"There are no tyrannies that would not try to limit art, because they can see the power of art. Art can tell the world things that cannot be shared otherwise. It is art that conveys feelings."

 - Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine 

Jan Fabre

(c)image: M HKA
After Art, no Image only Smell, 1980
Installation

"In the beginning of Fabres 'After Art' performance (1980) the floor reveals the outlining of a man, made with shaving-cream. Fabre steps inside the outlining, removes his own clothes and dresses himself with clothes lying on the floor, precisely inside the outlining of the man. A white shirt, white trousers and white slippers. With those items Fabre becomes the (white) anonymous man on the floor: after redressing he wipes away the shaving-cream outlining. With this ritual start Fabre gives himself a whole new identity, bringing his own outlining, his own drawing, to life. An abstract image with which he gives himself, for the durance of the performance, an artificial double: the artist Jan Fabre. During the performance he keeps on referring to this double.

The performance is divided into separate acts, between those acts Fabre regards himself in a mirror; almost as to study his appearance. Afterwards he walks in a circle around the outlining, still vaguely visible after been wiped out. Again and again Fabre emphasizes the fact that the performance is not about himself but about a certain view of him, a separation of his person."