Cultbytes Power List: Who to Keep an Eye on in 2025
Wondering who to keep an eye on in 2025? These professionals are making sizeable contributions to the field. For our power list to reach into the corners where work is carried out that broadens our field and within the local and tighter-knit circles whose work impacts through its ripples, we selected jurors, who in turn nominated jurors. They are anonymous, but all on the list, except our editor-in-chief, who you know already. We have made it a point to highlight colleagues working in regions of accelerated growth, with large investments in the arts. Over ten years, Cultbytes has published 400 articles written by more than 90 contributors, many topics are spearheaded by people on this list and we look forward to its editorial impact in the year to come.
Our rubrics are: Driving Ideas (because we appreciate those who dare to follow their path and others who are ahead of the curve), Collaborative and Feminist Practices (what would we be without them?), On The Rise (emerging talent and those working on new projects), On Migration and Immigrant Artists (because immigration continues to be a hot topic), and Strategic Growth and Expansion (those who support growth in a visionary way).
Driving Ideas
Morgane Billuart, Filmmaker and Artist, Vienna
Morgane Billuart’s work is confronting, auto-theoretical, and worms its way into the fabric of digital landscapes bringing with it a feminist perspective. Her most recent book Cycles the Sacred and the Doomed traverses online communities, ancient wisdom, and modern science to reimagine what holistic care can mean for female health, especially in regard to premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Overall, her work begs us to restructure the technocratic and digital spheres that surround us.
Juror Motivation: Her recently published book Cycles the Sacred and the Doomed is fantastic!
Liang-Jung Chen, Artist, London
Liang-Jung Chen’s practice is informed by material culture in an anthropological study which leads her to investigate the usage, consumption, creation, and trade of artifacts as well as the behaviors, norms, and rituals that the artifacts take part in. works across drawing, object, installation and performance. Most recently she performed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as part of a commission for the 2024 London Design Festival.
Kimberly Drew, Social Media Influencer, New York
With her noteworthy and lasting Instagram presence, Kimberly Drew centers on black creativity and art, equity and diversity, and confident living in her content. She rose to internet fame while she was the social media manager at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2015-2018) as institutions started to see the importance of their social media presence her account grew alongside that of her empower. Although it seems self-evident now, it was not at the time. She is a true trailblazer in the business and has stayed true to her mission to celebrate and expand visibility for blackness in the cultural sphere. In addition, she is the author of two books, This Is What I Know About Art, and co-editor of Black Futures. Currently, Drew is the Head of Curatorial at Pace.
Juror Motivation: “Kim is someone that I’ve looked up to for a long time, she is smart, witty, sharing, and honest. There aren’t so many people out there that as as genuine as Kim is. Her way of considering ‘blackness’ in art spaces is tender and caring.”
Sara Garzón, Curator, New York
Sara Garzón’s work focuses on decoloniality, temporality, and ecocriticism in Latin America from the 1990s onward. She curated South to South: A Meeting on African and Afro-diasporic Technologies (2023-2024) organized by the Pivô in Brazil and Centre d’art Waza in Lubumbashi and The Rise of the Coyote an experimental program on art and technology organized by Materia Abierta in Mexico bringing together scholars, artists, and activists to investigate the intersection between plant intelligence, futurity, and Indigenous technologies. An active writer, she edited the volume Worldmaking Practices: A Take on the Future, on Latin American Futurity. And her article “Manuel Amaru Cholango: Decolonizing Technology and the Construction of Indigenous Futures,” was awarded Best Essay in Visual Culture Studies 2020 by the Latin American Studies Association (LASA).
Juror Motivation: “She is amazing.”
Jerry Gogosian (Hilde Lynn Helphenstein), Meme Artist, Los Angeles
Influencer, art world provocateur, truth sayer, and clairvoyant the artist Hilde Lynn Helphenstein’s critique, praise, and analysis of the art world is always subversive and on point. Her alter-ego Jerry Gogosian was ahead of its time, and continues to attract public. In February she signed with the Beverly Hills-based United Talent Agency, however, in September they closed their fine arts division. If she was not shifted to a different division, we hope another agency that can match her vision picks her up. There is a thirst for art in the mainstream and she has the potential to bring depth to projects that live there. Oh right, she is currently also writing a three part book series.
Juror Motivation: “She is simply brilliant.”
Christian Guerematchi, Choreographer and Artist, the Netherlands
Afro-futurism, Afro-pessimism, and the non-aligned movement are central to Christian Guerematch’s investigations into black culture and (Eastern) European and African geopolitics. Currently in theaters and choreographed for four performers, FUNK employs Frantz Fanon’s concept of ‘white masks’ from Black Skin, White Masks as the dancers explore self-awareness in the face of internalized generational trauma elucidated from violent geopolitics. Guerematchi has a background in classical ballet. His previous productions include Hissy Fit where he explored the echo of the LA riots in 1992—anchored by the pessimism of Frank B. Wilderson III. Wilderson writes about a centuries-long cycle of violence that keeps black people under control. And, N.A.M.: ‘Non-Aligned Movement, Guerematchi investigates black European identity by imagining the former president Tito, co-founder of NAM, of Yugoslavia (where he was born) as black.
Juror Motivation: ”Contributes a unique perspective on the Non-Aligned Movement.”
Carmen Hines, Curator, Madrid/Vienna
Curator and writer Carmen Hines is informed by platform capitalism and urbanism, gender/sexuality studies, and theories of social reproduction/labor in her work relating to tech, people, and nature. In 2025 she will release two co-edited volumes, The Plant Complex Space (investigating our obsession with plants) as part of the Academy Fine Arts Series with Sternberg Press and Posthumanist Approaches to a Critique of Political Economy: Dissident Practices with Bloomsbury. Spanning beyond the academic world, she holds a curatorial position at RYDER Projects in Madrid.
