We spoke with a group of Belarusian female curators about their paths into the profession, the behind-the-scenes work, existing barriers and the ethics of care in the workplace. How does one stay grounded while balancing education and practice, caring for both artists and one’s team?

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The “Back office” of cultural projects and responsibility for processes

In the Belarusian art field, there is a vast layer of work that rarely reaches the public eye: curatorial tasks, process management, logistics, negotiations, fundraising, and care for artists and teams. It is this very  “back office” that sustains exhibitions and projects - yet remains invisible to most.

This is especially true for women, who often carry the main day-to-day load - sometimes unpaid or for symbolic fees - while all the credit is given elsewhere.

The curators we spoke to agree: visibility isn’t just about public acknowledgement, but more about  access - to resources, fair procedures, team coordination, and responsibility for people and processes. This discussion extends beyond gender only, centering on professional and ethical standards, the quality of processes and the result - increasingly framed within a global logic of collaboration.

Valeryia Kaliaha. Warsaw, Poland

independent curator and collector Valeryja Kaliaha bridges the art market with curatorial practice. She works as a contemporary art specialist at the DESA Unicum auction house, while also developing her own collection of young Belarusian expressionism and curating exhibitions.

Reflecting on the Belarusian context in which she began her career, she says:: “There is no formal education for curators in Belarus - you have to figure things out on your own”.

Her path toward curatorship was gradual. From a general interest in art to a fascination with collecting, which eventually led her to organize exhibitions - first in Minsk, later in Krakow, where she was completing her Master’s degree, and eventually in Warsaw, where she later moved.

Initially drawn to the spatial experience that viewers have when interacting with artworks within an exhibition environment, her interest has since expanded into a broader cultural and educational mission - to classify Belarusian art and promote the culture of collecting.

Kaliaha believes that independent curators must combine creative selection with media work - as a result, the public usually sees only the final result, while the enormous layer of preparatory work remains unseen. After a year working in the commercial sphere, she reconsidered her approach: instead of carrying all the weight herself, she began delegating tasks to her team - lightning and installation specialists among them. This  helps her balance the workload and avoid burnout.

She also draws attention to the systemic gaps in the Belarusian art field - the absence of basic catalogs, exhibition archives, and accessible datasets. As a result, information about  contemporary art projects in Belarus has to be pieced together bit by bit.

Curators in exile face their own challenges, one of the main being limited access to institutions in host countries. Projects realized in Minsk often don't count abroad, forcing curators to rebuild their relationships with galleries and museums from scratch.

Despite these obstacles, Valeryja has successfully carried out several projects in Poland. She uses alternative spaces - small theaters, apartments, studios, and underground venues - to bring art to the public.

During exhibition installations, she acts like a director, assuming full responsibility for the outcome and keeping the final say. This, she believes, helps prevent conflicts and role confusion within the team. “When everyone knows that the curator is the main vision holder, the whole process runs more smoothly”.

 Alena Mashchonak. Minsk, Belarus

curator and art-manager Alena Mashchonak has experience working both with state institutions, such as the National Art Museum of Belarus, and with independent platforms like mooon+.

For her, the visibility of curatorial work depends less on the type of institution and more on the curator’s approach: some deliberately remain behind the scenes, while others actively build public visibility through social media, interviews, or proper attribution on posters.

“Personal stance and concrete actions make it possible to reclaim the visibility”, Alena notes.

Today, she says, every cultural event in Belarus requires official approval. The lack of qualified professionals within the field often leads to distortions: people who “have only read a few books” call themselves curators or occupy supporting roles under that title. Meanwhile, some professionals’ reluctance to take responsibility for specific exhibitions can force individuals to act as curators in their own right.

From her own experience, Mashchonak notes that she had received recognition from both artists and institutions. She emphasizes that the true measure of professionalism is not the job title but one’s portfolio and the respect of the community. “Being invited to curate a project and being worth waiting for - is the real sign of recognition.”

She insists that the foundation of quality is the team and team alone. A clear division of responsibilities frees the curator from tasks like documentation, logistics, communication and marketing, leaving time to properly work with the concept and artists. Minimizing the bureaucracy and ensuring fair pay would be ideal, but realistically, the goal is to build a professional team of diverse specialists.

Vera Zalutskaja. Warsaw, Poland

curator, researcher, and editor

Vera Zalutskaja has built a career across Belarus and Poland. Her experience spans work at Krakow’s Bunkier Sztuki gallery, various foundations, and even theatre. From 2021 to 2024, she co-edited the BLOK Magazine, and in 2024, co-founded  the English-language platform MOST Magazine.

Now based in Warsaw, Vera manages two special gallery-affiliated funds aimed at supporting art researchers and museums.

