The Needcompany artists' collective is off to Liberty Square in Poznań with its manifesto – Anything we don't want to share is completely worthless – under its arm. When does entertainment become art, and art entertainment? Needcompany bellows its own repertoire into the abyss, with one last smile. As if tomorrow's party had started yesterday. A tribute to the iconic song by the Velvet Underground and Nico: 'All Tomorrow's Parties.'
And what will she do with Thursday's rags
When Monday comes around?It sounds like an alarmingly pertinent question. And it sounds like the most beautiful song.
This unique night will sound like the clash of contradictions. Spinning together in the infinite cycle of party and tragedy.There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand in the Sahara desert.
Imagine that everything could speak: what a noise! Cosmic soundscape!
Unbind your mind!With: Nicolas Field, Rombout Willems, Simon Lenski, Mohamed Toukabri, Sarah Lutz, Hans Petter Melø Dahl, Anna Sophia Bonnema, Maarten Seghers, Romy Louise Lauwers, Grace Ellen Barkey, Jan Lauwers, Elke Janssens
NEEDCOMPANY
Needcompany is an artists' company set up by the artists Jan Lauwers and Grace Ellen Barkey in 1986. Maarten Seghers has been a member of Needcompany since 2001. Lauwers, Barkey and Seghers form the core of the company, and it embraces all their artistic work: theatre, dance, performance, visual art, writing, etc. Their creations are shown at the most prominent venues at home and abroad.
Since the very beginning, Needcompany has presented itself as an international, multilingual, innovative and multidisciplinary company. This diversity is reflected best in the ensemble itself, in which an average of seven different nationalities are represented. Over the years, Needcompany has put an increasing emphasis on this ensemble, and several artistic alliances have flourished: Lemm&Barkey (Grace Ellen Barkey and Lot Lemm) and Ohno Cooperation (Maarten Seghers and Jan Lauwers).
Needcompany revolves around the individual artist. Everything is founded on the artistic project, on authenticity, necessity and meaning. The medium itself is continually questioned, and there is constant examination of the quality of the content to be conveyed, in relation to the form it takes. Needcompany believes in quality, cooperation and innovation. Needcompany
is a leading voice in the social debate on the urgency and beauty of art at both a domestic and an international level.In 2017, Needcompany moved their headquarters from central Brussels to a former tobacco factory in the immigrant district of Molenbeek. The opening of MILL is another step on Needcompany's path, enabling wider cooperation with other artists, in addition to involving local residents in the life of Needcompany. MILL hosts film screenings, dinners and open meetings for everyone.
During Malta Festival Poznań in 2010, Needcompany presented the trilogy Sad Face/Happy Face, then in 2013 Marketplace 76 and MUSH-ROOM. Also in 2013, ha!art and the Malta Foundation published the Polish version of the essay collection No Beauty for Me There Where Human Life Is Rare: On Jan Lauwers' Theatre Work with Needcompany, edited by Christel Stalpaert, Frederik Le Roy and Sigrid Bousset.