Black & White Spider Awards™| The Jury

THE JURY

For fifteen years Black & White Spider Awards has been committed to bringing you world-class Juries selected from the most influential names in the industry. Annually a new jury pool is created to ensure the program's reputation for recognizing first-movers, new emerging talent and current trends across the industry. Jury members are selected by exclusive invitation to join the international panel and sent ballots to log on, review the entries and nominate their selections. Only by having the greatest talent from both sides of the lens do we produce the intoxicating and diverse photography collections the awards is renowned for showcasing.

15TH ANNUAL JURY

HIROSHIMA CITY MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, MOCA - Japan

Motoko Suhama, Curator

Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA was established 1989. The first public art museum in Japan devoted exclusively to contemporary art. Special exhibitions of major international and domestic artists enable visitors to consider Hiroshima from a world view and links the contemporary to the future. Every three years there is an exhibition of works by the recipient of the Hiroshima Art Prize, established by the City of Hiroshima which recognizes the achievements of artists who have contributed to the peace of humanity in the field of contemporary art, and through contemporary art aims to appeal to a wider world and the spread the "Spirit of Hiroshima," which seeks everlasting world peace. Recipients of the award include Yoko Ono, Cai Guo-Qiang, Shirin Neshat, Daniel Libeskind and Issey Miyake. The building was designed by Kisho Kurokawa, who studied under Kenzo Tange and was a co-founder of the Metabolist Movement in the 1960s. The design incorporates classical colonnades, ancient Greek agora meeting space and a Japanese storehouse (kura) and rises from its the natural fabric of stone foundations, giving way to man-made tiles and aluminium, reflecting the development of civilization from the past to the future along the stream of time.

MUSEU D'ART CONTEMPORANI DE BARCELONA, MACBA - Barcelona

Antonia Maria Perello, Curator/Head of Collection

Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona MACBA is a contemporary art museum and space for discovery and shared knowledge situated in the Raval neighbourhood of Barcelona, Spain. The MACBA permanent collection of around 5,000 works focuses on art from the second half of the 20th century to the present day with iconic pieces that represent key moments of art, culture and society. Antonia Maria Perello is Curator and Head of Collection at MACBA.

SOTHEBY'S - London

Justine Gruser - Specialist Photographs

Justine Gruser is a Specialist in the Photographs department at Sotheby's. Justine was formerly at Bloomsbury Auctions from 2013 where she was lead specialist for auctions of Photographs and Photobooks. Justine studied for a Business (CESEM) degree spending 2 years in both Reims, France and Breda in the Netherlands. After graduation Justine completed an MA in Art Business at Sotheby's Institute of Art and thereafter worked in the Impressionist and Modern Art department at Artcurial, Paris.

MUSEE DE L'ELYSEE - Lausanne

Pauline Martin - Curator / Head of Exhibitions

The Musee de l'Elysee is one of the world's leading museums entirely dedicated to photography. Based in Switzerland, it presents four major exhibitions in Lausanne each year and an average of fifteen in prestigious museums and festivals around the world. It holds a unique collection including more than 170,000 positive prints, 800,000 negatives on glass and flexible supports, more than 100,000 plates and slides, around 1,000 albums and portfolios, more than a dozen Collections and full Archives including those of Charles Chaplin, Rene Burri, Nicolas Bouvier, Ella Maillart. By supporting young photographers, offering new perspectives on the masters and confronting photography with other art forms, the Musee de l'Elysee experiments with the image. Regional by character and international in scope, it seeks to constantly develop new and exciting ways to interact with audiences and collaborate with other institutions.

