Associated researchers, artists, activists and collaborators
PARTNERS / COLLABORATORS:
Visioneers, or World Access for the Blind, a US-based charity that is committed to facilitating the self-directed achievement and Perceptual Freedom of blind people of all ages, advocating for, and raising awareness about, the strengths and capabilities of blind people across the USA and around the world.
Patrick Devlieger (BE), coordinator of the Anthropology of Disability Research Line, University of Leuven, Belgium. He holds associate positions at the University of Illinois, University of Alberta, and Stellenbosch University and has written on the linguistic, social-historical, and material contexts of people with disabilities.
Karin Harrasser (AU) is a professor of cultural theory at the University of Art and Design Linz. Her research focuses on the techniques and media of the body, prosthetic disempowerment, popular culture and science fiction, gender and agency and the longue durée of coloniality. In addition to her academic work, she has developed numerous projects at the intersection of arts, humanities and science communication, including projects at nGbK Berlin, Kampnagel Hamburg, Tanzquartier Wien, and MobileAcademy Berlin. She is co-editor in chief of Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften (Journal for Cultural Studies).
Dr. Arch. Jasmien Herssens (BE), OP Docent, Designing for More, Faculty of Architecture and Art, Hasselt University, Belgium. Her Phd “Designing for More” focusses on new haptic design parameters found with the help of people who are congenitally blind. She currently conducts research on design methodology with a specialisation in Design for All.
Yasin Yeşilyurt (TR) is Assistant Professor in the department of Radio TV Cinema at Istanbul Yeni Yuzyil University. He graduated from Maltepe University and continued his study in Australia and the US. After returning to Turkey he started his PhD in Communication Studies at Maltepe University and completed his thesis “Posthumanism and Science Fiction Cinema” in 2017. His research fields are posthumanism, transhumanism, media cultures, film studies.
Mostafa Attia (EG) is an independent consultant, a (blind) activist and researcher. He is originally from Egypt, where he graduated from the Faculty of Arts (English Department) at Helwan University, Cairo, and is currently based in the UK, having obtained an MA in Disability Studies from the University of Leeds in 2009, and completed his Ph.D. on “Revolution, Global Development and Disability Politics in Egypt”. His research area includes discrimination, racism, ableism, equality, and inclusion, which informs his work in designing policies and consultations to remove barriers for disabled people, f.ex. designing a disability chapter in the new Egyptian Child Law (2008) and an inclusive employment strategy in Kuwait in cooperation with the UNDP. He often with international organisations and in partnership with NGOs.
Dr. Sean Singh Matharoo (US), Postdoctoral Scholar, Carolina Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity, Department of Romance Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Matharoo’s research is about speculative aesthetics and philosophy. He is also a noise musician whose collaborative pieces about the environment may be understood to problematize the presupposition of colonial-racial divisions in thinking and being.
Sarah van Lamsweerde (BE) creates performances, installations and publications that question the way we look at art and reality. Experimenting with extracurricular methods (oral traditions, unfamiliar languages, underprivileged senses) is central in her often collaborative working processes. She graduated from Dasarts in Amsterdam with a master’s degree in artistic research and performance (MA). Her work has been presented internationally in theatre as well as visual art contexts. She lives in Brussels and Amsterdam.
Carolina Stolf Silveira (BR) is an Architect and Urban Planner, holds a Master and PhD in Architecture and Urbanism, and is currently a professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the Universidade do Estado Santa Catarina, UDESC, Brazil. With experience in mobility and public transport plans, she worked for the Instituto de Pesquisa e Planejamento para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável de Joinville (IPPUJ), and on the implementation of a Urban Mobility Plan and Policies in the Metropolitan Region of Florianópolis, specifying the accessibility requirements for public transport, and was an advisor to the Municipal Council for the Rights of Disabled People of Joinville.
Shannon Finnegan (US) is a multidisciplinary artist making work about accessibility and disability culture. They have done projects with Banff Centre, the High Line, MCA Denver, Tallinn Art Hall, Nook Gallery, and the Wassaic Project. They have spoken about their work at the Brooklyn Museum, School for Poetic Computation, The 8th Floor, and The Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library. In 2018, they received a Wynn Newhouse Award and participated in Art Beyond Sight’s Art + Disability Residency. In 2019, they were an artist-in-residence at Eyebeam. Their work has been written about in C Magazine, Art in America, Hyperallergic, and the New York Times. They live and work in Brooklyn, NY.
