Alisa Lozhkina

Alisa Lozhkina
Lozhkina with her textile sculpture Merman Mamay in 2024
Born (1981-07-24) July 24, 1981
Kyiv, Ukraine
NationalityUkrainian
Occupation(s)Artist, Art historian, curator, art critic, writer
Notable workThe Art of Ukraine (Thames & Hudson, 2024)
Websitealisalozhkina.com

Alisa Lozhkina is a California-based artist, art historian, curator, critic, and writer, known for her research on modern and contemporary art. She is the author of The Art of Ukraine, published in the World of Art series by Thames & Hudson in 2024.[1]

Biography

Lozhkina was born in Kyiv, Ukraine. She began her career as an art critic and curator in Ukraine. From 2010 to 2016, she was editor‑in‑chief of the magazine Art Ukraine. From 2013 to 2017, she served as deputy director and chief curator at Mystetskyi Arsenal, the largest museum and exhibition complex in Kyiv.[2]

In addition to her curatorial and scholarly work, Lozhkina is also a practicing artist. Her website presents a body of work that includes digital art, painting, textile sculptures, and mixed-media projects.[3] Thames & Hudson also notes that "she is also an artist" in their contributor profile.[1]

Since 2020, she has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, USA, combining her artistic practice with international curatorial and critical work.[4]

Artistic and curatorial activity

Lozhkina has curated and co-curated major exhibitions promoting Ukrainian art internationally, including: Permanent Revolution: Ukrainian Art Now at Ludwig Museum, Budapest (2018), nominated for Global Fine Arts Awards.[4] Between Fire and Fire: Contemporary Art from Ukraine at Semperdepot / Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna (2019–2020).[4]

Other notable projects include I Am a Drop in the Ocean: Art of the Ukrainian Revolution and Long Path to Freedom. In 2023 she presented Ukrainian contemporary art at Beaux-Arts de Paris during Week-end de l'Est.[5]

Lozhkina has contributed to international discourse on Ukrainian art through curatorial, critical, and creative means.

Alisa Lozhkina delivers a curatorial address at the official opening of a Ukrainian contemporary art exhibition at the Ludwig Museum, Budapest, in 2018.

She played a key role as part of the curatorial team behind the Pompidou Centre's contemporary Ukrainian art initiative, "Ukraine: Contemporary Donation", described as an international effort involving Ukrainian curators including Lozhkina, Solovyev, and Barshynova.[6] Lozhkina also participated in a related round table at the Kandinsky Library moderated by curators from the Centre Pompidou.[7]

In 2022, Lozhkina debuted her exhibition Beast of War/Bird of Hope—a curatorial response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine—at the Aspen Institute in Colorado.[8][9] The show traveled the following year to Washington, D.C., where it was presented at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Authorism

Lozhkina is the author of several key publications on art. Her book The Art of Ukraine was released in 2024 by Thames & Hudson as part of the World of Art series, covering the history of Ukrainian art from the early 20th century to the present.[1]

She also wrote Permanent Revolution: Art in Ukraine, XX to early XXI century, first published in Ukrainian by ArtHuss and later translated into French, with presentations at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.[4]

Lozhkina is also the author of a Ukrainian translation of the ancient Indian poem Devi Mahatmya (The Glory of the Goddess), providing translation, commentary, and illustrations for the edition. The design concept for the publication was created by designer Anna K.[3]


Her April 2022 essay in Texte zur Kunst, "We Are Only Seen When We Die", explores art in wartime and positions Lozhkina as both critic and creator.[10]

In Artnet, her curatorship of "I Am a Drop in the Ocean" at Künstlerhaus Wien is discussed, emphasizing her close engagement with artists active during the Maidan uprising.[11]

Lozhkina has lectured extensively at major academic and cultural institutions including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, MoMA, and others, discussing Ukrainian art, decolonial identity, and cultural resistance.[12]

She published "A Suitcase, a Candle, and a Hammer: Ukrainian Artists Face the Russian Invasion" in the Los Angeles Review of Books, reflecting on the artistic responses to conflict in Ukraine.[13]

