With Make an Agreement Michel Yang aims to touch each participant with an artistic experience that has the potential to develop new relationships with his environment. She attempts to make an agreement with you, in which you undertake to execute, document and experience an individually tailored artistic process. The financial terms are to your advantage, but it’s up to you to comply with the contract.

http://makeanagreement.wordpress.com/

The Humping Pact started as a provocative examination of the potency (literally …) of unused, abandoned and dysfunctional places.
The Beursschouwburg set off with them in Brussels and arrived at, in addition to their own building, very many locations … The result is a video series which can be seen throughout I Fail Good , but Paranyushkin and Agulló also drop by at the opening for a live performance.

Feiko Beckers examines failure in its most personal manifestation.
In his slightly absurd and comical performances he invariably involves members of his family: his brother, mother, a pregnant girlfriend, …During the opening weekend he will present his newest performance. No Chance Of Success Whatsoever, a furious attempt to involve his father in his work. Come to this short taster and you’ll certainly be back on 8th November for a full evening’s entertainment: An Evening with Feiko Beckers.

http://www.feikobeckers.com

With CMMN SNS PRJCT Laura Kalauz and Martin Schick scored in Switzerland with the performance hit of 2011. The duo welcomes the audience in their underwear, while they hand out all kinds of stuff. What starts as an innocent action, twists and turns in unexpected ways, making you sit on the edge of your seat every time. And thus the performance shows us what we already knew: borrowing money costs money, good ideas sometimes come from bad sources, there’s no such thing as a free lunch … Social criticism without pointing the finger. A must-see!

Accompanied by a number extremely talented bandmembers, Rodrigo Fuentealba and Peter Vermeersch (Flat Earth Society) blast off our new season. Manngold de Cobre returns in the spring of 2013 with their full complement and on 5th October they will give you a good reason not to miss that.

This is how the ladies of Thunders Of Glamour describe it themselves: “A hysterical hurricane descends on the BeursKafee with Drag Attack and Bas Nylon.” It can’t sound better than that! Hold on tight for a 100% live show with Peggy Lee Cooper (Las Vegas) and El Fenouillo (Turin), Jean-Biche (Shanghai) and Juriji Der Klee (Seville), all presented by the “master of ceremonies” Valentine Deluxe (Borinage).

One-man r&b/soul hit machine! Christopher Kline a.k.a. HUSH HUSH (US) spews out criticism on the “pop icon”. Sometimes a very bizarre and uncomfortable experience but primarily hugely amusing and contagious!

Chicks on Speed isn’t dead! They bring a live DJ set with live vocals. Amazons on duty are Melissa Logan, founder of Chicks on Speed, and Maral Salmassi, well-known producer, MC and DJ on the German dance scene. An explosive DJ set!

During the opening weekend of I Fail Good we’ll pull up a chair around a big table in the Rode (Red) Hall on Saturday the 6th of October for a failed (but tasty!) cake disaster buffet. You may bring your own cake disasters or you can just join in and enjoy the fiasco’s of others. The creator of ”the tastiest but most disastrous cake”! wins a voucher for professional cooking material from the International Home of Cooking!

While you enjoy your coffee or tea and a piece of disaster your kids can screw up cakes under our professional guidance during a cake disaster workshop for children

For these and the other artists participating in the exhibition, failure – whether personal or not - is the starting point and the accomplice in the artistic creative process.
I Fail Good runs like a leitmotiv through the work of the artists which the Beursschouwburg shows in and on the building throughout the entire period.

David Helbich (BE)

The lure of failure starts on the building’s façade. David Helbich shows the ‘impossibility’ of the Dutch word Beursschouwburg in a multi-lingual Brussels context and in doing so touches on the essence of the art-centre’s identity.

http://www.davidhelbich.blogspot.com

Gerard Herman (BE)

Gerard Herman was a guest at Beursschouwburg in 2011 with the tragi-comedy smash hit Leven, wat brengt het leven, in which he sang of humanity’s banal problems. For Wonderwel gefaald he undertook ‘a cycle trip for art’ this summer: an odyssey of more than 4,000 km in which he wanted to chart and document all the Belgian ‘Church Streets’, and which was doomed from the outset to fail. In two placards on the façade he addresses the major anxieties in depth for both the artist and the arts centre, a ‘limited attendance’ and ‘scant applause’. Finally Herman presents a self-portrait of the artist as a flapping bird, a present-day Icarus who reaches over-confidently for the sun.

http://www.gerardherman.be

Panamarenko (BE) & Gino de Dominicis (IT)

Panamarenko and Gino de Dominicis likewise had the impossible ambition to fly. In a 1971 VRT report we see Panamarenko’s preparations for the major Arnhem (NL) exhibition “Sonsbeek buiten de perken” (“Sonsbeek out of bounds”). In the Belgian artist, Jef Geys’, park Panamarenko tries in vain to get his Aeromodeller, a kind of zeppelin, airborne to fly with it to Arnhem. We are left to guess whether Panamarenko’s craft really can fly, but let’s keep that specifically as part of the mystery and beauty of his work.

