Ahn Sohyun
Director/ Korea

Sohyun Ahn is independent curator, especially interested in the signification in exhibition space and the political nature of art. She studied Aesthetics and received her master’s degree in French contemporary aesthetics. After her Master2(former D.E.S.S) in Museology and New Media, she received Ph. D. with the thesis titled Sense of Museum Space: Semiotic Analysis of Museographic elements in France. Her exhibitions include X_sound: John Cage, Nam June Paik and After, Tireless Refrain, Learning Machine, Nam June Paik on Stage, Good Morning Mr. Orwell 2014, 2015 Random Access, etc. She was awarded the 2012 Wolgan Art Prize.

Cho Jieun (mixrice)
Director/ Korea

mixrice(Cho Jieun, Yang Chulmo) is a duo team who explores various traces and processes, routes, results and memories of circumstances caused by “immigration.” Their current work illustrates transportation and evolution of plants, unexpected situations and contexts around immigrants through photography, video and cartoon. Their work reminds us of an unnamed time between past and present, flattened spaces due to incomprehensible development plans and systematic construction, individuals who do not belong to any place, and moments of absence that we experience. As both artists and curators, mixrice is capable of all kinds of practices including workshops, cartoon, video, photography, painting, drawing, design, action and writing. Their main exhibitions include: 12 Sharjah Biennale The Past, the Present, the Possible (Sharjah, UAE), nnncl & mixrice ( Atelier Hermes – LA FONDATION D’ENTREPRISE HERMES, Seoul, 2013) APT7_Asia Pacific Triennale (Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2012), The Antagonistic Link (Casco, Utrecht, 2009), Dish Antenna (Alternative Space Pool, Seoul, 2008), Activating Korea: Tides of Collective Action (Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Plymouth, 2007), Bad Boys Here & Now (Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan, 2009), The 6th Gwangju Biennale (Biennale Hall, Gwangju, 2006). Following an artists residency in Cairo, 2010, they published artists books, Badly Flattened Land (Forum A, 2011) and Message to Dakar (Sai Comics, 2013).

Chiaki Soma
Co-Director/ Japan

Directed all the programs in FESTIVAL/TOKYO, the biggest theatre arts festival in Japan, as the first program director from 2009 to 2013. Established and directed the Yokohama Arts Platform: Steep Slope Studio from 2006 to 2010. Directing r:ead (Residency East Asia Dialogue) since 2012. Not only producing, curating or directing various events and programs both domestic and overseas, she has been involved in a number of cultural policies and art institutions as a judge or a board member, including the Cultural Policies Committee at the Council for Cultural Affairs. B.A. in Waseda University, M.A. in the University of Lyon.

Gong Jow-Jiun
Co-Director/ Taiwan

Born 1966 in Chayi, Taiwan. In 1998, Gong graduated from the Department of Philosophy of the National Taiwan University with his dissertation Dialectics between Body and Imagination: Nietzsche, Husserl, Merleau Ponty. After teaching positions at several universities in Taiwan, in 2007, he was appointed associate professor and director of the doctoral program in art creation and theory at the Tainan University of the Arts. From 2009, he also organized the quarterly art magazine Art Critique in Taiwan (ACT), as chief editor and chairman and established it as a public journal. One year later, in 2010, ACT won the Prize of National Publication as Outstanding Cultural Magazine.
Gong is also acclaimed as Chinese translator of writings by Gaston Bachelard, Maurice Merlau-Ponty and Carl Gustav Jung into Chinese.
Besides his research, Gong is engaging with curatorial activities. In 2013, he curated the exhibition Are We Working too Much? at the Eslite Gallery, Taipei. Related to the exhibition, he published two books, Are We Working too Much? I: Workbook, Are We Working too Much? II: Field Narratives. In that same year, he was appointed dean of the College of Visual Art of the Tainan National University of the Arts.

Tamura Kanoko
Translation Director/ Japan

Born in Tokyo, 1985. Director of Art Translators Collective, an independent organization that specializes in translation and interpreting in the field of art. Tamura tries to expand the possibilities of translation as a creative way of expression by conducting translation, interpreting, editing in Japanese and English, project management, and PR. For r:ead #4, she supervises participating translators of 5 different languages as a translation director, and tries to improve the quality of communication. Her recent works and activities are: Planning, editing, translation for An Overview of Art Projects in Japan: A Society That Co-Creates with Art, Written by Sumiko Kumakura and Yūichirō Nagatsu (2015), Assistant PR of the Japan Pavilion at 56th Venice Biennale (2015), Translation and PR of artist-in-residence PARADISE AIR (2014~), Researcher for AURA program at Tokyo University of the Arts (2014). Graduated with a BS from the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture at Tufts University in 2008, and received a BA from the Department of Intermedia Art at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2013.

Choi Heeseung
Assistant Director/ Korea

Choi Heeseung received her BFA in Sculpture and MA in Art Theory and Criticism at

(2012) as an independent curator, and participated in numerous exhibitions as a joint curator. Choi works at Nam June Paik Art Center, where she produced numerous exhibitions including Learning Machine, Doug Aitken: electric earth, Nam June Paik on Stage, Variations of the Moon, Good Morning Mr. Orwell 2014 and Nam June Paik Art Center Prize etc.

Kochi Kione
Assistant Translator/ Japanese-English

Born in 1993 in Tokyo, Kochi graduated from Bennington College in 2015 with a focus in Visual Arts and Garment Construction. In addition to her concentration in the arts, she studied literature, Second Language and Culture Acquisition, and critical theory. Recent activities include the following:
2014
– Collaboration with Chicago-based artist group, Temporary Services, illustrating posters and publications for the show A Proximity of Consciousness: Art and Social Action (Sullivan Galleries, Chicago).
– Japanese translation of the book ELIOOO written by architect and designer, Antonio Scarponi of Conceptual Devices (Zürich, Switzerland).
2015
– Received a Knowledge Exchange grant from Pro Helvetia (Swiss Arts Council) to invite Scarponi to Japan.
– Worked as an interpreter (Japanese/English simultaneous and consecutive) for his talks at the seventh Tarokichigura Design Conference and Sapporo City University. She currently works as an independent translator for projects in the arts.

As an artist and maker, Kochi established the shop Kione’s in 2012 and participated in Renegade Craft Fair (San Francisco 2012, Chicago 2015). Her senior work Spring / Summer Uniform Collection was added to Bennington College’s permanent collection.

Zhou Simin
Assistant Translator/ Chinese-Japanese

Born in Guangzhou, China, Zhou studied at Korea University from 2011 to 2012 as an exchange student. In 2013 she graduated from the Japanese Department at Sun Yat-sen University School of Foreign Languages. She is currently enrolled in the master’s program at Kyoto University Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies. Having lived in cities across East Asia, Zhou was inspired by the experience to major in East Asian Comparative Cultural Studies. She is exploring the possibility of deepening understanding through dialogue and art, while studying the cultural phenomena of each region. Aside from her studies, she is working as a volunteer at Kyoto Art Center (2014 – present) and as a support staff for Parasophia: Kyoto International Festival of Contemporary Culture (2015).