Jan Fabre's Four Simultaneous Exhibitions Across Naples

In 2019, Jan Fabre, the Flemish multidisciplinary artist born in Antwerp in 1958, staged four concurrent exhibitions across Naples, spanning Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Pio Monte della Misericordia, Studio Trisorio, and Museo Madre. The shows ran from June to September 2019, curated by Stefano Causa, Blandine Gwizdala, Melania Rossi, Andrea Viliani, and Laura Trisorio. At Capodimonte, "Oro Rosso" featured gold and coral sculptures and blood drawings, with coral supplied by the museum. At Pio Monte, "L'uomo che sorregge la croce" was on view. Studio Trisorio hosted "Omaggio a Hieronymus Bosch in Congo," using thousands of iridescent beetle shells to address Belgian colonial atrocities in Congo. At Madre, a Carrara marble version of "The Man Who Measures the Clouds" was installed, previously shown in bronze in 2017. Fabre's work explores the body as instrument, using bodily fluids like blood, sperm, tears, and urine. He describes himself as "born posthumous," echoing Nietzsche. The cloud-measuring figure references American criminal Robert Stroud, who upon release after 54 years in prison said he would "measure the clouds" as an act of pointless freedom. Fabre's art aims to "honor this fragile and vulnerable container that is our body."