Ratko Rakin joined the ON MOBILISATION project in June 2024, leading the Communication Circle.

After earning a master’s degree in Museums, Galleries, and Contemporary Culture from the University of Westminster, UK, through the prestigious Chevening International Scholarship program, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) he moved to Belgium. Currently Ratko lives in Brussels, working in the field of communication and marketing, collaborating on international and national projects, for organisations and individuals, a.o.: Passacaille Records – an independent classical music label led by Jan De Winne, wpZimmer – a workspace for performing arts, OUT OF SIGHT – a venue for contemporary art, BL!NDMAN – a band directed by composer Eric Sleichim. In 2022, he organised three exhibitions at Exhibition Space XPO Antwerpen.

During his 15-year journey in Belgrade, Ratko worked in communications and marketing across various sectors, specialised in communications in the arts and culture field, working with prominent institutions and organisations in the Balkan region. These include the National Theater in Belgrade, the Exit Festival in Novi Sad, the National Broadcasting TV and Radio Station, the October Salon Belgrade Biennale, the Belgrade Cultural Center, and the Mikser Festival.

Marie Luyten first came to wpZimmer during a residency as a bachelor student of contemporary dance. After graduating in 2016, she completed a bachelor in business management and finally a master in cultural management. Since then, she collaborated with various performance artists and companies offering management and production support. In 2021 she started her ongoing collaboration with Hanafubuki, a multidisciplinary collective based in Antwerp making object theater performances and with Samuel Baidoo for his individual work – who is also a member of the Hanafubuki collective. Besides that, Marie worked for Het Kwartier (theatre), toutpetit (dance for young audiences) and Laurent Delom De Mézerac on his hybrid performance project Silicon Mountain. In the summer of 2022 Marie joined the team of wpZimmer. In her work, Marie strives to develop sustainable projects and collaborations.

Within ON MOBILISATION, Mary Luyten takes part in Management Circle of the project.

At wpZimmer, Gosie Vervloessem is part of the artistic team, but she also works as an artist. Her artistic work revolves around plants and how they are depicted in popular culture, from that point of view, she tries to unravel the ideologies that act to underpin the concept of what we commonly call ’nature’. She calls herself an artistic researcher and her work manifests in lecture-performances, drawings and writing.

Within ON MOBILISATION, Gosie Vervloessem takes part in Artistic Circle of the project.

Within ON MOBILISATION, Latifa Saber took part in the Artistic and Communication Circle of the project from April 2023 till March 2024.

After completing her bachelor’s degree in Communications and Public Relation and a Postgraduate in Digital Marketing, Latifa Saber entered the artistic field as the communication and community manager at wpZimmer in 2020. Throughout the years, she developed a strategy for the international workspace while simultaneously defining individual working processes for each artist she works with. In 2022 she took a role of Head of Communication of Beyond the Black Box, the international performing arts festival in Antwerp, co-organised by wpZimmer, Monty, 0090, C-takt. Her presence within the art field is not only defined by her work at wpZimmer, but also as a co-founder of BAYA Collective (since 2017). Her work at BAYA is fuelled by the desire to mould and develop an authentic realm that connects creative individuals through collaborative processes. Apart from the tasks of programming and curating, which she shares with her co-founding partner, Latifa is also responsible for managing BAYA’s communication and marketing strategy.

Helena Selder is the Artistic Director of the Baltic Art Center – an international residency for contemporary art on the Swedish island of Gotland since 2016. In her curatorial practice she has been interested in developing ways in which art institutions can facilitate exchange between artists, local communities, and local government in order to develop ideas and critical discussions on how to inhabit public space. During 2019-2021 she was the Artistic Director of the Art in Urban Development Project Visborg on Gotland. In February 2020 she presented Outside the Institutional Walls – a survey of how local art institutions in Sweden work in public space commissioned by Public Art Agency Sweden. She holds a MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art, London.

Helena Selder is co-author of the ON MOBILISATION project, and takes part in Artistic and Communication Circle of the project.

