Arno Brandlhuber was born in 1964 in Wasserlos, Germany. He is the founder of brandlhuber+ in Berlin (since 2006). Since 2003 he holds the chair of architecture and urban research at the Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg and is directing the nomadic masters program a42.org. He is co-founder of the public seminar Akademie c/o, currently researching on the spatial production of the Berlin Republic. Amongst his better known buildings are the Neanderthal Museum (Düsseldorf/ Mettmann 1996) and the Haus Brunnenstrasse 9 (Berlin 2009). Since more than a decade Brandlhuber's cultural practice reaches beyond architecure and urbanism in order to politicize issues of private and collective property, sustainable economy and social cooperation.

Alice Creischer, born in Gerolstein in 1960, studied Philosophy, German literature and Visual Arts in Düsseldorf. As one of the key figures of German political art movements in the Nineties, Creischer contributed to a great amount of collective projects, publications, and exhibitions. Her artistic and theoretic agenda within institutional and economical critique has evolved over 20 years, more recently focusing on the early history of capitalism and globalization. As co-curator of such paradigmatic exhibitions like Messe 2ok (1995), ExArgentina (2004) and The Potosi Principle (2010), Creischer has developed a specific curatorial practice that correlates with her work as an artist and theorist, including her extensive practice in archive research. As author Creischer has contributed to many publications, magazines and fanzines.

Barbara Hammer was born in Hollywood in 1939. Her documentary and experimental films are considered among the earliest and most extensive representations of lesbian identity, love, and sexuality. Accompanying her career as a filmmaker, Hammer has time and again worked with performance and installation. She has participated in group exhibitions such as the Whitney Biennial in 1993 and the WACK! show at MOCA L.A. and MoMA PS1 in 2007/2008. With film retrospectives at New York’s MoMA in 2010 and the Tate Modern, London, in 2012, the artworlds interest in Hammer's work has recently increased. Hammer has been a teacher for many years, she currently holds a professorship at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee (CH). She lives and works in New York.

Chris Martin was born in 1954 in Washington D.C., USA. From 1972 till 1975 he studies Fine Arts at Yale University, New Haven. In the early eighties Martin moves to Brooklyn, New York, where he still lives and works today. He is engaged in the AIDS movement in the late eighties and becomes a therapist for people with AIDS in 1992. Chris Martin is a regular author for the Brooklyn Rail Magazine (www.brooklynrail.org), where he publishes articles on abstract painting as well as interviews with artists like Brice Marden, Thomas Nozkowski, Helmut Federle and James Siena.

Frédéric Moser and Philippe Schwinger were born in Saint-Imier, Switzerland, in 1966 and 1961. They start their artistic collaboration in 1988, directing the independent theatre company "l'atelier ici et maintenant" in Lausanne until 1993. Between 1993 and 1998 they study in the class of Silvie and Chérif Defraouiat at the Ecole Supérieure d'Art Visuel, Geneva. Between 1998 and 2000 they win consecutely the Swiss Art Award. Residencies at Schloss Solitude Stuttgart in 2001 and at the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Warsaw in 2003 follow. In 2002 they move to Berlin. They represent Switzerland at the Biennale de São Paulo 2004.

Mario Pfeifer was born in 1981 in Dresden, Germany. After his studies in Leipzig (HGB) and Berlin (UDK), he graduates from Willem de Rooij's class at Städelschule Frankfurt in 2008. Pfeifer is a Fulbright fellow in Los Angeles (California Institute of the Arts) in 2008/09. Further grants from Goethe Institut and DAAD lead him to Bangkok, Mumbai and New York, where he currently lives and works. Since 2005 his home base is Berlin.

Tina Schulz was born in 1975 in Munich, Germany. After studying German studies at the LMU in Munich she moves to Leipzig to study Fine Arts within Astrid Kleins' class at the HGB Academy of Visual Arts, where she majors in 2004. She runs the LIGA Produzentengalerie in Berlin in 2002 and 2003 and is involved in different teaching activities at the HGB between 2005 and 2008. Schulz writes broadly about artist colleagues like Henriette Grahnert, David Schnell, Eiko Grimberg and Arthur Zalewski. In 2009 and 2010 she leaves Leipzig for residencies in Paris, Brussels and Los Angeles.

Santiago Sierra was born in Madrid in 1966, where he currently lives. He studies visual arts in Mexico City, Madrid and Hamburg, amogst others with Franz Erhard Walther. Since the mid nineties Sierra realizes a large number of projects, offensively adressing repression and expoitation as he meets them in differnet parts of the world. Some of his most remarkable projects originate from collaborations with institutions such as Magasin3 Stockholm Konsthall (2009), Kestnergesellschaft Hannover (2005) and Kunsthaus Bregenz (2004). One of Sierras most rescent projects, the NO Global Tour, starts in 2009 and keeps circulating through different countries.

Michael E. Smith was born in 1977 in Detroit, MI, USA. He studies at the College for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit from 2004 until 2006. In 2008 he graduates from Jessica Stockholders' class at the Department for Sculpture at Yale University, New Haven. Smith returns to Detroit, where he currently lives and works. Since 2008 he teaches at the CCS.

Franz Erhard Walther was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany. Between 1957 and 1961 he studies at the Werkkunstschule in Offenbach and the Academy of Fine Arts in Frankfurt. In 1962 he transfers to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he graduates from Karl Otto Goetzs' class in 1964. Walther lives in New York between 1967 and 1971. He participates in Documenta 5, 6, 7 and 8. From 1971 until 2005 he holds a chair at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg (class for sculpture), where he leaves behind a big legacy. Among his students are Martin Kippenberger, Christian Jankowksi, Santiago Sierra, John Bock, Lilly Fischer, Jonathan Meese, Andreas Slominski. Since 2006 he lives and works in Fulda again.

Clemens von Wedemeyer was born in 1974 in Göttingen, Germany. He lives and works in Berlin. Between 1996 and 1998 he studies photography and media at the Fachhochschule Bielefeld. In 1998 he transfers to the HGB Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig and graduates from Astrid Kleins' class in 2002, followed by a master in 2005. In the same year he receives the Kunstpreis der Böttcherstrasse in Bremen. In 2006 he wins the German competition at Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen as well as the Karl-Schmidt-Rottluff-Stipendium. Wedemeyer exhibits at the Moscow Biennial in 2005 and at the Berlin Biennial in 2006. In 2008 he participates in Skulptur Projekte Münster. Solo exhibitions include Kölnischer Kunstverein and MoMA PS1, New York, in 2006, the Barbican Art Centre London in 2009 and the Frankfurter Kunstverein in 2011.

Tobias Zielony was born in 1973 in Wuppertal, Germany. After studying Documentary Photography at the University of Wales, Newport, Zielony enters Timm Rauterts' class for artistic photography at the HGB Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig in 2001. After his graduation in 2004 and his master in 2006 he moves to Berlin. He receives the GASAG-Kunstpreis, Berlin, in 2006 as well as grants for New York and Los Angeles. Solo exhibitions follow at C/O Berlin in 2007, Kunstverein Hamburg in 2010, Folkwang Museum Essen, MMK Zollamt Frankfurt and and Camera Austria Graz in 2011. Tobias Zielony lives and works in Berlin.