Dedicated to contemporary art activities related to performance and the interdisciplinary experiments, Ming Contemporary Art

Museum (McaM) and the director Qiu Zhijie are honoured to present the European artist Jan Lauwers (BE, 1957) with a total

exhibition project:

Jan Lauwers is an artist who works and gets distinguished in all art disciplines: in 1999 he won the Obie Award in New York for

his theatre work, in 2002 he won the Kinematix Prize at the 59th Venice International Film Festival for his feature film, in 2006 he

won the Culture Prize in Flanders for his theatre scripts, and in 2014 he was honoured with the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement

Award at the Venice Art Biennale.

As for the artistic world, the relationship between visual arts and performing arts are still being determined, for the McaM the

relationship between the two is quite distinctive. Directed by the famous Chinese artist Qiu Zhijie who visualizes all disciplines in

arts as a whole, the McaM is unique in its own way: a contemporary art museum with an emphasis on performance.

As an artist and a curator, Qiu Zhijie defines his modus operandi as total art. He considers the cultural research as the foundation

of artistic practice. It comes naturally that the work of Jan Lauwers, a creator of images and a storyteller finds a place of honour

at the McaM, as part of a major exhibition that takes over the entirety of the museum.

Silent Stories, a total exhibition in itself, invites dialogues in between the various disciplines. During the opening weekend of the

exhibition, Jan Lauwers and his theatre group Needcompany will bring the durational performance The House of Our Fathers to

the museum, a significant event for the Chinese and Occidental artistic scene.

SILENT STORIES JAN LAUWERS

(feat. associated artists Lemm&Barkey, Benoît Gob, OHNO COOPERATION)

20th May - 31st July 2016

20th - 22nd May 2016

Special EventDurational performance ‘The House of Our Fathers’ by Needcompany

Detail of ‘Juggler’, Jan Lauwers, 2015-2016 © Phile Deprez

‘Silent Stories’, an exhibition by Jan Lauwers

A moving still life

Jan Lauwers is an artist who works in every art discipline, incarnating ‘Total Art’: a humanist form of art that is inclusive. The impact of Lauwers’ work is apparent from his winning the Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale, one of the most important art events in Europe. The jury’s report said: ‘The 2014 Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Jan Lauwers, an artist who has made theatre one of the highest forms of expression, and who since the founding of Needcompany has created works that combine words, movement, music and visual art. He has developed a personal style that is recognised by the world’s most significant festivals. Jan Lauwers is certainly the 21st-century artist whose work comes closest to Wagner’s definition of the Gesamtkunstwerk. This consequently makes it one of the most refined embodiments of the fusion of the Dionysian and Apollonian in an unparalleled perfect form.

The invitation extended by Qiu Zhijie and Ming Contemporary Art Museum, which has a special interest in performance art, is particularly appropriate to Jan Lauwers’ multidisciplinary world. The exhibition ‘Silent Stories’ was conceived specially for McaM in Shanghai and brings the symbiosis of the various art forms to the fore.

The exhibition can be approached as a moving still life. It offers a wistful look at European art history and refers among other things to ‘Feldhase’ (1502) by the Renaissance painter, drawer and humanist Albrecht Dürer, to the lions depicted by the Flemish baroque painter and drawer Peter Paul Rubens, to the surrealist poet and artist Marcel Broodthaers and such artists as Joseph Beuys and Marcel Duchamp, as well as Walt Disney. On the basis of his lifelong archives, Jan Lauwers is building a monumental installation in which he reinterprets past works and materials and confronts them with art history. The artist creates landscapes that curve serenely and pensively question craftsmanship, virtuosity and emotion.

As a creator of images and a storyteller, in his work Lauwers' motto is that art cannot shock, but should communicate. This is why his human form of making theatre is world-renowned. Lauwers’ visual idiom embraces humanity with pensive images concerning man and nature.