Anna Norberg is the Site Manager and Project Coordinator at Baltic Art Center since 2014. As a site manager, she’s in charge of the administration as well as introducing residency artists to Gotland. She guides them to locations all over the island and connects them to local partners. As a project-coordinator she facilitates production of the residency artists projects and new works. She also works as an artist internationally but is based on Gotland since 2004. She holds an MFA in Glass from Rhode Island School of Design.

Within ON MOBILISATION, Anna Norberg takes part in Management and Communication Circle of the project.

Petr Dlouhý is a curator of live art, dramaturge, researcher and cultural organiser. Currently, Dlouhý is one of the curators in Studio Alta in Prague. Besides that, he keeps on organising Performance Crossings, an international festival of performance art and interdisciplinary Y events series. He has also initiated and curated the project PRALIN, designed for networking between the Berlin and Prague art scenes. Apart from curating, he was a member of the research project RESHAPE. Dlouhý is also a co-author of the research and publication on Czech independent scene after 1989, conducted and published by the Czech The Arts and Theatre Institute. Throughout his practice he works both on hyperlocal and transnational levels, bringing together awareness of the locality with international mobility of knowledge, skills and artistic practices.

The core of his work consists of the international approach, in looking for new boundaries as well as environments for the presentation of independent performing arts, and in networking and building long-term connections between local and international organisations and artists.

Petr Dlouhý is co-author of the ON MOBILISATION project, and takes part in Artistic and Communication Circle of the project.

Ludmila Vacková is a curator, cultural entrepreneur, consultant in the field of non-profit organisations, production and management activities and a mother. Since 2007 she is active in the Czech contemporary art scene working for internationally renowned Spitfire Company as a producer and touring manager and as curator and manager of the Zero Point international performing arts festival. From 2016 Vacková started to work for Studio ALTA, firstly as a production manager and later, in 2021, as an executive director. Besides managing the daily agendas her approach focuses on international connections and rooting the institutional practice into the political context of the cultural field. Since 2017, she has been actively involved in evaluation committees and advisory bodies of organisations that represent the interests of live arts of the Czech Republic – Association of Independent Theatres, Municipality of Prague, Ministry of culture (2022-2025), State Fund of Culture of the Czech Republic (term of office 05/2021-05/2023).

Within ON MOBILISATION, Ludmila Vacková takes part in Management Circle of the project.

Simona Rybová is a cultural manager and photographer currently based in the Czech Republic. She studied audiovisual and media communication in Prague and part of her studies in Barcelona at the Universidad de Barcelona. During her free time in the Czech Republic, she studied drawing, painting, and graphic design at Scholastika Prague. After finishing her Master’s degree in audiovisual and media communication she completed a postgraduate PR internship in Barcelona and also a PR and production internship in Czech Center New York. She also visited a summer Photography program at the NYU School of Professional Studies and Digital Collage course at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science in New York City.

Within ON MOBILISATION, Simona Rybová takes part in Communication Circle of the project.

Chiara Organtini is a curator and project manager. For 10 years she has been involved in the artistic programming of the Terni International Performing Arts Festival and in the management of the CAOS Centro Arti Opificio Siri in Terni, a post-industrial site transformed into a centre of creation and multidisciplinary research. In 2019 she joined the Santarcangelo Festival working specifically on the coordination and curation of the large-scale international cooperation project BEPART funded by the Creative Europe Program. Recently she was part of the Reshape Project and collaborated with WpZimmer in Antwerp in an immersive residency with 7 artists on the notion of commoning. Since January 2022 she is project manager and curator at Lavanderia a Vapore, a research space whose mission is to support artistic development in the field of dance and embodied knowledge.

Chiara Organtini is co-author of the ON MOBILISATION project, and takes part in Management and Artistic Circle.

Since 2009 Carlotta Pedrazzoli has been working at Fondazione Piemonte dal Vivo, a multidisciplinary circuit focusing on performing arts, programming shows and carrying out projects to promote contemporary dance. Since 2015 she has been in charge of programming dance performances at Lavanderia a Vapore, a theatre and a centre for performing arts residencies.

Within ON MOBILISATION, Carlotta Pedrazzoli takes part in Artistic Circle of the project.