João Vasco Paiva (Coimbra, Portugal, 1979) is a Hong Kong-based contemporary artist. Paiva received a BFA from the Porto Arts Institute in 2004 and an MFA in Creative Media from the City University of Hong Kong in 2008. He is the recipient of the Hong Kong Emerging Artist Grant and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s International Artist Support Grant, amongst other. Has held residencies at Lichtenberg Studios, Berlin (2014) and Connecting Space, Zurich (2015). With a background in painting and advanced training in media techniques, his work is characterised by the appropriation of observed phenomena, mapping apparently random situations and presenting them in an aesthetically organised framework. His work has been widely shown in places such as: Athens, Beijing, Berlin, Budapest, Lisbon, Lyon, London, Moscow, New York, Prague, Rotterdam, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai and Sharjah.

Andreia Santana (Lisbon, Portugal, 1991). Lives and works in Lisbon. Holds a BA in Fine Arts from ESAD School of Arts and Design of Caldas da Rainha and was a participant in the Independent Study Program of Visual Arts from Maumaus School. Winner of Novo Banco Revelação 2016 Prize and of D. Fernando I Sculpture Prize. In 2013 was the artist in residence at Mieszkanie Gepperta Gallery, Wroclaw, Poland. Since 2012 exhibits regularly in Portugal and abroad, both individually and in group exhibitions in which are distinguished: Novo Banco Revelação 2016, Serralves Contemporary Art Museum, Porto; Pousio, António Duarte Museum, Caldas da Rainha (2015); Tabula Rasa, Zaratan – Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon (2015); No Water on the Other’s Edge, Mieszkanie Gepperta Gallery, Wroclaw, Poland; Water’s Edge, Przeglad Sztuki SURVIVAL, Wroclaw, Poland (2013), among others.

Jérémy Pajeanc (Paris, France, 1988) Lives and works in Oporto and Marinha Grande, Portugal. Hols a BA in painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Oporto’s University. Since 2012 Pajeanc teaches Ceramic and Sculpture at the Faculty of Education of Oporto and Fine Arts and History of Art at the École Française of Oporto. At the same time, he develops an investigation about the relation between Art and Science in the glass, field in which his artistic work has been centered on. Since 2009 exhibits regularly in Portugal and abroad. He has won prizes such as ‘Young creators Award’ from Bienal de Cerveira in 2013, in partnership with K. Stepanskyy, and ‘Young Promise’, at the  European Glass Context, representing Portugal in Denmark em 2012.

Laila Hida (Casablanca, Morocco, 1983). Lives and works in Marrakech. Laila has been a freelance photographer and cultural activist since 2002. By founding Le 18 Derb el ferrite, an alternative cultural space and artist residency in the old medina of Marrakech, Laila has organized, with the collaboration of local and international artists, researchers and cultural actors, exhibitions, series of meetings, workshops and alternative educational projects which all tackle at different levels the major lines of the artist research. Her latest works focus mainly on portraits and staged photography depicting different situations, imaginary, both absurd and surrealistic.

Leah Gordon (Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, 1959). Lives and works in London. Leah is a multi-media artist who curates, collects, researches, writes and directs. She works across a variety of media including film, photography and installations, often including commissioned sculpture and painting. Modernism and architecture, the slave trade and industrialisation, grassroots religious, class and folk histories are subjects of her work. She is the co-director of the Ghetto Biennale in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; was a curator for the Haitian Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale; was the co-curator of ‘Kafou: Haiti, History & Art’ at Nottingham Contemporary, UK; on the curatorial team for ‘In Extremis: Death and Life in 21st Century Haitian Art’ at the Fowler Museum, UCLA and was the guest curator for the 2016 NYC Outsider Art Fair. In 2015, Leah Gordon and her partner André Eugène were the recipients of the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Travel Award for Central America and the Caribbean.

Alexandre Estrela (Lisbon, Portugal, 1971). Lives and works in Lisbon. The films created by Alexandre Estrela unfold as video-installations and projections, which expand spatially and temporally through different supports. With this procedure he configures the image as an entity that cannot be reduced to the field of representation, highlighting its possible material and physical consequences. Estrela is constantly problematizing the elements that constitute the act of seeing, the process of constructing different gazes and the possible splitting of vision into further sensible dimensions. Since 2008 Alexandre Estrela directs Oporto, a program of exhibitions and projects in Lisbon.

