The 9th Celeste Prize international art competition 2017

Fatoş Üstek
Fatoş Üstek is an independent curator and writer based in London. Üstek is curator of Art Night 2017 London, working in collaboration with Whitechapel Gallery, London and Unlimited Productions. Also currently, she is Art Fund Curator at fig-2, editor of the publication that commemorates the visual arts programme of 50 projects in 50 weeks at ICA, London; editor of Gestalt, an artist monograph on FOS. Ustek is on the Block Universe Advisory Board, AWITA founding member, and an alumni of ICI, New York. She is member of AICA UK and regular contributor to international art magazines and catalogues. Ustek acted as associate curator for the 10th Gwangju Biennale in South Korea; has curated an opera in five acts at DRAF, London; an exhibition trilogy entitled Now Expanded that took place at Kunstfabrik, Berlin; Tent, Rotterdam and DRAF, London among various group shows in Europe, Far East and Turkey. Üstek is founding editor of Nowiswere Contemporary Art Magazine (with Veronika Hauer) actively worked between 2008-2012; is the editor of Unexpected Encounters Situations of Contemporary Art and Architecture (Turkish Only, 2012; English Only, upcoming) published by Zorlu Centre, Istanbul; is author of Book of Confusions, 2012, published by Rossi&Rossi, London.

George Clark
George Clark is an artist, curator and writer. His work bridges art and curatorial practice with particular focus on film, exploring the history of images and how they are governed by culture, technology and socio-political conditions. His solo exhibition A Planter's Art featured new film works and garden installation at Soulangh Cultural Park, Tainan, June-July 2016. Recent works include his feature film A Distant Echo which premiered in competition at Jihlava Film Festival 2016 and his short film Sea of Clouds / 雲海 (2016) made in Taiwan and structured around interview with the artist Chen Chieh-jen. Prior to this he collaborated with various artists including Luke Fowler and Beatrice Gibson. His curatorial projects have focused on expanding histories of film and video practice globally. He has curated retrospectives of Ute Aurand, Julian Dashper, Lav Diaz, Camille Henrot, Miklós Jancsó, Mike Kuchar, Luis Ospina and Chick Strand among others. During 2016 he worked with Circuit Artist Film and Video Aotearoa New Zealand commissioning contemporary artists to produce new works and co-curating the exhibition and symposium Phantom Topologies. He was assistant curator, film at Tate Modern (2013-2015) where he worked on the film and video collection and curated numerous retrospectives and the thematic seasons Throwing Shadows: Japanese Expanded Cinema in the time of Pop (with Julian Ross and Go Hirasawa Jan 2016 Tate Modern & IFFR) L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema (April 2015), Embeddedness: Artist Films and Videos from Korea 1960s to Now (Sept 2015) , Magiciens de la Terre: Reconsidered (April 2014) and Assembly: A Survey of Artist Film and Video in Britain 2008-2013 (Nov 2013-March 2014). He was a member of the advisory board for the BEFF / Bangkok Experimental Film Festival and one of the curators of BEFF 6 (2012), he curated the Lav Diaz focus at the AV Festival (2012) and curated INFERMENTAL for Focal Point Gallery with Dan Kidner & James Richards (2010) and co-edited the book A Detour Around Infermental (2012). He has written various catalogue essays and contributed to publications including Afterall, Art Monthly, Mousse, Sight and Sound and Senses of Cinema. He has been a jury member at various festivals including 25 FPS Festival (2016), International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (2015), CPH DOX Festival (2013) and the International Film Festival Rotterdam (2009).

