Johanna Ackva (*1989, Berlin) works as an interdisciplinary artist with a focus on performance and by using the body as a material and medium. In addition to movement-based practices such as aikido, dance and singing, conversations - with experts, strangers and friends - have a significant influence on her work, which manifests in performances as well as in texts, objects and installations. Since 2014, Johanna's often collaborative projects have touched on themes such as labour and its value, mysticism and experiences of nature, constructions of gender as well as death, mourning and our relationship to the dead. Together with Anna Zett and Marie Dupasquier, among others, Johanna has curated and hosted various interdisciplinary event series and exhibition projects. As a guest lecturer at the Studium Generale programme of the Berlin University of the Arts, she has repeatedly taught seminars at the intersection of performative practice, theory and discourse. In addition to her own artistic work, Johanna works as a performer for choreographers, artists and composers and currently writes regularly for the online platform Tanzschreiber. Since 2019, she has been involved in programming and developping Denk- und Produktionsort Libken and has been responsible for various residency programmes such as #takeheart and the Fonds Darstellende Künste Residenzstipendium.

Photo: Aïsha Mia Lethen