Olga Tobreluts

Olga Tobreluts (; December 3, 1970) is a contemporary painter and multi-media artist.

Life and work

Olga Tobreluts was born on December 3, 1970, in the Murino village, Leningrad Oblast, USSR. In 1988 she graduated from the Leningrad College of Architecture and the following year she entered the Faculty of Architecture at the Leningrad State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering. She attended the Leningrad Academy of Arts as a free student.

In 1989, Tobreluts created the Laboratory for the Study of Ornament at the "A-Z" Society in Leningrad. In 1989-1990 she worked in the Evgeny Ditrich Architectural Bureau in Saint Petersburg. In 1991-1993 Tobreluts studied at the "ART+COM" Institute in Berlin. She pioneered the use of digital media in the Russian art scene. The art critic Bruce Sterling called her "Helen of Troy equipped with a video camera and a computer".

Olga Tobreluts was a leading member of Timur Novikov’s "New Academicians" active in Saint Petersburg during the 1990s. In 1994, she became a professor in the Department of new technologies in this association. In 1998, Tobreluts opened the center for the study of photography at the "Mama" club. In 2012, she founded the non-profit organisation "Saint Petersburg New Academy". After the death of Timur Novikov, Tobreluts acted as curator of many exhibitions dedicated to St. Petersburg neo-academic art. From 2019 she is a member of Pacsa Art Community. Lives and works in Saint Petersburg, Budapest and Pacsa.

Awards 1993. Award of First International Art Forum of computer art «Graphikon» for the video «Woe from Wit», Saint Petersburg, Russia 1995. The Audience Sympathy Award, Kwangju Biennale, Kwangju, South Korea 1995. First prize in «Videovision» for the video «Woe from Wit» on the Third Reality, International Forum of computer art, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1995. The Audience Sympathy Award on the exhibition of the New Academy of Fine Arts, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1998. International Award for the video art «The Manifest of Neoakademism», Karlsruhe, Germany 1998. Second Prize, «Best European Computer Graphics», GRIFFELKUNST Festival, Hamburg, Germany 2000. Art of the Future, Taipei, Taiwan 2014. Award of President of the Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow, Russia 2016. First Prize, Lenstar Lenticular Print Award, Düsseldorf, Germany within DRUPA, the world largest printing equipment exhibition 2021. Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Award for Best Visual Art Project, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Works in collections

Source: Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom Bornholm Art Museum, Bornholm, Denmark The Parkview Museum, Beijing-Singapore Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary Déri Museum, Debrecen, Hungary Corfu Heritage Foundation, Corfu, Greece Art Center, Erfurt, Germany National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow, Russia The Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, Moscow, Russia GAS Galleria, Bologna, Italy UVG (Ural Vision Gallery), Ekaterinburg, Russia Gasunie Foundation, Groningen Museum, Netherlands Ibsen Foundation, Oslo, Norway Kaliningrad State Art Gallery, Kaliningrad, Russia Mario Testino Foundation, Lima, Peru Museum GRIFFELKUNST, Hamburg, Germany Museum of the New Academy of Fine Arts, Saint Petersburg, Russia Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Center, Saint Petersburg, Russia Martiniplaza Collection, Groningen, Netherlands Moscow House of Photography, Moscow, Russia Aslan Chekhoyev New Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia Nizhni Tagil Museum of Fine Arts, Nizhni Tagil, Russia Galleria d’arte moderna Achille Forti, Verona, Italy Revoltella Museum, Triest, Italy The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia The Museum of Political History of Russia, Saint Petersburg, Russia Wolfgang Joop Foundation, Germany Bonn Women's Museum, Bonn, Germany

