Anna Novakov is a multi-disciplinary artist, writer, designer, curator and educator. She was born in Belgrade (former Yugoslavia) in 1959, raised in Berkeley, California and now divides her time between New York and the south of France. Her creative practice focuses on the transitory modalities of the olfactory and textile arts. As an artist and certified perfumer, Novakov is able to unpack events through a multisensory artistic lens by examining seemingly inconsequential things. While her creative practice focuses on conceptual perfumery and textile design she is also invested in the role of scent in the construction of personal and collective memories, fragrance as an aspect of Utopian societies and diasporic cooking as a socio-political act.

Natalia Ivanova is a Bulgarian-American curator, arts entrepreneur, and writer based in New York City. For over two decades, her work has advanced artist-centered, commons-based cultural initiatives that expand art’s civic role and reimagine how cultural value is created and shared. A collaborator to artists across disciplines and generations, she has curated exhibitions, produced site-specific projects, and mentored emerging practitioners and institutions internationally. From 2014 to 2024, Natalia served as Executive Director of Pro Arts Gallery in Oakland, where she founded an innovative art commons and led major fundraising efforts, securing millions in public and private support for equity-driven cultural systems. She is the author of Reframing the Value of Art and Fair Labor in the Context of a Sharing Economy, published by The Journal of Aesthetics & Protest, Shareable, and Pro Arts COMMONS Press, and the co-author, with Marc Herbst, of The Commons: Of Friends and Lovers, both widely cited in academic and public discourse.