Ali Güreli is an entrepreneur, cultural leader and founder and chairman of Contemporary Istanbul, one of the region’s leading contemporary art fairs. For over two decades, he has championed Istanbul as a global hub for artistic exchange, bringing together artists, institutions, collectors and international audiences. Working at the intersection of art, culture and urban development, Güreli brings valuable insight into the role of creativity in fostering dialogue, shaping cultural identity and building connections across borders.
Anders Petterson is the founder and CEO of ArtTactic Ltd, a London-based art market research and analysis company established in 2001. A pioneer in using crowd-sourcing techniques to gather art market intelligence, ArtTactic publishes global reports in collaboration with partners including Deloitte, Hiscox, Mishcon de Reya, Sophie Macpherson SML, and Sotheby’s. Anders regularly lectures on art market topics at Sotheby’s Institute, Christie’s Education, and ESA Beirut, and served as a founding board member of PAIAM from 2011 to 2021.
Chimere Cissé is an art collector and founder with over a decade of experience in the cultural sector. She launched ArtKōrero in 2021 to connect commercial engagement with the arts and recently founded STELLA Alliance to increase the visibility of women art collectors. Previously, she represented the United Nations International Trade Centre and held senior roles at Burberry, Hearst UK, Harper’s Bazaar, and ELLE. Dedicated to philanthropy, she actively supports global charities including the British Council and Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation, where she is a long-standing committee chair.
Divya Sharma is a London-based British Indian textile artist and an alumna of the Royal College of Art, London. Her practice brings together myth, memory, and the cultural world of her mother tongue, Tamil. She was recently awarded the Visual Artists Association International Scholarship Award for 2025. She has conceived and curated five shows as founder of The Neulinge Collective and the Post-Colonials Collective. She is also the founder and host of the ARTiculate podcast and broadcasts on Apple Podcasts.
Dr. Shwetal Patel is a writer and researcher working at the intersection of contemporary visual art, exhibition-making, and development studies. A founding member of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, he played a key role in launching the initiative and building its international partnerships. He holds a practice-based PhD from the Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, and lectures internationally at institutions such as the Zürich University of the Arts, the Royal College of Art, and the University of Exeter. He also serves as trustee for the Milton Keynes Museum, Coventry Biennial, and the Kakar Centre of Psychoanalysis & Culture.
Jeffrey Boloten is Director of Art Business and Enterprise Programmes at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. He co-founded and serves as Managing Director of ArtInsight Ltd., the educational partner of art market research firm ArtTactic. With a background in law, publishing (including Penguin Books), and institutional roles at the Tate and a London art college, Jeffrey is a frequent speaker on the global art, photography, and art investment markets. He also co-directs Sotheby’s Enterprise Studio and is a founding member of PAIAM (Professional Advisors to the International Art Market).
Leo Crane is a producer, artist and educator with over 25 years of experience across physical and digital creative industries. He has founded three creative studios and in 2024, established the AI Film Academy, focusing on innovation in contemporary moving image practice. He leads courses in art and art business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and serves on the board of Animate Projects. His artistic practice spans animated film, figurative painting and experimental digital works, and his work has been widely exhibited, screened and awarded internationally. He is currently producing his debut feature film The Masterpiece of Tamagata, and is the author of Contemporary Figures in Watercolour (2021).
Mark Davy is the founder of Futurecity, a multidisciplinary agency dedicated to culture-driven placemaking. He has led private sector investment in major art projects including the Crossrail Culture Line, the Illuminated River Project, and the cultural strategy for Wembley Park. Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and contributes to several boards and panels, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Advisory Panel, Hypha Studios, the Land Economic Society, the NLA Expert Panel for Culture, and the National Trust Regional Advisory Group.
