THOMAS BERGHUIS

Dr. Thomas J. Berghuis is a lecturer in Asian Art at the Department of Art History and Film Studies at the University of Sydney. Starting in 2008 Berghuis is a Consultant Lecturer at the Sotheby’s Institute of Arts in Singapore. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee of Gallery 4A, Sydney. From June 2007 to July 2008 he worked as Senior Research Curator with the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre and the Centre for Contemporary Art and Politics, College of Fine Arts/ UNSW in Sydney. He completed his PhD dissertation on Performance Art in China at the University of Sydney (Australia), following an MA in Sinology at Leiden University (The Netherlands). During the past 10 years he has traveled extensively to China for his research, and from 2003 to 2004 he was a visiting scholar at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Next to his studies he has also been involved in several curatorial projects, including Associate Curator for the 6th Sharjah International Biennale, U.A.E (2003), Curator for the 1st Dashanzi International Arts Festival at the 798 Factory in Beijing (2004), Associate Curator for the 3rd Israel Video Art Biennial in Tel Aviv (2006), and Co-Curator for Edge of Elsewhere, a three-year exhibition project with the Sydney Festival, Campbelltown Art Centre and Gallery 4A (2010-2012). Since 2007 Berghuis is a contributing editor for C-Arts, an art magazine focusing on contemporary Asian art. His writings have been published in various magazines and art publications, including in The Australian, Art Review UK, Art Asia Pacific, Artlink, Broadsheet, C-Arts, Mesh, positions and RealTime. His book, Performance Art in China, has been published in 2006 with Timezone 8, Hong Kong. Since 2006 he has been actively involved with research and curatorial projects on modern and contemporary art in Southeast Asia, with special attention to art from Indonesia.

IAN HOWARD

Trained as an artist and art educator – in Sydney (Diploma of Art Education), London (Graduate Diploma of Advanced Studies, Film and Television) and Montreal (Master of Fine Arts).
Taught visual arts at secondary and tertiary levels in Australia, England, USA and Canada,Practicing artist since 1968, concentrating on the theme of the relationship between civilian and military cultures, and their material and symbolic products. Works included in regional, state (including QAG), national and international galleries. Worked on the Berlin Wall (1973), in April 2000 completed a project on the Great Wall of China that began in 1972. Worked extensively with Australian, British, Chinese and USA defense forces, including the Pentagon, gaining access to highly secret facilities and equipment ‘for artistic purposes’. Traveled throughout Eastern Europe in 70s and 80s, undertaking research into military sites, museums and monuments. Curatorial coordinator of Vietnamese artists, and National Advisory Committee member for Queensland Art Gallery’s Asia Pacific Triennials. Since early 1990s working with artists and institutions in Vietnam and China on artist and student exchange projects including own work with Colonel Xing Junqin of the Peoples Liberation Army. Executive Producer of Art of Place Hanoi-Brisbane Art Exchange (Broadcast SBS and ATVI 1995/96), Millennium Shift – Art of the New World Order, SBS, AFC and Film Queensland sponsored APT II Documentary (1997) and Handcrafted Cinema, the Animation of Caroline Leaf (1998) for National Film Board of Canada. Subject of Central China Television documentary, Howard and the Great Wall of China, 2000 and 2002 CCTV productions on- COFA, Great Art Schools of the World and the International Drawing Research Institute. Currently Chair of the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) and member, Churchill Fellowship Committee (NSW).

CHARLES MEREWETHER

Charles Merewether was until recently Deputy Director of the Cultural District (Saadiyat Island) in Abu Dhabi and was Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Hong Kong International Art Fair. He was the Artistic Director and Curator of the Biennale of Sydney 2006. He has taught at the University of Sydney, Universidad Autonoma (Barcelona), the Ibero-Americana (Mexico City), and University of Southern California and had been recipient of various Fellowships. From 1994 to 2004 he was Collections Curator at the Getty Rsearch Center in LA. He has published widely on modernism and contemporary art. His most recent publications include Under Construction: Ai Weiwei (2008), and Art, Anti-Art, Non-Art: Experimentations in the Public Sphere in Postwar Japan 1950-1970′ (2007) and forthcoming co-editor (with John Potts) of After the Event by Manchester University Press. Charles Merewether is currently Director of the ICA in Singapore, and he is Honorary Director of MOMENTUM | Sydney.