Selected Solo Exhibitions Source: 1993. Woe from Wit. First International Forum of Computer Art, Grafikon, Exploratory Laboratory, Moscow, Russia 1994. Emperor Reflections. Exhibition of computer photographes. Ethnographic Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1995. Planetarium, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1995. Videoinstallation «Third Reality», within Videovision festival and SCARP exhibition. 1995. Emperor Reflections. Aidan Gallery, Moscow, Russia 1996. Trends in photographs. Small Manege, Moscow, Russia 1996. Computer Art. New Academy of Fine Arts, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1996. Computer Photographs. New Academy of Fine Arts, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1996. Olga Tobreluts. Photocenter, Copenhagen, Denmark 1997. Photographs. Mixed Media. ARTKIOSK, Brussels, Belgium 1998. Odisseus. Aidan Gallery, Moscow, Russia 1998. Family Portrait. Kochubei Palace, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1999. Models. Photo Art Centre, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1999. Latest works. With P.M.M.K. Ostende Art Kiosk, Belgium 1999. Models. Photogallery of Turku, Finland 1999. Labours of Hercules. Gallo-Roman Museum, Brussels, Belgium 1999. Mixed Media. The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia (with catalog) 1999. Fear of O.T., Gallery 21, Pushkinskaya 10 Art Centre. FNO project, Saint Petersburg, Russia (with catalog) 2000. Sommarustillinga, Sacred Figures. Seljord Kunstforening, Norway (with catalog) 2000. Allegory. Freud Dream Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2001. Tobreluts. Gallery of Contemporary Art, San Marino 2001.Dream of Alexander the Great. Freud Dream Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2001. Olga Tobreluts. Galerie der Gegenwart, Wiesbaden, Germany 2002. Abstract Landscape. Fotoimage Gallery, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2003. Sacred Figures. Orel Art Gallery, Paris, France 2003. Emperor and Galilean. The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia (with catalog) 2003. Emperor and Galilean. Henie Onstad Art Center, Oslo, Norway (with catalog) 2003. Art Digital. MARS Centre of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia 2008. Tarquin and Lucretia. Zelinsky Museum, Kaunas, Lithuania 2008. Olga Tobreluts. Nizny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts, Nizny Tagil, Russia 2012. Pieta and Resurrection. Orel Art Gallery, Paris, France 2012. New Mythology. AP Contemporary, Hong Kong 2012. New Mythology. Church of Santa Maria dei Battuti, San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy (with catalog) 2013. Exhibition of drawings and presentation of illustrations for the book by Kira Sapgir 2013. Exhibition of drawings and presentation of illustrations for the book by Alexander Borovsky «Art History For Dogs», National Center for Contemporary Art (NCCA), Moscow, Russia 2013. «Troo-Lya-Lya’s Bag», Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia 2013. Exhibition of drawings and presentation of illustrations for the book by Kira Sapgir 2013. New Mythology. Koltsovo Airport, Ekaterinburg, Russia 2013. Modernisation. MUHKA Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerpen, Belgium 2013. New Mythology. Ural Vision Gallery, Ekaterinburg, Russia 2013. New Mythology. VISIVA Museum, Rome, Italy 2013. Contemporary Russian Women Artists. The Women's Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, United Kingdom, curated by Edward Lucie-Smith 2013. New Mythology. Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia (with catalog) 2015. New Mythology. County Museum, Rovinj, Croatia 2015. New Mythology. Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston, Texas, United States 2015. Heaven Landscapes. Name Gallery, within the parallel program of Manifesta 10, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2015. New Abilities. Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston, Texas, United States 2017. New Mythology. Műcsarnok Kunsthalle, Budapest, Hungary (with catalog) 2018. Mythology Reloaded. MODEM, Center for Modern and Contemporary Art, Debrecen, Hungary (with catalog) 2018. Pieta and Resurrection. Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston, Texas, United States 2019. Republic of North Macedonia, Venice Biennale, Italy (with catalog). Curated by Zsolt Petranyi 2019. Transcoded Structures — Before and After Media in Abstraction. OSTEN Pavilion of the 2020. Back on Bornholm. Bornholm Kunstmuseum, Bornholm, Denmark (with catalog) 2023. New Mytho logy. Estonian National Museum (ERM), Tartu, Estonia (with catalog)

