Maria Mileeva

Maria Mileeva is a Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Art at The Courtauld Institute of Art, specializing in Soviet and Post-Soviet art and culture. Her research explores cultural policies, socialist realism, and transnational artistic exchanges between the USSR and regions like the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. She holds a PhD from The Courtauld (2011) and has taught at UCL and the European University in St. Petersburg.

She co-directs the Cambridge Courtauld Russian Art Centre (CCRAC) and co-convenes PPV, an art research platform. Recent projects include curating PiraMMMida.life (2020) and The Palace of Ritual (2019), both engaging with post-Soviet art and politics. Her work bridges postcolonial theory, decolonial narratives, and the intersection of art with imperial and anti-imperialist movements.

Publications focus on Soviet art networks, Cold War cultural diplomacy, and the material culture of everyday life. She supervises PhD students and teaches courses on global constructivism, postcolonialism, and socialist art politics.