Momentary testament

Author: Mirka Balazy

The borrowed time, Jan Fabre’s exhibition in Mestna Galerija in Ljubljana, is a part of one project taking place in tree venues. Fabre is a multidisciplinary artist: performance artist, theatre maker, stage designer, choreographer, he makes sculptures, drawings. Today he is considered one of the most important modern theater artists in Europe. He took part in several biennales (Venice Biennale, Sao Paulo Biennale, Valencia Biennale, Istanbul Biennale). His works and documentation of his works were presented on two floors of the gallery. There are photographs, objects, videos and drawings. The two floors of the gallery offered a rather limited space, but nevertheless the curator, Katrien Bruyneel, managed to present much of Jan Fabre’s versatile artistic activity. In the manner of presentation the two floors constituted a kind of pendant. The artist himself had a strong  impact on the display of works. Numerous quotations of Jan Fabre’s fitted onto the walls functioning as a commentary for presented works, substituting in a sense the curator’s comment. This way the artist’s thoughts work as guides for the viewer. It seems to me too obvious, too direct. To my mind, when an artist creates total work and  suggests his own interpretation of, it seems to leave no space for the spectators’ interpretation.

On the first level of the exhibition there were large scale photographs of nude models, actors from the theater play Je suis sang (I am blood), a Medieval Fairy Tale. The body in all its forms is one of main subjects of Jan Fabre’s investigations. Photographs of actors from I am the blood are juxtaposed with small ink drawings. In six compositions we see bleeding animals. In those drawings Fabre uses his own blood: “I’m trying to find out why blood is seen as something negative by the majority of people. There is great knowledge to be found in our blood, skin, bones, sperm, and water. For me it’s all organic and very natural.” He is constantly referring to the history and tradition of art, at this point he referred to Flemish Primitive painters who mixed blood into their paint. He is all the time experimenting with the body and tradition to transgress certain limitations. 

Another series of drawings deals with physiology, with the abject, and they are juxtaposed with photographs from the performance entitled The Crying Body, in which the actor is urinating on stage. In this piece, the human body is used for experimentation, to see how humans deal with the juices they excrete, such as tears, saliva, sweat and urine, and the meaning they give them. The body is explicitly presented in an astonishing performance of Lisabeth Gruwez’s Quando l’uomo principale e una donna. The choreography and the way the body and music are used offer amazing aesthetic effect. It deals with such themes as lust, beauty and erotica. For me the most interesting part of the exhibition was the video documentation of performances and theater plays. Documentation and colour drawings from Swan Lake show the ideas of human/animal transformation that obsesses Fabre.

Photographs of renowned photographers, such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton and others constitute a big part of the exhibition. It is a documentation of rehearsals and performances of Fabre’s works. Sometimes presented separately, but also juxtaposed with drawings and sketches. There are also objects – projects of stage design presented in glass boxes.