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Being born and having to hold out. That’s Tough Shit. Tough Shit isn’t a cripple and isn’t blind. But there’s a plank stuck to

his face. That’s Bad Luck. That is his fate. Tough Shit, helpless and awkward, goes entirely his own way, so clumsily it’s to

no avail. Which is how he creeps onto the stage.

Tough Shit has brought a band with him – The Horrible Facts: 6 oversized wooden sound boxes that assist him as both

instruments and witnesses. He is imprisoned in his own song, to the rhythm and sounds of his special guest band. A

song that cannot be stopped. It must and shall continue, passionate and intense, because there is no other option.

Beyond pointlessness, beyond loneliness, beyond helplessness.

With an elated optimism he sings of the art of living. In all its failures, in all its humour. He throws himself into an excess

of rhythm, doggerel and emotions and takes this existential serenade to a physically absurd and musically hysterical peak.

He suggests new meanings in the course of an anarchistic game of words. The six wooden sound-boxes that accompany

him in this have become abstractions of instruments and help him to materialise sounds. Starting out with these

expressionless sound-boxes, sculptures that are trying no longer to be a sculpture, Tough Shit goes in search of the

expression of the blank object. Tough Shit sets his own body counter to these expressionless sound-boxes. Just like the

late mediaeval ‘grotesque figures’ and ‘caprices’ of Hieronymus Bosch, a visual idiom characterised by fanciful figures,

amazing inventions and unexpected twists, Tough Shit uses his whole body to portray the world and thereby become a

true Bosch ‘grotesque figure’.

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Anonymus (after Hieronymus Bosch).

‘Grotesque figures’.

Engraving. 16th century.

Anonymous (after Hieronymus Bosch or Pieter Bruegel the Elder).

‘Cripples’.

Engraving. 16th century.

Tough Shit emulates a character from Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s painting ‘The

Fight between Carnival and Lent’, in which a very human, unpleasant picture

of everyday life is portrayed: a cripple who has just had two small, headless

wooden toy horses put in his hands to pull himself along, chafes his chest

over the unpaved and sewer-free village streets so as not to have to do it

with his nails. Tough Shit embraces this absurd perseverance in Bruegel’s

figures, and also finds kindred spirits in Sisyphus and Albert Camus. Sisyphus

was a mortal who rebelled against the gods and as a consequence was given

the worst imaginable punishment: pointlessness; he was doomed forever to

push a rock up a mountain only to watch it roll back down again and start

from the beginning. The ultimate absurd hero. “We have to imagine Sisyphus

as a happy man”, wrote Camus.

Titiaan, ‘Sisyphus’. Oil on canvas. 1548-1549.

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Pieter Bruegel the Elder, ‘The Fight between Carnival and Lent’. 1559.

These three noncommittal approaches to the work of Bosch, Bruegel and Camus, each of whom in their own way praised

the humanity of life and the imagination, share the same radical optimism as WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT DO YOU MEAN

AND OTHER PLEASANTRIES. From the formal nature of Bosch’s ‘grotesque figures’, through the humble experience of

mortality in Bruegel, to Camus’ realisation of the pointlessness of existence, which he then took up with a passion, they

all colour this performance, making it the ultimate feast of existence.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT DO YOU MEAN AND OTHER PLEASANTRIES is a concert, an everlasting pop song, a sculptural

dance, a sound installation, a stand-up comedy show, a performance. Through seeming absurdity, Seghers smartly and

inimitably exposes art practice and with beauty and hilarity ploughs through the inevitability of our woes. This feast of

feelings contains a human life full of love and tragedy.

Elke Janssens

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“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT DO YOU MEAN AND OTHER PLEASANTRIES is a portrait of every human who seems to be

persevering, beyond any logic, beyond the absurd. The image of the hopeful, struggling human as a shrieking poseur.

Sisyphus who should not have to be told again he will not succeed, but Sisyphus who wants to make the trip up and down

anyway. In short, extolling misery and celebrating the absurd. This optimism is human.”