KUNSTHAUS ZURICH - Zurich

Catherine Hug, Curator

Catherine Hug graduated with a MA in art history, computer science and journalism from the University of Zurich. Between 2000 and 2007 she was a project-related curatorial assistant at the Kunsthaus Zurich. As a freelance curator she was responsible for the exhibitions: In The Alps (2006) with Tobia Bezzola, Carola Giedion-Welcker and Modernism (2007) at the Kunsthaus Zurich; Bunker: Unloaded (2003) with Giovanni Carmine in bunkers of Oberschan and Celebrate Life! (2016) with Manuela Laubenberger and Robert Menasse at Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM) in Vienna. From 2005 to 2008 she was Assistant Art Unlimited at the Art Basel, from 2008 to 2013 curator at the Kunsthalle in Vienna, and curated there, among others, 1989: End of History or Beginning of the Future? (2009) with Gerald Matt, Space: About a Dream (2011), WWTBD - What Would Thomas Bernhard Do and Salon der Angst (both 2013) with Nicolaus Schafhausen. Since 2013 she has been a curator at the Kunsthaus Zurich, where she worked on, among others, Europe: The Future of History (2015) with Robert Menasse, and Dadaglobe Reconstructed with Adrian Sudhalter and Francis Picabia: A Retrospective with Anne Umland, the latter two exhibitions which were subsequently featured at the MoMA in New York.

CONTRASTO GALLERIA - Milan

Alessia Paladini, Director

Contrasto Galleria was founded in Milan in 2005. The gallery is a reference point in Italy for collectors of photography, offering a wide range of vintage and modern prints of great Italian and International masters as well as emerging artists. The Gallery has the privilege of working directly with the artists and estates represented, thus establishing an intimate and deep relationship with them and knowledge of their works, supporting and promoting both archival works and new releases. Artists represented: Bill Armstrong; Gianni Berengo Gardin; Piergiorgio Branzi; Lorenzo Cicconi Massi; Elliott Erwitt; Simona Ghizzoni; Mario Giacomelli; Mimmo Jodice; William Klein; Irene Kung; Herbert List; Nino Migliori; Vincent Munier; James Nachtwey; Paolo Pellegrin; Martin Schoeller; Sebastiao Salgado; Ferdinando Scianna; Massimo Siragusa; Paolo Ventura; Alex Webb; Marco Zanta; Mattia Zoppellaro.

BERLINISCHE GALERIE - Berlin
Museum of Modern Art, Photography and Architecture

Dr. Thomas Kohler - Director & Chief Executive

The Berlinische Galerie is one of the newest museums in the German capital and collects art from Berlin dating from 1870 to the present day, with both a local and international focus. Founded in 1975, the State Museum reopened in its own building close to the Jewish Museum in 2004, moving into a spacious industrial hall that has been rebuilt to provide 4,600 square metres of exhibition space. Fine art - painting, graphics, sculpture, multimedia - photography, architecture and artists' archives provide a rich source, whose interdisciplinary relationships create exciting dialogues. Its outstanding collections include Dada Berlin, the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) and the Eastern European avant-garde. The art of the divided and reunified city of Berlin provides another focus.

ARTFACTORY CLUB - Vienna

Dr. Stefan Kallinka - Director

The ARTFACTORY CLUB is a contemporary art gallery in Austria and was established in 2014. It is dedicated to the promotion of Avant-Garde Art of contemporary European artists, providing original fine art to established and emerging collectors. The ARTFACTORY CLUB is specialized in the world-famous artists Gerhard Richter, Franz Gertsch and Helmut Ditsch. Their works stand out for the high quality and impressive power they perform on the viewer. An important characteristic of the ARTFACTORY CLUB is the realisation of exhibitions at public spaces with free entry to provide art to all interested people, regardless of their social background. Therefore the art gallery organized the Gira Nacional in cooperation with Helmut Ditsch in 2014, an exhibition tour which the Argentinian artist originally started in 2010 in his home country. During the tour his paintings were shown in several cities in the interior of Argentina with hundreds of thousands of visitors. After a successful first year the ARTFACTORY CLUB decided to open a second branch in Vaduz, Liechtenstein in 2015. In 2016 the ARTFACTORY CLUB started exhibiting at international art fairs.

THE GUARDIAN WEEKEND MAGAZINE - London

Caroline Hunter - Picture Editor

Caroline Hunter is a picture editor for The Guardian Weekend magazine, the award-winning supplement to the Guardian newspaper. She has been a picture editor for over twenty years and has worked with some of the most prominent names in photography. Caroline has commissioned and art-directed a wide range of photography, from still-life and documentary photography to concept and celebrity cover shoots. She studied Fashion Journalism at the London College of Fashion followed by a BA (hons) degree in English Literature at Birkbeck, University of London. She has also undertaken short postgraduate courses in Fine Art photography and Studio photography. Caroline worked as a picture researcher for The Saturday Telegraph Magazine and a picture editor for Emap magazines and Time Out London. She has also worked as a photography producer for a design company and a writer/editor. In 2014, Caroline was the photography consultant for a new innovative digital magazine, The Long and Short, published by the UK charity, Nesta. She is also a regular portfolio reviewer at international photo-festivals. She has also given talks and workshops on photography. In 2017, Caroline was invited to be a nominator for the prestigious Deutsche Borse Photography Foundation prize. Caroline is a picture editor for The Guardian Weekend Magazine and a TV judge in the second series of Sky Arts.

