ALICE BAGDONAYTE
Curator of the Vyksa AiR
from 2017 to 2023
Moscow, Russia
1986
Curator, teacher, gallery owner. Born in 1986 in Moscow. She graduated from the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia with a degree in International Journalism, as well as a master’s degree in Cultural Studies of the 20th Century at the Russian State University for the Humanities, and did academic internships at Humboldt University (Berlin, Germany) and Nantes University (Nantes, France) in Contemporary Art and International Art Management.

In 2017, Alice Bagdonayte became curator of the Vyksa Art Residence at the invitation of the OMK-Participation Foundation. In the same year, the residency welcomed the first artists by curatorial invitation and opened the first open call for applications (open call) for 2018. In 2019, a concept and development strategy for the project was written, including the spatial development and adaptation of the Volna Café building for the residency. In 2020, the Vyksa Art Residence received the status of COSMOSCOW Foundation Institution of the Year. In 2021 an international conference "The Art and Practice of Hospitality" was held, which resulted in the publication of the book "Extraordinary Hospitality" in 2022. In the same year the art residence moved to the new Volna building. In 2023, the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts together with Alexey Maslyaev curated the exhibition "Before and After: Projects in the Art Residence Vyksa" about the projects created in the residence.

She has worked in the field of contemporary art since 2007, developing institutions associated with contemporary culture and art. These include the A.V. Shchusev State Museum of Architecture, Moscow (Head of Development, 2010−2012), the State Gallery on Solyanka, Moscow (Executive Director, 2013−2014). From 2013 — Chief Curator of the Center for Contemporary Art "Zarya", Vladivostok, from 2014 — curator of the program for creating art residencies for artists based on the Center. From 2017 to 2023, she curated the Vyksa Art Residence. In 2020, she organised the Golubitskoe Art Foundation in the Krasnodar region and an odymen interdisciplinary art residency, as well as opened the Alice contemporary art gallery.