Elena Ishchenko Curator, researcher, activist
Elena Ishchenko

2024–2025

Curator of Nomadic Program , Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Art  Middelburg, the Netherlands

Part of Typography Collective

Recent Projects

2024–2025

Repetition is a Form of Changing. Nomadic Program for Vleeshal CCA (Middelburg, the Netherlands) with events in various places around the globe

2023–ongoing

Archive of repressions against cultural workers in Russia, non-public

ongoing

Empires will die , personal blog in  Telegram

Education

2014

Moscow State University, MA Journalism & Art Criticism

Positions

2017–2022

Program Curator at Typography Center for Contemporary Art Krasnodar, Russia

2019–2022

Lecturer at Krasnodar State Institute of Culture Krasnodar, Russia

2015–2017

Research fellow at Garage Museum of Contemporary Art M oscow, Russia

2012–2019

Editor and Contributor at aroundart.org

Residencies, Fellowships, Grants

2023

artasfoundation Summer School Divided Societies  Zurich, Switzerland 

2022

 Foundation for Arts Initiatives — Grant  New York, USA

Goethe-Istitut Stabilisation Fund — Grant  Germany

2021

ArtsLink Assembly  Fellow, CEC Artslink New York, USA

2020

Pro Helvetia Fast Forward Grant Switzerland

2019

Residency Unlimited New York, USA

Curating and Research

2023

Өmә  exhibition and public program nGbK at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, Germany

2022–2023

KICA-2023  — Educational Course Online

Emergency Stipend Fund by Goethe-Institut

Training Fantasia  — Festival & Exhibition Typography CCA, Krasnodar, Russia

Radical Reveries — Research project by Kafe-Morozhenoe group for the exhibition “Assuming Distance: Speculations, Fakes, and Predictions in the Age of the Coronacene” Garage Museum, Moscow, Russia

2020

League of Tenders Annual Meeting & Laboratory Anapa region, Krasnodar krai, Russia

Elena Kolesnikova. Voskhod Cooperative Typography CCA,  Krasnodar , Russia

Ilona Marti. Beyond Vision Typography CCA, Krasnodar, Russia

2019

Curatorial Courses — School for Researchers and Organizers Typography CCA, Krasnodar, Russia

League of Tenders Annual Meeting & Laboratory Various venues, Krasnodar, Russia

Elena Kolesnikova. Odnushk a Novo-Molokovo, Moscow, Russia

2018

Artur Zmijewski. Realism Typography CCA, Krasnodar, Russia

SUPERCOVER Typography CCA, Krasnodar, Russia

Working Group — Identity Department Typography CCA, Krasnodar, Russia

ZIP Group. Crystal Tiger Zarya Center for Contemporary Art, Vladivostok, Russia

2017

Between Fatigue: Towards the New Forms of Life Parallel program of 4th Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art Ekaterinburg, Russia

2015–2017

Open Systems. Self-Organized Art Initiatives in Russia: 2000–2015 — Research, conference, series of exhibitions in Moscow, Ekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, and Samara Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia

Teaching and Lectures

2023

Workshop of Ideas: After Geographies (with Stas Shärifulla)  Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Basel FHNW Basel, Switzerland

2023

Counter/Monuments: (Russian) Colonial Violence  / Lecture  GAK Bremen, Germany

2022–2023

Decolonial approach in curating  / Course for Practice of Curating, BBE Education 

KICA-2023  / Online Educational Course 

2022

Decolonistion of Russian federation for Russian-speaking NGO workers and volunteers in Germany, organised by BVRE e.V. Eitorf, Germany

Discourse Lab at Urvakan Festival Yerevan, Armenia

Approaching sustainable curating / Course for program Basics of Curating, Moscow School of Contemporary Art M oscow, Russia and online 

2021

Institutional critic today / Course for Sound Art department at Higher School of Economics M oscow, Russia

2020

City/Context. Contemporary Art Projects and Interaction with a City / Workshop  Zheleznogorsk, Russia

2018

How to Write about Contemporary Art? Urals Branch of National Center for Contemporary Art, Ekaterinburg, Russia

Self-organising Communities / Lecture   Zarya Center for Contemporary Art, Vladivostok, Russia

Counter/Monuments: (Russian) Colonial Violence — Documentation of a Lecture /  publicsandpublishings.org

2021

From self-organization to self-exploitation and back — Book Chapter for Open Systems: Self-Organized Art Initiatives in Russia, 2000–2020 . — Moscow: Garage Museum, 2021 ( excerpt is available in rus )

2020

How to Break — Article /  garagemca.org

“Odnushka” as a Museum — Article for the Book “Novo‑Molokovo. Podmoskovye. The artists' residence at “Odnushka” and a sculptural project in public space.” — Moscow: Austrian Cultural Forum Moscow, 2020 ( pdf eng

2019

Krasnodar — Article for Nemoskva Project ( pdf rus )

2018

Alexander Bazhenov. Keyword Search / Yekaterinburg: National Center for Contemporary Art

2017

The Gap for Utopia — Article for the Book “ZIP Group. ZIP Workers’ Club Station.” / Moscow: Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art ( pdf rus & eng )

Garage Triennial: does Moscow’s new contemporary art showpiece represent the “real” Russia? / Calvert Journal

2016

Why the Future is Self-Organized / aroundart.org

Talks and Expertise

2024

Kitchen Respondent for DAI students — Dutch Art Institute  

2023

Creative Protect — Research, Series of Meetings and Hackathon organized by Goethe-Institut 

2021

CETKA Project Meeting  Yerevan, Armenia

2021, 2017

Member of Advisory Board of Present Continuous program, V-A-C Foundation (Moscow) and M HKA — Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp (Belgium) 

2020

Sustainable presence. (Un)sustainable development / Conference at 48-hours Novosibirsk Festival CK19, Novosibirsk, Russia

2019

Elena Ishchenko in conversation with Amanda Parmer : the talk on self-organized communities Residency Unlimited, New Yor k, USA