KAWS is a Brooklyn-based contemporary artist who has achieved widespread recognition for his graphic style and iconic characters. Born in 1974, in Jersey City, New Jersey, KAWS received his B.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts New York in 1996. He began his career as a graffiti artist on the East Coast of the United States, where he developed some of the forms that would later become part of his signature iconography. Working in a wide range of mediums, including painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, and product design, KAWS’s practice transgresses borders between “high” and “low” culture, questions the conventional hierarchies of the art world establishment, and seeks to democratize the way art is experienced for a new generation. Fulfilling the promise of predecessors such as Duchamp and Warhol, KAWS has reinvented that legacy for the 21st century and taps into the zeitgeist of contemporary life.

Liz Munsell is a contemporary art curator and executive leader with over two decades of experience across major museums, university galleries, and nonprofits. Based in New York, she is currently Vice President of Curatorial and Arts Programs at Powerhouse Arts in Brooklyn. She has previously held curatorial leadership roles at the Jewish Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), and Harvard University.

Her work spans advocacy, research, writing, and programming, with a focus on the political and social conditions shaping institutions and their relationship to artistic practice. In 2021, she co-founded Museums Moving Forward (MMF), a research and advocacy organization dedicated to building a more equitable art museum sector by 2030. She serves on MMF’s Editorial Council and on advisory boards including the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation and the Mack Art Foundation. Munsell has organized numerous exhibitions and projects with artists such as Joan Jonas, Jeffrey Gibson, Pablo Helguera, Bouchra Khalili, and Pedro Reyes. Her recent exhibitions include Joan Semmel: In the Flesh (2025–26) and Overflow, Afterglow (2024). Her writing has appeared internationally. She is fluent in Spanish and holds degrees from Tufts University and the Universidad de Chile.

Natasha Schlesinger is an award-winning art historian, art advisor and curator who has worked in the art field for over 25 years. Beginning as a specialist at Christie’s auction house in New York, in 2003 Schlesinger founded Artmuse to provide art guidance, curation and advisory services to private and corporate clients as well as collaborations with brands. She has served as the Art Curator of The Surrey Hotel and since 2018 Schlesinger has curated numerous group exhibitions and charity auctions at various galleries, the Baryshnikov Arts Center andCore Club. She frequently lectures, participates on panels and has taught at the graduate program of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, and New School. In 2020 she co-founded a curatorial platform Space2Curate and in 2021 she has launched a new digital art marketplace called Artmuse Collector that bridges the gap between traditional artists and collectors and the digital art world.

Katarina Swanström is as Stockholm based art historian and Head of Development at Moderna Museet. She serves on the Board of The American Friends of the Moderna Museet, an American 501 (c)(3) public charity supporting the Moderna Museet, and on the Board of Market Art Fair, the leading Nordic art fair. Her expertise is modern and contemporary art, fundraising, and strategic marketing, she has also written books on public art, as well as curated shows in Stockholm and Venice.