Habibi.Works

Michael Wittmann works at the intersection of artistic practices with forms of solidarity and articulations in socio-political fields. His focus is on collaborative (artistic) processes, common workshop settings, and installations in public spaces. In 2016, he joined the open transcultural workshop Habibi.Works, located near Ioannina, Northern Greece, with the aim of supporting people who arrived in Europe after being forced to flee their home countries and creating space for exchange with local communities. As part of this work, he co-developed the sub-project Habibi Dome, a collaborative building project and an open platform for public spaces. Since 2018, the project has been carried out in various European cities and was exhibited at the X-Depot of the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich in 2022. Michael graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich (MA) in 2018 and is currently pursuing his PhD at the University of Arts Linz, Austria. Additionally, he teaches in various settings, most recently at the University of Arts Linz and the Academy of Fine Arts Munich.

Hans Kalliwoda is an artist, curator, and researcher known for his interventions in public spaces, blending art, ecology, and sustainability. His work encourages social engagement through conceptual and experimental art forms. Kalliwoda’s projects, such as The European Art Train, The World in a Shell – Future Pollination Lab, and BeeTotems for RefuBees, aim to inspire dialogue around identity, environmental sustainability, and community cohesion. His latest project emphasizes the importance of collective action in urban spaces, particularly through interdisciplinary approaches that combine art, science, and social engagement. As co-director of the TuDelft Urban Ecology and Ecocities Lab and co-founder of the Blindpainters Foundation, Kalliwoda has spent 30 years advocating for a sustainable, alternative approach to the traditional 'business as usual' practices in the art world. His research as a PhD candidate at the University of Leiden (2013-2017) focused on how artistic practice can drive social change, particularly through the metaphor of "pollination" to describe the exchange of ideas and cultural elements. His independent projects, alongside his search for interfaces between art, science, and activism, are recognized as pioneering, avant-garde, and meta-modern. Through his interactive art and symbiotic adventures, Kalliwoda brings romanticism and utopia into the reality of the here and now.

Resonar Lab

Ivan Txaparro is an artist, musician, designer, and researcher based in Berlin, committed to promoting political participation, transdisciplinary art, electroacoustic music, storytelling, and artistic activism. In recent years, Ivan's work has focused on facilitating artistic mediations that promote environmental protection, social justice, and empathetic repair, integrating art, music, and design. Ivan is a researcher at the University of the Arts in Berlin and the creative director of Resonar Lab, an international collective of artists, designers, musicians, and activists dedicated to promoting eco-social transformations. Resonar Lab collaborates with communities, individuals, and collectives, using a participatory and transdisciplinary approach to develop strategies of resistance, experiences of radical imagination, and alternative solidaristic futures. Please visit https://linktr.ee/txap to explore his work.

Habibi.Works

Mimi Hapig is co-founder and strategy director of the intercultural maker-space Habibi.Works in Greece. Born and raised on the German border with Switzerland and France, she has lived, worked, and studied in various Latin American and European countries. At the age of 25, she moved to Greece, where she spent seven years building, maintaining, and reinventing the flagship project Habibi.Works. The project offers 11 free workshop areas for people living in refugee camps and local Greeks, where they can acquire or share skills, build objects and relationships, and create their own solutions. Over the years, Mimi has built a community of thousands of men and women, including craftsmen, specialists, activists, artists, supporters, and many others from all over the world, joining forces to show that the phenomenon of forced migration and its impact on people's lives can be approached differently: with solidarity, respect, and with the goal of creating autonomy and dignity. The project has received various awards, and Mimi has been recognised in several leadership programmes.