Omri Batkilin is a Painter from Tel-Aviv, currently based in Vienna. A graduate of the interdisciplinary arts program in Shenkar College and studying for a masters in Social Design at the Universität für angewandte Kunst in Vienna. His work is characterized by a dark and humorous perspective based on personal experiences, everyday life and political events mixed with fantasies occurring in an urban environment which he dreams about. The paintings describe a moment of anti climax within an unusual event, Ghost like creatures mix with confused characters of human beings – drunk, drugged, all taking part in a ceremony of hedonism. The streets and spaces where they gather are at times claustrophobic and banal, inspired by different cities, bars and apartments in Israel and Europe. All these try to catch a moment in time, where society ceases to function in what is considered a “normal” way, and go back to its primal deviant instincts: celebrating the disintegration of values as we perceive them in the 21st century, nothing is important and structured, hierarchy does not exist.
T Braun is an interdisciplinary artist who creates virtual worlds, drag performances, and interactive installations that challenge binary notions of gender. They are currently based in Tiohtià:ke (otherwise known as Montreal) pursuing a Ph.D. in Humanities at Concordia University. Their research-creation project explores the rich intersections of queer embodiment and VR, a concept they call Virtual Queerality. They are collaborating with trans and non-binary communities in the social VR platform VRChat to build a web VR archive where gender non-conforming people can share their stories, explore new means of virtual embodiment, and envision speculative futures.
Judith Haslöwer Judith Haslöwer earned her Bachelor’s degree at the intersection of cultural anthropology and urban studies in Hamburg, Germany. For her Master’s degree in Social Design at University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria she is exploring new methods of engaging and addressing the civil society and issues of our time. A special focus lies on the mechanics of language and handcrafts, that connect to a long tradition of thinkers and makers.
Marla Elisabeth Heid is a researcher incorporating means of visual art, curation, and writing. She studied Art Theory in Berlin and Beijing, holds a Master’s in Art and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London, and completed the Post-Master degree Of Public Interest at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Both her academic research and artistic interest explore the changes public spaces are going through and discuss the knowledge, methods, and values artistic practitioners produce within them. Her dissertation investigates the potentials created by conceptual art practices to generate an active perception of the space the artwork is situated in through elements of temporality, intervention, and ephemerality. In her artistic practice, she explores concepts of collective and individual memory, representational formats of histories and pasts, and the testing of constructive models that support the critical examination of public space as a site for democratic interactions.
Verena Miedl-Faißt is an artistic researcher, writer, friend, art educator and photographer based in Vienna and its neighbouring woods. Currently, she is a PhD in Art candidate at Center Research Focus at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Her projects have been hosted and screened by museums and cinemas and exhibited in various group shows in Vienna and abroad. www.verenafaisst.com
Arzu Mistry is an educator and artist and maintains a high level of dedication and enthusiasm for art, craft and design, as mediums for pedagogy, advocacy, transformation, and intervention for the building of sustainable inclusive communities. Arzu is the founder of the Art in Transit and placeARTS public art projects in the city of Bangalore with a focus on art as a medium for dialogue between people and the urban spaces they inhabit. Arzu co-facilitates the Accordion Book Project and is the co-creator of the artist book Unfolding Practice: Reflections on Learning and Teaching. Her art and education practice connects teachers, youth and families with place using memory, story, play and design practices through inter- disciplinary education and public community art facilitation, livelihoods training, teacher professional development and educational research and practice. Arzu led the Creative Education undergraduate program and co-led the Public Pedagogy and Arts Practice Masters program at the Srishti Manipal Institute for Art Design and Technology in Bangalore. She was a fellow with Reimagining Migration and has taught with the Project Zero Classroom, the Future of Learning and Arts and Passion Driven Learning programs at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. From May 2021 – 22 Arzu facilitated an education working group for Creative Dignity, a consortium of organizations working with crafts communities in India. Arzu is currently pursuing her doctoral work with a focus on craft-integrated learning at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Stephanie Spitz received her MFA in Studio Art from Montclair State University and her BFA in Painting from Drake University. She explores the parallels between art making and home building through painting, drawing, video, and installation. She has exhibited internationally and in 2016 she was an artist-in-residence at the New Rochelle Downtown Artist Residency in conjunction with Residency Unlimited. She currently works as a Higher Education Administrator and Adjunct Professor in Montclair, New Jersey.
Julia Stern is a graphic designer, illustrator, artist and teacher from Vienna. She was trained as an Applied Fashion Designer at the Vienna School of Art, studied Theater Studies and Journalism & Communication Studies at the University of Vienna, majoring in Stage and Costume Design and Media Design. In 2015 she started further education at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna at the Institute of Art Science & Art Education, for Design, Architecture and Environment (DAE) and Textile – free, applied & experimental artistic design (TEX).
Working as a graphic designer, illustrator, artist, teacher, her permanent engagement withsocial and educational issues and economic contexts, as well as her interest in material culture and modes of production, find expression in mostly textile and material-related works. In her works there is also an intensive reference to language, whereby she always tries to take a light-hearted look at what she is doing. In the field of graphic design, she has extensive experience in magazine design and educational design for adult education.
As one of the winning participants of the Octopus 2020 program, she is continuously working on a project about free and intuitive communication in the context of eating together as a social event – a moment of sharing and exchanging. Her current work explores personality, vulnerability, and protective mechanisms.
Jason Watson is a mixed-media artist and educator, whose studio practice combines explorations of figures, found objects, architecture, and text as visual materials that both reveal and conceal elusive layers of meaning. His work has been shown at galleries, universities, and nonprofit spaces throughout the US and the New York City metropolitan area. His artist residencies include the Newark Museum of Art, Cooper Union Emerging Artist Residency Program, the Lower East Side Printshop, the Elsewhere Living Museum, the Ragdale Foundation, and the Oberpfalzer Kunstlerhaus in Schwandorf, Germany. He participated in the Lincoln Center Summer Education Forum in 2018 and 2019 and is an alumni member of the Goodyear Artist Collaborative.
Watson was awarded the first Wesley Mancini Artist Residency at the McColl Center for Visual Art + Innovation in 2013. He has presented papers and projects at national academic conferences including “Creating in the Queer Diaspora”, a study of LGBTQ creative production in non-urban areas with Queer Caucus for Art at the College Art Association. As an art educator, Watson has taught a wide variety of drawing, painting, and printmaking classes and workshops over the past two decades at colleges, universities, and community spaces. He served as the Director of Visual Art Programs for Arts+, a nonprofit in Charlotte, North Carolina that provides art education to underserved populations. Watson is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Art Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He holds a Fellowship in Ceramics at Teachers College and is the co-editor of the upcoming publication “Turning Points: Responsive Pedagogies in Studio Art Education” with Dr. Richard Jochum and Dr. Judith M. Burton.