Mikkel Astrup (b. 1973, Oslo, Norway) is Research Fellow at the University of Oslo, Norway. His fields of research and teaching are literary theory, derivatives of psychoanalysis, and writing. Astrup is currently developing a hypothesis on contemporary writing in his doctorate on Samuel Beckett's prose. He is also a freelance writer, publishing with journals and anthologies on Samuel Beckett, Neo-liberalism, politics, and desire.
Stuart Bailey is a graphic designer and co-editor of Dot Dot Dot, a fanzine/journal concerned with art, design, music, language, literature and architecture, with David Reinfurt (earlier with Peter Bilak). His work circumscribes various aspects of graphic design, writing and editing, most consistently in the form of publications made in close collaboration with artists. Since 2002 he has worked with Will Holder under the compound name Will Stuart on a broader range of projects, including theatre and performance. Since 2006 he has worked together with David Reinfurt as Dexter Sinister, also the name of their basement space on New York City's Lower East Side that operates as a workshop and occasional bookstore.
Nils Bech is a singer who focuses on the performative aspects of music. A key actor in the Norwegian art and music scene, he has participated in exhibitions of contemporary art both in Norway and internationally, as well as performing with his band, Nils Bech, with musician Bendik Giske, at a wide variety of festivals. Bech combines sparse a capella versions of contemporary and classical music with electronica, in a conceptual stage show laced with cabaret, contemporary dance and sculptural elements.
Ina Blom is a Professor at the Institute of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas at the University of Oslo. Her fields of research and teaching are modernism and avant-garde studies, and contemporary art and aesthetics, with a particular focus on media art practices and media aesthetics. A former music critic and DJ, she has also worked extensively as an art critic and curator, contributing to many art magazines and journals. She is the author of On the Style Site: Art, Sociality and Television Culture (Sternberg Press, 2007), The Postal Performance of Ray Johnson (Sittard, 2003) and Joseph Beuys (Gyldendal, 2001).
Will Bradley is an art critic and curator based in Oslo. His publications include the books Art and Social Change: A Critical Reader (editor, Tate Publishing, 2007), Self-Organisation/Counter-economic Strategies (co-editor, Sternberg Press, 2007) and the essays 'The New New Monuments', Metropolis M, 2008 and 'Dreaming of Dreaming' (for the 'Dream Politics' edition of UKS Forum, 2009). He has curated many exhibitions, including 'Forms of Resistance' (Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 2007, with Charles Esche and Phillip van den Bossche) and 'Radical Software, on the underground influences on Open Source culture' (Wattis Institute, San Francisco, 2006).
AA Bronson lived and worked as a member of the artists' group General Idea from 1969 through 1994, with Jorge Zontal and Felix Partz. Together, they presented over 100 solo exhibitions world-wide, and exhibited in biennales in Paris (1977), Venice (1982), Sydney (1983) and São Paulo (1998), as well as documenta (1983). They published the influential FILE magazine (1972-89), and founded Art Metropole (1974), an early artist-run archive and distribution centre for artists' editions and publications in Toronto. In the last seven years of their time together they worked solely on the subject of AIDS. Since the deaths of his partners in 1994, AA Bronson has worked and exhibited as a solo artist, curator, educator, animator and gay icon. Solo exhibitions include those presented at Secession, Vienna (2000); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2001); the MIT List Visual Art Center, Cambridge (2002) and the Power Plant, Toronto (2003). Author and editor of numerous texts and books, including his autobiography Negative Thoughts (2001) and Queer Zines (2008), he lives and works as an artist and healer in Manhattan, where he is also the director of Printed Matter, Inc., and the Artistic Director of the Institute for Art, Religion, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary. He was appointed Senior Critic at the School of Art, Yale University, in 2006, and given honorary doctorates by NSCAD University in 2007 and Concordia University in 2009.
Bendik Giske is a saxophone performer who has explored a wide variety of genres, ranging from pop to contemporary art music via jazz. He holds a degree in saxophone performance from the jazz division of the music conservatory in Trondheim and the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, as well as the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. Giske has toured widely and has released studio albums with, among others, the bands Listen, Nils Bech and BG-5 (Bendik Giske Quintet).