Jan Lauwers: ‘For this exhibition I use so-called inferior material such as used flight cases, old plinths and pieces of discarded wood, to which I give a new value by transforming them into supports for images. Each installation is in fact on the one hand the literal recycling of old objects and on the other the recycling of art history itself. In this case Western art. The questions I asked myself when making these new images for Shanghai and preparing for the exhibition were always about the function of art in society and the meaning of public space. The first work I created was a portrait of an old man in Shanghai that I drew using graphite on a piece of felt I had found. This kind, laughing man, whose name I do not know but whose face radiates an almost historic beauty, was a silent story and a cheerful reminder of my stay in China. This man’s smile was the key to the further development of the exhibition. My work is in fact always about beauty, humility and consolation, which have the same meaning in all cultures. Art brings about positive conflicts in public space and at their heart lies dialogue.’

Detail of ‘Nature morte’, Jan Lauwers, 2015-2016 © Phile Deprez

‘After my father’s death, I subjected his house, which by his absence had become a different house, to a thorough investigation. He had designed it himself and I was born and raised there. In the cellar, at the back of a rickety cupboard, was a glass preserving jar containing a human heart in formalin. No one had ever told me where this heart came from. On the top floor of the house was a glass bell-jar containing a 36 cm-long Egyptian animal mummy in the form of an inverted L. We took it to the local hospital, where my father had worked, and had X-rays taken of it. It turned out to be a young baboon. This is another object whose origins are unknown to me.

These two objects have a history of their own that remains unknown to us, and this enables stories to take shape. For this reason I have given them a central position in my ideas concerning ‘The House of Our Fathers’. These objects have literally been torn out of their own past. The heart may come from the East (at that time, around 1950, numerous organs and skeletons were brought from India to Western universities for the purposes of study), while the baboon mummy was probably robbed from a grave in Egypt and smuggled to Europe.

History is always written by individuals and is thus never an objective report. What meaning does an individual history have in the face of history in general? Are we capable of writing a meaningful history? What would these objects signify if they were given a different history? This is the essence of the house. It is a confrontation with a past that is always changeable. So what does memory actually mean? Contemporary art history is determined entirely by politics. The influence of the art market and shifts in the affluence of our society, combined with the influence of religions, are greater than ever. What does this house signify in this context?

I am building a house. A movable house. Every detail of the house is a non-functional work of art in its own right. A hospitable house. To which people are invited so they can signify something there.

The biggest difference between work in the theatre and in the plastic arts is the use of the observer’s time. In the theatre it is the maker that determines the time given to observe an image, whereas in a work of art it is the observer himself. We are bringing 13 of our best performers to McaM and they will invite the public to take part in a three-day performance. What does it mean to the performer to make claims on the spectator’s time? What does this ‘pointless and shared time’ mean to the observer? One sees what one has learnt to see, but the enforced duration creates the possibility of a different sort of dialogue. The performers actually reorganise everyday things to arrive at new silent stories that can only live on in the spectator’s thoughts. To achieve this, the performers have to win the respect of the observer by handling the time taken with extreme care.

I make use of the concept of the border image in my theatre work. This is an image which, as a result of my prolonging the normal duration of observation, has the time to penetrate the observer’s brain. It then makes history in the observer’s mind. It becomes a memory. At this point the distinction between a border image (in the theatre) and a visual work ceases to exist. If art does not penetrate the observer’s memory it does not exist.’

Jan Lauwers

‘The House of Our Fathers’, a durational performance by Jan Lauwers & Needcompany

‘The House of Our Fathers’ has been presented at BOZAR (Brussels, 2007), Haus der Kunst (Munich, 2007), Kunsthalle Mannheim (during the 16. Internationale Schillertage, Nationaltheater, Mannheim, 2011), Museum M (during PLAYGROUND, Leuven, 2011) and KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen (Hanover, 2013).

The House of Our Fathers by Jan Lauwers & Needcompany

INSTALLATION Jan Lauwers | NEEDCOMPANY PERFORMERS Jan Lauwers, Grace Ellen Barkey, Jules Beckman, Pierrick Drochmans, Julien Faure, Benoît Gob, Melissa Guerin, Elke Janssens, Romy Louise Lauwers, Sarah Lutz, Maarten Seghers, Mohamed Toukabri, Inge Van Bruystegem, with live music by the performers | Costumes Lot Lemm | Production & Technique Gwen Laroche, Bart Verschueren | Sound Pierrick Drochmans | A McaM & Needcompany production. With the support of the Flemish authorities.

