As an independent curator, Aynur Abutalibova is dedicated to using the power of art to affect positive change in society. Through her work at Salaam Cinema in Baku, Aynur strives to showcase socially relevant works that challenge and inspire audiences, and create a space for meaningful dialogue and exchange. She is passionate about the transformative power of art and always seeks new and innovative ways to engage with audiences and spark important conversations.

With her infectious enthusiasm and unwavering dedication to her craft, Aynur is a true asset to the Salaam Cinema and to the larger cultural community in Baku. Through her work, Aynur is helping to shape a brighter, more inclusive, and more socially aware society, one artistic endeavor at a time.

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Oksana Kapishnikova is an art historian, artist, researcher, and curator of art exhibitions. She works in the field of new museology (participatory museum) and research exhibition practice. During her career, Oksana has realized more than 20 research, exhibition, and educational projects. She is a co-founder of the Bishkek School of Contemporary Art. She is currently working as a curator at the Museum of Feminine and Queer Art. Since 2019, Oksana has served as the Executive Secretary of the National Committee of the International Council of Museums in Kyrgyzstan. Oksana’s interests include museums, art history, eco-art, cultural memory, and crafts.

Maria Lanko is a curator and researcher focusing on the (unwritten) history of Ukrainian contemporary art. She is co-founder of The Naked Room, a space in Kyiv that integrates a gallery with a bookshop and a bar. The gallery program focuses on emerging artists with an ambition to introduce them in the art market both nationally and internationally. The Naked Room collaborates with several established artists and/or estates to procure recognition of their early work and archives as well as revisit forgotten or unrealized projects. As part of this practice, in 2022 in collaboration with Lizaveta German and Borys Filonenko, Maria co-curated the Ukrainian Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale. The exhibition traced a 30-year history of “Fountain of Exhaustion” by Pavlo Makov and produced the piece for the first time since its conception. (In this Art Margins interview, Maria talks about the journey to evacuate the artwork for the Biennale at the beginning of the russian war against Ukraine.) She lives and works in Kyiv. 

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Photo by Oleh Pashkovsky

Mariam Shergelashvili is an independent curator and exhibition curator at the State Silk Museum. Her work focuses on research and analysis of diverse contemporary visual art practices. Mariam has initiated a wide variety of research projects, educational activities, exhibitions, seminars and lectures. She is actively working to develop non-formal educational platforms by researching curatorial and theoretical practices in collaboration with creative individuals, museums and other institutions.  Among her recent projects are the curatorial/artistic platform unarchived_semiotics, which she founded in 2022, and the social art project TAN_KHMOVANI about noise pollution and sound ecology initiated in 2023. 

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Marina Slavova is a curator and gallerist at Structura Gallery in Sofia. She is responsible for the exhibition policy, residency programs and international relations. The main interests of her curatorial practice are rooted in the artistic reflection on the historical and political context and its influence on society. She is an initiator of the project Structura Open Windows, which is focused on developing alternative educational practices and targeting new audiences. Marina is also coordinator of the Bulgarian participation in the Art Prospect Network and curator of the BAZA Award for contemporary art, part of the YVAA network.

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