James Gregory Atkinson is a German-American artist. He holds a degree in Photography and Design from Lette-Verein (Berlin) and is currently studying at Städelschule, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste. Since 2014 he works together with Frankfurt based artist Helen Demisch on common projects. Passing his studies at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York City (2015) Atkinson will be graduating from Städelschule in 2016.

Atkinson's artistic practice unfolds in a multidisciplinary way. He uses various media like painting, photography or film. Atkinson is interested in contemporary identity models and their representations in the media. His artistic itinerary often starts with found material harvested from mass media or from everyday phenomena. In his work, Atkinson reactivates his source material and entangles it with his persona when appearing in various roles in his own photographs and films. Atkinson highly values the collaborative act. In the past he worked together with musicians, theorists and artists in various constellations. Hence, his artistic work emerges in a broad spectrum of forms, ranging from the White Cube to live Rap concerts.

Atkinson is a grant of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes.

On January 26th he is going to talk about his new project in LA at Villa Aurora.

Martina Kieninger was born in Stuttgart. She studied chemistry and molecular biophysics in Stuttgart and got her PhD from Heidelberg University. She teaches chemistry at the Universidad de la Republica Oriental del Uruguay in Montevideo.

In 1996, she received the Internet Literaturpreis by DIE ZEIT, followed by a number of residencies, including the 2016 writers residency at Villa Aurora.

She wrote several novels Die Leidensblume von Nattersheim (2005), Sängerin an der Lampe (2007) and the 8-volume science reader for children Kinder entdecken die Naturwissenschaften (Children Discover Natural Sciences).

Her novel Tango Tumpamaro about "Angst" is to be published in 2017. She is currently working on the ParrentsBaffleBook employing microwave, bitcoins, internet, natrium and Hip Hop.

On January 26th she will read an excerpt of her novel desoxyriboli.

Born and raised in Berlin, Anja Marquardt is an alumna of the University of the Arts in Berlin and New York University's Graduate Film Program. Her debut feature, She's Lost Control, had its world premiere at the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival and won the Berlinale Forum's top prize, the C.I.C.A.E Art Cinema Award. It was also included in the 2014 New Directors/New Films showcase at Lincoln Center and MoMA. She's Lost Control was also a 2015 Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominee for both, Best First Feature, and Best First Screenplay. The film had a theatrical release in the U.S. and Canada (Monument Releasing), Germany (Arsenal Distribution), and France (Zootrope) with an upcoming release in Hong Kong (Edko), and is still traveling the international festival circuit.

Marquardt has several projects in development and is spending her time at Villa Aurora writing and preparing her next feature film.

On January 26th she will show an excerpt of her film, She's Lost Control, currently available on Netflix.

Watch the trailer here.

Alwin Lay graduated from Düsseldorf Academy (class of Christopher Williams) and the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Recent exhibitions includes his solo show in 2015 at NAK Neuer Aachener Kunstverein (Catalog) and participations in group exhibitions at Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Kunstverein der Rheinlande und Westfalen Düsseldorf, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Haus der Photographie, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg.

Although the meticulously staged artworks of 1984 born artist Alwin Lay are especially founded in the medium of video, photography and installation, a sculptural origin cannot be denied. Even so, Lay’s works are not a mere reflection of the relationship between photographed image and sculpture as they deliberately play with intuitive expectations that form the contexts of our everyday experiences. Similar to the methods of a magician, Lay uses these everyday situations as a foundation for the manipulation of their physical, temporal and aesthetic laws. The result is an array of strange or absurd, humoristic interludes. Lay intentionally creates seemingly surreal moments and sequences, in which antecedents and anticipated outcomes are interrupted by narrative vacancies. At the same time Alwin Lay’s simulations create a space of contemporarneity in which the beholder can only linger and experience the present moment.

On January 26th he is going to talk about his recent works.

Check out his work here!