China

Novelist/Playwright/Poet

Yu Song, novelist, playwright, poet, lives in Chengdu, flexibly employed, has published full-length novels “Hometown”, “Customized Times”, “The Rice Shrine”, and “Botanical Man”, and has performed plays such as “The Righteous Chaperone” and “The Ordeal”.

Japan

Sculpture/Installation/Video

Jun Homma, born in 1967, graduated from Tama Art University with a degree in design. Since “Rope” (1997), in which a rotating jump rope continuously creates voids, he has exhibited works transversely in media such as sculpture, installation, and video on the theme of “invisibility. Since 2000, he has been developing site-specific works in forests, oceans, rivers, and bridges, focusing on domestic and international art projects. In recent years, he has been working on a series of works that bring into existence on a single time axis the generation (past) and disappearance (future) of anonymous sculptures and ready-made objects.

China

Kinetic Installation/Multi-media Installation

Li Sizhu is a Chinese-born kinetic installation artist based in New York. She holds a BFA from Central Academy of Fine Arts and an MFA from Mary land Institute College of Art with the Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship. Sizhu’s works have been widely exhibited in Europe and America. Since 2020, her pandemic-inspired touring project Moonment has been well shown internationally, including at the Viborg Kunsthal in Denmark, The Dark Room Vertical Art Festival in Berlin, the Lille Art Fair in France, as well as at the Washington College, Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Missouri State University, and the Maryland Howard Arts Center in the United States.Additionally, Li Sizhu has received numerous art grants from different institutions, including the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the New York City Corps, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, etc. Since 2021, Li has been teaching at the Pratt Institute.

China

Piano Performance/Chamber Music/Improvisation

Li Chuang is a young pianist who has previously worked in the United States, currently serves as a piano faculty member at Chengdu Vocational University of the Arts, and is an artist-in-residence at A4 Residency Art Center. His performance venues span notable locations such as the Chicago Cultural Center, Merkin Hall in New York, Tanglewood Music Festival in the United States, the Royal Jazz Myra Hess Memorial Concert in the UK, Chengdu City Concert Hall, YunDuan Tianfu Concert Hall, Shenzhen Bay Arts Center, and Guangzhou Opera House, among others. Conductors Li Chuang has collaborated with include Dr. Cliff Colnot, Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Music Now series, and Scott Seaton, Principal Conductor of the North State Symphony in California.

Li Chuang’s performances have been broadcast globally by 98.7 WFMT, the classical music radio station in Chicago. Media coverage includes the International Music Association and the Chicago Forum newspaper. Li Chuang is a graduate of the School of Music at California State Polytechnic University and the School of Music at DePaul University in Chicago, where he studied under the tutelage of renowned pianists Professor Wu Chi, Dr. Daniela Mineva, and Professor George Vatchnadze.

China

Visual Art/Conceptual Art/Experimental Art/Public Art/Socially Engaged Art/Nothing But Art

Ge Yulu graduated from Hubei Institute of Fine Arts with a bachelor’s degree in 2013 and obtained a master’s degree from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2018. He do not limit myself to a single medium and enjoy testing so-called artworks in everyday contexts to generate interesting dialogues. Interviews and written pieces are published on various social media platforms, although he have not participated in many exhibitions yet, only briefly taking part in several group exhibitions in major developed countries.

His aspiration is to use art to restore humanity and eliminate the inequality in dialogue caused by differences in status and resources. My creations often focus on public dilemmas, contradictions, cognitive dissonance, and logical paradoxes.

Germany

Interdisciplinary art

Abel & Carlo Korinsky holds a Master of Arts in Sound Studies, which he obtained at University of Art in Berlin, where he studied with Sam Auinger and Robert Henke. He also graduated with a degree in Social Sciences and History at the University of Wuppertal. Beside this, he passed the state exam in music and German language. He is co-founder and artistic & technical director of Studio Korinsky in Berlin. He has rich experiences with presenting pieces of art all over the world. He worked with notable institutions as Goethe Institut or Berlin Senate. He has deep knowledge in the field of digital media, choreographic conception. He has profound understanding of audio equipment and other equipment used at art exhibitions. He also worked as lecturer at the HTWG, Kontanz, Coburg University, Humboldt Institut Berlin and others institutions.

