Silence Awareness Existence program Taney Roniger New York, USA Drawing, Writing, Photography www "I am a visual artist and writer engaged with the Vital Materialist movement in philosophy." I am a visual artist and writer based in New York City and the Catskills (USA). Inspired by the New Materialist movements in philosophy, both facets of my work explore the intelligence of matter and particularly of the human body. Trained as a painter, I have turned to drawing in recent years, finding it the most direct expression of the body’s intelligence. In numerous published essays I have championed a return to the senses in art – a return to the integrity of the phenomenological encounter. At the heart of all my work is a concern for the ecological crisis. I see the reclamation of our animal bodies as a necessary first step toward greater ecological awareness and have hosted several symposia on the subject. I am currently working on a book exploring the role art might play in ushering in a new era – one that sees the human not as presiding over nature but as deeply and inextricably embedded in it. In addition to my work as an artist and writer, since 2007 I have been teaching at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. I love walking in the woods, taking photographs of nature, and anything and everything to do with animals. Adele Dumont Sydney, Australia Writing www I'm an Australian writer and critic. I am especially interested in nonfiction writing that explores selfhood, childhood and motherhood, mind, memory, and mental health/ illness. My second book, a collection of personal essays, explores these very themes, and was published by Scribe in 2024. This is my second time here at Arteles. Tianyu Wang Zibo, China Photography, Installation Art www I am Tianyu Wang. I am base in Lausanne, Switzerland. I recently graduated with a Master's degree in Photography from ECAL and am currently based in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Paris, France continuing my artistic career. Based on my personal experiences related to religion since childhood, my work revolves around bodily experiences and phenomena of consciousness, taking the uncomfortable feelings of everyday life as a starting point and developing toward surrealism and fantasy, sometimes even grotesque directions. This approach aims to disrupt and dissolve the inherent properties and functions of things from both visual and narrative perspectives, using the mundane to confront the mundane.

March Yeri Jun South Korea Interactive Arts www Yeri Jun studied journalism before earning her MFA in Interactive Arts from Pratt Institute. Rooted in her background in journalism, she specializes in transforming raw data into visual narratives that transcend traditional communication boundaries. Her work explores how context shapes our perception of visual phenomena, uncovering hidden meanings within everyday life and revealing the artistic potential in mundane daily experiences. Ron Riekki Detroit, Michigan, USA Creative Writing, Psychology, Neuroscience www "Ron Riekki on suomalais-amerikkalainen, joka rakastaa Finland." Ron Riekki’s books include Blood/Not Blood Then the Gates (Middle West Press), My Ancestors are Reindeer Herders and I Am Melting in Extinction (Loyola University Maryland’s Apprentice House Press), Posttraumatic (Hoot ‘n’ Waddle), U.P. (Ghost Road Press), and others. He has edited/co-edited nine books, including The Many Lives of Scary Clowns (Kevin Wetmore’s essay nominated for a Bram Stoker Award), The Way North (Michigan Notable Book, finalist for Midwest Book Award, Foreword Book of the Year Award, Next Generation Indie Book Award, and Eric Hoffer Book Award) and Here (Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist and Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal). Riekki has been awarded The Best Small Fictions, Shenandoah Fiction Prize, Red Rock Film Fest Award, Best of the Net finalist, Très Court International Film Festival Audience Award and Grand Prix, Dracula Film Festival Vladutz Trophy, Rhysling Anthology inclusion, and 2022 Pushcart Prize. He has published poetry in Rattle, Poetry Northwest, Beloit Poetry Journal, fiction in Threepenny Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Wigleaf, nonfiction in River Teeth, New Orleans Review, and more. He is interested in advancements and applicability of narrative exposure therapy, mindfulness, neuroscience, and trauma-informed care. Right now, Riekki's listening to Chromatics’ “Tick of the Clock.” Kaile Shilling Vancouver, BC, Canada Writing www "Stories tell us who we are." I worked for years in Los Angeles at the intersection of arts and justice reform, and currently teach creative writing in prisons because I believe arts are healing and stories can change the world. A graduate of Harvard University, with a Masters in Theological Studies from Loyola Marymount University and graduate of Simon Fraser University’s The Writers Studio in fiction/hybrid genres, my creative process is inspired by language, myth, folktales, with a healthy layer of skepticism, perspective-shifting, and rip-along action layered on top. Language shapes how we think, what we think, and, when woven into stories (fables, myths, folklore, fairy tales, novels, movies, plays, television, songs, graphic novels), it has power. Language can reveal insider vs. outsider status, good stories ask us to live in contradiction, and myths and folklore let us live in both magic and reality. I aim for a fresh perspective on ideas of belonging, identity, justice, and storytelling: in other words, I love playing with genre and experimenting with form, and, and believe stories are a way to build bridges, empathy, and community.

