Thesis: Home and Exile: Russian Artists Reflecting the Soviet Past
Supervisor: Professor Sarah Wilson
Centered on contemporary art, my research explores visual practices that offer a significant space for independent reflection on conflicted past. This study investigates the conceptual art of Russian ‘generation of postmemory’ artists who engage with and address the Soviet past. They lack direct experience of adult life in the Soviet Union, but are still preoccupied by “the inheritance of overwhelming memories” which has been passed down through generations. It analysis visual practices across various media that respond to the historical challenges of post-WWII, Perestroika, the dissolution of the USSR, and current wartime scenario. This will be compared with socialist realist art and nonconformist artists of the 1970s and 80s who lived in the Soviet Union, the part of the heritage that younger generations reflect upon. This duality of the generation gap and a historical repetition—the issues of lost home and exile—diaspora is also an aspect of my research. The study aims to show the process of new post-Soviet identity-building, rooted in identification with the Soviet past (which also includes denial). This research will broaden the understanding of post-Soviet art and shape a fresh framework by bringing new names, terminology and questions to the related fields.
Education
2021–present: PhD Candidate, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London
2018-2019: MA Contemporary Art Theory, Goldsmiths, University of London, London
2009-2014: Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow
Research Interests
- Post-Soviet Contemporary Art
- Intergenerational dialogue between Conceptualism, Nonconformism and the ‘generation of post memory’
- Memory Studies, and Postmemory
- Art criticism and Curation
Teaching
Teaching Assistant, ‘Foundations 2: Physical Histories’, The Courtauld Institute of Art (Autumn-Winter 2024)
Conferences & Criticism
Conferences & Talks
‘Pavel Otdelnov: Reimagining the Soviet Memory,’ panel Virtual, Real, and Decolonized, 56th Annual ASEEES Convention, virtual (October 2024)
‘Girl on Girl: Ways of Seeing (Impressionism)’, Gallery Talk, The Courtauld Gallery (July 2024)
‘Russian Artists in Exile: Representation of the Soviet Past In Industrial Ruinscapes’, Year Two PhD Symposium, Courtauld Institute of Art, London (May 2024)
‘Haunted Soviet: Postmemory and the Resonance of a Toxic Past in Contemporary Russian Art’, panel Resisting Imperialism through Decolonisation, BASEES, Cambridge (April 2024)
‘Politics of Remembering: Rethinking the Soviet Past in Contemporary Post-Socialist Art,’ MA CAT Symposium, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, June 4, 2019
‘Outsider Art in The Context of Contemporary Art. “Production” of Alex Khatkevich,’ Ariadne Thread Conference, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow (November 2016)
‘Magic Realism in the Work of Andrew Wyeth,’ Lomonosov International Conference, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow (April 2014)
‘Tragic Landscape in works of Caspar David Friedrich’, Kiev International Conference, Taras Shevchenko National University, Kiev (April 2012)
Publications & Criticism
Review of ´73-23´ exhibition, ‘Russian Artists Exiled in a Loop,’ Art Focus Now (December 2023)
Artist profile, ‘Granova wrestles with the Soviet past,’ Art Focus Now (September 2023)
The Art Newspaper Russia, selected publications (2021-2022)
Iskusstvo, selected publications (2017-2018)
Moscow Art Magazine, selected publications (2017-2019)
Konyushikhina, Elena. Play “Behind Closed Eyes.” In the Start II: Images Into Words (Magazine by the class of Kimberly Bradley), edited by Andrea Kopranovic, 37–45. Salzburg: Summer Academy, 2017.
Konyushikhina, Elena. “Anton Mauve. Sheep in the Forest.” In The Last Quarter: An Alternative Guide to the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, edited by Dieter Roelstraete, 21. Moscow: V-A-C, 2017.
Ganicheva, Varvara, Konyushikhina, Elena, and Smoliakova, Ekaterina. Art Nouveau Furniture. Catalogue. Moscow: Art Deco Museum, 2015.
Konyushikhina, Elena.“Feminism Concept.” In the Actual vocabulary of Feminist Art, edited by Ilmira Bolotyan and Maria Vinnik, 130-133. Moscow: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, 2015.
Curatorial Projects
Founder of Youtube channel plateau, London-Moscow (2019–2020)
The Family Archive, Theater am Steg, Baden, Austria (May-June 2018)
Alex Khatkevich: 44 Glass Syringes with Novocain, Triangle Independent Curatorial Studio, Moscow (June 2016)
Voices, A3 Gallery, Moscow (October–November 2015)
Additional projects
Femme F(r)iction, Academy Mansion, New York (May 2023), research, editing and writing
Inside the Vortices. Olya Leontieva, 25 Kadr Gallery, Moscow (November–February 2020)
Mementos, Deptford Does Art, London (June 2019)
Sleep In The Red Tower. Solo exhibition of Evgeniya Nozhkina. 25 Kadr Gallery, Moscow (January-February 2019)
About Me, Please, About Me, 25 Kadr Gallery, Moscow, 6th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art. Parallel program (July 2018)
Starting Point, CCI Fabrica, Moscow, 5th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art. Parallel program, Moscow (July 2016)
Happy New Year! Solo show, Alexander Anoufriev. Triangle Independent Curatorial Studio, Moscow (December 2015)
Good Night, Vadim Sidur Museum, Moscow (May 2015)
Academic Service
Co-organiser, The Courtauld Second Year PhD Symposium, The Courtauld Institute of Art, 7 May 2024
Co-organiser, Workshop on Writing Abstracts and Delivering Presentations with Josie Dixon, The Courtauld Institute of Art, 3 May 2024
Awards & Grants
- Courtauld Scholarship (2022-2024)
- Courtauld Travel Grant (2024)
- Association for Art History Scholarly Research Grant (2023)
- Chevening Scholarship (2018-2019)
- International Summer Academy of Fine Arts Scholarship, Salzburg (2017)
- Travel Grant, Moscow Goethe Institute, Berlin (2016)
