Blanka Amezkua (USA)
Blanka Amezkua is a contemporary artist. Though formally trained as a painter, for the last eleven years her visual practice has been informed by the female imagery in Mexican adult comic books. During the last three years, she has initiated two art projects which have made her reconsider how artwork can be shown to the public, both in the public and private realm. In 2010, in Athens, Greece, she began 3///3 …three walls on wednesdays…, a project that moves through public space. In 2008, she initiated an artist-run project in her bedroom called Bronx Blue Bedroom Project (BBBP). She has exhibited at the MoMA-P.S.1; The Bronx Museum of the Arts; El Museo del Barrio; Queens Museum of Art; Exit Art; Towson University; Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, San Francisco; Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA); Casa John Spencer; Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, among others.
Architecture For Humanity (USA)
Architecture for Humanity (AFH) is a non-profit design services organization founded in 1999. AFH is building a more sustainable future through the power of professional design. By tapping a network of more than 40,000 professionals willing to lend time and expertise to help those who would not otherwise be able to afford design services, they bring design, construction and development services where they are most critically needed. Each year 10,000 people directly benefit from structures designed by AFH. Their advocacy, training and outreach programs impact an additional 50,000 people annually. AFH channels the resources of the global funding community to meaningful projects that make a difference locally. Their clients include community groups, aid organizations, housing developers, government agencies, corporate divisions, and foundations. AFH has 35,000 newsletter subscribers, 500+ professional affiliations globally, 80 chapters in 25 countries with more than 4,650 volunteer design professionals, 15-20 design fellows dedicated to community based design projects globally, and an Open Architecture Network – the first site to offer open source architectural plans and drawings for collaborating, managing projects remotely, and sharing design knowledge with 50,000 unique visits monthly and 15,000 registered users. AFH has received numerous awards and honors including the Royal Society of Arts Bicentenary Medal, the Treehugger: Best Humanitarian Designer, the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award, the Zumtobel Group Finalist/Open Architecture Network, the AIA New York Foundation Award, the AIA Arkansas Design Award, the AIA Houston Design Awards On the Boards, the TED Prize, the Index Award to Improve Life, the WIRED Rave Award for Architecture, the AIA San Francisco Design Awards Special Achievement on Global Impact, the ASID Design for Humanity Award and the Lewis Mumford Award for Peace. Cameron Sinclair is the co-founder and ‘Chief Eternal Optimist’ (CEO) of Architecture for Humanity. He is a honorary life member of the Royal Society of Arts and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Maurice Benayoun (France)
Maurice Benayoun is a pioneer new media artist and theorist. His work and research explore the potentiality of various media from video to virtual reality, Web to wireless art, public space large-scale art installations to interactive exhibitions. His work has received over 20 international awards and has been exhibited all over the world in international museums. In 2012 he showcased his work in New York’s 6th Avenue, with simultaneous presentations in the Universities of Columbia & Parsons, as well as, the University of Honk Kong, earning him the title of one of the most innovative and significant modern artists in the subsequent publicity. He represented France in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, while one of his installations is on permanent exhibition in the interior of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Benayoun has been teaching new media art at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He is co-founder and art director of the CITU research center and assistant professor at the Université Paris 8. His work has been exhibited in major international museums, including Centre Pompidou (Paris), Museum of Contemporary Art (Lyon, Μontreal), Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art (Helsinki), Eye Beam and Museum of the Moving Image (New York), as well as ICC in Tokyo, Beijing, Berlin, Seoul and new Delhi.
Vicky Betsou (Greece)
Vicky Betsou is a visual artist and Lecturer at the Athens School of Fine Arts since 2006, teaching Video Art in the graduate and postgraduate program while, since 2001, she has been a teaching assistant in Multimedia and Video Art courses of the same Institution. Her work, mostly video installations, addresses the complicated notion of time and memory, blurring the boundaries between objective and subjective time, emphasizing on the construction of temporal structures or the composition of time loops, engaging in the construction of multiple, multilevel narrations. Her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions and festivals in Greece and abroad. She has participated in research programs concerning art and new media and collaborated in E-learning projects on art education. She studied Biology at the Athens University and painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts where she completed her MA in Digital Arts in 2000.
Alexander Bofilias (Greece)
Alexander Bofilias is a graduated engineer and landscape architect with detailed skills in physical, technical and operational project planning and management. He provided consultancy services in the field of environmental upgrading of Olympic Venues. He has been a full member of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games Organizing Committee. As a freelancer he planned thoroughly the Restructuring of parts of the ancient Olive Grove of Athens, Petrou Ralli Street, the Surroundings and Accesses of the Olympic Village as well as the master concept for the Restructuring of the ancient Sacred Road. He studied at the Technical University of Munich (Germany).
Ole Bouman (Netherlands)
Ole Bouman is the director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI) since April 2007. Before taking up that position he was editor-in-chief of the periodical Volume, a cooperative venture of Stichting Archis, AMO (the research bureau of OMA/Rem Koolhaas) and the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation of Columbia University. He has curated a series of public events for the reconstruction of the public domain in cities that have been hit by disasters, such as Ramallah, Mexico City, Beirut and Prishtina. Bouman has been lecturing Design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. Bouman is (co-)author of a.o. the encyclopedia The Invisible in Architecture (1994) and Al Manakh (2007), as well as the manifestos RealSpace in QuickTimes (1996) and De Strijd om Tijd (2003). His most recent publication is Architecture of Consequence (2009) which constitutes a portrait of a proactive design mentality. He has curated exhibitions for the Milan Triennale, Manifesta 3 and Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum. His articles have appeared in such periodicals as De Groene Amsterdammer, The Independent, Artforum, De Gids, Domus, Harvard Design Review, El Croquis, Arquitectura & Viva, and Proiekt Russia. He has been guest editor-in-chief for A+D (India) and editorial consultant for Urban China. Bouman regularly lectures at internationally acclaimed universities and cultural institutions.
David Cottington (U.K.)
David Cottington is Professor of Modern Art History in the Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture at Kingston University London. A leading historian of the Cubist movement, his publications include Cubism in the Shadow of War (Yale University Press, 1998), Cubism and its Histories (Manchester University Press, 2004), Movements in Modern Art: Cubism (Tate Publishing, 1998) and Modern Art: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2005); the last two have been translated into several languages as in German (Hatje Cantz Verlag), Spanish (Ediciones Encuentro) and Greek (Modern Art, Athens, Ellinika Grammata, 2007) among others. The objects of his current research are the avant-garde formations of Europe before the First World War –he is presently writing a book for Yale University Press on those of London and Paris in this period– and the recent and contemporary growth of the ‘creative industries’.
CRES / The Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving (Greece)
The Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving is the Greek national centre for Renewable Energy Sources (RES), Rational Use of Energy (RUE) and Energy Saving (ES). CRES was founded in September 1987 and has been appointed as the national co-ordination centre in its areas of activity. It is a public entity, supervised by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change and has financial and administrative independence. Its main goal is the promotion of RES/RUE/ES applications at a national and international level, as well as the support of related activities taking into consideration the environmental impacts, on energy supply and use. During its operation over the last two decades, CRES has become established in two main fields of activity: First, as the National Energy Centre, working on energy planning and policy for RES, RUE and ES in accordance with the policy of the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change and developing the necessary infrastructure for the realisation of RES/RUE/ES investment projects. Second, as a Research and Technological Centre for RES/RUE/ES through applied research on new energy technologies and by technically supporting the market for the penetration and implementation of these technologies.
