Clara Balaguer is a cultural worker interested in the decolonisation of cultural production most especially through the lens of the contemporary vernacular. She founded The Office of Culture and Design in 2010, a platform through which she articulates research, residencies, and social practice projects in the Philippines. She explores collaborative authorship through the clandestine publishing of Hardworking Goodlooking, a cottage-industry fuelled imprint she co-founded in 2013. She has lectured at Walker Art Center, Harvard GSD, MIT, Strelka Moscow, MoMA PS1, Triple Canopy, Hanyang University Seoul, and University of the Philippines. Her work has been exhibited and performed at Asia Culture Center, Singapore Art Museum, Art Dubai, Hangar Barcelona, and La Capella.
Cengiz Mengüç is a graphic designer and visual artist living and working in Rotterdam. His current practice moves between commissioned art and design work, self initiated projects, side jobs, and working with friends. Cengiz is mixing (un)professional research praxis with design, programme-making, organising and self-publishing. In his work and projects, Cengiz explores different working methods and approaches to design and cultural production infused by everyday life. His design and advertising work within Turkish-Dutch communities—which started while working at his dad’s döner kebab shop and helping him with branding – developed into an ongoing research into different migrant design cultures that are presented in the streets of Rotterdam as well as other cities in Europe.
