︎︎︎
curating
With specialisms in both performance art and contemporary British art, Sebastian has accrued over thirteen years curatorial experience as an independent curator & artistic director of both ]performance s p a c e [ and VSSL Studio.
‘Archipelago: Visions in Orbit’ at Whitechapel Gallery - including works by: Jakob Rowlison, Jade de Montserrat, Daniella Valz Gen, Cameron Ugbodu, Esther Teichmann and Güler Ateş - London. Photography courtesy of Whitechapel Gallery - 2024
They hold an MA in Curating Art & Public Programmes (distinction) from Whitechapel Gallery & London South Bank University and have forged a unique curatorial voice foregrounding the often time-based practices of queer, global majority, neurodivergent, and womxn artists - including the work of: Carlos Martiel, Sin Wai Kin, Anne Bean, Jade de Montserrat, Ron Athey, Kira O’Reilly, Maria José Arjona, Martin O’Brien, Keioui Keijaun Thomas, Alastair MaLennan, Rubiane Maia, Daniella Valz Gen, Rocío Boliver, Julie Tolentino, selina bonelli, and Sandra Johnston.
‘June Lam’ at VSSL Studio - solo exhibition - London. Photographed by Marco Berardi - 2023
At the core of this methodology is an acknowledgment that such practices act as critical & speculative agents, imbued with boundless potential to unearth alternative socio-cultural narratives, while generating emergent discourses capable of shaping our futures.
‘PSX: A Decade of Performance Art in the U.K.’ at Ugly Duck - including works by: Rubiane Maia, Ron Athey, Martin O’Brien, Poppy Jackson, Alastair MacLennan, Anne Bean, Joseph Morgan Schofield, Elvira Santamaria Torrés, selina bonelli, Jade de Montserrat, Benjamin Sebastian, Nina Arsenault, Keioui Keijaun Thomas, Nicholas T, Hancock and Kelly, Kris Kanavan & Elizabeth Short (performing as Nick Kilby) - London. Photographed by fenia kotsopoulou - 2021
Their curatorial practise is deeply rooted in an analytic consideration of their field, exemplified by critical and creative writings on contemporary artistic practice, a selection of which can be read here. Below is a comprehensive list of Sebastian’s curatorial projects to date, which can be navigated by clicking individual links or through endless scroll.
INDEX:
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020/21
2019
• Archipelago: Visions in Orbit
• HERMAPHROGENESIS: Marcin Gawin
2023
• FRUTAS MADURAS: Rocío Boliver
• June Lam
• Intersect: Kelvin Atmadibrata in conversation with selina bonelli
• Intersect: An oracular practice sharing by SERAFINE1369 and Daniella Valz Gen
• Luca Bosani C0041: Time’s Up
2022
• Rocío Boliver: Decrypting Performance Art
• Tiding
2021
• PSX: A Decade Of Performance Art In The U.K.
2020/21
• Gathering In A Time Of Plague
2019
• New Queers On The Block (documentation coming soon)
• Salvage
2018/19
• Pause & Affect
2018
• Visible Pride
• New Queers On The Block (documentation coming soon)
2017
• Wake
2016
• Drawn
2014/15
• Performance Art Faction
2013
• Performance Ecconomies
2012
• Aliens In New York
• ]ps[ Summer Residency
• Martin O’Brien: Regimes of Hardship - I, II & III
2011
• ]ps[+++ArtEvict
• Alastair MacLennan
• Trashing Performance Fringe
• A Queer (dis)position
Archipelago: Visions in Orbit
August 2024 - January 2025
Whitechapel Gallery (weblink)
ABOUT:
An archipelago is a cluster of islands demarcated by geo-political borders, yet linked through subaqueous landmass. Using the archipelago as a metaphor, the curatorial team have brought together a selection of contemporary myth-makers, dreamers and artistic documentarians, each offering a unique perspective on our shared cultural fabric. This can be seen in the ethereal vessels and portals of Esther Teichmann and the enigmatic leather masks of Jakob Rowlinson. Elsewhere themes of emergence and reflection course through the works of Jade de Montserrat and Cameron Ugbodu, while histories of migration and belonging are echoed in the works of Daniella Valz Gen and Güler Ateș.
