Participants of ISSA 2024 – To Live Together
Franco “Bifo” Berardi
Franco “Bifo” Berardi (Bologna, 1949), one of leading contemporary philosophers. He was the founder of the famous “Radio Alice” in Bologna and an important figure of the Italian Autonomia Movement. He worked with the French psychoanalyst Félix Guattari and since then published over two dozen of books like After the Future, Heroes: Mass Murder and Suicide, Breathing: Chaos and Poetry, The Uprising: On Poetry and Finance, The Second Coming, The Third Unconscious, Precarious Rhapsody and many others. As one of its co-founders, Bifo is actively involved in setting up ISSA since the very beginning.
Madina Tlostanova
Madina Tlostanova is a feminist thinker and fiction writer, professor of post-colonial feminism at Linköping University, Sweden. Tlostanova`s numerous articles, book chapters and monographs have been translated into many languages. Her most recent books include What Does it Mean to be Post-Soviet? Decolonial Art from the Ruins of the Soviet Empire (2018), A new Political Imagination, Making the Case ( 2020), Decoloniality of Knowledge, Being and Sensing ( 2023) and the most recent experimental book of essays and speculative fiction Narratives of Unsettlement. Being Out-of-joint as a Generative Human Condition (Routledge, 2023). Currently she is working on a book on the stateless future.
Nadežda Čačinovič
Nadežda Čačinovič (Budapest, 1947) is a philosopher, feminist, and author. Since 1976, she has served as Professor and Chair of Aesthetics in the Department of Philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. Today, she holds the title of emeritus at the same faculty. She has authored numerous books and translated major philosophical works from German and English. She also participated in founding the Center for Women’s Studies in Zagreb and served as president of the Croatian PEN Center. In her youth, she was a participant in the Korčula Summer School initiated by Praxis.
Boris Buden
Boris Buden (Garešnica, 1958) is a philosopher, translator and cultural theorist. He studied philosophy in Zagreb and received his PhD from Humboldt University in Berlin. In the 1990s he founded and was editor of the magazine and publishing house Akrzin. Among his translations are some of the most important works by Sigmund Freud. He is author of numerous books, among others Zone of Transition: On the End of Post-communism. He lives and works in Berlin.
Ankica Čakardić
Ankica Čakardić is a Professor and Chair of Social Philosophy and Philosophy of Gender at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. She is the author of several books, including The Rebellious Mind: Essays in Radical Social Philosophy, Like a Clap of Thunder: Three Essays on Rosa Luxemburg, and Spectres of Transition: Social History of Capitalism. She serves on the editorial board of the Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg (Verso) and is a member of the feminist collective fAKTIV.
Valeria Graziano
Valeria Graziano is a cultural theorist and organizer. Over the years, she has contributed to numerous militant research initiatives within social movements and the cultural sector, grounding her practice in institutional analysis and popular pedagogy. Central themes in her research include the refusal of work, the convivial reorganization of social reproduction, and the possibility of political pleasure. She is the co-author of Rebelling with Care: Exploring Open Technologies for Commoning Healthcare..
Tomislav Medak
Tomislav Medak is a commons and a disability activist and an independent researcher with a focus on technology, environmental crisis and degrowth transition. With Marcell Mars and a community of friends in Zagreb he founded Multimedia Institute/MAMA, since 2000 a hub for cultural and political organizing. Together they co-edited Public Library and Guerrilla Open Access.
Silvia Federici
Silvia Federici (Parma, 1942) is one of the leading contemporary feminist scholars and activists. She is a professor emerita and teaching fellow at Hofstra University in New York State. In 1972, she co-founded the International Feminist Collective, the organization that launched the Wages for Housework campaign worldwide. After a period of teaching and research in Nigeria, she was active in the anti-globalization movement during the 1990s. Her most famous book, Caliban and the Witch, has been translated into over 20 languages. Her work with George Caffentzis has made a significant contribution to the theory of commons and autonomy.
Srećko Horvat
Srećko Horvat (Osijek, 1983), is a philosopher and author of books such as After the Apocalypse (Polity Press, 2021), Poetry from the Future (Penguin, 2019), The Radicality of Love (2015), What does Europe Want? with Slavoj Žižek (Columbia University Press, 2013). The German weekly Der Freitag called him “one of the most exciting voices of his generation” and he has been described as a “fiery voice of dissent in the Post-Yugoslav landscape”. His writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Newsweek, Al Jazeera, Jacobin.
