Pau Cata (Barcelona 1976) has been working in the cultural field for more than 10 years. First he worked on the development of educational material for the main museums of Catalonia and Barcelona while completing his degree in Contemporary History by the University of Barcelona (with awarded Erasmus in Italy and Greece). In 2004 he moved to London where he worked for The British Museum and the White Cube Gallery. During his five years in London he completed a Diploma in Arts Management by Birkbeck College and the MA Critical Arts Management and Media Cultural Studies by LSBU (funded by the Catalan Arts Council and the Spanish Ministry of Culture). For his MA he was awarded a Distinction and the Course Director Price for Outstanding Achievement. He has participated also in different courses on Curating at Brikcbek College and Central Saint Martins and is member of the curatorial partnership Nomadic Projects. He is currently director of CeRCCa, Center for Research and Creativity and Artists in Residence located in his hometown of Llorenc del Penedes (Catalonia). As part of his job as Director he has been part on numerous research projects and workshops and is currently undertaking an Erasmus Young Entrepreneur Program with MoTA (Museum of Transient Art) in Ljubljana (Slovenia) developing a network of AIR Programs in East Europe.
Travis Dewan is an independent curator from Brisbane, Australia and is the director of Vegas Spray – an online platform and artist run initiative. At the moment he is visiting artist at Artist-in-residence program run by Zavod Celeia Celje – Center for Contemporary Arts. During his visit in Slovenia Travis Dewan will perform a lecture focused on cultural exchange.
Maria Hlavajova
Maria Hlavajova (born 1971) is founding artistic director of BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht since 2003. She is also initiator and artistic director of the project Former West (2008–2013), a research, education, publication, and exhibition undertaking, realized through an international collaborative effort involving a dense network of researchers and art institutions. In 2008 Hlavajova co-curated Once is Nothing (with Charles Esche), the joint contribution of BAK and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven to the Brussels Biennale 1, Brussels, 2008. She curated the three-part project Citizens and Subjects, the Dutch contribution to the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007, which included a new video installation by Aernout Mik in the Dutch Pavilion. Hlavajova has organized numerous exhibitions and projects at BAK including: Lawrence Weiner: Dicht Bij, 2010; Sanja Iveković: Urgent Matters, 2009 (a two-part exhibition at BAK and the Van Abbemuseum); The Return of Religion and Other Myths, 2008–2009; Arthur Zmijewski: Social Studio, 2008; Roman Ondák: The Day After Yesterday, 2007; Kutluğ Ataman: Küba/Paradise, 2007; Concerning “Knowledge Production”: Practices in Contemporary Art, 2006; Aernout Mik: Raw Footage/Scapegoats, 2006; Adrian Paci, 2006; Concerning War, 2005; Gerrit Dekker: About no below, no above, no sides, 2005; Cordially Invited, episode 3, Who if not we…?, 2004,and Now What? Dreaming a better world in six parts, 2003. She also regularly edits and contributes to numerous critical readers and catalogs internationally. In 2004, Hlavajova curated Who if not we should at least try to imagine the future of all this?, an international collaborative project across Europe. She is a founding board member of the Július Koller Society, and founding director of the tranzit network (together with Kathrin Rhomberg), a foundation that supports exchange and contemporary art practices in Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. Hlavajova also is a fellow of the Centre for the Humanities, Utrecht University, and teaches at Utrecht University and Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam. Previously she was a faculty member at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York (1998–2002), co-curator of Manifesta 3, Ljubljana (2000), and director of the Soros Center for Contemporary Arts in Bratislava (1994–1999). Hlavajova lives and works in Amsterdam and Utrecht.
Joa Ljungberg
Curator of Moderna Museet, Malmö, born 1976 in Uppsala, Sweden. Co-founder of TICA- Tirana Institute of Contemporary Art.
Studied History of Arts at Uppsala University (SWE) and Warwick University (ENG) as well as Curating at Goldsmith College University of London (ENG). Curently works as Curator of Moderna Museet Malmö which recently opened in the very south of Sweden. Previously worked as commissioner and project leader of public art projects for the National Public Art Council of Sweden (2004-2009). Also active on freelance basis as Co-director, with Edi Muka, of T.I.C.A.B 2009 – Tirana International Contemporary Art Biennial; Co-curator, with Edi Muka, for the 4th edition of the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (2007); Co-Funder and curator of TICA- Tirana Institute of Contemporary Art (2006-); Co-curator for the Tirana biennale 2 & 3 (2003, 2005).
Amongst curated exhibitions: And Europe will be Stunned, a solo show with Yael Bartana, 2010; Ola Pehrson Retrospective, together with Saša Nabergoj, 2009; The Symbolic Efficiency of the Frame, together with Edi Muka, 2009; Rethinking Dissent, together with Edi Muka, 2007; Fairytale, together with Edi Muka, 2007; Bittersweet, 2005 and Se Bashku-Juntos-Tillsammans, together with Edi Muka, Yuneikys Villalonga and Rodrigo Maella Lira, 2003-2005.
Amongst curated public art projects: Collaborator and curator of Painting of facades project in the city of Tirana, Toma Abts, Ann Edholm, Per Enokson, Helidon Gjergji, Tala Madani, 2009; Fruit and Energy Farms in a Public Square, with Marjetica Potrc and Stealth, 2008; The Eye, with Magnus Wallin, 2008; Walks from Dusk ‘til Dawn with Nanna Hanninen, 2008; The Deciding Organ, with Oskar Mornerud, 2008; Sharphead, with Julia Peirone, 2007; Reception, with Carl Hammoud, 2007; Travelling North with Franz Ackermann, 2006; Ground Rules with Pernilla Zettermann, (2006); For Karlstad with Jenny Holzer, 2005.