GALERIE SPRINGER BERLIN - Berlin

Heide Springer, Director

Galerie Springer Berlin programme focus is on classic and contemporary photography and comprises a group of international artists whose works form insightful dialogues. Besides four to six exhibitions in Berlin and the participation in national and international art fairs, our activities are completed by support service for private and public collections. The gallery was founded in 1991 in Frankfurt (Main) as Springer & Winckler Galerie. In 1998 it moved to Berlin into the legendary spaces of Rudolf Springer. Since 2012 the gallery is run by Heide and Robert Springer as Galerie Springer Berlin, a name full of tradition.

PEREIRA O'DELL - New York

Raquel Duarte, Senior Art Producer

With a BFA in photography from School of Visual Arts and 19 years of field experience, I started young. I conquered the magazine industry first with an internship at Glamour Mag., followed by representing renowned photographers as an Artist's Agent and most recently Art Producing at advertising agencies, such as Arnold Worldwide, Lloyd&Co, co:collective, DIRECTV, Translation and Pereira O'Dell amongst others. I take great pleasure in networking, sharing my ever-evolving industry resources, curating photography work and having the honor to collaborate with new artists as well as innovative consumer brands.

TRAVEL CHANNEL/DISCOVERY - New York

Christopher Doyle, Creative Director

Christopher Doyle is a creative professional with breakthrough creative in advertising/promotion and branding. Experienced in TV, video, motion design, key art, digital, mobile, event activations, social and multi platform national campaigns. A creative who is able to see campaign/brand messaging integrity across multiple media platforms. Starting his career in the design and ad world before moving into the entertainment industry, he has worked with brands such as the Discovery Channel, Military Channel, Animal Planet and Travel Channel. Christopher's work has been recognized by Promax/BDA, the ADDY's, Art Directors Club, Graphic Design USA and Print Magazine.

SILVAN FAESSLER FINE ART - Zug/Switzerland

Silvan Fassler, Director

Silvan has been working in leading positions in the international art market since 1994, amongst others in the position of director of a renowned European art gallery for Classic Modern and Russian avant-garde, as well as specialist of Post War and Contemporary Art at Christie's International. He founded the Silvan Faessler Fine Art in Zug/Switzerland, in spring 2006. Silvan is a member of the board of the Swiss Art Trading Association since 2012 and holds a mandate as consultant to a Swiss auction house. He is also active in cultural foundations as conservator and exhibition curator, member of art foundation boards and art prize juror. Silvan published articles specialized in art of the 20th Century, and he is a co-author of the biographic encyclopedia of Swiss Art edited by the Swiss Institute for fine arts, Zurich.

ADK CREATIVE ONE INC. - Tokyo

Toru Fujii, Senior Creative Director

Gaining countless advertising awards inside and out of Japan, Toru has served on juries for global advertising competitions from Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, New York Festivals, ADFEST, MENA Cristal Festival, AD STARS, Cresta Awards to Singapore Outdoor Advertising Awards. Toru represents ADK speaking at major sessions including Spikes Asia, ADFEST, Universities and Corporate Companies.

GREY GROUP - New York

Jackie Blaze, Creative Director

Creative Director currently working at Grey New York. Grey ranks among the world's top advertising and marketing organizations, serving one-fifth of the FORTUNE 500 in 86 countries. Under the banner of "Grey Famously Effective Since 1917," the agency continues to break new ground in brand experience across every platform. In recent years, Grey has been named ADWEEK's "Global Agency of the Year" twice; ADVERTISING AGE's "Agency of the Year" and CAMPAIGN magazine's "Global Network of the Year" in recognition of its record creative and financial performance. The agency which recently celebrated its centennial, builds leading brands for many of the world's best-known companies: Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Canon, Volvo, Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Kellogg's, Nestle, AARP, Lindt, Applebee's, T.J. Maxx and YouTube TV.