Studio Korinsky transforms forgotten spaces into immersive environments, predominantly by utilizing sound as a primary medium and coding their own softwares for sound spatialization. Their aim is to create a distorted reality by disrupting preconceived notions and presenting the audience altered sensory experiences. The majority of their projects are developed and shaped by the integration of Al, motorization, robotics, and coding, emphasizing a synthesis of artistic expression and technological innovation.

Germany

Printmaking/Painting/Collage

Greta Magyar , born 1991 in Gehrden, lives and works in Kiel-Germany. Now she’s a visual artist focusing on printmaking, painting, collage.Magyar’s experiences from her extensive work with biological systems in the context of collaborative projects with science gives her deep understanding of biological phenomenon.

In Greta Magyar’s work, the use of printing crafts and techniques plays a specific role: the artworks combine unusual techniques of copper intaglio printing, using everyday industrial materials such as packaging with techniques of drawing and ink painting as well as collage. However, bricolage is not her purpose. Her interest is rather in the incorporation of time into the process. She reckons with the individual steps that this process needs: elaborate technical preparations or, like collage in some cases, a laborious finishing. If one compares the large format panel painting cultivated by Magyar with the medium of printing, it is apparent how she lets herself be guided by the inherent will of the respective medium and the requirements and history of the material. She seeks the challenge of the limits of the respective medium and yet yields nothing in terms of precision where the process demands it.

Netherlands

Performance Art

Since 2015 Guda Koster and Frans van Tartwik collaborate in their performances. Kosters sculptures are closely related to clothing and costumes, and after having decided to wear her sculptures herself as a model for her photographic works, it was a logical next step to let her sculptures come to life and do performances as well. Frans van Tartwiik is a visual artist who has a wide experience as a performer and musician. The sculptures used in the performances are produced together, and together they decide on movement, sound/music and location.

Kosters and van Tartwilks sculptures and performances bring to mind Kasimir Malevich revolutionary stage design for the Opera Victory over the sun (1913) or Oscar Schlemmers Triadic ballet(1922) in which the costumes used are more like sculptures. The aesthetic quality of Koster/van Tartwilk’s costumes/sculptures is important: they are made meticulously and the fabrics used contribute to their fresh and colorful appearance. Each costume has a distinct character, and humour and exaggeration are never far away. Apart from what the “Living Sculptures” look like, there are also (mostly subtle) references to themes like (over)consumption, identity, (in)equality, architecture, and art.

In the 60’s and 70’s performance artists like Vito Acconci, Marina Abramovic and Yoko Ono confronted their audiences in the most radical ways possible. The artists’ body was literally used as a material. Closely linked with this radical use of the body was the aspect of physical endurance. In Koster and van Tartwilk’s recent performances like The hand that gives (2021), Coole types(2022), or A man with many faces(2020) the interaction with the public is an important aspect. but the performers do not seek a confrontation. The body is not used as a material, but it remains invisible and hidden in the sculpture. Endurance can be important.

Since 2017 many of Koster and van Tartwijks performances took place on carefully selected locations on streets, squares or parks in Dutch, German or French cities. The sculptures/performers move and act: they chant, dance and speak. The amazed passers-by may wonder what the true nature of these appearances is: are they machines, performers, male or female?

Lithuania

Design

Liucija Kvasytè, fashion designer and researcher, who has been creating and introducing herself since 2012, and in September 2023 she defended her doctoral thesis in design on the topic “The Significance of Attitude in Fashion Design: from Material to Moral Sustainability”.Four years of working on the topic of sustainability pushed her to look at this problem comprehensively and seek contact not only with other creators, but also with fashion consumers. Many of her works are related to criticism of consumption and sustainability practices, looking at them as away to talk, communicate, and look for new ways of the future.

