Mehraneh Atashi is an Iranian photographer and artist. Mehraneh obtained a BFA in photography in Tehran and followed a residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. Mehraneh’s work unfolds between the time of the self and the time of the world, through the excavation of memories, archiving and documentation of the self. Mehraneh’s work has recently been displayed in London (V&A, British Museum), Amsterdam (de Appel, Framer Framed), Graz (Kunstverein), Paris (Palais de Tokyo), Los Angeles (REDCAT), Salzburgh (Kunstverein), Eindhoven (MU Art Space), Athens (State of concept), Washington, DC (The Corner), Rotterdam (Tent) and The Hague (Nest).

Gershwin Bonevacia (1992) is poet and spoken word artist. Since March 2019, he is the city poet of Amsterdam. Gershwin writes a poem in Het Parool every month and, with his characteristic way of reciting, he regularly takes part in cultural programs. His stormy rise was not without struggle due to his dyslexia, but his battle with words has made him an inventive word artist. He self-published his poetry debut ‘Ik heb een fiets gekocht’ in 2017 and single-handedly made it an underground classic by selling more than 6000 copies.

In 2020, his new collection of poems ‘Toen ik klein was, was ik niet bang’ was published by Das Mag publishing house and he has translated the children’s book ‘Zo klinkt verandering’ (Original: ‘Change sings’) by the famous American spoken word artist Amanda Gorman.

In her work, Danielle Hoogendoorn looks back on her youth as a young girl who loved horses growing up on the property of a car company. The artist uses the fabulous creatures from the fairy tales she loves to read and takes you on one of her faraway journeys. Hoogendoorn uses her beloved animals in a banal and humorous way. They play the leading role in their own story, a story in which she further explores the relationship between humans and animals and takes a critical look at humans and their role in our current climate. Using paint, she creates a new world, one in which her subjects can live together in harmony.

Fouad Lakbir was born and still lives in the Kolenkitbuurt in Amsterdam-West. In 2009, De Kolenkit was voted worst neighbourhood in the Netherlands. This prompted Fouad to share his story and the stories of others. Fouad tells stories from the oral tradition, he collects stories that are not told enough and teaches people how to tell stories as well. He is co-initiator of the cultural centre MAQAM and he was one of the curators of the Jacob Geelmuseum on behalf of the Amsterdam Museum. Last but not least, he is the programmer for Verhalen uit Nieuw-West on behalf of Pakhuis de Zwijger, a monthly story series which he programmes and presents.

Narges Mohammadi (The Hague) is an artist, curator and DJ. She completed the BA Modern and Contemporary Art History at the University of Utrecht and completed her BA Visual Arts at the Royal Academy of Art The Hague. Her artistic practice stems from a position of in-betweenness − a so-called in-between space embedded in cultural histories. She creates works that embody long-lost memories, which she translates into installations and sculptures. She plays with scents, colours, symbols and customs from different cultural heritages. By using simple and widely accessible materials in an environment they seem to have outgrown, she brings together different experiences of ‘home’.

Mark Nieuwenhuis plays trumpet and composes and produces different styles of music. He plays in bands, with DJs and as a solo artist. He played on countless stages at home and abroad, such as Lowlands, Concertgebouw, Extrema Outdoor, Paradiso, Oerol, Mawazine Festival (Morocco) and the Ollin Kan Festival (Mexico and Colombia). He composes for film, television and theatre, as well as autonomously for ensembles and orchestras. He collaborated with BNN, Sizzer Amsterdam, Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, Born Digital and Theatergroep Gehring en Ketelaars, among others. As a producer, he makes recordings on location and also offers mixing and mastering. He has worked with, among others, Kasba, Kapok, My Baby, Jasper Stadhouders, Lars Dietrich, Shishani and Tentempiés.

David Smeulders is the Education Curator of de Appel since 2017. He is interested in how people learn, what knowledge is and what people value. In his practice, Smeulders focuses on centralizing skills, knowledge and experiences, which are often invisible or undervalued in our existing education systems. By initiating joyful, collective and artistic processes together with artists, and by listening carefully, these learning processes take shape. Here, the body, sound, music, movement, clothing and the local environment play a central role. The education programs that Smeulders develops are a constant search for ways to stimulate people to create their own learning processes, because everyone can decide for themselves how and what to learn, remember and pass on. From 2011 to 2017, Smeulders worked for Manifesta, the European Biennale for Contemporary Art where he developed various education programmes in Belgium, Russia and Switzerland to bring local communities together.

Bonnie Ogilvie has been interested in textiles and the link between textiles and sociality for years. She was born in a Dutch-Scottish home and from the start of her fashion studies, her attention was partly focused on Tartan. By tradition in Scotland, this weave is strongly associated with family, and has a great importance in family ties and group portraits. In her work, Ogilvie applies a broader interpretation of the concept ‘family’ and explores human connection with certain subgroups where identification is based on fashion, art, music and textiles. Bonnie finds a translation of these connections in a social fabric that gives meaning to the concept of identity. For her, the Scottish tartan plays a crucial role in these concepts because of the different lines that intersect, each conveying a different meaning.