Iana (Yana) Gaponenko is a curator, researcher, and art practitioner based in Berlin. Born and raised in Vladivostok, she has been curating and mentoring artist residencies, summer schools, and other short-term artistic and curatorial programs since 2014. Educated as a philosopher (M.A. FEFU, 2018), she is currently enrolled in the Cultures of Curatorial program at HGB Leipzig (2025). In 2015, she launched the independent, self-organized educational platform “Vladivostok School of Contemporary Art” to foster horizontal interrelations between emerging artists and curators. Since 2016, she has co-curated projects for Siberian and Far-Eastern art practitioners with the Goethe-Institut. Her current research focuses on local settler colonialism as a symptom of Orientalism, as well as escapism and ostracized artistic strategies. Gaponenko regularly writes texts on various artistic positions and curates both group and solo exhibitions.
Elena Grimbs
Elena Grimbs
Elena Grimbs is a curator, socially engaged researcher, and art mediator (60th Venice Biennale 2024) with a passion for accessibility, storytelling, and the arts and cultures. She holds a BA in International Relations with a focus on sociology and gender studies (TU Dresden, 2021) and is currently enrolled in the Cultures of the Curatorial Master’s program at HGB Leipzig (2025). Alongside the collective Klasse Klima (Berlin), she is developing the pilot project Studium Planetare, which aims to integrate applied climate education into art colleges. Recently, Elena has been engaging in collective artistic research on cooking and eating as discursive spaces.
Melanie Roumiguière
Melanie Roumiguière
Melanie Roumiguière is a curator and author with a background in cultural studies. She heads the Visual Arts Department of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, where she has organized exhibitions featuring artists such as Paola Yacoub, Zinny/Maidagan, Malgorzata Mirga Tas, and Tuli Mekondjo, among others. Roumiguière initiated and conceived the project to index and digitize the archive of the Artists-in-Berlin Program. She also co-curated the research and exhibition project If The Berlin Wind Blows My Flag: Art and Internationalization before the Fall of the Wall with Nora Lukacs. Previously, she served as curator and exhibition director at Hamburger Bahnhof—Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart—Berlin, where she was responsible for exhibitions by Mariana Castillo Deball, Gülsün Karamustafa, and, in collaboration with the curatorial team, the project Hello World. Revision of a Collection, among others.
Paola Yacoub
Paola Yacoub
Paola Yacoub is a visual artist based in Berlin. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Aesthetics, Visual Art, and Photography at the University of Paris 8. She graduated from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London and subsequently worked at the French Institute of Archaeological Excavation (IFPO). Yacoub began collaborating with Michel Lasserre on the perception of territories in conflict and post-conflict situations; they now focus on effective action within the framework of Proactionism. She is also the founding director of the Artistic Research Practices program (ARP TALKS, 2013–18). In addition to her solo shows, Yacoub has participated in numerous international group exhibitions and public lectures.
