Biography / Version 6

Mariia Arson is an author and translator from Kyiv. She currently lives in Vienna and is studying Creative Writing at the University of Applied Arts. As a member of the group Kriegsbilder, Mariia writes social media posts and, together with other colleagues, moderates discussions with the audience after performances.

Fatima Bintou Rassoul Sy is a curator and cultural mediator with a degree in Exhibition Studies and Techniques from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. After many years at institutions such as the Musée du Louvre, Musée Rodin, Grand Palais, and Fondation Louis Vuitton, she returned to Dakar in 2018 and contributed to the opening of the Museum of Black Civilisations. Today, she is a curator at RAW Material Company, where she both curates exhibitions and leads discursive programs. Her research focuses on the cultural politics of Senegal from the 1960s to the present, as well as the market dynamics that influence the contemporary art scene of the African continent and its diaspora.

Delphine Buysse is a curator born in Belgium. Since 2018, she has lived in Dakar and was part of the curatorial team of the 14th Dakar Biennale. Buysse holds a degree in Communication and an MBA in Cultural Management. She is currently studying philosophy and is a PhD candidate in Art Sociology at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar. Her work focuses on urban spaces, and she collaborates with community-based initiatives to promote better access to contemporary art, especially in digital contexts. Since 2019, she has worked with initiatives such as the KIKK Festival (Art, Science, and Technology) in Belgium and Kër Thiossane in Dakar. She founded two organizations in Dakar to support emerging artists and has taught at the ISAC Institute (Institut Supérieur des Arts et des Cultures).

Mark Chehodaiev (*1997) studied scenography and cinematography at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Kyiv. In 2019, he completed a contemporary art course at the Kyiv Academy of Media Arts and began his artistic practice. Since 2021, he has been studying Fine Arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. His practice primarily focuses on the theme of presence and the preservation of memory. He is a co-founder of the group Kriegsbilder and serves as a moderator for exhibitions and discussions.

Noam Chomsky is a US linguist, political commentator, and activist. He is a Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and one of the most prominent linguists of the present day. Through his interdisciplinary work combining linguistics, cognitive science, and computer science, he had a significant influence on their development, particularly in the second half of the 20th century. His contributions to general linguistics and his models of generative transformational grammar transformed the prevailing US structuralism. Since his criticism of the Vietnam War, he has been an outspoken critic of US foreign and economic policies and is internationally known for his critique of capitalism and globalization.

Margo Dubovska was born in Kyiv. In 2019, she graduated from the Kyiv Art School and began working in graphic design and content management. Since 2021, she has been studying Media Arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. In her artistic practice, she combines analog and digital approaches, often based on personal experiences. After the outbreak of the war, she became one of the founders of the group Kriegsbilder, where she is responsible for visual communication and design.

 Patricia Domínguez (*1984, Santiago, Chile) combines experimental research on ethnobotany, healing practices, and extractivism in her work. She focuses on tracing digital and spiritual relationships between living species in an increasingly entrepreneurial cosmos. She holds an MFA from Hunter College, NY (2013), and a Botanical Art Illustration Certificate from the New York Botanical Garden (2011). She is currently the director of the ethnobotanical platform Studio Vegetalista. In addition to international exhibitions in New York, London, Berlin, and Madrid, she has received numerous awards such as the Beca Botín (2022) and the SIMETRIA Award for a residency at CERN (2021). She contributed to the Health Edition of Documents of Contemporary Art and the st_age platform of TBA21 (both in 2020). http://www.patriciadominguez.cl

Yasmine Eid-Sabbagh has a background in photography. She combines research, conversation, image, and (meta-)archiving practices to reflect on the impact of photographs and ideas of collectivity and power. One of her long-term projects examines the (im)possibilities of representation through a negotiation process over a potential digital archive created in collaboration with the residents of Burj al-Shamali, a Palestinian refugee camp near Tyre, Lebanon. She received her PhD in 2018 from the Institute of Art and Cultural Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Eid-Sabbagh has been a member of the Arab Image Foundation since 2008. For Vies possibles et imaginaires (with Rozenn Quéré), she received the 8th Vevey International Photography Award in 2011 and the Arles Discovery Award in 2013. She was a fellow at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, in 2018/2019.

Manfred Grübl represents a broad concept of art. His multifaceted work includes installation, performance, photography, video, and sculpture, and is a continuation of these media. Grübl intervenes in public spaces, making recipients active participants in his art. His approach is characterized by the idea of art as a subjective, encompassing experience—more an interaction and communication than a fixed object in space. He received the Grand Art Prize of the federal state of Salzburg in 2018.

