Sasha Baydal (they/he) defines themselves as an interdependent art worker and an Eastern European kvir. Their practice as a researcher and curator focuses on experiences of displacement and diasporization, the cultural memory of the socialist past and its erasure, while also drawing from their own family history shaped by various forms of mobility. Their work is informed by postcolonial and queer theory, as well as decolonial approaches, and involves daily efforts of recollection, remembrance, and decolonization.
After completing their Master's degree at Paris-Sorbonne University in 2015, Sasha Baydal has been actively engaged in curating and research, developing extensive expertise in the field. They have collaborated with institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, Palais de Tokyo, Cité internationale des arts, and Kadist in Paris; HISK in Ghent; Mudam in Luxembourg; Triangle-Astérides in Marseille; Capc Museum in Bordeaux; Lviv Municipal Art Center in Ukraine; Pickle Bar by Slavs and Tatars in Berlin; and Künstler*innenhaus Büchsenhausen in Innsbruck, among others. Their work spans exhibitions, lectures, workshops, public programs, performances, and writing. In 2021, they co-founded Beyond the post-soviet (Btps), a collective dedicated to producing and sharing knowledges about cultural and geographical regions formerly referred to "post-Soviet" and "post-socialist."
Among Sasha Baydal’s recent activities is the co-curation, alongside Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, of the ongoing traveling exhibition "Déplacements et torrents – Là où le Dnipro et l’Elbe se rencontrent"; their participation in the traveling exhibition "Borders Are Nocturnal Animals / Sienos yra naktiniai gyvūnai" (curated by Neringa Bumblienė and Émilie Villez) as a member of Btps; and their contribution to "After the End. The Forum on Imagining with Others" at Palais de Tokyo, and a residency at Secant Space in Istanbul in spring 2025. They are also co-curating, with Chantal Pontbriand, the next edition of SPHERE(S), which will be presented in Montreal in 2026 in collaboration with Fonderie Darling.
Photo: Maurine Tric © Adagp, Paris, 2024