Maarten Seghers

WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT DO YOU MEAN AND OTHER PLEASANTRIES, Maarten Seghers © Maarten Seghers, 2014

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I want to feel it. It wants to feel me too.

It wants to feel you.

You want to feel it too.

Man, you're such a feeler.

I feel you.

I feel it. I feel feelings.

Feel it with me.

C'mon! Feel it!

Feel it.

I want to make you feel something.

Can you feel it?

It would make me feel good

if you felt it.

Can you feel it? It would make me feel good.

If you felt the feeling.

It would make me feel good.

Now, where is it?

The feeling.

Do you feel it?

You can feel it's right here, can't you?

Right now.

Do you feel it? It is something to feel.

What does it feel like?

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It feels strange,

doesn't it?

You need to feel it. It needs to feel you too.

It needs to feel you.

It needs to feel you.

Oh My God.

It's not working.

I can't do this.

ON TOUR

FIDENA, Bochum - 21, 22 May 2014

Humain trop humain, CDN Montpellier - 27 November 2014

Kaaistudio’s, Brussels - 19 December 2014

Festival Artdanthé, Théâtre de Vanves, Paris - 28 February 2015

ImPulsTanz, [8:TENSION], Schauspielhaus, Vienna - 16 July, 13, 14 August 2015

Destelheide, Kunsthumaniora Brussel, Dworp - 13 September 2015

SPIELART, i-camp, Neues Theater Munich - 26 October 2015

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An extract from a review of Needlapb XX in Frankfurt in January 2014, when an initial sketch of WHAT DO YOU MEAN

WHAT DO YOU MEAN AND OTHER PLEASANTRIES was shown:

“[…] The exact opposite of this glamour was presented by Maarten Seghers, whose tousled Dada-song with self-made

boosters proved to be the joyful success of the evening. The way in which he gropes and fumbles from the forgotten

password over the wooden speakers to the horseradish with sheer noise is unique and exhilarating. As he bids farewell

to the world exit universe with an almost unbearable liturgical prayer, we get a preliminary glimpse of Needcompany

projects still to come this year.”

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Eva-Maria Magel, 20 January 2014

A creation by

Maarten Seghers

Light, technical manager

Marjolein Demey

Production of the creation

Chris Vanneste

Assistant to the director, dramaturgy

Elke Janssens

A Needcompany production, commissioned by FIDENA (Bochum) 2014.

Thanks to Monty Kultuurfaktorij. With the support of the Flemish authorities.

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Maarten Seghers is an artist, performer, composer and musician.

In 2006 he set up OHNO COOPERATION together with Jan Lauwers and Elke Janssens. Performances, exhibitions and

concerts by OHNO COOPERATION have been seen and heard at BOZAR (Brussels), Festival Temps d’Images (La Ferme du

Buisson, Marne-la-Vallée), La Condition Publique (Roubaix), CC Strombeek, Gr!M (Marseille), SPIELART (Munich), AIR

ANTWERPEN (Antwerp), Campo (Ghent), Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Frankfurt) et al.

Confrontations with other artists and musicians including Jean-Marc Montera, Eric Sleichim, Nicolas Field, Rombout

Willems, Egill Sæbjörnsson, Michael Fliri, Nico Leunen, Fritz Welch, Peeesseye, Pontogor, Idan Hayosh, Rachel Lowther,

Jaime Fennelly, Roberta Gigante et al. are crucial to the work of OHNO.

OHNO COOPERATION is a Needcompany subgroup. Maarten Seghers has been a member of this international company

of artists, founded by Jan Lauwers and Grace Ellen Barkey, since 2001. In addition to his unmistakable presence as a

performer in the work of them both, his compositions make a substantial contribution to their productions.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT DO YOU MEAN AND OTHER PLEASANTRIES originates in the large wooden resonating

sculptures ‘Fountain (Late-Pornographic Balance) I & II’ created in 2010 (part of the permanent collection of FRAC Nord-

Pas De Calais) and its continuation in the performance ‘Uninteresting Result’ in 2011.

