Zoë Aqua is an American violinist currently based in Romania. She was awarded a Fulbright research grant for the 2021-’22 and 2022-’23 academic years to study Transylvanian folk music pedagogy in Cluj, Romania. In September 2022, she released a full-length album of original compositions recorded with Eastern European musicians entitled “In Vald Arayn” (Into the Forest). “In Vald Arayn” mixes influences from klezmer, Transylvanian music, Hasidic music, lautarească and more to meditate on the ways that Jewish and non-Jewish music from Eastern Europe are in conversation with each other. Zoë is a co-founder of klezmer bands Tsibele and Farnakht and served as the full-time understudy for the Klezmatics’ Lisa Gutkin in the Broadway production of “Indecent”. She has presented concerts in Germany, Austria, Hungary and Romania, as well as the US and Canada. Long passionate about teaching, Zoë holds two degrees in music education.

Gabriela Sibilska, Aqua’s collaborator on their work in Material/Inheritance, is an animator from Warsaw, Poland, who specializes in graphic and motion design for musical artists. She is best known for her work on music videos and visualizers. In addition to content creation, Gabriela often collaborates with musicians by producing stage projections for live performances. Her visual sets have screened at New York City’s leading music venues, such as Elsewhere or The Bowery Electric. Her short films and music videos have been screened at festivals worldwide, including London International Animation Festival, Animateka, BFI Film Festival, and Aesthetica Short Film Festival. Gabriela holds an MA in Media Studies from the Pratt Institute as well as a BA in Media and Communications from Goldsmiths, University of London. She also graduated from Gobelins École de l'image in Paris Intensive Program in Character Animation. Coming from a Media Arts background, Gabriela always seeks to push the boundaries of her visual arts practice by incorporating experimental techniques and mixed media in her animations.

Răzvan Anton (b. 1980, lives and works in Cluj), Aqua’s collaborator on their work in Material/Inheritance, received an MA degree in drawing from Camberwell College of Arts London, following an MA at the University of Art and Design in Cluj. His work has been included in exhibitions such as: Double Part Time (MGML – Match Gallery, Ljubljana, 2021), Utopias (Motorenhalle/riesa efau, Dresden, 2019), Contentious Objects/Ashamed Subjects (Politecnico di Milano, Galleria del Progetto, 2019), Too Young for Memories (ElectroPutere Gallery, Craiova, 2019), Art Encounters Biennial (Timișoara, 2017), GIF (MAGMA, Sfântu Gheorghe, 2017). Gaep Gallery presented two of his solo exhibitions: Studies of Gaze (2020) and Mnemonics(2015). He was artist-in-residence at MuseumsQuartier in Vienna (2018) and at The House by the Synagogue, Mediaș, as part of the project Absence as Heritage/TRACES (2016-2018).