FOUNDERS – PROJECT LEADERS
C.I.P.S.H. Prof. Luiz Oosterbeek
UNESCO-MOST (coordinated by) Camille Guinet
Mémoire de l’Avenir Margalit Berriet
Historic founding members and associate
Dr. John Crowley Chairman & CEO PHGD Group
Benno Werlen (International Year of Global Understanding) – 2016
Lin Xiang Xiong (Global Chinese Arts & Culture Society) – 2019
Team
Directors Luiz Oosterbeek and Margalit Berriet
Project Coordination Margalit Berriet
Administration and Production Victor Gresard
Cultural programming and development
Research, Mediation and Creative Workshop
Arts and Pedagogy
Public and Digital Communication
Creative Workshops and Training
Coordinator for GCACS & Council
Chinese Coordinator Kuei Yu Ho
Digital Platform Development Patrice Mugnier and Louis Montagne
HAS Magazine Editorial Team
Editor-in-Chief HAS Magazine Zoltan Somhegyi
Artistic Direction Ashley Molco Castello and Margalit Berriet
Editorial Coordinator MDA
English Editor HAS Magazine Dan Meinwald
French Editor HAS Magazine Aurore Nerrinck
French and English translation HAS Magazine Ashley Molco Castello
Graphic design HAS Magazine Costanza Mateucci & Elodie Vichos
Chinese Editor, Translation & Graphic Design Kuei Yu Ho
Friends / Collaborators
Isabelle Gozard, actress and author, France
Lu Hang Visual Artist, Paris
Romy Castro Visual Artist and Integrated Post-Doctoral Researcher at ICNOVA, Portugal
Labib Abderemane, multimedia artist and developer
HAS Advisory Panel
Alain Husson-Dumoutier UNESCO artist for peace, painter, sculptor and writer
Aurélien Barrau Astrophysician, Professor at the University of Grenoble-Alpes and filmmaker
Benno Werlen UNESCO Chair on Global Understadnding for Sustainability, President of the JENA Declaration
Charles-Etienne Lagasse President of the Jacques Georgin Study Centre
Divya Dwivedi Philosopher and writer, Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
Étienne Klein Physicist, Philosopher of Science and Director of Research at CEA ( Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives)
Harold Sjursen, Professor of Philosophy and Global Ethics, New York University
Hsiung Ping-chen Secretary-General of the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences ( CIPSH) – and CIPSH Chair in “New Humanities”, University of California, Irvine
Liu Mengxi Founding chief editor of the magazines Chinese Culture and World Sinology, director of the Institute of Chinese Culture
Liu Thai Ker Architect and urbanist, President of the Centre for Liveable Cities
Lucilla Spini Doctor in Biological Anthropology, University of Florence
Madeline Caviness Professor in Art History at Tufts University, member of CIPSH
Marc William Debono Neuroscientist, poet and essayist, Heading the Arts and Science Center at CC91
Maryam Rashidi PhD scholar, Interdisciplinary & Cross-cultural Studies (ANU, Australia) and Independent researcher (France)
Mira Marcus-Kalish Director of International Research Collaborations at Tel Aviv University, founder of the European Union Human Brain Flagship Project and Dead Sea Research Institute
Nuno Guimaraes da Costa Professor Business Ethics and Sustainability ICN Business School
Patrick Degeorges Philosopher, specialist in the sciences and politics of sustainability
Steven Hartman Executive director of BRIDGES Sustainability Science Coalition
Suvra Chakraborty Entrepreneur, music patron and UN consultant
Tanella Boni Writer, poet, critic and philosophy professor, University Félix-Houphouët-Boigny, Ivory Coast
Wang Gungwu Historian, Professor Emeritus at the Australian National University and Professor at the National University of Singapore
Tanella Boni Writer, poet, critic and philosophy professor, University Félix-Houphouët-Boigny, Ivory Coast
Prof. Luiz Oosterbeek – CIPSH
PhD in Archaeology (1994). Secretary General of the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences. Former Secretary-General of the International Union of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences. Conducts research in the fields of archaeology, heritage, and landscape management in Portugal, Africa, and Southern America. Received prizes and awards from the European Commission, the Brazilian Order of Advocates, the Portuguese Ministry of Culture, Gulbenkian Foundation, Foundation for Science and Technology, and several private sponsors. Professor of the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, President of the Instituto Terra e Memória (Portugal). Guest Professor in several European and Brazilian Universities. Director of the Museum of Prehistoric Art in Mação (PT) and Vice-President of HERITY International (IT). Holder of UNESCO chair “Humanities And Cultural Integrated Landscape Management”.