Anne Hilde Neset is deputy editor of The Wire magazine and the co-founder of Electra (with Lina Dzuverovic). She has commissioned, curated and produced a number of projects, including the 'Enter' series of permanent sound installations (Stavanger, 2008), 'Her Noise' (South London Gallery, London, 2005), the film/performance commission Perfect Partner by Kim Gordon, Tony Oursler and Phil Morrison (Barbican Centre, London and international tour, 2005) and The Sounds Of Christmas installation and performance project by Christian Marclay (Tate Modern, London, 2005).
Peter Osborne is Professor of Modern European Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Middlesex University, London and an editor of the journal Radical Philosophy. His books include The Politics of Time: Modernity and Avant-Garde (Verso, 1995), Philosophy in Cultural Theory (Routledge, 2000), Conceptual Art (Phaidon, 2002), How to Read Marx (Granta, 2005) and Walter Benjamin: Critical Evaluations in Cultural Theory (editor, 3 Volumes, Routledge, 2005). He has contributed to many art journals and catalogues. A collection of his recent essays, El arte más allá de la estética: Ensayos filosóficos sobre el arte contemporáneo, will be published by CENDEAC, Murcia, in October 2009.
Daniel Herskedal is a performing jazz tuba player who works as a freelance musician in the band Listen, Magic Pocket and Lochs / Balthaus / Herskedal. As part of Magic Pocket, Herskedal is currently developing a commissioned work for the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra for the occasion of its 50-year anniversary in 2010.
Ole Henrik Moe is a composer and violinist who has contributed to a number of crossover projects, including jazz performance. Moe is a renowned improviser, and has participated in theatre productions and modern dance performances. Together with Kari Rønnekleiv he forms the duo The Sheriffs of Nothingness. In 2007 Moe was awarded Spellemannsprisen in the category Contemporary Music for his work with the album Ciaccona/3 Persephone Perceptions, together with Kari Rønnekleiv.
Anders Nordby is an artist whose work involves artistic production and curatorial activities. His process-based art and installations draw inspiration from literature and sub- and countercultures. Nordby has exhibitied in institutions such as Art in General, The Swiss Institute, White Columns and Rhizome at the New Museum, all in New York, NY.
The Parallel Action is the ongoing project of artists Leander Djønne and Anders Dahl Monsen, addressing social and political issues in relation to art and knowledge distribution. Since 2006 The Parallel Action has arranged seminars for art students presenting actionism in its different forms from in and outside the art world. The project investigates institutional critique as a genre and combine performative strategies with anti movement history to create a platform for counter strategy within the closed perimetry of participants. As a side-project to the Wight Biennial 2008, The Parallel Action held a seminar at UCLA Arts and a book was produced in relation to the project. The book will be available at OCA from 4 November 2009.
Kari Rønnekleiv is a violinist holding degrees from the Trøndelag Conservatory of Music and Royal College of Music in London. She has played with the Tromsø Symphony Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, the Trondheim Soloists and Bodø Sinfonietta. Since 2004 she has performed with Ole-Henrik Moe in the duo The Sheriffs of Nothingness. For the album Ciaccona/3 Persephone Perceptions, with music composed by Ole-Henrik Moe, Rønnekleiv was awarded Spellamansprisen in 2007 in the category Contemporary Music.
Lotte Sandberg is an art critic and commentator in Aftenposten. She is a graduate in art history from the University in Bergen and holds an MA in Urbanism from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. Sandberg has contributed to several journals on art and architecture, including A10, Baumeister and Konstperspektiv. She is the author of Alle snakker om Museet (Pax Forlag, 2008).
Trude Schjelderup Iversen is an art critic, editor and curator based in New York and Oslo. She has been the Director of UKS (Young Artists Society) 2001–2005, where she curated several exhibitions. She has contributed to Frame, Le Monde Diplomatique, Kontour, Morgenbladet, Billedkunst and Kunstkritikk.no in addition to various catalogues and books such as Lights on (2008) Astrup Fearnley Museet and The New Administrations of Aesthetics (co-editor, Torpedo Press, 2007). Schjelderup Iversen has been a Curator in Residence at Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, 2008/2009, lecturing on Contemporary Art Theory. She is currently pursuing a PhD on art as critique, entitled The Aesthetic Argument, at the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages at the University of Oslo.
Arild Tveito is an artist living and working in Oslo, Norway. Tveito is a multidisciplinary artist working in a variety of media, such as installation, film, video and music. Tveito is also part of the artist group Institutt for Degenerert Kunst with Anders Nordby and Eirik Sæther.