Also known as tjb, Dr Bacon's practice, framed as an artist-philosopher, extends across performance art, curation and queer phenomenology and 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 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.
• 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
Native language, English
Basic German
Basic Japanese
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. For an informal conversation 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 persepctive.
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. Support Independant Booksellers by purchasing at special price from Unbound.
Current:
Dr Bacon is co-editing with Dr Chelsea Coon a major new phenomenology publication for Taylor & Francis: Routledge that features exclusive new interviews with Marina Abramović, ORLAN, Mike Parr, Franko B, Hermann Nitsch, Ron Athey, Jelili Atiku, Andre Moltekin, and many more. Featuring contributions from international scholars. This is due for release in 2024.
Dr Bacon is currently 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.
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.
Bacon, T. J. (2020) T. J. Bacon reflects on CHTHONIC. In: Emergency index: an annual document of performance practice. Guttenplan, Zoe , ed. Emergency INDEX, 9 . Ugly Duckling Presse, New York, US, pp. 286-287. ISBN 9781946433848
Bacon, T. J. (2019) CHTHONIC. [Performance]
Bacon, T. J. (2018) Psychogenesis series. In: Emergency index: an annual document of performance practice. Gluzman, Yelena and Cleary, Sophia , eds. Emergency Index, 7 . Ugly Duckling Presse, New York, US, pp. 116-117. ISBN 9781946433213
Bacon, T. J. (2018) Foreword [The furthest point in space is also inside our body]. In: No one thing is the root of all anything: phases and performance of the imminent by Chelsea Coon. Not a Cult, Los Angeles, CA, pp. 1-6. ISBN 9781945649080
Bacon, T. J. (2018) TF18 - London Biennial of International Performance Art. [Show/Exhibition]
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.