Marta Orsola Sironi is a curator and critic based between Milan and London. She is co-founder and curator of MEGA Art Fair, which reimagines the art fair as an immersive, curated experience activating regenerated urban spaces with exhibitions, performances, talks, and music. Together with Mauro Mattei, she co-directs BeAdvisors Art Department, producing curated shows, cultural events, and collectors’ programmes across international art calendars. Her research focuses on decolonial feminism, identity, language, and memory, with a strong interest in urban space as a site of resistance.
Nicole Schoeni is an art dealer, collector, patron, and founder of Schoeni Projects. Previously, Nicole was the director of Schoeni Art Gallery, one of Asia's most influential art venues. Nicole has since curated the Hong Kong section of the China 8 exhibition and has consulted on arts projects such as for the Grand Lisboa Palace in Macau. She is an active patron of numerous foundations, is on the advisory team for Arts for Good Foundation, and sits on the Board of Directors of Asian Art in London.
Portuguese visual artist Paulo Arraiano explores the intersections of art, culture, nature, and technology through a multidisciplinary practice. He is co-founder of Re_Act Contemporary, an international art laboratory and residency programme based in the Azores that fosters dialogue between artists, researchers, and communities around pressing ecological, social, and cultural issues. Arraiano offers a distinctive perspective on the role of art in shaping how we understand and engage with a rapidly changing world. Portfolio
Rena Neville is Director of Corinth Consulting Ltd and Head of FCS Compliance Art Division. With over 30 years at Sotheby’s, she was the company’s first Global Compliance Director and previously served as European General Counsel and Global Head of Litigation. Today, she advises the art market on anti-money laundering compliance and is a frequent speaker on the subject, including recent talks at Harvard Law School and the Art Business Conference in Maastricht during TEFAF.
Roxane Zand is a Harvard and Oxford educated specialist in Middle Eastern art and culture. After three years at UNESCO and roles at the Iran Heritage Foundation and Asia House, she joined Sotheby’s in 2006 as Director for the Middle East and Gulf, rising to Deputy Chairman and Senior Director, before stepping down in 2020 to lead her own art advisory consultancy. She continues to serve as Arts Editor for the Encyclopaedia Islamica, advises through the Pictet Art Prize Advisory Council, and has authored several publications, including Geometry and Art: In the Modern Middle East.
Sigrid Kirk is a curator, adviser, and strategist who co-founded the Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA) in 2016. AWITA brings together women working across the arts sector through mentoring, collaboration, and a shared community. In addition, each year Kirk and her husband collaborate with Te Tuhi Gallery in Auckland to help fund an artist residency at Yorkshire Sculpture Park for Māori and Pacific Island artists. The couple are also patrons of Dundee Contemporary Arts,  Fruitmarket Gallery, Gasworks, Studio Voltaire, Iniva, and Goldsmiths CCA.
Sylwia Krason is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Lynx Magazine, an international arts publication and organisation based in London. Since 2013, she has connected bold artistic voices with global audiences, with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe and emerging markets. She is also President of the Contemporary Lynx Foundation in Warsaw and regularly serves as a juror and panel moderator at major international art events, including Art Basel. Trained in art history and arts management in Kraków, Berlin, and London, she is currently based in Paris.
Ulrich Schrauth is a curator, artist, and creative director of UBS Digital Art Museum in Hamburg. Schrauth is also the founder of VRHAM! Biennale, shaping new ways of presenting and experiencing digital Art. Working between Hamburg and London, he also heads the Immersive Programme at the British Film Institute (BFI) and serves on the British Council’s Advisory Board for Arts and Creative Economy. In addition, he curates the digital section of Art Dubai, the premier international art fair for digital media. Ulrich is a jury member for prestigious awards such as the Lumen Prize and the Fedora Digital Art Prize, and is a regular speaker at major events including the Venice Biennale, SXSW, and the Cannes Film Festival. Portfolio

