The Dutch culture theorist, critic, and video artist Mieke Bal (born in 1946) was a founding director of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) and currently teaches cultural theory at the University of Amsterdam. Her research emphases include classical antiquity, contemporary art, modern literature, (inter-) cultural theory, and the connection between verbal and visual art, migration and madness. Since publishing her work "The Practise of Cultural Analysis: Exposing Interdisciplinary Interpretation" (1999), she is known as a champion of a reform of the liberal arts in favor of an interdisciplinary methodology of cultural analysis. In addition to her work as a freelance curator and video artist, Bal works in the area of experimental documentary on the issue of migration (e.g. "State of Suspension", 2009).
www.miekebal.org

Harald Bodenschatz (born in Munich, Germany, in 1946) is a sociologist, city planner, and former director of the sociology of architecture department at the Technical University of Berlin. He also taught at the RWTH Aachen and was a visiting professor in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and in Lima, Peru. In 1980 he began working as an urban planner (specializing in the preservation of historic city centers); his research focuses on the history of urban design, urban renewal and the preservation of post industrial society, town planning in suburban space, and urban planning and dictatorship. He has published numerous works and curated many exhibitions on these subjects, including "Stadterneuerung Moskau – vom Arbat nach Tjoplui Stan" (1991), "Berlin auf der Suche nach dem verlorenen Zentrum" (1995), as well as "Städtebau im Schatten Stalins. Die internationale Suche nach der sozialistischen Stadt in der Sowjetunion 1929-1935" (2003).

Sabine Brantl (born in Munich, Germany, in 1969) studied history and literature in Munich and Vienna. She worked as a freelancer for Bavarian television and at the Jewish Museum in Munich, and as a research assistant at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München [Academy of Fine Arts, Munich]. In 2004, she worked for Haus der Kunst creating a plan for the development of its historical archives, which she has headed since 2005. She co-curated the exhibition “A View for the People – Art for All” in 2006 as part of the exhibition series “Art and Democracy” in Haus der Kunst. In 2007, she published her monograph "Haus der Kunst, Munich. A Place and Its History under National Socialism", which explores Haus der Kunst's loaded and long-suppressed history. In collaborating with Ulrich Wilmes, she curated the exhibition "Histories in Conflict: Haus der Kunst and the Ideological Use of Art 1937–1955."

Benjamin H.D. Buchloh (born in Cologne, Germany, in 1941) is an author, exhibition curator, and professor of art history at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prior to this, he taught at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art and Barnard College in New York, and was the director of critical and curatorial studies for the Whitney Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Buchloh's writings often focus on the historical twentieth-century avant-garde, which he relates to the neo avant-garde of the postwar period, as well as on the interaction between transatlantic artistic practices. His research also concentrates on the use of new media techniques and associated changes in the arts. Buchloh was the editor of the art magazine "Interfunktionen" and has published several monographs, including ones on Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter, and Dan Graham. In 2007, he was the first art historian to be awarded the "Golden Lion" at the Venice Biennale for his outstanding work. 

Klaus Bußmann (born in Aachen, Germany, in 1941) is an art historian, curator, and the founder and curator of the Skulptur Projekte Münster [Sculpture Projects Münster]. In exhibitions and publications, he has explored the possibilities of contemporary art in public space. Following his professorship in art history at the Technical College Münster, he became director of the Westphalia State Museum for Art and Cultural History. He was also a member of the Art Advisory Committee for the German government until 2004. Through his work as Biennale Commissioner in 1991 and 1993, Hilla Becher and Reinhard Mucha, as well as Nam June Paik and Hans Haacke, were invited to represent Germany in the German Pavilion; both presentations were awarded the Golden Lion. Other distinctions include the German Critics Association Prize, the Paulus Plakette of the City of Münster (1993) and the German Order of Merit (2005). 

