The Imaginary Museum has been in existence for about a month online, and it’s already had over 1000 page views. I’ve really enjoyed imagining it, and discovering what it wants to be through the writing of it.

As ever, working with other people has expanded the possibilities and horizons of my creative practice and of the Imaginary Museum as a thought experiment, far beyond where I could go on my own. So I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who’s helped me along the way in this process, in conversation and in their contributions to the Imaginary Museum.

THANK YOU to:

Bryony Benge-Abbot - on moving from museum practice to making art in the public realm, and the ongoing evolution of describing a hybrid creative practice at the intersection of art and science, nature and spirituality.

Bryony very generously took an idea for a walk, or maybe even a dance in the Imaginary Museum - with a sketch and unfinished painting in the collection, that really lifted my spirits as a response to a new type of public cultural space being full of movement and joy, and celebrating ideas in motion.

Jessica Bradford - for conversations that totally unwrapped ideas of what museums are and do, and then put them back together again around the most fundamental behaviours that would be beneficial for everyone. She embraced the idea of not knowing with a beautiful personal interpretation of an object in the Science Museum collection and reset objects for me, as storytelling vessels for completing with our own memories and experiences.

Sado Jirde - who also has an Un-Museum project - as Director of Black South West Network, hers is exploring intangible cultural heritage, and we found so many energising parallels in her thinking about a new space she is setting up at the CoachHouse in St Pauls, Bristol.

Immy Kaur - co-founder of Civic Square for sharing the challenges of change-making, and for describing such a galvanising and compelling vision of her neighbourhood, walking out of her door in ten years time.

Ariane Koek - whose breadth of work is impossible to do justice in a paragraph, for re-energising me around just getting out there and making things happen, and for sharing insights from her projects and collaborations around the world curating and producing at the intersection of art and science.

Charles Phillip - shared his experience as co-founder of MICRO, tiny museums that are installed in public spaces like hospitals and train stations, made me think about the the invitation and careful holding of curiosity in public spaces where people are not expecting to encounter something like this. I love MICRO’s notion of joining up habitat fragments of these types of spaces in a city.

Matt Rogers - who brought a whole world of Imaginary Museum spaces to life in a way that would never be possible with words alone - his Archipelago Suite of compositions explode the imaginary space into new realms, with new textures, and with attention to detail (the importance of a good cafe) and the widest possible picture - with the idea of a museum in which the objects are keen to learn as much through you, as you are through them.

Amy Rose - as co-director of Anagram, talking about her work in creating open experience spaces and narratives that allow for, or rather design for ambivalence, for people to bring what they know and feel and not set fixed outcomes for stories. And for playing with ideas of spaces and festivals and relighting an anarchic spirit in my thinking.

Prof Peter Weibel - artist and CEO of ZKM, who shared his incredible encyclopedic connections, references and approach from a lifetime exploring the relationships of art and science. He also gently provoked me to reconsider the (Un) Museum and to take a philosophical route into thinking about trust in public spaces.

Caroline Williams - for conjuring up a whole new space in the Imaginary Museum - with the most happy making giant canvas to cast out our childhood conditioning of who can and can’t make art…her vivid writing and painting leaves me in no doubt that this space should exist for all of us.

Raquel Meseguer Zafe - for bringing her thoughtful explorations of rest and horizontality to the Imaginary Museum, with a generosity of space and time and a guided audio invitation to slow down, release your knowing and find your questions. Her pathway to rest in the collection really challenges me and all of us to think about the quality and intention of our public cultural spaces, and how they can be designed for everyone to thrive in them.

I have so many new connections and conversations to pick up, and thank you also to everyone who’s been so supportive and responded on Twitter, it’s been great to find a way to find this online space as a fruitful imaginative container for more than just me.