Abigail Hirsch (IL/UK) is an independent artist with an expertise in accessibility. Since completing her Fine Art studies in Goldsmiths, University of London, in 2001, Abigail has developed a socially engaged practice with a focus on accessibility in the arts. She has gained a track record in creating work in collaboration with diverse marginalized communities, and supported artists with disabilities (Action Space), providing access to fully enable participation in the arts. Hirsch has curated several exhibitions promoting inclusive art practice. Abigail has been a key person in the development and delivery of the SEN access program at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. She has completed several commissions creating multi-sensory access resources for museums and heritage, notably ‘Curious Cermics’, Victoria and Albert Museum’s first sensory backpack for visitors with sensory impairments and their families. Hirsch consults for museums in the area of multimodal education and accessibility. She is regularly invited internationally to give talks and workshops at higher education institutions and conferences. Since 2011 Abigail’s activities entail commuting between London, UK and Tel – Aviv, IL
Mina Paasche (NO) is currently enrolled in a bachelor’s in fine arts at Trondheim Academy of Fine Arts, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, Trondheim Norway. Previously, she studied art at Holbæk Academy of Arts and photography and VJ at Engelsholm College of Art and Music in Denmark. She also holds a master’s and a bachelor’s in social work from Aalborg University in Copenhagen. She works within the field of artistic research and combines art, cultural probes, ethnography and technology. She has worked in various media including, film, video, sound, installation, painting, photography and live performances which have been exhibited at a number of exhibitions at performance and media arts festivals, institutions and gallery’s as; Århus Artspace in Denmark (2020), Ars Electronica Festival in Linz (2020), Gallery KIT in Trondheim (2019, 2018), Den frie utstillings bygning in Copenhagen (2019, 2016), Gallery Blunk (2019) and in KITX (2019, 2018), performance for CPH:DOX Audio:visual (2019), at The Music House in Aalborg (2019) and in Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (2018), Carpark festival (2018), Plugout festival (2017) modstrøm festival (2017) amongst others.
Krishna Christine Washburn (US) has performed with many leading dance companies including Jill Sigman’s thinkdance, Infinity Dance Theater, Heidi Latsky Dance, Marked Dance Project, and LEIMAY. She has collaborated with many independent choreographers, including Patrice Miller, iele paloumpis, Perel, Vangeline, Micaela Mamede, Apollonia Holzer, and most notably with A. I. Merino, who especially created her signature role, Countess Erzsébet Bathory, and with whom she founded the artistic collective Historical Performances. She also has several ongoing artistic collaborations, including work with wearables artist Ntilit (Natalia Roumelioti). Krishna is the Artistic Director of The Dark Room, a multi-disciplinary project with fellow visually impaired dancer, Kayla Hamilton.
Dima Mohamad (NO) has a multidisciplinary academic and professional background in Education, Clinical Psychology, and Childhood research. In 2019 she obtained a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Bergamo in Italy. Her interest lies in academic research related to social justice and equal inclusion for minority groups such as individuals with disabilities as well as individuals with immigrant backgrounds. She is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in Childhood studies and working as a learning assistant at the Norwegian University of science and technology in Trondheim, Norway.
Sonia Hage (IN) is an independent researcher in Archaeology and History based in Ita Nagar, in north-east India. She obtained her masters in Archaeology from the Institute of Archaeology, Delhi. She has worked as an Assistant Archaeologist with Archaeological Survey of India [ASI], Guwahati Circle, in Assam, participated in archaeological explorations and in excavations of many archaeological sites across India, and is presently engaged in conducting independent research on Ethno-Archaeology in Arunachal Pradesh, in north-east India.
Jaime del Val (SP) is a transdisciplinary media artist, philosopher, activist, ontohacker, technologist, uncurator, promotor of the Metabody Project, Forum and Institute, and the non profit
organisation Reverso, pianist, composer, visual artist and writer. Since 2000 Jaime develops transdisciplinary projects in the transvergence of arts (dance, performance, architecture, visual and media arts, music), technologies, critical theory and activism. Jaime’s projects propose redefinitions of embodiment, perception and space that challenge contemporary control society as well as normative conceptions of affect, sex, gender, ability or intimacy and have been presented with over 120 performances, metaformances and installations in museums, theatres, festivals, urban and rural areas, refugee camps and numerous unconventional places, in novel experiential formats in over 50 cities of 30 countries, across Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa, mostly under the collectives REVERSO and Metabody.
Rishabh Uniyal (IN/US) holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc in Physics from Delhi University and IIT Chennai as well as a PhD in Physics (Experimental Particle Physics) at CUA, Washington DC. He currently a Graduate Research Assistant at CERN. He has extensive experience in research and teaching in data analysis and visualisation, data extraction and wrangling and machine learning.
Kinga Bartniak is a Wrocław-based visual researcher. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, also studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vilnius. In 2019 she started her doctorate on the topic of work and leisure. She participated in an intermedia residence in Germany and a project in Italy. As she works at the intersection of three countries (Poland, Lithuania and Germany), she seeks neutral, gradient spaces that encourage open communication. She uses various media but mainly focused on video and objects. She cooperated with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, OPENHEIM, Open Studio in Wroclaw and Gallery JEST.
Ivan Juarez (MX/PL) is a landscape architect and practicing artist. He works at the intersection of practice, research and teaching, across a wide variety of media and scales, exploring unique sites in dialogue with places, senses and ecologies. Ivan Juarez is founder and principal of x-studio, a multidisciplinary research practice focused on exploring the dialogue between cultural and ecological systems. He is also the founder of Sensory Landscapes, a research lab and educational initiative dedicated to the conceptualization of innovative processes for understanding and perceiving the environment through sensory experiences. Through his practice he has conceived a series of projects in diverse contexts and scales ranging from ecological interventions, landscape acupunctures, low-impact interventions, placemaking and site-specific installations to bio-cohabitation spaces, body architectures and sensory devices. These works have been created in different landscapes of Europe, America, America, Africa and Australia. His works and trajectory have been awarded by multiple international institutions and have been extensively published and exhibited at several museums, galleries and public venues internationally.