Chris Dercon (born in 1958 in Lier, Belgium) is a curator, author, and critic of contemporary art. Before he took over as head of the Tate Modern in 2011, he was the director of Haus der Kunst, where he introduced the opening of the institution's historical archive and initiated its "Critical Reconstruction", in the context of which Rem Koolhaas and Herzog & de Meuron were invited to discuss suggestions regarding Haus der Kunst’s future. Dercon’s exhibition program was interdisciplinary and included architecture, design, fashion, photography, and film. From 2003 to 2011 he staged exhibitions of various artists, including Paul McCarthy, Andreas Gursky, Maison Martin Margiela, Ai Weiwei, and Carlo Mollino, as well as events with Alexander Kluge, Christoph Schlingensief, and many others. Before joining the Haus der Kunst team, Dercon was the director of the Institute for Contemporary Art P.S.1, New York; Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam; and the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. He has published numerous publications and essays for newspapers, magazines, and exhibition catalogues.

The French art historian and philosopher Georges Didi-Huberman (born in Saint-Etienne, France, in 1953) teaches at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences] in Paris. He has written and published numerous books on the history and theory of images. His book "Images malgré tout" (2003) incited an intellectual debate in France. In his critical writings on art history, Didi-Huberman confronts art historical methodology. The emphases of his work are history and theory of images, problems of scientific iconography of the nineteenth century and their use in the arts of the twentieth century, anthropology, and psychoanalysis. With numerous publications like "Ce que nous voyons, ce qui nous regarde" (1992) oder "Devant l'image" (1990) he is among the most celebrated minds in contemporary image scholarship.

Michael Diers (born in Werl, Germany, in 1950) is an art historian and professor for art and image history at the University of Fine Art in Hamburg and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin [Humboldt University, Berlin]. His research focuses on Renaissance Art, modernism and contemporary art, art and media theory, political iconography, and history of science. He is the copublisher of the student’s edition of the collected works of Aby Warburg and was the longtime publisher of the paperback series “kunststück” and book series “Fundus-Bücher”. He has written many essays and books on the aforementioned topics, among them “Warburg aus Briefen (1991), “Schlagbilder” (1997), “Hans Haacke, ‘Der Bevölkerung’” (2000, copublisher), and "Fotografie Film Video. Beiträge zu einer kritischen Theorie des Bildes" (2006). In addition, Diers works as a freelance writer for the newspapers “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” and “Süddeutsche Zeitung

Karen Fiss received her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1995 and is currently associate professor of visual studies, architecture, and design at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco. 
Her current research examines the history of "nation branding" in the production of visual culture, from the rise of the nation-state to its role in shaping the contemporary social, artistic, and built environment of emerging economies. Fiss is serving as the film curator for the exhibition, “Encounters with the 1930s,” opening at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid in October 2012. Her most recent book “Grand Illusion: The Third Reich, the Paris Exposition, and the Cultural Seduction of France” (2009) demonstrates how cultural exchange between France and Germany in the 1930s served to normalize aspects of fascist ideology in France and helped lay the groundwork for the country’s eventual collaboration with its German occupiers. Fiss also recently co-edited a special volume of the journal “Design Issues” on globalization, post-colonialism, and design (2009), and has contributed essays to “Art, Culture and Media under the Third Reich”, “Design and Ethics”, in addition to other scholarly publications, catalogs and articles.

Monika Flacke is an art historian, historian, and chief curator at the Deutsches Historisches Museum [German Historical Museum], Berlin. Her areas of expertise are illustrated history, exhibition theory, and museology, with a specialization on the correlation of image and text and the implementation of exhibitions in space. Most of the exhibitions she has curated focus on historical and art-historical concepts and visual media. Flacke has published her writings on these subjects in numerous publications and monographs; her works include "Mythen der Nationen. Der Islam" (2007), "Künstler zwischen Klassenkampf, Widerstand und Anpassung. Von der Weimarer Republik zur DDR" (CD-Rom, 2007), and "Geschichtsausstellungen – Zur Konstruktion von Wirklichkeit" (2007). In her research, she also examines Nazi image policies and the construction of history and memory in times of crisis.

Walter Grasskamp (born in Kapellen, Germany, in 1950) is an art historian, art critic, and professor of art history at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München [Munich's Academy of Fine Arts]. Following his studies in art history, philosophy, literature, and sociology in Cologne, Constance, and Aachen, he worked as a critic for radio, newspapers, and professional magazines. He later taught as a professor at the Technical College Münster and then transferred in 1995 to the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where he was deputy rector until 2003. He has published works on several subjects, including art in public space ("Der lange Marsch durch die Illusionen. Über Kunst und Politik", 1995), Modernism ("Die unbewältigte Moderne. Kunst und Öffentlichkeit", 1989), as well as museum history, the theory of consumption, and popular culture.