‘The House of Our Fathers’, Jan Lauwers & Needcompany, Kunsthalle Mannheim during the 16.Internationale Schillertage, Nationaltheater, Mannheim, 2011 © Wonge Bergmann

‘The House of Our Fathers’, Jan Lauwers & Needcompany, KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen, Hanover, 2013 © Helge Krückeberg

‘The House of Our Fathers’, Jan Lauwers & Needcompany, haus der kunst, Munich, 2007 © Miel Verhasselt

Jan Lauwers (Antwerp, 1957) is an artist who works in just about every medium. Over the last twenty-five years he has become best known for his pioneering work for the stage with Needcompany, which was founded in Brussels in 1986. From 2009 until 2014 Needcompany has been artist-in-residence at the Burgtheater in Vienna. Over the years he has also built up a substantial body of art work which was shown in an exhibition at BOZAR (Brussels) in 2007. Jan Lauwers is awarded with the ‘Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic Austria’ (2012). In 2014, he has been rewarded with the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Biennale. He is the first Belgian to receive this prize in the theatre category.

Jan Lauwers studied painting at the Academy of Art in Ghent. At the end of 1979 he gathered round him a number of people to form the Epigonenensemble. In 1981 this group was transformed into the Epigonentheater zlv collective which took the theatre-world by surprise with its six stage productions. In this way Jan Lauwers took his place in the movement for radical change in Flanders in the early 80s, and also made his international breakthrough. Epigonentheater zlv presented direct, concrete, highly visual theatre that used music and language as structuring elements.

Jan Lauwers needs company. He founded Needcompany together with Grace Ellen Barkey. They together are responsible for Needcompany larger-scale productions. The group of performers Jan Lauwers and Grace Ellen Barkey have put together over the years is quite unique in its versatility.

Since Needcompany was founded in 1986, both its work and its performers have been markedly international. Its first productions, Need to Know (1987) and ça va (1989) – which received the Mobiel Pegasus Preis – were still highly visual, but in subsequent productions the storyline and the main theme gained in importance, although the fragmentary composition remained.

Lauwers’ training as an artist is decisive in his handling of the theatre medium and leads to a highly individual and in many ways pioneering theatrical idiom that examines the theatre and its meaning. One of its most important characteristics is a transparent, ‘thinking’ acting and the paradox between ‘acting’ and ‘performing’.

Jan Lauwers

Detail of ‘Hunting lodge’, Jan Lauwers, 2016 © Phile Deprez

Needcompany is an artists’ company set up by the artists Jan Lauwers and Grace Ellen Barkey in 1986. They form the core of the company, and it embraces all their artistic work: theatre, dance, performance, visual art, writing, etc. Their creations are shown at the most prominent venues at home and abroad. Since the very beginning, Needcompany has presented itself as an international, multilingual, innovative and multidisciplinary company. This diversity is reflected best in the ensemble itself, in which on average 16 different nationalities are represented. Over the years Needcompany has put increasing emphasis on this ensemble. The close group of performers Jan Lauwers and Grace Ellen Barkey have collected around them is part of the long-term vision Needcompany has in view. While with Needcompany, the performers are given the opportunity to develop or examine their own personal artistic work. This has enabled several artistic alliances to flourish at the heart of the company. Thanks to these organically-grown joint ventures, external artistic experimentation is quite naturally implemented in the company’s everyday artistic work. Jan Lauwers and Grace Ellen Barkey enable their artistic vision to develop freely by collaborating intensively with the ensemble.

Needcompany is an artists’ company that revolves around the individual artist. Everything is founded on the artistic project, on authenticity, necessity and meaning. The medium itself is continually questioned, and there is constant examination of the quality of the content to be conveyed, in relation to the form it takes. The consequence of this is that the artistic work fans out into a variety of areas. Needcompany believes in quality, cooperation and innovation. Needcompany is a leading voice in the social debate on the urgency and beauty of art at both a domestic and an international level.