Juror Motivation: “A feminist force! So busy, so fun, so academic, all at once.”
Alex Jen, Writer and Curator, Taipei and Chicago
A leading writer and curator his criticism and personal essays on art, architecture, and poetry have appeared in Frieze, Art in America, The Financial Times, Gulf Coast, ArtAsiaPacific, and other venues.
Juror Motivation: “Jen is currently an MPhil candidate in Art History at The University of Hong Kong, writing on David Diao, the significant (but often overlooked) New York-based painter. Importantly, he investigates the limitations of using a ‘Chinese-American’ label.”
Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel, Director, Paris
As the director of Lafayette Anticipations, Galeries Lafayette’s art art and design center. Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel has overseen exhibitions of Cyprien Gaillard, Lina Lapelytè, and Mohamad Abdouni, among others, in the modular exhibition space designed by Rem Koolhaas in Paris’s Marais district. The space also hosts workshops, performances, book fairs, and festivals. A star in the French art world, she was previously a curator at Palais de Tokyo between 2011-2018 and contributes with catalog essays and texts to various channels. In 2020 she was the chief curator of the Riga Biennial suddenly it all blossoms.
Juror Motivation: “Her program has always been well versedwell-versed, and forward thinking, s. She isn’t just putting a trendy notion into the space, she genuinely thinks about a larger picture.”
Adora Mba, Gallerist, Accra
Adora Mba founded Accra-based ADA, a contemporary art gallery.
Juror Motivation: “She is shifting the perspective on African and Diaspora contemporary, her primary focus is ensuring that there is more control and ownership of the narrative that surrounds African artists. She is an inspiration and a total power woman.”
Brittany Nelson, Artist, New York
At her solo show Meet Me at Infinity at Fotogalleriet Brittany Nelson dubbed the Mars Rover Opportunity, a “queer icon.” Why not? It lived alone on Mars for fourteen years searching for companionship. Using outer space, sci-fi, and techno fetishisms as metaphors for queerness, Nelson’s photographic oeuvre explores the human desire for connection and the loneliness that it can produce. She has made work about Alice B. Sheldon, pen-name James Tiptree, a sci-fi author of the 1970s, correspondence with Ursula LeGuin whom she had unspoken affection for. In her most recent exhibition at Luhring Augustine, she showed striking photographic portraits of telescopes taken during a residency at the SETI Institute in California—their job is to search for life in space.
Juror Motivation: “Brittany Nelson shows us the benefits of thinking beyond patriarchal structures surrounding space—perhaps it is not only domination but also intimacy we are longing for as we continue to expand its outer edges?”
Dragana Vujanovic Östlind, Curator, Stockholm
A pivotal figure in European photography, Dragana Vujanovic Östlind is the chief curator at the Hasselblad Foundation and a juror of its prestigious award (of more than $100K), received by Carrie Mae Weems and Alfredo Jarr, among others. Established in 1979, the foundation promotes photography through its awards, research support, and exhibitions. Alongside the Swedish phenomenon, Fotografiska Sweden is a hub for lifting the art of photography.
Juror Motivation: “She curates the world’s largest photography award. Enough said.”
Esther Neff, Artist, Organizer, and Scholar, New York
Esther Neff is the founder of Panoply Performance Laboratory, a performance philosophy thinktank, that between 2012-2018 helped develop and launch performance artists practices through its space in Brooklyn. She co-founded MARSH (Materializing & Activating Radical Social Habitus) in St. Louis active in food sustainability, community organizing, and performance. And, has co-founded or been a part of many other organizations. Recently she is writing on and working with collective philosophy as theater in her PhD research at CUNY Graduate Center and through collaborative projects.
Juror Motivation: “Esther steers her peers into new direction in performance in inventive and thoughtful ways.”
Ou Ning. Artist and Organizer, New York
Engaged in utopian architecture, communal living, social practice, and collaborative practices Ou Ning is a powerhouse—he is widely recognized for founding the Bishan Commune, a social practice art project and commune part of the Chinese rural reconstruction movement–a journey chartered in a book by Mai Corlin published in 2022. He directed the experimental documentary film Meishi Street (2009), about citizens rising against the demolishing of their homes, and San Yuan Li was commissioned for the Venice Biennale in 2003 about the shift from agrarian to industrial life. He founded U-theque, an independent film and video organization, and. the literary bi-monthly journal Chutzpah! In 2009, during China’s museum boom, he organized the “Shenzhen Marathon Conversation” which staged conversations between Rem Koolhaas, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and 30 Chinese leading figures; He curated the 2009 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture and “The Solutions: Design and Social Engineering” for the 2011 Chengdu Biennale. Recently he moved to New York.
Juror Motivation: “He is founding a new platform focusing on criticism.”
Akil Scafe-Smith, Urban Planner and Researcher, London
Passionate about developing public space to benefit their communities, Akil Scafe-Smith is a co-founder of RESOLVE, an interdisciplinary design collective that addresses multi-scalar social challenges by combining architecture, art, technology, and engineering. Notably, the collective made headlines when they withdrew their exhibition Them’s the Breaks from the Barbican Center in 2023 to illustrate their displeasure with the center’s anti-Palestinian stance. He was part of the Public Practice, an initiative supported by the Mayor of London, first cohort there he worked as a Project Officer for Placemaking in the London Borough of Croydon’s Spatial Planning Team and conducted research into its long-term community benefit. Until 2022 he was a researcher at the London School of Economics LSE Cities research center where he realized a workshop series titled Seen and Heard which through actions investigated privatized public space and how it can be better adjusted to incorporate youth.
Danielle Shang, Curator and Writer, Los Angeles
Danielle Shang serves as the Overseas Artistic Director of the Shanghai-based Cc Art Foundation, where she has shaped the collection and program since 2016 which focuses on art from the 1980s to present, mainly from the Global South and the Asian diaspora. Cc’s founder David Chau, is an entrepreneur and the co-founder of the Chinese art fairs Art021 and JingArt. Shang also writes art criticism and curates independently.
