Artists

United Kingdom
Diane Dever, Jacob Bray, Daniel Tollady

Photo: Nikola Radovani

Folkestone Fringe is an organization from Folkestone, UK, dedicated to creating opportunities and projects that connect people in sociourban contexts. Their work includes several annual festivals, as well as one held alongside the major Creative Folkestone Triennial exhibition.The JAB program will feature curator Diane Dever, originator of the Folkestone Fringe, with artists Daniel Tolleday, Jacob Bray, Jemma Wead and Claudia Gregory. The Office for Field Forensics is a series of investigations of the urban, social and ecological fabric of Jelsa, set up in the space of a former tourist agency. This new agency is dedicated to the forensic collection of human and nonhuman stories, examining location specific conditions, as a way of understanding the present-day experiences of life there. During the stay, the Office for Field Forensics will carry out a series of activities that will enable artists to engage with the city and its inhabitants and present this information through a set of drawings, artifacts and site specific installations.

Portugal

Francisca Rocha Gonçalves is a researcher from Porto, currently living in Berlin. Recently worked on the AQUATAG project at the IGB Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries. Has a background in biological sciences with a degree in Veterinary Medicine from ICBAS (University of Porto), a Multimedia Master in Interactive Music and Sound Design from FEUP (University of Porto), and a PhD in Digital Media from FEUP (University of Porto). The research focuses on acoustic ecology in artistic creation as a tool for environmental awareness concerning underwater soundscapes. Developing artistic artefacts that reveal the problem of noise pollution in underwater environments is possible to understand changes in vibration and particle motion, both vital components in aquatic life. Combining interests in sound, technology, art and science, it aims to raise societal and environmental awareness through artistic practices and sound art. A great passion for biology and music led to a demand to find synergies between nature and sound. Bridging these two worlds, Francisca attempts to find new musical approaches, not only for musical compositions but also for live performances. Presently is working for ICARUS, collaborating with Dr Johannes Goessling and Luis Aranda. ICARUS is an arts-science project that focuses on the photonic properties of diatoms and creates upscaled ice sculptures of their internal shells. 
Co-founder of the artistic collective Openfield Creative Lab. 
Co-founder of Ocean Soundscape Awareness project – ØSAW. 

Photo: Francisca Rocha Gonçalves

Lithuania

Photo: Eglė Budvytytė

Eglė Budvytytė is an artist based in Vilnius and Amsterdam working at the intersection between visual and performing arts. She approaches movement and gesture as technologies for a possible subversion of normativity, gender and social roles and for dominant narratives governing public spaces. Her practice, spanning across songs, poetry, videos and performances, explores the persuasive power of collectivity, vulnerability and permeable relationships between bodies, audiences and the environments. Her work was shown amongst others at Riga International Biennial of Contemporary art (RIBOCA 2); Renaissance Society, Chicago, Lofoten International Art festival; Block Universe festival, London; Art Dubai Commissions, Dubai; Liste, Art Basel; 19th Biennale of Sydney; De Appel Arts Centre; Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, and Stedeljik Museum, Amsterdam. Eglė was resident at Le Pavillon, Palais de Tokyo (Paris, FR, 2012) and at Wiels, Contemporary art centre, (Brussels, BE, 2013). In 2022 she represented Lithuania at the Venice Art Biennale alongside Marija Olšauskaite and Julija Steponaityte. 

Croatia

Željko Beljan was born on June 17, 1984 in Vukovar. Since 2016, he has been studying at the Department of Animated Film and New Media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. He has been involved in illustration, comics and poster making since 2010. He had his first solo exhibition in Osijek (Inquiry Inc.) in 2016, and then in the Siva Gallery in Zagreb (2018). Since 2010, he has been primarily involved in illustration, comics and poster making and is the author of numerous posters for various Zagreb clubs and other artistic initiatives and bands of which he is a member or collaborator. 

Photo: Željko Beljan

Portugal
Paulina Almeida 
Ola Korbańska 
Marieke Leene 
Ron van Roosmalen 
Jose Manuel Spinola 

Founded in 2017, Improvise and Organize is a non-profit cultural association that brings together various projects and individuals from different nationalities and backgrounds, who share the same passion, conviction and vision for accessibility and mobility in the arts.

“Assuming that art can and should play a fundamental role in everyday life, we work towards the accessibility and decentralization of contemporary art through the creation and promotion of artistic projects. With the main aim of democratizing the arts, our projects stimulate the development of a civil society in which all citizens work actively and shared in the direction of a socio-political context based on participation, freedom of artistic expression and freedom of speech , which we consider fundamental human rights.”

Mexico

Photo: Jose Manuel Spínola

Jose Spinola is a Mexican director and photographer who works with music, fashion, documentary, advertising and branded content projects. In his work, he establishes deep connections between his characters and their environment with amazing empathy. A true cinephile with knowledge of photography, film and art, he enriches his projects with indepth content and a whimsical approach to aesthetics, light, color, framing and composition. His multidisciplinary approach has seen him collaborate with artists such as Kim Gordon, Zola Jesus, Philip Glass & James Turrell, Kashmir, Jordan Rakei, Bomba Estereo, Sudan Archives, Gilles Peterson and clients such as Beefeater 24, Gucci, Google, Nissan, Sony, Bimba y Lola. Also, his work was exhibited at the Taipei Contemporary Art Center. It has recently been published in 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow Thamesai Hudson in London and Chinesenessin Chile by Palgrave Macmillan.

