Misja Immink developed a website dedicated to a couple of new institutes. His goal was to approach the subjects of identity and migration poetical and quasi-philosophical.



His first institute is named: ‘De index voor verplaatsbare identiteit’ (The index for transferable identity) The basic thought behind this institute is the development of a system in which all people are obligated to migrate every, let’s say, 10 years. All people receive the accompanying pass at birth. The structure of movement is fixed; people can’t choose their destination. The migration movement functions as a circuit, people do return to places where they were before. The obligation to migrate every ten years solves the actual problems among migration. According to Misja Immink this system is based on old habits. ‘In history travelling around was quite usual,’ he says. ‘Every place had its own identity and the individual identity of each person got influenced by all of these local identities. The individual identity became the sum of all different local identities. The problems we’re confronted with nowadays are caused by the stagnation of the worldly movement.’ says Immink. ‘The population of nomadic groups increased tremendously and because of that the movement became much more complex. There was no space left to breathe and all the people settled in certain places.’

Besides ‘The index for transferable identity’ Misja Immink initiated ‘Het Instituut voor verlegen verkenningen’ (The institute for shy explorations) this institute is responsible for the postcards people send after their arrival. On these postcards there’s an image of a ‘Sjienne’. According to Misja Immink ‘a Sjienne is a shy manifestation that becomes visible on unfamiliar territory. They adapt the colours of their surrounding and have the obligation to be completely open. When they experienced moments of mutual sympathy with their surroundings, they move further to explore carefully and precise.’



The third institute Misja Immink started during his residency is: ‘De Ondergrondse Beweging voor Zuivere Luchtigheid’ (The Underground Movement of the light-hearted) He thought of this idea while travelling back and forth from Rotterdam to Leeuwarden by train. Misja Immink started to feel as a migrant himself. He decided to spread a form among the other passengers, which gave them the opportunity to join the Underground movement of the light-hearted. Misja Immink is still not able to explain the necessity of this movement. Maybe it’s because the debate about migration can be so heavily laden.

As a result of this research Misja Immink did a workshop about migration and identity at a primary school in Leeuwarden. The students were asked to draw shy landscapes. Immink challenged them to think about the definition of shyness and how this could take shape. Besides that they were asked to create a landscape of happiness. The students wanted to leave the landscape of shyness and migrate to the landscape of happiness and because of that they had to make special ID-cards. According to Misja Immink we could call them ‘fortune-hunters’.

You can find more information and more images on: www.nieuweinstellingen.nl