Daria Akimenko is a Russian-born PhD student at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland. Her research discusses urban art and design through interventionist practices, their structures, narratives and other formations related to such practices. Daria looks into urban art and design interventionist practices as a tool for communication ideas and stimulating change.

Daria holds a Master’s degree in spatial design and is interested in spaces both as material environments and as vessels for meanings and stories, which prompts her interest in site-specific art interventions. In the artistic project Have You Heard?, she addressed the stories of immigrant communities of the city of Edinburgh. And site-specific intervention Shop Around the Corner in Cork, Ireland, is a reflection upon the memories of the traders from the family-owned shops who have been observing the city space for many generations.

In her artistic practice, Daria works with objects and spaces, as well as with the media of photography, video and animation.

Daria is the art director in creative collective Postmodernsquare that works in film, theatre and cross-disciplinary projects across Europe. The collective is a part of the international FIRESTARTER* Network, a network of organizations and informal groups that work in the social field.