Jan Fabre (b. 1958, Antwerp) is a multidisciplinary artist, playwright, stage director, choreographer and designer. Ever since the early eighties, the central object of his research has been the body in all of its guises. His works employ a variety of materials, including blood, ball-point pen ink, beetle wings, bones, stuffed animals and marble. Fabre works include sculptures and installations that explore topics of metamorphosis, the dialogue between art and science, humankind’s relationship to nature and the artist as a warrior of beauty.

For the project, Fabre sends us a photograph from this retreat, a small castle in the Flemish Ardennes. The photograph is taken in front of his Belgian drawing collection (you see works of René Magritte, Michaël Borremans, Léon Spilliaert, Félicien Rops, etc.).

Flemish Ardennes, 12/05/2020

Artists Respond project was started by the Institute for the Research of the Avant-Garde and the Marinko Sudac Collection. Addressing the current global pandemic, the project aims to virtually present the thoughts and attitudes of neo-avant-garde artists, their energy and the message they have for the present moment. This is the moment in which the world as we know it is on hold and the moment in which we need optimism and solidarity more than ever. We wish for the public to welcome the creative energy of these artists - artists who are ready to point out the state of things, to respond with art and creativity, as they have done in all difficult times in the past.