Teddy Cruz (USA)
Teddy Cruz founded his San Diego-based architectural practice, estudio teddy cruz, in 1993. He has gained international reputation for its low income housing designs. He is adept at turning overlooked and unused space within a dense, urban neighborhood into a live-able, workable environment. Cruz holds a masters degree from the Harvard School of Design and he is an Associate Professor in the Visual Arts Department, University of California, San Diego. Cruz has received numerous awards as the prestigious Rome Prize in Architecture by the American Institute of Architects, the Progressive Architecture Award, the Robert Taylor Teaching Award of ACSA and the James Stirling Memorial Lecture Awards on the City. His work has been included in articles in The New York Times, The San Diego Union, The Los Angeles Times, as well as in specialized editions and magazines as the Global Architecture, Log, Progressive Architecture, Architecture Record, Casas International, Thresholds MIT, Praxis Magazine, and Princeton Architecture Press’ City Limits. His work has participated in exhibitions locally, nationally, and internationally, as in ARCHILAB (France), in Santa Monica Museum of Art, in Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, in Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, in San Francisco Art Institute, in The Third International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam and in the Trienal de Arquitectura de Lisboa (Portugal) among others.
Maria Daskalaki (U.K./Greece)
Maria Daskalaki is Principal Lecturer at Kingston Business School, Kingston University and member of its International Cognition, Collaboration & Creativity Research Group (ICCC). She has been previously involved in interdisciplinary research on a wide range of themes and subject areas including labor markets, architecture, cityscapes and embodied creativity, practice-based organization studies as well as knowledge management and interpersonal networks and identity(ESRC project). She has published in Organization Studies, Business and Professional Ethics Journal, International Journal of HRM, Culture and Organizations, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science and contributed to edited books published by Palgrave. She graduated with a BA in Psychology and an MA from Lancaster University in Organizational Analysis and Behavior. She completed her PhD in Organization Studies at Royal Holloway, University of London.
dARCHstudio Elina Drossou (Greece)
Elina Drossou is an architect and since 2006 the founder and leading architect of dARCHstudio, a creative team of globally oriented young architects, based in Athens and involved in a wide range of architectural design and construction. Her research and practice answer to all levels of scales, from urban scale to the scale of the object, all the while focusing on innovativeness, invention, sustainability and communication and aiming to deliver projects with their own identity. A substantial part of the work has been awarded in architectural competitions (including the Honorable Mention for the Reformation of a public green area in Filothei, 2008), presented in international group exhibitions (Green Design Festival 2010 Αthens, «Carton Plein» 2010 Paris, Unfolded 2009 Switzerland, Αnimated Space 2009 Αthens, Delicious Architecture 2008 Milan, For the Road-A European Design Tour 2008 Budapest, etc.) and published in architectural and design books and magazines from Barcelona to Beijing. She studied Architecture at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
doxiadis+ (Greece)
doxiadis+ is a team consisting of dynamic professionals with passion for architecture and landscape architecture. They work on projects of different scales and have developed international liaisons and collaborations. They are devoted to delivering excellence in design and aim at protecting and enhancing nature and the environment through their projects. Their work is ranging from national environmental policy and large seven star resorts to private residences, from master-planning and landscape architecture to architecture and interior design. They are investing into research of urban, landscape and built issues which then inform their projects. Their work has been recognized both nationally and internationally, such as with the 1st Prize for the International Competition for the design of the urban space in front of the New Acropolis Museum and the Architectural Review Emerging Architecture Awards (Commendation). doxiadis+ is founded in 1999 by Thomas Doxiadis, Architect-Landscape Architect ASLA, B.A. MArch, MLA Harvard University and in 2004 Ira Vonderthann, Architect, Dipl.-Ing. RWTH Aachen becomes his partner.
Droog (Netherlands)
Since 1993, when it was co-founded in Amsterdam by the product designer Gijs Bakker and design historian Renny Ramakers, DROOG has championed the careers of such designers as Hella Jongerius and Marcel Wanders, while defining a new approach to design by mixing materials and interacting with the user. Droog is a collection of the detritus of our culture, reassembled, rearranged and repurposed. There is something hippie-like about Droog: it escapes from the continual discussion about the role of the genius creator in the making of design, it argues for assembly over code, and sustainability over evanescence, and for a provisional and collaborative identity over branding and homogenization, even if in the end they come dangerously close to efficiently producing a brand. Over 150 (solo or group) exhibitions in Museums and Art and Design centers worldwide including Museum of Modern Art New York, Victoria and Alber Museum London, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, AlvarAalto Mueum Helsinki, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Internationales Design Zentrum Berlin, Design Museum London, Vitra Design Museum Berlin, Tokyo Designers Block etc. Droog was awarded with over 10 national and international design awards including the prestigious Deadalus Prize for European Design, the Prix d’Excellence de la Maison- Marie Claire, the George Nelson Design Award, the Clogne Thumper award, the Woonbeurs Pin award, the Kho lIang le Prize. Its products, projects, exhibitions and events that have been extensively published and collected by museums all over the world. Droog has stores in Amsterdam, New York and Tokyo, and its products are distributed throughout the world through associates in Asia, Europe, the Middle-East and the America’s.
Futurefarmers – Amy Franceschini (USA)
Futurefarmers is a group of artists, designers and architects who use various media to create work that responds to the time and place around them. A constant throughout their work is a critique of the affects of market capitalism on the material and social environment. They deconstruct food systems, public transportation, rural farming networks and fortune 100 companies as a means to visualize and understand the logics of these systems. Futurefarmers is founded by Amy Franceschini in 1995. Her solo and collaborative work has been included in exhibitions internationally including the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), the Whitney Museum and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), the Center Pompidou in Paris and the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe. She has recently received the prestigious SECA Prize by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2007) and is the recipient of 7 other prizes. She is Professor of Art and Architecture at the Stanford University, the California College of the Arts and the San Francisco Art Institute.
Penny Geka (Greece)
Penny Geka is a visual artist. She has presented one solo exhibition in Athens (2005). Main group exhibitions: Joannes Gennadius and his world, Gennadius Library, Athens; Tracing Istanbul, Holy Theological School of Halki, Turkey, Technopolis, Athens; In-Scription, Hellenic-American Union, Athens; Material Links, MoCa, Shanghai, Technopolis, Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art; Le don d’ Aphrodite, La Galerie.be, Brussels; Lacoste Project 12.12, Benaki Museum, Athens; Rooms to let, Action Field Kodra Festival, Thessaloniki; Industry and nature, Lulea Summer Biennale 2005, Sweden; 6 Rooms 2002, Kappatos Gallery; 11th Biennale of Young Artists “Cosmos”, Athens. She taught at the Department of Applied and Visual Arts of the University of Western Macedonia, Florina, Greece. She studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (A.S.F.A.), sculpture at the Professional School of Fine Arts of Tinos Island and at the Visual Arts Postgraduate Department of A.S.F.A. She has been awarded a scholarship of the Greek State Scholarship Foundation.
Georgia Gremouti (Greece)
Georgia Gremouti is a visual artist. She presented her recent solo exhibition False id at the exhibition space of the Benaki Museum Shop, Annexe on Pireos street, in Athens. She has participated in the group exhibitions Survival kit, Genesis Gallery, Athens, 2011; City Fashion & Fusion, City Link, Athens, 2011; 12/12 Lacoste Project, Benaki Museum, Athens, 2007; “3+Converse”, Maria Gouma Gallery, Nafplio, Greece; Visions, Artists for Humanities Gallery, Boston, MA, 1997; Outsiders, Mass Art, Boston, 1996. Her work is part of public and private collections. She was awarded the first prize at the African-American exhibition, Southeastern University, Boston, and the British Council scholarship for music studies in London, for her artistic and musical achievements. She studied sculpture at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, new textile techniques at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London and classical guitar at the Music School of Athens.
