Kyle Bellucci Johanson

Kyle Bellucci Johanson is a contemporary artist and educator working at the intersection of performance architecture, critical theory, and social practice. He currently serves as faculty in the Critical Studies department of the MFA program at the New York Academy of Art, where he contributes to shaping emerging artists through critical pedagogy and conceptual frameworks.

His educational background includes a BA in Art and Reconciliation Studies from Bethel University, studies in peace and conflict at the University of Ulster in Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and an MFA from California Institute of the Arts. He was also a founding fellow of At Land's Edge, an artist-led autonomous free school focused on intergenerational mentorship in community-run spaces across Los Angeles, and a 2022-23 participant in the Whitney Independent Study Program.

Johanson's research interests center on visualizing and critiquing power structures through performance-architecture. His work explores how objects, language, and media can instigate imaginary futures while examining the intersections of labor, identity, and emancipation. Recent projects investigate radical hospitality, worker solidarity, and speculative community building, often through immersive installations that challenge conventional spatial and social arrangements. His practice blends conceptual rigor with participatory elements, creating spaces for critical discourse and collective imagination.

His most recent exhibition series, KLUB WRKR (2024), represents a significant evolution in his exploration of worker solidarity, transforming Alexander Rodchenko's early 20th-century Workers' Club concept into a nomadic, cross-country art project that engages with contemporary labor conditions. This work exemplifies his broader thematic concerns with community assembly, spatial politics, and alternative economic models.

• Whitney Independent Study Program Participant (2022-23)
• Humanity in Action Landecker Fellow

Johanson has curated and directed significant projects including table (2018-2022), a project space dedicated to situating artists' practices through exhibition, discursive meals, and publication. His collaborative approach extends to numerous group exhibitions and symposia, including the Quantum Unlearning Symposium with Charles Gaines and Kathryn Shaffer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2018). His work often involves creating temporary communities and gathering spaces that challenge conventional institutional boundaries while fostering critical dialogue around social and political issues.