MARY JANE JACOB
Mary Jane Jacob is a curator who pioneered public, site-specific, and socially engaged art in the US. Her anthologies include Buddha Mind in Contemporary Art and Chicago Social Practice History Series. Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she also directs its Institute for Curatorial Research and Practice.
JAY PATHER
Jay Pather is an Associate Professor at University of Cape Town. Directs the Institute for Creative Arts (ICA). Curates the Infecting the City Public Art Festival; the ICA Live Art Festival and the Afrovibes Festival (Amsterdam and UK). Recently appointed Fellow at University of London and Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.
Wang Da Wei
Professor, Advisor of Institute for Public Art (IPA), Dean of Fine Arts College, Shanghai University, Chief Editor of Public Art, the Standing Council Member of Chinese artists, Deputy Director of the Arts Council of Graphic Design, member of Chinese Artists Association, Chairman of Shanghai Creative Design Workers Association, Vice Chairman of Shanghai Artists Association, member of Master of Fine Arts Steering Committee of Education Ministry, member of Environmental Art of Shanghai Metro Construction Committee, member of Art Committee of Shanghai Art Fair, Vice Director of Art Committee of Shanghai Art and Design Exhibition.
John Aiken
John Aiken was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in London at Chelsea School of Art and subsequently was awarded the Rome Scholarship in Sculpture at the British School at Rome.
He works mainly in the field of sculpture and installation and has exhibited extensively in galleries and museums internationally. He has also a strong commitment to public art and its interface with architecture and urban environments and has completed many collaborative projects and public commissions in Europe, the USA and China.
John Aiken has lectured and been a visiting artist at many universities and art schools in Europe, Australia, Asia, the United States and Canada. In 2012 he was appointed to his current position as Chair Professor of Fine Arts and Director of the Academy of Visual Arts, HKBU. He previously held the Slade Chair of Fine Art and was Director of the UCL Slade School of Fine Art in London.
While at the Slade he established with colleagues from the UCL School of Eastern European and Slavonic Studies and the Urban Lab at UCL Bartlett School of Architecture an interdisciplinary research project on the Methodology of Cities. IB Taurus published the book Engaged Urbanism- Cities and Methodologies edited by Ben Campkin and Ger Duijzings an anthology of projects presented over the last 8 years at the Slade Research Centre in 2016.