Jan Fabre: Art kept me out of jail!

Jan Fabre's exhibition Art kept me out of jail! is the first exhibition in Poland by the Belgian artist who also works as a playwright, director and stage designer. Fabre is an artist who examines the empirical boundaries of the body, consciousness and imagination, always seeking to join the experience in various fields, building bridges in performances somewhere between visual arts and theater.

The exhibition's title is taken from a four-hour performance at the artist's controversial solo exhibition in 2008, Jan Fabre. L'ange de la Metamorphose at the Musée du Louvre. The action was inspired by the figure of the French criminal Jacques Mesrine, who became famous for his numerous escapes from French prisons. Documentation of this event is part of the exhibition at the Museum of Art in Lodz.

The exhibition is also an opportunity to see a joint work by Marina Abramovic and Fabre, Virgin/Warrior, which the artists performed at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Dressed in armor based on the common wasp (Abramovic) and the rohatyn beetle (Fabre) and enclosed in a glass cage for four hours, they performed self-imposed tasks (shaking arms, breathing, cutting their left arm, holding hearts in their hands).
Marcin Szczelina

Jan Fabre: Art kept me out of jail!
through 02.10.2011
Muzeum Sztuki Lodz
Ogrodowa 19
91–065 Lodz
Poland