Bas Vroege (1958) studied economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam and photography at Academie St. Joost in Breda. From 1981-1993 he was director of Perspektief, a former centre for photography in Rotterdam, and of the Fotografie Biënnale Rotterdam (1988-1992).
He also was the editor in chief of
Perspektief Magazine from 1980-1995. He has been director of
Paradox since 1993. Paradox produces photography-related projects (exhibitions, books, films, websites) with a social theme (see:
Paradox). As an independent curator, Bas Vroege has been responsible for a number of cross-media festivals and exhibitions.
For the University of Sunderland (UK) and the International Photography Research Network (IPRN) he curated a symposium on the representation of work in photography in 2005. As one of the five guest curators of the 2009 Noorderlicht International Photo Festival he curated the exhibition Multivocal Histories. The Netherlands China Arts Foundation (NCAF) invited him to curate an exhibition for the Dutch Cultural Centre during the Shanghai World Exhibition in 2010. This led to the Chinese-Dutch co-production We Are The World (2009-2010).
As an advisor Vroege has worked for several institutions, such as the
Mondriaan Foundation / Mondriaan Stichting (1993-1995),
The Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture / Fonds bkvb (1998- 2001), the MA photography programme at
St. Joost (master) in Breda (1999-2002), the BA photography programme at the
Royal Academy of Arts / Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten Den Haag, (2002-2004) and the
Master of Arts in Film and Photographic Studies at the University of Leiden (2003-), where he currently lectures in curatorial practice.
From 1995-96, he was part of the committee appointed by the Council for Advanced Studies that reviewed the visual arts educational institutions in the Netherlands. He was a board member of ISEA (Inter Society for Electronic Arts), and is currently member of the International Board of Advisors of the Three Shadows Photography Art Centre (Beijing, China) and the Supervisory Board of
World Press Photo (Amsterdam). As a photographer he had a number of international shows, mainly between 1980-1990. His work can be found in a number of public collections, including the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.