Immersive & participative art experience COVIJO-99

What is COVIJO-99

It is an artistic mixed media project that uses a series of 99 unique sculptural face masks exploring resilience and collective healing.

Lockdown was tough for everyone, and especially for those who worked in Arts and culture in the NHS, education sector, mental health, and in general people who were looking after others. This project was inspired by a sewing group who made masks for the NHS at the beginning of the first lockdown.  COVIJO (Shelter in Spanish) also reflects mixed heritage identities of everyone participating in it.

This is a multilayered  open-to-all project of performance and sculpture that explores the ideas of resilience and cultural manifestations, and seeks for ways of recovery and collective healing through the use of mixed media and the mise-en-scène of the different wearable sculptures in a multisensorial performance.

The themes are portrayed in the masks with the use of language, fabrics, hair, and a soundtrack composed for the occasion.

COVIJO-99 reflects on personal and social values, change, loss and trauma, aiming to create a common space to visualize those critical moments where the system of values that defines us is shaken due to the circumstances. It responds to the existentialist questions and the recomposition of the self, and builds a new reassuring space, supported by the collective.

Sculpture, sound and performance.

We aim to have six shows in different spaces with eight performers wearing the sculptures and responding to audience interaction. There will be guided workshops where the audience will explore the different aspects of a mask of their choice and a composer will be creating the Yet to Say Requiem, by composer and sound artist Andrea Rocca, which is a transformation of anonymous bereavement audio messages into music.

Everyone has the right to be creative

And we want to invite people who experienced loss and trauma during the pandemic and did not have the opportunity to say goodbye to their loved ones. It is dedicated to everyone who suffered due to COVID, fell ill or experienced mental health distress, and also those who worked hard to provide what was needed for everyone, such as NHS staff, care workers and teachers as well as those collectives who were economically affected by the pandemic, such as the creative industries.
We are a total of 15 creative practitioners including performers, composer/sound artist, photographer, videographer, sculptor, and costume designer, plus the volunteers that will join us in the different locations.

MAKE IT POSSIBLE!

JOIN, SUPPORT & COLLECT ART

How can you join?

There are different ways to participate and support the project.  If you are someone who experienced loss, you have a memory to share, or something you learned , you can contact us and send us an audio or a written message.  You can also support economically, any amount is welcome,  the greater your contribution the greater the reward!

Support

The funds will be going towards the project, which includes a cast of 15 people, including visual artists, writers, performers, photographers, graphic designers and musicians. We aim to present this project  in different art galleries and spaces during the months of September to December 2022 and your support is vital for this to happen!. The COVIJO-99 book will be published in an exclusive limited edition once the project reaches its end, and will include a compendium of portraits of our patrons, photographs of the different workshops and events, texts with the history and influences of the project as well as special mentions and acknowledgements to  the people who made it possible.

Collect

By participating and supporting this project, you will be collecting a unique piece of art. We offer different types of artwork where you can become the subject, and you can also honour a person that was important to you during lockdown and keep that memory forever.

Get in touch! 

[email protected]

https://www.isabelcastrojung.com/covijo