Andy Holden (b. 1982, Bedford, UK) wrote a manifesto for art titled, ‘Maximum Irony! Maximum Sincerity’ as a teenager, and rose to attention with Art Now: Andy Holden exhibition at Tate Britain, London, in 2010. Since then he has exhibited internationally, including at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, UK; Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece; Charles Moffett, New York and Kröller-Müller Museum, Netherlands. He received the Paul Hamlyn Award in 2012, was included in the Future Generation Art Prize (2017) and British Art Show 9 (2022) and in 2017 was commissioned by Google Arts and Culture for the BBC. His work is held in British public collections including Tate, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Leeds Art Gallery and Arts Council Collection, as well as collections across Europe. He has upcoming solo shows in 2027 and 2028 in major public institutions (to be announced).

Ben Luke is a writer and broadcaster based in London. He is a contributing editor of The Art Newspaper and presents its podcasts A brush with…, of which there have been more than 100 episodes since 2020, and the topical art news programme The Week in Art, which has run for more than 300 episodes. From 2009 to 2024, he was an art critic at the London Evening Standard. He is a regular guest on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row and Monocle 24’s The Globalist. Ben has contributed to books on artists as diverse as Phyllida Barlow, Glenn Brown, Michael Craig-Martin, Mark Dion, Matthew Krishanu, George Shaw and Jiro Takamatsu. He was selected in the Critics’ Critics section of Artforum’s Best of 2024 issue.

Sir Brian Clarke (b. 1953) was born in Oldham, England. He is an architectural artist and painter, best known for radically updating and innovating the medium of stained glass. Clarke is also widely celebrated for his painting, sculpture, mosaic and tapestry.

Catherine Ingram (Ph.D., Oxford) is a writer and art historian, who has lectured for the Tate, Christie’s, Imperial College London, and Magdalen College, Oxford. She conceived of and edited the illustrated art history series, This is, published by Laurence King Publishing, also writing four of the titles. The series won the Brand/Series Identity Award at the British Book Design and Production Awards in 2015 and several titles were nominated for the V&A Illustration Awards. This is Dalí, This is Pollock and This is Warhol also featured in The Guardian’s best graphic books of 2014.

Christo (Christo Vladimirov Javacheff, 1935–2020) was an American-Bulgarian artist best known for his monumental site-specific public art projects. Studying under the Communist regime during the 1950s at the Sofia National Academy of Art, Christo escaped to the West through Prague, Vienna and Geneva. In 1958 he arrived in Paris where he met Jeanne-Claude (Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, 1935–2009), who became his wife and lifelong artistic collaborator. In 1964, the artist couple moved to New York where they lived and worked together all their lives.

Craig Wood was born in 1960 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He completed his Foundation Course at Dyfed College of Art (1985–86), in Carmarthen, Wales, and studied Fine Art at Goldsmith College of Art, London (1986–89). He currently lives and works in Wales.

David Bailey was born in Leytonstone, London. After working as fashion photographer John French’s assistant, he published his first portrait of Somerset Maugham for Today magazine in 1960. He went on to photograph extensively for Vogue and has worked with some of the greatest names in fashion and music. Bailey has exhibited worldwide, with the first of his landmark exhibitions in 1971 at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Internationally renowned, Bailey has produced some of the most famous photographic portraits of the last five decades.

David Trigg is a Bristol-based writer, critic and art historian. He has written widely on contemporary art for books and major art journals, including Studio International, The Art Newspaper, Art Monthly, ArtReview, Frieze and The Burlington Magazine. He is the author of Reading Art: Art for Book Lovers (Phaidon Press, 2018), named one of the ‘art books of the year’ by The Times, which examines how artists have depicted books as symbols, subjects and objects. His book Spring (Tate Publishing, 2020) explores the season of spring through artworks from Tate’s collection. A selection of his interviews with artists is included in Talking Art 2 (Ridinghouse, 2018).

Ed Sheeran is an era-defining artist, who has sold over 160 million albums across the globe. Through his fusion of thought-provoking songwriting, universal pop and multi-genre influence, his rich musical tapestry continues to transcend generations and has seen him become one of the most successful recording artists of all time.

Eugénie Paultre (b. in Paris in 1979, lives in Paris and Normandy) studied then taught philosophy at the Sorbonne, and since 2010 she has devoted herself to painting and writing. She is the author of numerous essays, novellas and poetry collections in English, German, and French published at Al Manar and Manuella Editions, Paris. Matter of Life is the second publication HENI Publishing, London, has dedicated to Paultre, following the release of Outline in 2018. Paultre has held solo exhibitions at the Institut français, Bratislava (2019), Gandy Gallery, Bratislava (2019) and Erna Hecey, Luxembourg (2020). She has recently taken part in group exhibitions at Castello di Rivoli (2017), Mudam, Luxembourg (2019) and Lévy Gorvy, Paris (2021).