GALERIE THOMAS ZANDER - Berlin

Thomas Zander, Director

Galerie Thomas Zander was founded in Cologne in 1996. In six to nine exhibitions per year, the gallery presents expanded photography as well as media and conceptual art. The gallery regularly participates in international art fairs such as Art Basel, FIAC Paris, Art Brussels, Art Cologne, Paris Photo and Photo London. In 2012 the additional exhibition space Second Floor, located above the main gallery, was opened. The gallery represents international artists from the 20th and 21st centuries. The gallery's photography section, established since the very beginning, is the foundation of the programme. It centres on artists considering their medium within the larger concerns of contemporary art, taking Walker Evans' documentary style as a main reference point. The acclaimed photographers from the exhibition New Documents (MoMA, 1967), Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand, as well as Henry Wessel and Robert Adams, representatives of the New Topographics movement, are at the core of the programme. Mitch Epstein's work, emerged in the New Color Photography of the 1970s, takes up this legacy, while the artists Jean-Paul Deridder and Max Regenberg are outstanding representatives of documentary portraiture in Germany. In addition to the gallery exhibitions, the work of the gallery includes long-term consulting for collections, curating and arranging exhibitions in collaboration with international institutions as well as publishing monographs and catalogues.

MUSEU COLECCAO BERARDO - Lisbon

Rita Lougares, Artistic Director

Museu Colecao Berardo presents the most significant artistic movements from the twentieth century to the present day. The collection includes works by Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp, Piet Mondrian, Joan Miro, Max Ernst, Vieira da Silva, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, Bruce Nauman and Cindy Sherman, among many others. Artists are presented within the framework of the artistic movements which their works came to define through a chronological succession allowing the spectator to take a trip through the period in question. Museu Colecao Berardo has become the most visited museum in Portugal.

GALERIA SAO MAMEDE - Lisbon

Francisco Pereira Coutinho, Owner/Director

Francisco Pereira Coutinho was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1964. He graduated in Economics in 1988 and worked as a manager and administrator in three different companies. In 2003 he acquired the Sao Mamede Art Gallery (which had been founded by his father in 1968) and has been running it ever since. Sao Mamede is a historic Art Gallery and one of Portugal's first. Over the course of its history it has exhibited and promoted works from the country's most notable artists (such as Vieira da Silva, Paula Rego, Almada, and Nadir Afonso), as well as many contemporary and upcoming talents. With its ancient brick archways and stone floors, the Gallery is considered a local landmark. It is located in the heart of the city, in Principe Real and features a wide variety of rooms with ample displays and several ongoing exhibitions. As of 2018, the Gallery has annexed an exhibit space within a short 30-meter walk. The new venue is comprised of two different levels, with concrete floors and expansive white walls, in a total area of 500 square meters. In this additional space, further modern and contemporary works are showcased.

GALLERI RAMFJORD - Oslo

Elisabeth Ramfjord - Director

Galleri Ramfjord was founded 16 years ago by Elisabeth Ramfjord. Centrally located in Oslo, our premises hold three exhibition spaces constituting more than 4,300 sq. ft. in total area. Historically, the gallery's primary focus has been emerging artists, and it is still our mission to champion newcomers. However, since the artists who joined our stable 16 years ago have now made names for themselves, we currently also represent well-established artists. A dynamic exhibition venue in downtown Oslo, Galleri Ramfjord is known for its frequent cross-disciplinary events and artistic stunts. While now a well-established gallery in Norway, we consider ourselves "up-and-coming" on the international art scene. Over the past two years, we have collaborated with partner venues in New York, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Our very first entry onto the international art fair circuit occurred at Art Copenhagen in August 2013 and proved a great success, attracting much attention both to the gallery and to the represented artists. As one of very few fair exhibitors, Galleri Ramfjord was featured in primetime on Danish National Television. We also participated at SCOPE during Art Basel Miami week in December 2013 with great success.

