May '22 - September '22

Dasha Lohvynova

Exhibition and Workshops Assistant

Vergroot

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Hi there! I am Dasha, a Ukrainian art history student in the Netherlands. From May till September 2022, I was completing my internship at Mediamaitc, working as an Exhibitions & Workshops Assistant. The time at Mediamatic brought me not only plenty of new skills and knowledge, but also many great memories and friendships. 

In August 2022, I have completed my Bachelor's Degree in Arts, Media & Society at Leiden University, and it followed with starting my Master's Degree in Curating Arts & Cultures at both University of Amsterdam as well as Vrij University. Hence, this is where my interest in Exhibition Internship lied as during my diverse and interdisciplinary Bachelor program I developed a keen interest in curatorial practices and museology. In May 2022, I started my internship at Mediamatic, and the next 5 months were as an amazing rollercoaster ride of learning, exploring and getting to know something new every single day. 

It is needless to say that being an Exhibition & Workshops assistant at Mediamatic became a perfect occasion for me to further explore and develop my interest in curatorship. It also allowed me to finally apply theoretical knowledge into practice as I was given not only a lot of guidance during my work yet also trust in developing and sustaining art projects. Hence, I gained so much of a valuable experience that made me grow both personally and professionally. I am very thankful to Mediamatic team for teaching me plenty of practical and useful things (both in life and working in the cultural sector) and giving me freedom in exploring my skills and interests within the organization. I can definitely say that Mediamatic creates an environment of balanced sense of belonging to community and sense of feeling independent in your work while meeting great, like-minded people. The internship is not only about gaining knowledge personally and directly through working on your own, but also about learning from each other and share experiences.  

During my time at Mediamatic, I had a pleasure of working and assisting with already existing exhibitions and projects, as well as overlook the setup of new ones. Namely, for 2 months, I was working together with artist in residence Mari Bastashevski, who came to Mediamatic to install and show her art piece Pending Xenophora. Together with my partner-in-crime (exhibitions) Ismini, we assisted with development as well as installation of the work, producing events that were dedicated to it alongside the exhibition. It was a great time of learning and understanding the fine details that the production of new exhibition entails. Additionally, it was great to see how it is to work directly with the artist, teaching me the value of clear communication, planning and time-management.