Duarte Amaral Netto (Lisbon, Portugal, 1976). Lives and works in Lisbon. Studied photography at Ar.co from 1996 to 2000 (Kodak scholarship), Post-Graduation in Visual Culture Theory in 2008 and the European Master of Fine Art Photography at IED Madrid (IED grant) in 2016. Since 2002 exhibit in Portugal and abroad. In 2003 he was awarded the Grand Prix du 48ème Salon de Montrouge, in Paris. He represented Portugal in “100 photos pour l’Europe” in Paris, and was selected for several festivals and events such as “European Night” in Arles (2006) or Plat(t)form in Winterthur (2014). In 2012 he was nominated for the 8th Edition of the BES Photo Awards with exhibitions at the Berardo Museum (Portugal) and Pinacoteca de São Paulo (Brazil). He teaches photography at the Instituto Politécnico de Tomar.

João Paulo Serafim (Paris, France, 1974). Lives and works in Lisbon. Graduated in Photography and Fine Arts at Ar.Co, school where teaches since 1998. In 2005 participates in the Photography Course of the Gulbenkian Criatividade e Criação Artística program and in 2008 attends History of Art at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. In 2005 won the 3rd prize of Purificacíon García Award. Since 2005 develops the project MIIAC – Museu Improvável Imagem e Arte Contemporânea, a fictional museum based in an iconographic research from a personal collection, constructed along the life of the artist. MIIAC materializes virtually or through exhibitions in different spaces, combining personal and collective memories. This research also extends to museum functions focusing on the backstage like archives and libraries, reflecting about the organization, processing and qualification process of visual information. Also collaborates, since 2004, in theater shows and performances.

Rodrigo Tavarela Peixoto (Lisbon, Portugal, 1974), Lives and works in Lisbon. Photographer, exhibiting regularly since 1999, he graduated in Ar.Co. and received a FLAD scholarship that allowed him to continue his studies at SVA, New York. In 2010 he completed the Master of Fine Arts at ESAD.CR – Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. He is currently undertaking a PhD in Communication Studies with Fellowship of the FCT Foundation. Since 2007, he teaches several courses in Photography, Digital Animation and Film Degrees at Universidade Lusófona. His works are present in some of the most important Portuguese collections, such as PLMJ collection, BES Art and EDP Foundation.

Valter Ventura (Lisbon, Portugal, 1979) Lives and works in Lisbon. Graduated in Art History from Faculdade de Letras (University of Lisbon). In 2005 he finished the Advanced Course in Photography at Ar.Co – Center for Art and Visual Communication, with the Banco Espírito Santo scholarship. Currently he teaches at the Photography Department of Instituto Politécnico de Tomar, also collaborating with Ar.Co, Atelier de Lisboa and the Faculdade de Belas Artes (University of Lisbon). In 2008, participated (in duo with José Nuno Lamas) in the 2nd Photography Course, Creativity and Artistic Creation Programme of Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Between 2012 and 2014 he was responsible for the photographic department at Carpe Diem – Art and Research.

Alessio Antoniolli is the Director of Gasworks, London, where he leads a programme of residencies, exhibitions and participation projects focusing on emerging UK and international artists and practices. Alessio is also the Director of Triangle Network, a global network of artists and grassroots organisations. He is involved in running, fundraising and strategic planning for the Network, as well as working with new partners on developing projects such as residencies and workshops. In 2009 Alessio instigated the Knowledge and Skills Sharing Programme, an ongoing series of professional development and training opportunities for artists and arts coordinators within the Triangle Network. Alessio received his MA in Art History from Birkbeck college, University of London; specialising in issues of internationalism, diversity and cultural policies in the visual arts in the UK.

Jeanne Mercier is critic and an independent curator . She is co-founder and editor of Africa in Visu, the first photography exchange platform and network in Africa. She has made a statement in 2005 on ”The African Photography Encounters” and is working on new practices and forms of dissemination of photography in North and West Africa. She divides her time between Africa in Visu and cultural programming consulting activities around contemporary photographic practices, and is a photographer of the issues in Africa. She currently teaches in Morocco and France, and writes for various artistic and photographic magazines. She is a regular correspondent for Africa for The Eye of Photography and Diptyk .