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Anthology Pieter T'Jonck

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In het Nederlands

The continuity of Pieter T’Jonck’s critical activity for newspapers is the departure point of Sarma’s large scale digitalisation project. Pieter T'Jonck is an architect, but equally active as a dance and theatre critic for various media since 1983: Veto (1983-85), De Standaard (1985-2000), De Tijd (2001-06), De Morgen (since 2006) and Klara (since 2006). Besides, he published regularly about performing arts, architecture and urbanism in journals such as Etcetera, DWB, Ballettanz and A+, and contributed to books. After 25 years of continuous activity as a newspaper critic, T’Jonck has become an indispensable witness of the performing arts in Flanders and elsewhere. The online archive collects almost 1500 texts on dance and theatre.

Several thematic strands meet in T’Jonck’s oeuvre. Dance and theatre concern representation, they allow us to gain insight in the world and ourselves. In the 18th century theatre (both as space and concept) was a social laboratory in which new models of living together were being explored. Though this notion of theatre is no longer valid today, T’Jonck has a particular interest in the transformation of these concepts and practices in today’s performing arts. Fuelled by a historical awareness, newspaper reviewing is T’Jonck’s medium to probe the manifold ways in which dance and theatre create a present-day portrait of the world. Criticism as a testimony that links fascination for what is still all too close with the need to take distance and develop a language that facilitates analysis.

In dialogue with Sarma’s editorial team T’Jonck will create a reading trajectory of about fifty texts throughout his oeuvre that appear to be central to him as an author. These stepping stones include a discussion of artists he’s been following closely (Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker a.o.), reviews tracing historical moments (Forced Entertainment’s first passage in Belgium), or texts that played a role in the development of his thinking about performing arts. These texts will be annotated by T’Jonck.

The anthology was presented in 2009 in Kaaistudio with a lecture demonstration by Pieter T'Jonck, in collaboration with Janneke Raaphorst, Bojana Mladenovic, Noberto Llopis Degarra & Zhana Ivanov, Herman De Winné and Elke Van Campenhout.

Credits Editor Sarma: Jeroen Peeters Editorial support: Bart Magnus Development database: Thomas Crombez and Bart Magnus Financial support: Kaaitheater, WorkSpaceBrussels, Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie Special Thanks to: Maarten Staepels, Willem Jan Wellens and Christoffel Eisenik, Esmeralda

• Poetics written by Pieter T'Jonck in 2003: Art and criticism: Siamese twins
• Listen to Pieter T'Jonck on criticism, recorded during the workshop Critical Endeavour @ Working Title Festival in december 2009