Only the jester can express critical thoughts to the king without fear. OHNO COOPERATION (Maarten Seghers, Jan Lauwers and Elke Janssens) takes this privilege as a mission in its study of the place of art and the artist in society.
OHNO COOPERATION is a Needcompany splinter group and takes the role of the jester very seriously. The jester is allowed to say whatever he likes to the king without fear of punishment.
In 2006 Maarten Seghers set up OHNO COOPERATION in association with the artist Jan Lauwers and the musician Elke Janssens. Together, they create performances, video works, installations and music. OHNO COOPERATION also invites other artists and musicians to join it, and it presents these joint ventures in series of international exhibitions and concerts. Confrontations with other artists and musicians including Jean-Marc Montera, Eric Sleichim, Nicolas Field, Rombout Willems, Egill Sæbjörnsson, Michael Fliri, Nico Leunen, Fritz Welch, Peeesseye, Pontogor, Idan Hayosh, Rachel Lowther, Jaime Fennelly, Roberta Gigante et al. are crucial to their work.
Performances, exhibitions and concerts by OHNO COOPERATION have been seen and heard at BOZAR (Brussels), Festival Temps d’Images (La Ferme du Buisson, Marne-la-Vallée), La Condition Publique (Roubaix), CC Strombeek, Gr!M (Marseille), SPIELART (Munich), AIR ANTWERPEN (Antwerp), Campo (Ghent), Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Frankfurt) et al.
THE OHNO COOPERATION CONVERSATION III
In 2007, the choice Maarten Seghers and Jan Lauwers made, of sharing the role of fool in the shape ...
Seven years after THE OHNO COOPERATION CONVERSATION ON THE O.H.N.O.P.O.P.I.C.O.N.O. ONTOLOGY, Maarten Seghers and Jan Lauwers are meeting up ...
On Saturday 27 August the fifth AIR Antwerp opened its cellars and gardens for the fifth OPEN AIR ...
an OHNO cooperation evening the tragedy of the applause installations and performances 1/ So man, (installation/performance) ...
OHNO COOPERATION (Maarten Seghers and Jan Lauwers) took over Strombeek cultural centre from 25 September to 21 October 2010 ...
OHNO COOPERATION presented ‘The Tragedy of the Applause – Roubaix’ . During this happening-cum-exhibition, OHNO COOPERATION and the ...
In early 2007 the SPIELART theatre festival (Munich) asked four curators (Jan Lauwers, Romeo Castellucci, Tim Etchells and Johan ...
In 2007, the choice Maarten Seghers and Jan Lauwers made, of sharing the role of fool in the shape ...
In O.H.N.O.P.O.P.I.C.O.N.O. Maarten Seghers and Jan Lauwers went in search of the iconography of pop music. For the first ...