Matt Starr, Artist, Poet, and Events Coordinator, New York
Matt Starr was recently appointed events producer at Substack, we are curiuos to see if they will let him expand his zany, transgressive, and humorous projects there. Examples of Starr’s projects are the Perverted Book Club which invited participants to read erotica at unusual places, like the Sbarro at Penn Station (written about in New York Times). And, some years ago he remade Annie Hall with Septua-, octo-, and nongenarian cast from an elderly home. The poet has also launched his own press Dream Baby Press, kudos.
Juror Motivation: Hoping Matt Starr can do something cool for culture with support from Substack. According to rumors, Facebook pulled funding for their arts programming while Ariel Adkins still shines bright at Twitter, although we haven’t been invited over there for a while.
Feminist and Collaborative Practices
Maïa AlAthel, Curator and Cultural Entrepreneur, Riyadh and London
The Allmanac collective is launching a residency for female artists from KSA and its region in Riyadh this year. AlAthel founded the lifestyle collective in 2019 with members from all over the world and active in art, design, fashion, wellness, and travel. In her words, “cool people doing cool things.” AlAthel has also spearheaded major art projects such as the Noor Riyadh Art Festival (as curator of its 2023 edition and artistic director of its 2022 edition) and supported the establishment of several governmental organizations in KSA like the General Entertainment Authority, and Visual Arts Council at the General Culture Authority. She also headed cultural diplomacy at the Saudi Embassy in Washington D.C. With AlAthel’s great connections, the residency has the potential to support female artists in realizing their dream projects.
Juror Motivation: “In all her work, Maïa AlAthel upholds curatorial excellence and strong skills in studio management which have helped create a strong organizational structure for Allmanac.”
Chellis Baird, Artist and Artist-Curator, New York
For Women’s Month Chellis Baird curated Through The Eyes of Her showcasing the work of sixteen female artists on view north of the Oculus on Greenwich Street—co-organized by Port Authority NY & NJ and New York Culture Club (which has a space in the Oculus) it was seen by thousands of New Yorkers and tourists visiting and passing by the busy World Trade Center campus. Baird has been a long-term supporter of her artist colleagues curating them into shows and introducing curators to spaces that she has worked with. She has also held residencies at member clubs Zero Bond and the National Arts Club. In addition, Baird is represented by SLAG&RX, where she was included in a duo and group show at their Chelsea outpost this year, and will be exhibited by the gallery in a solo show in their Paris location.
Juror Motivation: “After having made a decisive footprint in New York as an artist and artist-curator I look forward to seeing Chellis Baird’s inventive spirit and work extend into Paris’s art world. Her work of unique fiber art that is both tactile and painterly will surely impress the city’s knowledgeable art-going public and I look forward to seeing if Baird will form connections to initiate projects beyond her solo show.”
Ayana Evans, Performance Artist, New York
Ayana Evans has cartwheeled across 14th Street stopping traffic during rush hour, drunk bathwater at Satellite art fair, and organized a community fried chicken brunch at The Barnes Foundation—all while wearing her signature catsuit, heels, and a tiara. Her guerilla style participatory performances have through teaching, publishing, and word-of-mouth become part of the art historical canon. Evans work celebrates black femmes and joy. Early on in her career, Evans would invite her peers to perform with her for museum commissions which served as an expansion of the performance art field. And, she continues to share her spotlight most recently by organizing a variety show at Center for Performance Research.
Juror Motivation: “I don’t know where I would be without Yana!”
Katherine Finerty, Curator, London
Katherine Finerty is a curator at Tate’s International Projects initiative, working with commissions in and beyond the museum. Her curatorial and writing practices are research-based and socially engaged centering on trans-local identity politics and global contemporary art. She has held positions at Pace, and The Showroom, among others, and recently curated exhibitions for Gallery 1957 in London and Accra.
Juror Motivation: “Katherine thinks about community the larger ecosystem at play and her work at Tate aligns well with her curatorial practice of collaboration and working closely with artists and thinking about an ecosystem, rather than a hierarchiacal art system. She thinks outside the box.”
Elke Krasny, Scholar, Vienna
A feminist cultural theorist and curator focusing on the concept of care in architecture and urbanism, Elke Krasny is the Head of the Art and Education Program at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. She is known beyond the walls of her institution both in academic circles for her scholarship and mentorship of researchers and beyond for her writing and curation. In 2023, she co-edited and curated Yasmeen Lari. Architecture for the Future, published by MIT Press, is about Pakistan’s first female curator. She co-edited and co-curated Critical Care. Architecture and Urbanism for a Broken Planet addresses the global world and its anthropogenic conditions while introducing a care perspective in architecture. Her book Living with an Infected Planet.COVID-19, Feminism, and the Global Frontline of Care encourages feminist thinking to pandemic frontline ontologies and feminist recovery plans.
Juror Motivation: “When asked, as part of a feminist utopian exercise, what the academic institution meant to her she responded: ‘joy.’ It is beautiful when educators create supportive and collaborative communities around them. Leading by example, she shows that these are ingredients that create joyful intellectual rigor.”
Jiaoyang Li, Organizer and Poet, New York
Jiaoyang Li is an icon in New York’s Chinese diaspora community—-as an organizer (co-founder of the Accent-empire), poet, and artist. In November 2024, Accent Sisters, a queer Chinese speakeasy bookstore, moved from New Jersey to a new space on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Already widely known in the Chinese diaspora community, the bookstore hosts book launches, celebrations, tea parties (on her East Coast tour comedienne Jiaoying Summers hosted a tea party for her fans there before performing at Apollo Theater), exhibitions (Parasites and Vessels for TIAB: 2023, among others). Their sister organization Accent Accent publishes books, offers poetry, translation, and other workshops in person and online, and Accent Society assists Chinese students for their U.S. college admissions. Their book fair Rehearsal (co-organized by Bungee Space) was so packed that an unknowing volunteer turned Wolfgang Tillmans away at the door.
