Kóan Jeff Baysa, Curator, Collector, and Physician
Koan Jeff Baysa takes The Remix from medical school to Mexico, collecting to curating, and commuting between Hawaii and NYC. As a doctor, Koan gave free medical attention to artists and his interest in both worlds quickly merged. Community, diversity, access, and inclusion are his mottos, with a goal of working in the area outside common thinking to inspire people to process geography and culture differently. Get prepared for his love of word play! The conversation turns to tech, medicine, and his work on Medical Avatar, a platform that emphasize visualization and patient engagement. We end on the importance of STEAM, Koan’s intense travel schedule, and where he finds artists. What would he have been if not a doctor or curator? You’ll never guess! Kóan Jeff "KJ" Baysa is a physician and curator, born and raised in Hawai‘i, educated in San Francisco and New York, a member of the Association of International Art Critics, and alumnus of the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. He has participated in medical missions in conflict zones and develops health apps for handheld devices. He segued from a clinical medicine practice in Manhattan to a design and science curatorial practice in Los Angeles that bridges medical culture and social sculpture, with research interests in the neuroscience of memory and olfaction, human sensory perception/misperception, neurodiversity, and the cultural constructs of health and disease. He is Chief Medical Officer, Medical Avatar; Co-founder, Joshua Treenial; Senior Founder, Honolulu Biennial; Director, iBiennale; Curator, Institute for Art and Olfaction; Program Board Advisor, Art Omi; Cultural Advisor, World Council of Peoples for the United Nations; Alumnus, Advisory Committee of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics; Cultural Agent, Curators Network; International Advisor, Dag Hammarskjold Plaza; Advisory Board, Kaus Australis, Rotterdam; Co-Founder, Mosaic NYC. A Ford Foundation grantee surveying contemporary art in Vietnam, he has curated exhibitions in China, Japan, Chile, Croatia, Mexico, Korea, Austria, Canada, Ireland, England, Ukraine, Holland, United Arab Emirates, and throughout the US, with upcoming projects in Iceland, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Finland, and Hawai'i. He is the Pacific Editor for d'Art International, writes catalog essays and reviews, and has lectured at the United Nations, MoMA, Whitney Museum, Metropolitan Museum, National Academy of Sciences, Phillips Collection, Hanoi University of Culture, and the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University. Dr. Baysa divides his time between New York, Honolulu, and Los Angeles. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kjbmd/ @ibiennale ArtAndOlfaction.com
