Virtual Global Village 2022

Ms. Follin has more than 35 years of leadership experience in various senior positions in the cultural sector, mostly in the field of museums and exhibitions. She is passionately dedicated to leading and transforming institutions by involving the staff in formulating and implementing challenging visions. She was the Director of the multi-award-winning National Museum of Science and Technology in Sweden (2008-2015), Director General of the Swedish Travelling Exhibitions (2002-2008), and the Deputy Director as well as the Head of Exhibitions and Head of Innovation and Programme at the Museum of Work (1989-2000).

Themis Christophidou is a civil engineer with 35 years of experience in private and public sector management. After having worked in the private sector for 15 years, she joined the European Commission in 2001. During the last 20 years, she has held various positions, including the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy, as Head of Cabinet of the Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and as Head of Cabinet of the Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management. 

Nico has been working with Asia Society Switzerland since its inception in 2016 - as Head of Programming, Co-Executive Director, and since April 2021, as sole Executive Director. A medieval historian by training, he previously worked for Swiss newspapers Neue Zürcher Zeitung, founded the global entrepreneurial community Sandbox, and ran business development for Swiss startup Mila. When not working, he enjoys bouldering, baking bread, or exploring Zurich’s playgrounds with his kids.

Choi Lucia is an established calligraphy artist based in Seoul, South Korea. She has produced the writings for the popular Soju brand “Good Day” and other merchandise that one would be able to see in most supermarkets. Besides using her skills for commercial products, she performs and teaches calligraphy in and outside of South Korea.  

Joyce Fung Wai Yun was born and raised in Hong Kong, China. She studied art and philosophy at Harvard University, making her Bachelor’s Thesis from and for Le Corbusier’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, its materials, and people. At the Yenching Academy of Peking University, she directed a team of 33 to create “Through Our Door,” an interdisciplinary cultural exhibition in and about Jing Yuán, the 95-year old Garden of Serenity. Now, she is writing her Master’s Thesis on Danto, Foucault, Xu Bing, zen, and art. She is also co-teaching a seminar at the College of Architecture and Landscape, amidst other projects.

Weirong Li is the founder and CEO of a culture tech startup, Raw Culture, aiming to empower multicultural potential people, Third Culture Kids, to utilise their skills. She is also an Intercultural Trainer, Facilitator, and Keynote Speaker who has a special focus on intercultural communication and diversity and inclusion within teams in corporations and international organisations. Her working knowledge is English, Chinese, and German.

Irene Vettiayadan is a 21-year old International Relations and Organisation Student at Leiden University, Netherlands. She is from Rome, Italy with Indian origins. As a child of immigrants, she has always recognised the value of having an intercultural background. She has cultivated her passion towards Indian customs, culture, arts, especially dance. 

Awang Samrow is a Terengganu (east coast part of Malaysia) Experimental Malay Cultures Neo Psychedelic Rock Music project by musician Fahmi Samsudin. He started the project in 2021 and just recently finished recording an album, now awaiting release. This live video is his debut live virtual performance.

Krou Yeung School is a private, non-religious, and non-political educational institution working to build a new young generation with energy and love toward the development of the nation and the world with sustainable peace and prosperity. In 2001, Krou Yeung started providing kindergarten classes and at the beginning they had approximately 50 students and 35 among which were female pupils. Nowadays, Krou Yeung has two campuses, which are in Ratanakiri and Steung Treng provinces with a total of over 263 staff working part-time and full-time in different respective departments and positions and a total number of 4,500 students studying full-time and part-time from high school to kindergarten level. Krou Yeung is providing exclusively educational services such as English classes, kindergarten, Khmer primary school, high school, and Youth and Child Club.  

Ariel William Orah is a Berlin-based Indonesian artist and community catalysator. His practices and research focus include socially engaged art creation, social and climate injustice, as well as identity, memory, and scarcity. Orah never educated nor graduated from Art School, but his past and current art practice is heavily influenced by his background studies and his experience as an Indonesian diaspora and migrant in Germany. 

An MA graduate from Steinbeis University Berlin with a major in Sustainability Management, he has also completed a degree in human-centered, empathy and experience-driven design from the School of Design Thinking Potsdam/Stanford and KAOSPILOT Århus.In his artistic practice, Orah works with different kinds of mediums from sounds,installations, movement, and other performing and visual arts medium.