ANTONY BOND

Anthony Bond is currently Assistant Director Curatorial at the Art Gallery of NSW where he has been responsible for collecting International contemporary art since 1984. He has curated many projects at AGNSW in those years. Major exhibitions include: The British Show at AGNSW and touring (1984-85), Australian Perspecta (1985, 87 and 89). The 9th Sydney Biennale Boundary Rider (1992-93), Tony Cragg (1997), TRACE the inaugural Liverpool Biennale of Contemporary International Art 1999. He has also curated historical exhibitions such as Body 1997 and Self Portrait: Renaissance to Contemporary for the National Portrait Gallery London and AGNSW Sydney 2005-6. Anselm Kiefer Aperiatur terra with accompanying book was launched in London in January at White Cube and in AGNSW May 2007. Mike Parr, The Tilted Stage a major survey at TMAG and Detached in Hobart November 2008. He is currently working on a survey of forty years of John Kaldor projects at AGNSW and preparing for a major series of exhibitions with the Kaldor collection and Contemporary AGNSW collections starting 2011. His major future project is Kurt Schwitters (2012) at AGNSW.


RHANA DEVENPORT

Rhana Devenport is Director of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in Aotearoa New Zealand. She previously worked with the Biennale of Sydney (2006) and the Sydney Festival (2004), and was Co-curator and Senior Project Officer with the Asia-Pacific Triennial, Queensland Art Gallery (1994 to 2004). Rhana has worked extensively with artists in Asia and the Pacific region as a writer, editor and curator, producing major projects with Nam June Paik, Lisa Reihana, Nalini Malani, Judith Wright, Lee Mingwei, Jin Jiangbo, Bill Culbert, Peter Robinson, Zhang Peili and John Reynolds.

DICK QUAN

Dr. Dick Quan is a tireless proselytizer of new talent and new forms, and a new breed of collector/patron. His early support for ‘art photography’ more than a decade ago set the scene for the rise of people like Tracey Moffatt and Patricia Piccinini while his membership on numerous arts boards around the city including Gallery 4A and the AGNSW Contemporary Benefactors means that he can summon up institutional support for his passions giving artists access to collectors and exhibition space. Dr. Quan’s vigorous support for new media art promises to break open a whole new area of serious art collecting. With a collection boasting the most recent major works by high callibre artists such as the Russian AES+F, he is at the forefront of brining the most contemporary and innovative art to Australia.

ANNA WALDMANN

Anna Waldmann was Director of Visual Arts at the Australia Council for the Arts, the Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory organisation. She has an MA in Fine Arts from the University of Sydney. Anna has been a member of numerous art and cultural committees, judged competitions, lectured to university students and published books, catalogues and articles on Australian and European art such as The Archibald Prize Retrospective, Salvatore Zofrea, Desiderius Orban and Selected Students, Women’s Imprint, Salon and Académie, Hidden Treasures – Art in Corporate Collections. Before joining the Australia Council, Anna Waldmann worked as a curator at the Art Gallery of NSW and as Program Manager (Visual Arts and Crafts and Museums and Galleries) at the NSW Ministry for the Arts. Anna was involved in numerous international exhibitions and events such as the Australian representation at the Venice Biennale, the Sao Paulo, Berlin, Liverpool, Kwangju and Istanbul biennales, Documenta and ARCO Madrid. She has worked with art museums, galleries, craft/design organisations, contemporary art spaces and funding agencies on policy and program development, exhibition management, research and publications. Anna is currently an art adviser and consultant, on the Editorial Advisory Board of Art & Australia; National and International Art Adviser for the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation; and Visiting Fellow at the College of Fine Arts University of NSW.

