
With seven women, we founded our association on 6-August, 2026 at lake Ihlsee. Beyond our friendship, our shared interests in art and China unite us.

Stefanie is a Sinologist, photographer, and cultural advisor, born 1980 in northern Germany. She studied Sinology and German Literature in Hamburg, Photography in Beijing, and earned her PhD in Sinology and Art History in Hamburg about Beijing’s 798 Art District. She has traveled China regularly since 2000, lived in Beijing over ten years (2007–17), and has been based in Hamburg again since 2018. In 2009, she founded “Kulturgut 文化财富”, a cultural advisory platform for creatives in art projects, texts and photography, between academia and the public in Germany and China. On her blog, she shares her personal perspective on life between these two worlds. Her main areas of interest include conceptions of reality, artistic tendencies as expressions of social conditions, contemporary Chinese art and archiving, as well as diving into Ihlsee.

Yuning is an art historian and curator based in Berlin, Beijing, and Barcelona. She studied art history and film studies at Peking University and received her PhD in art history from Universität Hamburg. She currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at Freie Universität Berlin. Previously, she served as a research associate and lecturer at Universität Hamburg, deputy director of the Center for Visual Studies at Peking University, and deputy secretary general of the Wu Zuoren International Foundation of Fine Arts. While working at Peking University, she coordinated the Chinese Modern Art Archive and the Annual of Contemporary Art of China. As a curator, she has organized more than twenty exhibitions in China and internationally. She is also a member of the International Association of Art Critics.

Stella works as a freelance consultant, managing projects – such as relocations or broader organizational projects – for companies of different sizes. She studied Sinology and Japanese Studies in Hamburg, graduating in 2007. Starting in the humanities and landing in business, Stella has always been a generalist, bringing a broad interdisciplinary perspective, a wide range of interests, and a talent for connecting different perspectives and areas of expertise. This breadth is one of her greatest assets in her freelance work, where she combines cultural awareness, business experience and curiosity about new fields. Drawing on a family background in art history and bookselling, she developed an early appreciation for culture and a broad curiosity about the world, complemented by a lasting connection to nature.

Marie recently completed her PhD in Sinology at the University of Hamburg, where she researches ancient China and its textual cultures. When she is not working with very old texts, she turns to making art herself and keeping an eye on the wider art world.

Brigitte has been studying and living in Asia for more than ten years of her life, including eight in China. As a management consultant, she brings pragmatism, diplomacy and business acumen to this cultural enterprise. She enjoys thinking and acting beyond the usual boundaries, which, for instance, led her to develop Agile Parenting, where she shows how to utilize management techniques in the private domain for more creativity, fun and alignment. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, exploring the art scene together with friends, and crafting with her lovely daughter Antonia. Brigitte is based in Munich, Germany.

Antonia spent parts of her childhood in Beijing and Guangzhou. She loves drawing and delving into diverse subjects, at the moment she likes fantasy novels. She has biked over the Alpes, twice. She is spending this school year in Canada. As a founding member, she is from the beginning our integrated future.

Katharina is a Sinologist. She lived in China for 12 years and worked as a cultural advisor for Culturescapes in Switzerland and as a film festival curator for the Viennale in Austria. She was a documentary filmmaker and producer for the ORF office in Beijing. Today, she is head of the Shared Narratives programme at the “Swiss Impact and Prosperity Initiative”. Previously, she was co-director at reflector.eco and a member of the “Innovation and Society” team at the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, where she championed sustainable cultural practices and climate strategies. She is the former managing director of the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation and was a partner at the sustainability consultancy ecos AG.
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