Silence Awareness Existence program Martina Dybová Bratislava, Slovakia Graphic Design, Photography, Video www "Som os. Doby bod. Tela let." Martina Dybová is a multimedia artist, an inter-dimensional thinker, and a mystic storyteller, searching for THE POINT — the oxymoron of eternal time and the experience of human existence within it. Fascinated by the unseen patterns and threads that bind us, she channels Jungian psychology, esoteric wisdom and occult practices, weaving words and images into spells, magick, and quiet manifestations. Meg Wagler Springfield, Missouri, USA Painting, Illustration, Animation www "Meg is a visual artist exploring the vibrant expression of the human experience." Meg Wagler is a midwest-based American visual artist, illustrator and muralist featured internationally for her colorful art, thoughtful concepts and hand lettering. Her bold work is recognized for its vibrant palettes, striking compositions and messages focused on community and self love. Rachel Weld Australia / UK Writing I am a professional musician (mostly orchestral) who writes (mostly fiction). I am an observer and listener, writing characters who experience the world in the liminal space between words and music, sound and silence, and fragments of text. I am completing a novel, working on a novella-in-flash, and beginning a postcard zuihitsu project. Fragmented writing fascinates me with its mosaic possibilities. Musical forms and timbres affect my creative processes with respect to structure, description, plot and tone. In rehearsals these aspects of writing respond to sound and often surprise me by pushing a narrative and its language in unexpected directions. Having said that, silence is a preoccupation that emerges time and again in my writing. I am fascinated by the myriad qualities it holds, its otherness and its familiarity, the responses it causes, how it can be pregnant with possibilities or blissfully empty, beyond words but not beyond feeling. I have written for BBC Radio 3, had flash fiction published/shortlisted in literary magazines and anthologies including Litro and Bath Flash Fiction Award, and just completed a Master's in Creative Writing, but my novel-in-progress is where my momentum is right now. Chiu Pin-Hsueh Pingtung,Taiwan Stage play writing, theatre lighting design www "The heart dwells between breaths." I enjoy exploring nature and observing the mind through Vipassana practice. In 2022, my stage play *Spiritual Forest*, known for its poetic and visually evocative style, won **First Prize in the Taipei Children's Arts Festival Playwriting Competition** and is now being adapted into an illustrated book. As a lighting designer, I work across award ceremonies, rock bands, traditional opera, contemporary dance, and modern theatre. I have toured internationally and teach lighting design at a university. I specialize in using precise focal points to navigate complex character relationships, creating a dynamic lighting language where light and sound move in harmony.

February Melita Schaum USA Writing, Textiles "Let me fall if I must fall. The one I will become will catch me." -Baal Shem Tov I began my writing life as a poet, morphed into short fiction, then arrived at creative nonfiction, focusing on memoir and experimental explorations of the lyric essay. I am author of five books, including a collection of memoir essays, A Sinner of Memory. The further I venture into “nonfiction,” the more porous the skin becomes between poetry and prose, facts and the fabulous. From fragmented texts to micro-prose, from adult fables incorporating elements of the surreal to doubled narratives that unscroll as piecework on the page, my essays aim to open the reader’s mind to the fluid nature of nonfiction and its often indirect, meandering assays at truth. As a soi-disant fabric artist too, the metaphor of sewing sometimes accessorizes how I think about prose: ways in which the contemporary essay foregrounds pattern or works outside the seams, taking, like a sashiko needle, its own “little stabs” at meaning. We take apart, we piece together—whether textile or text, fabric or fabrication. Perhaps it is only on the bias that we’re able to discover that which lies straight ahead. Seiu Yang Taipei, Taiwan Ceramics, Multimedia, Writing www "create, heal, and connect with the cosmos" i’m a nomadic artist, storyteller, and realm traveler, moving wherever my gut (or something less explainable) pulls me across this galaxy. in 2023, a heartbreak cracked open a new path - one filled with ghostly little beings, faraway landscapes, and the quiet magic found in the in-between spaces of transformation. through ceramic creatures and story vessel sculptures, i collect and tell stories - of life and death, feminine awakening, and the intricate layers of physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. my work is shaped by the places i move through, the spirits i meet, and the unseen threads that connect us all. some pieces are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand; others hold spaces that feel ancient, familiar, and full of quiet wisdom - like they’ve been here long before and will continue to tell tales of our time long after. i never quite know where i’ll end up next, but i’ve learned that the unknown has its own rhythm, and