Dara Birnbaum
Born in 1946, lives and works in New York. Video and installation artist who has contributed to prolific discussions about women and technology since the 1970s. Birnbaum’s early works tackled television as a language and particularly examined the way women have been stereotypically portrayed. Through a dynamic televisual language of images, music and text, she exposes the media’s embedded ideological meanings and posits video as a means of giving a voice to the individuals. Birnbaum’s works have been included in numerous important exhibitions, such as “America is Hard to See” at the Whitney Museum of American Art (2015) and “Cut to Swipe” at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2014). She has been the recipient of distinguished awards, including the American Film Institute’s Maya Deren Award for Independent Film and Video Artists and at the Chicago International Film Festival.
Cao Fei
Born in 1978, lives and works in Beijing. A multimedia artist who works across several media including video, installation, and performance art. Her works explore the poetic drama of contemporary China and rediscover the conventional aesthetic of daily life. In Cao’s video works, the soundtracks, editing rhythms and images themselves are essential for interpreting her cultural memories of the era; a time when China had just opened her door to the world. Her previous works have been exhibited in numerous international biennales including the Biennale of Sydney (2006 and 2010), Moscow Biennale (2005), Shanghai Biennale (2004), Istanbul Biennale (2007) and Venice Biennale (2003, 2007 and 2015). She has also exhibited video works in Tate Modern, Guggenheim Museum, the International Center of Photography, MoMA and MoMA P.S.1 in New York, Centre Pompidou and Palais de Tokyo in Paris, among others.
Tina Havelock Stevens
Lives and works in Sydney. With her educational background of film, sound, philosophy and cultural studies, it is difficult to limit Havelock Stevens’ practice to one category. From documentary filmmaking to drum performances, her humorous and experimental works represent a spirit of freedom that empowers the audience. For her, shooting a video is similar to improvising on a drum. Led by the right intuitive decisions, she has made films in unconventional environments such as ruins and underwater. In 2013, she won the Contemporary Section of the Fisher Ghost Art Prize, Campbelltown Arts Centre, with her Super 8 film Little Egypt in Marrickville.
Vvzela Kook
Vvzela KOOK, born in 1990, studied new media art in China Academy of Art and School of Creative Media in City University of Hong Kong. Mainly works on audio¬visual performance/work, media theatre and drawing. Participated in Hong Kong Arts Festival, Friszchelle Festival, Sound Art China Exhibition and “89+”program co¬curated by Hans Ulrich.
Rachel Maclean
Born in 1987, lives and works in Glasgow. Works across printing, media and photography to illustrate an imagined narrative in her video works, addressing issues of identity, social values and politics. Maclean creates special and unique characters that combine playful elements with unpredictable storytelling methods. Wearing colourful costumes and dramatic makeup, Maclean is a multi-tasker, playing all of the characters in her videos and acting as artist, director, and performer. Recent screenings of video works in Athens and Luxembourg Film Festival (2016); Moving Pictures, British Council and Film London, (2015-16). Maclean won the Glasgow Film Festival’s Margaret Tait Award (2013) and was nominated for the 2016 Film London Jarman Award. She represented Scotland at the 2017 Venice Biennale.
Natacha Nisic
Born in 1967, lives and works in Malakoff. Disappearance is a crucial theme for Nisic. Through research and interviews, she collects fragments of lost memories and muted voices from historical events. Using various mediums such as Super 8 and 16mm film, video, photography and drawing to interrogate the nature of image, Nisic’s works connect history to our own contemporaneity. She presented solo exhibition “Echo” at the Jeu de Paume in Paris (2013). She has exhibited her work in numerous institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Photography in Tokyo (2010), K21-Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen in Düsseldorf (2009), Centre Pompidou, Paris (2011), the Fondation Hermès (2014) and “Neriri Kiruru Harara” Media City Biennale (2016) in Seoul. She has been selected in Villa Medici in Italy (2007) and Villa Kujoyama in Japan (2001 and 2016).
Sputniko!
Born in 1985, lives and works in Boston and Tokyo. Sputniko! creates machines, robotics, music and videos exploring issues surrounding technology and pop culture. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab and a graduate of London’s Royal College of Art. Sputniko! is not only an artist, but also a singer, writer, actress, model and even an idol. Her playful and cross-boundary works examine the technology of everyday life, and rethink gender issues in relation to contemporary society. Sputniko! has presented her film and installation works internationally in museums, such as MoMA in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. In 2016 she created her first permanent art pavilion at Teshima Island in Benesse’s Naoshima Artsite for Setouchi Art Triennial.
Magdalen Wong
Born in 1981, lives and works in Hong Kong and New York. Wong works with video, installation, photography, sculpture and drawing. She collects objects from her daily life, and displays an alternative perspective to their stories through projections, sounds, and lighting. Altering the audience’s perception of everyday objects, she triggers our curiosity for the unordinary in the mundane. Wong received the Freeman Foundation Asian Artists’ Fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center Residency in 2010, and the Asia Pacific Artist Fellowship from the National Museum of Contemporary Art, South Korea in 2011. She recently completed a two-month residency at the Fjúk Art Center, Iceland (2016). She exhibited at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in The Netherlands (2014), Para/site Art Space (2006 – 2008) and Spring Workshop in Hong Kong (2015), among others.
Ji Hye Yeom
Born in 1982, lives and works in Seoul. Actively participates in numerous artist-in-residence programmes around the globe to exchange ideas with artists and cultural creators from different backgrounds and create transdisciplinary works, Yeom’s works exist across media such as video, installation, sculpture and illustration. Beyond her interest with space, her works also address humanity, politics, and sociological elements in relation to space. After participating in numerous residency programmes in Ghana, Iran, Palestine, Brazil, and Colombia, she had three solo shows including “All Exiles Have a Hidden Luck” in Artsonje Center Project Space, Seoul (2015), and participated in several group exhibitions.
