Vanja Baltić holds a joint Ph.D. in Visual, Performing and Media Arts from the Department of the Arts at the University of Bologna, and in Theatre Science and Intermediality from the Faculty of Arts, Department of Literature, at the University of Antwerp (joint PhD, 2022).
Her doctoral dissertation, entitled The Birth of a Tragic Hero(ine). On Tragic Excess in Contemporary Theatre (supervisors: Prof. Marco De Marinis, Prof. Luk Van den Dries, Prof. Gerardo Guccini, and Prof. Timmy De Laet), explores—through references to ancient myths, literature, and contemporary theatre—the moments of excess that allow certain intrinsic aspects of the tragic hero’s experience to emerge. The study focuses on the radical call to transformation which, once received by the hero, places them in a position to choose whether to embrace this role and act freely.
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Throughout her academic journey, she has focused her research on twentieth-century and contemporary theatre direction and dramaturgy. She also has a strong interest in Greek tragedy and literary criticism. Her methodological approach emphasizes the aesthetic dimensions of the phenomena under study.
In 2017, she earned a Master’s Degree (with honours) in Music and Theatre Studies from the University of Bologna, with a thesis on Jan Fabre’s artistic code, examined through the example of Mount Olympus: To Glorify the Cult of Tragedy, a 24-hour performance (2015), supervised by Prof. Claudio Longhi and Prof. Gerardo Guccini. In 2014, at the same university, she obtained a Bachelor’s Degree (with honours) in Drama, Art and Music Studies, under the supervision of Prof. Longhi, with a thesis on Frankenstein, a work-in-progress creation by The Living Theatre. As an exchange student, she spent part of her MA studies at the University of Ghent.
She has trained with and collaborated on projects with professional theatre institutions such as Teatro dell’Argine, Teatro delle Albe, ERT – Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione, Santarcangelo Festival, and the Ciclo di Spettacoli Classici – Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza. She worked as dramaturg on Romeo Castellucci’s project La quinta parete (2022), and for several years followed the directorial work of Claudio Longhi, assisting as an intern on his production Istruzioni per non morire in pace (2016).
She has devoted a significant part of her research to the art of Jan Fabre, collaborating on archival and scholarly work with Prof. Luk Van den Dries and the Research Center for Visual Poetics at the University of Antwerp.
She is a member of the editorial board of the academic journal "Exchanges: The Interdisciplinary Research Journal" at the University of Warwick.
She speaks Montenegrin, Italian, English, and Spanish.
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She has served as a teaching tutor for Prof. Gerardo Guccini’s Dramaturgy course (AY 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24), and assisted Prof. Marco De Marinis in the courses History of Theatre (AY 2018–19, 2019–20) and Drama Theories and Cultures (AY 2018–19). She has also worked as a teaching support for the final exam preparation in the Bachelor’s Degree program in Drama, Art and Music Studies at the University of Bologna (AY 2024–2025).
She currently works a research fellow on the project "Abulafia per la biblioteca Eco. Valorizzare un patrimonio culturale contemporaneo", supervised by Prof. Riccardo Fedriga, which involves the interdisciplinary study of Umberto Eco’s book collection and the development of intertextual pathways within his virtual library.