It is also clear that Gino de Dominicis cannot fly, witness his clumsy leaps with outstretched arms in Tentativo di Volo / Attempting to Fly, a 1970 video. In the voice-over he expresses his wish that if not he, then certainly his sons or successors will succeed in flying. In the second work Tentativo Di Far Formare Dei Quadrati Invece Che Dei Cerchi Intorno ad un Sasso Che Cade Nell’acqua / Attempt to Form Squares Instead of Circles Around a Stone that Falls in the Water, speaks of the same enduring belief that is intrinsically linked to the artist: nothing is impossible.

http://www.panamarenko.be

Sara Manente (IT/BE)

Sara Manente presented her performance Lawaai is Hawaai in Beursschouwburg in 2010. In the 2007 Lawaai she attempts to fit a hand seamlessly into a corner while her other hand creates ‘noise’ with the aid of a contact microphone connected to a 78 rpm record. An apparently useless action.

http://cabra.weebly.com/sara-manente.html

Hedwig Houben (NL)

This is also featured in Students’ Doubts by Hedwig Houben. During a workshop Houben interviews students about one of their works they consider a failure. While they are talking about it, they knead a lump of plasticine with their hands. In the final video edition Houben omits the soundtrack. What remains are the students’ hands in a (nervous) interaction with the plasticine.

http://www.hedwighouben.nl/

Bas Schevers (NL)

Students’ Doubts could previously be seen in the ‘Failure House’ project by Bas Schevers. Schevers, during his residence in South Africa, examined the individual failure and its artistic interpretation with the other artists-in-residence. He also asked the participants for a Curriculum Ruinae, a CV listing failures, missed grants and residencies, called-off projects..., whereby he asked all participants in the programme to contribute.

In the video Visiting Jan Huijben, Schevers spotlights the unique collection in the Dutch artist Jan Huijben’s objects and work, of which a significant amount are only half-finished and dysfunctional.

http://www.basschevers.nl/

Feiko Beckers (NL)

Feiko Beckers, who presents a live performance during the opening, demonstrates in two short videos some iconic slapstick. Thirteen attempts to slip over a banana and An attempt to get struck on the head are part of a longer series of mostly failed attempts to attract ‘the mishap’.

http://www.feikobeckers.com

Dmitry Paranyushkin (RU) & Diego Agulló(ES)

We also see Dmitry Paranyushkin and Diego Agulló working live at the opening. Their new Brussels version of The Humping Pact is presented in a multi-screen installation. Their multiplicity of naked bodies against the background of a number of carefully selected urban locations, and in Beursschouwburg itself, expresses a desire to believe in the futile and realize the impossible.

http://humpingpact.com/

Mannah Depauw & Cathy Weyders (BE)

On 19th and 20th October theatrical creator Manah Depauw and artist Cathy Weyders present their project La Wallifornie. Cathy Weyders’ work often encompasses hybrid, impossible sculptures. For instance, she makes life jackets which are unable to rescue anyone or life rafts from blocks of ice which leave you at the mercy of the unrelenting waves. She has also produced a new sculpture for I Fail Good which explores the boundaries of the attainable.

http://www.cathyweyders.com/

Astrid Seme (AU)

Astrid Seme delved into the phenomenon of insomnia in the audio work 88 Sleeping Disorders, sleeping disorders are narrated by a tranquil, deep man’s voice. Necessity is the mother of all invention and the listener is invited to be rocked gently to sleep.

http://astridseme.com/

Gharar, Riba and Murabaha don’t mean anything to you? Then that’s going to change! During this debate we examine whether the Islamic banking system is a good alternative to the western system. What does that imply exactly? Is it a question of belief or benefit? Could sharia banking have prevented the financial crisis?

Ant Hampton has toured the world in recent years with his 'autoteatro' theatre in which you have to take part. In the intriguing This Is Not My Voice Speaking, a performance Hampton made with Britt Hatzius, you'll be entering a world full of equipment. Some you know, others date back to times gone by. You can push buttons, slow down vinyl records, play cassettes... You rapidly notice how much our personal relationship with technology has changed and our still-not-so-digital body lags behind when confronted by old and fallible technology.

Shoot faster than his own shadow, Lucky Luke could already do that. Talk faster than their thoughts, Sarah Vanhee and her performers try that in Turning Turning.
They prophesy as if their lives depended on it. Possible (self) censorship has no place here, there is simply no time for it. Everything is right and everything is wrong. And what is laid bare is the most dynamic human construction: language.

Regarding Yesterday is not one but a series of events.

On October 13th, choreographer Adva Zakai will perform a solo show. During the performance something will happen that might make you look at this piece from a whole new perspective. At that moment, what ever happens between you and her will be the inspiration for Zakai to create the next episode of Regarding Yesterday.

With a strong dose of humor and her very personal style, Adva Zakai playfully constructs unusual relations between public – art piece – artist. Regarding Yesterday travels between audiences, passes on their ideas to the next one to come and transforms into a different piece whenever it meets someone new.

