Joanna de Vos
“Jan Fabre Facing Time”
Extracts from the text “Jan Fabre. Facing time” by Joanna de Vos, that was published in the catalogue of a large scale project for the city of Namur that she has curated in 2015: ‘Facing time. Rops/ Fabre’
Jan Fabre lives in the “romantic” time of Octavio Paz. The Mexican writer, diplomat, and poet used this term for an existence that follows the hands of an inner clock, without rules and laws imposed from outside. For Fabre this is more than romanticism; he calls it the ultimate form of the avant-garde. In his view, the true avant-garde develops out of inspiration, at the place where a physical and spiritual sanctuary arises. It is a matter of remaining faithful to the time imagined for oneself.