Edi Muka
Curator of Röda Sten Kunsthalle, Goteborg, co-founder and curator of TICA – Tirana Institute of Contemporary Art, co-founder and co-director of TICAB – Tirana International Biennial of Contemporary Art, born in Durres, Albania, on 09.02.69. Lives and works between Tirana (AL) and Malmö (SE).
Co-founder and co-Director of T.I.C.A.B – Tirana International Contemporary Art Biennale, and TICA – Tirana Institute of Contemporary Art.
1987-1991 studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana and graduates in Painting. In 1995 attends the intensive international course on curatorial devices, organized by Soros Foundation in Kyiv, Ukraine. 1995 – 2005 guest professor at the Contemporary Art Atelier at AFA in Tirana. In April 1999 is appointed Director of the International Center of Culture in Tirana. 2001 – 2006 Curator of the International Program at the National Gallery in Tirana.
Among curated exhibitions: 2075 baci… solo show with Sislej Xhafa, 2010; The South Will Rise Again, solo show with Juan-Pedro Fabra Guemberena, 2010; Co-Director with Joa Ljungberg of THE SYMBOLIC EFFICIENCY OF THE FRAME, 4th edition of T.I.C.A.B, 2009; RETHINKING DISSENT, with Joa Ljungberg, 4th edition of Goteborg International Biennial of Contemporary Art, 2007, Fairytale, together with Joa Ljungberg, 2007; Se Bashku-Juntos-Tillsammans, together with Joa Ljungberg, Yuneikys Villalonga and Rodrigo Maella Lira, 2003-2005; Yeah You, Babe You, solo show with Phil Collins 2005; Think Pink, 2005; Temptation, Episode 1, TICAB 3, with Gezim Qendro, 2005; Albania Today, Time of Ironic Optimism, Albanian Pavillion, Venice Biennial 1999, etc.
Writer for local and international magazines, such as “Perpjekja”, “PamorArt”, “FlashArt”, “Springerin”, “Camera Austria”, “Manifesta Journal”, “Contemporary”, “Frieze”.
Among several public art projects, collaborator and curator of Painting of Facades project in the city of Tirana, with a number of artists among whom Olafur Eliasson, Liam Gillick, Dominique Gonzalez Foerster, Rirkrit Tiravanija (2003), Toma Abts, Ann Edholm, Per Enokson, Helidon Gjergji, Tala Madani, (ongoing, 2009).
Nora Sternfeld is an art educator and curator. Part of trafo.K, Office for Art Education and Critical Knowledge Production (with Renate Höllwart and Elke Smodics-Kuscher) and of schnittpunkt. exhibition theory & practice. She currently teaches at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and is co-director of ecm – educating / curating / managing – Master Program in exhibition theory and practice at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. She was a lecturer at the Viennese Art School, the Art Academy Kassel, the Zurich University of the Arts and the University of Education in Vienna. Curatorial projects have been: Plakate und Kommentare, IG Bildende Kunst, Vienna 2009 (w/ Toledo i Dertschei), Nothing for us. Everything for everyone. Strategic Universalism and Political Drawing, IG Bildende Kunst, Vienna 2007 (w/ Toledo i Dertschei), Let it be known! Counter Histories of the African Diaspora in Austria,Hauptbücherei am Gürtel, Vienna 2007 (w/ Araba Evelyn Johnston-Arthur), Summit NonAligned Initiatives in Education Culture, Berlin 2007(w/ Kodwo Eshun, Susanne Lang, Nicolas Siepen, Irit Rogoff, Florian Schneider) and Hidden Hi/stories. Remapping Mozart, a project for Wiener Mozartjahr 2006 (w/ Ljubomir Bratic, Araba Evelyn Johnston-Arthur, Lisl Ponger, Luisa Ziaja). Moreover she is part of the editorial board of Bildpunkt – magazine of the Viennese artist association IG Bildende Kunst and publishes on contemporary art, education, politics of history and anti-racism.
Luisa Ziaja is an independent curator and author based in Vienna/Austria. Since 2006 she is co-director of the postgraduate master program ecm – educating / curating / managing at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. She is part of schnittpunkt. exhibition theory & practice and currently works on the research project Post-Communist Past. Representations of communism in exhibition contexts of art and contemporary history (2009–12). Recent exhibitions include re: ex-post. Critical Knowledge and the Post-Yugoslavian Condition (2010, Open Space, Vienna), Recollecting. Looting and Restitution (2008/09, MAK, Vienna, w/ Alexandra Reininghaus), Have The Cake And Eat It, Too. Institutional Critique as Instituent Practice (2008, Kunsthalle Exnergasse Vienna, w/ Charlotte Martinz-Turek), De-Revolution (2006, Galerie IG Bildende Kunst Vienna, w/ Berthold Molden), Hidden Hi/stories. Remapping Mozart, a project for Wiener Mozartjahr 2006 (diverse spaces, w/ Ljubomir Bratic, Araba Evelyn Johnston-Arthur, Lisl Ponger, Nora Sternfeld). From 2001 to 2004 she was assistant curator and exhibition coordinator at Generali Foundation Vienna. She was a lecturer at Technical University Vienna (2008/09), Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (2004/05), and Vienna Artschool (2004–06). She has contributed to numerous exhibition catalogs, anthologies, and magazines on contemporary art, politics of history, exhibition theory and practice informed by current socio-political questions.