DROGA5 - New York

Paul Meates, Creative Director

Paul Meates currently lives in Brooklyn and is Creative Director at Droga5 NY. Founded in 2006, Droga5 is a highly-acclaimed creative agency with more than 500 employees in New York and London. Since its inception, Droga5 has become synonymous with ambitious, influential and industry-challenging work; recent examples include award-winning work for Amazon Prime Video, Tourism Australia, The New York Times, IHOP and Game of Thrones' epic Super Bowl surprise. The agency has been named Agency of the Year 20 times by organizations ranging from Adweek and Advertising Age to Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the North American Effie's.

CHISWICK AUCTIONS - London

Austin Farahar, Head of Photographica

Austin Farahar's passion for photography was nurtured during his time spent at Windsor Castle working in the Royal Photographic Archives. After completing a Photography degree in Kingston, Austin worked as a professional photographer for antiquarian booksellers in London for several years. Austin has a particular affinity for 19th Century travel photography and an in depth knowledge of buying and selling cameras and photographs at auction.

FONDAZIONE ICA MILANO - Milan

Alberto Salvadori, Director

Alberto Salvadori's Degree in Art History from the University of Pisa, where he also graduated in History of Modern and Contemporary Art of the European Countries. Mr. Salvadori was awarded scholarships at Sussex University and Reading University. In 2001 he attended the Master in Curatorial Studies at Accademia d'Arte di Brera in Milan. He has worked at Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Torino and from 2003 to 2009 he has curated the catalogue of the collection of Galleria d'Arte Moderna Palazzo Pitti in Florence. Between 2009 and 2016 he has been director of Museo Marino Marini in Florence. Since 2017 he is curator of the Established Masters and Decades sections for MiArt, the modern and contemporary art fair of Milano. He is currently director of OAC, a project by Fondazione CR Firenze and since 2019 he is director of ICA Milano, a private not-for-profit foundation established by Mr. Salvadori himself, together with Bruno Bolfo, Giancarlo Bonollo, Enea Righi and Lorenzo Sassoli de Bianchi, who is currently president of the institution.

GALERIE BUGADA CARGNEL - Paris

Claudia Cargnel, Founder

Founded by Claudia CARGNEL and Frederic BUGADA in 2002, BUGADA & CARGNEL (formerly known as COSMIC GALERIE) occupies 500 sq. meters in a freehold industrial building, a former garage form the early 30s and represents French and international emerging or established artists.

GALERIA SENDA - Barcelona

Carlos Duran, Director

Senda is passionate about creation, it values and supports the talent, risk and singularity found in young and established artists, both national and international, defending each individual's value while avoiding closed minded programs or narrow lines of thought. We believe in the value of diversity and the richness of its multiple languages and we try to identify singular worlds in which we can be reflected and grow together. Since 1991, we have been actively working as a gallery and from now on we are expanding our actions towards other art services. Moreover, we are closely linked to other projects such as LOOP Barcelona, the world reference video art fair; and Talking Galleries, an initiative that promotes debate and discussions towards the development of the art industry. It is important for us to continue collaborating with artists that trust our work and participate as well as support their creative process so that new projects come to light, inside or outside of the gallery space and to equally serve as support to institutions or third parties with their artistic endeavors.

MUSEUM FOR PHOTOGRAPHY BRAUNSCHWEIG - Germany

Barbara Hofmann-Johnson, Director

The Museum of Photography Braunschweig presents international contemporary photography and important photographic exhibitions from the mid-20th century to the present.

GALERIE DESCHLER BERLIN - Berlin

Marcus Deschler, Founder

Marcus Deschler founded his gallery in Auguststrasse in Berlin's Mitte district in 1995. In this exciting period in the first decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall he became part of a dynamically developing gallery scene. In 2001 the rooms of the gallery were carefully restored and enlarged. Through active public relations, a wide-spread network as well as collaborations with other galleries and institutions, he positions his artists on the international market. This is supported by participation in national and international art fairs. The gallery collaborates with a carefully selected group of artists. The focus of its work with younger artists is on technically innovative reinterpretations of traditional approaches. The gallery also represents a number of artists of international repute, such as Horst Antes, Holger Bar, Rainer Fetting, Salome, Luciano Castelli, Xenia Hausner, Sven Marquardt, Stefan Roloff und Patricia Walller.

