves a variety of materials and is situated in a world of his own, populated by physical, erotic and spiritual bodies in a balance between the opposites that define natural existence. Metamorphosis is a key concept in any approach to Jan Fabre’s body of thought, in which human and animal life are in constant interaction. He unfolds his universe through his author’s texts and nocturnal notes, published in the volumes of his Night Diary. As a consilience artist, he has merged performance art and theatre. Jan Fabre has changed the idiom of the theatre by bringing real time and real action to the stage. After his historic eight-hour production This is theatre like it was to be expected and foreseen (1982) and four-hour production The power of theatrical madness (1984), he raised his work to a new level in the exceptional and monumental Mount Olympus. To glorify the cult of tragedy, a 24-hour performance (2015).
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Selected Bibliography —
Publications (selection) Franci, Franco, Jan Fabre, Antwerp, Workshop 77, 1979 Kamper, Dietmar, Jan Fabre ou l’art de l’impossible, Strasbourg, s.n., 1990 Hrvatin, Emil, Herhaling, waanzin, discipline. Het theaterwerk van Jan Fabre, Amsterdam, Uitgeverij IT&FB, 1994 Wesemann, Arnd, Jan Fabre, Frankfurt am Main, Fischer, 1994 Hoet, Jan & Hugo De Greef, Le Guerrier de la Beauté, Paris, L’Arche, 1994 Fabre, Jan, Fabre’s Book of Insects, Ghent, Imschoot Uitgevers, 1999 Fabre, Jan, Fountain of the World. Drawings by Jan Fabre, Ghent, Imschoot Uitgevers, 1999 Fabre, Jan, Je marche pendant 7 jours et 7 nuits, Paris, Jannink, 2002 Hertmans, Stefan, Engel van de metamorfose. over het werk van Jan Fabre, Amsterdam, Meulenhoff, 2002 Hoet, Jan, Jan Fabre, Ghent, s.n., 2002 Hertmans, Stefan & Roger-H. Marijnissen, Heaven of Delight, Jan Fabre (Palais royal, Bruxelles), Brussels, Mercatorfonds, 2002 Maes, Frank & Paul Demets, De wereld van Jan Fabre, Ghent, Ludion, 2002 Fabre, Jan, Jan Fabre. Sanguis / Mantis, Une performance, Paris, L’Arche, 2003 Drouhet, Geneviève, Transgression: un trajet dans l’œuvre de Jan Fabre (1996-2003), Paris, Editions Cercle d’Art, 2004
Fabre, Jan, Il rifugio (per la tomba del computer sconosciuto), Milan, s.n., 2006 Bekkers, Ludo & Jan Fabre, Jan Fabre. Conversation avec Ludo Bekkers, Gerpinnes, Editions Tandem, 2006 Maes, Frank, Jan Fabre. Searching for Utopia. Sculptures & Installations, 1977-2005, Geneva, Bärtschi-Salomon Editions, 2006 Fabre, Jan, Boîtes à images et modèles de pensée. 1977-2005, Ghent, MER; Waregem, Vision Publishers, 2006 Di Pietrantonio, Giacinto (ed.), Jan Fabre / Homo Faber: Drawings, Performances, Photoworks, Films, Sculptures & Installations, Antwerp, Mercatorfonds, 2006
Marijnissen, Rogier-Hendrick, Luc Vints, et al., Jan Fabre. Tribute to Hieronymus Bosch in Congo (2011 – 2013). Jan Fabre. Tribute to Belgian Congo (2010 – 2013), Milan, Skira, 2014 Coucke, Jo, In de luwte van de tijd, Antwerp, De Bezige Bij, 2015 De Vos, Joanna (ed.), The man who bears the cross, Brussels, Mercatorfonds, 2015 Fabre, Jan, Residui, Spoleto, Editoria & Spettacolo, 2015 Bousset, Sigrid, Katrien Bruyneel & Mark Geurden (eds.), Troubleyn / Laboratorium. Jan Fabre, Brussels, Mercatorfonds, 2016 Fabre, Jan, Giornale notturno (1985-1991), Naples, Cronopio, 2016
Fabre, Jan, Le temps emprunté, Arles, Actes Sud, 2007 Exhibition catalogues (selection) Ardenne, Paul, Georges Banu & Achille Bonito Oliva, Jan Fabre. Les bronzes, s.l., Wever & Bergh, 2007
Dercon, Chris, et al., Homo Fabere, Bornem, Cultureel centrum Ter Dilf, 1981
Lista, Marcella, Bart De Baere, et al., Art kept me out of jail!, Paris, Editions Dilecta, 2010
Brijs, Lief, Jan Fabre / Vrienden, Hasselt, Provinciaal Museum, 1984
