Deborah-Joyce Holman is a multidisciplinary artist based between London, UK, and Basel, Switzerland. Their work has recently been shown at Kunsthalle Bern (solo, 2023); Galerie Gregor Staiger (solo, 2023); Oregon Contemporary (2023); Cordova, Barcelona (solo, 2022); Istituto Svizzero, Palermo (solo, 2022) schwarzescafé, Luma Westbau, Zurich (solo, 2022); Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2022); Cherish, Geneva (solo with Yara Dulac Gisler, 2021); Yaby, Madrid (2021); Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva (2021); Mikro, Zurich (solo, 2019); Fondation Entreprise Ricard, Paris (2019); Auto Italia, London (2019); OSLO10, Basel (2017), among others. 

From 2020-2022, Deborah-Joyce worked at East London arts organisation Auto Italia as Associate Director. They are the founding director of 1.1, a platform for early-career practitioners in arts, music and text-based practices, with an exhibition space in Basel, Switzerland, which ran 2015 - 2020. Deborah-Joyce has curated the 2018 and 2019 annual group exhibitions for the arts and music festival Les Urbaines, Lausanne, entitled ...and their tooth, finest gold and Cinders, sinuous and supple respectively, presenting newly commissioned works by over 15 international artists.



CV: 

Education:
2019-2020 | CAMPUS Programme, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, Independent Study Programme
2015-2018 | Haute École des Arts et de Design, Geneva, BA Fine Arts

Solo and duo exhibitions:
2023 | Living Room (solo), Kunsthalle Bern 
2023 | Love Letter (solo), Galerie Gregor Staiger, Zurich
2022 | Moment 2 (solo), Cordova, Barcelona
2022 | Spill I-III (solo), Istituto Svizzero, Palermo
2022 | Moment 2 (solo), Luma Westbau, schwarzescafé, Zurich
2022 | Beautiful and tough as chestnut/stanchions against our nightmare of weakness (solo), Sentiment, Zurich
2021 | Unless (solo, collaborative work with Yara Dulac Gisler), Cherish, Geneva
2019 | A Soft Spiral (solo), Mikro, Zurich
2018 | Rich, since my pinky points at me (duo), Alienze, Lausanne

Selected group exhibitions:
2023 | Shedhalle, Zurich
2023 | Cry Me A River, Simian, Copenhagen
2023 | 1ere Biennale Son, Sion
2023 | Creative Friend Group Bar New York, CFGNY @ SculptureCenter, New York City
2023 | Sneckdown, EACC, Castellón
2023 | Biennale für Freiburg 2: Das Lied der Strasse
2023 | Edition XI, Joyfully Waiting, Online
2023 | The shape of memory, Oregon Contemporary
2022 | Flatlands, Galerie Gregor Staiger, Zurich
2022 | Ars Electronica Festival, Linz
2022 | Gazed & Confused, Last Tango, Zurich
2021 | Eclipse, Athens Biennale 7
2021 | Explorer’s Film Club, Transbona-Halle, Basel
2021 | Having a party (hope you will be there), Conceptual Fine Arts, Milan hosts Damien & The Love Guru
2021 | Deadhead perfora, Yaby, Madrid
2021 | Lemaniana, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva
2020 | FUORI!, La Quadriennale di Roma, Rome
2019 | Études sur l’Empathie, Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard, Paris
2018 | Extime, Live In Your Head, Geneva
2017 | Episode 10: Boudoir Sulk, OSLO10, Basel, Switzerland
2016 | Venusia, Locale Due, Bologna

Selected screenings and performances:
2023 | Spill I-III (screening), Nottingham Contemporary
2023 | Moment 2 (screening), Capc Bordeaux
2023 | Moment 2 (screening), Performing Arts Forum, Saint-Emre)
2022 | Image Behaviour (screening), Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
2022 | TSCHÜÜSS festival (screening), Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris
2021 | Unfinished Live (screening), The Shed, New York & House of Electronic Arts, Basel
2019 | Towards the Theory of Jet Lag (performance reading), Auto Italia, London


Selected curatorial projects:
2020 - 2022 | Auto Italia, London, Associate Director 
2015 - 2020 | 1.1 Basel, Switzerland, Founding Director
2019 | Cinders, sinuous and supple, Les Urbaines (curation), Espace Arlaud, Lausanne
2019 | Alternative Graduate Show, BBZ BLK BK (curation), Copeland Gallery, London
2018 | ... and their tooth, finest gold, Les Urbaines (curation), Espace Arlaud, Lausanne