Swiss

New Media Art

Marc Lee born in 1969, is a Swiss artist. He focuses on real-time processed, computer programmed audiovisual installations, AR, VR and mobile apps. He critically reflects creative, cultural, social, ecological, political and speculative aspects. His work has been shown in major museums and new media art exhibitions including: ZKM Karlsruhe, New Museum New York, MMCA Seoul, ISEA Gwangju and Paris, Transmediale Berlin, Ars Electronica Linz and has received major awards.Including: the Expanded Media Award for Network Culture Stuttgart (2024), the Pax Art Award Basel (2021), the Netart Award Hamburg (2008) and the Transmediale Award (2002).He is lecturing, teaching and holding workshops about art and software art in many schools including the CAA Hangzhou, Strelka Moscow, SIVA Shanghai, MMCA Seoul and ZHdk Zurich.

Swiss

Ceramist/Designer/Mycologist/Visual Artist/Curator

Noemi Niederhauser is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. She is a ceramist, designer, mycologist, visual artist, curator, and the co-founder of the artist-run space A-DASH in Athens, GR. She holdsan MFA in Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins, London, UK (2014) and previously studied ceramic design at the Applied Art School of Vevey, CH (2010). She is currently a ceramic design teacher at CEPV, Vevey (CH).

Her work has been exhibited internationally in galleries, museums and institutions such as: ADI Design Museum, Milan (IT); Milan Design Week; Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven (NL); Swiss Design Awards 2019, Basel (CH); Raw Material Company, Dakar (SN); Documenta 14. Athens (GR): The Centre for Sustainable Fashion and Arts Council (UK): the MUDAC, Lausanne (CH): the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (UK); the MCBA, Lausanne (CH). She is a 2016- 2017-2019 recipient of Pro Helvetia Research Grants and Awards.

Noemi Niederhauser is fascinated with materials and their endless processes of transformation. Dancing across the blurred boundaries between art, craft and design, the visual propositions she develops engage with the symbolic embedded into materials and artifacts in relation to time and historv. Both in her artistic practice and in that of a curator, she develops proposals in collaborative forms and with an approach centered on experimental research towards materials. She is part of various collaborative project in Europe, Asia and Africa while carefully analyzing the social, economic and ecological impact that her approach generates over the long term.

Ireland

Visual Arts

Niamh Cunningham is a Beijing based visual artist and has exhibited in over 70 exhibitions in China over the past decade. Cunningham has been actively engaged in cross cultural projectsin China co curating IRlSH WAVE exhibitions in Beijing and Shanghai for the lrish Festival in China (2012-2016) She was Beijing co-curator for the ‘intimate Transgressions’ exhibition in October 2015 at Inter Art Gallery 798. In October 2017 she was commissioned to make two large sculptures as part of a land artresidency in Wudi Shangdong. In November 2020 she began working with the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) developing ‘Microbe Art’ and together with lPE presented pilot workshops to Middle School 101. She considers her work on the “Memory Palaceof Tree Stories” to be her most important todate. At the beginning of 2020 the artist began the sociological ecological art practice“The Memory Palace of Tree Stories”. This is a gathering ofstories from different people around the globe. Most recently thestories are in short video format. Cunningham was awarded publicfunding by her hometown in lreland Carlow County Council andCreative lreland Carlow Program for a specially designated websiteand collaboration with Carlow Garden Festival where she workedclosely with the local tourist ofhce gathering Tree Stories on video by visitors to the festival.

China

SDG localization Events

Joan Jie Liang was born in Beijing and grew up in Hong Kong and various other countries, experiencing a rich blend of cultures. Her professional background primarily lies in sustainable finance and sustainable strategic consulting. She also have a deep passion for the arts andoften incorporate artistic methods into her daily work.Last year, she led the Re: Think Innovation Week at the UNDP SPARK Lab, focusing on fostering a comprehensive understanding and inclusivity of sustainable development through an innovative lens. Whether through online social media campaigns or a week-long series of offline events, she and her team achieved remarkable results and impact (engaging a participant base exceeding 200 million, hosting over 70 offline events, and garnering media exposure exceeding 700,000).

Ren Han, born in Tianjin in 1984, currently lives and works in Paris. In 2006, he obtained a bachelor’s degree from the Department of Oil Painting at the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. In 2011, he earned a master’s degree from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts à la Villa Arson in France. He has participated in art residencies in Paris, Lyon, and Matsudo.

