Imge Akcakaya is an academic and an activist, born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey. Having been an assistant lecturer at the urban planning department of Istanbul Technical University since 2005, Imge is currently pursuing her PhD at UCLA in the same field. Among her recent scholarly interests are urban redevelopment, the relationship between planning and politics in urban management, power dynamics in decision-making, and community participation. Since 2003, she has been involved in several EU projects as a researcher and organizer, including community and government based capacity building activities in Turkey. She also participated in the post-conflict planning of Kosovo. Imge plays cello and piano, thanks to the musical education she received at Istanbul University States Conservatory.
Born in Izmir, 34 year-old activist Senem Aktuccar is a mother of two. She holds several Turkish Tennis Championship titles, is former player for Turkish National Tennis Team, graduate of Universita Bocconi with a Ph.D. in Management. An accomplished actress, she played Lucille and Mme Violet, characters of Molière in Le Bourgeois Gentil Homme and La Malade Imaginaire with Saint-Joseph Theatre group touring Izmir and Istanbul. Currently, she works as a project manager at Zodiac Aerospace, and resides in Orange County. She also coaches in tennisorangecounty.com camps.
Renee T. Coulombe is a musician of considerable breadth, working as composer, performer, improviser and scholar. Bringing together diverse genres and challenging the borders of traditional composition, her work re-envisions the relationship between instrument and performer, performer and audience, audience and composer. Ranging from instrumental and vocal writing to large-scale structured improvisations, multimedia performance art to interactive works utilizing digital technologies, she has performed and collaborated globally. She has advanced degrees in composition from Columbia University and UCSD and her work has received support from the Ford Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, UC Intercampus Research in the Arts, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. http://www.reneetcoulombe.com
Ilknur Demirkoparan, aka “the barbarian," is a Turkish-American artist based somewhere in the liminal space between Los Angeles and Izmir. Her work explores notions of political power, control, and the narration of history by engaging critical dialogue on identity politics and tracing her own identity in time and space. Her work mixes traditional and new media, installation and drawing, netart and performance to explore the many layers of existence within this discourse. While her previous work focused on Turkish identity and culture, in more recent works, she explores the notions of political power, control and historical erasure more generally. ilkart.wordpress.com/
Vuslat Demirkoparan is an artist and scholar whose work focuses on contemporary Turkish film and visual culture, postcolonial critique, and comparative cultural studies especially as they relate to notions of identity, estrangement, and political dissent. She received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Irvine with emphasis in Critical Theory and an MA in Visual Studies. She is Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Composition at Soka University of America and serves on the editorial staff of the academic journal, Postmodern Culture.
Beliz Iristay is a Turkish-American mix-media artist based in Baja California, Mexico and in San Diego, California, USA. She received her BFA in Traditional Turkish Ceramics at Izmir Dokuz Eylul University. Beliz’s work often pays homage to the traditions of her home country(s), recontextualizing them with contemporary politics, materials and techniques. In her 2008 solo show in Front Gallery founded by Casa Familiar Foundation in San Diego, Beliz created an installation of a Turkish shrine using recycled Mexican glass & candles. She is the 2012 recipient of a public art commission for City Heights Park in San Diego founded by Aja Foundation. beliziristay.com
Arzu Arda Kosar’s interest in borders, territories and social psychology has led her to examine urban space, street art, collaborative art making and community building art practices. Kosar received her BFA from University of Pittsburgh and MFA from University of Southern California. Her practice includes instigating several art collectives and projects such as Yarn Bombing Los Angeles, MapConception, TransIstanbul and International Survey of Alternative Artscene. Kosar’s work has been widely exhibited in museums, galleries, alternative spaces nationally and internationally and supported with awards from USCSC/W: California in the World World in Southern California, Istanbul 2010 Europeam Cultural Capital and Turkish Cultural Foundation. She is currently a resident artist at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, CA. http://www.arzuardakosar.org
Arzu Ozkal is a Turkish born media artist and designer. Her practice engages differing interpretations of the body and its relationship to the environment. She raises questions about dogmas, traditions, laws, and patriarchal value systems through videos, public interventions and performances. Ozkal received her MFA from the Department of Visual Studies at University at Buffalo and BFA from Bilkent University. Her work has been exhibited broadly in exhibitions and festivals nationally and internationally. She is Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at San Diego State University School of Art and Design. http://contrary.info
Jamex de la Torre Brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre were born in Guadalajara, Mexico. Presently living and working on both sides of the border with studios in Ensenada, Mexico and San Diego. The brothers have collaborated for twenty years, they have accomplished 15 solo museum exhibitions, 7 major public art projects; and have won 3 prestigious awards. The brothers are well known in the international glass-art community with a record of workshops and exhibitions in several countries, they currently have a solo Museum exhibition in Lommel, Glass Museum, Belgium. http://delatorrebros.com
Yarn Bombing Los Angeles (YBLA) is a group of guerrilla knitters. YBLA stages public installations and performances to help expand the definition of public art to embrace street art, including self-initiated, ephemeral urban interventions utilizing fiber material. Collaborative art making, community building, public outreach, blurring boundaries between contemporary art practices, graffiti and craft are integral components to YBLA's practice. YBLA’s largest project to date CAFAM Granny Squared brought together an international community of 500+ artists and crafters from 25 counties to cover the façade of the Craft and Folk Art Museum with crocheted squares in May 2013. At this time YBLA is developing a social engagement project at Downtown Women's Center in Skid Row, Los Angeles, CA. http://www.yarnbombinglosangeles.com
Born in Izmir, 34 year-old activist Senem Aktuccar is a mother of two. She holds several Turkish Tennis Championship titles, is former player for Turkish National Tennis Team, graduate of Universita Bocconi with a Ph.D. in Management. An accomplished actress, she played Lucille and Mme Violet, characters of Molière in Le Bourgeois Gentil Homme and La Malade Imaginaire with Saint-Joseph Theatre group touring Izmir and Istanbul. Currently, she works as a project manager at Zodiac Aerospace, and resides in Orange County. She also coaches in tennisorangecounty.com camps.