CONNY DIETZSCHOLD GALLERIES - Cologne | Hong Kong | Sydney

Conny Dietzschold - Director

Conny Dietzschold is the Curator and Director of Conny Dietzschold Galleries, Cologne, Sydney and Hong Kong and curates exhibitions for art institutions, writes for art magazines and lectures at museums on art and values in Germany and Australia. The gallery expanded in 2013 with the Conny Dietzschold Gallery Project Room. Ms. Dietzschold is a member of the selection committee of Art Central Hong Kong (Art Fair) and a freelance academic lecturer on motivation and creative innovative thinking and professional practice at COFA, University of NSW. Actively involved in the international visual art scene, the gallery attends major international art fairs in Cologne, Sydney, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Seoul.

ALFRED EHRHARDT FOUNDATION - Berlin

Dr. Christiane Stahl, Director

The Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung is committed to promoting the study of the work of Alfred Ehrhardt, a photographer, documentary filmmaker and outstanding representative of the New Objectivity movement. In addition to operating as an archive, the foundation is also committed to presenting contemporary photography and media art. Exhibitions have a special dialogical approach, which provides an encounter between contemporary positions addressing themes intrinsic to Ehrhardt's work-nature and the construct of the natural - and original photographs and films by Alfred Ehrhardt. In January 2010 the foundation moved from Cologne to Berlin, a step made to enhance the foundation's public presence. The foundation also oversees the ALFRED EHRHARDT HOUSE, which opened in Triptis, Thuringia in the spring of 2008. Built around 1800, the birth house of the artist was very dilapidated after a long period of vacancy. The house was extensively renovated, and an exhibition space designed by an architect from the Dessau Bauhaus was installed to provide an overview of Alfred Ehrhards artistic oeuvre.

FRATELLI ALINARI PHOTOGRAPHY MUSEUM - Florence

Andrea de Polo, Cultural Heritage Consultant

Andrea joined Alinari in 1994 and was responsible for developing its new technology department. He became Head of the Photographic Conservation and Supervisor of the Digital Workflow and responsible for aggregating new content and scouting for new potential photographic partner agencies, worldwide. By working at Alinari, the oldest photo archive in the world with over 5.5 million images from 19th and 20th century, Andrea has been involved in projects in thematic research topics: IPR and content protection, digital rights management, intelligent visual search, best practice digitization and preservation issues, integration and content sharing across large multilingual networks and digital libraries. Andrea has been a member of many affiliate groups including the Appraiser Association of America, Inc., IEEE, IS&T, PMA, PIEA, I3A, American Institute of Conservation, CEPIC, IPTC-Photo metadata group and Society of Imaging Science and technology. Andrea has a Museum Studies certificate in photo conservation and a BFA Fine Art, RIT University, Rochester, USA.

AEROPLASTICS CONTEMPORARY - Brussels

Jerome Jacobs, Director

Since 1998 AEROPLASTICS contemporary has been an unconventional gallery in Brussels and alternates between extensive group and monographic exhibitions including a important part with photography. Gallery director and curator Jerome Jacobs encourages confrontation between both established and emerging artists, giving preference to works with a direct language and immediate visual accessibility. During an age dominated by neo-conceptual aesthetics, Aeroplastics differs markedly in its programming by focusing on the image and the panoply of challenges this presents.

GALERIE HUBERT WINTER - Vienna

Natascha Burger, Director

Natascha Burger studied art history in Vienna, Munster, and Aix-en-Provence. She has been executive director of the Estate Birgit Jurgenssen since 2009 and is director of Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna. Responsible for the entire archive, she is involved as curator and editor in the upcoming comprehensive Birgit Jurgenssen retrospective Ich bin / I Am at the Kunsthalle Tubingen, Germany, with subsequent showings at the GAMeC in Bergamo, Italy, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark.

PAOLA ANSELMI CONTEMPORARY ART - Perth

Paola Anselmi, Curator and Arts Writer

Paola Anselmi is an Australian-based Independent Curator and Arts Writer. Over the last 20 years, Paola has been a regular reviewer and contributor to a wide range of Australian arts publications on contemporary art practice, exhibitions catalogues and artist publications. Since 1990 Paola has undertaken numerous public and private collection development projects as well as held curatorial and research roles at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Royal Perth Hospital Art Collection, City of Fremantle Collection, The Centre for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci, Prato, and until recently was the Arts and Cultural Development Coordinator at The City of Perth. As a major supporter and advocate of photo-media practice in Australia, Paola has been appointed to the Exhibition/Public Programs Committee for the Perth Centre for Photography. She has regularly curated the work of Western Australian photo-media artists since 1993 and in 2013 completed research into the last 21 years of the Perth Centre for Photography which led to the exhibition Momentum.

