Biography
Zoia Laktionova was born in 1984 in Mariupol. She first appeared in the world of documentary cinema as the heroine of Mariia Stoianova’s film Ma (2017), and a year later made her first short documentary, Diorama, about a mined sea. The film won an award in the MyStreetFilms category at the 86 Festival and participated in numerous European film festivals (DOK Leipzig, Ji.Hlava, Cottbus, etc) and was released in Ukrainian cinemas in 2019.
In 2021, she presented her new short film The Territory of Empty Windows at Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, and also screened it in cinemas at Molodist IFF in Kyiv. The international premiere took place at the MakeDox, Northern Macedonia. Finalist of Young Ukrainian Artist (MUHi 2021) competition.
Before the start of a full-scale war of Russia against Ukraine (24/02/22), Zoya lived in Kyiv and worked as an independent artist and documentary filmmaker.
Exhibitions
2025
Cite International Des Arts Montmartre Open Studios, Paris (France)
2024
Warsaw, My Warsaw (Poland)
AFAR: Topography of a Project, Bačva Gallery, Zagreb (Croatia)
A Vessel. A Cage. A Machine. A Temple, Minuszwei, Vienna (Austria)
DE/CODING TEXTILE, Künstlerhaus Vienna (Austria)
Between Farewell and Return, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv (Ukraine)
2023
Recharge and Revolt - Melkweg, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
bak, Utrecht (The Netherlands)
Dig Deep, Slovak Institute in Prague, Prague (Czech)
The International Coalition of cultural workers in solidarity with Ukraine, Dymchuk Gallery, Kyiv (Ukraine)
Chapter III: Water as displacement, Oncurating Project Space, Zurich (Switzerland)
Deadline Ukraine, Kino REX, Bern (Switzerland)
Sun, sun, illuminate the shadows!, Curated by Maryna Shcherbenko, Lisbon (Portugal)
Motorenhalle, Dresden (Germany)
2022
L'ami intérieur - Palais de Tokyo, Paris (France)
"Give Me Tomorrow", Corner of Conceptica, Curated by Maryna Shcherbenko, Lisbon (Portugal)
"Where to go? Where to go?", Window Gallery, Czech Centre Sofia (Together with Shcherbenko Art Centre), Sofia, Bulgaria.
"Chain Reaction", MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome (Italy)
"Film of emergency/ Ukraine experimental film and video art", National Gallery, Sofia (Bulgaria)
"Film of Emergency – Ukrainischer Experimentalfilm und Videokunst", Kunstraum München (Germany)
"Home and Abroad: Central Europe Cinema", Olomouc Museum Of Art, (Czech)
"A War in the Distance. Prologue. An Embattled Ukraine in Video Art and Film", Neue Galerie Graz (Austria)
Gmunden.photo 2022, Gmunden (Austria)
Ukrainian-Georgian Contemporary Art Exhibition "Tomorrow", Literature Museum, Tbilisi (Georgia)
2021
Exhibition by participants in the Grounding residency series, IZONE, Kyiv (Ukraine)
MUHi Exhibition of the finalists of the competition of young Ukrainian artists, M17 Contemporary Art Centre, Kyiv (Ukraine)
2020
#bruederschaft with “Territory of empty windows” short film (10’), hybrid offline (KINO42) and online, Kyiv (Ukraine)
2018
photo project "Trees". AkT space, Kyiv (Ukraine)