Ovul O. Durmusoglu
Ovul O. Durmusoglu is a curator, researcher, and writer based in Berlin and Istanbul. In 2015-16 she has acted as the director/curator of YAMA screen in Istanbul for which she commissioned site-specific works by Banu Cennetoglu, Pilvi Takala and Isil Egrikavuk. Alongside she was curatorial and public program advisor for Gülsün Karamustafa's retrospective exhibition 'Chronographia' at Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart (Berlin) where she co-edited the artist’s first extensive monograph. Durmusoglu has recently curated 'What’s The Riddle', Pi Artworks London (2016); 'In Search of Radical Incomplete #3: Black Hole Hunters', Kunstverein Langenhagen (2016); 'Future Queer', the 20th year anniversary exhibition for Kaos GL association in Istanbul (2016); 'In Search of Radical Incomplete #2: A Perfect Animal Within', Stacion Center for Contemporary Art, Prishtina (2015); 'Place an Image/Place in Image', Museum für Fotografie, Berlin (2014-15) and 'Tentura and Antitentura', FKSE Studio for Young Artists Association, Budapest (2014). In the past, She organized different programs and events as a Goethe Institute fellow at Maybe Education and Public Programs for dOCUMENTA (13). She acted as the artistic director of the festival Sofia Contemporary 2013 titled as 'Near, Closer, Together: Exercises for a Common Ground' and public program curator and advisor for The Moving Museum in Istanbul. Durmusoglu also co-leads 'Solar Fantastic’, a research, production, and publication project between Mexico and Turkey. She has lectured widely in institutions such as Dhaka Art Summit’ 16, Tensta Konsthall (Stockholm), Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (Sao Paulo), 98weeks (Beirut), SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin), Qalandiya International (Ramallah), Museo del Tlatelolco (Mexico City), Steirischer Herbst (Graz), Akademie der Bildende Kuenste (Vienna) and ESAD (Grenoble). In 2017 Ovul is a juror for Celeste Prize. In 2017-18, she will be a guest professor in Nuremberg Art Academy. As a writer, she has contributed to several print and online publications such as Frieze Online, WdW Review, Art Agenda. Durmusoglu is part of the advisory board for Mezosfera, an online journal published by Tranzit Budapest and one of the research partners of 'Museal Episode', a think tank on the future of art museums from southern perspective organised by Goethe Institute São Paulo. She is among the recipients of Premio Lorenzo Bonaldi for Young Curators awarded by GAMeC Bergamo.

Rózsa Zita Farkas
Rózsa Zita Farkas is a curator and the founder of Arcadia Missa gallery & publisher. Rozsa has curated and co-curated various projects and exhibitions such as Rehearsals in Instability for Vienna's 'Curated By' festival (2015), The Posthuman Era Became a Girl at the South London Gallery (2014) and Re-Materialising Feminism project across the ICA and other spaces (2014 & 2015). She has recently curated Ways of Living at David Roberts Art Foundation, and Finding the Body symposium at Central Saint Martin's. She is associate lecturer for MA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art and for BA Fine Art Dissertations at Camberwell College of Arts (both UAL).

Attilia Fattori Franchini
Attilia Fattori Franchini is an independent curator and writer based in London. She is co-founder of the online platforms bubblebyte.org and Opening Times and contributes critical essays and reviews to publications such as Kaleidoscope and Flash Art International. Between 2013 and 2014 she has initiated and curated The Basement a programme in London dedicated to young, unrepresented artists. Attilia is currently working on the first edition of Curva Blu, a residency project in Favignana, Sicily, and a series of online commissions to be launched in March 2017 as part of the exhibition ARS17 at Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki. Upcoming and recent projects include: Céu Torto, Boatos Fine Arts, São Paulo, BR, February 2017; Dawning, Capitán Gallo, Mexico City, MX, February 2017; Morning uber, evening oscillators, Seventeen, London, November 2016; Lonesome Wife, Seventeen Gallery, London, October 2016; Europa and the Bull at LambdaLambdaLambda, Pristina, Kosovo, 2016, Oa4s, Temra and David in 4 parts, Sorbus, Helsinki, 2016; Yves Scherer, Snow White and The Huntsman, Mexico City, 2016; Basic Instinct, Seventeen Gallery, London, 2015; Guest Curator, Kuvat Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, 2015; Bold Tendencies 2015, London.

Nav Haq
Nav Haq is Senior Curator at MuHKA – Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp. He is Curator of the Gothenburg International Biennial of Contemporary Art in 2017. He was previously Exhibitions Curator at Arnolfini, Bristol, and Curator at Gasworks, London. Haq has curated numerous solo exhibitions with artists such as Cosima von Bonin, Shilpa Gupta, Imogen Stidworthy and Otobong Nkanga. Group exhibitions have included "Superpower: Africa in Science Fiction" (2012); and "Museum Show" – a major historical survey of (semi-fictional) museums created by artists (2011). At MuHKA he co-curated the group exhibition "Don’t You Know Who I Am? Art After Identity Politics" in 2014, and curated the interdisciplinary exhibition "Energy Flash: The Rave Movement" in 2016. Haq is on the editorial board of the online research platform for the L’Internationale confederation of European museums. In 2012 he was a recipient of the Independent Vision Award for Curatorial Achievement, awarded by Independent Curators International, New York.