Whitechapel Gallery (weblink)
ABOUT:
“The archipelago is diffracted, fractal, necessary in its totality,
fragile or contingent in its unity, passing through and remaining,
it is a state of the world.” - Édouard Glissant
fragile or contingent in its unity, passing through and remaining,
it is a state of the world.” - Édouard Glissant
An archipelago is a cluster of islands demarcated by geo-political borders, yet linked through subaqueous landmass. Using the archipelago as a metaphor, the curatorial team have brought together a selection of contemporary myth-makers, dreamers and artistic documentarians, each offering a unique perspective on our shared cultural fabric. This can be seen in the ethereal vessels and portals of Esther Teichmann and the enigmatic leather masks of Jakob Rowlinson. Elsewhere themes of emergence and reflection course through the works of Jade de Montserrat and Cameron Ugbodu, while histories of migration and belonging are echoed in the works of Daniella Valz Gen and Güler Ateș.
Aptly positioned in Whitechapel - a place that has and continues to see the coming together of migrant communities in a time of political polarisation - this exhibition allows a space for complex differences to coalesce by acknowledging an underlying connectivity. Accompanying the exhibition is a public programme including a performative intervention and discursive events with invited artists and curators, taking place throughout Whitechapel Gallery’s Autumn season. Further information on each artist, artworks and the public programme can be found via the link below.
PUBLIC PROGRAMME:
➣ Güler Ateş performance of Woman Under Kitchen Utensils
➣ Curating and Archipelagic Thinking
➣ Myth-making and Visioning in Contemporary Art
ARTIST:
Esther Teichmann + Jakob Rowlinson + Jade de Montserrat + Cameron Ugbodu + Daniella Valz Gen + Güler Ateș
CREDITS:
Co-curated by Benjamin Sebastian, Gözde Altun, Eve Barnes, Molly Clark, Maria Green, Parastoo Jafari, Hannah Lewis, Alessandro Morter, Kuba Ocean, Yasmin Riley, Angela Sanchez-Castrillon, Ajahee Sekkm-Miles, Cosima Straub and Hannah Walker - as culminating practical thesis for completion of the ‘MA Curating Art and Public Programmes’ through Whitechapel Gallery’ & London Southbank University. All images courtesy of the artists and Whitechapel Gallery.
➣ Güler Ateş performance of Woman Under Kitchen Utensils
➣ Curating and Archipelagic Thinking
➣ Myth-making and Visioning in Contemporary Art
ARTIST:
Esther Teichmann + Jakob Rowlinson + Jade de Montserrat + Cameron Ugbodu + Daniella Valz Gen + Güler Ateș
CREDITS:
Co-curated by Benjamin Sebastian, Gözde Altun, Eve Barnes, Molly Clark, Maria Green, Parastoo Jafari, Hannah Lewis, Alessandro Morter, Kuba Ocean, Yasmin Riley, Angela Sanchez-Castrillon, Ajahee Sekkm-Miles, Cosima Straub and Hannah Walker - as culminating practical thesis for completion of the ‘MA Curating Art and Public Programmes’ through Whitechapel Gallery’ & London Southbank University. All images courtesy of the artists and Whitechapel Gallery.
HERMAPHROGENESIS: Marcin Gawin
2023
VSSL Studio
(as part of the FACET programme)
➣ weblink
ABOUT:
“Long ago, in Ancient Rome, the organs and entrails of sacrificed animals were decoded and interpreted by those tasked with defining the limits of reality. This ancient divination technique— called haruspicy – was performed by a trained priest – called a haruspex – who ritually consulted the liver, lungs, and heart of skinned beasts to discern the will of the gods.
VSSL Studio
(as part of the FACET programme)
➣ weblink
ABOUT:
“Long ago, in Ancient Rome, the organs and entrails of sacrificed animals were decoded and interpreted by those tasked with defining the limits of reality. This ancient divination technique— called haruspicy – was performed by a trained priest – called a haruspex – who ritually consulted the liver, lungs, and heart of skinned beasts to discern the will of the gods.
They hack biology by skinning the sciences, exposing the heteropatriarchal and anthropocentric institutionalization of bodies, both inner and outer, as a cyberpunk/witch haruspex. They etch, sculpt, diagram, exegete, cast, photograph, and manipulate a trinity of hand-crafted silicone organs, leaving us to decipher the will of the queer gods the artist has invoked on our behalf...”
