about
Johan Gustavsson (born in Stockholm in 1978) is an artist, curator and educator currently based in The Hague, The Netherlands. He is the co-director and curator at 1646 (www.1646.nl) and a lecturer at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Gustavsson is also a co-founder of (www.alternativeartguide.com) and The Hague Contemporary (https://thehaguecontemporary.nl/). Previously, Gustavsson served as the head of the board at (www.page-not-found.nl).
Gustavsson curated the large-scale exhibition 'Prospects for the Mondriaan Fonds from 2020-2024' at the Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam in conjunction with Art Rotterdam. Additionally, Gustavsson has worked as a Cultural Ambassador for the city of The Hague and has collaborated with various museums, galleries, and institutions worldwide.
Gustavsson's focus is on artistic practices that use strategies such as fictioning, complicating, and humour to generate dialogue or propose alternative points of view. The idea is that fiction can be a valuable tool for imagining the world in new ways. Similarly, it is important to embrace and celebrate complexity, contradiction, and paradox as inherent qualities of human existence, in order to balance the predominance of rationality and logic. Additionally, using playfulness and humour as tools can help maintain an open attitude.