Selected Group Exhibitions Source: Selected Group Exhibitions 1989. Exhibition of miniatures. Museum of Miniatures, Toronto, Canada 1991. Palace Bridge Museum, Leningrad, USSR 1992. Graphicon 92. Мoscow, Russia 1992. Antigraph. VDNKH, Moscow, Russia 1992. Palace Bridge Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1993. Art Myth. First performance of Woe from Wit. Grand Manege, Moscow, Russia 1994. III Saint Petersburg Biennale, Manege, The Central Exhibition Hall, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1994. Renaissance and Resistance. The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1994. Self-identification. Kiel, Berlin, Oslo, Sopot, Saint Petersburg, Copenhagen 1995. The Passion of Luka, SCCA Annual Exhibition, Marble Palace, The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1995. The Third Reality, International Forum of computer art. Saint Petersburg, Russia 1995. Kwangju Biennale, Kwangju, South Korea, Audience Sympathy Award 1995. Videovision festival and SCARP exhibition. Planetarium, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1996. Saint Petersburg — 1995. Manege, The Central Exhibition Hall, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1996. Photobiennale 96. Grand Manege, Moscow, Russia 1996. The Department of Contemporary Art: First Five Years. Benois Wing, The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1996. Museum of the New Academy. Reserve Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1996. CONCEPT, International Exhibition of Contemporary Photography. Zagreb, Croatia 1996. Idylle und Katastrophe. Erfurt, Germany 1996. Trends and Photography. Small Manege, Moscow, Russia 1996. Interaction: Chance Visions, SCCA Annual Exhibition. Saint Petersburg, Russia 1996. Metaphern des Entrucktseins. Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany 1997. Family Portrait, within Months of Photography. St. Paul's Cathedral, Bratislava, Slovakia. 1997. The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1997. Alternative Museum, together with Brian Eno's installation «The Light», Marble Palace, 1997. Last Five Years. The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 1997. Neoacademism. The State Museum «Pavlovsk», Saint Petersburg, Russia 1997. New Russian Classicism, special project within Art Manege, Moscow, Russia 1997. The Cabinet. New Russian Classicism. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1998. Unintentional Sinners. Publishing house «Arguments and Facts», Moscow, Russia 1998. Photography from Saint Petersburg, Centre of Photography, Turku, Finland 1998. Aufbruch, Die Neue Russische Fotografie. Erholungshaus der Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany 1998. Best European Digital Photo, Museum Griffelkunst, Hamburg, Germany 1998. II International Photobiennale. Moscow, Russia 1998. The Break. New Russian Photography. Cologne, Germany 1998. Photography from Sain Petersburg. Praha, Czech Republic 1998. Family Portrait. NYC ACM SIGGRAPH, New York, United States 1998. Neoakademiska photo. Arzemju Makslas Musejs, Riga, Latvia 1999. Fauna. National Center of Contemporary Art (NCCA), Moscow, Russia 1999. Kunst & Computer. Altonaer Museum, Hamburg, Germany 1999. Photo Festival in Nice. Photo Centre, Nice, France 1999. After the Wall. Modern Art Museum, Stockholm, Sweden 1999. Heaven. Düsseldorf Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Germany 1999. Classicism Today. Ostende Museum, Belgium 1999. Heaven. Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom 2000. «Contemporary Art in the Traditional Museum» Festival, «Quiet Life» project. Stieglitz Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2000. Museum named Surikov, Kemerovo Regional Museum of Fine Arts, Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Russia 2000. Space of Tradition, travelling exhibition. Tomsk Museum of Fine Arts, Krasnoyarsk Art 2000. Millenium. Tauride Palace and Diaghilev Art Center, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2000. Grani, Russian Short Film Festival, Kurgan Regional Museum, Kurgan, Russia 2000. Art 2000. New Kunst from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev. Kunstverein Rosenheim, Rosenheim, Germany 2000. Artistic will. One hundred years of struggle in art. Kshesinskaya Palace, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2000. Odysseus, traveling exhibition. Norwegian museums 2000. Art Forum. Berlin, Germany 2000. The Heirs of Sparta, New Russian Classicism. Sinebrychoff Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland 2000. Russisk Neoakademisme. Bornholm Kunstmuseum, Bornholm, Denmark 2001. Out of control. Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia 2001. Russisk Neoakademisme. Kunstmuseum, Rotterdam, Netherlands 2001. Grani, travelling exhibition. National Centre of Contemporary Art, Nizhnii Novgorod, Kirov, Yoshkar-Ola, Izhevsk, Russia 2001. Sybaris. Baltic Contemporary Art Biennale 2001. Rotterdam 2001 — Saint Petersburg 2003. Gallery Koffie Verkeert, Rotterdam, Netherlands 2001. Beauty & Erotism. Gasunie Foundation, Groningen, Netherlands 2001. Abstraction in Russia. The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2001. Kunst from Saint Petersburg. Museum of Contemporary Art, Tallinn, Estonia 2002. Russian Art in XX—XXI centuries, travelling exhibition. Krasnoyarsk, Nizhnii Novgorod, Tolyatti 2002. Photobiennale. The Grand Manege, Moscow, Russia 2002. She Art, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia 2002. Snowgirl. Zacheta National Gallery, Warshawa and National Centre of Contemporary Arts, Moscow, Russia 2002. Die Griechische Klassik idee oder Wirklichkeit. Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin 2002. Artist of Ideal. Palazzo Forti, Verona, Italy 2002. Doll's House. Henie Onstad Art Center, Oslo, Norway 2002. Russian Symbolism. Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany 2002. Emperor and Galilean, special project within Art Moscow. Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia 2003. Emperor and Galilean. Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, Norway 2003. The Rave in Europe, together with Georgy Gurianov. Luke&A Gallery, London, United Kingdom 2003. Beautiful and ugly. Olga Tobreluts and Hermann Nitsch. Long&Ryle Gallery, London, United Kingdom 2003. Touch me. Anna Akhmatova's Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2003. Imagerie Art Fashion. Museum Revoltella, Italy 2003. D’Apres ‒ Da Anzinger a Warhol. Galleria GAS, Bologna, Italy 2003. Neue Ansatze. Düsseldorf, Kunsthalle, Germany 2003. Collection Ludwig Museum in the Russian State Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2003. Eva, Venus, Madonna. Gemeente Maasmechelen, Belgium 2003. The Fourth Sex: Extreme Territory of Adolescence. Stazione Leopolda, Florence, Italy, curated by Franchesco Bonami and Ralf Simons 2003. Foreign Visions. Löwenpalais, Berlin, Germany and Museum Contemporary Art, Skopie, Republic of North Macedonia 2003. Photographic Print Exposition, Los Angeles, United States 2003. Sacred Figures project, within Photo Los Angeles, The XII International Los Angeles 2004. «TRANSVERSALISTES RUSSES». Orel Art Gallery, Paris, France 2004. «54 International», Palazzo Pretura, Italy 2004. ...And woman created man. Espace Paris Jeunes Belleville, Paris, France, curated by Francis Parent 2004. Art and Geography. The National Museum of Art, Oslo, Norway 2004. Ideal and Reality. GAS Galleria, Bologna, Italy 2004. Ekaterina. Bonn Women's Museum, Bonn, Germany 2004. Il Nudo. Galleria Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy, curated by Peter Weermaer 2004. Photobiennale. Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art (MMOMA), Moscow, Russia 2004. Kandinsky e la anima Russia. Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Palazzo Forti, Verona, Italy 2004. Days of Flight. 