created and performed by: Ivo Dimcsev
sound assistant: Emilian Gatsov

“Dimchev is a performer with a frightening intensity. You never feel at ease with him; not knowing what to expect next. He’s that sweet friend that could easily be a serial-killer as well.
Starting point for I-On are a couple of sculptures by Austrian artist Franz West. He developed his first portable sculptures, or Adaptives, in the early seventies. They are designed to be picked up and walked around with. West, who once described these 'fitting pieces that do not fit' as “neuroses made material”, asked Dimchev to make a couple of videos for two of them. The videos were on display last year at the Hayward Gallery in London, for Move, an exhibition exploring the interaction between art and dance. Dimchev then asked West’s permission to make a live performance with a couple of these sculptures.
Neuroses made material. It comes pretty close to a description of Dimchev’s performance: a series of nonsensical, often feverishly intense scenes, involving a blond wig that suddenly becomes a beard, red tulips, a mobile phone and a golden mask. It’s impressive to see how Dimchev (…) fills the stage with his presence, and the intensity he puts into those scenes becomes almost tangible. The way he uses his (singing) voice, records it and then combines several layers of it, only intensifies that eerie atmosphere.”
(Utopia Parkway, utopiaparkway.wordpress.com)

Ivo Dimchev is a choreographer and performer, whose work is an extreme and colourful mixture of performance art, dance, theatre, music, drawings and photography. He is the author of more then 30 performances. He has received numerous international awards for dance and theatre and has presented his work all over Europe and North America. Besides his artistic work, Ivo Dimchev has given master classes at a number of performing art institutions and festivals in Europe. After finishing his master studies in the performing arts at Dasarts Academy (Amsterdam) in 2009, he moved to Brussels, where he opened his own performance space, Volksroom, which regularly presents the work of young international artists. From 2013, he will be an artist-in-residence at Kaaitheater (Brussels) for 4 years.
After 2005 and 2009, this will be the third occasion that Ivo Dimchev performs solo at THEALTER festival.

www.ivodimchev.com





A production of Volksroom/Ivo Dimchev and Humarts Foundation, in collaboration with Franz West.