Katja Hilevaara

Katja Hilevaara is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Theatre and Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she has worked for over twenty years. She is an internationally recognized artist-researcher whose work spans performance, installation, and art-writing, with a focus on collaborative practice and creative-critical approaches to research.

Her academic background includes:

• PhD in Drama (Queen Mary University of London, 2015)
• MA in Performance (Queen Mary University of London, 2008)
• BA (Hons) Drama and Theatre Arts (Goldsmiths University of London, 1998)

Hilevaara's research explores memory, maintenance, care, and enchantment through creative constraints and task-based methodologies. She challenges conventional binaries between artistic practice and critical writing, proposing that critical writing should be understood as an integral part of the artistic process itself. Her work frequently engages with (auto)biography and re-imagined histories, deliberately mis-remembering or creatively interpreting events to shift perspectives and meanings.

Her recent publications reveal a strong interdisciplinary focus, particularly in her Finch Girl project which brings together archaeology, art, birdsong, feminist ecology, folklore, ornithology, and speculative fiction. There's a clear trajectory toward collaborative, voice-based methodologies and feminist ecological concerns across her work, with increasing emphasis on interspecies communication and challenging anthropocentric worldviews.

As an educator, Hilevaara directs Goldsmiths' international MA Performance Making program, teaches performance and live art workshops internationally through ECC Performance Art, and mentors emerging artists. She is a founder member of the Out of Practice Seminar and actively participates in networks of practitioner-researchers exploring creative-critical approaches to writing.

Hilevaara maintains a significant collaborative practice with artist Emily Orley, with whom she creates performances, writes, and explores concepts like the ethics of delight, image-making, and the ephemerality of performance. Her current projects include the interdisciplinary Finch Girl initiative and ongoing exploration of 'calls to action' that invite active audience participation.