Verschaffel, Bart, Een god is vele dieren: Essays over het werk van Jan Fabre 1988-2010, Antwerp, Meulenhoff/Manteau, 2010
Fabre, Jan, Jan Fabre: Biennale di Venezia: Comunità Fiamminga del Belgio, s.l., Commissariaat-Generaal voor de Internationale Culturele Samenwerking, 1984
Kreutzträger, Anna, et al., Jan Fabre. Chapters I-XVIII: Waxes & Bronzes, Sint-Martens-LatemParis, s.n., 2010 Di Pietrantonio, Giacinto & Katerina Koskina, Pietas. Jan Fabre, Ghent, s.n., (Eng./It.) / Schoten, Bai Publishers (Dut./Eng.), 2011-2012 Fabre, Jan, Journal de nuit (1978-1984), Paris, L’Arche, 2012 Sels, Nadia, Chalcosoma. Small Bronzes, 2006-2012, Brasschaat, Pandora, 2012
Van den Dries, Luk, Corpus Jan Fabre, Observaties van een creatief proces, Ghent, Imschoot Uitgevers, 2004
Kreutzträger, Anna, Le regard en dedans (L’Heure Bleue), Milan, Silvana Editoriale, 2013
Goedseels, Vic, Totem: Jan Fabre, Brussels, Mercatorfonds, 2005
Fabre, Jan, Giornale notturno (1978-1984), Naples, Cronopio, 2013
Fabre, Jan & Jérôme Sans, Jan Fabre. For Intérieur, Arles, Actes Sud, 2005
Celant, Germano & Jan Fabre, Stigmata. Actions & Performances 1976 – 2013, Milan, Skira, 2014
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Visser, Tijs, Jan Fabre: Tekeningen, Ghent, Imschoot Uitgevers, 1985 Fabre, Jan, The Forgery of the Secret Feast, Antwerp, Fabre, 1985 Bohez, Rom, Veerle Van Durme & Norbert De Dauw, Signaturen, Ghent, Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst, 1988 Verschaffel, Bart, Jan Fabre: hé, wat een plezierige zottigheid, Antwerp, Galerie Ronny Van de Velde, 1988 Coucke, Jo, Jan Fabre: modellen 1977-1985, Otegem, Deweer Art Gallery, 1988 Coucke, Jo, Jan Fabre: een skulptuur – vijf tekeningen, Otegem, Deweer Art Gallery, 1988 Bohez, Rom (ed.), Open mind (gesloten circuits), Milan, Fabbri, 1989
Coucke, Jo, et al., Tekeningen, Modellen & Objekten. Jan Fabre, Ostend, PMMK, Antwerp, Galerie Ronny Van de Velde & co, 1989 Christos, Joachimides M. & Norman Rosenthal (eds.), Metropolis. International Art Exhibition Berlin 1991, New York, Rizzoli, 1991 Hoet, Jan, Irony by vision: René Magritte, Marcel Broodthaers, Panamarenko, Jan Fabre, Tokyo, Watari-Um – Museum of Contemporary Art, 1991 Stehr, Werner (ed.), Materialien zur Documenta IX: ein Reader für Unterricht und Studium, Stuttgart, Cantz, 1992
Mauroner, Mario & Jan Fabre, Jan Fabre. The Great Confinement. Messengers of the Death. Sanguis/Mantis, Salzburg-Vienna, MAM – Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art, 2004 Sans, Jêrome, For intérieur, Arles, Festival d’Avignon, 2005 Fiz, Alberto (ed.), Intersezioni Cragg, Fabre, Paladino al Parco archeologico di Scolacium, Catanzaro, Roccelletta di Borgia, Milan, Electa, 2005
Cotentin, Régis, et al., Jan Fabre. Illuminations – Enluminures, Tourcoing, Édition Invenit, 2013 Rossi, Melania, Bart Verschaffel, Jan Fabre, Do we feel with our brain and think with our heart?, Brussels, Galerie Daniel Templon, 2014 Castro Flórez, Fernando & Mario Mauroner, Jan Fabre. Zeno Brains and Oracle Stones, Govern de les Illes Balears, Palma de Mallorca, la Llotja, 2014
N.N., Jan Fabre. Edities, Antwerp, Galerie Rode Zeven, 2006
Capriaux, Véronique, Joanna De Vos & BernardHenri Lévy, Facing Time. Rops / Fabre, Paris, Somogy éditions d’art, 2015
Di Pietrantonio, Giacinto (ed.), Anthropology of a Planet, Sint-Martens-Latem, Linda & Guy Pieters, 2007
Corà, Bruno & Ilaria Bernardi, Jan Fabre. Knight of the Night, Florence, Gli Ori for Galleria Il Ponte, 2015 Hasegawa, Yuko, Tribute to Hieronymus Bosch in Congo, Tokyo, Espace Louis Vuiton, 2015
Fabre, Jan, Het graf van de onbekende computer, Diepenheim, Kunstvereniging Diepenheim, 1994
