Closing event solo exhibition

To mark the final weekend of her exhibition Incorporeal hereditaments like Love [can] Set(s) You Free, according to Kelly, Case, Dru Hill, Kandice, LovHer, Montel and Playa with 50 - 60g of –D,)e,l,a,y,e,d1;—O,)n,s,e,t2;— ;[heart];M,)u,s,c,l,e3;[heart];—S,)o,r,e,n,e,s,s4, artist Ima-Abasi Okon is hosting a closing event. Everyone is warmly invited to join.

The event consists of three walks — held at different times — that begin inside the exhibition and move outdoors. After each walk, there will be time to rest and recharge. Refreshments will be provided free of charge.

What to expect

Ima-Abasi Okon will engage in conversation with Derica Shields, Staci Bu Shea, and Jay Tan in three twenty-minute intervals. During the walk, you will listen to the conversation via headphones. After a twenty-minute walk, we will return to the museum, where we will rest and enjoy a small snack together. The snacks are inspired by (or can be found in) works from the exhibition and include coconut electrolytes.

Programme

13:30 – Doors open, gathering in the Old Building entrance hall
14:00 – Welcome and distribution of audio sets in the entrance hall

Route 1
14:10 – Conversation: Ima-Abasi Okon with Derica Shields
14:30 – Recharge at the Van Abbe café

Route 2
14:45 – Conversation: Ima-Abasi with Staci Bu Shea
15:05 – Recharge at the Van Abbe café

Route 3
15:20 – Conversation: Ima-Abasi with Jay Tan
15:40 – Closing drinks at the Van Abbe café

17:00 – End

About the speakers

Derica Shields is a writer, massage therapist, and editor working across disciplines with a focus on Black aesthetics, cultures, and epistemologies. Her oral history project A Heavy Nonpresence (Triple Canopy, 2021) collects the stories of seven Black Londoners about the British welfare state. Her upcoming book Bad Practice, exploring the possibilities of Black failure, will be published by Book Works.

Staci Bu Shea is a curator, writer, facilitator, and death doula based in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Broadly, Bu Shea collaborates with others around aesthetic, critical, and poetic practices of social reproduction and care, and how these manifest in interpersonal relationships, daily life, community organizing, and institutional practices. Bu Shea is the author of Solution 305: Dying Livingly, part of the Solution Series edited by Ingo Niermann and published by Sternberg Press in 2025. Recently, Bu Shea co-led the workshop Access Test Kitchen with Mira Thompson for Studium Generale at the Rietveld Academie (2025).

Jay Tan is an artist working with sculpture, performance, sound, and video. Using everyday domestic materials and DIY approaches — such as home crafts and self-taught mechanics — Tan creates worlds that question and rewrite cultural norms. Ornamentation becomes aesthetic debris. Through these processes, Tan explores how the history of British colonialism (specifically in Malaysia) brought their parents together and shaped their worldview.

About the refreshments

Electrolytes help the body retain fluids during intense sweating. They draw fluid into working muscles and support recovery after physical exertion, such as a night of dancing or a sauna visit. The stew is fuel for sustained, demanding labor and raises questions about how life can be sustained. It ties into Okon’s ongoing research into strengthening the body against political systems, legislation, and economic models such as property law — all of which can be seen as contributors to mortality.