Keynote Speakers Short Biographies
Peter Bengtsen, Lund University, Sweden
One of my main areas of interest is street art as an artistic and social phenomenon. I have been writing about street art academically since 2006. In 2014 I published a book on the topic entitled The Street Art World. My research on street art has led to an interest in the publicness of public space in general and spatial justice in particular.More recently, I have also been working within the field of visual ecocriticism. In this research, I investigate how themes like biocentrism, anthropocentrism and anthropomorphism are treated in visual art and how this may influence the relationship between human beings and the environment.
Susan Hansen, Middlesex University, UK
Susan Hansen is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Middlesex University, London and Chair of the Forensic Psychology Research Group. She has research interests in communities' material engagements with, and affective responses to, street art and graffiti; in the analysis of graffiti as a form of visual dialogue; and in the promise of an archaeological approach to understanding street art and graffiti through the longitudinal photo documentation of single sites.
Susan Hansen is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Middlesex University, London and Chair of the Forensic Psychology Research Group. She has research interests in communities' material engagements with, and affective responses to, street art and graffiti; in the analysis of graffiti as a form of visual dialogue; and in the promise of an archaeological approach to understanding street art and graffiti through the longitudinal photo documentation of single sites.
Lachlan MacDowall, University of Melbourne, Australia
Lachlan MacDowall is an artist and researcher in the Faculty of the VCA and MCM at the University of Melbourne, Australia.His research examines modes of urban informality such as graffiti and street art. He has published widely in this area and works closely with artists, local governments, heritage agencies and galleries.
Lachlan MacDowall is an artist and researcher in the Faculty of the VCA and MCM at the University of Melbourne, Australia.His research examines modes of urban informality such as graffiti and street art. He has published widely in this area and works closely with artists, local governments, heritage agencies and galleries.
Carlo McCormick, Senior Editor of Paper (magazine), USA
Carlo McCormick is a culture critic and curator living in New York City. He is the author of numerous books, monographs and catalogues on contemporary art and artists. McCormick lectures and teaches extensively at universities and colleges around the United States on popular culture and art. His writing has appeared in Effects : Magazine for New Art Theory, Aperture, Art in America, Art News, Artforum,[1] Camera Austria, High Times, Spin (magazine), Tokion, Vice and other magazines. McCormick is Senior Editor of Paper (magazine). The Downtown Show: the New York Art Scene from 1974 to 1984 show traveled to the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (May 20 to September 3, 2006) and the Austin Museum of Art, in Austin, Texas (November 18, 2006, to January 28, 2007). It was chosen as first place winner by The International Association of Art Critics/USA (AICA USA) for best thematic show in New York City in 2005-2006.
Carlo McCormick is a culture critic and curator living in New York City. He is the author of numerous books, monographs and catalogues on contemporary art and artists. McCormick lectures and teaches extensively at universities and colleges around the United States on popular culture and art. His writing has appeared in Effects : Magazine for New Art Theory, Aperture, Art in America, Art News, Artforum,[1] Camera Austria, High Times, Spin (magazine), Tokion, Vice and other magazines. McCormick is Senior Editor of Paper (magazine). The Downtown Show: the New York Art Scene from 1974 to 1984 show traveled to the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (May 20 to September 3, 2006) and the Austin Museum of Art, in Austin, Texas (November 18, 2006, to January 28, 2007). It was chosen as first place winner by The International Association of Art Critics/USA (AICA USA) for best thematic show in New York City in 2005-2006.
Adrian Nabi, Backjump, Germany
Left home at 16 and took refuge with various chums from the hip-hop movement. Not himself blessed with spraying talent, he established himself as a behind-the-scenes ‘enabler’. He made contact with young, hip-hop inspired Afro-Americans stationed in Berlin, as well as with French artists, and soon began to manage rappers and graffiti ‘writers’ from home and abroad. Adrian Nabi is one of the most important experts in the field of street art. With "Backjump The Live Issue" he has opened up a new facet of street art. His exhibition on the movement, its idols and its more than thirty year history has displayed the enormous artistic potential.
Left home at 16 and took refuge with various chums from the hip-hop movement. Not himself blessed with spraying talent, he established himself as a behind-the-scenes ‘enabler’. He made contact with young, hip-hop inspired Afro-Americans stationed in Berlin, as well as with French artists, and soon began to manage rappers and graffiti ‘writers’ from home and abroad. Adrian Nabi is one of the most important experts in the field of street art. With "Backjump The Live Issue" he has opened up a new facet of street art. His exhibition on the movement, its idols and its more than thirty year history has displayed the enormous artistic potential.
Javier Abarca, PhD in Fine Arts, Spain
Javier Abarca is an artist and researcher in the fields of graffiti and street art. A historical figure in the early Spanish graffiti scene, between 2006 and 2015 he teached a monographic yearly class on graffiti and street art at the Fine Arts Faculty of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. In 2008 he founded the website Urbanario. He writes, lectures and teaches widely, and has curated projects for museums and institutions in Spain and Europe.
Javier Abarca is an artist and researcher in the fields of graffiti and street art. A historical figure in the early Spanish graffiti scene, between 2006 and 2015 he teached a monographic yearly class on graffiti and street art at the Fine Arts Faculty of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. In 2008 he founded the website Urbanario. He writes, lectures and teaches widely, and has curated projects for museums and institutions in Spain and Europe.
Pedro Bandeira, architect (FAUP 1996), is Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture of Universidade do Minho (Guimarães) and research member of Lab2pt. Invited by the Ministry of Culture integrated the Metaflux exhibition, the portuguese pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2004), and represented Portugal at the Architecture Biennale in São Paulo (2005). Participated in the exhibition Portugal Now: Country Positions in Architecture and Urbanism (2007) organized by the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University (USA). Author of the book Specific Projects for a Generic Client - an anthology of his works created between 1996 and 2006 (Porto: Dafne Editora). In 2007 completed his PhD thesis entitled Architecture as Image, Built Work as Representation: Subjectivity of Architectural Images. He was commissioner of the northern region of Portugal Habitar 2006-2008, co-commissioner of the international seminar Images of Architecture and Public Space in Debate (FAUP, 2010) and of the international seminar: Megastructures: Architecture and Play, as part of ICSA International Conference (UM, 2010).