Hans Haacke, born in Cologne, Germany, in 1936, has lived in New York since 1965. From 1967 to 2002 he taught at the Cooper Union in New York. He participated in the documenta in Kassel and at the biennials in Venice, Gwangju, Johannesburg, São Paulo, Sharjah, Sydney, and Tokyo, as well as the Whitney Biennial in New York. His works have been presented in numerous solo exhibitions in both American and European museums. Haacke has published many books and essays, among them "Libre Échange" (Paris 1994, with Pierre Bourdieu), and has been honored with several prizes, including the Golden Lion for the German Pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 1993 (with Nam June Paik).

Maria Hlavajova (born in 1971, Slovakia) is a curator living and working in Amsterdam and Utrecht. She is the founding artistic director of BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, initiator and artistic director of the Former West project, and co-founder of tranzit network. In her work, Hlavajova engages in critical practice that both recognizes the profound connection between art and knowledge, and relates to issues that are urgent in current cultural and political conditions. She curated and organized a number of projects, including the Roma Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011), the Dutch Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale, and Manifesta 3 in Ljubljana (2000). She regularly edits and contributes to numerous critical readers, catalogs and magazines internationally.

Tom Holert (born in Hamburg. Germany, in 1962) is a cultural studies scholar and critic. His research focuses on art as knowledge production, media theory, visuality, and subjectivity, image politics, and migration. Holert was the editor of "Texte zur Kunst", copublisher of "Spex", and cofounder of the Institute for Studies in Visual Culture, which documents the development of visual culture in the present. In addition to publications like "Entsichert. Krieg als Massenkultur des 21. Jahrhunderts" (2002, with Mark Terkessidis) or "Regieren im Bildraum" (2008), Holert has published many articles and essays in magazines, compilations, and catalogs on artists such as Harun Farocki and Omer Fast, who are represented in the exhibition “Image Counter Image”.

Alfredo Jaar is an artist, architect, and filmmaker who lives and works in New York. He was born in Santiago de Chile. His work has been shown extensively around the world. He has participated in the Biennales of Venice (1986, 2007, 2009), São Paulo (1987, 1989, 2010) as well as Documenta (1987, 2002) in Kassel. Important individual exhibitions include The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, Whitechapel, London, and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome and Moderna Museet, Stockholm. He has realized more than sixty public interventions around the world. He recently completed two important public commissions: The Geometry of Conscience, a memorial located next to the just opened Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago de Chile; and Park of the Laments, a memorial park within a park sited next to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. He is currently developing a temporary public memorial project to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Gernika/Guernica in Spain in 2012 and a new public intervention for Guimaraes in Portugal, European Capital of Culture 2012. A major retrospective of his work opens in June 2012 at three institutions in Berlin: Berlinische Galerie, Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst e.V., and the Alte Nationalgalerie. More than thirty monographic publications have been published about his work. He became a Guggenheim Fellow in 1985 and a MacArthur Fellow in 2000. In 2006 he received Spain’s Premio Extremadura a la Creación.

Iris Lauterbach is an art historian. Following her studies in Mainz, Pavia, and Paris, she worked at the Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, at Freiburg University and at the Bibliotheca Hertziana (Max-Planck-Institute) in Rome, followed by a lecturer position at the Technical University of Munich. In 2003 she cofounded the Internationales Netzwerk für Kunstgeschichte [International Network for Art History]. In her publications she has focused on the architecture of the Nazi period, as well as the cultural politics of the postwar period, for example "Bürokratie und Kult", 1995, "Das Parteizentrum der NSDAP in München" (2009, with Ulrike Grammbitter). She also took part in the realization of the www.gdk-research.de database. 

W. J. T. Mitchell is professor of English and art history at the University of Chicago. He is editor of the interdisciplinary journal “Critical Inquiry”, a quarterly devoted to critical theory in the arts and human sciences. He is a scholar and theorist of media, visual art, and literature, and associated with the emergent fields of visual culture and iconology, the study of images across the media. He is known especially for his work on the relations of visual and verbal representations in the context of social and political issues, as his publications “Picture Theory” (1994), "What Do Pictures Want?" (2005), “Critical Terms in Media Studies” (2010) and most recently “Seeing Through Race” (2010) and “Cloning Terror: The War of Images, September 11 to Abu Ghraib” (2011) show.