Margalit Berriet – Mémoire de l’Avenir
A research artist and curator, Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from New York University. Exhibited internationally in group and solo-shows. Since 1984, she has set up multidisciplinary arts events and conferences in the USA, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, promoting, through the arts, a better knowledge of cultural diversity and fostering intercultural dialogue. She is the author of multiple essays, and, with Patricia Creveaux, of the book From Drawing To Symbol: A Grammar For Humanity, published by Alternative in 2010. In addition to the scholars and institutions with whom she has collaborated, she has also cooperated with UNESCO, the Musée quai Branly, Centre George Pompidou, Musée de Louvre, Dapper, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire de Judaisme, the Institutes de Monde Arabe, Musée de l’Homme, as well as with Emmanuel Anati, Claude Gilbert, Jean Pierre Mohen, George Rosevegue, Luiz Oosterbeek, etc. and with private and public intuitions like the Préfecture of Paris, the Academy of Paris, the City of Paris, the City of Jerusalem, the National Agency Against Racism , the Fondation Pour la Memoire de la Shoah, and many other organizations.
Camille Guinet – UNESCO-Most
After an intensive foundation degree in Humanities (Hypokhâgne), Camille Guinet graduated with a master degree in French literature from Paris-IV Sorbonne University. During her studies, she connected to the cultural sector by doing internships in the audiovisual field and writing for a student webzine specializing in music. After a year working in an independent theatre on cultural outreach and assisting its Iranian stage director exiled in France, she left for Italy to work two years at the Alliance Française in Turin as a cultural project manager to develop intercultural initiatives. She joined UNESCO at the end of 2018 where she assisted John Crowley in the Most Programme on activities related to the Humanities (especially philosophy) and the Arts.
Ashley Molco Castello – Exhibitions and Communication, Mémoire de l’Avenir
After a degree in Modern Literature, Ashley Molco Castello obtained a BA in Cinema from the University of Paris III – Sorbonne Nouvelle and in Dance Studies from University of Paris VIII. She is engaged in the production and dissemination of visual and performing arts and has worked since 2015 as a translator in the cultural field (namely for HAS magazine – Humanities Arts and Society). Her work and artistic research bridge between France and Mexico. Since 2022 she is in charge of the gallery space, communication and artistic programme of Mémoire de l’Avenir.
Helena Schümmer – Humanities, Arts and Society Coordinator, Mémoire de l’Avenir
Helena Schümmer has an MA in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art, specialising in Conceptual Art, and a BA in International Studies, with a focus on the Middle Eastern cultures, languages, politics and economics, from Leiden University. French and German, she has worked in Lebanon with the Beirut Museum of Art (BeMA) and Studiocur’art.
Victor Gresard – Administration and Production, Mémoire de l’Avenir
After a degree in cinema at Paris VIII, Victor Gresard worked in various Parisian structures dedicated to experimental cinema before joining the Collectif jeune cinéma from 2012 to 2018, first as a film collection
manager and then as an administration and coordination manager. In particular, he was in charge of the annual organization of the Festival of Different and Experimental Cinemas of Paris. In parallel to his functions within Mémoire de l’Avenir / Art & Society, he is in charge of the development of cinematographic projects for various independent producers. Reader for the short documentary/essay/experimental film commission of the Centre National du cinéma et de l’image animée. Member of the collective What’s Your Flavor? for a better visibility of LGBTQI experimental cinema.
Aurore Nerrinck – Research and Mediation, Mémoire de l’Avenir
Aurore Nerrinck has degrees in art history and archaeology with a specialization in non-European civilizations (ULB). She has experience in anthropological research in Africa, a Master 2 in Solidarity and International Action at the Catholic Institute of Paris and a Master 2 in Science Education in Paris 8. She has specialized in issues of non-violence, conflict analysis and mediation, and in philosophy of education, aesthetics and ethics.