ORON CATTS

Oron Catts is an artist, researcher and curator whose work with the Tissue Culture and Art Project (which he founded in 1996) is part of the NY MoMA design collection and has been exhibited and presented internationally. In 2000 he co-founded SymbioticA, an artistic research laboratory housed within the School of Anatomy and Human Biology, The University of Western Australia. Under Oron’s leadership, SymbioticA has gone on to win the Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica in Hybrid Art (2007) and became a Centre for Excellence in 2008.
In 2009 Oron was recognised by Thames & Hudson’s 60 Innovators Shaping our Creative Future book as one of five in the category “Beyond Design”, and by Icon Magazine (UK) as one of the top 20 Designers, “making the future and transforming the way we work”. 
Oron was a Research Fellow in Harvard Medical School and a visiting Scholar at the Department of Art and Art History, Stanford University.


SERGE SPITZER

Serge Spitzer is an American artist who uses sculpture, site-specific installations, works on paper, photography and video to question, explore and reflect on the shared reality everywhere. He was born in Bucharest, Romania, in 1951, and since the early 1980s has lived and worked in New York.His work has been shown in many museums and art institutions, among them Folkwang Museum Essen, 1979; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1983; Kunstmuseum, Bern, 1984 and 2006; Magasin, Grenoble, 1987; Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, 1992; Kunsthalle and Kunstverein, Düsseldorf, 1993; IVAM Centro Julio Gonzales and Centro del Carme, Valencia, 1994; Henri Moore Institute, Leeds, 1994; Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, 1995; Kunsthalle, Bern, 2003; (MMK) Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, 2006; Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut, 2008; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2010. He has participated in many international art exhibitions and biennials such as Documenta 8, Kassel, 1987; Istanbul Biennial, 1994; Biennale de Lyon, 1997; Kwangju Biennial, 1997; Venice Biennale, 1999, Sydney Biennial, 2010.  He has also contributed works to many group and thematic exhibitions. His work is represented in many public and private collections, among them Brooklyn Museum, New York; Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge; Museum Folkwang, Essen; Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; Kunstmuseum, Bern; IVAM Instituto Valenciano d’Arte Moderno, Valencia; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon; Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK), Frankfurt am Main; Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Staatliche Museen Neue Galerie, Kassel; Staatens Museum for Kunst, Kopenhagen; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Menil Collection, Houston; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven.

PHILIPPE CODOGNET

Philippe Codognet is currently visiting professor at the University of Tokyo, where he is developing research on artificial intelligence and interactive sound installations. He also holds the position of full professor in computer science at University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6) since 1998. From 2003 to 2007, he was Attache for Science and Technology at the French Embassy in Japan.
 In addition to his scientific research, he worked on the relationships between art and new technologies as theoretician and critic, publishing articles in art magazines and exhibition catalogues and organizing interdisciplinary symposiums. He also curated with Hiroko Fukunaga the digital video selection “Liquid Reality” for Shanghai Electronic Arts festival (e-Arts) in 2007, which was exhibited in Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Arts and on outdoor LED screens throughout the city, and which is being shown at MOMENTUM | Sydney.

TIM MARLOW

Tim Marlow has been Director of Exhibitions at White Cube since 2003. Over the last six years he has worked with some of the most important and influential artists of our time including Chuck Close, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Anselm Kiefer and Doris Salcedo. He is also an award-winning radio and television broadcaster. He has presented over 100 documentaries on British Television and his most recent series “Marlow Meets…” is currently being broadcast on Sky Arts and BBC World. He was the founder editor of Tate magazine and is the author of numerous books and catalogues. He has lectured on art and culture in more than forty countries.

SERGE SPITZER

Serge Spitzer is an American artist who uses sculpture, site-specific installations, works on paper, photography and video to question, explore and reflect on the shared reality everywhere. He was born in Bucharest, Romania, in 1951, and since the early 1980s has lived and worked in New York.His work has been shown in many museums and art institutions, among them Folkwang Museum Essen, 1979; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1983; Kunstmuseum, Bern, 1984 and 2006; Magasin, Grenoble, 1987; Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, 1992; Kunsthalle and Kunstverein, Düsseldorf, 1993; IVAM Centro Julio Gonzales and Centro del Carme, Valencia, 1994; Henri Moore Institute, Leeds, 1994; Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, 1995; Kunsthalle, Bern, 2003; (MMK)Museum fur Moderne Kunst , Frankfurt, 2006; Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut, 2008; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2010. He has participated in many international art exhibitions and biennials such as Documenta 8, Kassel, 1987; Istanbul Biennial, 1994; Biennale de Lyon, 1997; Kwangju Biennial, 1997; Venice Biennale, 1999, Sydney Biennial, 2010. He has also contributed works to many group and thematic exhibitions.

