Yana Gaponenko is born in 1988 in Vladivostok, Russia. Holds MA in Philosophy at Far Eastern Federal University with a thesis on policy of poesis. In 2015 she founded Vladivostok school of contemporary art - a self-organized platform for an alternative art education and co-curates its members' art projects. Runs online magazine Neeest on contemporary culture topics within dichotomy 'center vs periphery'. Coordinated the first artist residency in the Russian Far East (Zarya AiR) in 2014-2015 and an open Aidan Salakhova's artist studio in Moscow in 2011-2013. Works as an independent curator researching on topics of collective identity, multiculturalism and discourse of knowledge.