Marina Pisklakova-Parker is a renowned human rights advocate and expert on gender-based violence who has dedicated over three decades to protecting women and advancing justice. In 1992, she launched Russia’s first helpline for survivors of domestic abuse, which grew into the Center ANNA, one of the leading organizations in Eurasia working to combat violence against women. A founding member of the Vital Voices Global Network and currently Vice President for GBV Advocacy at Vital Voices, Marina has trained leaders, advised policymakers, and built a network of over 150 organizations in the region. Her work has been recognized globally - from receiving honors from Human Rights Watch and Vital Voices to being featured in the acclaimed play SEVEN and in books by Kerry Kennedy and Alyse Nelson. Named by Newsweek as one of “150 Women Who Shake the World,” Marina continues to serve as a vital voice for those whose pain too often goes unheard.

Simon Mraz is an Austrian curator and art historian working at the intersection of diplomacy and contemporary culture. As co-founder of State of the Art(ist) – a collaborative initiative between Ars Electronica and the Austrian Foreign Ministry – he has pioneered innovative formats to support artists at risk, including those fleeing war and persecution. Simon has spearheaded dozens of cultural initiatives across Europe and beyond. Today, he advises Austria’s Foreign Ministry on cultural strategy and curates programs connecting artists across borders – including grants for Ukrainian artists in exile and residencies at Austrian Cultural Forums worldwide – with a continued commitment to critical voices and artistic freedom. Mraz is part of the new curatorial team of MuseumsQuartier Vienna and runs cultural projects in cooperation with the Austrian Cultural Ministry.

Min-hyung Kang (she/her) is the founder of Barim, a decentralized community art space in Gwangju, South Korea, which she established in 2014. She has worked extensively as an independent curator, collaborating with many international and domestic artists. Her work has led to partnerships with prestigious art institutions in Korea, including the Seoul Museum of Arts, Asia Culture Center, and Gwangju Biennale. She has curated critically acclaimed exhibitions like Degital and Forking Room, offering unique platforms to critically engage with art, technology, and society in South Korea. She holds a master’s degree in New Media art from the Tokyo University of the Arts.

Yenyi Lee is a Taiwan-born independent curator whose practice explores the conceptual elasticity of negative space and the multiplicity of meaning in contemporary visual culture. With an M.F.A. in Visual Culture from the University of Edinburgh, Lee works across media and collaborates closely with artists to challenge exhibition norms and interrogate institutional frameworks. Her curatorial projects have been featured at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, NON Berlin, and OPEN SPACE BAE in Busan. In 2020, she co-curated the Digital Art Festival, and in 2023 was selected for the ISCP residency in New York, followed by a fellowship with the Taroko Arts Residency in 2024. Lee is also the founder of Hagai, a journal dedicated to critical writing on art and culture. Her recent curatorial work centers on resisting spectacle-driven aesthetics and reclaiming exhibitions as spaces for slow thinking and political inquiry.

A.L. Crego is a Spanish digital artist known for pioneering work in GIFs and loop-based visual narratives, bridging still photography and motion graphics through hypnotic, seamless animations and exploring themes of perception, reality, and sociopolitical structures. Active in the digital art space since 2008 Crego has been a formative voice in shaping the aesthetics and politics of digital-native art. A.L. Crego’s work has been featured his solo exhibition “Photons”, curated by Giuseppe Moscatello at Foundry Dubai and several group shows. A vocal advocate for artists in web3, Crego’s contributions extend beyond aesthetics into active engagement with intellectual property debates and the value of digital art in the blockchain era.

YuLiang Liu, known professionally as YUYU, is a Berlin-based visual artist whose work explores the politics of identity through photography and digital manipulation. With a focus on queer and othered bodies, YUYU’s practice interrogates historical erasure and confronts the colonial and postcolonial legacies embedded in Western cultural narratives. YUYU’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions across Berlin, Paris, and Seoul, and is included in the permanent collection of the Tom of Finland Foundation in Los Angeles. In 2024, a digital piece by YUYU was presented and sold at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong. Deeply engaged with the transformative power of art, YUYU uses visual storytelling to reclaim space for marginalized voices.

