Josefine Wikström
About Josefine Wikström
Josefine Wikström is a critic, theorist, and researcher in the philosophy of art, with a particular focus on dance and performance in contemporary art. Her research examines the form, critique and autonomy of contemporary dance and performative art, as well as the aesthetic dimension of subjectivity and citizenship. Her theoretical framework draws on post-Kantian philosophy, early Romanticism, critical theory, and aesthetic pedagogy.
Her doctoral dissertation, Practices of Relations in Task-Dance and the Event-Score: A Critique of Performance (Routledge, 2021), investigates dance and performance practices of the 1960s and develops a critique of the cultural-theoretical concept of performance in favour of an art-critical one. Her research is published regularly in academic journals and edited volumes and primarily addresses contemporary art, dance, and performance from perspectives grounded in philosophy of art and historical materialism.
Between 2021 and 2023, Josefine Wikström was a researcher in the project Culture, Autonomy, Action, funded by the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond), together with Kim West and Gustav Strandberg. The project examined the significance of the concept of autonomy in aesthetic, philosophical, and political practices, specifically in relation to cultural policy projects.
In addition to her academic publications, Josefine Wikström maintains an ongoing practice of critical writing on dance and contemporary art, including as a dance critic for Dagens Nyheter, and has published in journals such as Paletten, Glänta, Mute, and Radical Philosophy. She is also an editor of the experimental art and philosophy project SITE Zones and is active within the artistic platform SKOGEN in Gothenburg.
At the Academy of Music and Drama, University of Gothenburg, Josefine Wikström is Head of Subject and Research for Performance Practices and Director of Studies for the MA programme Contemporary Performative Arts, and a member of the editorial board of the university’s journal PARSE.