Selected talks, workshops & juries:
2021- ongoing | Jury member for Principal Residency Programme, La Becque, La-Tour-de-Peilz
2022 | Keynote Lecture, Art Talks, Zurich University of the Arts
2021 | Keynote Lecture, Danshallerne, Copenhagen
2021 | Jury member for Swiss Moving Image Award, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva
2021 | Keynote Lecture, Symposium Frantz Fanon’s Critical Legacy: From Alienation of the Individual to the Empancipation of practices, ECAL, Lausanne
2021 | Guest lecture, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, online
2020 | Guest lecture and tutoring, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne
2020 | Salon Noirx, Monthly Radio Format, Radio X, Basel
2020 | Guest lecture, MA CCC, Geneva University of Art and Design
2020 | Keynote Lecture, Art Taaalkssss, College for Art and Design, Basel
2019 | Exhibition response to (15,952km) via Trans-Sahara Hwy N1 by Kudzanai-Violet Hwami, Gasworks, London
2019 | Guest lecture for Imagining Otherwise, College for Art and Design (HGK), Basel
2019 | Panel talk, Lesley Magazine, London
2019 | Workshop, Foundation year, ECAL, Lausanne
2018 | Guest lecture, MFA, Zurich University of the Arts, Zurich
2018 | Appropriation culturelle ou l’art du pillage, Round table, Paraponera, Geneva
2018 | Seesaw Radio show, 4 Episodes, Gay Couple Residency, Geneva

Selected publications:
2023 |Queen for a Day, Book Works (London, UK) & Luma Westbau (Zurich, CH)
2022 | My Tooth Is The Point From Which The World Unfolds, _AH (Madrid, Spain) 

2021 | What if, on James Bantone with Mohamed Almusibli (exhibition catalogue), Kiefer Hablützel Prize (Berne, Switzerland)
2020 | Assembling A Black Counter Culture, interview with DeForrest Brown Jr., Kaleidoscope Magazine, (Milan, Italy)
2020 | Introduction for The Slow Grind, The Laundry Arts (London, UK)

Selected press:
2023 | In conversation with Caterina Avantaneo, On the Politics of Representation and Portraiture, PW Magazine (Zurich, Switzerland / Vienna, Austria)
2022 | Olamiju Fajemisin, Shadow Games: Deborah-Joyce Holman, Mousse Magazine (Milan, Italy)
2022 | Cédric Fauq, Olamiju Fajemisin, Counter-stances and refusal. A Conversation with Deborah-Joyce Holman, Flash Art Magazine (Milan, Italy)
2021 | Eleonora Milani, Lemaniana. Reflections on other scenes. A survey of artistic production in the Léman Region, Flash Art Magazine (Milan, Italy)
2020 | Mark Pietersen, Aesthetic curiosities and adventures at the 2020 Material Art Fair, thisispublicparking.com (Manitoba, Canada)
2020 | Moritz Weizenegger, Les Urbaines 2019 - Austauschplattform für Experimente, zweikommasieben, (Lucerne, Switzerland)
2019 | Cécile Della Torre & Samuel Schellenberg, Corps bétons et transidentitaires aux Urbaines, Le Courrier (Geneva, Switzerland)
2019 | Olamiju Fajemisin, On Tinos with Deborah Joyce Holman, Provence Magazine (Zurich, Switzerland)
2019 | Nkenna Akunba, BBZ BLK BK: Alternative Graduate Show 2019, Skindeepmag.com (London, UK)
2019 | Jamila Prowse, The BBZ art show looks at what it means to take up space and to survive, Dazeddigital.com (London, UK
2019 | BBZ Black Book: Alternative Graduate Show 2019 @ Copeland Gallery, Thewhitepube.co.uk (London, UK)
2019 | Marcia Elizabeth, ‘MOVE’ by Ronan Mckenzie challenges stereotypes around the black female body through dance, Bubblegumclub.co.za (Johannesburg, South Africa)
2019 | Harry Burke, “A Series Of Readings Philosophy Of And Performance Towards A Jet Lag” At Auto Italia, London, King Kong Magazine (New York City, USA)
2018 | Jared Davis, Fragmented, reformulated, multifaceted: The ever-shifting body online & its means of articulation in ‘meet space’ for Les Urbaines, AQNB.com
2018 | Will Furtado, GOD’S P(L)AN, Contemporaryand.com (Berlin, Germany)
2018 | Chris Soal, 1.1 – create platforms over galleries, Bubblegumclub.co.za (Johannesburg, South Africa)

Awards  and residencies:
ongoing | Pompeii Commitment Digital Fellowship
2024 | Prix Mobiliere 2024
2023 | Project grant, Pro Helvetia
2023 | Nominee for the Swiss Art Awards
2023 | Artist-in-residence, Swiss Institute, New York City
2023 | National Lottery Project Grant, Arts Council England
2022 | Project grant, Swiss Cultural Fund UK
2022 | Honorary mention, Prix Ars Electronica
2022 | Société Generale Swiss Emerging Artist Prize
2022 | «To-gather» ProHelvetia Grant, WET LAND: New Terrain for Collaboration, spaces of sharing
2021 | National Lottery Project Grant, Arts Council England
2021 | Nominee for Kiefer Hablitzel Prize
2020 | Christina Spoerri Prize
2020 | Project grant, Pro Helvetia
2020 | Jugendkulturpauschale, Kultur-Abteilung Basel-Stadt 
2020 | Artist-in-residence, Explorers Film Club, Atelier Mondial, Basel
2020 | Luma Foundation Artist’s Grant
2019 | Artist-in-residence, Gasworks, London
2019 | Artist-in-residence, Tinos Quarry Platform, Tinos