I curate and write about contemporary art, teach interdisciplinary humanities and consult individuals, groups, think tanks and philanthropic organisations seeking to make a meaningful contribution to society. I am a curator of art and programmes at Pushkin House, London, a lecturer at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Moscow, and a founder of Lecture Performance Archive and Avenir Institute, Athens. I am a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), a member of the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art (IKT) and the International Council of Museums (ICOM).

My institutional and independent practice encompasses art and intercultural history from the ancient Greek world to the contemporary European Union and Eurasia, spanning political imaginaries, intellectual history, institutional design, comparative imperialism, critical museology, and the art world ecosystem. My academic and artistic research focuses on transhistorical traditions of performing knowledge, heritage and future conceptualisations.

I earned a BA in Politics and an MA in European Studies and pursued a PhD in Politics at HSE Moscow. I hold a CertHE in International Security from Stanford University, a DipHE in Fine Art from the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts, an MRes in Art and Design from the KdG University of Applied Sciences and Arts, and currently completing PhD in History of Art at the University of Edinburgh with a thesis “Queer Aesthetics and the Politics of Performing Knowledge.”

I come from a working-class family with mixed Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, and Ashkenazi heritage from the borderland provincial town of Bryansk. I have lived in Moscow, Brussels, Berlin, São Paulo, Cambridge, London, and Athens. I speak English, Russian, and French and read ancient Greek.

  • I curate multimedia projects, discursive programmes, performances, workshops and art exhibitions.

    I presented artistic and curatorial work at the Helsinki Art Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum, Marres House for Contemporary Culture, Brussels, Tallinn, Athens and London galleries. I organised international exhibitions and public programmes in the context of the Venice Biennales of Art and Architecture (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 & 2022), São Paulo Biennale (2016), Tbilisi Architecture Biennale (2020), Ural Industrial Biennial (2017), Art Basel Miami, London Art Fair, and Cosmoscow.

    I was the Curator-in-Residence at U-jazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Projeto Fidalga in São Paulo, Critical Mass in St Petersburg and Fire Station in Dublin. I am a founding curator of the Penthouse Art Residency (2016-2017) in Brussels.

  • I teach art and politics, cultural history, and critical humanities, develop custom-made educational programmes, and moderate talks. I also mentor privately with individual curricula. I lead travelling seminars and discursive walkthroughs at art museums, galleries, cultural memory sites, fairs, festivals, biennales, etc.

    I was the “Futures of Democracy?” Visiting Professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and a Co-Convenor of PPV: Politics and Aesthetics in the Global East at the University College London. I lectured at the Universities of Cambridge, Cologne, Bremen, Edinburgh, Namur, Leuven, St Andrews, Roskilde, Tallinn; FAAP (São Paulo), The New School (New York), Jan van Eyck Academie (Maastricht). I contributed to dozens of global conferences, symposia, fairs, summits, and other events, including the St Gallen Symposium, World Business Summit, PRIMER San Francisco, and the Association of Professional Futurists.

  • I write about art, politics and culture at large. My texts have been published in numerous leading venues, including MoMA, Doppiozero International, Ocula, Obieg, Conceptual Fine Arts, Moscow Art Magazine, Arts of the Working Class, A*Desk, the Brussels Times, and exhibition catalogues, books, and volumes. My opinion pieces and peer-reviewed essays appeared in Law and Politics, Insurance Business, Euractiv, Radio Free Europe, and think tanks’ publications in Brussels, Washington, Moscow, etc.

    Edward Elgar Publishing will publish my latest book contribution in Art, Heritage and Performative Politics in late 2024. My work has been translated into more than a dozen languages.

  • I advise individuals and organisations on art collecting, creative projects and ideation. I have extensive experience in EU-East and Russian affairs and politics. Since 2008, I provided communication consulting and political analysis to organisations, not-for-profit foundations, and think tanks. I worked with the EU-Russia Centre, the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), the European Geopolitical Forum, the Eurasia Competitiveness Institute, Strategy Partners, the Institute of Contemporary Development, DAI, and the Institute for Political Infrastructure Analysis.