!Mediengruppe Bitnik
!Mediengruppe Bitnik are contemporary artists who work with and on the Internet. Their practice extends from the digital realm to affect physical spaces, challenging established structures and mechanisms. They are known for subverting surveillance cameras, bugging an opera house to broadcast performances, mailing a parcel containing a camera to Julian Assange, physically glitching a building, and sending a bot on a three-month darknet shopping spree. Their accolades include the Swiss Art Award, the PAX Art Award, and the Golden Cube from Dokfest Kassel. bitnik.org
James Bridle
James Bridle is a writer, artist and technologist. Their artworks have been commissioned by galleries and institutions and exhibited worldwide and on the internet. Their writing has appeared in magazines and newspapers including Wired, the Atlantic, the New Statesman, the Guardian, and the Financial Times. They are the author of New Dark Age (2018) and Ways of Being (2022), and they wrote and presented New Ways of Seeing for BBC Radio 4 in 2019. Their work can be found at jamesbridle.com
Total Refusal
Total Refusal, described as a pseudo-Marxist media guerrilla, Total Refusal is a collective of artists, researchers, and filmmakers who upcycle the resources of mainstream video games to create political narratives in the form of videos, interventions, performances, and lectures. Their work has been screened at over 250 film and art festivals and exhibited in various spaces. Since their founding in 2018, Total Refusal has received more than 50 awards and honorary mentions.
Marko Pogačar
Marko Pogačar was born in 1984 in Split. He published sixteen books of poetry, essays and prose, for which he received Croatian and international awards. In 2014, he edited the Young Croatian Lyric anthology, followed by The Edge of a Page: New Poetry in Croatia (2019). He was a fellow of numerous fellowships and residency programs, including Civitella Ranieri, LCB, Récollets-Paris, Lyrik Kabinett and DAAD Berliner Künstlerprogramm. More than thirty of his books have been published abroad in a dozen languages.
Saša Savanović
Saša Savanović (1986, Novi Sad) is a novelist, essayist and non-fiction author. She published two critically acclaimed novels (Deseti život, 2018 and Novo Sada, 2022), along with a wide range of articles, essays, reserach studies and popular commentary with the focus on post-capitalist economic paradigms and the contemporary transformations of labour, state and citizenship.
Rumena Bužarovska
Rumena Bužarovska (1981, Skopje, North Macedonia) is a writer, literary translator and social commentator. The author of four volumes of short stories translated into fifteen languages, her book My Husband has received critical acclaim in Europe and has been adapted into six stage productions (Skopje, Ljubljana, Athens, Belgrade, Zagreb and Budapest). She is the author of two non-fiction books: the essays Next to God, America (2024) and a study on humor in contemporary American and Macedonian short fiction (2012). She is a literary translator from English into Macedonian, having translated authors such as J. M. Coetzee, Lewis Carroll, Truman Capote, Flannery O’Connor and Iain Reid. She is the co-initiator and co-organizer of the PeachPreach women’s storytelling event in North Macedonia and co-host of the feminist Radio Mileva podcast. Bužarovska is a professor of American literature and translation at the State University in Skopje.
Goran Bogdan
Goran Bogdan (Široki Brijeg, 1982), an acclaimed actor known for his powerful performances on both stage and screen, he initially went to Zagreb to study and graduate in economics but quickly returned to his true passion – acting. After beginning his acting career at the Zagreb Youth Theater, he primarily shifted to working in film. He was awarded Best European Actor at the Festival de Cinema Europeo, and since 2005, he has appeared in more than 40 movies, including TV series such as Fargo and Success.
Aventura
Aventura approach architecture as self-construction, committed to collective, improvisational building as a way for communities to shape their built environment. They work through gambiarra – making do with available resources – not because it’s more ecological or efficient, though it often is, but because they believe repurposing objects and spaces allows them to accumulate layers of meaning. The architect becomes a gardener of this ecology, where functionality emerges from a rich, adaptive process. They are based between São Paulo and Berlin. aventura.cargo.site
Marija Andrijašević
Marija Andrijašević (Split, 1984) is a Croatian writer. In 2007, she won the Goran for Young Poets award for her book of poetry davide, svašta su mi radili (david, they did all sorts of things to me). Her first novel Zemlja bez sutona (The Land Without Twilight) was published in 2021. The novel was awarded the T-portal Literary Award for best novel in 2022 and the Štefica Cvek regional award as one of the best nine novels published in 2021 in the countries of BCSM languages. In 2023, she published a book of poetry Temeljenje kuće (The Founding of a House). She lives between Zagreb and Split and works with Skribonauti, an organization promoting literature within marginalized groups.