100 paintings from the State Tretyakov Gallery, Yaroslavl Art Museum, Yaroslavl, Russia 2004. La creazione ansiosa. De Picasso a Bacon, Palazzo Forti, Verona, Italy 2004. Gods becoming Men. Frissiras Museum, Athens, Greece, curated by Edward Lucie-Smith 2005. III Biennale of Graphics. Kaliningrad, Russia 2005. Europalia Russia. Brussels, Belgium 2005. Altre Lilith. Scuderie Aldobrandini, Frascati, Italy 2006. Changes in Modern European Photography. GAS Galleria, Bologna, Italy, curated by Peter Weermaer 2006. Photobiennale. The Grand Manege, Moscow, Russia 2006. Let There Be Video. Russian video Art, 1996–2006. Central House of Artists, Moscow, Russia 2006. Sence of Life — Sence of Art. The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2007. Storytellers. The Kremlin Museum, Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia 2007. Adventures of the Black Square. The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2007. The Archive of Perestrojka Art. Museum of Contemporary Art, Kiasma, Finland 2007. Tarquin and Lucretia. Guillon International Video Art Festival, Guillon, France 2007. History of Russian Video Art. Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art (MMOMA), Moscow, Russia 2008. The Painting. Triumph Gallery, Moscow, Russia 2009. The Rage, within presentation of Andrei Haas's book «The Rage». Globus Gallery, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2009. Exhibition of the Kandinsky Art Award Nominees. First presentation of the Caucaus Prisoner project. Central House of the Artists, Moscow, Russia 2010. History of Russian Video Art. Volume 2. Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art (MMOMA), Moscow, Russia 2010. Zen d’Art. Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art (MMOMA), Moscow, Russia 2011. Two ways of Oscar Gustave Rejlander's life. Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia 2011. New Academy. Saint Petersburg. The Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, Moscow, Russia 2014. Russia Playing the Circus. Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia 2014. Reconstruction 2. The Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, Moscow, Russia 2014. Other Capital. Museum of Moscow, Moscow, Russia 2014. Russia Artists for the Centre «Anton’s Right Here». Aslan Chekhoyev New Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2014. Terror and Culture & Newer New, projects within IV Baltic Biennale. Aslan Chekhoyev New Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2015. Absolute Beauty — Neoacademism in Saint Petersburg. Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary 2019. The Circus. State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2019. Artists on the Dancefloor. Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Center, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2019. «Ludwig 30». Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary 2019. Disturbing Narratives. The Parkview Museum, Beijing-Singapore, curated by Dr. Lorand Hegyi Abstraction in Avangard. Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Center, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2020. Artists on the Dancefloor. Yeltsin Center, Ekaterinburg, Russia 2020. Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Center, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2020. A History of the Development of Media Art in Leningrad — Saint Petersburg. 1985–2000. 2020. Russian Fairytales. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia 2021. The Day After. Herman Otto Museum, Miskolc, Hungary and Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Center, Saint Petersburg, Russia 2022. The Great Emptiness. Ruarts Foundation, Moscow, Russia 2022. Named Vasari. Revival. Branch of Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Arsenal, Nizhnii Novgorod, Russia 2022. Genrich Semiradskii. Following the Gods. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia

Filmography 1989. «Violet Birds», 30’ 1990. «Laboratory Searches», 10' 1993. «Woe from Wit», 13' 1995. «Sea Breathing», видеоинсталляция, 4 hours 1995. «Eternal Music», 15" 1995. «Last Labour of Hercules», 5' 1995. «In Anticipation of War» 1' 1996. «Odisseus» 1' 1997. «Manifest of Neoakademism» 7' 1998. «Love story of Merilyn Monroe and Vladimir Mayakovsky», 9' 1999–2000. Stychograms «I Hear a Color and See a Sound» 1999–2000. Video installation «East — West» 30’ 2000. «Dream of Alexander the Great» 2002. «Rapture of Ekaterina», 1' 2004. Video installation «Replacement», within «Tarquin and Lucretia» project, 15’ 2005–2006. Video installation «Thin Factor» within «Caucasian Prisoner» project 2008–2009. Video installation «Buttle with Fenrir»