Josephine Baan
Curriculum vitae
Josephine Baan (also goes by the names Joseph, Jo, or any variation thereof) is an artist and educator whose practice engages in art, education and collaboration as ways to forge creative resurgence. They’re interested in the complexities of collectivity and in the possibility of establishing a solidarity that does not homogenise, but affirms difference.
They perform with their body and voice, and make installations, props, scripts and choreographies that explore the spaces and relationships between the flesh and the word, human and non-human bodies, and change and preservation. Materially and performatively thinking between things, beings and situations, they consciously switch perspective to influence roles and readings of power and control in relation to affection and gestures of care.
Joseph’s practice is closely linked to their work as an educator, which is influenced by radical pedagogy and non-hierarchical collaborative methods. They are a founding member of Rotterdam based educational collective sohere; a community of practitioners working in the fields of art, design and science who develop collaborative, horizontal learning environments. Between 2019 and 2022 they co-ran Zurich based School of Commons; a grassroots initiative dedicated to practices of peer learning and commoning. Their current research engages in a developing performance-based pedagogy which incorporates embodied learning, incoherence, and queerness as tools for collective worlding.
They obtained their MFA at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2015. They are a resident at Stiftung BINZ39 in Zürich from 2022 – 2024. Recent exhibitions and performances include; Burner at LIFE, Rotterdam (2022); Weathering at Titanik Galleria in Turku (2021); Werkschau at Haus Konstruktiv in Zürich (2021); Weathering at SIC in Helsinki (2021); The Opposite of a Cynic [Tongue] at Nieuw & Meer in Amsterdam (2020); inter:archive at OnCurating in Zürich (2020); Here Not Here at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin (2019); MOTH at Museum KKLB in Beromünster (2018 – 2019); A Brief History of Becoming Rock at Art Rotterdam in Rotterdam (2018); Nothing 2 C Here at Alkovi Galleria in Helsinki (2017).
Education
2013-2015 MFA Fine Arts, Goldsmiths University London, UK
2009-2011 BFA Fine Arts, Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam, NL
2005-2008 BA Film Theory & Philosophy, University of Amsterdam, NL
Teaching
2022 Queer Trust, Shedhalle, Zürich, CH
performance workshops on haunting and incoherence
2019 - 2022 School of Commons, Zürich, CH
School of Commons (SoC) is a grassroots initiative dedicated to the study and development of decentered knowledge, with a focus on practices of peer learning and commoning. For SoC I co-developed the conceptual and educational framework and worked closely with the participants to create an inclusive, heterogenous, and supportive learning environment.
2021 Engender Network, Royal Opera House, London, UK
workshop on gender inclusivity within the field of opera, in collaboration with Ella Taylor and Jasper Dommett.
2019 Tenderfeet, Willem de Kooning Academy and European Cultural Centre, Venice, IT
curator and educational facilitator
2018 Time To Perform, Assembled by Root, Rotterdam, NL
performance workshop series
2017-present Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam, NL
visiting tutor
2017-present SOHERE, Rotterdam, NL
co-founder and educational facilitator
They perform with their body and voice, and make installations, props, scripts and choreographies that explore the spaces and relationships between the flesh and the word, human and non-human bodies, and change and preservation. Materially and performatively thinking between things, beings and situations, they consciously switch perspective to influence roles and readings of power and control in relation to affection and gestures of care.
Joseph’s practice is closely linked to their work as an educator, which is influenced by radical pedagogy and non-hierarchical collaborative methods. They are a founding member of Rotterdam based educational collective sohere; a community of practitioners working in the fields of art, design and science who develop collaborative, horizontal learning environments. Between 2019 and 2022 they co-ran Zurich based School of Commons; a grassroots initiative dedicated to practices of peer learning and commoning. Their current research engages in a developing performance-based pedagogy which incorporates embodied learning, incoherence, and queerness as tools for collective worlding.
They obtained their MFA at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2015. They are a resident at Stiftung BINZ39 in Zürich from 2022 – 2024. Recent exhibitions and performances include; Burner at LIFE, Rotterdam (2022); Weathering at Titanik Galleria in Turku (2021); Werkschau at Haus Konstruktiv in Zürich (2021); Weathering at SIC in Helsinki (2021); The Opposite of a Cynic [Tongue] at Nieuw & Meer in Amsterdam (2020); inter:archive at OnCurating in Zürich (2020); Here Not Here at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin (2019); MOTH at Museum KKLB in Beromünster (2018 – 2019); A Brief History of Becoming Rock at Art Rotterdam in Rotterdam (2018); Nothing 2 C Here at Alkovi Galleria in Helsinki (2017).
Education
2013-2015 MFA Fine Arts, Goldsmiths University London, UK
2009-2011 BFA Fine Arts, Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam, NL
2005-2008 BA Film Theory & Philosophy, University of Amsterdam, NL
Teaching
2022 Queer Trust, Shedhalle, Zürich, CH
performance workshops on haunting and incoherence
2019 - 2022 School of Commons, Zürich, CH
School of Commons (SoC) is a grassroots initiative dedicated to the study and development of decentered knowledge, with a focus on practices of peer learning and commoning. For SoC I co-developed the conceptual and educational framework and worked closely with the participants to create an inclusive, heterogenous, and supportive learning environment.
2021 Engender Network, Royal Opera House, London, UK
workshop on gender inclusivity within the field of opera, in collaboration with Ella Taylor and Jasper Dommett.
2019 Tenderfeet, Willem de Kooning Academy and European Cultural Centre, Venice, IT
curator and educational facilitator
2018 Time To Perform, Assembled by Root, Rotterdam, NL
performance workshop series
2017-present Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam, NL
visiting tutor
2017-present SOHERE, Rotterdam, NL
co-founder and educational facilitator
