Ronald Bal

Ronald Bal is an artist, educator and researcher whose practice centres on performance, installation, and socially engaged art. Their work explores hospitality, care, and accessibility within contemporary art institutions, asking what conditions make audiences feel welcome and present. The experience of Long Covid in 2020 profoundly influenced their perspective on ability, highlighting the barriers faced by people with disabilities and minorities in navigating public and cultural spaces. This continues to inform their artistic research into how art can create open spaces for collective learning and social change.
With a professional background in the field of care, particularly with refugees and homeless people, Bal examines the visible and invisible languages of care in both the arts and civic life. Rather than positioning themselves solely as an artist or organiser, they adopt the role of host: holding space, using art as a methodology for dialogue, and archiving conversations of creative expression. Their practice spans multiple media, including ceramics, drawing, photography, installation, and performance, moving beyond autonomous art-making into workshops, rehearsals, after-talks, interviews, and performance lectures.
Academically, Bal holds a BA in Fine Art from ArtEZ (2006–2010), with a minor in Political Philosophy at Utrecht University, and an MA in Interior Architecture from the Royal Academy of Art (KABK), The Hague. They are currently pursuing an MA in Education in the Arts at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam.
Their work has received international recognition through residencies at Sundaymorning@EKWC, Oisterwijk (2020), and the C. Rockefeller Center for Contemporary Arts, Dresden (2019), and through exhibitions at BIENALSUR in Buenos Aires, the Bronx River Art Center in New York, and galleries including Ron Mandos (Amsterdam) and Zic Zerp (Rotterdam). In addition, Bal contributes to the artistic community through guest lectures and curator.