Lemm&Barkey is the name taken by the artistic duo Lot Lemm and Grace Ellen Barkey. They have created a number of museum installations that have been exhibited at BOZAR (Brussels), the Benaki Museum (Athens), the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (Paris), Dr. Guislain Museum (Ghent) and the Triennale for Art, Fashion and Design (Hasselt). Their film The Porcelain Project | Installation was selected for the Festival International du Film sur l’argile et le verre (FIFAV) in Montpellier.

Their collaboration also extends into the stage productions of Grace Ellen Barkey & Needcompany. Barkey, who set up Needcompany together with Jan Lauwers in 1986, is, as a visual artist, choreographer and performer, a full-time member of this pioneering ensemble, which has presented itself as an artists’ company since the 1980s. Since 1992 Barkey has been making her own productions within Needcompany. Her work is set on the boundary between theatre, dance, performance and art. Lot Lemm has been a member of Needcompany, as artist, stage designer and costume designer, since 1993.

Needcompany

Lemm&Barkey

‘Laisser la porte’, Lemm&Barkey, 2008 © Phile Deprez

Benoît Gob studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Liege, before pursuing acting studies at the Higher National Institute of Performing Arts in Brussels. In 1998, he joined the dance company Ultima Vez of Wim Vandekeybus and the Needcompany since 2002, where he participated in productions by Jan Lauwers and Grace Ellen Barkey.

Alongside his acting, Benoît is a prolific visual artist: he paints, makes collages, designs and builds machines and plants. Since 2011 he is part of the Pogmahon.company, a collective of independent artists in the Vienna- based art gallery Schleifmühlgasse 12-14.

In 2006 OHNO COOPERATION has been set up by the artists Jan Lauwers, Maarten Seghers and the musician Elke Janssens. Together, they create performances, video works, installations and music. OHNO COOPERATION also invites other artists and musicians to join it, and it presents these joint ventures in series of international exhibitions and concerts. Performances, exhibitions and concerts by OHNO COOPERATION have been seen and heard at BOZAR (Brussels), Festival Temps d’Images (La Ferme du Buisson, Marne-la- Vallée), La Condition Publique (Roubaix), CC Strombeek, Gr!M (Marseille), SPIELART (Munich), AIR ANTWERPEN (Antwerp), Campo (Ghent), Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Frankfurt) et al. Confrontations with other artists and musicians including Jean-Marc Montera, Eric Sleichim, Nicolas Field, Rombout Willems, Egill Sæbjörnsson, Michael Fliri, Nico Leunen, Fritz Welch, Peeesseye, Pontogor, Idan Hayosh, Rachel Lowther, Jaime Fennelly, Roberta Gigante et al. are crucial to the work of OHNO COOPERATION.

Benoît Gob

OHNO COOPERATION

Detail of ‘The art of entertainment’, Jan Lauwers, 2001-2016 © Phile Deprez

Ming Contemporary Art Museum (McaM) is a non-for-profit contemporary art centre sponsored by Mingyuan Group. Transformed from the workshop of the renowned “Garden Factory” of the 50’s of last century, Shanghai Paper Machine Factory, the Museum kept the frame structure of the industrial architecture and its characteristics of simplicity. The Museum presents a U-shape space with a sunken stage, covering an area of 3,500 square meters. Divided into 2 floors, the floor height of the interior space reaches 15 meters, which fits the production requirements of various experimental theatres, featured contemporary art exhibitions and performances.

Among the numerous private art museums in China, McaM distinguishes itself through its promotion of contemporary art activities based on visual performance. Focusing on experimental theatre, multimedia exhibition and performance with other activities related to the concept of performance, including but not limited to installation, painting, sculpture, video, sound, poem and dance, the Museum aims to promote the profound experimentation and interaction extended from these diverse domains, establish international exchanges and promote the exclusive stage for multimedia exhibition and performance.

Besides, the Museum devotes to the practice of new forms of public arts such as community theatre. Drawing special attention to the communication with the local residents, the museum invites public to join its activities, making the Museum a platform of the positive interaction between artists and the public.

Press contacts:

McaM: Ms. Sheng Chunjiao E-mail: scj@mcam.ioMobile: 0086 186 5004 5807

Needcompany: Ms. Elke JanssensEmail: elke@needcompany.org Mobile: 0032 485 358 696

Ming Contemporary Art Museum

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