Short biographies of the artists

Josh Greene (*1971 in Santa Monica, CA/USA) studied sculpture at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco where he now works as a lecturer. Greene currently realizes conceptual projects that focus on themes like profitability, privateness, commerce and being an artist. For »Sophie Calle’s Bed« Greene requested and received the bed of Sophie Calle, in order to help him through a grieving process; in »Unlicensed Therapist« the artist was the co-creator of unlicensed therapy practice that has since been shut down by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences; for the project »Eat« the artist started a fine-dining restaurant in his apartment. Greene documents these projects on his website http://josh-greene.com/serviceworks. He was a fellow at Akademie Schloss Solitude in 2008/2009.

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Tamás Kaszás (*1976 in Dunaújváros/Hungary) studied at the Intermedia Department of the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. He is a founding member of the artist groups »Intercultural Information Service« and »The Randomroutines«. In 2008, Kaszás was an Artist-in-Residence of Projecto 270 in Portugal, in 2006 at the Museumsquartier 21 in Vienna and in 2004 in Nykarleby/Finland. His latest exhibitions where at Mucsarnok Kunsthalle Budapest, at the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki/Greece, at the Liget Galéria in Budapest, as well as at the Gallery Delta35 and the Collegium Hungaricum in Berlin. In 2007, Kaszás created an installation for the foyer of the RWE tower in Essen together with the group »Intercultural Orientation«. Tamás Kaszás was an Akademie fellow in 2008.

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Damir Očko (*1977 in Zagreb/Croatia) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb. He presented his work in several galleries and museums, among others at Lothringer13 (Städtische Kunsthalle Munich), in Zagreb at the Miroslav Kraljevic Gallery and the Tirana Institute of Contemporary Art, at the International Triennial of Contemporary Art in Prague, at the Australian Centre for Photography in Sydney, and at Angel Row Gallery in Nottingham. Očko’s films where recently screened at the Busan International Video Festival in South Korea, at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid and at the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris. He was granted fellowships from the Helsinki International Artist-in Residence Programme, the Tirana Institute of Contemporary Art, and KulturKontakt Vienna. Damir Očko was an Akademie fellow in 2008/2009.

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Caroline O’Donnell (*1974 in Ireland) studied architecture at the Manchester School of Architecture, Great Britain and at Princeton University. She currently teaches at the College of Architecture, Art and Planning at New York’s Cornell University. She is founder of the design office CODA, editor of the Cornell Journal for Architecture and one of the founding editors of the architectural journal Pidgin. O’Donnell worked fort he architecture office KCAP in Rotterdam and as project architect for Eisenman Architects in New York. Among others, her work has been exhibited at the 2006 Beijing Architecture Biennial, in the group exhibition »Heliodays in the Sun«, Urbis, Manchester, and as part of the Fonds BKVB project »Gropesportretten 04-Fear and Space«, Design Dock, Rotterdam. O’Donnell was a 2008/2009 Akademie fellow.

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Paola Yacoub (*1966 in Beirut/Lebanon) graduated from the Architectural Association School in London. From 2000 to 2007, she worked together with the architect Michel Lasserre. Since 2007, Yacoub began collecting and restaging contemporary motives of skepticism in her project »Selected Motives«. Yacoub regularly exhibits her works in international exhibitions, recently among others at the He Xiangning Museum in Shenzhen/China, at the Thessaloniki Biennale in Greece and at the Gwangju Biennale in Korea. In 2003, she participated at the Venice Biennale with Michel Lasserre. She currently exhibits her work at the Tirana Biennale. Paola Yacoub was a Solitude fellow in 2001/2002.