Sales Director at Helsinki Contemporary

Katja Räisänen (MA) works as a Sales Director at one of the leading Finnish contemporary galleries, Helsinki Contemporary.
She has extensive professional experience in the field of contemporary art in Finland and internationally, including management positions, contemporary art sales, artist and corporate collaboration, curatorial work and communications. Her career has been guided by a curiosity to develop gallery business and a passion for finding ways to bring art into people’s lives.

Executive Director of Foto Tallinn, Director at Association of Estonian Art Institutions,
Co-Founder of ELLELL

Kadi-Ell Tähiste has worked across a range of roles in the arts for nearly 15 years. She is the Director of the Association of Estonian Art Institutions (KAEL), which coordinates cooperation and advocacy among more than thirty Estonian art museums, galleries, and support organisations. She also serves as the Executive Director of Foto Tallinn, Estonia’s only art fair dedicated to photography; is the co-founder, together with Lilian Hiob-Küttis, of ELLELL, a consultancy specialising in art advisory; and is a guest lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts and the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy.

Tähiste has extensive and multifaceted experience in the field of contemporary art. She has worked at the Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center, where her focus was on developing the gallery sector and promoting the international export of Estonian art; contributed to the establishment of Kai Art Center and its early years of operation; and worked at Vaal Gallery, Estonia’s oldest private gallery, as well as at the Ministry of Culture. She has also conceived and delivered numerous art projects.

Tähiste holds a Master’s degree in Law, cum laude, from the University of Tartu. She is an active contributor to discussions on cultural policy and a consistent advocate for greater visibility and sustainability in the arts, as well as for improved working conditions for artists and other creative professionals.

Curator, Photographer, Director at ISSP Gallery

Iveta Gabaliņa is a curator, photographer, and co-founder and director of ISSP Gallery in Riga. She holds a Master’s degree in Photography from Aalto University in Finland and a Master’s degree in Curatorial Studies from the Art Academy of Latvia, where she is currently pursuing a professional doctorate in art. Iveta has received several international photography awards, including the C/O Berlin Talents Award (2013), the Burn Magazine Award, and the CDS Documentary Photography Award. Her work is held in major art collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London and the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, and is regularly exhibited both in Latvia and internationally. Alongside her artistic and curatorial practice, Iveta mentors emerging photographers on behalf of ISSP through Futures, a European photography platform. She is also one of the organisers of the Latvian Art Annual Award.

Head of the Exhibitions Department at Tartu Art Museum

Indrek Grigor is Head of the Exhibitions Department at Tartu Art Museum. Prior to that, he served for eight years as Gallery Manager for the three galleries of the Tartu Artists’ Union. Grigor has curated numerous exhibitions in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Sweden and has participated in the production of more than 500 exhibitions. He has been active as an art critic since 2007, writing for the Estonian cultural weekly Sirp, the magazine Kunst.ee, the portal Echo Gone Wrong, and various other publications across the Baltics. From 2010 to 2020, he co-edited the art criticism programme Ministry of Art for Estonian Public Broadcasting.

Grigor’s academic background includes a Bachelor’s degree in Semiotics and a Master’s degree in Art History, both from the University of Tartu.

Artist, Photographer,
Manager at the Estonian Union of Photography Artists (FOKU) and FOKU Gallery

Hedi Jaansoo is an artist and photographer based in Tallinn. She graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts with an MA in Contemporary Art (2018) and a BA in Photography (2014), and also studied at the Bergen Academy of Art and Design (2012–2013). Her work attends to fragilities, weaknesses, tensions, and beauties, among other—mainly small—things. Her practice combines photography, flowers, non-functional jewellery, unfinished thoughts and uncertain decisions, (be)longing and acceptance. A recurring thread throughout her work is a sustained attention to women, grandmothers, gentle acts of resistance, and near-invisibility. In 2023, she was an artist-in-residence at WIELS in Brussels.

She currently manages the Estonian Union of Photography Artists (FOKU) and FOKU Gallery and is the Project Manager of Foto Tallinn 2026.

Curator, Art Dealer, Director at ASNI gallery

Elīna Drāke is a curator and gallerist based in Riga, Latvia. She holds a Master’s degree in Curating from the Art Academy of Latvia and has curated and produced more than 30 exhibitions, ranging from ambitious international projects to experimental showcases of emerging talent. She is the co-founder of the independent gallery ASNI in Riga, dedicated to presenting solo and group exhibitions that highlight the urgency, diversity, and experimental spirit of today’s Baltic art scene.

Elīna also serves as Programme Director of Riga Art Week and is a member of the Board of the Gallery Association of Latvia. Her professional practice encompasses collaborations with both emerging and established artists and curators worldwide, representing Latvian artists at major art fairs across Europe and the United States, and fostering meaningful connections between artists, collectors, and institutions.

Art Historian, Curator of Photography and Head of Research at Moderna Museet

Anna Tellgren is Curator of Photography and Head of Research at Moderna Museet in Stockholm. She possesses extensive knowledge of the history of photography up to the present day, with particular focus on the Nordic and Baltic art scenes.

She has curated numerous exhibitions including Annika Elisabeth von Hausswolff Alternative Secrecy (2021). The exhibition Francesca Woodman. On Being an Angel (2015) has been touring internationally for several years. In 2023 she was in the curatorial team of the exhibition Søsterskap Contemporary Nordic Photography at Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles.

Among her most recent publications are contributions in A World History of Women Photographers (2022) and Fotografihistorier. Fotografi och bildbruk i Sverige (2022), a new history of Swedish photography.