THE HORRIBLE FACTS is the name that has been given to Maarten Seghers’ fictitious occasional band since the creation of

‘Uninteresting Result’ in 2011.

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Fountain (Late-Pornographic Balance) I, Maarten Seghers © Kristien Daem | bkSM #10, 2010

Uninteresting Result, Maarten Seghers, © Anu Vahtra, 2011

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INSTALLATIONS

So, man, (2007-2009)

Fountain (Late-Pornographic Balance) (2010)

VIDEO

The OHNO Cooperation Conversation

On The O.H.N.O.P.O.P.I.C.O.N.O Ontology (2007)

The OHNO Cooperation Conversation

On The O.H.N.O.P.O.P.I.C.O.N.O Tautology (2014)

PERFORMANCE

Angel Butcher (2001)

So, man, (2007)

The OHNO Cooperation Conversation (2007 - 2014)

Uninteresting Result (2011)

WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT DO YOU MEAN

AND OTHER PLEASANTRIES (2014)

PERFORMANCE/CONCERT

O.H.N.O.P.O.P.I.C.O.N.O. (2006-2009)

an OHNO cooperation evening (2008), Künstlerhaus Mousonturm,

Frankfurt

an OHNO cooperation evening (2009), CAMPO, Ghent

an OHNO cooperation evening (2010), GR!M, Marseille

The Tragedy of the Applause – Roubaix (2009), La Condition

Publique

The Tragedy of the Applause – Strombeek (2010), CC Strombeek

OPEN AIR #5, Antwerp (2011)

CURATOR

The Tragedy of the Applause, Roubaix/Strombeek (2009/2010)

AIR, Antwerp (May-October 2011)

Open AIR #5, Antwerp (2011)

PUBLICATIONS

Catalogue The Tragedy of the Applause, Roubaix (2009)

Catalogue The Good, the Bad & the Ugly, CC Strombeek (2010)

RELEASES

Isabella’s remix (2004), CD

Tracks to the world of Grace Ellen Barkey (2007), EP on vinyl

Sad Face | Happy Face (2008), CD

Marketplace 76 (2012), CD

PERFORMER IN

Images of Affection (2002)

(AND) (2002)

Isabella’s room (2004)

Chunking (2005)

The lobster shop (2006)

The Porcelain Project (2007)

The deer house(2008)

Sad Face | Happy Face (2008)

This door is too small (for a bear) (2010)

Needlapb (2001-2014)

Deconstruction (BOZAR Brussels & haus der kunst Munich, 2007)

The House of Our Fathers (Kunsthalle Mannheim, 2011)

Marketplace 76 (2012)

MUSH-ROOM (2013)

The House of Our Fathers (Kunstfestspiele Hanover, 2013)

Odd? But True! (2013)

FESTIVALS

SPIELART, Munich (2007)

Movement Research Festival, New York (2009)

Performatik, Brussels (2009)

OPEN AIR #5, Antwerp (2011)

Schillertage, Mannheim (2011)

Kunstfestspiele, Hanover (2013)

COMPOSITIONS FOR

Images of Affection (2002)

The Unauthorized Portrait (2002)

(AND) (2002)

No Comment (2003)

Isabella’s room (2004)

Chunking (2005)

The lobster shop (2006)

The Porcelain Project (2007)

The deer house(2008)

Sad Face | Happy Face (2008)

This door is too small (for a bear) (2010)

Needlapb (2001-2014)

The art of entertainment (2011)

Deconstruction (BOZAR Brussels & haus der kunst Munich, 2007)

The House of Our Fathers (Kunsthalle Mannheim, 2011)

Marketplace 76 (2012)

The House of Our Fathers (Kunstfestspiele Hanover, 2013)

Odd? But True! (2013)

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