Anastaiia Biletska

In what way did the MAS/ CAS in Curating change your ideas about curating? What have you gained from any of these changes?

This question is multilayered and requires constant return. I cannot say that I have fully realized the entire scope of knowledge gained during my studies; however, I see the true value of the program precisely in this: to provide a solid foundation built on the experience of predecessors, to know these examples, names, and processes, to train a critical lens, and to open new horizons for research and practice.
The theoretical modules, intensive reading, and encounters with key figures shaping contemporary curatorial discourse allowed me to reflect more deeply on my own position.
The most important question I carried away from this program is: what kind of curator am I?
(I love feminines. In my native language, I would use the feminine for myself – Кураторка (Ukr. – female curator)
Awareness of myself as a female curator is also something I gained through the MAS/ CAS in Curating program. By analyzing my previous experience, I learned to recognize my own individual characteristics and to transform them into a foundation for future projects.

I am a practitioner, and therefore my fascination with the program unfolds more and more through practice. It may sound banal, but this is how it works: the joy of recognition lights up inside you in the moment of encountering an artist’s work that was once discussed in class, or when you apply a skill that was trained during the course. Enriching my curatorial “palette” with each new project, I return again and again to the very practical advice of our professors, how to compose a program of short films, how to guide a visitor through a complex exhibition route, how to engage in participation. The real value lies not in specific methods, but in understanding the logic that allows me to find the form relevant to each context. And this is what brings the changes.

What is your position at the moment?

Nowadays, I am an independent curator, with my main interests lying in design, communication, and their intersections with contemporary artistic practices. Latest Projects: Theatre of the Avant-garde, Galerie Calabro, Zurich, Switzerland; Fragile Brutalism by SERIA × Crossing Kyiv, Espace Diorama Geneva, Switzerland; GOOD VIBES; Katerina Bulgakova, Zurich, Switzerland; Light installation: SOUL, ENGE Train Station, Zurich, Switzerland; Evolution de l’archaïque, Ukrainian Cultural Centre, Paris, France; Kyiv Design Week 2024 Kyiv, Ukraine. https://abiletska.com/

What do you think “Curate your context“ means?

“Curating your context” for me means becoming aware of the environment of the “here and now” – cultural, social, political, material, in which curatorial practice takes place, and consciously shaping the ways of interacting with it. I do not aim to romanticize reality or create illusions, but rather to bring clarity, to reveal complex processes, and to foster a space for critical perception. At the same time, the theme of Hope – the future and its multiplicity, feels close to me.

The curator takes responsibility for both the concept and its realization, but above all, defines the very frame of the research. My practice gravitates toward working with a broad context: from attention to individual stories and forms of interaction between people, to understanding how these processes influence long-term and global cultural transformations.
I am convinced that context is never neutral. For me, as a Ukrainian, the war that Russia is waging against Ukraine is inevitably present in my curatorial perspective. De-colonial processes in my work are most focused on the theme of “unconscious witnesses” and the necessity of constantly rethinking definitions “isms”, revisiting established versions of history, adding in a multiplicity of perspectives, and tracing contemporary transformations.