Next episode – December 2012, Brussels. On location (place will be announced on this website)

Harald Welzer, Germany's most famous social psychologist, (was long active as a scientist, but) now focuses on alternative behaviours for a sustainable society. Welzer shares with us his quest for alternatives to the neo-Lliberal growth model where the western world ‘and idiots' ended up.

At the very moment that South Africa scores its first goal at the 2010 World Cup, director Benjamin Kahlmeyer follows the Mtswenis family in one of the poorest districts of the Mamelodi township. Their world is one of ramshackle slums and open sewers. Paterfamilias Steven sells vuvuzelas in his ‘tuck shop’, while teenage daughter Mosquito dreams with her schoolfriends about football gods Schweinsteiger and Torrès. Their daily struggle and hope for a better future parallels the opportunities for their national team. The excitement and anticipation are tangible, a new Africa announces itself. But after the World Cup finishes, life in Mamelodi continues as before. Nevertheless, Meanwhile in Mamelodi is no cynical story. The rich colour palette and delightful camera work injects fresh blood into this weighty subject and illustrates the family’s unwavering hope. An exceptionally worthy effort by graduating filmmaker Benjamin Kahlmeyer who makes a remarkable début with this film.

http://www.meanwhile-in-mamelodi.com

In The photographer left, he told the truth you are located in a dark box (read: darkroom). The performance takes place outside the box. The only way to find out what exactly is happening is by taking photos yourself, shots that you see on the digital screen of the camera. You decide as a 'temporary photographer’ just which scenes to show. After the event you receive your photos by mail as a permanent reminder of your own rendition.

With La Wallifornie, theatre-maker Manah Depauw and visual artist Cathy Weyders go to work on 'the end of time "that the Mayas predicted would be December 21, 2012.
Except that she diverts the catastrophe to Belgium and turns the disaster into a community problem. After the fourth world war the Belgian treasury is so ransacked that incessant rain weakens then breaks the Flemish dykes. Flanders disappears and we're on a lifeboat to La Wallifornie ...

Andy Warhol took failure very seriously. Most of his films consisted of observations of people in their fallibility showed a startling vulnerability.

In Warhol's portrait of Paul Swan it is no different: this once famous dancer and actor seems to become increasingly uncertain and camera shy in Warhol's merciless, but somewhat loving realization.

Programme

Paul Swan (1965, VS, 66’, 16mm) - Andy Warhol - EN spoken
Little Stabs at Happiness (1958-63, VS, 15’, 16mm) - Ken Jacobs - EN spoken
Blonde Cobra (1963, VS, 33’, 16mm) - Ken Jacobs - EN spoken
Scotch Tape (1959-62, VS, 3’, 16mm) - Jack Smith - Language no problem

After the short taster of the Dutch Artist Feiko Beckers at the opening weekend of I Fail Good, he returns with an evening programme.

At the same time his work confronts us with our own failures, our own diffidence in failure and with questions that remain unanswered.

Titles like A Story about my father’s heart attack and No chance of success whatsoever speak for themselves.

In 14 chapters and over a period of 5 years the film-maker Gonçalo Tocha recorded life in the smallest island of the Azores, Corvo. Tocha put forward an impossible goal "to be everywhere at the same time and not miss a thing." The result It’s the Earth Not the Moon is a very beautiful and poetic reverie about community, isolation and time. A playful patchwork of personal histories and breathtaking vistas.

http://www.naterranaonalua.com

Alligators: Experimental Comedy Club is an hour long performance programme. Lead by artists Ieva Misevičiūtė and Michael Portnoy with Miet Warlop and Reggie Watts, it first premiered in Amsterdam, Frascati theater in 2009. This time the show has been redesigned with a new conceptual lens of “experimental comedy,” which is the injection of the sublime, the blatantly inscrutable, the abstract, the primal, the operatic, the choreographic, the theoretical, the improbable, the generative, the post-rhythmic, etc., into the frame of stand-up. Experimental comedy is often tragic or deeply disappointing, but the promise of it being funny binds us to it more than the promise of making us think, which, of course, it also does. This show has been arranged at the invitation of Miet Warlop (2013 associated Beursschouwburg artist).

Pop music, performance and illusionism in one show? ... can we read your thoughts? For the French performer, songwriter and artist Gérald Kurdian these elements go hand in hand. In the theatre it seems illusionism forms an alliance with the spectator, who is willingly led up the garden path. However, both the theatre and a classical magician’s show share the premiss that there is something that goes beyond the here and now. A professional magician guides Kurdian in The Magic of Spectacular Theater in his quest for a lo-fi tribute to everything that is extra-ordinary.

The Night of Failure is a beautiful way to close our program focus ‘I Fail Good’.
After two months we are convinced that even the best of us can mess up big time or come a cropper. For this occasion the Beursschouwburg will go beyond its artistic horizon and give the stage to a motley crowd of speakers with backgrounds in trade and industry, advertising and personal coaching. In 20 minutes they will report about their personal or professional encounter with failure, in all its shapes and forms. An evening filled with fragility and introspection.

To celebrate the end of our first focus "I FAIL GOOD" we are throwing a hell of a party that unfortunately is doomed to fail. So please do no attend to this party as it is already cancelled. DON'T SHOW UP! ;-)