Juror Motivation: “Jiaoyang Li is one of those rare people who is otherworldly, like Björk, with a curious and playful aesthetic. Despite her whimsy, she is on top of everything. Her work making helpful connections in the artist community, supporting immigrant and queer artists, ideating inventive programming, and the poems she writes are all like fairy dust. It permeates and is magic to the touch,”
Yo-Yo Lin, Artist, New York
Yo-Yo Lin is the cofounder of ROTATIONS, a collaborative movement practice working towards deepening understanding of artistry, disability, and access. She is an American-Taiwanese artist and the 2024 United States Artist Fellow for Media and was a 2020 Open Call recipient for the Shed. As an artist, Lin creates meditative ‘memoryscapes’ revealing the complex realities of living with chronic illness. From installations to workshops, Lin’s work with ROTATIONS and her own artistic practice uplifts diverse modes of resilience and care.
Daniela Mercuri, Gallerist, New York
Daniela Mercuri feels her way forward and is always a couple steps ahead—she hosted an arts and tech show at her gallery UNIX, in Chelsea, when the confluence was popular. She opened a pop-up outpost in Houston to be closer to the city’s collectors. When her neighbors were shuttering due to a slow market, she opted instead to rent out her Chelsea’s spaces lower lever. Now she has opened a new gallery Daniela Mercuri Gallery which will focus on female artists, an unusual move for an established gallerist. Representing Rahdika Gupta-Buckley who she showed at SPRING/BREAK Art Show. In addition, she thinks the Tribeca art hub will extend further west and north and is looking for a new space there.
Juror Motivation: Daniela Mercuri has a keen eye and a lot of chutzpah. I look forward to seeing more from her new gallery venture.
Yohanna M Roa, Artist and Curator, New York
Centering intersectionality, Yohanna M. Roa is a decolonial feminist artist and recently started INES_Magazine (Intersectional Expanded System), an English and Spanish language online publication. Armed with a PhD from CUNY, her work investigates socio-politics in spaces with her artistic practice investigating female-coded practices like sewing and cooking. She is also the curator of the longtime independent New York mainstay art space WhiteBox in Alphabet City. All of her work, which spans curating, art-making, lecturing, and organizing is grounded in feminism.
ss space space, research collective and artist-run independent space, Taipei
Established in 2020 by artists Sean Tseng and Sara Wu, Taipei-based ss space space curates workshops, and collective learning, often through public and socially engaged curation. Their projects have been facilitated and exhibited in the United Kingdom, Norway, and Taiwan, as well as online in the virtual world.
Etty Yaniv, Editor-in-Chief, Artist, Curator, New York
Etty Yaniv is the founder and editor-in-chief of Artspiel. The online publication publishes mostly interviews and reviews mainly involving mod-career female artists predominantly on view in independent spaces. It is hugely important to the New York art world eco-system. Founded in 2018, the publication has launched and nurtured the careers of many writers and writer-slash professionals and as Yaniv is an artist herself, her editorial content is artist-centric. As an artist, Etty Yaniv works in installation, painting, drawing, and collage—often using discarded materials. Her works are blurred and moving renderings of nature. And, of course, being an art world impresario extraordinaire she also curates and contributes to other publications.
Juror Motivation: “Artspiel has become an integral part of New York’s arts media landscape and Etty Yaniv, an artist herself, understands artistic practice and an artist’s drive to create on a very deep level. Cultbytes proudly calls them a long-time collaborator”
Xin Wang, Art Critic and Curator, New York
Earlier this year Xin Wang was poached by Pace Gallery to join their curatorial and artist management team. Wang is an art critic and curator who has worked as a curator at the Today Art Museum and served as a juror for the Art Omi International Artist Residency, CCS Bard Keith Haring Fellowship, and The Shed’s inaugural opening call for artists. She continues to write criticism.
Juror Motivation: “A trained art historian, she is a productive and widely circulated art critic published in e-flux Journal and Afterall Journal among others.”
On The Rise
Jumanah Abbas, Curator, Dubai
Jumanah Abbas recently joined Guggenheim Abu Dhabi as an Assistant Curator. Previously she worked at Qatar Museums working towards the realization of the upcoming visual art Quadrennial, a multi-site art exhibition opening in 2026. She graduated with a Master’s in Critical, Curatorial, and Conceptual Practice from Columbia University in 2020–she has contributed to the projects Mapping Memories of Resistance: The Untold Story of the Occupation of the Golan Heights, Tasmeem Biennial 2022: Radical Futures, and I Had Come from the Sea publication, which all explore the intersections of art, architecture, and culture.
Juror Motivation: “Based in the region, Abbas not only has varied connections there—from working on biennials and publishing projects—but also deep links to New York’s academic environment. I look forward to seeing how Abbas will cross-pollinate her ideas and networks at Abu Dhabi Guggenheim when it opens to the public.”
Abdulmohsen Albinali, Artist and Museum Professional, AlUla
In 2024, Abdulmohsen Albinali opened N.E.S.T (New Experimental Salon for Travelers) in AlUla. As the Saudi city’s cultural importance grows through major initiatives like the continued uncovering of its spectacular Nabataeans, Dadanite, and Lihyanite archeological sites—since 2018 they are open to tourists—and contemporary art festivals like Desert X and AlUla Arts Festival, an independent arts organization has the potential to create pathways noninstitutional initiatives to enter the city. Albinali both maintains an artistic practice and holds a position in acquisitions at The Royal Commission for AlUla (which is responsible for managing the city’s cultural heritage). Deeply embedded within the city’s cultural milieu he will surely hit the ground running with his promised programming of underground talks, workshops, exhibitions, readings, and other events.