Bernadac, Marie-Laure, Paul Huvenne, Christos Joachimides & Eckhard Schneider, Jan Fabre au Louvre. L’ange de la métamorphose, Louvre, Paris, Gallimard, 2008
De Baere, Bart, Germano Celant, et al., Jan Fabre. Der Leimrutenmann / The Lime Twig Man, Stuttgart, Städtische Galerie Stuttgart, 1995
Huguet, Vincent, et al., Jan Fabre. From the Cellar to the Attic. From the Feet to the Brain, Bregenz, Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2009
Bex, Florent (ed.), Passage, Antwerp, M HKA – Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, 1997
N.N., Alternative humanities: Jan Fabre & Katsura Funakoshi, Kanazawa, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, 2010
Schneider, Eckhard (ed.), Jan Fabre, Hannover, Kunstverein Hannover, 1992 Coucke, Jo, Jan Fabre: een portret, Otegem, Deweer Art Gallery, 1992
Genichiro, Marugame, Jan Fabre: Angel and Warrior – Strategy and Tactics, Kagawa, Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, 1997
Hertmans, Stefan & Evert van Straaten, Jan Fabre: Hortus/Corpus, Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum, Rotterdam, Nai Publishers, 2011
Fuchs, Rudi & Jan Hoet, La pittura fiamminga e olandese, Milan, Bompiani, 1997
Haag, Sabine, Jan Fabre. Die Jahre der blauen Stunde, Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, 2011
Coucke, Jo, Een ontmoeting/Vstrecha: a meeting: Jan Fabre & Ilya Kabakov, Otegem, Deweer Art Gallery, 1998
Hegyi, Lorand, et al., The Years of the Hour Blue, Milan, SIlvana Editoriale, 2012
Hunt, Royden, Jan Fabre: Battlefields & Beekeepers, Otegem, Deweer Art Gallery, 1999 Visser, Tijs, Jan Fabre: Engel und Krieger: Strategien und Taktiken, Nordhorn, Köttering, 1999 Celant, Germano, et al., Umbraculum: a place in the shadow away from the world, to think and work, Otegem, Deweer Art Gallery, 2001 Hertmans, Stefan, Jan Hoet, et al., Gaude succurrere vitae, Ghent, Imschoot Uitgevers, 2002
Mauroner, Mario & Gudrun Weinzierl, Jan Fabre, Zeno Brains and Oracle Stones. Drawings and sculptures, 1977-1992, Salzburg, Galerie Academia & MAM – Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art, 2012 Posca, Claudia, Manfred Schneckenburger, Jan Fabre. Insect Drawings & Insect Sculptures 1975-1979, Recklinghausen, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, 2013 Coucke, Jo, Marie Darrieussecq, Vincent Huguet & Bernard Marcelis, Gisants (Hommage à E.C. Crosby et K.Z. Lorenz), Paris, Galerie Daniel Templon, 2013
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Editorial project Forma Edizioni srl, Florence, Italy redazione@formaedizioni.it www.formaedizioni.it
Editors of the catalogue Joanna De Vos Melania Rossi in collaboration with Sergio Risaliti
Editorial production Archea Associati Publishing and editorial coordination Laura Andreini Textual supervision Riccardo Bruscagli Editorial staff Valentina Muscedra Maria Giulia Caliri Beatrice Papucci Elena Ronchi Graphic design Elisa Balducci Vitoria Muzi Isabella Peruzzi Mauro Sampaolesi
Photographs Attilio Maranzano assistant Ela Bialkowska Translations Katy Hannan David McKay Karen Whittle Photolithography Art and Pixel srl Florence, Italy Printing Cartografica Toscana srl, Pistoia, Italy
© Jan Fabre by SIAE 2016 All works © Angelos bvba Texts © The authors Photos © Attilio Maranzano unless otherwise specified: © Guido Mencari (performance pp. 100-101, 102, 103) © Archea Associati, © Emiliano Cribari, © Joanna De Vos, © Lorenzo Scurati, courtesy of Aut Aut (setting up pp. 142, 143, 156, 157) The editor is available to copyright holders for any questions about unidentified iconographic sources. © 2016 Forma Edizioni srl, Florence, Italy All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. First edition: May 2016 ISBN: 978-88-99534-14-1