Renee T. Coulombe is a musician of considerable breadth, working as composer, performer, improviser and scholar. Bringing together diverse genres and challenging the borders of traditional composition, her work re-envisions the relationship between instrument and performer, performer and audience, audience and composer. Ranging from instrumental and vocal writing to large-scale structured improvisations, multimedia performance art to interactive works utilizing digital technologies, she has performed and collaborated globally. She has advanced degrees in composition from Columbia University and UCSD and her work has received support from the Ford Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, UC Intercampus Research in the Arts, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. http://www.reneetcoulombe.com
Ilknur Demirkoparan, aka “the barbarian," is a Turkish-American artist based somewhere in the liminal space between Los Angeles and Izmir. Her work explores notions of political power, control, and the narration of history by engaging critical dialogue on identity politics and tracing her own identity in time and space. Her work mixes traditional and new media, installation and drawing, netart and performance to explore the many layers of existence within this discourse. While her previous work focused on Turkish identity and culture, in more recent works, she explores the notions of political power, control and historical erasure more generally. ilkart.wordpress.com/
Vuslat Demirkoparan is an artist and scholar whose work focuses on contemporary Turkish film and visual culture, postcolonial critique, and comparative cultural studies especially as they relate to notions of identity, estrangement, and political dissent. She received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Irvine with emphasis in Critical Theory and an MA in Visual Studies. She is Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Composition at Soka University of America and serves on the editorial staff of the academic journal, Postmodern Culture.
Beliz Iristay is a Turkish-American mix-media artist based in Baja California, Mexico and in San Diego, California, USA. She received her BFA in Traditional Turkish Ceramics at Izmir Dokuz Eylul University. Beliz’s work often pays homage to the traditions of her home country(s), recontextualizing them with contemporary politics, materials and techniques. In her 2008 solo show in Front Gallery founded by Casa Familiar Foundation in San Diego, Beliz created an installation of a Turkish shrine using recycled Mexican glass & candles. She is the 2012 recipient of a public art commission for City Heights Park in San Diego founded by Aja Foundation. beliziristay.com
Arzu Arda Kosar’s interest in borders, territories and social psychology has led her to examine urban space, street art, collaborative art making and community building art practices. Kosar received her BFA from University of Pittsburgh and MFA from University of Southern California. Her practice includes instigating several art collectives and projects such as Yarn Bombing Los Angeles, MapConception, TransIstanbul and International Survey of Alternative Artscene. Kosar’s work has been widely exhibited in museums, galleries, alternative spaces nationally and internationally and supported with awards from USCSC/W: California in the World World in Southern California, Istanbul 2010 Europeam Cultural Capital and Turkish Cultural Foundation. She is currently a resident artist at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, CA. http://www.arzuardakosar.org
Arzu Ozkal is a Turkish born media artist and designer. Her practice engages differing interpretations of the body and its relationship to the environment. She raises questions about dogmas, traditions, laws, and patriarchal value systems through videos, public interventions and performances. Ozkal received her MFA from the Department of Visual Studies at University at Buffalo and BFA from Bilkent University. Her work has been exhibited broadly in exhibitions and festivals nationally and internationally. She is Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at San Diego State University School of Art and Design. http://contrary.info
Jamex de la Torre Brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre were born in Guadalajara, Mexico. Presently living and working on both sides of the border with studios in Ensenada, Mexico and San Diego. The brothers have collaborated for twenty years, they have accomplished 15 solo museum exhibitions, 7 major public art projects; and have won 3 prestigious awards. The brothers are well known in the international glass-art community with a record of workshops and exhibitions in several countries, they currently have a solo Museum exhibition in Lommel, Glass Museum, Belgium. http://delatorrebros.com
Yarn Bombing Los Angeles (YBLA) is a group of guerrilla knitters. YBLA stages public installations and performances to help expand the definition of public art to embrace street art, including self-initiated, ephemeral urban interventions utilizing fiber material. Collaborative art making, community building, public outreach, blurring boundaries between contemporary art practices, graffiti and craft are integral components to YBLA's practice. YBLA’s largest project to date CAFAM Granny Squared brought together an international community of 500+ artists and crafters from 25 counties to cover the façade of the Craft and Folk Art Museum with crocheted squares in May 2013. At this time YBLA is developing a social engagement project at Downtown Women's Center in Skid Row, Los Angeles, CA. http://www.yarnbombinglosangeles.com