Born in Antwerp, 1957, Jan Lauwers studied painting at the Academy of Art in Ghent. At the end of 1979 he gathered round him a number of people to form the Epigonenensemble. In 1981 this group was transformed into the Epigonentheater zlv collective which took the theatre world by surprise with its six stage productions featuring a direct, concrete, highly visual theatre that used music and language as structuring elements. In this way Jan Lauwers took his place in the movement for radical change in Flanders in the early 80s, and also made his international breakthrough. Together with Grace Ellen Barkey he funds in 1986 in Brussels the Neecompany company. Their creations are shown at the most prominent venues at home and abroad. In 2001, Needcompany greets artist Maarten Seghers as third mastermind of the company. From 2009 until 2014 Needcompany was artist-in-residence at the Burgtheater in Vienna. Since the beginning of his career, Jan Lauwers has also built up a substantial body of art work which has been shown at BOZAR (Brussels) and McaM (Shanghai) among other places. He was awarded the ‘Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria’ in 2012. In 2014, he was rewarded with the ‘Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award’ at the Venice Biennale. He is the first Belgian to receive this prize in the theatre category.
Jan Lauwers
Over the last thirty years Jan Lauwers has become best known for his pioneering work for the stage with Needcompany. Characterized by transparent, ‘thoughtful’ acting and the paradox between ‘acting’ and ‘performing’, his theatrical idiom examines theatre and its meaning.