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ARTIST

Mahsa Karimizadeh

1980

Shiraz, Iran

Born in Shiraz, Iran in 1980, Mahsa Karimizadeh has been active as an artist since 2005. She gaduated with a BA sculpture from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran. Until now, she has been creating a wide body of works, ranging from sculpture to installations and paintings.

Before university, she focused on the production of expressive portraits, but soon after, she decided to turn her attention and sensibility to sculpture. Her work covers a wide variety but remain simplistic and focused primarily on visual elements such as lines and dots. There is a subtle sense of contrast in her work that seems both unfinished and tuned to perfection.

Karimizadeh won the second prize in the 5th Tehran Sculpture Biennial, for which she was awarded a two-month artist residency at the Cité internationale des Arts in Paris. Karimizadeh also participated in a one-year residency in “Lepsien Art Foundation” in Dusseldorf, Germany, where Zero foundation invited her to participate in the “Socle Du Monde” biennale 2017 at the Heart Museum, Denmark.

Untitled - Edge Series

Pencil on Fiberglass - 125 x 90 x 7 cm - 2018

Untitled - Trauma Series

Fiber glass - 40 x 40 x 50 cm - 2014

Untitled - Vulnerable Series

Foam & Wood - 200 x 150 x 80cm - 2016

Untitled - Pinched Series

Pencil on Fiber glass - 80 x 60 x 3 cm - 2018

Untitled - Trauma Series

Bronze - 45 x 45 x 40 cm - 2014

Deep Dark - Curved Space Series

Foam - 150 x 150 x 150 cm - 2007

Untitled - Edge Series

Pencil on Fiberglass - 2018

Highlights

Award

2012     Papillon Award for Best Artwork – Flying Colors, Visual Exhibition, Queen Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2008     5th Iran Sculpture Biennial (Winner Second Prize) – Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran

2007     Visual Arts Festival (Winner Third Prize) – Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran

Solo Exhibitions

2018     Exhibition of Sculpture and Installation – Iranshahr Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2015     Exhibition of Sculpture and Installation – Khak Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2014     Exhibition of Sculpture and Installation – Khak Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

2013     Exhibition of Sculpture and Installation – Khak Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2012     Exhibition of Sculpture – Khak Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2011     ‘Portraits’ – Aun Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2011     Exhibition of Sculpture and Installation – Khak Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2010     ‘Portraits’ – Khak Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2009     Exhibition of Sculpture and Painting – Khak Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2006     Exhibition of Sculpture and Photo-Sculpture – Khak Gallery, Tehran, Iran

2006     Exhibition of Painting – Zarif Gallery, Shiraz, Iran

Group Exhibitions

2017      Socle Du Monde Biennale – Zero Foundation, (Heart Museum, Denmark)

2017      Opening of the New Building for Zero Foundation in the Old Studios of Zero Group – Dusseldorf

2016      15/16 International Grant Program Emerging Artists – Dusseldorf, Germany

2015      13 Artists for a New Day by Freydoun Ave – Lajvardi Collection

2013      Extraterrestrial – Aun Gallery, Tehran

2012      Flying Colors, Visual Exhibition – Queen Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2012      Sculpture and Painting – Aun Gallery, Tehran

2012      The Other Half of Iran – SEM_ART Gallery, Monaco

2012      Sculpture Exhibition – Belgium Embassy, Tehran

2011      Sculpture Exhibition “TILL” – Henna Gallery

2011      The Second Sculpture EXPO – Shirin Gallery

2010      Sculpture Exhibition and Workshop – Farvahar Gallery, Tehran

2010      Sculpture Exhibition – Farvahar Gallery, Tehran

2009      5 Artists X 3 Dimensions – XVA Gallery, Dubai

2008      The First Iranian Annual Sculpture EXPO – Iranian Artists’ Forum

2008      The First Urban Sculpture Biennial – Barg Gallery

2008      Sculpture Exhibition – Iranian Artists’ Forum

2008      Sculpture Exhibition – Iranian Garden Museum

2008      Creek Art Fair – Bastakiya, XVA Gallery, Dubai

2008      5th Iran Sculpture Biennial – Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (Winner second prize)

2007      Sculpture Exhibition, Self Portrait – Imam Ali Museum

2007      Visual Arts Festival – Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (Winner second prize)

2006      Selection of 1st Tehran International Sculpture Symposium – Imam Ali Museum

2006      Installation Exhibition – Tehran Gallery

2006      Sculpture Exhibition – Consult INBA Center, Mexico City

2006      Sculpture Exhibition – Iranian Artists’ Forum

2006      Sculpture Exhibition (Selection of Under 35-Year-Old Sculptors) – Iranian Artists’ Forum

2005      4th Iran Sculpture Biennial

2005      Sculpture Exhibition of Graduated Students – Tehran University, Faculty of Fine Arts

Residencies

2015     1-Year Artist Residency – Lepsien Art Foundation, Düsseldorf, Germany

2008     2-Month Artist Residency – Cité des Arts, Paris (Prize for Winning Second Prize at the 5th Tehran Sculpture Biennale)

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