Jonas Staal
Jonas Staal is a visual artist whose work deals with the relation between art, democracy, and propaganda. He is the founder of the artistic and political organization New World Summit (2012–ongoing). Together with Florian Malzacher he co-directs the training camp Training for the Future (2018-ongoing), and with human rights lawyer Jan Fermon he initiated the collective action lawsuit Collectivize Facebook (2020-ongoing). With writer and lawyer Radha D’Souza he founded the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes (2021-ongoing) and with Laure Prouvost he is co-administrator of the Obscure Union.
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Exhibition-projects include Museum as Parliament (with the Democratic Self-Administration of Rojava, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 2018-ongoing), We Demand a Million More Years (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, 2022) and Extinction Wars (with Radha D'Souza, Gwangju Museum of Art, 2023). His projects have been exhibited widely at venues such as the V&A in London, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, M_HKA in Antwerp, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Centre Pompidou-Metz and the Nam June Paik Art Center in Seoul, as well as the 7th Berlin Biennale, the 31st São Paulo Biennale and the 12th Taipei Biennale.
Publications include Nosso Lar, Brasília (Jap Sam Books, 2014), Stateless Democracy (with co-editors Dilar Dirik and Renée In der Maur, BAK, 2015), Steve Bannon: A Propaganda Retrospective (Het Nieuwe Instituut, 2018), Propaganda Art in the 21st Century (The MIT Press, 2019), and Training for the Future Handbook (with co-editor Florian Malzacher, Sternberg Press, 2021). Staal completed his PhD research on propaganda art at the PhDArts program of Leiden University, the Netherlands. (2023)
Publications[edit]
- with Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei, Democratism: An Introduction to Five Models of Civil Protest, 2009, 24 pp. (English)/(Japanese)
- Post-Propaganda, Amsterdam: Netherlands Foundation for the Visual Arts, Design and Architecture (Fonds BKVB), 2010, 97 pp.
- Art, Property of Politics, 2 vols., 2010. (English)/(Dutch)
- Power?... To Which People?!, Heijningen: Jap Sam Books, 2010, 228 pp.
- Closed Architecture, Eindhoven: Onomatopee, 2011. Publisher. (Dutch)/(English)
- editor, with Jose Maria Sison, Towards a People's Culture, Utrecht: BAK, 2013.
- editor, with We Are Here, Lost. In Between. Together, Utrecht: BAK, 2013.
- editor, with Dirk Poot, Leaderless Politics, with International Pirate Parties, Utrecht: BAK (New World Academy Reader, 3), 2013, 146 pp.
- Nosso Lar, Brasília, Jap Sam Books, 2014. Publisher.
- editor, with with Moussa Ag Assarid, The Art of Creating a State, Utrecht: BAK, 2014.
- editor, with Renée In der Maur, Stateless Democracy, Utrecht: BAK (New World Academy Reader, 5), 2015, 256 pp.
- New Worlds, Oslo: KORO/URO, 2016.
- "Assemblism", e-flux 80, Mar 2017.
- Steve Bannon: A Propaganda Retrospective, Rotterdam: Het Nieuwe Instituut, 2018, 88 pp.
- Propaganda Art in the 21st Century, MIT Press, 2019, 230 pp. Based on PhD thesis (Leiden University, 2018).
- editor, with Florian Malzacher, Training for the Future: Handbook, Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2021, 320 pp. Project. Publisher. [1] [2]
- Climate Propagandas: Stories of Extinction and Regeneration, MIT Press, 2024, 200 pp. "How climate propaganda narratives shape our (mis)understanding of the world, and how to propagate a future of repair and regeneration instead." Publisher. [3]
Interviews[edit]
- Karel Veselý, "„Potřebujeme propagandu, abychom s ní mohli vytvořit spravedlivější svět,“ říká propagandistický umělec Jonas Staal", A2larm, 5 Feb 2024. (Czech)