Giannis Grigoriadis (Greece)
Giannis Grigoriadis is a visual artist, curator of exhibitions and projections and teaches as Assistant Professor at the Plastic Art Workshop of the N.T.U.A. School of Architecture. His work studies the city and its multiple readings through the means and materials of plastic art. He has participated in many exhibitions in Greece and abroad, including Mofferism, Salon de Vortex, Athens, 2011; Greek Contemporary Video Art, Uqbar, Berlin; European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück, Germany; Space is the place, About, Lo and Behold, Athens, 2010; Expanded Ecologies, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, 2009; 11th International Architecture Biennale, Venice, 2008; DESTE Awards 07, DESTE Foundation, Athens, 2007; Crossing the borders, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, 2006; Visions, Byzantine Museum, Athens, 2005; Video Zone2, 2nd International Video Art Biennale, Israel, 2004. He studied sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts and completed video art and video installation postgraduate studies at Staffordshire University, U.K.
Giorgos Gyparakis (Greece)
Giorgos Gyparakis is a visual artist, Lecturer at the School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens and founding member of the RADAR group. His work is centered on the transformation of archetypal, primordial binary symbols and abstract ideas into personified perceptible objects or constructions conveying an allegoric meaning. He has presented five solo exhibitions in Athens and Thessaloniki and participated in many group exhibitions including Time. People. Their stories: A study of the concept of theatricality outside the confines of a stage, Benaki Museum, Athens 2010; Karaoke poetry bar, 1st Biennale of Athens; 2007; Ancient Drama Festival, Meride, Spain, 2001; Three Generations of Greek Artists, National Art Gallery, Athens, 1999; and Tel Aviv Museum of Modern Art, 1998; ELYTRON, XLVI Venice Biennale; Sculpture Triennale, Osaka, 1995; 5th Biennale for Young Artists, Creative Jewelry, Marseilles, 1990; among others. He has participated in theatrical, musical and film productions. He studied sculpture at the School of Fine Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and graphic design at the Vakalo School for Applied Arts, Athens. He concluded his postgraduate studies at the Athens School of Fine Arts on scholarship of the Greek State Scholarship Foundation.
Hariklia Hari (Greece)
Hariklia Hari is an architect and artist. She has been working on PPC-T (Post Programmed City-Territory) work in progress, focusing on the transformation of the Greek landscape and the current productions of space in particular social-geographical territories (Farkadona, Ano Diakofto), since 2004, and on the NoMAD (Non Metropolitan Areas Data) work in progress, a diary of personal and architectural self-knowledge, since 2000. Her research projects have been presented at exhibitions and workshops including Post-it City, Occasional Urbanities, CCCB, Barcelona, 2008; Disobedience project by Marco Scotini, exhibition Forms of Resistance, Vannabemuseum, Eindhoven, 2007-8; Action Architecture project, 7th International Biennale of Architecture, Sao Paulo, 2007; 1st Thessaloniki Biennale, Greece, 2007; D624 project space, Athens, 2006; European Social Forum, Athens, 2006; The People’s Choice exhibition, Isola Art Center, Milan, 2006; Codex: Workshop on Art and Free Knowledge for Responsible Social Transformation of Civil Society organized by Cittadellarte/Fondazione Pistoletto, Fondazione Orestiadi, Tunis, 2005; Social Forum, Larissa, Greece, 2005; Going Public 05. Communities and Territories, Larissa Contemporary Art Center, Greece, 2005; Paradigmata exhibition, 9th Biennale of Architecture, Greek pavilion, Venice, Benaki Museum, Athens, 2004; Peripheries-Networks workshop, Larissa Contemporary Art Center, Greece, 2004; Going Public 04 exhibition, Modena, 2004; C.M.A. (Center for Mediterranean Architecture), Chania, Greece, 2003; the Multiplicity-Solid Sea workshop, Documenta XI, Kassel, 2002. She studied Architecture at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Visual Arts at the Athens School of Fine Arts, Interdepartmental Postgraduate Course. She is a PhD student at the National Technical University of Athens since 2005.
George Harvalias (Greece)
George Harvalias is an artist and Rector at the Athens School of Fine Arts. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held in Athens at the Batagianni Gallery–Michael Cacogiannis Foundation, 2009; AD Gallery, 2005; ARTIO Gallery, 2003, 1999, 1995, 1993; Eleni Koroneou Gallery, 1991 and POLYPLANO Art Gallery, Athens, 1985. He has participated in the group exhibitions Politics of Art, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, 2010; Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art (M.M.C.A.), Thessaloniki, 2008; Places, M.M.C.A. Collection, Benaki Museum, Athens, 2007; In the Labyrinths of the Winds, Guernica, Spain, 2007; An Outing, Leonidas Beltsios Collection, Trikala, Greece, 2006; M.M.C.A., Thessaloniki, 1998; Alexandria Biennale, Egypt, 1997; Focus of Gaze, Larissa Art Center, Greece, 1997; Montrouge–Athènes, 42nd Salon of Contemporary Art, France, 1997; Greek Realities, Kunsthalle Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odense, Denmark, 1997; Greek Realities, Galerie im Marstall, Berlin, 1996; Pro Patria, House of Cyprus, Athens, 1995; Κunst-Europa, Staatlichen Κunsthalle, Berlin, 1991; 16th Biennale of Alexandria, 1987; Antipodes, Young Greek Artists, Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 1987; 2nd Biennale of Young Artists of the European Mediterranean, 1986; Athens–Cultural Capital of Europe, 1985, among others. He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts, 1976-1983.
Frank Havermans (Netherlands)
Frank Havermans builds low-tech architectural installations which may or may not be functional. Using simple, relatively cheap and universally available sheet material and simple tools like a hand-held circular saw and a power screwdriver, he creates, in a liberating, stimulating way –without any intervention by contractors or engineers– specially designed spatial constructions, in which material properties are used in a structural way. He doesn’t make any distinction between autonomous or applied design assignments.Havermans received an honourable mention for the Nederlandse Bouwprijs 2007 (Dutch building award) in the category ‘Buildings’. In 2006, he won the Houtarchitectuurprijs 2006 (Dutch award for innovative wood architecture) with his artist’s studio KAPKAR/ TAW-BW-5860; the same project was also nominated for the AM NAi award (architecture award for recent designs by architects under 40). The entire interior design of De Effenaar (a pop concert hall in Eindhoven, the Netherlands), a project carried out by Bob Copray and Anthony Kleinepier in MVRDV’s building, for which Havermans created the office as a subcontractor, was nominated for the Lensvelt de Architect Interieurprijs 2006 (Dutch interior design award). In 2003 Havermans was on the long list of the Prix de Rome beeldhouwen 2003 (Dutch national incentive award for sculptors under 35).Havermans was born in Breda, Holland, and studied Architectural Design at the Hogeschool voor Beeldende Kunsten (Art Academy) St. Joost in Breda.
Jodi (Netherlands /Belgium)
Internet provocateurs JODI pioneered Web art in the mid-1990s. JODI was formed in 1994 by Joan Heemskerk (b. Kaatsheue, NL, 1968) and Dirk Paesmans (b. Brussels, 1965). Based in Holland, JODI were among the first artists to investigate and subvert conventions of the Internet, computer programs, and video and computer games. Radically disrupting the very language of these systems, including interfaces, commands, errors and code, JODI destabilized the relationship between computer technology and its users. Heemskerk and Paesman attended Silicon Valley’s electronic arts laboratory CADRE at San Jose State University in California; Paesmans also studied with Nam June Paik at the Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf. JODI’s recent solo exhibitions include INSTALL.EXE at Eyebeam, New York, [plug-in], Basel, and BuroFriedrich, Berlin; and Computing 101B at FACT Centre, Liverpool, England. Their works have also been exhibited at Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow; Kunstverein Bonn; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany, and Documenta X, Kassel, Germany, among others.
