Meet the Judges
GPO & Custom House
competition
Juliette Bibasse
With a background in artistic direction, Juliette Bibasse has a taste for simple and stripped down aesthetics.
Since 2009, she has been applying her skills to the digital art scene, creating connections and opportunities between artists, festivals and cultural actors.
After ten years as an artist’s producer, collaborating on a wide range of projects with many international artists, she became an independent curator and co-director of Studio Joanie Lemercier.
In 2019 & 2020, she was the international curator for STRP festival in Eindhoven.
Since 2020 she is curating a light parcours for the city of Leuven in Belgium, taking place in various heritage venues. In 2023-2024 she is guest curator for LLUM, Barcelona light festival.
Based in Belgium since 2013, she has been an active member of The Federation Wallonia-Brussels’ digital arts scene and is currently vice president of the digital art funding commission.
In 2019 she co-founded SALOON Brussels, an international network for women working in the art scenes.
She is a member of the French network for hybrid arts and digital cultures HACNUM.
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliettebibasse/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jbibasse
SALOON Brussels: https://saloon-brussels.be/
Joanie Lemercier
Joanie Lemercier (b. 1982) is a French visual artist and environmental activist whose work explores human perception through the manipulation of light in space. Working primarily with light projection and computer programming, Lemercier transforms the appearance of everyday objects and forms, bending reality to his imagination. His work transcends the flat surface, extending dimensionality through the interplay of light and shadow on materials such as wood, glass, paper, ceramics, textiles and water. Lemercier was first introduced to the process of creating art on a computer at age five by attending classes on pattern design for fabrics that were taught by his mother. This early education grounded his interest in physical structures: geometry, patterns, and minimalist forms. As Lemercier’s work evolved, he began to explore these elements through the physics and philosophy of how light can be used to alter perceived reality.
Much of Lemercier’s practice is inspired by nature and reflects on the representation of the natural world through mathematics, science, and technology. Abstract environments rendered as refined grids, lines, shadows, and volumes give way to majestic landscapes assembled from these same minimalist forms. In recent years, Lemercier has become increasingly concerned with climate change and environmental degradation, lending his projection skills and artistry to activist causes and groups such as Extinction Rebellion, Les Soulèvements de la Terre, Ende Gelände, meticulously tracking and publishing his studio’s carbon footprint, and supporting initiatives like #CleanNFT to encourage other digital artists to reduce their own environmental impact. His latest video installation, Slow Violence, premiered at Fundación Telefónica in 2021 on the occasion of the artist’s first major solo show, looks at the devastating effects of coal mining on one of Europe’s oldest forests.
Lemercier has been working with projected light since 2006 and co-founded the acclaimed visual label AntiVJ with artists Yannick Jacquet, Romain Tardy and Olivier Ratsi in 2008.
He has been represented by a New York based gallery since 2010.
Focusing his practice on installations and gallery work, he has been exhibited around the globe in institutions such as the China Museum of Digital Art in Beijing, Art Basel Miami, Sundance Film Festival, Espacio Fundación Telefónica in Madrid. He collaborates with several sound artists: Murcof, Flying Lotus, JayZ, Before Tigers, Thomas Vaquié, …
Since founding his creative studio in Brussels in 2013, co-directed by Juliette Bibasse, Lemercier has been developing ever more ambitious installations, gallery pieces, and research experiments that expand the creative possibilities of projected light in space. In recent years, he has sought to completely dematerialize the projection surface, working with transparent materials and water mist.
https://www.instagram.com/joanielemercier/
Birgit Zander
Entrepreneur for 30 years and expert for tourism marketing, producing events, festivals and incentives around the world, consultant for cites and companies, leading curator of artistic presentations
Festival of Lights in 2005. Meanwhile known as one of the most popular and technically most advanced light festival worldwide. Curator of artistic light festival contributions worldwide, such as the Kaleidoscope project during the entire EXPO 2020 in Dubai.
1962: born and raised in Berlin
Study of business economics
Degree
1985 – 1987: Key Account Manager
Flaskamp Advertising Agency GmbH
1987 – 1989: Director Marketing & PR
Unger Flugreisen (International Tour Operator)
1989 – 1992: Management
Schlag Marketing GmbH
1992 – today: CEO
Zander & Partner Event Marketing GmbH
2005-today: CEO / CD
FoL Festival of Lights International Productions GmbH
Development of the brand FoL and premiere of the 1st Berlin
Tribe, inc Design Studio
Bruce Rodgers
President, Production Designer and Creative Director
Shelley Rodgers
Production Designer, Art Director and CEO
Bruce Rodgers, founder and president of Tribe inc., and a 30-year veteran of the entertainment design industry is highly recognized and respected for his talents as a production designer, art director, concept designer and creative consultant. Shelley Rodgers, production designer and art director, also has worked in the industry for 30 years. Together their design influence has defined the visual language of popular entertainment today.
Credited with design innovation for music tours, concerts, televised events, and national political conventions. Early projects include design work for Ted Koppel’s Nightline specials, Channel 1 News, the launch events for Windows 95 and 2000, the AT&T Global Olympic Village at the Atlanta Olympic Games, and Prince’s Halftime performance at Super Bowl XLI. Tribe inc.’s recent design and art direction credits include: The Book of HOV Exhibit at the Brooklyn Public Library, My Window – Melissa Etheridge on Broadway, Michelle Obama’s Book Tour – The Light We Carry, Cirque Du Soleil’s Live Action Production R.U.N., Cirque Du Soleil’s VOLTA, the 2020 Super Bowl Halftime Show starring Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Democratic National Conventions, Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential Nomination Speech at Denver’s Invesco Field and the Chicago Grant Park Election Night Speech in 2009, Garth Brooks LIVE at Yankee Stadium, Watch the Throne World Tour starring Kanye West and Jay Z, Madonna’s Drowned World Tour, the Apple Music Festival in London (5 years) , Cirque Du Soleil’s Opening Ceremonies of the 17th Pan-American Games in Toronto, HBO’s 2014 Concert For Valor in Washington, and Romeo Santos 2018 Golden World Tour. Tribe, inc. has designed the CBS Upfront in Carnegie Hall for 7 years and designed several Central Park Concerts starring the NYC Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrea Bocelli, Sting, Black Eyed Peas, and Beyonce, as well as other world tours for Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen, Dave Matthews Band, the Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, Romeo Santos, Rihanna and Eminem, and Twenty One Pilots. Bruce recently designed the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Election Night, and the Washington DC Covid Memorial and the “Celebrating America” Inauguration Events. Bruce and Tribe, inc. team just won the Emmy for their 16th Super Bowl Halftime show starring Dr. Dre and are nominated for their 17th Super Bowl Halftime show with Rihanna which is nominated for an Emmy. Bruce and team are currently designing the upcoming 2023 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, as well as their 18th Super Bowl Halftime Show starring Usher, tours for Dierks Bentley, Fall Out Boy, Alicia Keys, Zac Brown Band, Chris Stapleton, and Bruce Springsteen, Helene Fischer and Lainey Wilson. Bruce and Shelley are also proud to announce they are designing the 2024 Democratic Convention in Chicago.
