# Olga Tobreluts

Olga Tobreluts (/tɔːbrɛˈluts/, born Olga Vladimirovna Komarova; 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.
In 2016, Olga Tobreluts was elected to Honorary Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts. From 2019 she is a member of Pacsa Art Community. Lives and works in Saint Petersburg, Budapest and Pacsa.

## Awards

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

## Works in collections

* 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 Exhibition

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

## Selected Group Exhibition

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

## Filmography

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»