I am a researcher at the intersection of (Soviet) Ukrainian and (Soviet) Russian literature, arts, and aesthetics. I hold a doctoral degree in Ukrainian literature from the University of Vienna (2017) and master’s degrees in both Russian literature and design. In my doctoral dissertation, I analyzed inconsistencies in the centre-periphery discourses of the avant-garde in Soviet Ukraine in the 1920s.
My teaching and mentoring experience includes courses on undergrad and MA-level in literature studies as well as in aesthetics and cultural studies in Austria, Croatia, Norway, and Ukraine.
I am author of “Die ukrainische Avantgarde zwischen Ost und West” (2019) and “'Nur der Unsinn gibt der Zukunft Inhalt.' Futurismus und Wort-Bild-Kunst der russischen Avantgarde in Tiflis 1917–1921” (2018). Moreover, I co-edited volumes on Eastern and Central European avant-gardes (2014, 2023) and on border aesthetics (2021).
With my current project “Soviet Ellipses”, I have introduced the concept of ellipsis, i.e. conscious omission, as creative device to challenge political and social constraints with focus on Ukraine and Russia.
Currently, I am a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages (ILOS) at the University of Oslo, Norway, and associate professor in border studies at the University of Tromsø.
Academic Interests
My research interests include intertextuality, intermedia, border aesthetics, border semiotics, word-image-relations, photography, centre-periphery-relations, multilingualism, cultural memory discourses, avant-garde theory, the avantgarde movements in Ukraine and Russia, female avant-gardes, and the interrelations of art and politics in the Soviet Union.
MSCA Research Project
In my current MSCA project Soviet Ellipses at ILOS, I examine ellipses (i.e. conscious omissions) as Techniques of Border Transgression in Soviet Photography, Literature, and Everyday Life.
Courses taught
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U of Oslo (2022)
Graduate Course: RUS4322 – St. Petersburgmyten i russisk litteratur (together with Fabian Heffermehl) -
U of Zagreb (2018–2020)
Undergraduate Courses: Literary Interpretation; Introduction to Literary Studies; German Literature in the 18th Century; Austrian and German Literature after 1945;
Graduate Courses: Austrian History of the 20th Century: Collective Identity and Collective Memory. -
New Design University (2015–2018)
Undergraduate Courses: Introduction to Art History, to Cultural Studies, and to Academic Writing; Cultural History of Signs: Semiotics (with Sergius Kodera); History of Photography; Advertising Photography; Documentary Photography; Film of the 1980s.
Academic Background
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2017: Dr. phil, Doctoral studies in Slavic Literature and Culture / Ukrainian Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria.
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2012: Mag. phil., M.A.-studies (Diplomstudium) in Slavic Studies / Russian at the University of Vienna, Austria.
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2010: MDes, Master of Design, Faculty of Design, New Design University Sankt Pölten, Lower Austria.
Awards, Fellowships & Grants (selection)
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2021–2023: Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions Individual Fellowship, awarded by the European Council.
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2020–2021: Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, awarded by the Free University of Berlin, Germany.
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2018: Post-DocTrack Pilot Program Fellowship, awarded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW).
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2018: Doc.Award (Best Dissertations Award), awarded by the University of Vienna and the City of Vienna, Austria.
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2014: Senkowsky-Prize (Best Student Award), awarded by the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, USA.
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2014–2017: DOC-Fellowship, awarded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Austria.
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2014: Research Grant, awarded by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Germany.
Positions held
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Since 2023: Associate Professor for Border Studies, The Barents Institute Kirkenes, The Arctic University of Norway.
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Since 2021: Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions Individual Fellow at the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, University of Oslo, Norway.
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2020–2021: Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Cluster of Excellence Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective, Free University of Berlin, Germany.
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2018–2020: University Lecturer for German and Austrian Literature and Culture (OeAD), Department of German Studies, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
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2015–2018: University Lecturer for Aesthetics and Cultural Studies at the Department of Graphic Design and Media Design, Faculty of Design, New Design University, Lower Austria.
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2016: Visiting Researcher, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, USA.
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2014–2017: Recipient of a DOC-Fellowship of the Austrian Academy o Sciences (ÖAW) at the Institute of Slavonic Studies, University of Vienna, Austria.
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2014: Research Fellow at the State Library Berlin, Germany.
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2012–2014: Research and Teaching Fellow (OeAD) at the Institute of Philology, University of Kyiv, Ukraine.
Relevant Links
Interview: In Soviet society, freedom of speech was never on offer
Latest Lectures
Guest Lectures:
"Gegen(-)Realismus“. Grenzüberschreitungen in der ukrainischen nonkonformistischen Photographie der 1970er- und 1980er-Jahre.",
Dec. 12, 2023, University of Basel.
"Zur Transgressivität der ukrainischen Avantgarde(n): Kultur – Sprache – Medien“
Dec. 14, 2023, University of Basel.
"Crossing Boundaries, Challenging Constraints – On Perspectives in Artistic and Curatorial Work."
Jan 8, 2024, University of Arts, Poznan.
"Media Forms of Protest against Censorship and Propaganda."
Nov. 21, 2023, University of Tromsø.
„Contested Narratives. The Crimea in Ukainian and Russian Cultural Discourse.”
Nov. 20, 2023, University of Tromsø.
Conference Papers and Workshop Presentations:
“On the Potential of Border Regions as Protest Scapes.”
Workshop: “Protest and Experiment in Ukraine and Russia: Intellectual and Artistic Strategies”. Sep 29, 2023, University of Belgrade.
“Grenzgänge zwischen Ost und West. Ukrainische Avantgarde-Publikationen der 1920er Jahre.“
Workshop: „Mobile Avantgarden. Netzwerke der Moderne im östlichen Europa und in Skandinavien“, Feb. 10-11, 2023, Free University of Berlin.
“The Network(s) of Futurism in Odessa.”
Conference: “EAM 8 – Globalising the Avant-garde”,
Sep 1-3, 2022, FCSH, NOVA University of Lisbon.
“The transgressive Function of Ellipses: Soviet Ukrainian Photography in the Eras of Repression, Stagnation, and Liberalization.”
Conference: “Conference of Nordic Slavists”, University of Oslo, Norway.
Aug 10-14, 2022.
“Omission Practices and Post-Soviet Canon Formation on the Example of Ukraine.”
Conference: “(Post)Soviet Comsopolis”, Dec 8-11, 2021, ZfL Berlin, Germany.