Hey there!
Thank you for the curiousity that’s brought you here.
A quick intro is in place here. I’m Maria and I’m a writer with a passion for the power of art to have an impact on the world we live in. As a writer of a mixed background, I’m invariably drawn to topics of radical cross-culturality and decoloniality as well as its sisters: ecology and queer theory.
Based on a deep love for this planet, my writing aims to empower to seek, fight for and create another way of being in the world — to incite the belief in the human ability of mutual care and autonomy.
My writing oscillates between the very theoretical — such as in pieces for the leading Portuguese art theory journal Contemporânea — and the inclusive — such as in words I’ve penned for a journal I started, edited and then left — culturala. The latter is a publishing project experimenting with a theoretical language for contemporary art that is welcoming, accessible and direct. It’s a project that’s taught me how to be a good writer, but also about all the pitfalls and difficulties of the art world (not to mention the real world!) and which I leave in the most capable hands of a new team for 2025.
On the personal side… Despite a travelling, migrant childhood, I’ve now found a stable location — Portugal — where I’m currently researching eco art. I’ve found the ecology art scene here to be one of the most beautiful and empowering examples of what contemporary art could be. I run an (intermittent) newsletter, On Art with Purpose, and participate in a number of different collectives.
Scroll down for my portfolio and feel free to get in touch for projects, arts writing commissions, translations or just to say hello!
Have a lovely day
with love,
maria kruglyak
[essay] Portuguese Drop Out Design and the Question of Longevity in VOLUME 65: Living Together published by Archis (2024). print issue / PDF
[personal essay] The Glory of the Portuguese Half Pint: How a hard-core cheapest-light-lager-pint bartender fell for the imperial in Final Gravity Issue 5 (2024). print issue / PDF
[review] Odete: Artifício in Contemporânea #10 (2023-4). PT / EN (forthcoming).
[profile] Gonçalo Sena in Contemporânea issue 2024 (2024). PT / EN
[review] Dozie Kanu: Preenchendo Vazios in Contemporânea issue 2024 (2024). PT / EN
[review] Desejos Compulsivos: A Extração do Lítio e as Montanhas Rebeldes in Contemporânea issue 04-05-06 (2023). PT / EN
[interview] Interview with Oscar Murillo in Contemporânea issue 2024 (2024). PT / EN
[essay] I Don’t Need First Sexual Aid: Art Against the Sexual Harassment of Ukrainian Refugees in Polyester Zine (2023). EN
[interview] Interview with Filip Ramos in Contemporânea issue 10-11-12 (2023). PT / EN
[review] Mater & Pela Terra: Love as the Healing Force in Environmental Action in Contemporânea issue 07-08-09 (2023). PT / EN
[review] Ruben Santiago: Um Fogo in Contemporânea issue 10-11-12 (2023). PT / EN
[foreword to artist book] Dandara Hahn, FON (2023).
[review] Emancipação do Vivente in Contemporânea issue 04-05-06 (2023). PT / EN
[review] CAConrad with Alice dos Reis and Isadora Pedro Neves Marques: Hidden in the cave we forge of one another in Contemporânea issue 07-08-09 (2023). PT / EN
[profile] In a way even the rainbow is digital: On Akane Kawahara in culturala #2: digitalisation (2023). digital issue / pdf
[conversation, co-written] The Planet in Digital Time: A Conversation with Dandara Hahn, Daniel Hengst and Maria Kruglyak in culturala #2: digitalisation (2023). digital issue / pdf
[review] The Otolith Group: A Sphere of Water Orbiting a Star in Contemporânea issue 07-08-09 (2023). PT / EN
[profile listicle] 7 Defining Characteristics of Agnes Denes in The Collector (2023). EN
[review] Futuros da Liberdade in Contemporânea issue 04-05-06 (2023). PT / EN
[interview] A Salt Anthology in Contemporânea issue 04-05-06 (2023). PT / EN
[review] Inês Zenha: Ressurreição in Contemporânea issue 01-02-03 (2023). PT / EN
[interview/conversation] Sarah Lou Sasha Maarek between the digital and the analogue in culturala #2: digitalisation (2023). digital issue / pdf
[essay] A Scattered Search for a Utopia in Grrrl in Print #5: Queer Utopias (2023). print issue / pdf [coming soon]
[profile listicle] Yayoi Kusama: 9 Mind-Blowing Works of Art in The Collector (2023). EN
[interview] Rejecting the Nature/Culture Dichotomy: An Interview with Robert Horvitz for maat extended, MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (2022). EN
[interview] Ken Isaacs, the Matrix and the Establishment of the Quintessentially Modern for maat extended, MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (2022). EN