Dr. John Crowley – Chairman & CEO PHGD Group
John Crowley is Chief of Section for Research, Policy and Foresight in the UNESCO Sector for Social and Human Sciences. Since joining UNESCO in 2003 he has also been a program specialist in social science (2003-05) and head of the communication, information and publications unit (2005-07), chief of section for ethics of science and technology (2008-11), and team leader for global environmental change (2011-14). Before joining UNESCO, he worked as an economist in the oil industry (1988-95) and as a research fellow at the French National Political Science Foundation (1995-2002). From 2002 to 2015, he was editor of the UNESCO-published International Social Science Journal. He has published a further 100 academic articles and book chapters, mainly on political theory and comparative politics.
Prof. Lin Xiang Xiong – GCACS
Prof. Lin Xiang Xiong (born 1945) is an internationally renowned painter, Singapore Citizen, born in China and moved to Nanyang in 1956. Studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Paris and then extended his studies in Paris. China’s pictorial traditions, philosophy and cosmology, are major sources of inspiration. A professor at the Academy of Oriental Studies and visiting professor at the School of Arts-Peking University, he was international curator of the 6th edition of this biennale. He was appointed by China, Japan and Singapore as Chief Artistic Advisor for the architectural design planning of the Olympic Village for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. He is the founder and President of the Global Chinese Arts & Culture Society, President of Honour VP of MDA-A&S and a co-partner of the Humanities Arts & Society Project and the upcoming HAS Magazine with UNESCO-MOST, CIPSH and MDA.
Kuei Yu HO – Humanities, Arts and Society Sinophone Editor and Asia Coordinator
Trained as a designer and artist, Kuei Yu Ho graduated from a Bachelor’s degree of Art in interior design in Taiwan, then a Diplôme National Supérieur d’Expression Plastique (DNSEP) at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts in Nancy. She then developed research on virtual reality and real-time digital devices in the Ensad-Lab laboratory (Ensad Paris). Her work is characterized by interdisciplinarity: graphic design, multimedia, object design and work on space are part of her approach to the same research. Kuei Yu Ho collaborates notably with cultural institutions and brands to develop their visual and graphic identity. In 2008, she founded Active Creative Design with Patrice Mugnier and became its artistic director. Her culture of design and a deep knowledge of Asian and European cultures led Kuei Yu Ho to write for numerous cultural magazines: AD (China), Design (Taiwan Design Center), ELLE Décoration (Taiwan), GQ (Taiwan), La vie…etc. From 2011, she will lead a workshop dedicated to design in France for the Taiwan Design Center. She is also the author of 3 books, including “Interactive Design”, in collaboration with Patrice Mugnier.
Margherita Poli – Arts and Pedagogy, Mémoire de l’Avenir
Margherita Poli studied literature at the Faculty Of Arts and Philosophy of the University of Bologna and graduated with a Master 2 degree in Art Psychology. She continued her studies at Paris 8 University at the Department Of Visual Arts. She has worked as a cultural mediator in various contemporary arts institutions. Her skills are focused on project management through cultural integration and the coherence of city and rural policies with contemporary art.
Gerardo Bricout – Training and Travelling Exhibition
Artist and cultural mediator, founder and Directeur of OOK. He has a degree in Anthropology and Cultural Management, using the arts and anthropology to promote a sense of belonging to multicultural societies, encourage open-mindedness and facilitate socialisation for sensitive audiences through the acquisition of new skills and a sense of responsibility around long-term cultural projects.
Patrice Mugnier – Digital Platform Development
Artist and multimedia director. Graduate of the ENSAD Paris school of art and design and motion design director, he worked in parallel on real time digital technologies for museums and art installations. He is the co-founder of Active Creative Design.
Labib Abderemane – Multimedia and Webmaster, Mémoire de l’Avenir
Labib Abderemane studied at the Ecole Supérieure d’Art in Rueil-Malmaison and in the Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Art in Bourges, where he obtained a Higher National Diploma in Fine Arts. He combines various experiences in the field of cultural mediation at the Villa des Tourelles Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, and subsequently, as a graffiti artist, graphic designer, webmaster, and web designer. For the last few years he has been running computer development workshops in schools, from the perspective of creative computing and video game design.