Kevin Kenjar
Kevin Kenjar is a Balkan-American linguistic and sociocultural anthropologist based in Rijeka, Croatia. In addition to his scholarly work addressing nationalism, post-empire, ideology, language, he has spent much of the past decade working and organizing with solidarity-based activist collectives. His interest in decolonial praxis, migration, and minorities, combined with his epicurean curiosity, led to the creation of the Naan-Aligned Movement in 2021, building on prior efforts collectively undertaken with kitchen comrades in Belgrade.
Judith Meyer
Judith Meyer is a polyglot, computational linguist and author of more than a dozen language courses, including Teach Yourself Complete Esperanto and the Script Hacking series. She is also a close collaborator of Yanis Varoufakis within the pan-European movement DiEM25 and active wherever there’s injustice.
Želimir Periš
Želimir Periš was born in 1975 in Zadar where he still resides. He writes books, creates video and board games, and leads writing workshops. He published several novels, story collections and poetry, the most notable being his two most recent works: Mladenka kostonoga (Boney-legged Bride) (2020.), a novel of hybrid genre and experimental structure, was declared by critics and audience as the most ambitious and best novel of 2020. The book won the Kočičevo pero and T-portal awards, and is due to be released in France in 2024. The story collection Grace of Cypress (2023) won the Lapis Histriae award for the best story, and the Štefica Cvek award for rebellious and feminist writing.
Anja Zag Golob
Anja Zag Golob (1976, Slovenia) is a poet, but also works as the editor-in-chief of an independent publishing house VigeVageKnjige she co-funded together with 5 friends in 2013. It specializes in comics for kids and graphic novels for (young) adults. She also works as a B-rate translator from German and English into Slovene, and writes a weekly column on political, social and culture matters called Jajca (Eggs) for the national radio. So far, she published five poetry collections in Slovene (V roki, 2010, Vesa v zgibi, 2013, Didaskalije kdihanju, 2016, da ne, 2019, watson 2023), received 3 awards (The Jenko Award for best Slovene poetry collection in 2014, 2016, The "kritiško sito" Award for best Slovene book in 2020). Her books are translated into German, Croatian, Serbian and Polish language, chosen poems into 9 more languages, featured also in several anthologies. She regularly resides on artist residencies and guest-reads abroad. When in Slovenia, she lives with her wife and dog in Maribor.
Forest university
Forest University is a place for counter-hegemonic practices of knowledge creation, sharing and being in this world. It is dedicated to questioning and reshaping the boundaries of culture, society and nature, in order to open space for new ecological and socio-political imaginations and practices. It desires to transgress the dominant mantras of sustainability, greening and climate action, and look for ways of being in the world which are not only ecological, but anti-colonial, post-capitalist, queer and symbiocentric.
Memory of the World
Memory of the World is a network of interconnected shadow libraries, each maintained locally and independently from the others. It is modelled after the concept of the public library, extended to the digital realm: with books ready to be shared, meticulously cataloged, everyone is a librarian. When everyone is librarian, library is everywhere. library.memoryofhteworld.org
Mira Oklobdžija
Mira Oklobdžija (Zagreb, 1952) is an independent researcher, sociologist and activist. She worked at the Institute for Migration in Zagreb, in Press Now in Amsterdam, an NGO supporting independent media in Yugoslavia during the nighties and later in the UN ICTY in The Hague. Her books include Revolution between Freedom and Dictatorship and, with Slobodan Drakulić and Claudio Venza, Urban Guerilla in Italy. She published a number of articles dealing with human rights, political violence, war crimes, reconciliation, migrations, human nature, xenophobia, marginal groups, and outsiders and regularly contributes to FPIF (Foreign Policy in Focus), a platform of the Institute for Political Studies from Washingtona D.C. She lives and works in The Hague, Netherlands
IssaFix
IssaFix is the creative duo of Luka Vlahović and Marina Andrijašević, where architecture meets design and innovation takes flight. They’re a pair of problem-solvers with a penchant for the unconventional. Their unique blend of rigorous engineering expertise and wild, out-of-the-box thinking allows them to transform abstract concepts into tangible realities. From dreaming up board games to crafting cutting-edge manufacturing machines, they’ve proven their ability to bridge the gap between imagination and execution. Always in search of the next challenge, they are looking forward to help upcycle and recycle some new ideas on Vis.
Pomalo
Pomalo is a non-profit organization based on the island of Vis, Croatia. Founded on an intercultural dialogue, the organization advocates for the island of Vis by promoting and protecting sustainable development, cultural values, the environment, nature, social tolerance, and a multicultural society. The goal of the association is to encourage and facilitate the local adoption of sustainable development technologies, as well as to construct a free, open, democratic, pluralistic, and tolerant society based on the values of peace, nonviolence, human rights, internationalism, dialogue, and social justice.
