Maria Vtorushyna (they/them) are a curator, researcher and writer with a particular interest in notions of freedom, queer and feminist epistemologies, gender diversity, and coloniality of gender. They were a researcher at Centre for Gender and Diversity at Maastricht University, an editor-in-chief of the Artslooker Magazine, and a curatorial fellow at Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin). Currently working at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Maria led Kyiv Art Week as the director from 2016 to 2022.
2025
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, exhibition management
2024
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, exhibition management
Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, curatorial fellow, Rave Scholarship fellow
Ukrainian Decolonial Glossary, author
Biruchiy/24: Ecologies of Soildarity. Kazimierzh Dolny, Przyłęk. Curator of the residency.
Lectures/Symposiums:
Ukrainian Decolonial Glossary launch and panel discussion, BAK - basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, speaker
The Power of the Body: Oleksandr Rojtburd. Pinchuk Art Center, lecturer
2023
Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, assistant curator, Rave Scholarship fellow
Recharge and Revolt: Queer Resistance and Rave Cuture in Ukraine, Melkweg, Amsterdam, curator
Performing Kyiv, Schauspielhaus Zurich, Cabaret Voltaire, curator
Artslooker Magazine, editor in chief
Maastricht University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS), researcher
Symposiums:
History of The Fight for LGBTQ+ Rights in Ukraine through Art and Activism
Centre for Gender and Diversity, a research platform at Maastricht University, organiser, speaker
Queer Exhibition Histories Symposium. Presentation of the Queer Exhibition Histories book, edited by Bas Hendrix. KANAL — Centre Pompidou — Brussels, speaker
Residencies:
Unlearning Eastern Europe, Kaunas Artists’ House, participant
2022
Maastricht University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS). Researcher.
From The Battlefield, SEA Foundation, De Pont Museum, LocHal, Tilburg, curator
Art of curating, lecture sycle, SKVOT.
Author, lecturer
Resindencies:
Atelier Nicosia, Festival Academy, participant.
SEA Foundation, Tilburg, guest curator
2021
Kyiv Art Week, artistic director
Set Art Foundation, chief curator
Set Art Laboratory. Residency for artists and art experts, National Ivan Honchar Museum, Kyiv, curator
Сontact Zones, Brave! Factory Festival, Kyiv, curator
Art of curating, lecture sycle, SKVOT, author, lecturer
Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, Сulture For Changes program, expert
Museum of Kyiv. Consulting curator
2020
Kyiv Art Week, artistic director
Set Art Foundation, chief curator
Object of Desire, House of Clothes showcases, Kyiv, curator
Set Art Laboratory. Residency for artists and art experts, National Ivan Honchar Museum, Kyiv, curator
Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, Сulture For Changes program, expert
Earthmate Eco Festival, National Hryshko Botanical Garden, Kyiv, curator
2019
Kyiv Art Week, artistic director
Set Art Foundation, chief curator
Set Art Laboratory. Residency for artists and art experts, National Ivan Honchar Museum, Kyiv, curator
Freedom Street. Evgeniy Pavlov Retrospective. Set Art Foundation, Kyiv, curator
Errors: Slava Kryzhanovskiy. Set Art Foundation, Kyiv, curator
Maps Of Identity: Hate Speech. Anton Romanov. Set Art Foundation, Kyiv, curator
Can Freedom Be Simulated?, Lecture cycle, School of Cisual Communications, Kyiv, author and lecturer
2018
Kyiv Art Week, artistic director
To Find And Not Let Go. Ukrainan and Georgian Soviet Modernism. National Museum Kyiv Picture Gallery, Kyiv, curator
Resindencies:
Exodus, Perast/Kotor, Montenegro, participant
2017
Kyiv Art Week, artistic director
Brave! Factory Festival, Kyiv, curator
Theory Of Everything. Odesa Museum of Contemporary Art and National Museum Kyiv Picture Gallery’s Сhocolate House, Kyiv, curator
Sisters. Venice, Kokonton Gallery, curator
Resindencies:
Biruchiy, Ukraine, Participant
2016
Kyiv Art Week, artistic director
Burn, Babylon! Kyiv, curator
The Last Crimean Album, Elmira Shemsedinova, Bereznitsky Art Foundation, Kyiv, curator
Scissor Plot! Sasha Chichkan, Bereznitsky Art Foundation, Kyiv, curator