Dr. Zoltan Somhegyi
Zoltan Somhegyi is a Hungarian art historian with a PhD in aesthetics, and is Associate Professor of art history at the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary. Previously he was based in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates and was working as Chair of the Department of Fine Arts of the College of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Sharjah. As a researcher, he is specialised in eighteenth-nineteenth century art and theory, and besides that his other fields of interest are contemporary fine arts and art criticism. He is the author of books, artist catalogues, and more than two hundred articles, critiques, essays and art fair reviews. He is the Secretary General and Website Editor of the International Association for Aesthetics, member of the Executive Committee of the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences, Consultant of Art Market Budapest: International Contemporary Art Fair and Editor-in Chief of HAS – Humanities, Arts & Society Magazine.
Florence Valabregue
After attaining a Master’s degree and a DEA in theatre, Florence Valabregue turned to communication by accompanying the Printemps du Theatre festival in Paris, the Theatre de l’Est Parisien, and the Bataclan before leaving for Canada, where she wrote for the French-language weekly L’Express de Toronto. Since then, she has also written for Maison magazine, Maison Française and Médiapart. Back in France, she directed the communication of the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris and the cultural events of the 64 Parisian libraries before managing a European Social Training Fund project for France Terre d’Asile. She created the communication and press relations agency Les Mots pour vous dire to respond to the communication problems of small and mid-sized enterprises specialising in crafts, luxury goods, decoration, and interior design. Her affinity with heritage and architecture has led her to take care of the press relations of the architects Alain Sarfati, Hellin Sebbag, Corinne Vezzoni, Harter Architecture, Thierry Van de Wyngaert, and Baumschlager Eberle Architekten, the 4th and 5th Biennial of Architecture and Urban Planning in Caen, and the 2nd European Biennial of Heritage in Occitania. She is a member of ICOMOS (International Council On Monuments And Sites) and SYNAP (Syndicat National des Attachés de Presse).
Dan Meinwald
MFA in Museum Studies, SUNY Buffalo. Meinwald was a lecturer and Visiting Professor in art history and photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Ramapo College of New Jersey, C.W. Post College of Long Island University, University of California Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, and Chapman College. From 1983 to 1989, Meinwald was Collections Curator of the California Museum of Photography at the University of California Riverside. Meinwald began doing editorial work in 1974, working in turn on publications of the Visual Studies Workshop, the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, and the California Museum of Photography. Since 1989, he has been doing independent editorial work. In 1989, he was the curator of the exhibition Memento Mori: Death And Photography in Nineteenth-Century America, funded by the National Endowment For The Humanities, as well as the accompanying exhibition catalog. He is the author of many articles and reviews in independent arts magazines.
Prof. Benno Werlen – IYGU
General Secretary of the International Year of Global Understanding IYGU, UNESCO Chair Holder for the International Year Of Global Understanding. Werlen studied geography, ethnology, sociology, and economics at the University of Freiburg, Switzerland, and graduated in 1980 with the License Faculty des Letters. After that he was scientific assistant in Kiel (with Dietrich Bartels), Freiburg (with Jean-Luc Piveteau), and Zurich (with Albert Leemann), and senior assistant at the University of Zurich. In 1996 he was appointed by the Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, where, since 1998, he has been a professor of social geography. Werlen was a visiting professor at the Universities of Salzburg (1995/1996) and in Geneva (2005), and spent time researching in Cambridge, the London School of Economics, and the University of California Los Angeles. At his initiative, the three global scientific umbrella organizations, the International Social Science Council, the International Council For Science, and the International Council For Philosophy And Humanistic Studies, declared 2016 the International Year Of Global Understanding. In the same year, he received the Lauréat d’Honneur of the International Geographical Union.
Isabelle Gozard
Comedienne and a writer, Isabelle Gozard studied theater, fine arts and writing. She has had long residencies in India, Japan, and Vietnam. She was Trained at the School of the National Theater of Chaillot, directed by Antoine Vitez, where she was his student between 1986 and 1989. Graduate of the ICART (Institute Of Artistic Careers), she worked for a year at the contemporary art magazine CANAL. In parallel with theater’s activities, she links her writing to visual arts and to other disciplines or themes in the journal Sigila. She was part of the collective Women of Plumes, dedicated to female writing.