Lecture by Ellen Loots “How Is an Artistic Career Built? Paths, Strategies and Opportunities” with the participation of Oleksandra Pogrebnyak

On Friday, September 11 at 6:30 PM, we invite you to a lecture by Ellen Loots “How Is an Artistic Career Built? Paths, Strategies and Opportunities” with the participation of Oleksandra Pogrebnyak, as part of the public programme accompanying the exhibition “Self-Employed.”

The event will take place on the 6th floor of PinchukArtCentre. With the opportunity to join via Zoom if you`re in another city.
Free admission with prior registration. Places are limited.

Event languages: English and Ukrainian

• Why is an artistic career rarely linear — and is that even a problem?
• Freelancing, teaching, commercial projects — how do artists combine multiple sources of income, and what impact does this have on their practice?
• Can entrepreneurial thinking be developed, and what role does it play in an artist’s life?

During the lecture, cultural economics researcher Ellen Loots will explore different trajectories of artistic careers — from entering the art world and working as a freelancer to combining artistic practice with teaching, commercial projects, and other forms of employment. Drawing on international research into artists’ labour and earnings, she will show what economic, institutional, and market conditions shape different career paths. Curator Oleksandra Pogrebnyak will share her experience of working with artists, including through the PinchukArtCentre Prize and the Future Generation Art Prize, and speak about how career trajectories look from within a local arts environment.

Following the lecture, there will be an open discussion where participants can ask questions, share thoughts, and deepen the conversation.

About the speakers:

Ellen Loots is an Associate Professor of Cultural Economics and Entrepreneurship at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Her research interests encompass the role of art and culture in processes of transformation across different sectors of the cultural and creative economy — from the visual and performing arts to fashion and the game industry.

Oleksandra Pogrebnyak is a curator at the PinchukArtCentre in Kyiv, Ukraine. Oleksandra is drawn to working with the current and next generations of artists from Ukraine and around the world, engaging shared historical and political realities through intimate, sensory, and deeply personal perspectives. She has curated several notable exhibitions in Ukraine and internationally, including “Dare to Dream” (2024), an international group exhibition presented as an official collateral event of the 60th La Biennale di Venezia, co-curated with Björn Geldhof and Ksenia Malykh; a group exhibition of artists nominated for the Future Generation Art Prize 2024, together with Inga Lāce and Daria Shevtsova; and a group exhibition of the PinchukArtCentre Prize in 2022 and in 2025. Her recent exhibition “Still Joy”, co-curated with Björn Geldhof, is presented as an official collateral event of the 61st La Biennale di Venezia.