Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory

Casco is an open and public space for artistic research and experiments. We consider artistic practice as a way of engaging with the world we live in and as an investigative, imaginative, and inventive practice. 

The artistic practices we focus on are cross-disciplinary, open to collaboration and process driven. Our work traverses design, theory, and the wider social sphere. Correspondingly, our activities encompass not only exhibitions, but also research, production, applications, workshops, forums, debates, actions, performances, screenings, education, and publishing. Central to these activities is the support for artist-led projects and other collaborative initiatives, initiating long-term visionary research projects, and fostering meaningful partnerships. Above all, we are committed to sharing with our varied publics both the process and the results of these initiatives in a variety of forms.  

Founded in 1990, we are located in the city of Utrecht with its over 300,000 inhabitants in the heart of the Netherlands. The local urban environment, including its various communities, histories, and contemporary development, is the field of our engagement. Integrating this location into our work with artists and other practitioners from around the world, we actively take part in international social and artistic development in various formal and informal networks crossing all levels, local, national, and international. 

The aim of our work is to contribute to forming non-capitalist cultures and possibilities for life for which we believe art could play an essential role, not as an insular avant-garde but in alignment with other initiatives and social movements. Instead of accumulation, alienation, apathy, and competition, a culture that we envision is comprised of sharing, caring, and living and working together. In this light, we see our organization and space as a micro society that might reflect such vision. It’s a tough but worthwhile venture.