IMACO (The Imaginary Art Collective) 2020

IMACO was a two-part project that found a place in UBIK in the summer of 2020. IMACO investigated the human relationship to the processes of letting go and acceptance.

It all started during the first quarantine of 2020 when we invited seven artists to “declutter” their homes and bring one object they wanted to let go of, to give it a final goodbye via a performance. This was done in the manner of a relay race. Effectively, the object which one artist let go of became the object the next artist had to accept, take home and adopt by making a new performance with it.

IMACO was a way to see if the process of decluttering could also become an art form. We often clean up our mental and physical spaces to find new inspiration, freedom and calm. And in a time of isolation, many of us are surrounded by nothing but the objects we own. Maybe it was time to ask: what do such items mean to us? And what stuff do we choose to keep, or let go? WORM formed IMACO (The Imaginary Art Collective) to reflect on this topic.

In WORM’s performance space UBIK, a performative estafette (relay race) was set up. The artists involved in this relay couldn’t make physical contact, but they could pass on objects to one another. Each artist brought an object, gave a final performance to it, to “say goodbye”, and left it to the following artist to adopt. The performer became “the body between the objects”.

Summer Private and Online Performances
Every Friday in June and July 2020, WORM released a new video performance from one of the artists who had been part of the IMACO project. Each performance was accompanied by an interview feature explaining the artist’s rationale around the exchange.

The IMACO video performance was held in WORM S/ash Gallery:  an immersive  seven-channel video installation in the form of a continuous collage showcasing the artists’ final performances for the objects they said goodbye to.

“It was such an “inward” process, I have never performed only in front of a camera. What is a performance without a public, who do you perform for? It was all about being there with me, myself and the object.” Anonymous IMACO artist.

On the 1st October 2020, a number of Covid-mitigated performances took place in WORM UBIK. This phase was entitled: “Acceptance”.
After their final performances, each artist took an object from one of the other artists home. A new “presence”, from a stranger, in their own quarantined space. How did they accept this new object? How did they make it their own? What relationship did they develop with it?

These questions were answered during a one-hour performance show created by the IMACO collective. The artists performed together, apart at a safe distance, on the stage of UBIK.

IMACO collective consists of: Rowan van Ass, Roxette Capriles, Toine Klaassen, Philemon Mukarno, Iris Van Wijk, Lisa Chudalla, Marta Worner.