In his work, Ivan Moudov’s has continuously addressed and challenged various elements of the art world. The visible or invisible rules and codes of collections, museums, exhibitions and exhibition openings, have equally been submited to a pitiless play of deconstruction and mise-en-abyme.

“First, admit you have a problem” is part of this ongoing interest, but also the frst more humanistic work of the artist. Probably because he is himself not only an artist but also a gallerist and a collector, Moudov takes here a more holistic approach and proposes an exhibition that is basically about healing. In a fast producing and consuming art world, what we all have in common is that no mater on which side of the game we are, we all have a problem.

This revelation has inspired Ivan Moudov to begin the creation of Collectors Anonymous (CA) – a mutual aid system to help collectors recognize their obsession and ultimately give up collecting as we know it, with all the possible repercussions this endeavor might have for the art world as a whole.

The exhibition will introduce the frst CA meetings – anonymous gatherings of collectors, which will be organized every Tuesday at 6pm for the duration of the show. A specially prepared moderator will conduct the meetings, following the principles of CA (Collectors Anonymous), developed especially for this project. The gatherings will be held in privacy, afer the closing of the gallery. No public except for the participants and the moderator will witness the sessions. Participants will need to subscribe in advance at the gallery. In addition, Moudov has developed together with Dr. Ivaylo Dimitrov, a psychiatrist and homeopath s p e c i a l i ze d i n a d d i c t i o n s a n d s u b s t a n c e dependencies, a complete homeopathic program for recovery from collecting, which will further help the healing process. Homeopathy is known to use infnitely small doses of substances, which normally provoke the same symptoms as the ones it aims to cure.

In this line, Moudov proposes also a more obviously artistic, although more expensive, alternative (or rather a complementary treatment) – the energy paintings. The efect of the paintings is virtually immediate, collectors may not even want to put them on their walls (but they must). Soon these paintings will be the only artwork they own, and once this happens they could easily discard them – they won’t need them anymore, as they won’t be art collectors anymore.

Ultimately, CA meetings will continue to be proposed at various art events (possibly even as part of the program of art fairs) to help maintain the results of the therapy.

(Dessislava Dimova)