Alpetyan is co-founder of AJZ space, an independent art venue in Yerevan which hosts diverse cultural activities from exhibitions and screenings to workshops and theatrical readings. One recent project, Economy of Hope, was included in the Gyumri

Biennial of Contemporary Art in 2012. He also initiated a community center and residency program through the Institute for Contemporary Art Yerevan, and a street intervention, no art in public space, that called attention to urban transformation. Alpetyan was interested in gaining new perspectives on how social and political conditions affect artistic development.

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Working primarily in video, Belchev creates contemporary “koans” by combining contradictory visual and ideological elements that provoke reflection. He has also created interactive pieces including Immigration in Suitcase, which invites audience members to identify with immigrants. He is one of the founders, organizers and curators of the annual Videoholica International Video Festival in Varna which serves as a video art forum with international participation. He hoped to immerse himself in the American contemporary art scene and take part in experimental projects with US artists.

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Since 2011, Buldakov, an artist with a degree in social anthropology, has been working together with architect Anastasia Potemkina on the Urban Fauna Laboratory. A research platform, the Laboratory studies the relationship and adaptation between parasites and humans in urban environments. He has been a member of other artist collectives including the Radek Community and the Supostat Agency, and has had numerous solo exhibitions in Russia. Buldakov wanted to exchange ideas with artists, students and others who share his field of research especially in zoology or ethology.

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David’s site-specific, interdisciplinary projects develop through artist collaboration and community interaction. Through this process she investigates the nature of society’s everyday practices, codes and behaviors. In an ongoing project, An Alternative Guide, she completed actions that were given to her by tour guides as a way to reveal alternative perspectives on local history and social structures. She hoped to create a similar project within a community in the US which will invite people to engage in dialogue and reflect on their surroundings.

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An art and documentary photographer, Dia focuses on the urban environment, in particular on the transformation of cities through time. As the best entry from a Romanian photographer, he was recently shortlisted for the International Street Photography Competition, and nominated as a photographic ambassador for Romania by Fotoura. He was interested in the phenomenon of urban sprawl in the US and wants to learn more about America’s photographic history.

As a visual arts programmer at the Students’ City Cultural Center (SCCC) in Belgrade and a member of the curatorial duo maramaida, Gruden is active in both the academic and alternative scenes. She’s interested in involving the student community in art projects that can serve as a powerful tool for understanding society. At the SCCC, she is currently working on a residency program for international photographers to create projects with students, and she has also developed collective works involving artists, students and citizens. She would like to cultivate connections with American cultural institutions and gain first-hand knowledge of residency programs and fundraising strategies.

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With a background in architecture and urban planning, Nikonorova aims to transform urban spaces by enriching the cultural environment of the city. She works primarily in street art and video, but has also recently taken on the role of curator, spearheading an ambitious project to revitalize a major pedestrian route in Almaty through community participation and tactical design. She looked forward to exchanging ideas with contemporary arts professionals in all disciplines who work in the urban environment and was particularly interested in learning how DIY projects are organized and implemented in the US.

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Michal Novotný is director of Centre for contemporary art FUTURA in Prague, external curator at PLATO Ostrava. He teaches at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague. Recent curatorial research projects and residencies include Delfina Foundation, London, 2016; Stroom Den Haag, Haag, 2015; Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, 2014; Contemporary Art Museum, Rijeka, 2014; Villa Arson, Nice 2013. In 2018, he curated Orient, an exhibition survey into once called Eastern European art taking place at Kim?, Riga, BOZAR, Brussels and Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow. Other recent exhibitions include The Life and Death of the 1980s at Syntax, Lisbon (2017) and Deux Sens du Decoratif, CAC Passerelle, Brest (2018). 

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Popescu works primarily in stop-motion animation, and is involved in the entire process from creation of the characters to post-production. He has also carried out projects including Public Private, in which he took on the role of a public servant, collecting dispersed coal in a wheelbarrow in order to heat public bus stations during the winter. He hoped to visit studios and attend workshops and screenings related to stop-motion animation. He was also interested in learning methods of using art and community engagement to reflect on environmental issues.

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As local projects manager at YARAT Contemporary Art Space, Sokolova oversees creative projects with a focus on urban revival and cultural dialogue. In 2013, she organized a major public art festival with a theme of interactivity featuring ten works by artists from Azerbaijan, the UK, Russia, the US, Georgia and the Netherlands at sites throughout Baku. She sought to bring contemporary Azerbaijani art to American audiences and to forge new collaborations with art institutions, galleries and cultural centers. She also welcomed the opportunity to meet artists and arts professionals and to improve her managerial skills.

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As an audiovisual media artist, Špičaka creates three-dimensional forms that are overlaid with audiovisual compositions using projection mapping. Using conceptual geometry and real-time performance with media, she doesn’t finish her work conventionally but rather allows for the audience to use their imagination. She also curates and produces collaborative events and workshops in the Nordic-Baltic region. She wanted to partner with US artists and communities to create an art installation or performance that responded to a particular space or environment.

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Tomšič co-founded the Museum of Transitory Art (MoTA) in 2008 and has been involved in strategic planning, international collaborations and development of an artist residency program. MoTA is a multidisciplinary platform dedicated to the research, production and presentation of Transitory, Experimental and Live Art forms. For the past few years Tomšič has also been in charge of MoTA’s educational programming and has developed an online platform, together with various Polish organizations, to archive and share public programs such as artists talks, workshops, discussions and symposia. She hoped to research practices of archiving transitory works and strategies for audience development and engagement.

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Recently Valentinov has moved from being a studio artist to one who works primarily with a particular space, timeframe and conditions and through interaction with the audience. His main interest is in science and technology and many of his site-specific or public works incorporate pseudo-scientific apparatus or methodology. To produce his installation MITOSIS, for instance, he used a “diagnosing apparatus” to record the pulse waves of 144 participants on lasagna sheets which were then arranged as a grid to illustrate a living system. He wanted to create a site-specific work through interaction with community members and to learn more about the use of new technologies such as sensors and robotics in the field of art.

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Vujošević uses installation, video, drawing and performance to explore the archeology of identity produced in a particular social, technological and ideological environment. Her works combine objects from everyday life with animate elements and sound at different speeds and dynamics to create an atmosphere of frozen time that is connected to emotional memories. She has exhibited widely and was the representative of Montenegro at the Venice Biennale in 2005 and 2011. She hoped to realize a project in cooperation with US artists and community members and to expand her network of professional contacts.

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