The year Han was born coincides with the title of George Orwell’s dystopian novel, “1984”. His upbringing coincided with the rapid urbanization of China and the global proliferation of the internet. He integrates mythology, nature, and digital images into his works, using drawing, installations, and site-specific works to conduct a series of studies and reflections based on visual culture consumption in the pan-internet era. He once said, “I question the meaning of humans continuously constructing and destroying driven by desire,” and his work is a Sisyphean response to this world.

His works have been exhibited at the Monnaie de Paris, Centquatre Art Center, Cité Internationale des Arts; the New Franco-Chinese University Museum in Lyon; the Asian Arts Museum in Nice; the Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival in Xiamen; Today Art Museum, Times Art Museum, and Taikang Space in Beijing; Nanjing University of the Arts Museum; OCAT Xi’an; Moscow Museum of Modern Art, among others. He has also held solo exhibitions in Paris, Lyon, Berlin, and Beijing. In 2024, he was invited by UCCA Lab to create a large-scale site-specific installation for Arc’teryx.

Austria

Performance/Installation

Lisa Hinterreithner intertwines bodies and materials in her artistic practice. She is on the lookout for experimental performance formats that address humans and nonhumans likewise. She often invites the audience, performers and objects to be part of a joint process. Recently she has explored touch and touchability, specifically between plants and humans. She has worked with, among others, Julius Deutschbauer, Jack Hauser, Rotraud Kern, Elise Mory, Laura Navndrup Black, Lisa Kortschak, Martina Ruhsam, and Linda Samaraweerová.

Lisa Hinterreithner’s performances have been shown at, among others, Tanzquartier Wien, donaufestival Krems, ARGEkultur Salzburg, ImPulsTanz – Vienna International Dance Festival, Galerie FÜNFZIGZWANZIG, Sommerszene – SENE Salzburg, well as in Germany, Denmark and the UK. She is a regular lecturer for Performance Research at the Dance Academy SEAD, at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna MUK and at the Danish National School of Performing Arts in Copenhagen. Together with Marlies Pillhofer, she runs the transdisciplinary performance platform tanzbuero in Salzburg. She takes part in the transmedia research project ,Stoffwechsel Ökologien der Zusammenarbeit’ at Im _flieger in Vienna.

China，South Africa

Live Art/Installation/Performance Art/Theatre-making

Zhao Chuan, born in 1967, works across theatre, literature, and visual art. He creates alternative and socially engaged theatre
and is the founding member and mastermind of the Shanghai-based theatre collective GrassStage (established in 2005). For over a decade, as a theatremaker and writer, he has created a number of theater works across China together with his collective Grass Stage. However, they are often unable to present these works in conventional theatres because of the issues addressed and because of their non-professional set-up. The group encourages people from different backgrounds to consider human living conditions and historical issues and stimulates participators and audiences to respond to those issues through the creative process， rehearsals, performances, and post-talks. Given its strong interest in social practice, the group’s theatre activities have often been considered too rough, ideological, marginal and undefined by the mainstream. In recent years, Grass Stage has supported industry, workers to make their own theatre pieces. through dialogues with young people from diverse backgrounds, the group has developed stage plays on youth issues in today’s China. His theatre works include Wild Seeds(2018-2019) and Scoial Theater Trilogy(2006-2017), comprising World Factory, The Little Society, and Madmen’s Stories. Theatre of Contagion is the new start of a series of works since the pandemic era in early 2020.

Zhao Chuan has been awarded several international literature awards, including the Unita Prize for New Novelists (Taiwan2001). His publications include fiction, essays, and art criticism: On RadicalArt: the 80s Scene in Shanghai (author, 2014), and The Bodyat Stake: Experiments in Chinese Contemporary Art and Theatre(co-editor, author, 2013). He is also the producer of an independent documentary titled Shanghai Youth (2015). He curated per-formative projects independently or for Museums, has been involved in many international art residencies, collaboration
projects and teaching

Qondiswa James is a freelance cultural worker living between Cape Town and Johannesburg. She is an award-winning writer and theatre-maker, performance artist, film and theatre performer, installation artist, arts facilitator, and activist. She has received her Masters in Live Art, Interdisciplinary and Public Art, and Public Spheres at the Institute of Creative Arts. Her work engages the socio-political imagination toward mobilizing transgression.