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Florence, Piazza della Signoria Palazzo Vecchio 15 April – 2 October 2016 Forte di Belvedere 14 May – 2 October 2016
Promoted by Comune di Firenze Art Direction Sergio Risaliti Curated by Joanna De Vos and Melania Rossi Exhibition organization and coordination by MUS.E
We would like to express our gratitude to Jan Fabre We would like to thank Dario Nardella, Mayor of Florence Alessandra Marino, Soprintendenza per i Beni Storici, Artistici ed Etnoantropologici di Firenze Franca e Lorenzo Pinzauti
Main sponsor Leo France
Andrea Alibrandi Linda e Guy Pieters
Art work insurance Mag Jlt
The Municipality of Florence staff and in particular: Gabriella Farsi, Carmela Valdevies, Serena Pini of the Florence Cultural Department and all the staff of the Florence Civic Museums; Francesca Santoro, Manuele Braghero, Rita Corsini, Tommaso Sacchi for the Mayor's Cabinet Office; and all the staff of the Economic Development and Tourism, Techical Services Unit, Environment and New Infrastructures, City Mobility and Municipal Police Department
Staging supervision MUS.E Architectural management and graphic design Archea Associati Engineering AEI progetti Art handling and art work installation Arterìa Gheysens Cranes & Transport Construction of pedestals Studi d’Arte Cave Michelangelo Catalogue Forma Edizioni Press office Opera Laboratori Fiorentini – Gruppo Civita Salvatore La Spina Barbara Izzo Arianna Diana Comune di Firenze Marco Agnoletti Elisa Di Lupo MUS.E Daniele Pasquini Partner Residenza d’Epoca InPiazzaDellaSignoria
The staff of MUS.E: Matteo Spanò, Elena Arsenio, Andrea Batistini, Andrea Bianchi, Paolo Borghigiani, Daniela Carboni, Giovanni Carta, Monica Consoli, Valentina Gensini, Michele Iagulli, Roberta Masucci, Cecilia Pappaianni, Daniele Pasquini, Barbara Rapaccini, Pier Luigi Ricciardelli, Chiara Romei, Francesca Santoro, Davide Serufilli, Lorenzo Valloriani, Valentina Zucchi Studio Angelos bvba: Barbara De Coninck, Katrien Bruyneel, Nino Goyvaerts, Ilse Laureyssens, Mikes Poppe, Sven Tassaert Our thanks to all the lenders of the exhibition: Braet and Van Royen collection, Belgium; Collection Flemish Community, Belgium; Galleria Il Ponte, Italy; Linda and Guy Pieters collection, Belgium; Maud and Luc Provost collection, Belgium; Caroline, Maurice & Philippe Verbaet collection, Belgium; S.M.A.K., Belgium; and all the private collectors
Our thanks to all those who worked or collaborated in the staging of this exhibition, in particular: Laura Andreini, Art Casting, Aut Aut, Elisa Balducci, Ela Bialkowska, Alberto Bianchi, Robin Boone, Sigrid Bousset, Francesco Cacchiani, Maria Giulia Caliri, Marco Casamonti, Carlo Cinelli, Neel Cockx, Davide Coluzzi, Emiliano Cribari, Alessandro Del Poeta, Dirk Derumeaux, Niccolò De Robertis, Kiara Dignes, Roni Dignes, Rocco Di Marco, Carlo Francini, Fulvio Gallotti, Christophe Gheysens, Jean-Pierre Gheysens, Erin Helsen, Stefan Huygebaert, Rossella Lari, LIMA, Alberto Magni, Attilio Maranzano, Luciano Massari, Mara Martini, Guido Mencari, Toon Meuris, Kenneth Michiels, Marleen Moerman, Leonardo Monti, Valentina Muscedra, Vitoria Muzi, Arabella Natalini, Antonella Nicola, Geert Norga, Johan Norga, Chiara Palumbo, Wannes Peremans, Isabella Peruzzi, Alberto Recami, Silvia Recami, Tim Robaye, Maurizio Rossi, Mauro Sampaolesi, Margerita Sanders, Sabine Schollaert, Lorenzo Scurati, Elvis Shkambi, Silfi Spa, Bart Slangen, Karen Steegmans, Alvise Tassi, Tntevents, Lara Tonnicchi, Niki Turchi, Philippe Van Cauteren, Jelle Van Coillie, Lotte Vanhamel, Odelinde Van Thieghem, Patrick Vanwaeyenberghe, Isabeau Vermassen, Gaby Wijers
This volume was printed in May 2016, by Forma Edizioni, Italy