Anastasia Kubrak ◦ is a media scholar, working at the intersection
of environmental media, cultural history and design. She is a lecturer at the
Design Academy Eindhoven in MA Information Design, MA Social Design and BA in Contextual Studies. She holds a PhD in media and cultural studies from the
Basel Academy of Art and Design and the
University of Arts Linz. Previously, she was a doctoral fellow at the
University of Hamburg (2025–2026) and held research positions at the
Critical Media Lab in Basel (2022–2024) and the
Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam (2018–2021).
→ Her ongoing research revolves around lithium, both as a medical substance and as a so-called critical raw material in the EU’s energy transition. Within this framework, she co-curated the exhibition
'Lithium' (2020) at Nieuwe Instituut (NL), co-edited the publication
'Lithium: States of Exhaustion' (ARQ, 2021), and contributed to exhibitions at Bagno Popolare (CH), Venice Architecture Biennale 2023 (IT), Municipal Gallery Porto (PT) and Gallery Hraničář (CZ). Her writing has been published by Intellect Books, Valiz, The Institute of Network Cultures and ARCH+ among other platforms. She also co-founded
aHOUSEforHOME, an architecture and urbanism lab for displaced Ukranian teenagers in the Netherlands.
She holds an MA in Design and Visual Strategies from Sandberg Instituut (2016—2018), and
cum laude BA in Design from Design Academy Eindhoven (2012—2016
).
email instagram ORCID
PUBLICATIONS
‘Fears of Exhaustion, Dreams of Resilience: The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act and the Cínovec Lithium Deposit’, Anastasia Kubrak and Johannes Bruder in
Digital Exhaustion: Burnout, Fatigue, and Overload in the Age of Constant Connectivity, ed. Kopitz, Kviat, Taylor, Sonsul. Intellect Books, 2026.
https://doi.org/10.1386/9781835952504_8
‘Là où il n’y a rien à voir: les fantômes lithinifères de la Bohême’ [Nothing to See, or the Bohemian Ghosts of Lithium], Les Temps qui Restent, Volume 4, Winter (January-March) 2025.
https://lestempsquirestent.org/fr/numeros/numero-4/la-ou-il-n-y-a-rien-a-voir-les-fantomes-lithiniferes-de-la-boheme
‘From Burn-Out to 7UP: On Bathing and Mining Grounds’ in
Lithium: States of Exhaustion, ed. Francisco Diaz, Anastasia Kubrak, Marina Otero Verzier. Ediciones ARQ and Het Nieuwe Instituut, 2021
‘Under Unwritten Terms & Conditions: Situatedness as a Muscle’ in
Design Dedication: Adaptive Mentalities in Design Education, ed. Annelys de Vet. Valiz, 2020
‘User-Agent’ in
IN/Search RE/Search: Imagining Scenarios Through Art and Design, ed. Gabrielle Kennedy. Valiz, 2020
‘Luxury and Paranoia, Access and Exclusion’, with Sander Manse,
ARCH+, Issue 236: Posthuman Architecture, 2019
‘On Reverberations of Feedback Loops’, In conversation with Nicolay Boyadjiev,
The SITE Magazine: Foundations & Disruptions Issue, 2018
‘Luxury and Paranoia, Access and Exclusion’ with Sander Manse,
The Institute of Network Cultures: Longform, 2018
EDITED VOLUMES
Lítio: Estados de Exaustão, ed. Francisco Díaz, Anastasia Kubrak, Marina Otero Verzier, Dafne Editora and Galeria Municipal do Porto, 2023
Lithium: States of Exhaustion, ed. Francisco Diaz, Anastasia Kubrak, Marina Otero Verzier. Ediciones ARQ and Het Nieuwe Instituut, 2021
DAE Graduation Catalogue 2020, ed. Joseph Grima, Colin Keys, Anastasia Kubrak. Design Academy Eindhoven, 2020
CURATED EXHIBITIONS
Bagno Popolare (CH), 2026
Nieuwe Instituut (NL), 2020
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Greylight Projects (NL), 2024
Gallery Hranicar (CZ), 2024
Luxembourg Pavilion x Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), 18th International Architecture Exhibition, Venice Biennale (IT), 2023
Municipal Gallery Porto (PT), 2023
Bureau Europa (NL), 2019
Science Gallery Dublin (IE), 2019
The 4th Istanbul Design Biennial (TR), 2018
Gdynia Design Days (PL), 2018
Seoul Mediacity Biennale (KR), 2018
Sandberg Instituut Graduation Show, De School (NL), 2018
Chaumont Biennale de Design Graphique (FR), 2018
São Paulo International Architecture Biennial (BZ), 2017
Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture Shenzhen (CN), 2017
Van Abbemuseum (NL), 2016
DAE Graduation Show, Dutch Design Week (NL), 2016
Onomatopee (NL), 2016
Natlab: Baltan Laboratories (NL), 2013
LECTURES & TALKS
HfG Karlsruhe (GE)
Kunsthalle Mulhouse (FR)
Galerie Hraničář (CZ)
Fundaziun Nairs (CH)
Critical Media Lab Basel (CH)
Colectivos Pláka (PT)
Municipal Gallery Porto (PT)
Amsterdam Academy of Architecture (NL)
COOP Design Research, Bauhaus Dessau (GE)
VI PER Gallery (CZ)
Milan Salone de Mobile’21 (IT)
Dutch Design Week ‘16, ‘20, ’21 (NL)
VanAbbemuseum (NL)
FAMU Academy of Performing Arts (CZ)
Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design (RU)
Willem de Kooning Academie (NL)
Independent School for the City (NL)
Hackers & Designers Summer Talks (NL)
TAC Eindhoven (NL)
CONFERENCES
Petrocultures, TU Dresden (GE), 2026
Speculating with Lithium Workshop, University of Bern (CH), 2025
Aarhus Summer School in Environmental Humanities and Media, Aarhus University (DK), 2024
Symptoms of the Future: Lithium Mining, Interdisciplinary conference, Gallery Hranicar (CZ), 2024
EASST-4S, Amsterdam (NL), 2024
ESOCITE/4S, Cholula (MX), 2022
Situiert im Globalen: Konflikte, Kosten, Atmosphären, IFK and Kunstuniversität Linz (AT), 2022
DAE Research Festival, Design Academy Eindhoven (NL), 2022
Bauhaus Europe Conference (GE), 2021
ADVISORY COMMITTEES
External Graduation Examiner
MA Transversal Design, Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW (CH), 2026
Research Evaluation Committee for the Academy of Performing and Creative Arts (ACPA),Leiden University (NL), 2024
External Graduation Examiner
BA Graphic Design, ArtEZ University of the Arts, Arnhem (NL), 20
RESIDENCIES
University of Hamburg (GE), 2025-2026
Fundazium Nairs, Scuol (CH), 2023
SELECTED MEDIA FEATURES
Interview. ‘Lithium is slechts een volgend hoofdstuk in het verhaal van planetaire plundering, zegt deze onderzoekster’, Vrij Nederland, N.9, 2023,
https://www.vn.nl/lithium-planetaire-plundering
‘The Human Costs of AI’, Sue Halpern, The New York Review, 2021
‘Staying Alive. A “wunderkammer” of disaster solutions’, We Make Money Not Art, 2018