Nadia Kalara (Greece)
Nadia Kalara is a visual artist. She teaches visual arts at the Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly, since 2003 and is a doctoral candidate. Roaming the Greek suburban landscape is an important artistic practice for her. This experience is also shaped by her attempt at its representation. The landscape is constructed at the very moment it is traversed. The resulting artworks are an attempt to understand this double simultaneous construction and they are considered as temporary stops or pauses in this movement. For Nadia Kalara, the photographic medium is a post-medium par excellence. She does not use photography as an objective recording tool; rather, she utilizes it to automatically inscribe onto material what the eyes see. Its versatility and dynamics are not used to objectively record reality but rather to reshape and reconstruct it. Her recent exhibitions and participations include Beton 7 Gallery, Athens, 2011; Museum of Freud’s Dreams, St. Petersburg, 2010; Art Athina Exhibition, 2009; 2nd Athens Biennale, 2009; 7th Architecture Biennale, Sao Paulo, 2007. She has taught visual arts at the Department of Architecture, University of Patras and has participated in and taught international intensive workshops on art and architecture held by the International Union of Architects/UIA in Istanbul and the Center of Architecture of the Mediterranean in Chania, Greece. She completed her graduate studies in Fine Arts, Department of Visual and Applied Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and her postgraduate studies at the School of Art and Design, University of East London.
Eleni Karagianni (Greece)
Eleni Karagianni is a visual artist. She has participated in the group exhibitions Fashion and fusion, City link, Athens, 2010; Speak, don’t be afraid, Association for the Psychosocial Health of Children and Adolescents, Ikastikes Anazitisis 2010; In-scription, Hellenic-American Union, Athens, 2010; ECO ART, Eugenides Foundation, Athens, 2009; Notes for a tree and Recycling Instructions, “Melina” Cultural Center of the Municipality of Athens, 2009; World of men and women, International Symposium of the Department of Philosophy and Social Studies, University of Crete, Rethymno. She curated the exhibitions Childhood Art Project, “Melina”, 2010; 14 Artists, Art Festival of the Municipality of Chania, Neoria, Crete, 2008. Her work belongs to private collections. She has studied on scholarship at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1991-1996) and has completed her postgraduate studies at the School of Humanitarian Studies and the postgraduate program Studies in Education of the Hellenic Open University (2008).
Yalena Kleidara (Greece)
Yalena Kleidara is assistant curator of contemporary visual arts. She collaborates with art historian and visual art exhibition curator Iris Kritikou, since October 2010. She is studying at the Department of Theater Studies at the School of Fine Arts of the University of Peloponnese, since September 2009. She has worked for cultural institutions in Athens and London and has participated in the six-month practice program of the Greek National Commission for UNESCO. She has studied Law at the University of Athens (2002-2007) and attended postgraduate courses in Cultural Politics and Cultural Management at the City University of London (2008-2009).
Kokkinou + Kourkoulas Architects & Associates (Greece)
Maria Kokkinou and Andreas Kourkoulas established the architectural practice Kokkinou + Kourkoulas, Architects & Associates in Athens in 1987. Maria Kokkinou holds a Master of Science from the Advanced Architectural Studies Department of the Bartlett School of Architecture, U.C.L., London (1980 – 1981), and a Diploma in Architectural Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (1979). Andreas Kourkoulas is Professor at the School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens, both in the Undergraduate and Postgraduate programs from 1992. He has delivered lectures and talks, has written articles and has co-taught in Schools of Architecture in Greece and abroad (1984 – 2011). From 1981 to1983 he worked at the Ο.Μ.Α. architectural practice in London (Zenghelis – Koolhaas). He holds a Ph.D. from the Bartlett School of Architecture, U.C.L., London, with a thesis titled ‘Linguistics in Architectural Theory and Criticism after Modernism’ (1986), a Postgraduate degree from the Architectural Association Graduate School, London (1980 – 1981), and a Diploma in Architectural Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (1977).
Panos Kombis (Greece)
Panos Kombis is a visual artist. He has participated in the group exhibitions Notes for a Tree and Recycling Instructions “Melina” Cultural Center of the Municipality of Athens, 2009; Kreation, installation at the Varvakios Agora, Athens, 2007; 4th Biennale of students of the Schools of Fine Arts of Greece, Crete, 2006; Installation, Kypseli market, Athens, 2006; Digital Freaks Install The Noise, Technopolis, 2006; Video Art, “The Factory” A.S.F.A. exhibition space, 2005; Poetry in pictures, French Institute, Athens, 2005. He graduated from the Department of Painting of the Athens School of Fine Arts (2002-2007) under Professors Rena Papaspyrou and Marios Spiliopoulos, and he was nominated for scholarship during the academic years 2003-2006. He studied at the Postgraduate Department of Fine Arts of the same Institute. He attended the Multimedia-Digital Forms of Art and Printmaking workshops. He also studied Art Restoration at the PETRA Institute of Vocational Training and attended Hagiography seminars.
Iris Kritikou (Greece)
Iris Kritikou is an art historian and curator. She is the Vice-President of the Deputy Committee of the Museum of Greek Children’s Art of Athens. She has taught History of Art in diverse Institutes and Art Colleges. Since 2004, she has been working as independent curator in collaboration with museums, galleries, cultural institutions, organizations and art galleries both in Greece and abroad including the Academy of Athens; Benaki Museum, Athens; Hellenic-American Educational Foundation; Municipal Gallery of Chania, Greece; Heracleidon Museum, Athens; Moschandreou Gallery; Ex Convento San Cosma e Damiano, Venice; Greek National Tourism Organization; Museum of Contemporary Art of Shanghai (MOCA); Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art; City of Athens Technopolis; Hellenic-American Union, Athens; “Ermoupolia” Cultural Festival, Syros Island; Balkan Art Gallery of Kontia, Lemnos Island; Bellonio Foundation, Santorini Island; Gennadius Library, Athens; Sismanoglio Megaro, Istanbul; Holy Theological School of Halki, Turkey; “Melina” Cultural Center of the Municipality of Athens; Historical and Folklore Museum of Aegina Island; The “Angelos & Leto Katakouzenos” Foundation, Athens; Dimitria, Thessaloniki; Hellenic Culture Center, Berlin Annexe, the Hadjioannou Collection etc. She regularly contributes articles on art and culture. Since 1994 she has worked in Greece, in the fields of art and education, and is a regular contributor in cultural magazines and art supplements of established Greek newspapers (Artime, Highlights, poema, Express, In2Life, Insider, Bonjour etc.). She studied Αrt and Αrchaeology at the University of Crete, and conducted postgraduate studies in Byzantine Civilization and History of Art at the University of Vienna (Institut für Byzantinistik) and the University of London (Courtauld Institute), being a scholar of the Austrian State and the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation. She also completed the postgraduate curriculum of the BOWIE State University, Maryland System (Master of Education/M.Ed.) and the postgraduate program ΑΝΙΜΑ focusing on the encouragement of children and adults.
Laurie Lazer – Darryl Smith (USA)
Darryl Smith and Laurie Lazer are the founders and Artistic Directors of The Luggage Store gallery in San Francisco. Since 1987, they have curated over 200 visual arts exhibitions and have organized thousands of performances at The Luggage Store, the luggage store annex and in the Tenderloin National Forest (aka Cohen Alley). For six years they operated a public arts project at 1000 Market Street located at the ground floor of the San Christina Hotel – a collaboration with Community Housing Partnership, a non-profit low income housing developer serving multi-challenged residents. They transformed Cohen Alley from a dangerous and blighted inner city space into a neighborhood cultural commons now know as “The Tenderloin National Forest’’ – which was awarded the San Francisco Beautiful Award in 2010. Smith and Lazer developed the curriculum for and taught “A Downtown Introductory,’’ an experimental class at the San Francisco Art Institute with their mentor (and now Board Member) Carlos Villa. From this experience, they developed an innovative mentoring program for emerging artists and curators called “Short Cuts.” They were selected as Artists in Residence at the internationally renowned Headlands Center for the Arts, and are frequent lecturers and often serve as panelists and awards recommenders. In 2008, the U.S. Embassy invited them to curate an exhibition in Tbilisi, Georgia. They were recently awarded a research and development grant from the Asian Cultural Council to travel to Beijing, Hanoi and the Philippines.