TIM GRUCHY

Tim’s extensive career spans the exploration and composition of immersive and interactive multimedia through installation and performance while redefining it’s role and challenging the delineations between cultural sectors. His performance and installation art has featured in many international and Australasian festivals and performance spaces including the 2nd Asian Art BIennial in Taiwan (2009), the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts (2009), the Festival of Visual Arts in Adelaide (1986-2008). the Auckland Arts Festival (2009); Taranaki International Arts Festival in New Zealand (2007); People’s Day in Brisbane (2006); Sydney Festival (2004). Theatre and opera credits include AIDA Sydney Opera House and touring Australia(2009-2010), Ainadamar, Adelaide Festival (2008), Season of Sarsparilla, with Sydney Theatre Company (2007-2008), The Leningrad Symphony with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (2006), Luminous with the Australian Chamber Orchestra with Bill Henson (2008 Slovenia, 2004 Australia), and HAIR (2003). His visual designs have featured in works produced by Opera Australia, OzOpera, Sydney Theatre Company, Australian Theatre for Young People, Performing Lines and Australian Dance Theatre. His video work has been exhibited in most large art institutions and cultural festivals in Australia as well as China, New Zealand, Taiwan, Holland, Belgium, the UK, the US, Japan, France and Thailand. Tim has facilitated workshops, lectured and consulted in video art and interactive digital design at creative institutions around the world including Shanghai; the Future University of Hakodate (Japan); National Institute of Dramatic Art (Sydney); University of Technology Sydney; Cambridge University Film School (Christchurch); Te Papa Museum (New Zealand) and Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane). He has also been extensively involved in museum design and various projects at the intersection of architecture and multimedia. Projection Designer Tim Gruchy studied architecture and music at The University of Queensland. His art practice is performative and as a designer of immersive interactive installations (often in collaboration with his brother Mic). He is sought-after as a designer for dance, theatre, opera, museums and a variety of other emerging mediums.

JAY LEVENSON

Jay A. Levenson has since 1996 been the Director of the International Program at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, where he coordinates the museum’s relations with institutions in other countries. Prior to that he was Deputy Director for Program Administration at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, where he helped prepare such major exhibitions as Africa: The Art of a Continent and China: 5000 Years. He has served as guest curator for a number of exhibitions, including Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration (1991) and The Age of the Baroque in Portugal (1993) for the National Gallery of Art, and Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries (2007) for the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, which was also presented at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon. A graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School, and awarded a Ph.D. in art history by the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University, he has held positions both as a curator and museum administrator and as an attorney.

JAMES PUTNAM

James Putnam is an independent curator and writer. He founded and was curator of the British Museum’s Contemporary Arts and Cultures Programme (1999 to 2003) and was formerly a curator of their Egyptian Antiquities Dept. (1985 –1998). In 1994 he conceived and curated the groundbreaking exhibition, Time Machine, which involved juxtaposing works by contemporary artists with ancient sculpture in the British Museum’s Egyptian Gallery. He also organized a different version of Time Machine at the Museo Egizio, Turin in 1995. His book Art and Artifact – The Museum as Medium, published by Thames & Hudson in 2000 & 2009, surveys the interaction between contemporary artists and the museum. He was Visiting Scholar in Museum Studies at New York University from 2003- 2004 and since 2004 has been lecturer in Curatorial Studies at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London. He has curated an ongoing series of critically acclaimed projects with contemporary artists at the Freud Museum, London. He has also curated exhibitions at the Petrie Museum, University College London and was Associate Curator at the Bowes Museum, County Durham from 2004 to 2006. He was appointed curator of Arte all’Arte 9, in Tuscany in 2005 and was on the curatorial committee for the 2006 Echigo Tsumari Triennial, Japan. In 2009 he c0-curated the inaugural exhibition Mythologies at the Haunch of Venison, London with 45 international artists. As collateral events of the 53rd Venice Biennale, 2009, he curated the exhibitions Distortion and Library and is currently a curator for the 2010 Busan Biennale, S.Korea.