Filipa Ramos
Lisbon-born Filipa Ramos is a writer and editor based in London, where she works as Editor in Chief of art-agenda. She is a lecturer in the Experimental Film MA programme of Kingston University, and in the MRes Art:Moving Image of Central Saint Martins, both in London. Ramos is co-curator of Vdrome, a programme of screenings of films by visual artists and filmmakers. In the past she was Associate Editor of Manifesta Journal, Curator of the Research Section of dOCUMENTA (13), and Coordinator of “The Most Beautiful Kunsthalle in the World” research project at the Antonio Ratti Foundation. She has recently edited Animals (Whitechapel Gallery/MIT Press, Autumn 2016).

Louise O'Kelly
Louise O’Kelly is an independent curator and arts professional based in London. In 2015 she founded Block Universe, London’s first performance art festival that takes place across major institutions and unique off-site spaces throughout the city annually. Through Block Universe, O’Kelly curates a program of performances that cross boundaries between visual arts, music and dance, creating a high-profile platform to raise the visibility of a new generation of artists. Operating under a single curatorial vision, O’Kelly explores a series of interlinking themes with each edition of the festival, commissioning and producing works by UK-based and international artists. June 2017 will bring the third edition of the festival.

Ilaria Puri Purini
Ilaria Puri Purini is an art historian and curator, working for the Contemporary Art Society in London. She holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies and Humanities from the London Consortium where she analyzed the relation between visual arts and dance in the Weimar Republic. She was previously a researcher at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Emiliano Vladés
Emiliano Valdés is a curator, editor and cultural producer based in Medellin, Colombia and Guatemala City. He is currently Chief curator of the Museum of Modern Art, Medellin, and Associate Curator for the 10th Gwangju Biennale. Until recently, he was Co-director of Proyectos Ultravioleta, a multifaceted platform for experimentation in contemporary art in Guatemala City and Curator/Head of Visual Arts at the Centro Cultural de España en Guatemala where over 5 years he developed an extensive exhibitions program that transformed the artistic scene of the country. In 2012, he was the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Curatorial Fellow at dOCUMENTA (13). He has also been Temporary Exhibition Coordinator at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, (Madrid 2006-2007); Managing Editor at Contemporary Magazines, (London, 2007-2009); Co-Curator of the 8th Bienal de Artes Visuales Nicaragüenses (Nicaragua, 2011-2012); Curator of the 17th Bienal de Arte Paiz (Guatemala, 2010); Director of the seminar ‘Hábitat: Arte contexto y análisis urbano’ (Managua, 2010) as well as Artistic Director of Foto30 (2009-2010-2011), a contemporary photography and image festival in Guatemala City. Amongst his latest exhibitions are: “Serie Revisiones” at (Ex)Céntrico throughout all of 2011; ‘Mayami Son Machín’ at Gallery Diet in Miami; ‘Me asusta pero me gusta: Arte actual de Guatemala‘, at Diablo Rosso in Panamá City; ‘Hacer la historia’ at the Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española en la Antigua Guatemala; ‘Campo&Ciudad’; ‘¡Progreso!’; ‘Esa historia a la vuelta de la esquina’; ‘Luis Camnitzer: Ideas para Instalar’; and ‘Pintura: El proyecto incompleto’, amongst others.

Ben Vickers
Ben Vickers, Curator of Digital, Serpentine Gallery, London
Initiator of @unMonastery
Curator of Digital @SerpentineUK
Co-Runs @LimaZuluLondon
Co-Chairing/Curating @Transmediale #2016
Co-Curates @ThoughtMenu
Fellow @NearNow
Occassional Contributor @EdgeRyders
Board @AutoItaliaLive
Advisor to @AscribeIO and @BANNERREPEATER
PRODEV @UniOfBrighton
Co-Founder @OOObersvatory
Advocate of @CommonLibraries, @MethodKit, @OSEcology and @Matera2019

Anna Gritz
Anna Gritz is a writer and curator at KW Institute for Contemporary Arts, Berlin. Anna made her reputation as a curator for film and performance at London’s South London Gallery, where she programmed performance, films, and exhibitions and commissioned new works by artists including Kapwani Kiwanga, veteran comic performer Michael Smith and Juliette Blightman.