# Jonatan habib engqvist

Jonatan Habib Engqvist is a Swedish author and curator.
Engqvist is educated in philosophy and art history at Södertörns University and art theory at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design. He works internationally and has curated several art biennials.

## Work History

Engqvist was employed at the Royal Academy of Arts in Stockholm from 2005-2007, where he worked with the research program Art and New Media as well as Art and Architecture together with Maria Lantz.
He was employed as a curator at Moderna Museet in Stockholm 2008-2009 and project manager at Iaspis 2009-2014. Between 2016 and 2020, he was the artistic director of the project Nya Småland on behalf of Kalmar Art Museum, Växjö Art Gallery, Kulturparken Småland, and Linnaeus University together with Mike Bode.

### Teaching

Engqvist has taught at Royal Academy Of Fine Arts in Stockholm, and at Royal Academy of Arts (KABK) in the Hague, Netherlandsat The New School in New York, Academy of Fine Arts in Riga and at Stockholm University. He is a mentor at the University of the Arts Helsinki alongside Angela Rosenberg.

## As a curator

In Sweden, Engqvist has curated exhibitions at Moderna Museet, Borås Art Museum, Färgfabriken, Kalmar Art Museum, Vandalorum. In 2016, he was the curator of Konsthall Jönköping public artwork "Public Face" by Julius von Bismarck, Benjamin Maus, and Richard Wilhelmer which consisted of an 8-meter-high neon mobile smiley on Jönköping City Hall's roof. It was connected to facial recognition and read the emotions of Jönköping residents in real-time.
Abroad, he has curated exhibitions at the Museo de Geología in Mexico, the National Gallery of Iceland, as well as international biennials and festivals such as the Havana Biennial, Cycle Music And Art Festival in Berlin / Reykjavík / Koparvogur (2018), Survival Kit 9 in Riga, Latvia,, Sinopale 6, Sinop, Turkey (2017), Tunnel Vision, 8th Momentum biennial in Moss, Norway (2015) and (I)ndependent People at Reykjavik Arts Festival (2012). He was also the curator of the Project Biennial D-0 Ark Underground in Tito's bunker in Bosnia (2019) with Basak Senova and Branko Franceschi which was entitled Do secret services dream of a museum?The exhibition included artists such as Bella Rune and Yoko Ono. On behalf of the Nordic Art Association, he curated the first VR Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2019 with "Medusa" a 360°virtual reality film by the Venetian artist and filmmaker Sara Tirelli.

## As a writer

Engqvist has written for and edited several Swedish cultural magazines such as Ord och Bild, Glänta]], Hjärnstorm and Paletten as well aa international art publications and exhibition catalogs. He has published several books in Swedish, Icelandic and English, as well as in translations into several languages.

## Collaborations

Engqvist has, often early in their careers, worked with artists such as Meric Algün, Julis von Bismarck, Joseph Beuys, Ane Graff, Minna L. Henriksson, Sofia Hultén, The Icelandic Love Corperation, Ragnar Kjartansson, Ferdinand Ahm Krag, Agnieszka Kurant, Cristóbal Lehyt, Eva Löfdahl, Lap-See Lam, Joanna Lombard, Lundahl & Seitl, Britta Marakatt-Labba, Fujiko Nakaya, Vlad Nanca, Christine Ödlund, Yoko Ono, Ola Pehrson, Raluca Popa, Bella Rune, Sigrid Sandström, Edward Shenk, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Bjarni H. Thorarinsson, Sissel Tolaas, Lars Tunbjörk, Slavs & Tatars, Superflex, Ryan Trecartin, Steina Vasulka, Dzina Zhuk & Nicolay Spesivtsev, Zhala.
He has worked with advanced VR productions together with the artist couple Lundahl & Seitl and ScanLab.

## Other assignments

Engqvist founded and directs Curatorial Residency In Stockholm (CRIS). He is the chairman of The Swedish Association of Curators.