Team

︎︎︎ about ]performance s p a c e [

Benjamin Sebastian:
Co-founding Director & Curator

(2011-current)

Benjamin Sebastian, 2022. Video still from film by Baiba Sprance & Marco Berardi.

Benjamin Sebastian (b. Cairns*, AU. 1980) is a trans-disciplinary artist-curator based in London, whose practice spans: curating, installation, writing, image making, sculpture, new media & performance. Some of their most recent projects have included; speaking on the panel ‘Queer Art; Past, Present & Future’ at London city hall for LGBTQIA* History Month - taking part in the symposium; ‘Art, Memory & Place’ at Turner Contemporary - curating ‘PSX: A Decade of Performance Art in the U.K.’ on behalf of ]performance s p a c e [ - exhibition of their solo show; ‘Working With Entities//Setting Intent’ at VSSL Studio - activating their live installation; ‘3 Reflections²’ as part of FUTURERITUAL at the Institute of Contemporary Art - as well as collaborating with the Live Art Development Agency as guest curator on the ‘INTERSECT’ series (platforming embodied practices that reflect intersectional ways of being through contemporary performance & live art). 

*The Gimuy Walubara Yidinji and the Yirrganydji peoples are the traditional custodians of Cairns and surrounding district. Gimuy is the traditional place name for the area Cairns City now occupies. Sebastian wishes to pay respect to the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji and Yirrganydji Elders, both past and present, and extend that respect to all Indigenous Australians.

Benjamin is co-founding director & curator at ]performan s p a c e [. They lead on all aspects of ]ps[ in dialogue with the associate director (Ash McNaughton).

benjamin@performancespace.org
benjamin-sebastian.com

Ash McNaughton:
Associate Director 

(2023-current)

Ash McNaughton. Image curtesy of the artist.

Ash McNaughton (UK 1990) is a Folkestone based contemporary artist & facilitator. They are an active member of the international performance collective; Anam Cara and regularly lead workshops centring performance art methodologies at institutions such as: TATE, Whitechapel Gallery, and Middlesex University. In addition, Ash is a trustee of Folkestone Pride, co-director of SITE, and co-founding organiser of Last Fridays Folkestone. They obtained their BA(Hons) in Sculpture from Gray’s School of Art (2013) and an MA in Performance (Contemporary Art Practice) from the Royal College of Art (2018). Ash has performed extensively in the UK and Europe including: The Aberdeen Art Gallery (Aberdeen, Scotland, UK), Haddo House Arts Festival (Ellon, Scotland, UK), Tramway (Glasgow, UK), Venice International Performance Art Week (Venice, Italy), Electrocamp Festival (Mestre, Italy), Revolve Festival (Uppsala, Sweden), Whitechapel Gallery (London, UK), Tempting Failure (Croydon, England, UK), Salvage Festival (Folkestone, England, UK), and Performance Platform (London, UK).

Ash is Associate Director at ]performance s p a c e [ and co-leads on all aspects of ]ps[ in dialogue with the director (Benjamin Sebastian).

ash@performancespace.org 
ashmcnaughton.com

Mine Kaplangi:
Associate Arts Producer (freelance)

(2023-current)

Mine Kaplangı (and friend) - Original image by Eda Sancakdar (dino courtesy of the ]ps[ team).

Mine Kaplangı is an independent curator and art mediator based in London. They are the co-founder of the curatorial collective Collective Çukurcuma (2015) and KUTULU (2021). Together with Collective Cukurcuma, they have been curating public programmes of exhibitions and running their reading group events as an ongoing transdisciplinary project since 2016. Mine received their bachelor's degree in Philosophy at Istanbul University and (Certificate Programme) in Philosophy of Arts & Aesthetics at Bologna University/ DAMS Faculty. Currently working as a project manager at VSSL Studio, and co-curating the online gallery of Queer Art Projects, qap.digital.

Mine is Associate Arts Producer (freelance) at ]performance s p a c e [ working closely with the the director & associate director on various aspects of ]ps[.

mine@performancespace.org
minekaplangi.com

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Previous Team Members

Bean:
Co-founding Co-director
(2011-2020)

Bean: ‘A Body’. Performed at Profound Sound Festival and Steakhouse Live Festival. Image by Manuel Vason.

“I am an interdisciplinary artist, working across performance & time-based media, writing, curating & design. These seemingly disparate areas of my practice are connected through a fascination of making & creating spaces, demolition & undoing of structures, both psychologically, socially & physically. I am interested in the synthesis and friction between gender constructs, capitalist power structures, ecology & permaculture. My practice explores the interconnections of these through a fiercely political body & heart, rooted in the land and deep listening to people & communities.” - Bean 

Bean co-founded ]ps[ & was co-director from 2011 - 2020. Bean curated & co-curated major ]ps[ programmes including; Regimes of Hardship (Martin O’Brien), ]performance e c o n o m i e s [, Performance Art Faction, DRAWN, WAKE and PAUSE&AFFECT. Bean remains a member of ]performance s p a c e [’s informal advisory board. 

www.beaninthearchive.com

Joseph Morgan Schofield:
Associate director 
(2020-2022)

Joseph Morgan Schofield, 2020. Photo by Fenia Kotspoulou.

Joseph Morgan Schofield (UK 1993) is a performance artist. Understanding acts of gathering and communing as central to their practice, Joseph’s work incorporates curating, producing, facilitating, mentoring and teaching. Joseph organises FUTURERITUAL, a performance and research project considering ritual and queer futurity. They co-produce move close and Live Art Club [London], and are a co-founder of The Sunday Skool for Misfits, Exprimenters and Dissenters. They are the co-founder (along with Benjmain Sebastian) of VSSL studio (London, UK) and work for The Place (London, UK) as Programme Producer.

Joseph was associate director of ]ps[ from 2020 - 2022. Joseph supported strategic, governance & financial matters at ]performance s p a c e [ and co-curated PSX: A Decade of Performance Art in the U.K. (2021) and TIDING (2022).

www.josephmorganschofield.com