© Maria Kardash; photo — Oksana Pohrebennyk

In this conversation, we meet Mariia Kardash, a participant in the FOCUS INTERNATIONAL Ukraine program, whose practise weaves through performance, research, and cultural practice across borders. Here is her story, shaped by movement, curiosity, and a deep engagement with the cultural landscape around her.

Who are you? What was your practice like before joining the FOCUS INTERNATIONAL Ukraine program?

I am a performing artist and dance anthropologist. The focus of my work is on the human body in motion — I practice and research dance, approaching it not only as an aesthetic expression or physical activity but as a cultural phenomenon that carries social and political weight. My professional life embraces both academic and creative projects, sometimes expanding into cultural management and parallel art fields, as during my internship at Office Ukraine Graz and here at Galerie St. Barbara.

Originally from Izmail in the southern Odesa region, I’ve been nomading around Europe since 2018 and have lived in Norway, France, the UK, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia for work and studies. Looks like I’m nomading around Austria now: I’ve been based here since 2024 and have already lived in Vienna, Graz, and Innsbruck.

What were your main responsibilities at Musik+ / Galerie St. Barbara?

My internship at Galerie St. Barbara fell during a calm period at the end of the 2024/2025 musical season, so I didn’t have that many active tasks and could dedicate more time to exploring the history and guiding principles of Galerie St. Barbara and its key initiatives: Osterfestival Tirol and the Musik+ events programme.

While the Osterfestival had already ended by the time of my arrival, I still got the chance to work at four Musik+ events in May and June. My main role was to support the organisational processes and assist at the events: preparing venues, welcoming guests, and helping with logistics. Besides that, I also contributed to various office tasks and wrote texts — all while getting to know the institution’s background and learning how it functions.

How could you contribute with your knowledge and skills to the institution itself?

I’ve found a point of connection to Galerie St. Barbara through my experience in Performing Arts from both sides of the curtain: on stage and backstage. Even before my life took a nomadic turn, I used to organise small-scale dance events in Ukraine and later took coordinating roles in theatrical and interdisciplinary projects abroad. This experience helped me to support the musical evenings during my internship.

As a cultural scholar, I’m also interested in the history of art initiatives and their role in shaping the sociocultural landscape — especially one as long-established as Galerie St. Barbara. My curiosity led me to investigate materials from earlier editions of the Osterfestival, digitise them, and compose a text about the festival based on what I discovered. Not to a lesser extent, my understanding of the festival’s legacy and its evolving vision — which I translated into the above-mentioned text — was shaped through the many fruitful conversations I had with the Galerie St. Barbara team.

What are you taking with you from the traineeship?

Of course, among the important outcomes are the practical experience and understanding of the work processes within a cultural association, as well as behind performative public events of varying complexity. But there is something beyond that — and it’s my deepened relationship with contemporary classical music, which for me became the main artistic medium to focus on during these two months.

Now I approach music in the same way as I do dance: as a product of historical context, reflecting the epoch from which it emerged (and that’s a perspective I’m taking further into my dance studies). Moreover, my movement practice has always been informed by its connection with music — as a ritual of attentive ‘listening’ and finding the immediate response in my body — and I feel that I left the internship with an enhanced ability to listen and quickly immerse into a state that sound dictates.

Speaking of immersion: this deep dive into Tyrol’s cultural life brought many experiences and connections. Being among other creatives, observing what they do and the art they make, ultimately strengthens my artistic voice. And that, in the end, is what matters most to me.

Stay tuned for more interviews with participants of FOCUS INTERNATIONAL Ukraine Program!