Charles Esche is a British curator and writer, currently working as the Director of the Van Abbe Musseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands. In 2012, he received the European Cultural Foundation’s Princess Margriet Award and in 2014 he was awarded the CCS Bard College Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence. He has curated a number of international contemporary art biennales and other events around the globe, such as: RIWAQ Biennials, Ramallah, Palestine (2007 and 2009); Istanbul Biennial, Turkey (2005); Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2002), and São Paulo Biennale, Brazil (2014). His main work has involved working on the constitution of art institutions, most recently the museum but also the qualities of the art centre or biennial. His writings on institutional possibility and policy are useful aids to rethinking the relation between art and social change. Along with Will Bradley, he co-edited Art and Social Change published by Afterall and Tate Publishing.
Hilmar Farid is a historian, lecturer and activist. He co-founded Jaringan Kerja Budaya (Cultural Network) with fellow artists, researcher, activist, and cultural practitioners in Jakarta in 1994. He also founded Indonesian Institute of Social History in 2002. His writing on history, arts, culture, film, and politic, were published in various journals, magazines, newspapers and books. He is part of Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA) and Inter- Asia Cultural Studies Society as co-editor. He has also been invited to speak at National Tsing Hua University (Hsinchu, Taiwan), Shanghai University, China Academy of Art (Hangzhou), Sungkonghoe University (Seoul), University of the Philppines, Australian National University, Leiden University, University of Amsterdam, Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (Bangalore), University of California Los Angeles and University of California Berkeley. In 2014, he gained Ph.D from National University of Singapore with dissertation tittled Rewriting the Nation: Pramoedya and the Politics of Decolonization.
Nirwan Ahmad Arsuka is a writer on arts and culture who has background in nuclear engineering. His writing on science, literature, theatre, visual art, music, film, equestria and religion were published in several publications. Most of his writings appear in Kompas. He used to work as visiting editor for Bentara-Kompas Cultural Supplement and member of board of curator at Bentara Budaya Jakarta (2000-2006). His English pieces were published in International Journal of Asian Studies and Journal Inter-Asia Cultural Studies. From 2012 to 2014, he was the Director of Freedom Institute. His project in rewriting I La Galigo in three parts (Black Book, Yellow Book and Red Book) has been ongoing since 2011. In 2014, he initiated Kuda Pustaka and Perahu Pustaka, to disseminate knowledge in remote area.
