Biographies Different Voices The transnational art project “Different Voices” is a platform for production and dissemination of gender-debating artworks in public spaces. Various people with an interest in gender issues have been participating in workshops, discussions and public art projects, where collaboration has been an essential working method. Cooperation beyond professions, gender, borders of nations and boundaries of class/caste and race has formed the Different Voices project. The project was made in collaboration between the feminist artist collective “Women Down The Pub” (DK/SE) and the Nepalese artist group “Lasanaa - An Alternative Art Space. www.differentvoices.org Olaf Gerlach-Hansen From 1998 to 2006, Olaf Gerlach-Hansen - as its first Director General - led the establishment of the Danish Center for Culture and Development (DCCD) under the Danish Foreign Ministry. He was in charge of building and implementing international strategies for culture and development and of cultural exchange. Previously, in 1990 - 2007 he was director of the Western world’s largest recurring art and cultural festival focusing on dialogue with the non-western world, the Images festival. He developed major programs with Africa, Asia, The Middle East and on the worldwide cultural consequences of globalization. Today Olaf is Director of CuDIC, which develops and delivers services on culture, development and international cooperation. Simultaneously, he acts as Senior Advisor for the Danish Cultural Institute, the national Danish institution for international cultural cooperation. He is co-founding Director of Culture| Futures – Transitions to an Ecological Age, which aims at accelerating behavioral change for a sustainable future. Olaf has a MA from the University of Copenhagen and lectured here in the topic of dreams and imagination. Among his honorary offices are Past President International Association for the Study of Dreams, Member Danish UNESCO National Commission/Culture, Steering Group of International Network for Cultural Diversity. Contact: ogh@cudic.dk or ogh@culturefutures.org Ganesh Gurung Dr. Ganesh Gurung is a sociologist based in Kathmandu, He holds a PhD in migration and development. He was Vice Chairperson of the Social Welfare Council, Nepal government. He is founding Chairperson of the Nepal Institute of Development Studies (NIDS). He served as chair person of CARAM Asia (Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility) based in Malaysia and he is former chair person of Nepal National Network of Safe Migration. Currently, Dr. Gurung is Hon. member of National Planning Commission in Nepal which is chaired by Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of Nepal. Contact: ganesgrg@mos.com.np Nynne Haugaard Nynne Haugaard is a cross-medial visual artist based in Denmark. Her works and interest focus on representation - and transnational/global issues. She works with gender, race, class and how reality is produced and can be questioned, reflected and re-negotiated. Her practice is informed by feminism and feminist art. She works with interventions, video, installations, social sculptures, photography and documentary with a political, social, “journalistic” and aesthetic point of view. She normally works site-specific in collaborations with other artists and/or with other professions. She has worked with Nikolaj Kilsmark in various art projects since 1999. She is a member of the art group Women Down the Pub (WdtP) since 2002 and co-editor of the book VIEW-- feminist strategies in Danish visual Arts made by WdtP. She is Educated from The Academy of Fine Arts in Jutland, Denmark, “Hochschule der Künste” in Berlin and The Danish Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. She graduated as visual artist from The Danish Royal Academy of Fine Art in Copenhagen in 2006. She earned a master’s degree in theory and communication at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 2008. www.haugaardkilsmark.net, www.art4change.org Contact: nynnehaugaard@hotmail.com Haugaard & Kilsmark – Nepal Project Nynne Haugaard and Nikolaj Kilsmark worked with projects in Nepal from July 2006 to March 2009. Initially, they worked for MS-ActionAid as Visual Advisors taking part in project planning, campaigns and information work. Simultaneously they worked with the cooperative art project “Different Voices”. The  “Different Voices” project began in April 2007 and ended in May 2009 with the publication of the book Different Voices. Haugaard & Kilsmark have worked in Nepal for a period of 23 month from 2006 to 2009. Haugaard-Kilsmark utilise aesthetics as a platform that can discuss social change. www.haugaardkilsmark.net Carsten Juhl Since 1996 Carsten Juhl is the head of the Department of Art Theory at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts – Schools of Visual Arts. Last book:Globalæstetik. Verdensfølelsen og det kosmopolitiske perspektiv [Global aesthetics. World feeling and the cosmopolitan perspective], Billedkunstskolernes Forlag, Copenhagen, 2007. He is also a translator and has translated Agamben, Baudrillard, Boccioni, Bordiga, Kant, Lyotard, Marinetti, Montale, Perniola and Serres into Danish. He is the editor of the periodical magazine Hæfter for Gæstfrihed [Fascicles for Hospitality]. Nikolaj Kilsmark Nikolaj Kilsmark is a visual artist based in Denmark. In his work he focuses on issues of migration and globalization. He uses aesthetic conceptual language to communicate socio-political