Lydia Matthews (USA)
Professor Matthews serves as Dean of Academic Programs and Professor of Visual Culture at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City. Trained as a modernist art historian at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of London’s Courtauld Institute, she taught for 17 years at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, where she co-founded the graduate program in Visual Critical Studies and directed the MFA program in Fine Arts. Her work focuses on the often contentious yet potentially potent intersection of contemporary art/craft/design practices, diverse local cultures and global economies. She has worked on projects with international institutions ranging from LGBT community centers to artist-run cultural venues to universities and major museums, and was commissioned to curate the U.S. section of the 2008 and 2010 Artisterium International Exhibition in Tbilisi, Georgia. She will return to Georgia and Armenia in 2011-12 sponsored by The Open Society Institute, collaborating with local cultural activists to foster a stronger curatorial infrastructure within this dynamic post-Soviet region.
Jason Miller (USA)
Jason Miller was born, lives and works in New York. He has been called a jack-of-all-trades and a multi-tasker. He designs everything from furniture to tchotchky to interiors and he works in a multitude mediums. Jason Miller has had solo exhibitions in Tokyo, Milan, New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Denver, and has participated in group exhibitions as in the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Triennial (2006). He has been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times, Metropolis, Thirty4, Axis, Surface and New York Magazine. Jason has received several awards including the Bombay Sapphire “Rising Star Award” and has developed products for companies including Areaware, Benza, The Conduit Group, Idee, Pure Design and Ritzenhoff.
Eelko Moorer (U.K./Netherlands)
Eelko Moorer (b. 1975, The Netherlands) is based in London and Amsterdam. He studied at Utrecht School of the Arts, and the Royal College of Art, London. His work focuses on the psychology of use and exploring an individualistic, manual approach to working with mass-production techniques. Results are products for fashion, performances and distinctive personalized designs on the borderline between art and design that define the identity of a person or a space. His work has been included in exhibitions such as “Dutch at the Edge of Design”, Fashion Institute of Technology Museum (New York 2005), British Council Design Exhibition (Milan 2005) and B&B Italia (London 2005), Rotterdam Design Prize, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen (Rotterdam 2003), “100% Design” (Rotterdam 2003 and London 2002), Frozen Fountain (Amsterdam 2000 and 1999), and the New British Design, 2007 Milan show among others.
Konstantinos Moraitis (Greece)
Konstantinos Moraitis is Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) where he currently teaches Public Building Design to undergraduates and History and Theory of Landscape to postgraduates. He has been working as a professional architect since 1978 and has received 25 awards in Architectural Competitions in Greece and Cyprus, among which six first prizes. He has also participated in six International Architectural Competitions and has been awarded two first prizes. He studied at the School of Architecture, NTUA, and as a postgraduate at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (DEA in Ethical and Political Philosophy), and at the Hellenic Mediterranean Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. He is a member of the International Association for Greek Philosophy, the Hellenic Society of Aesthetics, the Hellenic Institute of Architecture, the Greek Society of Architecture, the Association of Greek Architects – Panhellenic Union of Architects (SADAS-PEA), and the Technical Chamber of Greece.
Michael Morris (USA)
Michael Morris is an architect, educator and a partner with Yoshiko Sato in their namesake architecture firm, Morris Sato Studio, based in New York City since 1996. He has continuously taught architecture, environmental, exhibition, material, physical computing, and day-lighting studios at Parsons The New School for Design since 1993. His research and studio assignments focus on the relationship between architecture, urbanism, and nature. Michael Morris and Yoshiko Sato are internationally recognized for their architecture, design, museum installations, and public art collaborations and have built and exhibited projects in North America, Europe, and Asia for private, public, institutional, and corporate clients. They are the recipients of numerous professional honors and their work has appeared in leading journals, periodicals, and books. Michael Morris received his architectural education from Parsons School of Design and The Cooper Union and has taught at both institutions in addition to numerous others.
Network Nomadic Architecture (Greece)
Network Nomadic Architecture (www.nomadikiarxitektoniki.net) is an open laboratory researching issues pertaining to urban territory, public space, territories under crisis, phenomena of displacement, and gender in its relation to communities. Its actions take place within the city. It produces mappings of the urban landscape by engaging participants in public actions, thus researching the boundaries between architecture and art. Its main goals are challenging urban issues and organizing territorial situations as well as actions. Emphasis is put on physical presence / lived experience, human relationships and interaction with the communities. The action is nomadic in the sense that such interventions take place in different localities and are always fluid and transformative.Indicative public actions in Athens: ‘I entreat you, do not demolish my world!’ in Gazohori. ‘Travelling along Kifisos river, across the bay of Faliro and on the island of Psitaleia’ in cooperation with the New York based group Flux Factory, as part of the second Athens Biennale. ‘Monastiraki square: from Farsi to Greek, crossing the borders’, in collaboration with European Alternatives. ‘Migratory Homes’, with Jilly Traganou and Lydia Matthews in the framework of ‘The open house workshop’ at the Byzantine Museum. ‘Migrant Tree’ at El Jardín del Paraíso, New York. Research in progress: ‘The center of Athens and its transformation. How can art assist the situation?’ (funded by Latsis Foundation, 2010).
Helli Pangalou and Associates – elandscape (Greece)
Helli Pangalou is landscape architect. She has worked as landscape architect in Edinburgh and Athens, and she has founded elandscape – H. Pangalou and Associate Landscape Architects. Their interest focuses on viable landscape processes connected to cultural and experiential effects. They have participated in numerous private and public projects, ranging from large scale masterplanning to residential projects, as well as in international architectural competitions and gained awards and citations. Helli Pangalou has edited books on landscape, and she has published articles in several magazines. She is a Μember of the British Landscape Institute. She was born in Athens. She has studied Graphic Design and Landscape Architecture (MLA, University of Edinburgh, 1996).
Elena Papadimitriou (Greece)
Elena Papadimitriou is a visual artist. She has presented two solo exhibitions, in Athens, in 2008 and in Crete, in 2009. She has participated in major group exhibitions in Greece, at the National Gallery, Athens; Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens; 45th Demetria, Cultural Center of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, A. & A. Chatziioannou Collection, 2010; Art Athina 2009 & 2010, Athens; Cowparade Athens ’06; Moschandreou Gallery, Messolonghi; “Melina” Cultural Center, Athens; Gennadius Library, Athens; Kalamata Municipal Gallery; Bellonio Cultural Foundation, Santorini Island; City Link, Athens; etc., and abroad at the Holy Theological School of Halki, Turkey, 2010; Istanbul, 2010; Contemporary Art Museum of Shanghai, 2009; Ex Convento San Cosma e Damiano, Venice, 2007, etc. Her work is included in major private collections. She studied at the Vakalo School of Art and Design, 1989-1990; the Painting Department of the Athens School of Fine Arts, 1991-1996 and at the School of Fine Arts of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, 1993-1994.
Maria Papadimitriou (Greece)
Maria Papadimitriou is an artist known for her ability to investigate collaborative projects and collective activities that highlight the interconnection between art and social reality. She teaches at the Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly. She was awarded the DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art Prize in 2003. She has exhibited at the Venice Biennale, Palazzo Zenobio, 2011; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, 2011; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2010-11; The Haifa Mediterranean Biennale, Israel, 2010; Kunstraum Lakeside, Klangerfurd, Austria, 2009; Center of Contemporary Art, Sète, France, 2009; 10th Lyon Biennale, 2009; Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens, 2008; Zina Athanasiadou Gallery, Thessaloniki, 2008; Casa del Lago, Mexico City, 2008; 7th Gwangju Biennale, Korea, 2007; Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, 2007; Kunsthaus, Graz, Austria, 2007; 1st Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, 2007; Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 2007; Bâtiment d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, 2007; 1st Biennale de Arquitectura Arte Paisaje de Canarias, Canary Islands, 2006-7; European Patent Office, Munich, 2006; Pavillion of Contemporary Art, Milan, 2006; Riflemaker Gallery, London, 2005; MM Projects Rincon, Puerto Rico, 2004; Olivetti Foundation, Rome, 2004; the Queen Sofia Museum, Madrid, 2004; Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, 2003; Manifesta 04, Frankfurt, 2003; Neue Galerie, Graz, Austria 2002; Sao Paulo Biennale, 2002; 1st Biennale, Tirana, 2001. She founded the Temporary Autonomous Museum for All (T.A.M.A.) in 1998. She studied at the École Nationale Superieur des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1981-1986.