- Hermaphrogenesis: Organs as Ruins of the Posthuman Body , commissioned exhibiton text from [M] Dudeck
➣ complete text available here
- Hermaphrogenesis: Organs as Ruins of the Posthuman Body , commissioned exhibiton text from [M] Dudeck
➣ complete text available here
CREDITS:
Curated by Benjamin Sebastian on behalf of VSSL Studio. Assistant curators: Ash McNaughton & Mine Kaplangi. Funded by Arts Counicl England.
Curated by Benjamin Sebastian on behalf of VSSL Studio. Assistant curators: Ash McNaughton & Mine Kaplangi. Funded by Arts Counicl England.
Frutas Maduras: Rocío Boliver
2023
VSSL Studio
(as part of the FACET programme)
➣ weblink
ABOUT:
“...Boliver's collaboration with photographer Karolina Bazydlo and collaborator Bartlomiej Gudejko (Rocio’s lover at the time) for the FACET program is a bold challenge to the invisibility of the aging female form and female sexuality...”
VSSL Studio
(as part of the FACET programme)
➣ weblink
ABOUT:
“...Boliver's collaboration with photographer Karolina Bazydlo and collaborator Bartlomiej Gudejko (Rocio’s lover at the time) for the FACET program is a bold challenge to the invisibility of the aging female form and female sexuality...”
Launch event of Frutas Maduras: Rocío Boliver - Video courtesy of Marco Berardi & Baiba Sprance.
Frutas Maduras: Rocío Boliver (in collaboration with Karolina Bazydlo and Bartlomiej Gudejko) - Images courtesy of Marco Berardi & Baiba Sprance.
Frutas Maduras: Rocío Boliver (in collaboration with Karolina Bazydlo and Bartlomiej Gudejko) - Images courtesy of Marco Berardi & Baiba Sprance.
“...The photographic series of twelve images centers the aging female body within the realm of sexual pleasure, desire, and erotic play. The artist has reimagined the conventional 'pin up' calendar idea and created exquisite portrayals of womanly autonomy and female sexuality...”
Frutas Maduras: Rocío Boliver - Rocío Boliver performing in collaboration with Karolina Bazydlo and Bartlomiej Gudejko - Images courtesy of Marco Berardi & Baiba Sprance.
Frutas Maduras: Rocío Boliver - Rocío Boliver performing in collaboration with Karolina Bazydlo and Bartlomiej Gudejko - Images courtesy of Marco Berardi & Baiba Sprance.
CREDITS:
Curated by Benjamin Sebastian on behalf of VSSL Studio. Assistant curators: Ash McNaughton & Mine Kaplangi. Funded by Arts Counicl England.
Curated by Benjamin Sebastian on behalf of VSSL Studio. Assistant curators: Ash McNaughton & Mine Kaplangi. Funded by Arts Counicl England.
June Lam
2023
VSSL Studio
(as part of the FACET programme)
➣ weblink
ABOUT:
“...Collage has a rich history in queer aesthetics and has been a favoured medium for many queer artists. The act of collage-making mirrors the world-making practices of queer culture, where individuals and communities necessarily have learnt to explode, edit, discard and reassemble societal norms and expectations to create their own forms of identities, communities and aesthetics...”
VSSL Studio
(as part of the FACET programme)
➣ weblink
ABOUT:
“...Collage has a rich history in queer aesthetics and has been a favoured medium for many queer artists. The act of collage-making mirrors the world-making practices of queer culture, where individuals and communities necessarily have learnt to explode, edit, discard and reassemble societal norms and expectations to create their own forms of identities, communities and aesthetics...”
June Lam - Launch event - Video courtesy of Marco Berardi & Baiba Sprance.
June Lam - Images courtesy of Marco Berardi & Baiba Sprance.
June Lam - Images courtesy of Marco Berardi & Baiba Sprance.
“...In this sense, collage can be seen as a form of resistance to dominant cultural narratives and a way to create new possibilities and futures. June Lam's use of collage in his work for the FACET programme continues this tradition. June will be exhibiting 25 new and recent collage works, initiated during the COVID-19 Lockdowns...”
June Lam - Images courtesy of Marco Berardi & Baiba Sprance.
June Lam - Images courtesy of Marco Berardi & Baiba Sprance.
CREDITS:
Curated by Benjamin Sebastian on behalf of VSSL Studio. Assistant curators: Ash McNaughton & Mine Kaplangi. Funded by Arts Counicl England.
Curated by Benjamin Sebastian on behalf of VSSL Studio. Assistant curators: Ash McNaughton & Mine Kaplangi. Funded by Arts Counicl England.