In his most recent films, Janus and Jail artist Erik van Lieshout works with actor Marien Jongewaard. Both films deal with the problems of artistic identity, negotiating self-conception and external expectations or self- and public image, against the background of the economic and financial crisis and their effects on politics and society. In these films social studies and soap operas overlap, as do van Lieshout’s role as artist with Jongewaard’s part as the actor cast as artist. The latter’s dramatic monologues revolve around fear and society, but are also addressed to Erik van Lieshout: the actor adopts the role and pose of the creative person. For his performance in Vienna, Erik van Lieshout has invited his filmic double to perform a monologue in his name, about the artist’s dilemma as an actor portraying himself.
Marien Jongewaard is an actor, choreographer, and filmmaker.
Erik van Lieshout (*1968) is an artist. He lives and works in Rotterdam. Van Lieshout has participated in various exhibitions, including at Ludwig Museum Cologne, and at MMK in Frankfurt. In 2013 he will participate in the 55th Venice Biennale.