She challenges the widespread myth of the so-called “curator’s power”, emphasizing the curator’s often precarious position between institutions and artists.  “I see my task as one of care and protection for artists - ensuring transparency and fair pay for them”, she says.

Even after curating her fist major exhibition in Belarus in 2015, she still encountered barriers within Poland’s institutional art scene, where she had to prove her competence all over again. Today, she continues to overcome these barriers through her own initiatives and wide-ranging collaborations.

Hanna Chystaserdava. Berlin, Germany

art curator and gallerist

For art curator and gallerist Hanna Chystaserdava, the Belarusian art scene blurs the lines between management, curatorship, and administration. Most practices exist where these roles overlap, making such multifunctionality both a blessing and a curse: while it broadens one’s competencies, it also significantly increases the risk of burnout.

At the same time, Hanna doesn’t reduce the issue to gender alone. Although women’s work is often undervalued, the root causes lie in institutional instability, lack of support, and shortage of qualified staff. As a result, teams become overstretched, and individuals end up taking on too many responsibilities.

She observes that women’s leadership is gaining ground worldwide - female curators and directors of major institutions are becoming more visible. In Belarus, however, leadership positions in the public sector still largely belong to men. For this reason, practices of care, transparency, and flexible connections should not be one-time achievements but ongoing, daily efforts.

Hanna advocates for building “living institutions” grounded in care and solidarity rather than rigid structures. This philosophy underpins the Ambasada Kultury project, along with several other interdisciplinary initiatives such as Open Muzej, Antiwarcoalition.art, PerspAktiv, and Razam e.V.

Lizaveta Stsiatsko. Poznan, Poland

curator, cultural and communications manager

Lizaveta Stsiatsko, curator, cultural and communications manager, began her professional path in Poland, working with Belarusian and Ukrainian contemporary art.

In 2022, together with her female friends, she co-founded a collective that later transformed into the STUS foundation - a cultural response to war and an expression of her belief that culture can help people. The foundation hosts exhibitions, concerts, and workshops, fostering the integration of people with migration experience and giving them a space to express their voices.

To consolidate her expertise, Stsiatsko obtained a Master’s degree in Curatorship and Art Theory from the M. Abakanowicz University of the Arts in Poznan. Yet, she insists that a diploma is not a cure-all: “Education in itself isn’t always necessary - what matters much more is personal interest and hands-on experience with artists”.

Her curatorial approach is guided by the ideals of freedom, justice, and care. She pays particular attention to equality and the redistribution of power within the art field, as well as to the ethics of care, contextual sensitivity, and support for everyone involved in the process. 

Stsiatsko focuses on representing Belarusian art abroad, and actively expands collaborations with Ukrainian artists.

In 2023, she curated KURS TUHA - a project examining longing as a source of inner energy - and the exhibition Na pamiežžach, which explored borderlands as spaces of pressure where solidarity becomes essential for survival. Both projects critically reflect on the past five years for Belarus and its neighbours, placing these experiences within a global context.

Lizaveta draws inspiration from the increasing presence of young women and queer people on the art scene, who are not afraid to make their voices heard. She strives to create flexible, network-based forms of collaborations, proving that the new generation can assert itself through solidarity and courage in expressing ideas.

Anna Karpenko. Berlin, Germany

curator

Anna Karpenko suggests we view invisibility beyond gender: “Any group without access to power and resources ends up invisible and undervalued”. She describes the cultural field as a “vertical model, where symbolic decisions are often made outside strictly artistic criteria. Visibility goes to those with resources, procedures, and networks”.

“In Western countries, curatorship is institutionalized. There are clear steps to be taken - education, scholarships, competitive procedures. It is different in our region - you have to justify your right to be a curator”.

Hanna also observes that in Belarus, a curator is often seen as “a manager on call, a kind of service staff for artists and museums”.

“You can graduate from countless academies and even earn a curator’s diploma at Bard College - hundreds are issued each year if you can pay $60,000 or secure a scholarship - organize exhibitions and post photos of them on Instagram, all of this just to be recognized as a curator. And then what?”

For Karpenko, curatorship is work that allows one to sustain oneself without chasing recognition. “Recognition from whom, and for what? Exhibitions and publications are the most ephemeral forms of artistic expression: names and titles are instantly forgotten”, she says.

Instead, she emphasizes procedures, teamwork, and responsibility to people: professionalism, for her, is a coordinated stance, transparent rules, and the ability to manage the entire process.

In Belarus, she notes, almost anyone can call themselves a curator - from cultural managers to gallerists and researchers, Hanna has no problem with this, as curatorship in Belarus is fluid.

Regarding the gender aspect of the profession, she adds: “I genuinely believe that focusing solely on gender is too narrow. Women are still underpaid, and everyone knows it. At the same time, people in Gaza, Sudan, Congo, Ukraine, Iran, Afghanistan, and around the world are dying from genocide, wars, and conflicts financed by those who later organize art exhibitions in cozy Western institutions. How can one even talk about gender balance in the midst of that?

