CHENG Yee Man Gum
Director

Gum was born in Hong Kong. In 1998, Gum completed the social work programme at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He graduated with distinction of Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) in Drawing, at RMIT University in 2002. In 2007, Gum received M.A. in Comparative and Public History from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Gum was a member of School Management Committee. He is a registered social worker, part-time lecturer of the Hong Kong Art School, founder of C & G Artpartment, chairman of a Hong Kong non-profit art group “Project 226”. Since 2000, he has curated more than 100 art exhibitions, educational programme, seminars, exchange programme etc. His curatorial directions mainly criticize politics, social issues and art eco-system. His artworks explore various media, like painting, drawing, performance, stop-motion animation, photography, video and installation.
http://www.youtube.com/dewgumshui

Clara CHEUNG
Director

Graduated at Rhodes College (TN, USA) with double majors in Fine Art and Computer Science in 2002, Clara Cheung then received her master degree of Cultural Studies at Lingnan University, Hong Kong in 2007. Being the founder of C&G Artpartment, she is currently an active member of non-profit art groups: Project226, and Art Together, and a part-time lecturer at different local universities. She has curated many art exhibitions at C&G Artpartment and other venues, in response to local social issues. Besides, she has organized various art education programs for different organizations and schools. Performance art is an art medium she likes to explore recently and many of her artworks obtain inspiration from her daughters’ toys and science books.

SOMA Chiaki
Co-Director

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.

AHN Sohyun
Co-Director

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 includeX_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
Co-Director

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).

GONG Jow-Jiun
Co-Director

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

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, project management, and PR. Since 2016, she has also been in charge of art communication course as an assistant professor at Global Art Practice MFA program, Tokyo University of the Arts. For r:ead, she supervises participating translators of different languages as a translation director, and tries to improve the quality of communication. 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.

Crystal TSE
Project Manager

Born in 1996 in Hong Kong, Crystal studied her undergraduate degree of fashion marketing at University of the Arts London – London College of Fashion. On top of that, she received a qualification in professional marketing from The Chartered Institute of Marketing. During her study, she worked for fashion companies and designers on marketing, public relations and event management. She likes to blur the boundaries between creativity and practicality in marketing strategies.

Being influenced by her previous study in visual arts, she sees importance of innovative and effective idea communication, such that presentation and symbolism should be well managed to minimise misinterpretation. Apart from art, she is also interested in neuroscience and psychology; as such, she carried out a research study on sensory marketing – marketing that appeals to human senses.