Qingyuan Deng, Writer and Gallery Associate, New York
Qingyuan Deng is currently at Europa. Over the past year, he has also continued to expand his reach as a freelance art critic with his sharp writing published in Art Forum, Brooklyn Rail, Cultbytes, Flaunt, Family Style, Screen Slate, and more.
Juror Motivation: “Qingyuan Deng gets the art world and has the potential to help shape it through his writing and art market work. Since hiring Deng, Europa’s press coverage has exploded. Bringing the overlapping fields of sales, mediation, and curation together with his network of young professionals in the downtown and Brooklyn art scene I am excited to see where Deng will take his employer, and himself, next.”
Devon Gordon, Gallerist, New York
After curating pop-up shows, Devon Gordon has ventured out to found her gallery, Zepster Gallery, in Bushwick to support a vast network of emerging to mid-career artists. She brings her skills from working with blue-chip artists at Marian Goodman (where she still works) to the enterprise. The gallery centers on thoughtful curation, the title of its second exhibition was Oh, To Leave a Trace after a chapter of Mary Gabriel’s acclaimed book Ninth Street Women and featured three female artists whose work continues the feminist ideas that the book frames. The gallery’s most recent show Paintings and Chairs explores artists and their fascination with chairs, extending a curatorial project by Joe Horn—framing the chair as artwork, rather than design. Certainly, an interesting space to follow.
Echo He, Gallerist, New York
Operating for more than 10 years, Fou Gallery started as an apartment gallery in Brooklyn with the odd pop-up exhibition in New York and Beijing. Founded by Echo He, the gallery does not only present exhibitions but also independent film screenings, concerts, sound meditations, art workshops, tea ceremonies, and special dining experiences—-”a microclimate of diversity that bridges art, design, culture and technology” centering, but not exclusively, Asian diaspora.
Juror Motivation: “Fou Gallery is moving to Manhattan!”
Yasmine Anlan Huang, Poet and Artist, London
Yasmine Anlan Huang’s work relates to love, fetishisms, and emotions—she shies away from using the term “girl” so as not to trivialize her work, but much of it engages with girlhood as it is perceived through different lenses ranging from British Victorian to Japanese subcultures. A true poet, her visual art often incorporates written or spoken language, while she continues to maintain a publishing practice. She has lived between London, New York, and Hong Kong, but now spends most of her time in the former.
Juror Motivation: After her video work My Heart is a Bleeding Tank was included in Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet As its Kept her work has been exhibited at an accelerated speed. Well deserved.
Abigail Knight, Gallery Associate x2, New York
In New York, art world professionals always work in over-drive and there is a growing trend of young gallery associates holding positions at two galleries (or rather, galleries hiring associated part-time)—either way, supercharging her career Abigail Knight is currently a gallery associate at Freight+Volume and 5-50 Gallery. This after ending a successful tenure at Kathryn Markel in Chelsea where she introduced artists to the gallery with her summer exhibition Phantasmagoria—among them Lesley Bodzy (whose works she sold out this summer) that she will include in her first curated show at 5-50 opening on January 11.
Juror Motivation: “With proven results in both sales and curation and a growing Rolodex of collectors, she is one to keep an eye on in New York’s gallery circuit.”
Annette An-Jen Liu, Arts Writer and Curator, Taipei, and New York
Much of Annette An-Jen Liu’s work concerns Taiwan’s colonial history. She was a recipient of the Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant in 2022 and was included in this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia in Media. She writes for ArtAsiaPacific, Art Monthly AustralAsia, Mold Magazine, Ocula, Testudo Editorial, Musée Magazine, and even, beyond the art world, Travel+Leisure. Living between the United States and Taiwan while covering major global art events, Liu has an edge when it comes to understanding cultural confluences within global and local art worlds. She also works with special projects at Cai Quo Qiang’s studio.
Lucy Liu, Curator and Gallery Associate, New York
Becoming a public presence for the gallery, Lucy Liu has quickly risen at Rachel Uffner from Sales Associate to Associate Director working the gallery’s booth at Frieze LA and Art Basel Miami and curating her first group and solo shows there over the summer. In addition, in 2023, Lucy Liu co-founded Loft 121, an itinerant exhibition space, with Sean Zhang (who works at David Zwirner) which highlights emerging talents in the Asian diaspora, several of the artists in her shows at Rachel Uffner have also been exhibited at Loft 121. She has also, for over five years, been a member of the New Museum’s Artemis Council which supports the museum in exhibiting and collecting female artists. Liu is making all the right moves.
Juror Motivation: “Introducing new artists to Rachel Uffner’s rooster and the public through her independent projects makes her influential on the market, and to emerging artists.”
David Pagliarulo, Gallerist, New York
Previously a director at Marinaro Gallery, David Pagliarulo founded David Peter Francis Gallery this year on East Broadway in Chinatown to showcase artists he holds dear. Starting strong he exhibited at NADA Miami, work by Lucas Odahara from his 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 series, made while in residency at Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastrich, alongside works R Jamin and Gonzalo Reyes Rodriguez. Exhibitions at the gallery have also featured work by Ada Friedman, Helen Adam, and the 77-year-old performance artist Pat Olekszko’s first solo show since 1990—with coverage in Document Journal, Interview, and CULTURED. Revive the old and highlight some new; his recipe seems right.
Juror Motivation: “He cares about those who have been overlooked.”
On Migration and Immigrant Artists
Ab-Anbar, Gallery, Tehran, and London
Juror Motivation: ”The gallery carries its unique story, weaving it into its programs. In Tehran, its focus was on the Iranian diaspora, and in London, it emphasizes the immigrant and displaced experience, serving as a vital voice for non-Western perspectives. It fills a critical gap in the London art scene by amplifying the voice of ‘OTHERS.’”
