Andrea Kleist

Japan

Having lived in Australia for the past ten years, German born Andrea Kleist combines a theoretical background with diverse practical expertise. Prior to managing the City of Melbourne's Public Art Program she was Exhibitions Manager at ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image), Executive Officer, Visual Arts Program at the 1998 and 2000 Adelaide Festivals and has enjoyed a long standing relationship with the international Film Festival Berlin. Kleist is experienced in the areas of Literature, Visual Arts, Film and intercultural encounters and is committed to the notion of an integrated cultural agenda. In Japan she will be working alongside Art Front Gallery's Artistic Director, Fram Kitagawa, toward the realisation of the 3rd Echigo-Tsunmari Trienniale. Whilst on residency she will be working on the international program and actively seeking exchange opportunities for Australian and Japanese artists in the future.

Supported by the Australia Council.

Alan Cruickshank SingaporeAlan Cruickshank, Director of the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia and Editor of Contemporary Visual Art+ Broadsheet magazine, will undertake a residency in Singapore with Kanaga Sabapathy at Asia Contemporary. Cruickshank has previously worked as an artist since 1980, exhibiting widely in Australia and internationally and has been an independent publisher of catalogues, monographs and anthologies. He has also written for numerous Australian and international magazines, including European Photography and British Painter. Cruickshank has a significant history with Singapore, having lived there in 1990, and was awarded an Australia Council New Media residency with TheatreWorks Singapore in 1998-99.

Supported by Arts SA and the Australia Council.

Susan Kukucka ChinaSusan Kukucka has worked as a festival manager, policy officer, researcher and arts writer. She currently works as Senior Research Assistant in Griffith University's School of Arts, Media and Culture. She has worked in arts and cultural policy development with Brisbane City Council and was a manager of the Straight Out Of Brisbane festival where she was responsible for a large multi-arts program that featured more than 200 events and 1000 artists. She has also been published in numerous industry journals, street press, and online publications. During her residency in China, she will work with the Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation in order to develop cultural programs and establish exchanges between Chinese and Australian arts festivals, cultural organisations and tertiary institutions.

Supported by Arts Queensland and the Australia Council.

Cuong Phu Le Vietnam & Cambodia Before taking up his current position as Asian-Australian Community Cultural Development Officer at the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Le served as Multicultural Arts Officer at the Vietnamese Community in Australia, NSW Chapter Inc. for five years. His focus is now on brokering cultural projects with Asian-Australian communities, Asian-Australian arts practitioners, academics, community cultural development workers and cultural institutions. Le will first be based at the Blue Space - Contemporary Arts Centre in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, assisting the centre in funding application and undertaking research for a potential contemporary arts project Saigon: A Melting Pot. He will then be based at Amrita Performing Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, creating networks and bringing Cambodian instructors to Australia for workshops.

Supported by the NSW Ministry of the Arts and the Australia Council.

Benython OldfieldChinaSince leaving Charles Sturt University, Benython Oldfield has worked as a radio and TV producer at the ABC and commercial stations. For the past six years he was a book publicist at Random House Australia, working with some of the world's leading authors including Don Watson, Jung Chang and Tom Wolfe. Oldfield will be working with Shanghai VI Hoare Inc, an independent publishing house associated with China Normal University Press. This is one of the biggest publishing houses in China and is well known for the publication of new Chinese works. Through his work there he aims to identify emerging and established Chinese writers who are not published in the west with the aim of bringing them to Australian publishers and writers festivals.

Supported by the Australia-China Council.

Philip Samartz JapanDr Philip Samartzis is coordinator and senior lecturer in Sound within the RMIT School of Art. He has organized three Immersion festivals focusing on the theory and practice of sound spatialisation, as well as Variable Resistance - a series of international sound art presentations for the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Podewil Arts Center, Berlin. As a solo artist he has performed widely in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Europe, Russia and the United States including presentations at the Andy Warhol Museum, Cartier Foundation and Mori Arts Museum. Samartzis has published four solo compact discs, Residue, Windmills Bordered By Nothingness, Mort aux Vaches and Soft and Loud. Samartzis will use his time in Japan to work with academics, curators, artists and researchers at Musashino Art University to develop curatorial programs that promote Australian and Japanese sound culture.

Supported by the Australia Council

Finley Smith IndonesiaDuring her time at the Northern Territory Writers' Centre, Finley Smith co-devised, developed and managed WordStorm, the Northern Territory Writers' Festival. After completing her BA in Communications - Journalism at Charles Sturt University, Smith worked as a journalist in Indonesia and as a radio producer in Darwin. She has a long association with Indonesia and was Venue and Logistics Manager with the Ubud Writers' and Readers Festival in 2005. This residency in Indonesia will enable Smith to deepen her experience and networks, working once again with the Ubud Writers' and Readers Festival. She will consolidate her networks between Indonesian and Australian writers, publishers and arts organisations, establish new administrative systems and mentor Balinese Festival staff in festival management.

Supported by the Australia-Indonesia Institute and Arts NT.

David Teh Thailand

David Teh's work spans art history, literary, critical and cultural theory, with an emphasis on contemporary art, public art and new media art. He has lectured on these subjects at the University of Sydney and the College of Fine Arts, where he remains an Adjunct Research Associate of the Centre for Contemporary Art and Politics. Teh is a regular contributor to magazines and journals including Art & Australia, Art Asia Pacific and The Bangkok Post, is a founder of Fibreculture, an online community for digital culture and politics, and a director of Sydney's Half Dozen Festival for emerging artists. At the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, a new division of the Thai Ministry of Culture, Teh will be developing a major exhibition of Thai contemporary art, to tour to Australia in 2007.

Supported by the NSW Ministry for the Arts and the Australia Council.