Jan Sowa (born 1976) is a materialist dialectical social theorist and researcher. He studied at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland and University Paris VIII in Saint-Denis, France. He holds a PhD in sociology and a habilitation in cultural studies. His research and teaching assignments took him to several academic and non-academic institutions in Poland and abroad, recently, University of São Paulo, Warsaw University and Akademie der Künste der Welt in Cologne. He is a member of the Committee on Cultural Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He has also been active outside of the academic field in media and art recently working as the Curator of Discursive Programs and Research of Biennale Warszawa (years 2018-2019).
He edited and authored several books and published numerous articles in Poland and abroad (in France, United States, Mexico, Czech Republic and others). A collection of essays “A Joy Forever: Political Economy of Social Creativity”, that he co-edited, including articles by Luc Boltanski, Massimiliano Tomba, Isabelle Graw and Gigi Roggero appeared with MayFly Books (London) in 2015.
Jan Sowa is currently employed as Associate Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts.

 

Paz Ponce
(Cádiz, 1985, ES) is a Berlin-based independent curator, project manager and researcher actively involved in alternative education and cultural cooperation between Asia, Europe and Latin America. With a background in art history (Universidad Complutense, Madrid / Freie Universität, Berlin), she researches on the collective context in which art is produced and mediated, with a special focus on self-organization and the culture of cooperativism, departing from the Arendtian notion of “the common interest” (Welt-Bezug). Her practice is oriented towards the development of co-creation formats in a collaborative and networked environment in Berlin and abroad, via archival research and exhibition projects, art in residency programs and learning platforms open to the participation of artists and communities. She understands her curatorial role as an active mediation of thought-processes derived from the experience of encountering art. She is an associative member of: Calipsofacto Curators (Madrid, 2010), berlinerpool arts network (2013), Agora Collective (2016), Club Real artist collective (2017), Kap Hoorn (2018), and lecturer at Node Center for Curatorial Studies in Berlin. Besides, she offers communication services for artists and private institutions as writer, text editor and translator, as well as conceptual guidance and coaching. She is co-director of Agora Collective e.V. Berlin-based Center for Contemporary practices, together with Caique Tizzi, Sheena McGrandles and Elena Polzer.

Aneta Rostkowska

Aneta Rostkowska is a curator, researcher and writer, a graduate of de Appel Curatorial Programme in Amsterdam. She is a co-founder of initiatives dedicated to the current socio-economic situation and the city of Kraków, of which artistic projects form an important part (i.e. after capitalism, Salt, Urban Project). Together with Jakub Woynarowski, she developed the concept of ‘gonzo curating’, a creative practice conceived as a process of appropriation of any phenomena by means of constructing a semi-fictional narrative around it. An example of ‚gonzo curating’ is a fictitious institution they founded – Wawel Castle Centre of Contemporary Art.

Rostkowska studied philosophy, economics and art history in Kraków, Poznań, Heidelberg and Frankfurt am Main. From 2005 to 2016 she taught art theory, art history, philosophy and logic at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and Art Academy of Szczecin. From 2011 to 2016 she worked as a curator at Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art in Kraków. In 2013, together with Martyna Niedośpiał, she edited a book on the interrelations between art, activism and ecology based on the works of Kraków’s activist artist Cecylia Malik. In 2014 she received a Young Poland scholarship of Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. In 2015, together with Virginija Januškevičiūtė, she curated A Million Lines, an exhibition based on a short story of China Miéville, a part of XII Baltic Triennale, accompanied by a Polish translation of Kristupas Sabolius’ book Proteus and the Radical Imaginary. Since 2016 Rostkowska she was working at the Academy of the Arts of the World in Cologne. Since 2019 she is the director of Temporary Gallery in Cologne.

 

Post Brothers
is a critical enterprise including Matthew Post, an enthusiast, taxi driver, word processor, and curator. He has curated exhibitions and presented projects in Poland, Mexico, Canada, the United States, Portugal, Denmark, Greece, Estonia, Germany, Austria, Lithuania, Italy, Finland, Belgium, Latvia, The Netherlands, and China. Previously, he was a curator at Kunstverein München. His essays and articles have been published in Annual Magazine, the Baltic Notebooks of Anthony Blunt, Cura, Fillip, Kaleidoscope, Mousse, Nero, Art Papers, Pazmaker, Punkt, and Spike Art Quarterly, as well as in numerous artist publications and exhibition catalogues. He lives in Kolonia Koplany, a village near Bialystok.