Francis Bacon was a figurative painter born in Dublin, Ireland known for his emotionally charged raw imagery and fixation on personal motifs. His immense reputation as one of the world’s leading artists has long surpassed his death in 1992.

Gilbert Prousch was born in San Martin de Tor, Italy and George Passmore was born in Plymouth, England. They met in 1967 at Saint Martin’s School of Art when they formed their collective, Gilbert & George. They won the Turner Prize in 1986 and are known around the world for their relentlessly controversial art. Gilbert & George represented the UK in the British Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale. The duo has been awarded doctorates from a number of UK universities and were elected Royal Academicians by the Royal Academy of the Arts, London in 2017. They have lived and worked on the same street in London’s East End since 1968.

Hans Ulrich Obrist (b. 1968) is a world-renowned curator and the artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries in London. Alongside his curatorial practice, Obrist has written extensively on and around contemporary art, with a particular interest in the interview format.

Ingrid Beazley has worked in the education department of Dulwich Picture Gallery for over 15 years. Ingrid has won nine national and international awards for her work at Dulwich Picture Gallery including the Third Sector Excellence Award, Volunteer of the Year in 2006. In 2010 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in recognition of her contributions to promoting the arts.

Jack White was born in 1975 in Detroit, a city that has significantly shaped his visual practice – particularly his time in Southwest Detroit and the Cass Corridor. He draws inspiration from the urban environment, mid-century modern furniture designs, and De Stijl and Dada movements. White describes his work as ‘Hardware Store Art’, a synthesis of carpentry, upholstery, assemblage and reappropriation using materials ranging from resins, paints and epoxies to utilitarian materials and found objects. His sculptures are constructed upward and outward rather than carving into a material, emphasizing addition over reduction while retaining a minimalist approach. Tools and weapons frequently appear encased in epoxy, rendered static and immoveable, whereas handmade axes and hatches sometimes remain portable.

Now based in Nashville, Tennessee, Jack White re-examines the commercialization of art through the Third Man Records universe, the vinyl-focused independent record label he founded in 2001. From digital graphics and photography to vinyl production and functional audio equipment, White’s practice continues to explore the intersection of art, design, and music production.

Jeremy Deller is a London-based artist known for his orchestration of large-scale collaborative projects. Winner of the 2004 Turner Prize, Deller represented Great Britain at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. In 2017 his event What Is the City but the People? opened the Manchester International Festival.

Iggy Pop is a pioneering rock musician, singer-songwriter and actor. As frontman of The Stooges, he has been known throughout his 50-year career for dynamic and highly-physical stage performances. Pop significantly influenced the trajectory of rock music.

Keith Cunningham (1929–2014) was born in Sydney, Australia. He worked as a graphic designer before moving to London in 1949 where he studied at the Central School of Design (1949–51, now Central Saint Martins) and the Royal College of Art (1952–55). Cunningham continued to paint, but kept his work private, until the end of his life. At the time of his death, thousands of artworks were discovered at his studio. A selection of his oil paintings was presented in an exhibition at Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery in London, 2022.

Liz Finch (b. 1951) is a British artist born in Blackburn in the north of England. She studied at Burnley School of Art in 1968 and the North Devon College of Art in Bideford in 1970. She works with a range of media incorporating drawing, painting, poetry and performance. Exhibitions include her pop-up show Crochet Nude (2005) at Tate Modern, London and A Strong Sweet Smell of Incense (2015) at Pace Gallery, London.

Luisa Heese is a writer and curator based in Germany. She has written widely on the work of contemporary artists and has worked on many curatorial projects.

Martin Eder was born in Augsburg in 1968. He trained as a commercial designer at the University of Applied Sciences Augsburg. He later studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg and Kassel before graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden in 2001. Martin Eder’s work is represented in major collections worldwide. He lives and works in Berlin.

Mary McCartney focuses on discovering those rare moments of unguarded intimacy that offer new insights into her photographic subjects. Her work in portraiture and candid reportage photography is suffused with a deep personal investment that captures the creative chemistry between photographer and subject. Her book Twelfth Night was published by HENI in 2016.