Ibaaku is a sound artist who explores the possibilities of sound through collaborative and interdisciplinary work, touching areas such as visual arts and performance. He started in the Senegalese hip-hop scene as a producer and singer in the early 2000s, conducted several musical projects, and joined various collectives (LZ3, Les petites pierres, Agit, I-Science). Since 2020, he has been the president of Baraka Global Arts, an organization with which he is engaged in structuring the Senegalese cultural sector. He is a founding member of KENU – LAB’Oratoire des Imaginaires. Recently, together with Alibeta, he co-founded the first music label for contemporary and electronic music from Senegal: Miziku Tey Records

Linda Klösel studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. She is a freelance writer, editor, and staff member of the public relations office at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. She has conceived and implemented projects such as Art, Music & Environment (with Gertraud Presenhuber) and VERSION (with Manfred Grübl). Publications include Birgit-Jürgenssen-Preis 2004-2013 (2013) and Georg Kargl – Fine Arts since 1998 – BOX since 2005 (2006).

Rita Kulyk is a Ukrainian artist living in Vienna. She studied film design at the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Kyiv. After graduating, she worked as a film set designer. Her practice includes short and feature films. Since October 2021, she has been studying Digital Arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and began her independent artistic practice, which combines digital techniques with real objects and materials in virtual and physical spaces. She is a co-founder of the non-profit initiative Kriegsbilder and is responsible for the film program and communication.

Site-specific art is a field of study at the University of Applied Arts Vienna that engages with specific places and real spaces—the „spatial manifestations“ of the material world we inhabit. Such a place can be an idea, built architecture, nature, landscape, society, public space, exhibition space, digital space, fictional space, or our living environment. The department is led by Paul Petritsch.

Isa Rosenberger is an artist living and working in Vienna. She studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and teaches as a Senior Lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. In her filmic-installative works, Isa Rosenberger interweaves traces of history—forgotten or marginalized, often feminist and Jewish women’s history—into multi-perspective historiographies, where gaps and voids are constitutive. She has shown her artistic work internationally in numerous group and solo exhibitions, most recently in the exhibition Isa Rosenberger. Schatten, Lücken, Leerstellen at Kunsthaus Graz. http://www.isarosenberger.net

Zain Raza is the founder and lead editor of acTVism Munich. He is a journalist, activist, and cultural organizer in Munich. As an activist, he has been involved in organizing a series of demonstrations, including March Against Monsanto, and as a cultural organizer, he has brought together hundreds of people through his event Pakistani on the Menu, which presents food, art, and music from a variety of cultures. In 2013, he founded acTVism Munich e.V., an independent, non-profit, bilingual online media network.

Alesandra Seutin is a multidisciplinary performance artist and choreographer whose focus is on exploring movement as the foundation for theater, media, and site-specific works. Seutin works internationally, spending most of her time in Senegal, Belgium, and the UK, where she artistically and creatively leads two internationally touring dance companies, one of which she founded: Alesandra Seutin | Vocab Dance. Seutin is the Co-Artistic Director of the renowned École des Sables in Senegal, alongside Wesley Ruzibiza. Having been trained at this institution under Germaine Acogny, Seutin is a global ambassador and teacher of the Acogny technique.

Hans Schabus was born in 1970 in Watschig, Austria, and lives in Vienna. From 1991 to 1996, he studied sculpture with Bruno Gironcoli at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Since 2012, he has been teaching at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, where he heads the Department of Sculpture and Space. He has been exhibiting his work in both national and international contexts since 1992.

Saliou Sarr, aka Alibeta, was born in 1983 in Tambacounda, Senegal, into a musical family. As a dedicated artist, he moves between different artistic realms such as music, film, and theater, with a focus on mediation in his work. He explores various acoustic and visual territories, blending all kinds of cosmic and cosmopolitan materials. From Afro-Jazz to the chants of the Serer (Ndioup), from Afro-Root to Mandingo songs, he plays with the purest West African influences. In 2020, he founded KENU – LAB’Oratoire des Imaginaires, an art space that explores the imagination, social practices, and traditional knowledge of the Ouakam community.

Ibrahima Thiam was born in 1976 in Saint-Louis, Senegal, and later moved to Dakar, where he studied economics. After attending a workshop organized by the Goethe-Institut during the Photo Month in Dakar in 2009, he discovered his passion for photography. He is self-taught and interested in memory, archives, African traditions, myths, and legends. In recent years, he has developed a practice that explores the deities of the Lébou communities. His works have been featured in several national and international group exhibitions.

Peter Weibel († March 1, 2023) was an Austrian artist, exhibition curator, and art and media theorist. Since 1986, Peter Weibel served as the artistic advisor for Ars Electronica, and from 1992 to 1995, he was also its artistic director. From 1993 to 1999, he curated the Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennial. Between 1992 and 2011, he was the chief curator of the Neue Galerie Graz. In 2008 he curated the International Biennial of Seville and in 2011 he was curator for the 4th Moscow Biennial. He had been leading the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe since January 1999.