The Netherlands

Marieke Leene is a multidisciplinary artist based in the Netherlands. Leene developed a background in digital art and cultural events throughout her practice as an independent artist. She delves into the interactions between thereal worldand the digital world. She is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in digital arts. With interests ranging from computer made tableware to space waste her work approaches the themes in a simple, poetic and humorous manner. Driven by concept, not medium, she has turned a cow into a 3D printer, started a fighter jet company to make the sun stand still and let an AI assess paintings based on their gezelligheid Many of Leene’s works concern habits, and the illusion of intrinsic behavior. How are things represented in the brain and how are they in reality? How does the author see it, how does the rest of the world see it and how does a computer see it? 

Photo: Marieke Leene

Poland

Photo: Ola Korbańska

Ola Korbańska is a Polish artist and multidisciplinary designer. She first trained her visual eye in the School of Form in her home city of Poznań, to later move west and get her master degree at the Design Academy Eindhoven. After graduating, and in the middle of the global pandemic, she returned home and she’s been living there since.  

 

Using various media such as design, written text, and illustration, Ola inquiries about the nature of objects in the context of temporality and perception. No matter the technique, be it installation, performance or activist intervention, Ola is always dealing with the process of transformation, change, and resistance. 

Austria
Fabian Lanzmaier, Eva Müller, Danijela Bjelobradić

OFFTANZ Tirol is an artistic collective that was founded in 2013 and is made up of professional contemporary dancers, choreographers and people interested in dance, art and culture. Many members are artists who have international professional experience, but are not permanently connected to the institution. Fabian Lanzmaier was born in Hall in Tirol in 1991 and has been living and working in Vienna since 2017. As a freelance musician he works for film, theatre, installation art and is active as a solo musician as well as in numerous music and performance groups. Eva Müller completed her education as a contemporary dancer and dance teacher at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance and at the London Contemporary Dance School. After that, Eva danced in various international groups and toured Europe with them; Canada and the USA. Danijela Bjelobradić has been working as a freelance actress since 2013. After completing her education, she made her debut at the Tiroler Volksschauspiele in Heinrich von Kleist’s Das Käthchen von Heilbronn, directed by Markus Völlenklee, which was followed by annual engagements. 

Photo: OFFTANZ Tirol

Latvia

Photo: Nikola Radovani

Paula Pļavniece is a Latvian theatre maker who is working in non governmental and state theatre projects since 2014, mainly working as a stage director. She has graduated Latvian Academy of culture and since 2020 is a part of independent, non-governmental, nonprofit theatre troupe KVADRIFRONS. In her artistic practices main fields of interest are socially and politically active topics and new drama, focusing on such aspects as inclusion, ecology, integration etc. Her works often involves working with local communities and making site specific art projects all around Latvija, traveling abroad and participating in various festivals. Besides that Paula has made several performances for kids and teenagers, and has experience working in musical theatre field. Some of her works has received national theatre awards in various categories. 

Croatia

Anja Leko and Andrej Beštak are an artist duo born in Zagreb, Croatia currently living in Reykjavik, Iceland. Their artistic practice includes installation, performance, and video works, but overall it depends on the topic that they are interested in at the moment. They mostly consider themselves storytellers in spaces using visual language and sounds rather than words to create an emotional dialog between artwork and audience. They like to take paths that are light, goofy, and sometimes cartoony to tell stories that they find serious and possibly heavy to digest. They are interested in urban mythologies, spiritual experiences, techno music, club culture, individualism, materialism, heavy industry, collective memory, body, oblivion, future of the body, virtuality, object/subject relationship, and things like that. They both hold a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Croatia. They are working as a artist duo since 2020 and have exhibited on solo and group exhibitions, participated in artist residencies and got awarded for their work. 

Photo: Anja Leko and Andrej Beštak

Croatia

Photo: Milica Milović Kinoli

Sara Renar is a recording and performing artist from Zagreb, Croatia and praised as one of the best and bravest new generation singers – songwriters. Her music style can be described as experimental/indie/pop mixing subtle melodies with electronic and theatrical elements. A former architect with a Master’s degree, she has left her office job to pursue a full time career in music. Performing mostly in her mother Croatian tongue, she has won multiple regional awards for her music and live performances including the IMPALA European indie album of the year nomination. Over the last ten years Renar has played close to a thousand gigs, including major regional venues and festivals such as MENT festival (Ljubljana, Slovenia), SuperUho festival (Croatia), Exit festival (Serbia), Lake fest (Montenegro), Mastering the Music Business festival (Bucharest, Romania) and has performed as the opening act for Manu Chao, Macy Gray and Rundek Cargo Trio. She has released five albums: “Djeca” (“Children”) in 2013, “Jesen” (“Autumn”) in 2014, “Tišina” (“Silence”) 2016, the live album “Gdje povlačiš crtu?” (“Where do you draw the line?”) in 2018 and “Šuti i pjevaj” (“Shut up and sing”) in 2021.

Juraj Šantorić

Croatia

Juraj Šantorić was born in 1997 in Zagreb. He is a third-year student of philosophy and ethnology and anthropology at the University of Zadar. He is the winner of the rector’s award at the undergraduate level in the academic year 2021/2022. As part of the Ceepus student mobility, he spent the semester at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, and at the same time went on a student internship at the Center for Cultural Decontamination (CZKD). He is the author of several performances that problematize the issues of identity, belonging, the academic world and the conception of the city, and he performed them at the University of Zadar, the International Festival of Contemporary Theater Zadar and the ValOm Festival. He considers performance art as a possible anthropological method. In 2022, he organized the cultural and artistic ValOm festival on the island of Krk. In his work, he tries to create an authentic expression in which he will connect scientific and artistic discourses.

Photo: Marija Androić

Dejan Krstić

Serbia

Dejan Krstić was born in 1994 in Loznica. He graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, Department of Art, Department of Painting in 2017, where he also completed his master’s studies at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, Department of Drawing in 2019. So far, he has organized fourteen solo exhibitions and participated in several collective exhibitions in the country and abroad.