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KVS

TRUE COPY

Berlin
Tue 28.01.2020 and Wed 29.01.2020
28.01.2020
and
29.01.2020
  • 28.01.2020
    20:30 - 21:40
    KVS, Brussels
    KVS BOX
    Past event
  • 29.01.2020
    20:30 - 21:40
    KVS, Brussels
    KVS BOX
    Past event

In True Copy, BERLIN use their idiosyncratic style to merge two different worlds and realities on stage. Together with the protagonist, they put the finger on a festering open sore in the art world. By the same token they also tell the universal story of one man who tries to hold his own inside a web of lies – or variations on the truth.

On May 6 1994 the gendarmes break into Geert Jan Jansen’s French country estate, where they find more than 1600 works by the likes of Picasso, Dali, Appel, Matisse and Hockney. Striking detail: most of them have actually been painted by the Dutchman. For more than twenty years, Geert has managed to fool the art world, so convincingly so that Picasso and Appel themselves unwittingly provided certificates of authenticity for his creations.

To this day, museums worldwide have been exhibiting four works by Geert Jan which nobody would single out as forgeries. A spelling mistake eventually lays bare Geert Jan’s illicit activity, and a German superintendent catches him. He becomes an overnight sensation and one of the most famous art world swindlers.

After BERLIN’s Perhaps All The Dragons (in which Geert Jan makes his first appearance as one of the thirty story tellers) True Copy puts him centre stage. Over the years, and in the shadow of the masters, he has been perfecting his skill. Geert Jan’s work and life is a constant balancing act on the tightrope between fiction and reality.

In this new component of the Horror Vacui series, BERLIN puts Geert Jan himself on stage. The internal cogwheels that keep this complex man ticking act as a manual for laying bare – amongst other things – the hypocrisy inside the art world. What does truthfulness really mean? And isn’t it much more refreshing to go along with a brilliantly packaged lie?
© Koen Broos

Credits

CONCEPT & REGIE / CONCEPT & MISE EN SCENE / CONCEPT & DIRECTION Berlin [Bart Baele & Yves Degryse] MET / AVEC / WITH Geert Jan Jansen ASSISTENT / ASSISTANT Luk Sponselee CAMERA Berlin, Geert De Vleesschauwer, Jessica Ridderhof & Dirk Bosmans MONTAGE / EDITING Berlin, Geert De Vleesschauwer & Fien Leysen SCENOGRAFIE / SCÉNOGRAPHIE / SET DESIGN Manu Siebens, Ina Peeters & Berlin COMPOSITIE MUZIEK & MIXING / COMPOSITION MUSIQUE & MIXAGE / COMPOSITION MUSIC & MIXING Peter Van Laerhoven LIVE MIXING Arnold Bastiaanse / Hans De Prins PIANO Govaart Haché CELLO / VIOLONCELLE Katelijn Van Kerckhoven TECHNISCHE COÖRDINATIE / COORDINATION TECHNIQUE / TECHNICAL COORDINATION Manu Siebens & Geert De Vleesschauwer TECHNISCHE ASSISTENTIE / ASSISTANCE TECHNIQUE / TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE Rex Tee GELUIDSOPNAMES / ENREGISTREMENTS SON / SOUND RECORDINGS Bas De Caluwé & Maarten Moesen LICHTONTWERP / CONCEPTION LUMIERES / LIGHTING DESIGN Barbara De Wit TRAILERS & TEASERS Fien Leysen & Berlin PRODUCTIELEIDING / DIRECTEUR PRODUCTION / PRODUCTION MANAGER Celeste Driesen & Jessica Ridderhof ZAKELIJKE LEIDING / DIRECTEUR ADMINISTRATIF / BUSINESS MANAGER Kurt Lannoye ADMINISTRATIE / ADMINISTRATION Jane Seynaeve SPREIDING / DISTRIBUTION Eveline Martens COMMUNICATIE / COMMUNICATION Sam Loncke PRODUCTIE / PRODUCTION Berlin COPRODUCTIE / COPRODUCTION Desingel [Antwerpen, Be], Le Centquatre [Parijs, Fr], Het Zuidelijk Toneel [Tilburg, Nl], Brighton Festival [Vk], C-Takt [Limburg, Be], Theaterfestival Boulevard [Den Bosch, Nl], Pact Zollverein [Essen, De] MET DE STEUN VAN / AVEC LE SOUTIEN DE / WITH THE SUPPORT OF De Vlaamse Overheid, De Tax Shelter Maatregel Van De Belgische Federale Overheid [Podiumfonds] MET DANK AAN / REMERCIEMENTS / THANKS TO Saskia Verreycken, Diana Boro, Geert Jan Jansen GASTPERFORMANCE / PERFORMANCE INVITE / GUEST PERFORMANCE Sofie Schiettecatte BERLIN IS CREATIVE ASSOCIATE BIJ DESINGEL [ANTWERPEN, BE] & ARTISTE ASSOCIÉ BIJ LE CENTQUATRE-PARIS [FR]