IMAGINATIO (2026)
Imaginatio is a participatory performance revealing the power of imagination to subvert, ridicule, question, and illuminate the realities we inhabit.
Imaginatio unfolds as a participatory performance that deepens Risba's ongoing research with bodily fluids, particularly urine and urea, approached as carriers of transformation, memory, and exchange. In the Christian contemplative tradition, imaginatio refers to practices of inner transformation through which the subject undergoes a process of mental recalibration, dissolving perceived boundaries between self, Other, and the sacred.
The performance unfolds as a participatory action. Audience members are invited to engage voluntarily by urinating or pouring prepackaged urine onto the artist’s body, as the artist lies semi-naked at the beginning of a five meter long royal blue cotton fabric. The work explores vulnerability, stigma, devaluation of natural resources, reciprocity, and embodied interdependence.
As the fabric dries, these traces become perceptible primarily under ultraviolet light, akin to the star scattered night sky. At the conclusion of the performance, UV lamps are distributed among the audience, enabling observation and contemplation of the collectively produced work...the print of a collective cosmic body.
The premiere presentation of the work occurred on July 2, 2026 at the Shivastan Poetry Ashram: Book Store, Art Gallery & Giftshop in Woodstock, NY. The event was co-curated with Adam Zaretsky and BEAK (Bioarts Ethical Advisory Komission).
