Norway

Anne Karin Jortveit works three-dimensionally and with textile techniques such as hand spinning, weaving, and natural dyeing. In her projects, craftsmanship, an interest in materials, and a sense of unease about the state of nature are interwoven.

Rather than turning to grand narratives, she instead focuses on the margins, where the vulnerable, overlooked, and minimal can be found, and where something important may be on the verge of being lost. This is often expressed through the poetic, metaphorical, and emotional. Although she does not always address specific environmental themes directly, the artistic process gives her an opportunity to reflect on questions of value: “For me, art is a place to be, a place from which to think and act, one that embraces both aesthetics and ethics.”

Sweden

Johan Andrén (b. 1991, Sweden) is a visual artist based in Oslo. His practice revolves around photography, and he often uses analog and tactile processes to experiment with both his own and found images. A recurring feature of his work is the interest in imprints and visual traces. He is concerned with the relationship between observation and participation, and how visibility, bodily presence, and power play out in the encounter between the one who sees and that which is seen.

Andrén works often spatially and situationally with installations, alongside artistic self-publishing, both in various collaborations and independently.

Andrén is a co-founder of the artist-run platform NEJD in Gothenburg, a member of the Oslo Crit Club, and has a studio at Hausmania Cultural Center. In addition, he is also the workshop manager for the risograph workshop at Kunstnernes Hus. He holds a master's degree in visual arts from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and a bachelor's degree in photography from HDK-Valand in Gothenburg.

Ukraine

Anna Yovka - modern Ukrainian author, writer of the “new wave” of Ukrainian artists. The first book “Teide and Theo” was published in 2021 in the literary magazine Dzvi, the work was also translated and published in English. The short story “Land of Dreams” entered the final of the international competition “WorkStory Work:  in the focus of literature” (Chicago) and was published in the collection of the same name. In 2023, she became a laureate of the international literary prize Sahitto Award for an essay about the war in Ukraine and took part in the declaration event of artists and writers of the world about peace on the Korean Peninsula  “All artists who oppose the war”.

Regular participant of the International Festival of Writers and Artists, organized by the International Residence of Writers and Artists, Val David, Quebec, Canada. Participant of the writer residence “International Writers’ and Translators’ House” (Ventspils, Latvia). Author of the British literary magazine T’art. Entered the Grand List of the International Literary Manuscript and Prose Competition for the best book of the year, “Winged Lion” 2021. (Ukraine). Her story, Conversation with Mom” was published in the book “About Our Times” in Kyiv. Another publication is “Uprooted”, a book written based on collections of interviews with Ukrainian women who survived the Russian invasion of Ukraine and published in Ukrainian in 2025. The book is being translated into Polish, Romanian, and Spanish.