for now, i’m just following where it leads. Arno van Haren Netherlands Writing www "Chop wood, carry water" I am a writer and body-oriented therapist, specialized in anxiety and mental stress complaints. This combination of different types of work suits me well. However, writing has become more and more important in recent years. Although I have been writing since childhood, I am a slow starter when it comes to publications. My various pilgrimages in different countries served as the basis of my first novel, published in 2015. The concept of 'consciousness' runs like a thread through this book. My longing for peace and introspection and my interest in Zen Buddhism have resulted in a collaboration with artist Suzan van Lieshout in 'Het Grote Zen Doe Boek' (currently only available in Dutch.) This book was published by Sterck en de Vreese in January 2024. The book is a combination of personal stories, illustrations, background information and exercises that invite the reader to integrate meditation and Zen Buddhism into daily life. I am currently preparing a multimedia exhibition with 'Origin' as the theme. At this exhibition my poems in the form of Japanese Haiku will support visual art. During this Silence Awareness Existence, I want to concentrate on working on my new novel, which will focus on the loneliness of an individual in a threatening society.

Serge Wolfsperger Luxembourg Acting, Film making, Theater directing Serge Wolfsperger (Wolf) is a French actor, director and producer, living in Luxembourg. He trained at the Conservatories of Dramatic Art of Mulhouse and Grenoble as well as at the Atelier-Théâtre of the Théâtre des Quartiers d’Ivry under the direction of Philippe Adrien. After studying audiovisual at the University of Paris I Panthéon – Sorbonne, and training in screenwriting with John Truby and Miguel Machalski, he directed several documentary and fiction films produced in Luxembourg. - THE MOTIONLESS TRAVELER – documentary (RTL Luxembourg 2024) - TOWARDS THE LIGHT (Vers la lumière) – documentary (in post-production 2025) - ON THE WIRE OF TIME (Sur le fil du temps)- Feature documentary (Programming Cinema Utopia Luxembourg - RTL broadcast 2021) - TRANSCENDANTAL (Short film 2019) - WHAT'S LEFT (RTL TV series - 2017) - THE MIRROR OF APPARENCES (short film - 2015) - AS LONG AS SNOW FALL (Tant que tombera la neige - Short film 2012) He wrote and directed Eichmann, and The Savage Island of W. Golding, at the Théâtre National du Luxembourg, Animal Farm of G. Orwell, and a video-theatre performance Shadows of Memory, in France. He wrote and performed an autobiographical show SW JOUE TU ES MA MÈRE directed by Richard Leteurtre. Lila Rachel Becker New York, USA Theatre, performance art, writing www I'm a theatre director specializing in new work and irreverent reimaginings of classics. Ultimately, I am always investigating power: who has it, how it’s exercised, and how to dismantle it. I believe we are meant to exist collectively and depend on one another, and its this ethos that draws me to theatre. I make performances that exercise our ability to engage in the world through humor, abstraction, curiosity, and imagination. Cross-pollination is key to my work. I’m an acrobat, organizer, sister, drummer, New Yorker. I’m always seeking, exploring, and it all comprises the prism through which I create theatre. I also see my work as snow. In kabuki theatre, snow is suggested through a heartbeat rhythm: a snowy landscape is quiet enough to hear your own heart. Audiences’ heartbeats sync during live performance. I reach individuals while underscoring membership in the collective. My work is rooted in the place and time it’s produced; it will soon melt away. Theatre is ephemeral, teetering on the edge of grief. It must therefore be urgent. Joyu HSU (Fadah Nakaw) New Taipei City, Taiwan Theater, Film, Curating, Research www "Anicca drifts through unseen spirits, born in a flicker, gone in a sigh—like tides unwriting the shore, like mist erasing the mountain’s form, never to hold, only to pass." Art is a continuous dialogue, an act of resistance and renewal. I create at the convergence of ritual, animist perception, and politics, transforming ceremonies into artistic interventions through film, theater, and curation. My work dismantles the boundaries of performance, positioning art as an active force that engages contemporary realities, negotiates shifting social landscapes, and asserts Indigenous agency. Having lived and worked extensively in Mexico, Peru, and Mongolia, I have immersed myself in Indigenous ritual traditions, exploring how ceremonies generate knowledge and sustain cultural continuity within evolving power structures. Now in Taiwan, I am part of the Amis Kakita’an family, continuing a cross-cultural engagement with the ritual practices of shamanic traditions. My work does not document—it invokes. Art is both an extension of ritual and a site of political discourse. I summon ancestral voices beyond time, allowing ritual embodiment to become contemporary action. By disrupting spectatorship, I ensure animist worldviews remain vital amid globalization’s forces. This is more than creation; it is cultural action. I serve as a conduit where faith and history intersect, sustaining dialogue and transformation on an ongoing path.