Lois Papadopoulos (Greece)
Lois Papadopoulos is Professor at the Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly. He taught Architecture at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki from 1979 to 2008. He has given lectures and taught as Visiting Professor at universities in Europe, the USA and Japan. He has worked for the architectural design of public buildings as well as for architectural designs that have been awarded in Greek and International Architectural Competitions. He has curated and/or directed architectural installations for cultural events and performances, including the Biennale of Young Artists from the Mediterranean Countries (Thessaloniki, 1986), the Greek pavilion for the Prague Quadrennial of Theatre Architecture in 2003, the Greek pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2006 etc. He has been the author or co-author of books such as The Transformations of the Urban Landscape (Livanis, 2000), The Aegean Sea: an Interspersed City (Ministry of Culture – futura, 2006), The Architect Dimitris Fatouros (Domes, 2009). His papers on architectural theory and criticism have been published in collective volumes, in Greek and international magazines. He studied architecture at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and holds a Master of Science (University College, University of London).
Apostolos Papageorgiou (Greece)
Apostolos Papageorgiou is a visual artist and has participated in the group exhibitions Survival Kit, Genesis Gallery, Athens; Joannes Gennadius and his world, Gennadius Library, Athens; Tracing Istanbul, Sismanoglio Megaro, Istanbul; Holy Theological School of Halki, Halki Island, Turkey; City of Athens Technopolis; Material Links, Museum of Contemporary Art MoCa, Shanghai; Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art; City of Athens Technopolis; Of Heroes and…, Kalamata Municipal Art Gallery, Greece; Games without frontiers, Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens; Greek artists at the Greek National Opera; Dreams come true, Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens; 3 in 3 short digital film competition, British Council and Bios, Athens; Α table, Skoufa Gallery, Athens; Space scenarios, Nees Morfes Gallery, Athens; 11th Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean “Cosmos”, Athens. He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (A.S.F.A.) and at the Fine Arts Postgraduate Department of the same Institute.
PPC_T Lab (Greece)
PPC_T Lab is an open lab, focusing on the research of landscape transformation in certain social – geographical environments. It has elaborated the research interdisciplinary ongoing project PPC_T/Farkadona which has been presented at the Post-It-City. Occasional Urbanities exhibition, Sao Paulo, 2009; and CCCB, Barcelona, 2008; Disobedience project curated by Marco Scotini, Forms of Resistance exhibition, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, 2007-8; Action Architecture project, 7th International Biennale of Architecture, Sao Paulo, 2007; 1st Thessaloniki Biennale, Thessaloniki, 2007; D624 project space, Athens, 2006; European Social Forum, Athens, 2006; The People’s Choice exhibition, Isola Art Center, Milan, 2006; Going Public 05. Communities and Territories exhibition, Larissa Contemporary Art Center, Larissa, 2005; Social Forum, Larissa, 2005; Codex: Workshop on Art and Free Knowledge for Responsible Social Transformation of Civil Society, organized by Cittadellarte/Fondazione Pistoletto, Fondazione Orestiadi, Tunis, 2005, among others.
Public Architecture (USA)
Public Architecture is a non-profit organization established by John Peterson in San Francisco in 2002. Public Architecture identifies and solves practical problems in the built environment. It acts as a catalyst for public discourse through education, advocacy, and the design of public spaces and amenities. Public Architecture is a new model for architectural practice. Rather than waiting for commissions that represent well-understood needs and desires, Public Architecture takes a leadership role, identifying significant problems of wide relevance that require innovative research and design and circumstances where both client and financing must be imagined in new ways. Public Architecture’s national “1% Solution” program, through which firms pledge one percent of their billable hours to the public interest, aims to institutionalize and celebrate pro bono practice in architecture. It received the AIA San Francisco Design Awards–Special Achievement Award. Public Architecture’s projects have received numerous architectural awards as: the prestigious Rome Prize of the American Academy in Rome, Global Holcim Awards –Innovation Prize and Silver Award, Contract Magazine -Designers of the Year, AIA National Honor Awards –Institute Honors for Collaborative Achievement, American Institute for Public Service San Francisco –Jefferson Award among many others. Public Architecture has garnered a significant amount of coverage as in the New York Times, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Sun, The Boston Globe and MSN.com.
Spyros Raftopoulos (Greece)
Spyros Raftopoulos has been head of the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens since 2007. As an architect specializing in Housing and Urban Revitalization, he has taught and given lectures to the School of Architecture of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Los Angeles, to the Department of Architecture of the University of British Columbia, Canada, and to the Pratt Institute of Design, New York. He has participated in many seminars, exhibitions of architectural works and conferences both in Greece and abroad. He is a member of research groups on issues related to academic and architectural subjects and a member of various committees of the National Technical University of Athens, of the Supreme Council for Personnel Selection and of the Research Foundation of Cyprus. He is also an examiner and adjudicator of the State Scholarships Foundation. He studied at the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens and completed his postgraduate studies at the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies (I.A.A.S.), University of York, Great Britain.
Rebar (USA)
Rebar is a collaborative group of creators, designers and activists based in San Francisco. Rebar was formed in 2004 by Matthew Passmore, John Bela, Jed Olson and Judson Holt. In 2005 Rebar created the PARK(ing) project, transforming a metered parking spot into a temporary public park, and in 2006 Rebar organized the PARK(ing) Day, an international event reclaiming the street for people. Gradually PARK(ing) Day became a global public art installation event, which in 2007 took place at more than 200 sites in 50 cities worldwide and in 2009 at more than 700 sites in 140 cities in 21 countries. Rebar have participated in numerous international exhibitions including the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, the Venice Biennale (Italian Pavilion and US Pavilion), the American Institute of Architects national convention, the American Institute of Architects DIY Urban Interventions, the Canadian Center for Architecture in Montreal, the ExperimentaDesign Amsterdam, among others. Rebar has appeared in over 50 publications in newspapers, magazines and media as in BBC London Television, Associated Press, Guardian, International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal. They have lectured and participated in Symposia at Harvard University, California College of Arts, University of Californian at Berkeley, University of Southern California, De Young Museum in San Francisco and New York University among others.
Recetas Urbanas (Spain)
Santiago Cirugeda is an urban activist, artist and architect who works on projects which are quite removed from the premises of conventional urban planning. In his urban installations and performances he seeks out unrecognized leftover spaces between the lines of building laws and gives them (il-)legal asylum in the territory of public space. He ultimately works with the same survival strategies of migrants, who have conquered niches in a world that is alien to them to find a place of their own, which society generally refuses to grant them. His projects, recetas urbanas or “urban prescriptions”, go from systematically occupying public spaces with dumpsters to adding prostheses on to facades, playgrounds, courtyards and even on sites. Some of his recent projects include the Poble Sec neighbourhood in Barcelona, the Institutional Prostheses at the Contemporary Art Museum (EACC) in Castellón, and the lecture hall building at the Fine Arts Faculty in Málaga. Santiago Cirugeda advocates citizen participation in the development of the city and for freedom to modify the environment, proposing creative and destabilising actions, ranging from the playful to the practical and even the subversive.