Christian Philipp Müller (born in Biel, Switzerland, in 1957) is an artist and rector at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kassel. He lives and works in Berlin and Kassel. He has worked at the Skulptur Projekte Münster [Sculpture Projects Muenster] and participated in numerous major exhibitions, as well as in the Venice Biennale (1993), documenta (1997), and Manifesta (2008), and has been invited to participate in this year's dOCUMENTA (13). He has had many solo exhibitions and the Kunstmuseum Basel presented a retrospective of his work in 2007. Invited by Haus der Kunst, Christian Philipp Müller developed the exhibition design for "Histories in Conflict: Haus der Kunst and the Ideological Use of Art 1937–1955."

Trevor Paglen (born in 1974, Maryland, USA) is an American artist who lives and works in New York. His artistic work blurs lines between disciplines like science, contemporary art and journalism to construct unfamiliar ways to see and interpret the world around us. Paglen holds different degrees from various Universities and he remains an affiliated researcher in geography at UC Berkeley. Paglen’s work has been exhibited among others at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Tate Modern, London; The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Taipei and the Istanbul Biennial. His art and writing have appeared in major publications including The New York Times, Wired and Artforum and awarded with numerous prices, e.g. from the Smithsonian, or the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In 2008, the Utne Reader named Paglen one of fifty “visionaries,” and in 2011 Art Review designated him a “future great”. In 2011-2012, Paglen is an artist-in-residence at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  

The Lebanese video artist and photographer Roy Samaha (born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1978) lives and works in Beirut. He completed a Masters degree in film studies under the supervision of Jalal Toufic, at USEK, Lebanon. While producing his personal videos, he worked in the News and Broadcasting TV industry until 2008 (e.g. as a video journalist for ABC). Since 2003 he has exhibited his work in numerous film and contemporary art festivals amongst others: “The 14th international Festival for Electronic Arts: Videobrazil”, Sao Paolo. (2003), “Middle Eastern Experimental Film Festival: La Cinematheque”, Paris (2004); “Les Rencontres Internationales”, Paris/Berlin/Madrid (2007), and “International Film Festival” Rotterdam (2012). Former artist resident at Apexart New York (2010), he is currently giving seminars on alternative video practices in different universities in Beirut. He is participating in the exhibition Image Counter Image with a work, in which he processed his impressions on the revolution in Egypt – as part of the Leica competition "In the Footsteps of the Great Explorers" – in a personal narrative.

Mark Wigley is a New Zealand born architect, architectural theorist and critic as well as dean of Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. After receiving his Ph.D. at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, he taught at Princeton University, where he then became director of graduate studies in architecture. He is renowned for his research and publishing about deconstruction in architecture. He founded the “Volume” Magazine together with Rem Koolhaas and Ole Bouman, and published widely on architectural theory and practice, as in "The Architecture of Deconstruction: Derrida's Haunt" (1993) or "Constant's New Babylon: The Hyper-Architecture of Desire" (1998). He served as guest curator among others at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal; and the Witte de With Museum, Rotterdam. Wigley has received various awards, including the Triennial Award for Architectural Criticism and the Graham Foundation Grant (1997).

Ulrich Wilmes, born in Essen, Germany, in 1953, studied art history and German language and literature studies at the Ruhr University in Bochum and earned a Ph.D. with a dissertation on “Rosso Fiorentino und der Manierismus”. After holding positions at the Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte and the Skulptur Projekte Münster [Sculpture Projects Münster], he became curator at Portikus Frankfurt am Main in 1988. He began working as a collections director for contemporary art at Lenbachhaus in Munich in 1991, where he became deputy director in 1995. In 2000 he took the position of deputy director of Museum Ludwig in Cologne and in 2008 became a chief curator at Haus der Kunst in Munich. Wilmes has orchestrated numerous exhibitions and publications on international contemporary art featuring artists as Dan Graham, Jörg Immendorff, On Kawara, Ellsworth Kelly, Per Kirkeby, Matt Mullican, Gerhard Richter, Ulrich Rückriem, Ed Ruscha, Lawrence Weiner, and others.