Valiantsina Kisialiova. Berlin, Germany

 curator and art-manager, co-founder of the Padzemka art salon and the contemporary art gallery “Ў”

The Padzemka art salon, which she and her team launched in 2004, initially operated under a “living laboratory” model. As Valiantsina explains, it was a format where planned exhibitions coexisted with spontaneous ones, allowing visiting international artists to easily join in.

“Back then, the term “curator” wasn’t in common use - people simply said “organizer”, she recalls.

With the opening of the “Ў” gallery in 2009, Valiantsina’s work took on a more structured form. She managed all stages of the gallery’s program and project development, including collective curating - when different people were brought together to create a shared artistic statement. She also led the “Balance” initiative, where the gallery’s staff presented their work as art projects.

According to Valiantsina, there were few professionals in the field of contemporary art in Belarus at that time, so even activities of “Ў” gallery were sometimes labeled “unprofessional”. Still, she emphasizes: 

“Padzemka (2004-2009), together with the “Ў” gallery (2009-2020), represent the longest continuous period of work in the history of contemporary art in Belarus. Sixteen years of working and growing alongside the community - that in itself is a proof of professionalism”.

Now based in Europe, Valentina works with Hanna Chystaserdava on the Ambasada Kultury project. The initiative fosters cultural connections within and beyond the Belarusian community, promoting collaboration among artists and cultural activists across various disciplines.

For Valiantsina, curating is both a matter of concept and responsibility. “Creating flexible connections, maintaining transparency and fair pay, bringing processes together” is how she defines her approach.

“It was quite surprising to come across, in Europe, some Belarusian curators and researchers who think  that those who launch and run projects, yet also handle the management side, are merely ‘service staff.’ It’s as if they’re carrying forward a pattern from an “unprofessional” past, rejecting a freer kind of experience - one not bound by academic credentials.”

On behalf of the editorial team:

Undoubtedly, the interviewees featured here are far from the only women doing significant work for the Belarusian art community. We would also like to highlight:

Dzina Danilovich, who creates some of the best contemporary exhibitions at the National Centre for Contemporary Arts; Katsiaryna Yankouskaya, without whom it’s impossible to imagine the Autumn Salon and Art-Minsk; all the lecturers, art historians, and researchers of the Art Povod project — Yuliya Lisai, Katsiaryna Izafatava, Volha Skvartsova, and the project manager Alena Bubenchykava; art manager Volha Zhuk; art historian Alena Bokhan; art historian Ksenia Zhukovskaya; art manager and curator Maya Katsnelson; gallerist Nadezhda Navrotskaya; curator and art historian Irina Kondratenko; researcher and artist Maryana Karpovich; art manager of the “Kairos” center Maryna Kazak; gallerist of “Art-Fabryka” Darya Aŭchynnikava; curator and researcher Safiya Sadouskaya; curator Lizaveta Mikhalchuk; art manager Iryna Kandratsenka; curator and researcher Antanina Stsebur; art manager Iry Lukashenka; researchers Sasha Reyzar, Anastasiya Trafimchyk, Volha Skvartsova, Katsiaryna Kalenkevich, Volha Akhrypava, Kamila Arutyunyan, and Tanya Artsimovich; curator Lena Prents; co-founder of the Revolution project Dasha Bryyan; curator, art historian, and co-founder of the course "Shkola Kollektsionera" Darya Pushko; founder of the ArtYard project Volha Kavalskaya; founder of OffMuseum and designer Alena Yarashevich; gallerist of DK Gallery Katsiaryna Davydaŭa-Vysotske; gallerist of A&V Gallery Maryya Abdo; and art managers Volha Mzhelskaya and Volha Klip.

And even now, after listing more than thirty names, it must be said that this is still far from everyone in our art sphere. Every year, we add new names of women to our personal list — those who are doing very important, though not always visible, work for Belarusian art.

Spoke with curators, researchers and managers: art manager Liza Mas.

Cover photo: Jasiek's House for Imaginary Friends exhibition in Jan Możdżyński's studio, part of Artistic, Collective, Metropolitan. Warsaw art studios as micro-institutions project, curated by Vera Zalutskaya and Łucja Staszkiewicz, 2023, photo: Lena Pierga

Photo by Valery Kalyaha from a personal archive;
Photo by Alena Mashchonak from a personal archive;
Photo of Vera Zalutskaya by Karolina Januzemis;
Photo by Hanna Chystaserdava from a personal archive;
Photo of Lizaveta Stsiatsko by Vlad Petrushkevich;
Photo by Hanna Karpenka from a personal archive;
Photo by Valyantsina Kisialiova from a personal archive.

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