Jan Müggenburg (DE) is an Assistant Professor (Juniorprofessor) at the Leuphana University in Lüneburg. He is principal investigator of the project “Assistive Media”, funded by the German Research Foundation (2018–2021) and is a member of the director’s board of Leuphana’s Centre for Digital Cultures. His general research interests include the history and epistemology of computing, cybernetics and bionics. Currently Jan ist writing a book on the history of soft- and hardware for computer users with dis/abilities in Germany.
Tine Voecks (DE) is an artist, art educator, organiser, fundraiser and
cultural scientist from Germany. She graduated from the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe und the University in Hildesheim. She cooperates with institutions (universities, schools, socio-cultural places, museums) and works on the question: How can artistic, scientific and every-day- knowledge, experience and research contribute to social change? By combining different medias she explores performative formats in teaching in the field of art
education. She connects people and places to create process-oriented platforms and situations for exchange and critique. Her aim is to initiate space where people can share knowledge and experience
personal tryouts to learn from each-other in an atmosphere of openness.
Robert Gorman (US/CL) is an independent artist using percussive sound and video art to create live performance pieces, and has been researching body movement and percussive sounds since 2015. He studied Sociology and Art at Northwest Missouri State University and holds a master’s degree in sculpture. In 2016 He was invited to participate in a collaborative artist residency, where he meet Thomas Tajo and created a live performance with him and another artist for International Multimedia Festival in Germany. In 2018 his work was featured in a number of experimental and underground art festivals in Europe which include, the New Media Video Art Festival Madrid, at La Neomudejar Museo (museum) as well as the Destruktiva XI Festival for Experimental Art & Music at AZ Mulheim in Germany. In 2019 he was invited to perform for the Transplanted Root Research Symposium, Percussion: Counterculture within. He lives and works in Santiago, Chile.
Diego Gutierrez-Valladares (PL/Costa Rica) is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher and educator working in the intersections of social engaged art practices, technology studies and pedagogy. His practice and research is concerned with investigating ecologies of care and repair, collaboration and affect as means towards forms of pedagogy and artistic research. He holds a BA in Fine Arts University of Costa Rica specialized in printmaking and MA in Artistic Production at the Politechnic University of Valencia. He works in different forms of artistic media with a special interest in socially engaged art, performance,installation, exhibition design, print and pedagogy. Has exhibited in venues such as the Guanlan Print Biennial 2009, MTG Krakow Print Triennial 2012 & 2018 and received an honorable mention at the R.O.C International Print Biennial. Currently teaches in the studio of Digital and Experimental Printmaking and is a PhD candidate at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wrocław.
Goldi Tewari and Anupum Pant (US/IND) who set up Edusecrets, an online platform with tools & resources around data analysis, data visualization, research, writing, and related technical skills. Goldi Tewari earned a Ph.D. in Communication Science from Ghent University, Belgium. During which, she traveled to 17 countries and befriended voraciously. She strongly believes in interdisciplinary research. To help researchers across various fields, with their shared problems she co-created Edusecrets with her husband, Anupum Pant. Anupum Pant is a PhD candidate at the University of Washington in the Materials Science and Engineering department. He is passionate about data visualization (or graphic design), and amateur Python scripting for automating mechanical tasks in science and life in general.
Basil Theodorou (GR/DE) is a research analyst, sound artist and movement trainer. Following years as Research Director and Analyst at leading brokerage houses, he now works independently as an analyst reviewing sector trends across industries within the context of the so called “markets”. Concurrently he writes sound poetry by combining the performative gestures of improvisation, with the use of any instrument and socio-political statements. He perceives sound art as a tool to engage listeners and prompt their participation. He holds an M.Phil. in International Finance from Glasgow University, has studied music technology and composition privately in Athens, while in recent years he has been trained in and teaching a body-mind movement method in Berlin. His equity research work has been published in financial newspapers, whereas his sound art projects have been presented/broadcasted at Cultural Centers, Art Galleries, Music Bars and on the Radio.
Kristin Long (US) spent most of her career in the education field working with disabled and non disabled children and adults alike. She holds a B.A. from Hollins College, Roanoke, VA. in French and dance and lived, studied and worked in Paris, France, working as an English conversational assistant at the Institut National Des Jeunes Aveugles, studying at the University de la Sorbonne Paris III and IV and interning with theater/dance company Le Regard du Cygne in Paris. She has worked as an interpreter for the Paris Opera Ballet School at the Vail International Dance Festival and interning in American Ballet Theatre’s education department. Ms. Long also participated in a documentary on blind and visually impaired dancers. The last nine years she spent working as a French librarian and French language support specialist at a partial immersion French/Spanish elementary school in Washington D.C. Currently based in the Washington D.C. area, she is hoping to make a career transition from education to a career promoting inclusion in the arts, especially dance, for all abilities with a focus on visually impaired and blind students.