Curator and writer
Upcoming
Curator of the group exhibition "The Sighing Sound of Lips Unsatisfied", at Telemark Kunstsenter in Skien, Norway, 26 April-25 May 2025.
2025
Moderator of the artist talk with Beth Wyller and Kjersti Johannessen at Format in Oslo, 26 March 2025.
Author of the essay "Creatures of the slopes, hello darkness", for the publication Afterski (2025), edited by Tonje Plur og Kristian Hagerup for their exhibition at Bærum Kunsthall.
Jury member of Østlandsutstillingens Prize 2025 together with head of the jury Ann Kristin Aas. The Prize was awarded to Sara Kazmi for the work Clapping hands on the dastarkhwan by the fjord (2024).
2024
Artist talk with Rafiki: "Fabrics & Fibers: Uncostuming Aesthetics of Belonging", RAM gallery, Oslo, December 2024.
Guest lecturer on the "Sound of Fashion" in the Fashion Theory and History course at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO), Design Department, December 2024, BA students.
Convener and moderator of the symposium "Material Glossary: Circular, Sustainable, and Regenerative Craft Practices" on behalf of Norske Kunsthåndverkere at Kunstnerforbundet, December 2024.
"Critical Fashion Walk // Oslo", 17 and 31 October 2024, in collaboration with ROM for kunst og arkitektur and Salgshallen, Oslo.
Co-curator of the public programme of Årsutstillingen 2024 (Annual Craft Exhibition) at Kjøpmannsgata Ung Kunst (K-U-K), Trondheim, September-November 2024.
Contributor to the "Performative evening of the exhibition 'Roots & Wires' and Ūmėdė.lt festival" at Sodas 2123 in Vilnius, with a presentation of my curatorial tarot workshop – the making of the "Ūmėdė deck" and reading of the cards, 8 August 2024.
Invited curator to "Ūmėdė 2024: Post-farm DIY media art camp", in the nature reserve of Pratkūnų geomorfologinis draustinis in Lithuania, organized by Vytautas Michelkevičius, Gailė Griciūtė and Ignas Pavliukevičius, 4-8 August 2024.
Author of the essay "Curate Your Own Textile Art Exhibition", in Entangled – Texts on Textiles, ed. Anne Szefer Karlsen, Archive Books, 2024.
Guest on Kunstpodden for the podcast episode "Fiksjon og landskap" (fiction and landscape) on the exhibition Ned i gruvene, opp i skyene (Down in the Mines, Up in the Clouds), April 2024.
Co-curator of the exhibition Ned i gruvene, opp i skyene (Down in the Mines, Up in the Clouds) at Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall in Arendal, Norway, together with Kari Skippervold and Åse Kamilla Spjelkavik Aslaksen, 2 March-5 May 2024. Read the exhibition publication in EN and NO here. Read Joachim Aagaard Friis's review of the show in Kunsthåndverk magazine 2/2024.
Co-convener of "Fiction: A Reading Group" at Atelier Kunstnerforbundet, with Martina Petrelli, Oslo, 8 February and 23 May 2024. Texts by Elvia Wilk ("Death by Landscape", 2022) and Alex Quicho ("Without World", 2023).
2023
Editor of the publication on the exhibition Time will tell, she already does in Kunsthåndverk magazine, issue 3/2023. Link to the editorial on Norske Kunsthåndverkere's website.
Moderator of a panel conversation with artists Renate D. Dahl, Judit Fritz, and Lauren Kalman, as part of the launch of The Vessel magazine #6 by Norwegian Crafts at Konstfack in Stockholm during Stockholm Craft Week 2023.
Lecturer in Fashion Theory and History at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO), Design Department, fall semester 2023, BA and MA students.
Co-curator of the public programme of Årsutstillingen 2023 (the Annual Craft Exhibition) at Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, October-December 2023.
Organiser of a workshop for Praksis Teen Advisory Board (PTAB), Oslo, August 2023.
Contributor to "Open Sodas: Maistas" at Sodas 2123, with an experimental installation of Choose Your Own Textile Art Exhibition, Vilnius, July 2023.
Organiser of the reading group RUDE READERS at Sodas 2123, Vilnius, July 2023. Texts by Jonathon Turnbull ("Weird", 2021) and Joanna Zylinska (Excerpts from Perceptions at the End of the World, 2020).
Participant in the research and curatorial residency Ūmėdė at Sodas 2123 in Vilnius, Lithuania, organised by Gailė Griciūtė, Vytautas Michelkevičius, Ignas Pavliukevičius, as well as Indrė Liškauskaitė.
Author of "The Innermost Corner of the Outermost Layer - an Interview with Renate D. Dahl, Judit Fritz, and Lauren Kalman," in The Vessel 5, 2023, edited by Camilla Luihn and Agnieszka Knap.
Participant in the collective curatorial residency The Community of Writers in Łódź and Warsaw, organised by Anne Szefer Karlsen, Part 2/2.
Contributor to the Fashion Fictions research project by Dr. Amy Twigger Holroyd, World 182 "in which fashion focuses on the vicarious consumption of historical garments."
2022
Reviewer of the exhibition Samlingen (The Collection) at Nasjonalmuseet, in Fashion Theory.
Lecturer in Fashion Theory at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO), fall semester 2022, BA students.
Respondent to Schrinkhla Sahai's essay "Wordwise Women: Early Feminist Publishing in India," in Mezosfera's issue "Write or Be Written Off: Publishing as Empowerment in Art and Culture," edited by Dóra Hegyi, public launch event, October 2022.
Participant in the collective curatorial residency The Community of Writers in Bergen, organised by Anne Szefer Karlsen, Part 1/2.
Co-author of "Giving a Glimpse Behind the Scenes", and co-editor with Stephanie Serrano Sundby and Torill Østby Haaland of The Hands that Unravel the Sweater, exhibition book, Norske Kunsthåndverkeres Temautstilling 2022, at Nordnorsk Kunstnersenter, Svolvær, Lofoten, June-August 2022. Project manager of the exhibition.
Author of the article "Go Big or Go Home? Noen refleksjoner rundt kunsthåndverk og monumentalitet" in Kunsthåndverk 1, 2022.
Johanna Zanon (b. 1988, FR/NO) is an independent curator and writer, who lives and works in Oslo, Norway. She holds a PhD in history from the University of Oslo, a graduate diploma from École Nationale des Chartes in Paris, and an MA in art history from École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris. Her curatorial interests include labour, production, capitalism, contemporary crafts, speculative and interactive fiction, art theory, and environmental humanities. She also works as a programme curator at Norske Kunsthåndverkere.
zanon.johanna (a) gmail.com