Iris Díaz (b. 1993, Granada, Spain) is an Architect & Urban planner who is always trying to be an enthusiastic changemaker. Her passion lies in the development of a more sustainable and egalitarian society. She has been part of [IN]SOS, an architecture and urban planning consultancy. She was involved in several participatory design processes, working on Traffic and Public space planning, reactivation of heritage sites and institution engagement.
She also has experience across urban education and research. She has worked on projects ranging from primary school to university (Berkeley University, among others). The principal topics were safe school routes, active mobility and resilience cities.
During several years, she was memberships in several associations, like #RealejoHabitable (climate change), #ColectivoMorgana (feminist urbanism) or #femenwise (feminism).
Liana Kuyumcuyan (b. 1994, Istanbul, Turkey) is a designer and editor based in Istanbul, Turkey. She graduated from the Industrial Design department from Istanbul Bilgi University in 2017. She studied in the Social Design Masters Department in the Design Academy Eindhoven between 2018-2020. She is currently studying in the Architecture and Urban Studies Masters Department at Istanbul Kadir Has University.
She is the Executive Editor of Design Unlimited magazine since 2019, which is one of the few Turkish magazines focusing on thematic design concepts converging with politics, social issues, and global trends. She has been working in collaboration with a city-based association, Center for Spatial Justice in Istanbul, which aims to publicly project urban/rural inequalities in Turkey. She was the guest editor of the 9th issue of their publication called beyond. istanbul; Spatial Justice and Beyoğlu, focuses on the most diverse and political district of Istanbul. In 2021, she was a part of AURA Istanbul as a researcher, and developed the project called Architectural Image as Political Tool. She worked as the project and event coordinator of Postane, an urban hub for social change located in Galata, Istanbul. She is running the project Searching for a Cosmopolitan City in a Building, which collects archives about the Postane building.
Her aim is to develop and improve designers’ position and involvement in creating safe, social and democratic spaces in spatial planning disciplines.
Theo Prodromidis (b. 1979, Thessaloniki, Greece) is a visual artist and director based in Athens, Greece. He studied Contemporary Media Practice at the University of Westminster and was awarded an MFA in Fine Art by Goldsmiths, University of London in 2007. His work has been exhibited and screened in galleries, museums and festivals such as 3rd Industrial Art Biennial, Furtherfield, Galerija Nova, State of Concept, 5th and 1st Thessaloniki Biennale, 4th Athens Biennale, i.a. Since 2017, he has contributed to The School of Redistribution by Future Climates, to Project P.R.E.S.S. (Provision of Refugee Education and Support Scheme) by Hellenic Open University and part of WHW Akademija’s program “To care for another, radical politics of care” and as member of the Institute Of Radical Imagination he co-organises The School of Mutation. For 2020-2021, he is the co-leader of “An album from our square” at Victoria Square Project, supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Public Humanities Initiative (SNFPHI) at Columbia University and a fellow of AFIELD Mentorship 2020 by Council, for the participatory project “Laying down law”.
Vladimir Us (1980, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova), artist and curator based in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, founding member of Oberliht Young Artists Association. He studied art, curating, cultural management and cultural policy in Chisinau, Grenoble and Belgrade.
Beginning in 2000, under the umbrella of Oberliht Association, he initiated and is coordinating several cultural platforms in collaboration with artists, architects, curators, activists, researchers and cultural workers from across the region, among which [oberlist] mailing list (information gateway for arts and culture from Moldova), Postbox Magazine – literature, art & attitude, KIOSK AIR – international artist-in-residence program, Zpace – independent arts & culture scene from Moldova, Bunker – an educational platform hosted by the Art Academy in Chisinau.
Through his art and curatorial work he aims to increase the access to culture for different communities, stressing the need for spatial justice and inclusive urban environment in post-soviet cities. By inviting artists to repurpose various areas in the city, a network of alternative culture public spaces in Chisinau is being conceptualized.
His cultural activism work is focused on development of the public spaces as part of democratic infrastructure of the city, but also on development of the higher art education curricula through introduction of the new artistic practices and theoretical modules, as well as on building a resilient independent culture scene in Moldova and in the region.
For a few years he has been passionate about bicycling culture and long-distance travel, and he is actively supporting the growth of the bicycle movement as an environmentally friendly alternative to the motorized means of transportation in urban areas.