Liz Ensz Baltimore MD / Brooklyn NY, USA Weaving, Sculpture, Photography www "Weaver, sculptor, educator, trash picker, environmental activist" Liz Ensz was born in Minnesota, USA, to a resourceful family of penny-savers, metal scrappers, and curators of cast-offs. They present a comparative study of the mass-cultural investment in disposability and the human desire to imagine permanence through emblems, monuments, and self-celebration. While disparate intentions inform these impulses- one to remember, and the other to quickly forget- each will materially describe our society to future generations. Our physical material footprint will outlive the emblems designed to signify our political and moral ideals to stand as our lasting cultural monument. Kate Skinner Perth, Western Australia Drawing, Painting, Tattooing www "II believe in dancing." Art has always been an integral part of my life. Beginning in childhood with a specialised art school, graduating with a fine art degree from university, and it is now part of my everyday life as a full-time tattoo artist. My art now encompasses two sides, my work as a tattoo artist where I am surrounded by creatives and work collaboratively with clients, and my personal practice as an artist where I enjoy creating in solitude. I use a variety of methods and mediums to create my art. My process generally begins with photographic studies or life drawing, sketching in visual diaries using pencil, pen or charcoal to capture the forms. This continues through to larger pieces, typically using oil paint and watercolour to realise my final works. Using watercolour allows me to capture my concepts quickly and cleanly, while oils provide the time to refine detail and have a richer quality. Dividing my time between the two allows me the flexibility to maintain a consistent art practice around work. I have endeavoured to capture emotion through my art and have always been drawn to portraiture because of its ability to facilitate this. Mirren Kessling London, UK Drawing, Printmaking, Events www "Mirren Kessling is a London-based artist, cultural programmer and celebrant whose work reimagines sacred histories through drawing, printmaking, events and rituals." Mirren Kessling is a London-based artist, cultural programmer, and celebrant working at the intersection of art, ritual, and landscape. Her practice spans drawing, printmaking, design projects, events, and ceremonies; reimagining sacred and mythical histories for contemporary audiences. With a background in researching the UK’s sacred histories and nature-based spiritual practices, she trained as a celebrant alongside her work as a cultural programmer at institutions such as London College of Fashion and Jerwood Arts. In 2020, she co-founded Just Druid, leading seasonal meditation walks and rituals in London’s green spaces to help people connect with nature and the changing seasons. As a celebrant, she creates bespoke ceremonies that bring natural and ancient sites to life, offering deeper connections between people and place. Her work has been exhibited at Modern Art Oxford, Cube Gallery, and York Art Gallery, and shortlisted for awards including CVAN South East’s Platform. She teaches at UAL, co-directs the UAL Future Fashion Film Festival, and has led experimental drawing workshops at institutions such as the Natural History Museum, Jelly and Modern Art Oxford. See the list of all the Arteles residents here