Personal profile
Personal profile
I am a transdisciplinary scholar exploring the role of contemporary art in fostering a just and caring society. Since 2023, I work at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht, the Netherlands, as Associate Professor of Care Ethics & the Arts and, since September 2024, also as Head of the Department of Care Ethics. I teach in the MA Care Ethics and Policy and supervise PhD research, including artistic research conducted in collaboration with HKU University of the Arts Utrecht. My areas of supervision and teaching include care ethics and aesthetics, cultural analysis, feminist and queer theory, gender and diversity studies, and the environmental humanities.
Previously, I was Assistant Professor of Gender Studies at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University. I hold an MA in Classics and a PhD in Gender Studies, both awarded cum laude by Radboud University Nijmegen. Internationally, I have been a Visiting Scholar at New York University and have held several research residencies at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome.
My research examines the ethics, aesthetics, and politics of contemporary performance and live art through feminist, queer, trans*, decolonial, and ecological perspectives. I explore how performances, particularly by minoritized artists—women and/or queer and trans* persons, specifically those of colour and Indigenous people, as well as a range of nonhuman "others"—can challenge intersecting systems of oppression, create new counterpublic spheres, and foster an affirmative, relational ethics of care. My current book project, Radical Worlding: Performance and the Ethics of Decreation, brings these concerns into dialogue with the philosophical and mystical thought of Simone Weil.
Recent publications include an essay on queer ecopoetics in the journal Textual Practice (2023), a co-authored contribution to the book Interspecies Performance (Performance Research Books, 2024), and a chapter on Marina Abramovic in the book Doing Gender in Media, Art and Culture (Routledge, 2026). Forthcoming work includes an article in Humanimalia (2026) developing the concept of "trans*species care ethics," based on an artistic research project. I am also co-editing The Oxford Handbook of Artistic Care (Oxford University Press, 2027).
In January 2025, I was the lead organiser and curator of the international conference of the Care Ethics Research Consortium on Care, Aesthetics, and Repair. The conference brought together more than 500 scholars, artists, and makers, including 230+ speakers, to explore the intersections of care ethics and the arts (see here and here).
Education/Academic qualification
PhD (cum laude), Gender Studies (dissertation: Roman Imperial Portraiture and the Embodiment of Gender), Radboud University Nijmegen
Award Date: 13 Mar 2009
MA (cum laude), Classics (specialisation: Roman archeology), Radboud University Nijmegen
Award Date: 12 Dec 2003
Propaedeutics, Classical Music (major: classical piano), ArtEZ University of the Arts
Award Date: 15 Jul 1998
Keywords
- performance art
- ethics and aesthetics
- intersectional gender studies
- feminist theory
- queer studies
- trans studies
- decolonial theory
- critical posthumanism
- new materialism
- environmental humanities
- critical animal studies
- care ethics
- art and care
- artistic research
Research themes
- Art, imagination and society
- Care, welfare and flourishing
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Het tweede leven
van den Hengel, L., 5 Feb 2026Research output: Online publication or non-textual form › Web publication › Professional
Open Access -
Performing Affect: Marina Abramović and the Politics of Emotion
van den Hengel, L., 9 Apr 2026, Doing Gender in Media, Art and Culture: A Contemporary Guide to Gender Studies . Buikema, R., Plate, L. & Thiele, K. (eds.). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, p. 267-282Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Academic
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Piet & Soya: A Queer Interspecies Encounter
van den Hengel, L., Cornips, L., Hellmann, D., Rijksen, C. (Producer), Peters, B. (Photographer), Snow, A. (Photographer), the Cow, S. (Performer) & Piet (Performer), 2025Research output: Online publication or non-textual form › Digital or visual product › Popular
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Udderly Queer: An Artistic Exploration of Trans*Species Care Ethics
van den Hengel, L., 24 Jan 2025.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › Academic
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Zorgethiek in actie: Een terugblik op een congres over kunst, zorg en esthetiek
van den Hengel, L., 18 Apr 2025Translated title of the contribution :Care Ethics in Action: Looking Back at a Conference about Art, Care, and Aesthetics Research output: Online publication or non-textual form › Web publication › Professional
Open Access
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Fourth International Care Ethics Research Consortium Conference: Reconfiguring Relations
van den Hengel, L. (Member of programme committee)
25 Jun 2026 → 27 Jun 2026Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Organising a conference, workshop, ...
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Touching (the) Strangeness: Exploring Touching as Methodology in Artistic Research
van den Hengel, L. (Examiner)
19 May 2026Activity: Supervision / Examination PHD › PhD membership Doctoral Examination Committee.
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Landelijke Zorgethiekdag
van den Hengel, L. (Organiser), Landeweer, E. (Organiser) & Leget, C. (Organiser)
24 Apr 2026Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Organising a conference, workshop, ...
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Piet and Soya: A Queer Interspecies Encounter
van den Hengel, L. (Other)
26 Dec 2025 → 27 Dec 2025Activity: Other
Press/Media
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Wat gebeurt er als we zorg zien als vorm van kunst, en kunst als vorm van zorg?
20/01/25
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Interview or expert commentary
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Over kunst, zorg en rechtvaardigheid: In gesprek met Louis van den Hengel
3/11/23
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Interview or expert commentary