Wen-You Cai, Artist, Organizer, and Writer, New York
An impresario, New York-based Wen-You Cai supports artists in their visa applications through her biannual magazine 4N founded in 2023—run by Open Call. It is part of Special Special, Cai’s creative studio, which has produced inventive artist editions and sold them through its East Village Store Front, among other things.
Juror Motivation: “It takes a deep understanding to bring joy into challenging and bureaucratic processes, with 4N Cai has succeeded in creating community while producing important merits in a welcoming way.”
Wo Chan, Poet and Drag Artist, New York
Wo Chan is a Fujianese poet and drag performer who performs as The Illustrious Pearl. Their debut poetry book Togetherness (2022) won the Nightboat Poetry Prize and the 2023 Publishing Triangle Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature.
Juror Motivation: “Wrote a wonderful poetry book about immigration.”
Katya Grokhovsky, Artist and Organizer, New York and Residencies Across the U.S.
Since receiving her green card, Katya Grokhovsky has increased her presence in academia through prestigious artist and teaching residencies at the University of Arkansas, Bucknell University, University of California – Davis with support from Windgate Foundation and Minetti Shrem, and as an educator at one of SVA’s MFA programs. At these institutions, she has continued to engage students and immigrants to create her poignant large-scale performances and worked on her painting practice, both of which incorporate references to her matrilineal Ukrainian heritage. Two of her paintings are currently on view at Brooklyn Museum.
Juror Motivation: “Ukrainian, immigrant, and feminist advocacy unites Katya Grokhovsky’s ambitious and wide-ranging artistic and organizational work. As the founder of The Immigrant Artist Biennia,l she is a beacon, advocate, and supporter for immigrant artists in the United States. Her style is unrelentless and her aesthetic uniquely balances beauty and distortion.”
Simon Inou, Sociologist and Journalist, Vienna
Educated in Cameroon and living in Austria, Simon Inou has worked to give a voice to black people throughout his career, in both Africa and Europe. He co-founded Cameroon’s first youth newspaper Le Messager des Jeunes and served as its editor-in-chief from 1992 to 1995. Then, he was the chief editor of Radio Afrika International, part of a broadcast network fostering Africa-European relations and the only information and communication platform for African audiences in Austria and all people in Austria with an interest in Africa, and its program Information portal Afrikanet. Currently, he is the project director of BLACK AUSTRIA where he created a campaign against prejudice towards black people living in Austria. He is also a board member of WIENWOCHE.
Araba Evelyn Johnston-Arthur, Curator and Human Rights Activist, Vienna, and Washington D.C.
With her feet in both Vienna and Washington D.C., Araba Evelyn Johnston-Arthur theorizes and organizes around themes of African Diaspora within, academia, in artistic, and diasporic communities. The feat of transcending these social boundaries and creating linkages between these networks brings a facet of unusual density to her work. She is the co-founder of PAMOJA – Movement of the Young African Diaspora and the Research Group of Black Austrian History, part of the directors collective of MUSMIG (Museum der Migration) in Vienna, co-curator of WIENWOCHE, and member of the workgroup of Remembering Silences, curated by Ahmed Al-Nawas, all while working on her doctoral thesis on racism and resistance within the African Diaspora in Austria.
Marissa Lôbo, Curator and Artist, Vienna
Marissa Lôbo works with projects relating to gender, LGTBQI+, anti-racist, and decolonial practices at kulturen in bewegung. She is co-founder and artistic director of kültüř gemma! Stadtkulturförderungsprogramm, a platform for funding BIPoC and migrating artists in Vienna, and the head curator and artistic director of Night School, a project at the interface of art practice and education. She is conducting doctoral research at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
Jelena Micić, Artist and Curator, Vienna
Jelena Micić, born in Serbia, is making big waves in Viennese immigrant and activist circles as the artistic director of the WIENWOCHE Festival for Art and Activism, a board member of D/Arts – Project Office for Diversity and Urban Dialogue in Austria, and co-founder-of-the-informal group UMETNIK*. Expanding her work into academia, she is also doing her doctoral research at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
Juror Motivation: “Jelena Micić has a tireless spirit and balances her theoretical knowledge with her lived experience as an immigrant navigating Austrian visa and employment processes as she helms WIENWOCHE—an activist festival which under her direction is largely influenced by her work to create more caring environments while enhancing the impact of the program.”
John Tsung, Interdisciplinary Artist, Composer, and Writer, New York
John Tsung works across performance art, theater, and music mostly centering on Asian-American immigrant stories. For his previous record. he interviewed immigrants about their life stories and has continued to tell their stories through music, puppetry, and poems. Juror Motivation: “He just started a new immigrant musician project.”
Benny Or, Artist and Social Media Influencer, New York
Benny Or is widely known as an arts influencer, celerated for his beatiful photos and informative captions. After leaving his postion as a set designer for large scale music productions (ahem: Billie Eilish’s flying bed at SNL) and working with his metaverse project The Meeting Place he brought his paintings practive to public view at a solo booth at SPRING/BREAK Art Show. Active in the AAP and immigrant artist (he is Canadian) communities he extended his intersts in the show by investigating generational memory through his matrilineal heritage in Hong Kong.
Juror Motivation: Frankly, everything Benny Or does is cool and chic and interesting. More please.
Nanette Orly, Curator, Wiradjuri country (Australia)
Orly is the Senior Curator at Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) and also works on independent projects. In 2024, she curated between the lines, the first international exhibition at Openspace Bae, a long-running independent, alternative art space in Busan, Korea. Juror Motivation: “Orly is dedicated to exploring the more nuanced expressions of migratory experience in contemporary art to expand narratives and opportunities for artists and curators of migratory backgrounds. Orly has worked across institutional and independent arts organizations in Australia, to research experimental and intersectional curatorial methodologies.”
