About

Ukrainian art journalism is a series of episodic trials and errors. Ukrainian art media are forced to rely on themselves and to move thanks to the tireless editors and generous gestures of patrons. This state of the art media fully corresponds to the state of the artistic sphere. Perhaps Ukraine will never have its own ArtNews or Frieze, just as there will never be a MoMA or Tate (are they possible and necessary in a country deprived of first-world privileges?). Instead, we will always have niche, ultra-niche, and simply small and die-hard media, driven more by lively curiosity than analysis, and valuing authors' freedom and voices more than proven style and perfect branding.

ArtsLooker is one of those media. It is important for us to give artists a sense of visibility and recognition for their work. It is important for us to follow the art process so that it is easier for society to recognize and appreciate its activity and richness. It is important for us to keep in touch with Ukrainian art in Ukraine and the world.

ArtsLooker has existed since 2016. During this time, we've changed our style, approach, and method, but we haven't changed our vector — we're looking at Ukrainian art to tell the world what we've seen and to create a productive discourse and a lively buzz of voices around it.

We value the authors’ honesty and style and try not to interfere with their vision, edit gently, and interpret accessibly. Our main task is to strengthen Ukrainian art. We do not support violence, xenophobia, misogyny, and other forms of chauvinism and do not tolerate such views in our work. As an English-language media outlet, we do not attempt to sound like native English speakers but instead value Eastern European English and other forms of non-native English as authentic and agentic. When we make mistakes, we always correct them. We use memes, surzhyk, slang, and, when necessary, dad puns.