Joan Jonas

A pioneer in the field of video and performance art, Joan Jonas’ work has had a genre-crossing influence on both conceptual art and theatre. Having studied art history, sculpture and visual art, she was trained in dance by members of New York’s legendary Judson Dance Theater. Towards the end of the 1960s, Jonas began to develop her own performances, collages of various forms of artistic expression including film, video, photography, drawing and acting. The central focus of her work has always been to explore the human body, the way it is perceived, its movements and its interaction with different media and space. In terms of content, Jonas takes her themes from religious rituals, folklore, fairytales and myths. Masks and mirrors that conceal and deceive are recurrent motifs in her work. The mirrors transform and fragment the room, mingling the reflections of the performers with those of the viewers. Jonas’ works are works in progress that often do without an ending or a completed form. Previous performances are picked up on and transformed or transported into a different media, always generating new and slightly different readings.