Christos Simatos (Greece)
Christos Simatos is a painter and photographer. He has presented a solo exhibition entitled Familiar–Unfamiliar at the Athens Art Gallery, in 2009. He has participated in the group exhibitions Tracing Istanbul, Sismanoglio Megaro, Istanbul΄Holy Theological School of Halki, Halki Island, Turkey; City of Athens Technopolis, 2010; Summer Days 2010, Athens Art Gallery; A Pale Shade of White, Bellonion Foundation, Santorini Island, Greece, 2009; Summer Days 2009, Athens Art Gallery; Art Athina 2009 Exhibition; Image–space Action II, City of Athens Technopolis, 2008; Capturing Utopia, Fournos Center for Digital Culture, Athens, 2005. His work was presented at the Gallery E Hanco, Finland, in 2003. He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts (A.S.F.A.) on scholarship of the Greek State Scholarship Foundation, 1997-2002; the UCM Facultad Bellas Artes in Madrid, 2000; and at the Postgraduate Department of A.S.F.A., 2005-2007.
Dimitris Skouroyannis (Greece)
Dimitris Skouroyiannis is a visual artist of high sensitivity, deep knowledge and understanding of his topics. His artistic work is the result of experiencing specific issues bearing multiple implications, rich in symbolism, which he expands and enriches with current existential matters and political and historical shortcomings. He has presented three solo exhibitions of his work and has participated in many group exhibitions. His work is part of public and private collections, in Greece and abroad. He studied painting and sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts and was awarded a scholarship of the Greek State Scholarship Foundation. He pursued his postgraduate studies at the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens (Interdepartmental program “Design-Space–Culture”). He has taught painting at the Department of Plastic Arts and Art Sciences of the University of Ioannina.
Amalia Stavroulaki (Greece)
Amalia Stavroulaki is a painter and has presented her solo exhibitions in Athens at Gallery “7”, in 2004 and 2007 and at the Olga Georgantea Gallery in 2000. Participations: Installation, Municipality of Athens; the Open Art book, Hillside Press Editions, Athens; EURO-World – Europeans painting for young cancer patients, Zappeio, Athens; Walking the Galleries, in the context of the Cultural Olympiad, Athens; 100 years of Minerva, metro station exhibition space, Syntagma Square, Athens; One minute, Alba art bar, Athens; Antiracist laundry, General Secretariat for Youth, Athens; Africa, Granta magazine, Booze Coοperativa, Athens; Notes for a Tree and Recycling Instructions, “Melina” Cultural Center of the Municipality of Athens; The A-projects, T.A.F./The Art Foundation, Athens. Her work is part of many public and private art collections. She studied painting and stage design at the Athens School of Fine Arts. She was awarded three scholarships of the Greek State Scholarship Foundation.
Radhika Subramaniam (USA)
Radhika Subramaniam is the Director/Chief Curator of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design where she is also assistant professor. Her curatorial practice is cross-disciplinary and dialogic, committed to public pedagogy, critical urbanism, and political and social justice. Her projects include Living Concrete/Carrot City with Nevin Cohen, 2010; Art in Odd Places: Sign with Erin Donnelly, 2009; Abecedarium for Our Times, Apexart, 2008; Rods and Cones: Seeing from the Back of One’s Head, South Asian Women’s Creative Collective, 2008; and Cities, Art and Recovery, LMCC, 2005–2006, a two-year international initiative focused on art and culture in the aftermath of catastrophe. Radhika Subramaniam was previously the director of cultural programs at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) and founding/executive editor of Connect: art.politics.theory.practice, an interdisciplinary art journal published by Arts International. She has a PhD in Performance Studies and an MS in Anthropology.
Do-Ho Suh (Korea)
One of the most acclaimed artists today, Do-Ho Suh is born in Korea in 1962, and lives and works in New York City. He has received multiple awards and widespread critical commendation. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held in galleries in London, Tokyo, New York, and Madrid and in museums worldwide, including the Seattle Art Museum, Artsonje Center in Korea, and the Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris. Suh’s work has also been included in group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Contemporary Art Society, Edinburgh, and the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, among others. Suh was chosen to represent Korea at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, among others.
Vagelis Theodoridis (Greece)
Vagelis Theodoridis is a visual artist. He presented his first solo exhibition Return to our homeland at the “Kaplanon 5” Gallery, in Athens, in 2009. He has participated in the group exhibitions Tribute to Michael Cacoyannis, Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, Athens, 2010; Obvious, City of Athens Technopolis, 2010; Tracing Istanbul, Sismanoglio Megaro, Istanbul and City of Athens Technopolis, 2010; Secret Rooms, Thanassis Frissiras Gallery, Athens, 2009; Notes for a Tree & Recycling Instructions and It happened in Athens, “Melina” Cultural Centre of the Municipality of Athens, 2009; Metropolis, Athens Municipal Art Gallery, 2007; FataMorgana-Visual approach of Kavadias’ poetry, Benaki Museum, Pireos street Annexe, Athens, 2006; Routes, Patras 2006–Cultural Capital of Europe, 2006; Strictly Appropriate, Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens, 2005; artists’ exhibition, Istanbul, 2005. Part of his work belongs to private collections. He attended the 7th Painting Workshop of the Athens School of Fine Arts and graduated in 2006.
Maria Theodorou (Greece)
Maria Theodorou is founding member and director of SARCHA (School of ARCHitecture for All), Athens. She has been in charge of the Un-built international programme (SARCHA – Athens Byzantine Museum 2008), coordinator of the Architecture Network (2001-2006), Council of Europe expert (2003), exhibition curator of Athenscape (RIBA, 2003), director of Ephemeral Structures in the city of Athens, International Architecture Competition (Athens 2002-2003), editor of the Athens D.O.E.S. series (2003), national coordinator for the Archimed best practice EU pilot project (1996-2001). Recent articles focus on architecture and the political: Architecture’s Critical Context, Architectural Resistance, Architecture and Activism, Inequalities and the Neoliberal city. She currently directs the CCR Athens Gerani (city resources reset) pilot project commissioned by the Hellenic Ministry for the Environment in the context of SARCHA’s 2010-11 program CityCommonResource. She holds a PhD in History and Theory of Architecture (Architectural Association, London), a postgraduate diploma on Monument Restoration (La Sapienza, Rome), an undergraduate degree in architecture (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece), and was a Fulbright visiting fellow (School of Architecture, Princeton, 2005).
Alexandros Tombazis (Greece)
Alexandros Tombazis is an acclaimed architect living and working in Athens. He was awarded an honorary PhD by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2006 and elected honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1991. He divides his time between his architectural office, which employs about 40 people, and travelling which combines his basic interests – architecture, painting, photography – and through these the exploration of yet another part of the world. His interest in technology and the first oil crisis made him turn towards the use of solar and alternative energy sources, which have become an integral part of his architectural design. Apart from those in Greece, projects have been built in Cyprus, Portugal, the Netherlands, Romania, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and China. Alexandros Tombazis has been awarded prizes in more than 115 national, international or invited competitions.
Jilly Traganou (USA)
Professor Traganou is Director of Academic Affairs and Associate Professor at the Department of Art and Design History and Theory, Parsons The New School for Design, New York. She has previously taught architecture, art history and design at the University of Texas in Austin, and architecture at the University of Thessaly in Volos, Greece. She is the author of the book The Tokaido Road: Traveling and Representation in Edo and Meiji Japan (Routledge, 2004), a contributor to Suburbanizing the Masses (Ashgate, 2003) and Japanese Capitals (Ashgate, 2008) and co-editor of Travel, Space, Architecture (Ashgate, 2009). She has published in the Journal of Modern Greek Studies, Design Issues, Journal of Design History, L’architecture d’aujourd’hui, Journal for Architecture and Building Science of the Architectural Institute Japan, and Architecture in Greece. Her work has been supported by various institutions such as the Graham Foundation, the Program in Hellenic Studies at Princeton University, The Japan Foundation, the Japanese Ministry of Education (Monbusho), the European Union Science and Technology Program, and the Greek State Scholarship Foundation (IKY). She holds a PhD in Architecture from the University of Westminster where she was a Fellow during 1999-2000.