[editorial] The Rule of No Rules: Gene Bernofsky and Richard Kallweit Reflect on Drop Coty for maat extended, MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (2022). EN
[opinion] The War is Inside Us in Futuress (2022). EN
[introduction] Carla Maldonado: Dystopia of a Jungle City, and the Human of Nature for maat extended, MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (2022). EN
[essay] An Expanded Space of Disappearance in culturala #1: disappearance (2022). print issue / pdf
[profile] Lessons from Gaia: the Recognition and Hope of Nature within the Urban Setting for SuperGlue Collective (2021). EN
[essay] Arbetarkvinnorna som inte lät sig kuvas for Historiskan (2020). SWE
[introduction] Anna Cherednikova, Unwanted: Study of the unknown garden in Arles, France (2019). print issue / pdf
[journal] culturala #2: digitalisation (2023). digital issue
[journal] culturala #1: disappearance (2022). print issue
[journal] TITLE Special Edition: The Originals Issue for avec nous GmbH (2023). print issue [free]
[journal] TITLE(D) Fourth Issue: Nude for avec nous GmbH (2023). print issue [sold out]
[journal] TITLE(D) Third Issue: Memories for avec nous GmbH (2022). print issue [sold out]
[journal] TITLE(D) Fourth Issue: Adidas Superstars for avec nous GmbH (forthcoming).
[essay] “Step gently on the ground” by Carla Juaçaba for maat extended, MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (2022). EN
[book | editorial & production assistant – proofreading] Marissa J. Moorman and Mónica de Miranda (eds.) Q-notes. Questions in Theory and Art Practices #1 (Hangar Books, 2020). print issue
[book | editorial & production assistant – proofreading] César Schofield Cardoso e Mónica de Miranda (eds.), Atlantica: Contemporary Art from Cabo Verde, Guinea Bissau, São Tomé and Principe and their Diasporas (Hangar Books, 2021). print issue
[book | editorial & production assistant – proofreading] Angêla Ferreira (ed.), Atlantica: Contemporary Art from Mozambique and its Diaspora (Hangar Books, 2020). print issue
Maria Kruglyak is an arts writer, critic, researcher and editor specialising in contemporary art and culture. In 2021, she founded culturala to create a network-based art and cultural theory journal which experiments with a direct, welcoming language for contemporary art. She’s been the editor-in-chief of the journal for two issues: on Disappearance and on Digitalisation, and has now left the project to continue on solo writing endeavours.
In her writing practice, Maria specialises in queer theory, decolonial language and environmental discourse. She’s written art critical pieces, interviews, exhibition reviews, art historical essays and columns reflecting on the current state of the arts. She is a regular contributor to Contemporânea and has bylines in VOLUME by Archis, maat extended, Futuress, Polyester Zine, Historiskan, Grrrl in Print, Final Gravity and more.
She’s written a number of forewords to artists’ books and run a dozen food and community art projects such as Stories of Our Food / Histórias da Nossa Comida at LARGO Residências.
August-September 2023
Resident Artist, Residências Refúgio, LARGO Residências, Lisbon
Project: Stories of Our Food / Histórias da Nossa Comida
2021-2024
Editor-in-Chief, Culturala
2021-2022
Curatorial & Editorial Paid Internship, MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, Lisbon
2021-2022
Artist & Resident, The Steamship Project Space Collective, London
2020-2022
Assistant Editor, WATA Publishing, Lisbon
2020-2021
Editorial Production Assistant, Hangar Books, Lisbon
2018-2020
MA History of Art, SOAS, University of London (First)
Specialising in East and Southeast Asian contemporary art with the dissertation ‘Three women artists negotiating Japanese modernities: Yuki Ogura, Fuku Akino and Toko Shinoda’ [see pdf].
2014-2017
BA History, King’s College London (First)
Specialising in intellectual and cultural global history with the dissertations ‘Art of Independence: Transformations of Image in 1970s Guyana’ [see pdf] and ‘Alexander Herzen and Empirical Liberty’ [see pdf].
You’re always welcome to get in touch if you’ve got a collaboration proposal, a writing/editing job that you think I may be a good fit for, or if you’d like to ask for advice or thoughts about writing or editing. I regularly run arts writing workshops and am always happy to help.
The fastest way to reach me is via WhatsApp or Signal, but if you’ve got a lot to say, email is preferable. Cheers!
email: [email protected]
tel: +351 915 138 814
instagram: @m.kruglyak