Jan Fabre. Stigmata. Actions & Performances 1976-2013

In order for the vanquished to become victor, artists tend to trust in the mechanism of their life and their expressivity, moment by moment. They recuperate the elements that surround and define their situation, whether in London or Milan, Beijing or Delhi, and attempt to fecundate them to keep their identity alive. This is what continued to prompt Fabre to continuously carve out a vital flow that began in Antwerp and that expanded into the world, in conformity with his continuous coming and going between life and possible death. It has been a continuous exercise in disinvestment of his person, which has passed through the ‘narrow door’ of survival in nothingness, to drive the whirling rhythm of art and performance.

Rome, MAXXI Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo 16 October 2013 – 16 February 2014