George Tzirtzilakis (Greece)
George Tzirtzilakis is Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture of the University of Thessaly, independent exhibition curator, program advisor for the DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, documentary editor on contemporary Greek architecture on the Hellenic Television (ET1) since 2005, and columnist for the newspaper TA NEA since 1999. He has been curator and commissioner of the Greek participation in the 52nd Biennale of Venice, 2007; deputy art director of the International Exhibition of Contemporary Art Outlook, Athens, 2004; co-curator of the exhibitions The Overexcited Body, Milan and Sao Paulo, 2001; Aris Konstantinidis:Pictures and Drawings, Rethymno, Greece, 2000; curator of the exhibition Π+Π=Δ: New Art from the seventies, DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens, 1999; the retrospective exhibition of Nikos Kessanlis, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, 1997; co-curator of the exhibition Greek Realities, Odense, Denmark, 1997; Berlin, 1996; of the architectural part of the exhibition Metamorphoses of the Modern, National Gallery, 1992; and of the Greek participation at the 5th Biennale of Architecture, Venice, 1991. George Tzirtzilakis has been chief editor of The Art Magazine, 1993-1997; co-editor and directing committee member of Tefhos magazine, 1989-1993; and head of research at the Hellenic Products Design Center on the history of Industrial Products in Greece, 1986-2002. He has participated in seminars and collective volumes, edited monographies, special tributes and published articles in newspapers, magazines, books and exhibition catalogues, in Greece and abroad.
Marios Angelos Voutsinas (Greece)
Marios Angelos Voutsinas is a jewelry, micro sculptures, interior designer and interior decorator with projects in Greece and abroad involving houses in urban and suburban areas as well as professional spaces of specific standards and high aesthetics. His jewelry and micro sculptures are also outstanding. His work can be found in the collections of important collectors and art connoisseurs as the Pieridi Collection, the Claude & Sydney Picasso Collection, the Karen Burke Goulandris Collection and many others worldwide. His work is exhibited at the Art Shop of the Benaki Museum, Pireos street Annexe. In 2004, Gema editions launched an album with a retrospective presentation of his 30 years of creative work. Since 1978 he has presented 15 solo exhibitions in Greece, Europe and the U.S. and has participated in many group exhibitions both in Greece and abroad. He studied Interior Architecture at the AKTO School of Art and Design.
Sarah Wigglesworth Architects (U.K.)
Sarah Wigglesworth Architects (SWA) was established in London, 1994, by Sarah Wigglesworth, architect and Professor of Architecture at the University of Sheffield. The practice specializes in low energy, sustainable building that inventively uses readily available materials and its work is informed by a wide range of influences driven by a theorization of issues unique to each project. Its portfolio includes private and social housing, masterplanning projects, cultural buildings, offices and structures for education, arts and sport. It is best known for its multiple award-winning, internationally acclaimed, pioneering house and associated office building, 9/10 Stock Orchard Street –The Straw House and Quilted Office– which employs a system of wailing that incorporates straw bales. The project also introduces innovative spatial, formal and material solutions to housing design. SWA has won many awards and has been published worldwide in architectural books and magazines, including the Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary Architecture.
Worldbike (USA)
Worldbike is an international network of bicycle designers, industry leaders, and international development professionals, working together to provide transportation solutions and create income-generating opportunities for the world’s poor. All across the developing world, people use bicycles the way we use pickup trucks and school busses. However, the bicycles sold in developing countries are those designed for recreation and are ill-suited to carrying loads. Worldbike designs higher-strength, longer-wheelbase bicycles with integrated cargo capacity. It conducts trial markets to determine the ideal price levels, works with the bike industry to get the best quality parts and frames at the lowest cost, and partners with international development organizations like Kickstart International to sell and distribute the bicycles. In May of 2007, Worldbike was selected by the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum to have two load-carrying bicycles in their “Design for the Other 90%” exhibition.
Worldbike / Ross Evans (USA): Ross Evans is a Stanford‐trained engineer, adventurer, inventor, humanitarian, yogi and design catalyst. In 1995, at the age of 19, he traveled to Managua carrying with him bike tools, a welder, and a question for his undergraduate thesis project. Alongside a group of war-disabled men, he set out in pursuit of a simple cargo-carrying bicycle solution. In the process, Evans discovered how to enable a beautiful machine (the bicycle) to meet more needs and desires than ever before. What began in 1995 became two pioneering organizations – Worldbike and its altruistic “for-profit” sibling, Xtracycle. Worldbike’s mission is to measurably improve the lives of people in poverty through universal access to bicycles and its vision is that, by 2030, access to bicycles has ensured that lack of personal mobility is no longer an impediment to healthcare, education, and employment.
Solon Xenopoulos Eleni Hadjinicolaou Architects (Greece)
Eleni Hadjinicolaou and Solon Xenopoulos established their architectural office in 1993. Involvement in architectural and planning projects of different context and scale as well as references to other art forms outline the office’s main pursuits. The CyBC Archives Building, the Primary School in Paphos, the Dormitory in Patra, the Open air theatre in Delphi and the Athens Music Hall’s Furniture, Equipment and Signage are some of their completed projects. The Open air theatre in Delphi and the Primary School in Paphos won the “Architectural Awards SADAS-PEA” prize in 2005 and 2010 respectively. Solon Xenopoulos is a Professor Emeritus at the School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens and a Professor in the Department of Architecture, University of Nicosia. He studied Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens and holds a Postgraduate Studies degree from University College London. Eleni Hadjinicolaou has been a member of the “Athens ’96” Dossier coordinating team for the Olympic Games bid, and a collaborator of the distinguished architect – planner, Professor George Kandilis. She studied Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens, holds a Postgraduate Studies degree from the University College London, and is a Ph.D. Candidate at the National Technical University of Athens.
Nikos Xydakis (Greece)
Nikos Xydakis is currently editor-in-chief of Kathimerini newspaper where he has been working since 1993. He has also worked as an editor and journalist for various magazines and newspapers since 1984. He is PhD candidate at the Communication and Media Department, Panteion University, Athens. He is a member of the Board of the Society of Greek Art Critics (AICA-Hellas). He studied dentistry at the University of Athens and holds a postgraduate degree in Art History. He has published poems, essays and prose.
Lina Stergiou
Lina Stergiou is architect and AAO project’s concept and curator. She is co-founder of the non-profit organization 4 Life Strategies, that organizes the series of projects of Against All Odds: Ethics/Aesthetics, and principal of LS/Architecture&Strategies, a practice of active research and inventive design, focusing on the intersection of aesthetics and politics, and the role of the avant-garde in architecture. Her spatial projects have received awards (Special Diploma Leonardo 2009; Diploma of the Russian Union of Architects / 3rd Minsk International Biennale, among others), have been exhibited (Women architects in Europe in France, Italy, U.K., Spain and Ireland; Athens-scape in RIBA gallery, London; the 3rd International Cultural Festival in Busan, Korea; the national architectural exhibition of Patras Cultural Capital of Europe2006; the 2nd and the 3rd Biennale of Young Greek Architects, among others), have been published internationally and have received distinctions in international architectural competitions (honorable mention in the international architectural competition of redefining the waterfront of the city of Busan, Korea, among others). Her research has been supported by fellowships and grants, such as the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation, the Seeger Fellowship in Research of Princeton University, and the Kingston University London. She has edited books, among them Revelation for the Greek Cultural Olympiad in 2004. She is an educator and has taught at the School of Architecture, National Technical University of Athens and at the University of Thessaly in Volos, Greece. She has delivered public talks and lectures at Yale University, Princeton University, Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia Italy, Laval University Canada, International Cultural Festival of Busan, Korea, among others. She studied Architecture at the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens (ΒSc and MSc Architecture, Dipl.-Ing. Architect), obtained a post-professional MArch in the field of Architecture towards Urban Design in New York (Pratt Institute) and continued with Doctoral studies in London (Kingston School of Art).