Alex Aravantinos is a Greek-French curator and event specialist whose work bridges digital innovation and global equity in the arts. With a Master’s degree in Fine and Applied Arts, his career spans founding a non-profit cultural organization at 26 to leading international campaigns for international marketing agencies. Alex brings a curatorial approach grounded in immersive media and emerging technologies, aiming to expand the reach and resonance of digital culture. He has curated exhibitions for institutions and platforms such as SuperRare, Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, and Sotheby’s Paris. A strong advocate for global equity in the arts, he champions artists from the Global South and works that foreground social justice within the contemporary art world.

Alena Popova, a prominent Russian oppositionist, has spanned the worlds of technology, politics, law, civic action, journalism, and business. And she has leveraged her longstanding interest in the arts as a bridge across these worlds — as a private collector and through arts activism. Alena founded companies and has been a startup investor, including Video Snack, a onetime Russian animation studio that produced internationally recognized content for mobile television. A women’s rights activist, she is especially focused on the synergies between technology and conflict, working with organizations around the world to foster dialogue and civic action.

Evan Feigenbaum, a former American diplomat, has worked with presidents, prime ministers, and senior policymakers from two-dozen countries, served in executive roles in the U.S. government, and negotiated both bilateral and multilateral international agreements. With a deep interest in conflict resolution and ways and means to mitigate hostility across communities, Evan has advised two American Secretaries of State and a former Treasury Secretary and held tough diplomatic assignments, negotiating with ex-guerillas in South Asia, dictators in Central Asia, and among political factions in conflict. With Alena, he shares a strong interest in the arts as a bridge across conflict lines.

evan_feigenbaum

evan_feigenbaum

Jacob Bul Bior and Abul Oyay Deng are artists and the co-founders of Anataban – a Juba-based artist collective that unites South Sudanese visual artists, musicians, poets, and performers in response to the country’s civil war. Through murals, street theater, sculpture, and poetry, the group confronts war, hunger, and tribal division by creating public art that demands justice and reconciliation. With “Ana Taban” meaning “I am tired” in Juba Arabic, the collective gives voice to a generation exhausted by conflict yet committed to non-violence, solidarity, and political neutrality. Their campaigns and performances – across the streets, media, and online spaces – have sparked national dialogue and mobilized thousands of people. In 2024, Antaban received the Aglaya International Award for its contributions to a Culture of Peace.

evan_feigenbaum

evan_feigenbaum

Manali Jagtap is an Indian political artist and designer whose multimedia practice explores the intersections of conflict, identity, and human rights. Working between India, the UK, and Malta, her projects span from visual storytelling with Burmese artist Htein Lin to food politics in Mahatma Thali. A graduate of Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Arts and Goldsmiths, University of London, Manali combines graphic precision with socio-political commentary. In 2013, she co-founded the Artraker Foundation, which recognizes art that challenges narratives around war and social upheaval. Her work has been exhibited at institutions such as the Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai and the Courtauld Institute in London. Named one of the Top 10 Indian Women Leaders in Europe by Women Entrepreneur India, she continues to push the boundaries of art as activism.

evan_feigenbaum

evan_feigenbaum

Sahana Udupa is a leading media anthropologist and expert on digital cultures, online speech, and platform governance. A professor at LMU Munich and founding director of the Center for Digital Dignity, she has held fellowships at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center and the Shorenstein Center, and is a Fellow of the International Communication Association. Her pioneering research explores extreme speech, hate speech, disinformation, and the anthropology of AI, supported by institutions including the European Research Council and the Henry Luce Foundation. In 2021, she authored a landmark report for the UN Department of Peace Operations on digital technology and online harm. Sahana’s work has been recognized with awards such as the Francqui Chair in Belgium and the ICA Outstanding Article Award in 2024. She currently leads a 5-year cross-national project on small social media platforms, funded by an ERC Consolidator Grant.

evan_feigenbaum

evan_feigenbaum

Bjørn Ihler is an internationally recognized peace advocate and expert on countering violent extremism, who has dedicated his career to building healthier communities online and offline. In 2016, Bjørn co-founded the Khalifa-Ihler Institute which works to promote peace, human rights, and thriving communities. Bjørn has worked closely with former extremists, advised governments and global institutions such as the UN, EU, and OSCE, and designed holistic strategies to address the root causes of radicalization. Much of Bjørn Ihler’s work trajectory builds on his work with former violent extremists, his own experience as a survivor of the 2011 terrorist attack in Norway, his academic background in peace and conflict studies, and his cooperation with other activists, policymakers, and researchers.

evan_feigenbaum

evan_feigenbaum