The House of Our Fathers was created in 2007 and reached its peak in 2016 at Shanghai Ming Contemporary Art Museum. Designed by Jan Lauwers, it increasingly became an open house. Now The House of Our Fathers / Mothers of Inventions is being realised in Molenbeek by Grace Ellen Barkey, Maarten Seghers, Jan Lauwers and 20 performers of different generations and nationalities. They tune into each other’s work using their bodies, movements, images, music and video. Like an ongoing jam session, this constantly changing space invites being together /making together / experiencing together. It offers both makers and viewers the experience of ‘noiseless time’ — a time for intense observation, where contemplation mixes with ecstasy and reflection blends with trance.

The installation is driven by a positive conflict between the artworks of Maarten Seghers, Jan Lauwers, Grace Ellen Barkey, Lot Lemm, Oscar van der Put and Benoît Gob. Their autonomous paintings, drawings, objects and installations are in a multi-layered conversation with each other. It provokes questions about the individual, identity, the notion of time, production and reproduction. Some of the artworks present in The House of Our Fathers / Mothers of Inventions have been traveling with Needcompany for more than 30 years and are constantly evolving. Some of them were made especially for this event.

The House of Our Fathers has previously been staged at BOZAR, Brussels (2007), Haus der Kunst, Munich (2007), Kunsthalle Mannheim (2011), STUK Leuven (2011), Kunstfestspielen Herrenhuisen, Hannover (2013), Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai (2016)

PRACTICAL INFORMATION:

The House of Our Fathers / Mothers of Inventions will be open continuously.

on 3 July 2020 from 4 pm to 12 midnight
on 4 July 2020 from 2 pm to 10 pm.

No language barrier. Due to safety measures we ask all viewers to wear face masks whilst at the installation site.

Needcompany will be complying with the current safety measures and will allow a maximum of 79 people into the installation space at any one time.

Prior reservation is not required. Free contribution on the door.