UBIK is WORM’s playground for performance artists and those artists who want to exchange embodied knowledge, experiment with ways of gathering, and research the art of performance in its broadest sense. Inspired by Phillip K. Dick’s sci-fi novel, UBIK is a space awaiting activation, and is what you make of it.
UBIK is a neutral space, a black box that needs to be activated by those who use it. Its flexibility is key: aiding work that needs concentrated thought and rest, or activated to host a full performance. UBIK can, in these ways, accommodate a wide range of disciplines: whether theatre, visual arts, dance and circus, or rituals, opera and voguing, improvised collaborations, music-based actions, occult interventions and everything that has no name yet. WORM calls this approach, ‘Art Physique’. WORM also embraces the silly, the fun, the weird and the bizarre; surprising ourselves, shaking off the everyday attitudes and making new friends. UBIK is a zone for that.
Facilities
UBIK consists of a 12 x 13 metre sprung floor with light and sound facilities. There is a small kitchen to the side down some stairs. There is no tribune, the public surrounds the appointed stage or spreads through the space.
UBIK is a place where communities can gather. It is a body-based space that can be transformed and re-invented every time in a new way. This is what WORM looks for in today’s performance art: not a repeating or repromotion of a fixed project, but shaping utopias, packed with the energy and insight of the “first time”.
History
The space has a growing international reputation, hosting work from a wide range of artists and creatives. These include: interactive group exhibitions by independent animation artists (Manifest); Para Tech midnight teleshop designers (Telemagic); Fetish performance marathons (New Year New Me); Queer Performance Art Evenings (Anthony Huseyin); residencies and presentations by Trickster, Bernardo Zanotta, Kate NV, Rodrigo Batista, Tizo All, Eddy Ekete, Teddy Shouldn’t Smoke, Amy Pickles, Krampus Lauf, Susanne Khalil Yusef, and Ruwhel. UBIK has hosted collaborations from likeminded festivals such as: Tec Art, Zine Camp, IFFR, De Haperende Mens, Motel Mozaique and OperaDagen Rotterdam. Other notable happenings include: an American-style wrestling show, a “cardboard universe”, a non-existing cigar club, a rehearsal space for locals, the first ever Brexit Opera, a try out space for art- and theatre students, a live photo-and-podcast studio and much more.
You can hire out UBIK or pitch to be part of WORM’s regular events programme. Hiring costs are negotiable / There is a fixed hiring cost. Send your mail to a programmer whose brief best fits your vision or mail ubik [at] worm [dot] org
For questions regarding production and venue specs / floor plans, please mail Anka Pajor: anka [at] worm [dot] org