Vera Koss Prague, Czech Republic Illustration, Printmaking, Storytelling www "Everything is temporary but it's better if you can compost it" Vera Koss is an illustrator, book and printmaker, tea master, storyteller, musician, dj, vocalist-songwriter and shapeshifter from Moscow, now based in Prague. Life is a song—please read the following as a poem. It never started and never ended; at some point, yoga and meditation were gently added to the practice of life. Carrying home on her shoulders, she crossed borders back and forth, became a wife. Books are the perfect medium to contain the whole world inside. She tried making them before learning how to write. Never gave up trying, never learned writing, a child-free adult wearing white. Alexa Wright London, UK Video, Photography, Installation, Sound, Bookworks, Painting www "Who knows what will happen?" I am a visual artist working mainly with lens based media, installation and bookworks. My projects are often based around a participatory process that involves a long period of research and dialogue with participants, and this forms an integral part of the finished work. For example, in 2023 I completed Inside Stories, a participatory video project in three UK prisons. With the aim of making videos that were, as far as possible given the restrictive context, collaborative, I spent time with individual participants in the prisons to enable them to dictate the imagery we used and then make editorial decisions about how to use the footage to tell their stories. I have also collaborated with various different medical scientists, including: Alf Linney, Professor of Medical Physics and computer scientists at UCL, and an interdisciplinary research team at University Health Network in Toronto, Canada investigating the experience of heart transplant. I recently took the work in a new direction, extending the collaborative process to include non-human creatures by leaving ephemeral works in the form of small paintings on rice paper, sculptures made of rice paper and sugar, and iced stones outdoors for intervention by insects, birds and animals. Tristan Randall Gadigal land—Sydney, Australia Writing, Music, Mathematics www "Sensing into inner spaces to explore the intimate and profound yet subtle experiences of being and how we make meaning." I am a mathematician, poet, writer, and cellist based on Gadigal land—Sydney, Australia. I am often drawn to the intimate and profound yet subtle experiences of being, and how we make meaning. I engage with my work by sensing into inner spaces—sensual, subtle, and imaginative—embracing curiosity and flow, while staying responsive to environment and context. It is an attempt to embody wonder, and be in witness to that experience. My background in mathematics, physics, and music also informs my creative process. My poetry often occurs in response to life as it happens, where I strive to keep the expression true to that state. My musical and sonic explorations currently focus on improvisational practice, both solo and collaborative, drawing on textures from experiential, emotional, imaginative, and concrete spaces, and their interplay. Storytelling is another aspect of my work, which allows me to conduct and share inquiry into the ways we choose to exist, the tone of that experience, and to ask less attended questions that challenge social constructs. Through my work, I hope to invite a curious joy of being in the world—and the courage to embody it.

I-Chin Liao Hsinchu, Taiwan Drawing, Painting, installation www I am an artist. I have chosen to describe psychological states of social impact and ideology through abstract objects. They come from living experiences including reality, human remembrance and imagination. These moments reflect the relationship of space and time, the transformation of substances, even the smells. I work with intuitive and sensual marks which are collected from my daily life. Revealing the paint trace and erasing mark deliberately is my intention to emphasize the processes involved in artistic production. Leaving the space of imagination allows viewers to freely interpret the artwork and opens a new possibility of thinking. Besides, I am an outdoor person sometimes, my favorite activity for now is scuba diving. Through into the sea seems I could focus on my deep mind and the condition of my body easily. On the other hand, I could gain the energy of silence from the environment of sea. The silence forces me to face to me, to feel me at that time, then I notice that how tiny is as a human being before the vast. Xiaran (Sarah) Song Hong Kong New Media, Video, Installation www Sarah Song is a new media artist and techspressionist, currently pursuing her doctoral studies at Aalto ARTS in Helsinki, with her research centered on exploring techno-spiritual experiences within the realm of interactive arts. Her creative practice converges at the intersection of the natural world, sound, and visual art. Sarah works in a variety of media and material in order to express her vivid imagination and interact with audience. Most of her artworks aim to explore the creative relationships and possibilities between human and digital technology, virtual and reality. Jackie Schuld Plainsboro, USA Illustration, Writing www Jackie Schuld is an autistic illustrator and writer. She draws from her lived experiences and her work as a Board-Certified Art Therapist to create illustrated non-fiction books for adults that expand the psychological and cultural understanding of complex topics. Her writing puts words to experiences that are often difficult to articulate, while her art captures the profound depths and layers of emotion. Some of her books include Grief is a Mess, Making it Through Chemotherapy, and Life as a Late-Identified Autistic. Faye Yan London, UK Performance, Video, Writing www Faye Yan (b. Yafei Zheng, Beijing) is a London-based interdisciplinary performance artist, writer, director and filmmaker. Her work combines durational art with theatre and engages with diaspora, gender, mental health and social issues. Faye's one-woman show “IS THERE WORK ON MARS?” had a 5-star run at Edinburgh Fringe 2024 and was nominated for the Neurodiverse Review Awards. The show has then been toured at Southbank Centre (London), Contact Theatre (Manchester), Theatre Peckham (London) and Camden Fringe (London). Her solo and collaborative live art projects have taken her to platforms such as Riposte (London), Aotuspace (Beijing) and X Museum (Beijing). Her film and video works have been awarded Best Screenplay by International Youth Short Film Competition and Best Animation by Shorttakes Festival. Faye completed her BA in Comparative Literature and Film at UCLA and MA in Performance Making at Goldsmiths, University of London. See the list of all the Arteles residents here