Daniel Baker is an artist. A Romani Gypsy, born in Kent in the UK, he holds a PhD on the subject of Gypsy aesthetics from the Royal College of Art, London. His work is exhibited internationally and can be found in collections worldwide. Baker curated FUTUROMA at the 58th International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2019. He also exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2007: Paradise Lost and 2011: Call the Witness. Baker’s art practice examines the role of art in the enactment of social agency via the reconfiguration of elements of the Gypsy aesthetic. Publications include WE ROMA: A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art, Ex Libris, FUTUROMA and GRT LGBTQ+ Spoken History Archive Book . Lives and works in London.
Education
2011 PhD Royal College of Art, London; Thesis: Gypsy Visuality
2002 MA Sociology/Gender and Ethnic Studies, Greenwich University, London; Dissertation article: The Queer Gypsy
1983 BA Hons. Fine Art, Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, London
Selected Exhibitions
2021 VULNERABLE ARCHIVES. On Silenced Archives and Dissenting Views, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin, Germany
2021 Queer Constellations, Museum of English Rural Life, Reading, UK
2021 Roma Resistance and Resiliance, European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture, Berlin, Germany
2021 ORDER AND DREAMS, OFF-Biennale, Budapest, Hungary
2020 Actually, the Dead are not Dead. Una forma de ser, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany
2019 58th Venice Biennale: Curator of FUTUROMA
2018 Shiftwork, g39, Cardiff, Wales
2017 Daniel Baker, Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow: Scotland (solo)
2016 The Travellers, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
2015 100 thousand blows, Gallery8, Budapest, Hungary (solo)
2015 Makeshifting: structures of mobility, Cardiff Story Museum, Cardiff, Wales (solo)
2015 Dark Glass, Galerie Kai Dikhas, Berlin, Germany (solo)
2013 Houses as Silver as Tents, Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
2013 Shine, Welsh Assembly, Ty Hywel Building, Cardiff Bay, Wales (solo)
2013 FORMER WEST: Documents, Constellations, Prospects, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
2011 Research-in-Residence, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, NL
2011 54th Venice Biennale: Exhiibitor and advisor to Call the Witness
2009 Living Together, Centro Cultural Montehermoso, Vitoria – Gasteiz, Spain touring to MARCO, Vigo, Spain
2009 Ventriloquist, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, UK
2007 52nd Venice Biennale: Exhibitor and consultant to Paradise Lost
2007 Prague Biennale, Refusing Exclusion
2007 Paranoia, Freud Museum, London, UK
Selected Talks
2021 The Restitution of Roma Artworks and Artefacts, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
2021 Transformative Politics through Arts and Culture, Council of Europe
2021 Roma Lives: Reflections on Art and Visual Culture, UAL Decolonising Arts Institute’s Cultural Urgencies Series, London, UK
2019 “Soot Breath: On Land, Law and Bodies”, The Sowroom in collaboration with Goldsmiths, London, UK
2019 Norm and Dissidence Congress: Rethinking citizenship from the body, IVAM-Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain
2019 What is Romani Art?, Villa Romana, Florence, Italy
2016 Establishing National Pavilions: Roma and Seychelles, Iniva, Stuart Hall Library, London
2015 Roma Aesthetics and the Mediation of Meaning, Hungarian University of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary
2015 Practices and Notions of The Migrant Image, Valand Academy, Gothenburg, Sweden
2012 Gypsy Aesthetics, Museum für Völkerkunde, Hamburg, Germany
Selected Articles and Blog Texts
2021 Reframing Restitution: The Case for a Roma MetaMuseum: RomaMoma Blog
2021 Gypsy Aesthetics, in Aesthetic Literacy, Vol.2, ed. V. Vinogradovs, Mont Publishing, Australia (upcoming)
2018 Nomadic Sensibility, in Posthuman Glossary, eds. R Braidotti and M Hlavajova, Bloomsbury Academic London, UK
2017 Shifting visibilities: the social implications of a Roma aesthetic, in IDENTITIES, Romaphobia and the Media. V4 I6
2017 The Travellers: Voyage and Migration in New Art from Central and Eastern Europe, Lugmik, Tallinnn, Estonia
2015 The Queer Gypsy, in Roma Rights; The Journal of the European Roma Rights Centre
2013 WE ROMA: A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht and Valiz, Amsterdam
2013 FORMER WEST: Documents, Constellations, Prospects, BAK, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin
2010 Ex Libris, onestar press, Paris, France
2008 Breaking beyond the local; the function of an exhibition, in Third Text, Picturing Gypsies; an interdisciplinary approach to Roma representation. Vol. 22, issue 3, No 92, May
Selected Podcasts and Interviews
2021 Queer Constellations: The Museum of English Rural Life
2021 Romatopia: Episode 1
2020 Ministry of Arts Podcast: Episode 78
2020 Villa Romana, Florence, Italy: Notes from the waiting room #1
2014 Theory and Prtactice: We Roma: искусство о современном положении цыган
2013 Bec Zmiana: Notes 88
Selected Press
2019 Frieze: Guide to Venice: What To See at This Year's Biennale
2017 The Guardian: “A place to call our own”
2017 Le Monde: A Berlin, des murs pour promouvoir la culture rom
2017 Tagesspiegel: Endlich sichtbar warden
2015 CCQ magazine: Makeshifting
2015 Revista Bostezo: Visualidad Gitano
2006 The Guardian: Paranoia
