In Ne mosquito pas performing artists from different disciplines come together to perform their 'failed' work. These can be scenes that were cut out of a show right before the curtain went up, ideas that never escaped the pages of one’s notebook or lingering fascinations from the past that for one reason or another never got expressed. The participating artists are invited to dive into their notebooks from recent or not so recent creative processes, their archive of rehearsal videos, their (often unreliable) memory of projects they were involved in, etcetera. These function as a starting point or breeding ground for a short solo performance that renders the failure within one’s artistic practice visible.

Failure here must be understood broadly. It is ripping your pants while doing a grand écart during a performance in the Opera, but is also coming to Europe with the American Dream of a successful career in contemporary dance, only to realize years later that “America is actually in America”. The failure rendered visible in the Ne mosquito pas-solos is of different sorts. It could be slapsticky but might just as well have a strong socio-economical dimension. The solo’s deal with experiences that took place both on stage and backstage: addressing the failure that is inherently part of performing but also bringing out of the shadows different forms of failure that often remain invisible for the spectator.

Ne mosquito pas aims to transform this failure and loss into elements that are no longer considered obstacles but rather a possible source for creation, fuel for creativity. They are no longer to be hidden or avoided, they are reformulated as an invitation to question the standard which decides what is considered failed or successful. What norms are consciously or unconsciously part of one’s artistic decision making, and what happens if this norm is left aside? Some sort of negative version of one’s practice emerges, by assuming the potential of what one would ‘normally’ consider not being part of one’s taste and interests. In extremis this means looking for one’s bad taste but instead of staying away from it, making it even worse. In the line of queer icon Quentin Crisp’s motto “If at first you don’t succeed, failure might be your style”, failure is adopted as a possible attitude to think and create through. In that way it attempts to open space for reflection on the specific conditions in which artistic work is being produced, and more generally a society that promotes competition as one of it’s main forms of social relationships, is characterized by a need for constant self-enhancement of it’s subjects and driven by a never ending desire for success and profit (usually at the cost of others).

The artists that participate in Ne mosquito pas are invited to interpret the notion of failure from their personal perspective. The collection of the different performances that emerges is often eclectic but characterized by a collective effort to undo a preconfigured idea about what ‘works’ on stage and what does not. It are autonomous contributions, but it is in relation to each other that the solo’s offer a glimpse of failure’s potential to resist the constant quest for succes as the default mode by which neoliberal lives are lived.

Credits: Research: Simon Van Schuylenbergh, Nathan Ooms, Anna Franziska Jäger/ Participating chain of artists : Micha Goldberg, Sophia Rodriguez, Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe, Chiara Monteverde, Pierre Patrice Kasses, Stef Meul, Sophie Melis, Alina Arshi, Anne‑Charlotte Bisoux, Bjorn Floréal, Luis Ramirez Muñoz, Sophia Bauer, Nona Buhrs, Nathan Ooms, Marivi Gazeta, Anna Franziska Jäger, Castélie Yalombo, Ivan Lucadamo, Giulia Piana, Simon Van Schuylenbergh, Hanako Hayakawa, Simon Baetens, Willem De Wolf, Sofia Danae Vorvila, Musia Mwankumi, Jacopo Buccino, Dahlia Pessemiers, Jonathan Franz, Désirée 0100, Loucka Elie Fiagan, Dolores Hulan, Natacha Nicora, Rosie Sommers, Elke Van Campenhout, Philippe Beloul, Sarah Bekambo, Kosi Hidama, Charlotte Nagel, Victor Dumont, Yasmi Youb, Désirée Cerocien, Lydia Mcglinchey, Milka Kongi, Eli steffen, Ariadna Rubio, Xenia Perek. (to be continued)

Light desing: Max Adams

Setting: Veronika Bez & friends, Bart Van Schuylenbergh, Simon Van Schuylenbergh

Flyer: Maya Strobbe Website: Stijn Van Renterghem, Deveny Faruque, Maya Strobbe

Production support: Kunstenwerkplaats KWP

Thanks to: Volksroom ism VGC, Vlaamse Overheid, Kunstenwerkplaats, artist Commons, Brasserie Atlas, De Koer, CAMPO, Troon, decoratelier, Cultureghem, Cinoco, De Singel, Het Bos, BUDA, de t h e a t e r m a k e r , WPzimmer, de school van gaasbeek, SB34, Atelier Mommen, atelier 210, Batard, La Balsamine, GC Platoo.