Chto Delat?
Chto Delat? is a collective of artists, critics, philosophers and writers from St. Petersburg, Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod with the goal of merging political theory, art and activism. Its name refers to Nikolai Chernyshevsky’s novel Chto Delat’? and Vladimir Lenin’s pamphlet of the same title. The collective was founded in 2003 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, while most of its members live in exile today. Its works are part of collections at MoMA, Le Centre Pompidou, MUAC, and many other museums.
Pirate Care
Pirate Care is a transnational research project and a constellation of activists, scholars and practitioners who stand against the criminalization of solidarity and for a common care infrastructure. The name refers to initiatives that have emerged in opposition to neoliberal policies, paternalistic institutions, private property, border regimes and conservative familial structures that are denying the wellbeing of many. A defining feature of pirate care initiatives is that they are forced to disobey laws and normative regimes to provide care. Pirate Care is committed to facilitate collective learning processes that mobilize people into disobedient organizing of care.
syllabus.pirate.care
TADI
Tadi is a visual artist, graphic designer, DJ and producer
based in Prishtina. She is the co-founder of Bijat, a feminist/
queer club night. She is also the co-founder of Prishtine Is
Burning, a queer club night in Prishtina. Her latest releases
include Lamento remix on Hivern Records, Gur l’ on Armata
productions, DJ sets for Boiler Room, NTS Radio, Mutant Radio, Movement Radio, Soft Spot, Servis etc. Shes a resident DJ at Karmakoma. Among other clubs/ festivals who hosted her are Club Drugstore, Ohm Berlin, Sonica Festival, Lighthouse Festival, DokuNights, Arkaoda, Salon de Amateurs, Acephale, Servis Night, Polja Festival, Euphoria, Ensomnia and Lumbardhi where she also had a live performance.
Mixes: Mamut radio, Movement radio,…
Kӣr
Kӣr is the solo production epithet of Bane Jovančević, resident live artistand program manager of Belgrade’s club Drugstore. By combining traditional and experimental influences in electro-acoustic music, Kӣr creates the sound in which drone-navigated post-industrial textures and melodic movements transgresses into a tribal rhythms. The clash of synths and acoustic instruments invoke an audio landscape of Byzantine sacral traditions and Balkan folklore rhythms.The basic concept is to challenge conventional and predominant rhythmic structures in music by juxtaposing traditional rhythms with contemporary electronic sound design. The visual imaginary invoked in the sound – that of a forest air, a river, a hum of birds – delivered through the ruthlessness of the machine, insist on an active listening. First releases Imrali, Mramorje, Balčakwent out on renowned labels such are Crème Organization, Yerevan Tapes, Rocket Recording sand DISK, after which Kӣr started doing music for theater and film, where in last two years he work on threefeature and one short movie, shown on festivals suchare Berlinale, IFRR, Tokyo Film Festival, Visions du Réel, winning several main prizes.
Marcell Mars
Marcell Mars is an advanced internet user. With Tomislav Medak he founded the shadow library Memory of the World, He develops and maintains software infrastructure to support custodians of (universal access to) knowledge. His research Ruling Class Studies, started at
the Jan van Eyck Academy, examines state-of-the-art digital innovation, adaptation, and intelligence created by corporations such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and eBay.
Feta
Dragan Ivčević aka. Feta is an established artist from the small town of Komiža, on Vis island, otherwise a DJ, producer , remixer and co-founder of the independent music label Acilectro. Has released for labels such as Household, 4quarters music, Family grooves, Aquarius rec. …Feta has been playing music all over the Dalmatian coast for many years, was a resident in many clubs and was part of world-famous festivals (Hideout, Ultra, Sonus, Moondance…). He likes to say that he is an experimental artist who likes to explore genres and combine them, because for him music is a medium that does not have strictly defined frames and boundaries.
Maša Ljotić Plichta
Musician with a formal academic education, but currently living in a world of improvisation, musical therapy, body oriented therapeutic dance, etc. I work with children and adults on expressing their creativity trough liberating their body and voice for the last 15 years. I finished Academy Of Arts in Novi Sad, Serbia, and from than played in various orchestras, bands, and held workshops of body therapy in different countries as a musical assistant with teachers like John Kelly etc. I originally come from Belgrade, Serbia, but for the last 7 years I live in an island Vis, enjoying my simple life as an artist, wife, and a mum of two beautiful girls.
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