Producing artwork under the name tjb, Dr Bacon's practice, framed as an artist-philosopher, extends across performance art, visal art, curation, socially engaged practice, transgender studies, queer theory, crip theory and queer phenomenology. Xis outputs manifest through the interdisciplinary visual arts and as an author. Xe has exhibited xis practice internationally for over 20 years and is the founder and artistic director of Tempting Failure, a festival international performance art staged in the UK since 2012.
Dr Bacon's research focuses upon current societal transformations across intersectionality, queer theory, non-binary and trans gender studies, dis/ability and performance art, framed through the lens of phenomenological enquiry. Xe advocates for the radical reimagining of traditional phenomenology and the application of a queer phenomenology in the study and making of performance and visual arts.
Dr Bacon has hidden disabilities, and is transgender.
• 2017 – PhD in the Phenomenology of Performance Art, Experiencing a Multiplicity of Self/s, UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
• 2007 – PGCE Post Compulsory Education and Training, UNIVERSITY OF GREENWICH
• 2005 – MA Performance, GOLDSMITHS COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
• 2003 – BA English and Theatre Studies, LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY
Dr Bacon welcomes doctoral applications, especially in visual arts, performance art, queer phenomenology, curatorial practice, and radical approaches to reimagining scholarly practice. Xe also welcomes interdisciplinary enquiries and those interested in researching transgender studies, queer theory, and socially engaged or transdisciplinary practice.
For an informal conversation about supervision please email Dr Bacon direct.
Teaching specialisms include experimental emboided practices, performer training, critical theory, visual arts practice, transdisciplinary socially enged practice, interdisciplinarity performance and philosophy, queer theory, gender and dis/ability politics, performance across cultures, and practice research.
Dr Bacon's main focus is upon novel applications of phenomenology in the study of performance art and visual art. Originally informed by the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty, xis artistic-philosophy has argued for a queer reimagining of Heideggerian thought and the wider application of queer phenomenology in the study and making of performance. Xe is currently researching transphobic misogyny from a phenomenological perspective.
Out Now:
An Introduction to the Phenomenology of Performance Art published by Intellect Books UK and distributed internationally by University of Chicago Press. This book introduces the study and application of performance art through phenomenology, inviting readers to explore contemporary performance art and activate their own practices. Using queer phenomenology to unpack the importance of a multiplicity of self/s, the book teaches readers how to be academically rigorous when capturing embodied experiences.
Current:
Dr Bacon is co-editing with Dr Chelsea Coon a major new phenomenology publication for Taylor & Francis: Routledge that features exclusive new interviews including: Marina Abramović, ORLAN, Hermann Nitsch, Franko B, Ron Athey, Mike Parr, Andre Molodkin, Louis Fliescheur, Ernst Fischer, Mirabelle Jones, Jelili Atiku, Paola Paz Yee, Poppy Jackson, Victor Martinez Diaz, and Marisa Carnesky. It also features an international array of renowned scholars from a diverse range of intersectional backgrounds including Reagan Trux, Robert Mock, Amber Mussar, Stuart Grant, Kelly Jordan, Lynn Lu and many more.
Recently Completed:
Dr Bacon has recently completed two queer phenomenological studies. The first for the aforementioned publication with Routledge, this chapter is titled, The fluidity or transmutability of borders held in the lived body of trans and non-binary bodies. The second piece of research is titled, invisible dis/ability disorientation: a queer phenomenology which is part of the upcoming Routledge Companion to Bodies in Performance edited by Prof Roberta Mock and Dr Victor Ladron de Guevara.
Dr Bacon was Co-Project Researcher and Dissemination Manager, on the three year Future laboratories for professional and personal development – FUTURES (2020-2023) project. Co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education (KA203). The FUTURES project aims to develop the innovative, future-oriented processes, tools, and methods that will foster personal and professional development among European University Students, Early Stage Researchers and High School Students, including also those that aspire to enroll in University. The training materials developed in the project will empower individuals to realize that their images about the future (anticipatory assumptions) have a significant bearing on (limit or open up) their actions and choices today.
Authored books:
https://www.intellectbooks.com/an-introduction-to-the-phenomenology-of-performance-art
Books edited by the candidate:
Articles and chapters in edited books (coming soon):
Articles and chapters in edited books (out now):
Refereed articles in academic journals:
Dr Bacon has extensive experience of delivering successfully, large scale projects and drawing both public and private funding, awards, and in-kind support. Each project is completed to a high level, and reported on through extensive data reflection and evaluation. Some of the most recent awards include:
As part of an ERASMUS+ exchange in 2019, Dr Bacon taught on the BA Mixed Media degree, in the fine art department of Academy of Arts, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Here xe shared research into phenomenology and performance art. This exchange held contributions between students at MDX – who internationally represented Italy, Canada, Portugal, and Korea – with students in Serbia. Which aided in the devlopment of workshop exercises to be featured in xis monograph An Introduction to the Phenomenology of Performance Art: SELF/s.