Nicola Green is a British artist and social historian. Green has an interdisciplinary approach, working at the intersection of contemporary visual storytelling and traditional portraiture. Green is celebrated for her unique perspective that offers profound insights into the dynamics of legacy and representation and how visual language can spark change. Green assumes the role of witness to momentous global events, creating artworks that preserve and reflect our shared heritage. Her practice explores how art can connect us to the past and illuminate hidden or forgotten histories, capture pivotal moments in the present, and continue to inspire transformative visions for the future.

Green co-founded the Diaspora Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale 2017, established the Khadija Saye Arts programme at IntoUniversity 2018, and co-founded The Sophia Point Rainforest Research Centre 2019. She was a Principal Artist for The World Reimagined in 2023.

Her work is held in major permanent collections, including The Obama Presidential Center, Chicago; The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Library of Congress, Washington, DC; The Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; and the UK Government Art Collection.

Sir Peter Cook (b.1936) is a British architect and co-founder of Archigram. Founding Partner of the Cook Haffner Architecture Platform (CHAP), Cook is a former Director of the Institute for Contemporary Art, London (ICA) and Bartlett School of Architecture at University College, London. In 2002 Cook was awarded RIBA’s highest award, the Royal Gold Medal, and in 2007 knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to architecture. Cook’s drawings are held in the collections of major museums around the world including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; M+ Museum of Art, Hong Kong and Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Philippe Parreno lives and works in Paris, France. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, Grenoble and the Insitut des Hautes Études en Arts Plastiques at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. He works in a diverse range of media including film, sculpture, drawing and text, through which ideas relating to time and duration permeate.

Robert Storr is an art critic, curator and painter. He has written widely on art and has interviewed some of the world’s leading artists. Storr’s writing has appeared in countless books and exhibition catalogues as well as in Art in America, Artforum, Parkett, and ARTnews. He has curated exhibitions internationally and was the first North American curator of the Venice Biennale in 2007. His bestselling Interviews on Art (2017), Writings on Art 1980–2005 (2020) and Writings on Art 2006–2021 (2021) were published by HENI.

Shantell Martin is a British visual artist best known for her signature black and white small and large-scale drawings. She has had solo shows at The New Britain Museum of Art, 92Y Gallery, and the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, New York. Martin has collaborated with iconic brands such as Nike, Max Mara, Tiffany & Co. as well as with New York City Ballet and Kendrick Lamar for Miami Art Basel. Martin is an adjunct professor at NYU Tisch ITP and a visiting scholar at MIT Media Lab. She lives and works in Jersey City and Los Angeles.

Simone Fattal was born in Damascus and grew up in Lebanon. She studied philosophy at the Ecole des Lettres, Beirut, and then at the Sorbonne, Paris. In 1969, she returned to Beirut and started painting, eventually fleeing in 1980 with the outbreak of the civil war. Having moved to California, Fattal founded The Post-Apollo Press, a publishing house dedicated to innovative and experimental literary work. In 1988, she returned to artistic practice after enrolling at the Art Institute of San Francisco. Fattal’s oeuvre encompasses sculpture, ceramics, collage and painting. She lives and works in Paris, with her partner Etel Adnan.

Suad Al-Attar (b. 1940, Baghdad) is a contemporary Iraqi painter whose work is rooted in the visual traditions of the Middle East. She received her undergraduate education at Baghdad University and studied at Wimbledon School of Art and London Central School of Art and Design during the mid-1970s. Her works are held in the British Museum, London, and the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar, though many of them once held in the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad have been lost.

Wes Lang (b. 1972) is an LA-based artist renowned for his evocative artworks on canvas and paper. Born in New Jersey, Lang knew from an early age that he wanted to be an artist. Over the years, he has gathered a myriad of references, creating an unbreakable thread between his childhood and the distinctive motifs that define his current practice. Lang’s work is featured in prestigious international collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Damien Hirst’s personal collection.

Zaha Hadid (1950–2016) was born in Baghdad and studied maths in Beirut before moving to London in 1972 to join the Architectural Association (AA), where she later became a teacher. She founded Zaha Hadid Architects in 1979 and realised projects internationally – including Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein; Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati; MAXXI in Rome, Riverside Museum in Glasgow; Heydar Aliyev Centre in Baku and the London Aquatics Centre. Hadid was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize (2004) and later earned the Stirling Prize twice, as well as the Royal Gold Medal and a DBE. Her practice extended far beyond architecture into design, fashion and the visual arts and in 2016–17 Serpentine Gallery presented an exhibition her paintings and drawings. Zaha Hadid Architects remains active internationally, carrying forward the spirit of inquiry and innovation that defined her career.