GOLDSMITHS, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Conrad Hechter, Correspondent

Conrad Hechter studied film-making and photography in Sydney where he ran a school for foreign students and revelled in the exceptional light quality of Terra Australis. Moving to USA Conrad worked as Gallery Director at Michael Shapiro Gallery, San Francisco and David Aden Gallery in Santa Monica. He was the Business Director of FotoFactory Press and helped curate numerous catalogues and shows. He was correspondent for Studio Magazines (Black + White and Blue) and is currently based at Goldsmiths, University of London.

DAVID CLARKE - London

David Clarke, Curator, Fine Art Photography Specialist

David Clarke has been a fine art photography professional for over 30 years. Head of Photography for the Tate Gallery from 1994 to 2014, he oversaw management of 11 staff at 5 Tate sites and the implementation of his main objective, to digitize and publish all works of art in the Tate Collection. The Collection consists of over 90,000 paintings, sculptures and works on paper. David was also ultimately responsible for all photography carried out at Tate, including scientific, press, promotion and the image management systems which make the images accessible to staff and public alike. Mr Clarke's personal work has been exhibited at galleries and museums from London to Beijing. He is also a founding member for the Association for Historical and Fine Art Photography which is an international membership organization founded to support and promote fine art photography.

SOFT SURROUNDINGS - Chicago

Diane Ruggie, Senior Manager of Brand Voice

Chicago-based writer/creative director with 30 years of experience creating standout brand personalities for top marketers across the globe, primarily in the food, fashion, home furnishing and philanthropic categories. Currently, she is the Senior Manager of Brand Voice at Soft Surroundings, a women's retail brand that operates 80 stores across the country, a busy ecommerce website and publishes 20+ catalogs a year. She has won more than 40 of the advertising industry's most prestigious international awards and is profiled in the book Copywriting: Successful Writing for Design, Advertising and Marketing.

MWWM - New York

Wes Phelan, Creative Director

Wes Phelan is Creative Director and founding partner of MWWM in New York City. Before launching his latest venture with long time creative partner Matt Edwards, Wes worked at Johannes Leonardo across a number of the agency's accounts, most notably on Adidas Originals and TripAdvisor. His work on these brands resulted in significant business growth and impact as well as a successful international awards tally with multiple Cannes Lions, including the first Grand Prix awarded in the new Music Entertainment category in 2017 for the Adidas 'Original is never finished' campaign. Most recently he had focused his efforts on the Adidas Originals business, where he oversaw all global creative communication for the brand. In Adweek's "2017 top 100", Wes was recognized as one of the top 22 creative directors "who is completely reimagining what's possible". Wes has been featured in the Cannes Game Changers book and exhibition, celebrating 60 years of advertising that has transformed the landscape of the creative industries. Phelan has an intense passion for film and has directed several commercials, short films, and music videos. Prior to joining Johannes Leonardo, his provocative ideas and talent saw him quickly rise to be one of South Africa's youngest creative directors at WPP company, MetropolitanRepublic in Johannesburg, where he was instrumental in acquiring the MTN Telecommunications' account throughout Africa. Wes is foremost committed to winning hearts, rather than trophies and is continuously striving to connect the audience with the brand in a unique and memorable way.

ANTHEM WORLDWIDE / MARQUE BRANDING - Sydney

Marcel Wijnen, Creative Director

Marcel has over 20 years experience advising companies to challenge their sectors, reinventing their brands and creating new iconic identities and new engaging experiences. His career spans across Asia, Europe and Australia where he has helped a broad spectrum of companies from airlines, banks, telcos, retailers, FMCG, industrial, governments and fashion brands. Marcel is currently located in Sydney where he is Creative Director of Marque Branding Consultants and Anthem Worldwide. Previously, Marcel was in Singapore where he was the Executive Creative Director, South-East Asia at Interbrand - one the world's largest and leading brand consultancies.

