Mary Bauermeister, one of the most significant artists of her generation, studied in Ulm and Saarbrücken (photography) and has been based in Cologne since 1957 working as a freelance artist. She initiated the Fluxus movement with artists from many different fields including composition, poetry, visual arts and architecture. Her first solo exhibition was held in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. She lived in New York from 1962 to 1967. Many museums including the Museum Ludwig in Cologne have acquired her works.

Works by the sculptor Anthony Cragg are exhibited in the most important galleries and museums around the world, including the Louvre in paris, at the Biennale in Venice and in São Paulo. His Sculpture Park in Wuppertal has received international acclaim. He is president of the art academy in Düsseldorf and winner of both the Piepenbrock
Prize for Sculpture and the "Praemium Imperial", the most illustrious award for the arts worldwide.

Prof. Jürgen Klauke lives and works in Cologne. He studied Graphic Design at the Kölner Werkschulen - known at the time as the Cologne Academy of Fine Arts - and finished his studies as a master student. Since 1970 he has been using the medium of stage photography as well as drawing and performance. Before "Body Art" was talked about at all Klauke was already working on the body as a medium of expression. He has not only been a pioneer but also provided a visual and mental basis for a discourse on identity. In 1977 and 1987 he was shown at Documenta; Harald Szeemann invited him to his special exhibition of the Biennale, Venice, in 1980. There followed various solo exhibitions in museums around Germany and abroad. In 2011 the Bundeskunsthalle paid tribute to Klauke with a retrospective of his works in photography and performance.

Herbert Molderings is professor of art history at the Ruhr University in Bochum. He studied art history, philoposphy, archaeology, sociology and German language and literature and obtained his PhD with a dissertation on Marcel Duchamp. He has written numerous books and essays on the history and aesthetics of photography as well as on modern artists. He has held the post of curator at renowned museums in Barcelona, Essen and Paris.

The Hungarian composer, conductor and teacher Péter Eötvös is one of the most renowned contemporary musicians. He conducts the leading symphony orchestras of
Berlin, London, Munich, Paris, Vienna as well as ensembles such as the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern and Klangforum Wien. His compositions and operas are performed worldwide. He has held professorships in Karlsruhe and Cologne and founded the International Eötvös Institute for young conductors and composers. For his lifetime achievement he granted the Venice Biennale 2011 "Golden Lion".

Heinz Holliger, the world-renowned oboist, conductor and composer, studied in Bern and Paris, and learned the oboe with Pierre Pierlot and composition with Pierre Boulez. In 1965, he became professor for oboe at the Freiburg im Breisgau music academy. As oboist and composer he has travelled the world and has received countless prizes and
distinctions for his compositions.

Robert HP Platz studied conducting in Freiburg with Francis Travis, and composition with Wolfgang Fortner and later in Cologne with Karlheinz Stockhausen. He conducted the premieres for more than 300 works played by many major orchestras but in particular as head of the Ensemble Cologne which he himself founded. In 1990, he took over the teaching post for composition at the music adacemy in Maastricht and is principal guest conductor of the Ensembles Alternance and Musica d‘Insieme.

Karl-Heinz Petzinka is professor for architecture at the art academy in Düsseldorf and acts on judging panels at national and international level. After studying at the University of Technology in Aachen, he worked in the architecture office of O. M. Ungers and assisted Prof. Wolfgang Döring in Wuppertal. Between 1994 and 2007, he was professor for
design and building technology at the Technical University in Darmstadt. From 1994, he and Thomas Pink ran the architects‘ office "Petzinka Pink Architects” in Düsseldorf and
Berlin.

Ulrich Wiegmann was born in Bünden in Westphalia in 1955. After studying architecture at the International RWTH University of Aachen with Prof. Gottfried Böhm he worked in the office of architect Prof. O.M. Ungers in Cologne. Wiegmann founded his own architectural office together with a partner in 1989 and since 2004 he has been running his office Wiegmann-Architects. From 2008 until 2011 Wiegmann taught in the Department of Design and Construction at the TH Cologne. Among his works that have attracted much attention are the monastery Engelthal , the convent of Saint Benedict in Altenstadt, the Haubrockshows, the museum in the Henselmann tower in Berlin, the parish church St. Peter and the house Wiegand-Majdpour in Cologne, the moated castle Haus Bitz, the Kewenig gallery in Frechen near Cologne, the parish community center St. Cyriakus in Mending, „The Boston Consulting Group" and the building of Bain Capital in Munich as well as public cultural buildings.

Ulrike Draesner- novelist, poet and essayist - lives in Berlin. Draesner translates from English and French and has participated in several multimedia projects. Guest and Poetry lectureships in Germany, Switzerland, England and the USA. Member of P-E.N Germany and of the Nordrheinwestfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste. She has received numerous prizes, among them the Literaturpreis Solothurn 2010, the Roswithapreis 2013 and the Joachim-Ringelnatz-Preis für Lyrik 2014.

Hanns-Josef Ortheil is author and teaches as professor of creative writing and arts journalism
at the University of Hildesheim. After piano studies, he studied art history in Rome, German literature, philosophy, comparative literature, and musicology in Mainz, Göttingen, Paris and Rome. His novels are translated into more than 20 languages. Ortheil received scholarships from the Villa Massimo in Rome, and was honored with numerous awards, including the Thomas Mann Prize of the city of Lübeck, the George K. Glaser Award of Rhineland-Palatinate and the SWR as well as the Koblenz literary prizes.