Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen is an art historian and cultural critic based in Copenhagen. He is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen. Bolt Rasmussen is co-editor of the journals K&K and Øjeblikket, and has published Den sidste avantgarde (2004), I sammenbruddets tjeneste (2008), and Avantgardens selvmord (2009) as well as articles about anti-capitalist activism, the revolutionary tradition, and the Situationist International, in journals such as Multitudes, Rethinking Marxism, and Third Text.
Recent publications include Totalitarian Art and Modernity (co-edited with Jacob Wamberg, Aarhus, 2010), and Expect Everything Fear Nothing: The Situationist Movement in Scandinavia and Elsewhere (co-edited with Jakob Jakobsen, Copenhagen & New York, 2011). Other recent activities include the exhibition This World We Must Leave, made in collaboration with Jakob Jakobsen, at Aarhus Kunstbygning.
Libia Castro & Ólafur Ólafsson, an Icelandic-Spanish artist duo, working together since 1997, based in Rotterdam and Berlin, Both artists received their M.A. in visual arts from The Frank Mohr Institute in the Netherlands, where their partnership was formed. From the onset, their work has garnered critical attention in Iceland, Germany, the Netherlands and abroad.
They have shown internationally in museums, biennials, art centers and galleries, including representing the Icelandic Pavilion at this year 54th La Biennale di Venezia. In 2009, they were awarded third place in the Dutch art prize, Prix de Rome, for their video Lobbyists.
Tone Olaf Nielsen is one half of Kuratorisk Aktion, an independent Danish curatorial collective, formed together with Frederikke Hansen in 2005. Collaborating with artists, theorists, and activists from all over the world, Kuratorisk Aktion‘s projects include: Rethinking Nordic Colonialism: A Postcolonial Exhibition Project in Five Acts (2006), The Road to Mental Decolonization (2008), Metropolitan Repressions (2009),
and TUPILAKOSAURUS: Pia Arke’s Issue with Art, Ethnicity, and Colonialism, 1981-2006 (2010). Nielsen’s presentation will address how Kuratorisk Aktion investigate the complex relations between historical colonialism, capitalist globalization, and neo-colonial forms of exploitation on the one hand and postcolonial forms of conviviality on the other.
Olivia Plender is an artist, writer and curator based in Berlin and London. Her research-based practice has addressed subjects ranging from the BBC’s early history to social and religious movements such as modern spiritualism. Plender’s international exhibitions include Folkstone Triennial (2011); Manifesta 8, Murcia (2010); Taipei Biennial, Taipei (2010); Altermodern: Tate Triennial, Tate Britain (2009); The Greenroom, Hessel Museum of Art, CCS Bard, New York, (2008);
The Great Transformation, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt (2008); Not Quite How I Remember It, The Power Plant, Toronto, (2008); Information, Education, Entertainment, Marabou Parken Annex, Stockholm (2007). Her graphic novel A Stellar Key to the Summerland (2007) was published by Bookworks.
Althea Thauberger is an artist based in Vancouver. Her work involves research and collaboration with a group or community that result in performances, films, videos, audio recordings and books. She gravitates towards social enclaves perpetuated by coercive and voluntary social controls. Thauberger’s work has been presented at the 17th Biennale of Sydney; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Guangzhou Triennial; Manifesta 7, Trento;
Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver; Vancouver Art Gallery; BAK, Utrecht; Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; Kunstverein Wolfsburg; Singapore History Museum; Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver; Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp; Berkeley Art Museum; Insite, San Diego/Tijuana; White Columns, New York; and Seattle Art Museum.