Daria Pugachova is a multidisciplinary artist, performer, and activist from Rivne, Ukraine, now based in Bulgaria. In her projects, Daria uses participatory practices to unite communities and integrate art into everyday life. She studied architecture at the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture. From 2013 to 2019, she was a member of the female indie trio Panivalkova, which gained significant recognition across Ukraine and Europe.

Since 2019, Daria has been working with performance and socially engaged art in public spaces, incorporating video, installation, and storytelling into her projects. She moves across disciplines and spaces — from outside to inside, from public venues to galleries. Her artistic approach is rooted in presence, participation, and direct contact with audiences.

In 2022, Daria received the State of the Art(ist) prize at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria. She was also a finalist of the Circa x Dazed Class and the winner of the Piccadilly Lights Prize. Her film Microcosmos (2021–2022), portraying life in the Ukrainian neighborhood of Polovky in Poltava, was showcased at Piccadilly Lights in London, as well as in Seoul, Berlin, and Melbourne. Over the past four years, she has participated in residencies in Bulgaria, Austria, Norway, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Belgium, Azerbaijan, and the US.

In 2023, Daria was invited to the Vienna World Conference 30 Years On: Our Rights – Our Future, where she presented her performance I Will Close the Sky So You Could Breathe (2022) at the Leopold Museum. One of her major performances, Cities of War (2023), took place in front of the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague during the hearing on Russia’s genocide crimes in Ukraine. In 2024, this project was nominated for the Inspire Art Award by the Peace Research Institute (Oslo) and presented at the Nitja Centre for Contemporary Art (Lillestrøm).

In 2024, Daria visited the US for the first time as a CEC ArtsLink resident. She engaged with communities in Houston, creating performances in collaboration with local artists and presenting her work at the Blaffer Art Museum. As part of this trip, she also visited Brandeis University in Boston, which led her to become a mentor for student projects as part of the Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation (CAST) program in 2025.

Daria believes in the transformative power of art and its ability to create change through action, vision and faith. She is not tied to a specific material or medium, allowing her vision to manifest as performance, music, exhibition, or film. Within her work, Daria creates space for collective healing, dreaming, and renewal — turning the wounds of society into gentle acts of freedom.