issues. He creates documentation- and conceptual images that invite to dialogue and discussions in different political contexts and media. Nikolaj works with video, photography and international development. Over the past five years, he has been focusing especially on art- and cross-disciplinary collaborations in the context of international development. Since 1999, he has worked together with Nynne Haugaard in various projects. Nikolaj Kilsmark graduated in 2000 from The Academy of Fine Arts in Jutland, Denmark. Nikolaj Kilsmark is chairperson of the association of Young Art Workers (UKK) www.haugaardkilsmark.net, www.art4change.org Contact: nikolajkilsmark@hotmail.com Lasanaa Lasanaa is a non-profit organization founded in 2007. Artists and lovers of art from various fields have come together to create this alternative art space. The main aim of Lasanna is to create an alternative art space for contemporary artists. Lasanaa believes strongly in learning by exchange. Lasanaa encourages different national and international artists to explore beyond conventional and traditional art forms. It also aims to bring changes in society at social, cultural and political levels through art workshops, residencies and dialogues. Lasanaa is aiming to develop an alternative art institute. Trustees: Sanjeev Uprety (writer/ professor - English Dept, Tribuvan University), Ganesh Gurung (sociologist), Anju Chhetri (journalist, activist, Basanta Ranjitkar - social worker, civil society), Neena Shrestha (sociologist), Ashok Gurung (director of India China Institute New School university –NY), Ashmina Ranjit (visual artist /activist). Website: www.lasanaa.org.np Steven Sampson Steven Sampson, PhD, is a social anthropologist at Lund University in Sweden.  He has worked as consultant and has published articles on civil society, administrative reform, human rights, development and project  life, especially in the Balkan countries. He is presently writing a book on the global anti-corruption industry. He has worked in many countries, but his favourite country is Aidland.  He lives in Copenhagen. Contact: steven.sampson@soc.Lu.se K. P. Soman K. P. Soman is educated in Science and Fine Arts at M.S. University of Baroda, He has been teaching art at different universities and is currently teaching at the Department of Sculpture, Faculty of Fine Arts at M.S. University Baroda. Among K. P. Soman´s works is the “Independence Golden Jubilee Monument” (1997-2000). It is an open-ended sculptural installation in front of the Government Secretariat of Trivandrum in the state of Kerala in South India. In the installation, people from different walks of life give their comments on what really happened after 50 years of independence in India. One of the elements in the installation is the casting of Dalit footprints placed with the soles up. The viewer literally walk upon them in the installation. In connection with Rai University in New Delhi, K. P. Soman and his students organised exhibitions, performances and other cultural activities around a tree in an industrial area from 2001-2005. The Tree gallery created interaction with the industrial workers during their lunch break. It aimed to create social and political awareness among the people. Jaime Stapleton Dr Jaime Stapleton is an Associate Research Fellow of the School of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London. He speaks regularly on issues relating to creative practice, law and political economy. He has worked as a consultan t for, among others, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Royal Society of Arts, London. As an academic, he has taught at a number of universities in the UK, and served on the Editorial Board of Art and Humanities Research Council's ‘Primary Sources in Copyright (1450-1900)’ project and was core participant of the AHRC's network ‘Intermedia: New Media Art, Performativity and Authenticity’ based at Tate Modern. He also worked as an officer at the National Office of Arts Council England, the principle state arts funding body in the UK. Women Down the Pub Women Down the Pub (in Danish: Kvinder på Værtshus) is a group of visual artists collaborating on gender issues relating to politics, representation, and language. WdtP started its art practice in 1997 and have participated in exhibitions, arranged workshops, collaborated with various organizations and produced publications on feminist projects. In 2004, WdtP made the book “View – Feminist Strategies in Danish Visual Art” as part of a strategy to make gender-related artwork from the last decades known and available (www.udsigt.info). WdtP employ feminism as an analytical tool to relate critically to established social norms and to infiltrate hegemonic forms of representation. WdtP´s artistic praxis is cross medial working from - and in various public platforms: as in the Different Voices project in Nepal - in discussions, talks, workshops, exhibitions and in the public sphere. Or as in the art intervention ”The Other Tour” in 2009 – a guided canal tour with an alternative reading of Copenhagen which took its points of departure in stories about homo/bi/trans/heterosexual women and men, queers and ethnic minorities. ”The Other Tour” relates to an earlier WdtP project: “Herstories Tour” - a guided tour which took place in 2000 focusing on women in hi-story: An all-encompassing account of history is not be found, one finds only multiple her- and hi-stories. www.differentvoices.org, www.udsigt.info