AHO & SOLDAN PHOTO AND FILM FOUNDATION - Helsinki

Jussi Brofeldt, Chairman

The Foundation presents three Masters of Photography, the pioneering photographers and filmmakers, Heikki Aho (1895-1961), Bjorn Soldan (1902-1953), Claire Aho (1925-2015). HEIKKI AHO and BJORN SOLDAN were frontrunners of Finnish photography and documentary film. In 1924 they established their legendary production company AHO & SOLDAN through which the Finnish documentary film tradition was born and produced well over 400 films. Their photographs are a reflection of the highest ambitions and utmost technical and aesthetical quality of their time. Heikki's daughter CLAIRE AHO - "The Grand Old Lady of Finnish Photography", joined Aho & Soldan in the late 1940s. Having opened her own commercial studio she became a pioneer of colour photography and was especially active in the 1950s and 1960s. Her last exhibition in London, "Studio Works", was held at The Photographers' Gallery in 2013.

SALTS - Switzerland

Samuel Leuenberger, Director & Curator

SALTS supports young Swiss and international artists to develop unique and outstanding site-specific projects. Since 2009, the exhibitions have often materialised on site, in varied forms of media, always with the goal to push beyond the artists daily practice while challenging the audience's formal and conceptual expectations. Each new project grows out of a unique commissioning process, born from an open-ended conversation, with the ultimate goal to become a landmark in an artist's career. SALTS promotes an interdisciplinary exchange and dialogue and encourages involvement with other non-for-profits spaces, while fostering a dialogue with educational institutions on a national and international level. SALTS is run by Samuel Leuenberger and hosts regular contributions by guest curators.

CENTRO PORTUGUES DE FOTOGRAFIA - Porto

Bernardino Castro, Director

Bernardino Castro is Director of the Portuguese Center of Photography (CPF). A visiting professor at the Universidade Portucalense in the Specialization Course in Documentary Sciences; Senior Archival Technician at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto and on the General Archive of the Porto City Council. Author and collaborator in communications and publications in the areas of archiving and photography, Mr. Castro also guests as a Jury member in various photography programs and competitions. The Portuguese Photography Center aims to ensure the valorisation, conservation and legal protection of photographic heritage by supporting policy-making, archival technical treatment and promoting access to photographic information for the benefit of present and future generations as a source knowledge for cultural, social and economic development.

LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL - Liverpool

Fatos Ustek, Director

Fatos Ustek is director of Liverpool Biennial, jury member for Turner Prize 2020, external member of acquisitions committee for Arts Council Collection (2018-2020). She is recipient of curatorial fellowship at Tornabuoni Art, London 2018, curator of Do Ho Suh's largest commission in the UK (2018-2020), co-commissioned by Art Night and Sculpture in the City. She formerly acted as director and chief curator of DRAF (David Roberts Art Foundation), curator of miart Talks 2018, Milano; Art Night 2017, East London; and fig-2, 50 projects in 50 weeks, 2015, ICA Studio, London. Ustek is contributing editor to Extra Extra, chief-juror for the Celeste Prize 2017. She is founding member of Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA); Art Nights Trustee, member of AICA UK and ICI Alumni. She curates, lectures and publishes internationally, recently at Sotheby's, Goldmisths College, RCA and in art magazines such as Mousse, L'Officiel and Camera Austria. She is listed in the celebratory Apollo 40 under 40 Thinkers section in 2018 alongside other most talented and innovative young people; included in Evening Standard's Progress 1000 London's most influential people in 2018 and 2017; Artlyst Power 100 list 2018, and 2017; Artsy The Top 20 Most Influential Young Curators in Europe and nominated for ICI Gerrit Lansing Independent Curatorial Vision Award in 2016.

TBWA\MEDIA ARTS LAB - Los Angeles

Arnau Bosch, Group Creative Director for Apple

A multidisciplinary Creative Director from Barcelona who's been working at agencies around the world. From Barcelona to London, Amsterdam, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Created work for global brands such as Apple, Nike, Adidas, Converse, Coca-Cola, Lego, Activision, EA, Samsung, BMW, FC Barcelona and HP among others.