Jenny Wang, founder of IMPULSE Magazine, Writer and Editor-in-Chief, New York
Jenny Wang founded IMPULSE Magazine focusing on immigration and gender rights in 2024. She was The Immigrant Artist Biennial 2023: Contact Zone’s writer-in-residence and has since become an important resource and support for visa applicants while giving voice to the immigrant artist community in New York.
Juror Motivation: “Not only a brilliant writer, but also an excellent leader Wang has in a short period built a strong foundation for a publication that I am sure will come to lead in its genre.”
Strategic Growth and Expansion
Sara Almutlaq, Curator, Writer, and Artist, Riyadh
Art is an integral part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 project and Sara Almutlag is involved in setting up several of the Ministry of Culture’s initiatives as well as contextualizing the country’s growing art world in writing and through exhibitions. She was involved in the inception of the New Media art center, Diriyah Art Futures, in Diriyah, and during her time at the Ministry of Culture she developed residency programs, artwork commissions, and long-term cultural asset strategies. She was also involved in the cultural hub Fenaa Alawwal in Riyadh where she curated the exhibition Unfolding the Embassy earlier this year.
Juror Motivation: “With a background in architecture and critical theory, she approaches her curatorial practice through speculative, research-based, and deconstructive methodologies that aim to unravel to audiences a conscious reflection of the contemporary milieu.”
Nora S. Algosaibi, Artist, Curator, and Museum Development Strategist, Riyadh and Khobar
Making accessible the country’s archeological sites and heritage is an important aim in KSA. Nora S. Algosaibi works as a curator at The Diriyah Gate Development Authority which is the governing body over several archeological sites in Diriyah, to restore and preserve them to narrate KSA’s heritage. She brings her research history from studies at Sotheby’s London and The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and creative practice as an artist to the position—it is interesting to note that many artists hold key positions in developing the country’s cultural initiatives.
Juror Motivation: “After leading numerous contemporary and modern art exhibitions in Saudi Arabia, she has joined DGDA to innovate museum initiatives that bridge contemporary art with cultural heritage, fostering dialogue and enriching visitor experiences within the region’s dynamic cultural landscape.”
Nina Blumberg, Social Media Manager, New York
Since focusing her Instagram account @artstagram__ on art some ten years ago, Nina Blumberg has gone from being one of the few visual art diarists to an art influencer in the city She also works with expanding the digital footprint of artists, galleries, and institutions by managing the and growing their accounts. Balancing her influencing and social media management with her art advisory work at Samuel’s Creative she has access to all facts of the art world and a deep understanding of its inner workings.
Juror Motivation: “Nina Blumberg launched the iconic “person standing in front of art” image trend on Instagram and has continued to create visually striking content for Cultbytes, her own, and other accounts. Her dedicated work has allowed art influencers to be included in the same spaces as art critics.”
Maëlle Ebelle and Francesca Pessarelli, Gallery Directors, New York
Led by the keen eyes and artist-centric spirits of Maëlle Ebelle and Francesca Pessarelli, Ceysson & Bénétière’s New York gallery is partially refocusing its program on local artists. During the gallery’s first years in New York (under the leadership of eponymous Ellie Rines) they showed many artists from the French Support/Surface movement, whose artists are represented by the gallery. Although some U.S.-based artists, like Sadie Laska, were introduced to the program and will show at their Paris outpost, alongside a yearly group show featuring artists local to New York, however, long-time C&B director together with Pessarelli now plan to show more local artists in their New York space. In addition, C&B is opening in Tokyo in the Spring. Exciting times ahead.
Juror Motivation: “Overall, Ceysson & Bénétière has a lovely intellectual air to it, showing many artists who truly created or shifted art historical movements during their careers. Peering into the future, Ebelle and Pesarelli bring a contemporary rebellious streak and sense of experimentation to the NYC program—the stuff that in time will make history.”
Silvana Lagos, Curator and Artist Studio Consultant, Accra, Riyadh, and London
Over the past couple years, Silvana Lagos has helped lay the foundation for El Anatsui’s Meridian Creative Center, an initiative to preserve and promote art and culture in the artist’s home country Ghana, continuing her work with artist estates and legacy that she started with as a consultant at Frank Bowling’s studio in London. She has also worked on two editions of the Noor Light Festival in Riyadh.
Juror Motivation: “Silvana Lagos is active in two areas where heavy investment in contemporary art is happening—see: the Saudi Boom and the Accra Boom—following Lagos work offers a glimpse into how art can be instrumentalized as a tool in geopolitics, but also, importantly, the opportunity to peer into exciting fast-paced spaces where creatives are starting new projects and uplifting each other and bringing attention to their region.”
Ebba von Beetzen Liska, Art Advisor, Stockholm
Long-time gallery director turned art advisor, Ebba von Beetzen Liska is leading in assisting Swedish collectors acquire blue-chip art, Collectors are a small but powerful group, however, as reported by the BBC, Sweden’s list of billionaires is increasing and exceeds the U.S. number, per capita—here’s to hoping they will support artists by buying art. One does not need to be a billionaire to collect art and von Beetzen can be seen at the world’s Frieze and Art Basel fairs rubbing shoulders with artists and gallerists to get her versatile list of clients access to the best works. Last year she was highlighted by Sweden’s largest newspaper Svenska Dagbladet and her Instagram foretells that she met with Takashi Murakami at Perrotin during Art Basel Paris art fair week.
Juror Motivation: “Extremely knowledgable in both the Swedish and international art market with unusual niche experience in commissioning and conservation of public art and large-scale sculpture von Beetzen is trustworthy and honest—in addition, she has impeccable taste, follow her Instagram to see her journeys in art.”
