Short biografies G. Schillig, K. Mehta, A. Dluzniewski, N. Sekhniashvili, G. L. Kwang

Gabi Schillig (*1977 in Coburg) studied architecture in Coburg and conceptual design at the Städelschule in Frankfurt (class of Ben van Berkel). She has worked in architectural offices in Sydney, Berlin and Coburg. From 2005 to 2007 she was an assistant professor in the Städelschule’s architecture department. Schillig has held teaching positions at the university level in Nürnberg and Coburg and has taught in the department of spatial system design at the University of the Arts in Berlin at the Institute for Transmedial Design since October of 2007. She has received numerous prizes and fellowships. Schillig is a 2007/2008 Akademie fellow.

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Kaiwan Mehta (*1975 in Mumbai, India) studied architecture, English literature and Indian aesthetics and culture at the University of Mumbai. Since 1999, Mehta has taught at the Kamla Raheja Vidjanidhi-Institut for Architecture and is an editor for the magazine Indian Architect and Builder. He was a guest lecturer at various universities in India and other countries. His book Alice in Bhuleshwar, which deals with places and histories in the colonial Bombay’s »native town,« is forthcoming. Mehta is a 2007-2008 fellow at the Akademie.

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Andrzej Dluzniewski (*1939) is one of Poland’s most renowned artists. He not only paints and draws but also uses photography, installation and various literary forms in his works. His gallery (which was located in his private apartment from 1980 to 1993) became the epicenter of Warsaw’s cultural life, drawing the artists, critics, musicians and philosophers from Poland and beyond (including artists from the Fluxus circles) who came and went. In 1997, Dluzniewski lost his sight in a serious car accident. He was an Akademie fellow in 2007 as part of the Eastern European exchange program.

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Nino Sekhniashvili (*1979 in Tiflis/Georgia) studied fine arts with Rosemarie Trockel at the Art Academy Düsseldorf (until 2000) as well as at the graphics department of the Art Academy of Tiflis (until 2002). In 2005 she initiated the »fake« music project »DARIO RADIO« together with Kate Siamashvili. Selected exhibitions: »Die Kultur der Angst«, in cooperation with the foundation Federkeil, Leipzig and Knut Birkholz, ACC Galerie Weimar and Stiftung Federkeil, Leipzig (2006); »Luft Holen«, Künstlerhaus Klagenfurt and Kulturzentrum Unikum, Klagenfurt/Austria (2006); »Alternative Vision«, three artists from the Caucasus, Gallery Art Point/Austrian Educational Cooperation KulturKontakt, Vienna/Austria (2006); »Art without Borders«, Center for Contemporary Experimental Art, Yerevan/Armenia (2006); »Utopia«, Caucasian Photography, Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, ifa Gallery Berlin and ifa Gallery Stuttgart (2005); »Neo Geo«, a project of the Guelman Gallery in the Central House of Art Moscow ( 2004). She is a 2007/2008 Solitude fellow.

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Goh Lee Kwang (* 1976 in Pulau Pinang/Malaysia) studied visuals arts at the Malaysian Institute of Art (MIA) in Kuala Lumpur with a concentration on oil painting, earning his diploma in 1997. For the past ten years, he has been active in both sound and the visual arts. He has produced numerous musical CDs and his works often appear in music compilations. Goh Lee Kwang was an Akademie fellow in 2004/2005.