Publications

Books

  • The Art of Ukraine (World of Art series). London – New York: Thames & Hudson, 2024. [1]
  • Devi Māhātmya: Greatness of the Goddess. Sanskrit text translated, illustrated, and annotated by Alisa Lozhkina. Kyiv: Ruslan Khalikov Publishing House, 2024. [2]
  • Une révolution permanente, 1880–2020: l’art ukrainien contemporain et ses racines. Paris: Nouvelles Éditions Place, 2020. [3]
Cover of Alisa Lozhkina's book Une révolution permanente, 1880–2020.
  • Permanent Revolution: Art in Ukraine from the 20th to the Early 21st Century. Kyiv: ArtHuss, 2021. [4]
  • Space Within: Naïve and Outsider Art in Ukraine and the World. Edited by Alisa Lozhkina. Kyiv: ArtBook, 2020. [5]
  • Art Work Reader. Edited by Alisa Lozhkina. Kyiv: Mystetskyi Arsenal Publishing, 2018. [6]

Selected book chapters

  • "Illia Repin’s Zaporizhian Cossacks and the Cossack Myth of Ukraine." In Under Shelling: Art-Historical Revisions in the Light of the War in Ukraine, Heidelberg, 2025. [7]
  • "Kyiv Thinks Big: Large-Scale Exhibitions and Identity Building in Ukraine in the Late 2000s–Early 2010s." In Art in Ukraine: Between Identity Construction and Anti-Colonial Resistance. Routledge, 2025. [8]
  • "Journey to the Self." In Janet Sobel: Wartime. Ukrainian Museum, New York, 2023. [9]
  • "Photographer Named Death." In Histoire de l’art, no. 91: L’Ukraine, Paris, 2023. [10]
  • "The Nineteenth Century and the Fin‑de‑Siècle" and "Folk Art." In Treasures of Ukraine: A Nation’s Cultural Heritage. Thames & Hudson, 2022. [11]
  • "Prodigal Children of Socialist Realism: New Ukrainian Art and the Soviet Art School." In Painting in Excess: Kyiv’s Art Revival, 1985–1993. Rutgers University Press, 2021. [12]
  • "Man of the Night: Apophaticism in Boris Lurie’s Art." In Altered Man: The Art of Boris Lurie. Boris Lurie Art Foundation, 2019. [13]
Cover of Alisa Lozhkina's book The Art of Ukraine (Thames and Hudson, 2024).
Presentation of Alisa Lozhkina's book Permanent Revolution at the Odesa Fine Art Museum in December 2019 (from left to right: artist and museum director Oleksandr Roytburd; Alisa Lozhkina; and Karina Kachurovska, producer of the book‑edition project).

References

  1. ^ a b c "Alisa Lozhkina". Thames & Hudson. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  2. ^ "Alisa Lozhkina". Harvard Divinity School. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Alisa Lozhkina – Official Website". alisalozhkina.com. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d "Alisa Lozhkina". Academia.edu. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  5. ^ "Week-end de l'Est: Alisa Lozhkina". Beaux-Arts de Paris. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  6. ^ "Major Ukrainian art Bequest Enters the Pompidou Centre". Art Focus Now. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  7. ^ "Soirée « Ukraine, Une donation contemporaine »". Bibliothèque Kandinsky/Centre Pompidou. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  8. ^ "Beast of War/Bird of Hope: A Note from Curator Alisa Lozhkina". Aspen Institute. September 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  9. ^ "Aspen Institute hosts Ukraine art exhibit through October". Aspen Daily News. August 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  10. ^ "We Are Only Seen When We Die: Notes on the War and Art in Ukraine". Texte zur Kunst. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  11. ^ "Protest Art From Kiev's Independence Square Goes up in Vienna". Artnet News. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  12. ^ "Presentations & Talks – including Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute". Svitlana Biedarieva's site / Harvard events list. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  13. ^ "AlisaLozhkina contributor page, LARB". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
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