Roma Patel, Gallery Associate, Mumbai
Having held positions at Phillips in the 20th-century sale and researching Asian Art at Columbia Nature Morte poached the U.S. native of Indian Roma Patel to join them in their Mumbai expansion earlier this year. The Delhi gallery opened a Mumbai outpost in Colaba, adding to its two Delhi galleries and participating in major fairs like Frieze London, and The Armory Show. And Art Mumbai, in 2024. Founded by Peter Nagy in the 1980’s the gallery has maintained its reputation of showing avant-garde Indian artists, often making their careers international. Now it seems they are continuing to expand the gallery’s footprint in Mumbai where Patel will deepen ties with the North American and international set of collectors.
Juror Motivation: “Mumbai is one of the world’s most exciting cities right now. With her worldly and generous demeanor and deep knowledge and enthusiasm for South Asian and Indian art, I can’t wait to see what projects Roma Patel comes up with for the gallery in its new city.”
Ellie Rines, Gallerist, New York
Ellie Rines opened her first project space in 2013 where she showed installations by established artists. Since then, she has continued to charm audiences with fresh and cool shows while striking agreements with bigger galleries to show their blue chip artists and launching the careers of others. Cynthia Talmadge’s architectural installation detailing the relationship between Marilyn Monroe and her unconventional psychoanalyst Ralph Greenson and premiered Laurie Simmons’ ‘deep photographs’ toys from her archive that the artist previously has photographed but now encased in resin. Following Becoming Anna, Rines rung in the new year with Anna Delvey, the fake heiress, her comings and goings are often reported in the art world’s gossip column Wet Paint, and openings at her two spaces (56 and 105 Henry) are always a party.
Juror Motivation: “Ellie Rines is an iconic dealer who listens to artists and is not afraid to experiment.”
Joan Robledo-Palop, Dealer, New York
Recently Zeit Contemporary Art has participated in the highest echelon of art fairs on the global scene and its founder Joan Robledo-Palop has a proven track record of access to desirable works by the likes of Eduardo Chillida, Anni and Josef Albers, Louise Bourgeois, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Sol LeWitt, and other top-selling artists on the market. During the pandemic, he produced a podcast series, Perspectives, where he invited scholars to discuss art and its impact, and has published several books on major artists. As online platforms (like Artsy) are quietly removing protections for buyers, Robledo-Palop is an excellent advisor to turn to.
Juror Motivation: “Aspiring to maintain an utmost level of excellence, Joan Robledo-Palop has created a milieu vested in academic rigor and exceptionally high standards around his gallery Zeit Contemporary Art. He is approachable and both sincere and generous with his knowledge of modern and post-war art and the market. Leading a guard of new dealers, he is ever so politely, raising their bar.“
Olivia Smith, Gallerist, New York
Co-founded in 2016 by Olivia Smith, the Lower East Side gallery Magenta Plains holds a respected position in the New York eco-com, putting their artists first by collaborating with galleries in other cities. They signed the Canadian painter Liza Lacroix after striking a deal with Gisela Capitain about the exhibition in her space in Cologne while Jane Swavely will be showing at Night Gallery in Los Angeles this spring. Earlier this year Magenta Plains moved into a larger space and has since been expanding its roster of artists.
Juror Motivation: “I have the utmost respect for Olivia Smith who is always positive and seems truly to consider the needs and career trajectories of her artists.”
Joanna Sundström, PR specialist, Stockholm
Joanna Sundström is an absolute force in Sweden’s art world. Based in Stockholm her PR firm Part Projects represents clients across the country and her Spring and Fall press conferences—where she presents her clients in the arts—are a broad overview of the art season to come. The root of her success in monopolizing Swedish art public relations is perhaps Stockholm Art Week, her ambitious listing guide for events during Stockholm’s art week anchored around its fair Market, which everyone who visits consults. This year she also got involved with The Spider, a network of international art fairs. If you are a writer you should be in touch with him.
Juror Motivation: “If Sundström and her team are not talking about you do you even exist on the Swedish art map? Jokes aside. Her communications and swift and numerous, without being too pushy, the events she hosts are fun, and her network is wide-ranging. Well done”
Katia Vraïmakis, Museum Acquisitions, AlUla
From 2021 to 2024 Katia Vraïmakis served as Head of Acquisitions at the Royal Commission of AlUla and is currently Executive Director of Acquisitions for a governmental agency in Riyadh.
Juror Motivation: “Three years ago, Katia established the first, and still the only, acquisition department in Saudi Arabia, heading acquisitions for all the Royal Commission of AlUla’s future museums. She achieved this by building a 100% Saudi team and ensuring knowledge transfer from her 17+ years of senior leadership experience in the international art market, including positions at Christie’s and White Cube.”
Elanor Hsinho Wang, Arts Writer and Consultant, Taipei
Elanor Wang works with Taiwan’s leading institutions both curating contemporary art and film and working on strategic growth projects. Merging these two worlds on the public stage, she was recently invited to be in conversation with Adrian George, author of The Curator’s Handbook, to discuss institutional marketing and branding in museums. The conversation will appear in the book’s new edition.
Xiaoyu Weng, Artistic Director, Singapore and New York
The newly, founded Tanoto Art Foundation started strong with Xiaoyu Weng appointed its artistic director. She curated Tales of Our Time (2016), an ambitious Guggenheim exhibition where she commissioned nine new works by Chinese artists and was previously Curator and department head at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). During Singapore Art Week (January 14, 2025) TAF will launch with a symposium titled: “Soul Song of a New Organisation.” Bringing together artists (Melati Suryodarmo, Ann Rungjang, and Chang Yuchen), scholars (Joan Kee, NYU), and museum professionals (Joselina Cruz, MCAD), Manuela Moscoso (CARA, Center for Art Research and Alliances in New York) the symposium promises conversation that will inspire its team and founders, the Indonesian siblings Belinda and Anderson Tanoto—who are also active in poverty alleviation, women’s empowerment, and the company RGE,
Juror Motivation: “An exciting appointment for a promising foundation!”
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