Stefania Smolkina (*St.Petersburg) is an artist, filmmaker, and researcher.
Trained as a textile and media artist, she predominantly works with moving images at the junction of documentary and fiction.
Her research-based films and installations examine the texture of memory. Each of her projects grows out of ongoing research and interest in the political drama of unmentioned, overseen, and overshadowed side stories. She is interested in how subjective fragments can convey the experience of time and era outside of officially recorded history or ideology. The study of unknown biographies, alienated names or language often takes a detective turn. Considering documented knowledge as evidence of someone's power over the narrative, she does not seek to patch up a hole in history, but on the contrary, makes gaps visible, thereby highlighting the process itself. This strategy results in works that function as an archeology of one person, a careful re-creation of the past, an embodied memory, a film in still images.
Smolkina thinks of her films and installations as moving paintings, with documentary backgrounds, yet composed and arranged as fictive scenes. Viewing the found materials through the prism of cinema, she creates poetic works that aim to unarchive the past. She currently lives and works in Berlin.
Member of Initiative Kino in Bewegung
Paticipant of the Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt 2022
instagram
vimeo
email (at) stefaniasmolkina dot net
education
2022 Post-graduate program, Photography and Moving Image Class, Prof. Tina Bara,
Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany
2018-2019 Werkleitz Professional MediaMaster Class, Halle (Saale), Germany
2016 Iceland Academy of the Arts, Prof. Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir, Reykjavík, Iceland
2019 Diplom Media Art, Expanded Cinema Class, Prof. Clemens von Wedemeyer,
Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany
2013 Diplom Art Textiles, The State Art and Industry Academy, Saint Petersburg, Russia
exhibitions
group (selection)
2023
DÉAD (a set of teeth), the Goethe-Institut Return Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
FALLENDE HELDEN. Künstlerische Strategien des Erinnerns und Gedenkens, DOCK 20, Lustenau, Austria
When The Atmosphere Is Less Than Perfect, MZIN, Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, Germany
2022
Going Places, ACUD Galerie, Berlin, Germany
DÉAD (a set of teeth), The Creative Pathways programme, transmediale studio, silent green Kulturquartier, Berlin, Germany
Tender Hooks – Goldrausch 2022, Kommunale Galerie Berlin, Germany
RIZOMA, Photography and Moving Image Class, Prof. Tina Bara, art gluchowe Gallery, Glauchau, Germany
2021
CONDITIONS OF A NECESSITY, The exhibition, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany
Dritte Berlin Britzenale, Berlin, Germany
Was das Gespenst nicht kennt – Specters of the Afternoon, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz - Henry van de Velde Museum, Germany
2020
Anybody out there?! 100 Jahre Radio in Deutschland, radio broadcast, D21, Leipzig, Germany
ATELIER No.64, PACT Zollverein, Essen, Germany
PROYECTOR´20 / Festival de Videoarte, White Lab, Madrid, Spain
Virtual exhibition Uncertainties, Leipzig, Germany
2018
REQUIEM FOR A FAILED STATE, AEG, Nürnberg, Germany
REQUIEM FOR A FAILED STATE, Baumwollspinnerei, Halle 14, Leipzig, Germany
D O N U T D I S T U R B, Rietveld pavilion
, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2016
ROUNDABOUT, Algera Studio, Reykjavík, Iceland
NARRATIV 89, SHOWBOX, Leipzig, Germany
fremd, Grassi Museum, Leipzig, Germany
2015
B_Tour International Festival of Urban Tours, Berlin-Leipzig, Germany
JUBELJAHRE
, Tapetenwerk, Leipzig, Germany
civilization, Galerie KUB, Leipzig, Germany
2014
Bienalle Manifesta 10 (Parallel Program), Magnetic Field, St. Petersburg, Russia
es ist Frühling, Galerie KUB, Leipzig, Germany
solo and duo
2020 Landing Day, Kunstraum Praline, Leipzig, Germany
2016 Camera Causalis together with Lisa Kuznetsova, 2.04 gallery,
Art center ‘Pushkinskaya-10’, St. Petersburg, Russia
2014 Hinterland Wand, Kuhturm, Leipzig, Germany
2014 Stenography, 2.04 gallery, Art center ‘Pushkinskaya-10’, St. Petersburg, Russia
2011 "Berlin", Deutsch-russischen Begegnungszentrum an der Petrikirche, St. Petersburg, Russia
scholarships | residency
2023 BK 2023 Research Fellowship from the Berlin Senate Department for Culture, Berlin, Germany
2023 Artists in Residence: DOCK 20, S-MAK, Druckwerk Lustenau and the Jewish Museum Hohenems, Austria
2022 Creative Pathways, Ireland-Germany
2022 Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt, Berlin, Germany
2021 IMPACT21, PACT Zollverein Essen, Germany
2021 Junctions21 PACT Zollverein Essen, Germany
2020 The Assembly, Conditions of a Necessity, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany
2020 VirtualSPAR, St. Petersburg Art Residency, Russia
2019 ›IMPACT19 – Weaving Traces‹ transdisciplinary symposium, Pact Zollverein, Essen, Germany
2019 Travel Grant, „Culture in Motion: Regional Mobility Fund ADC „ Goethe-Institut, Moscow, Russia
2019 3-month scholarship grant from the funds of the Free State of Saxony, Germany
2015-2018, 2020-2022 Scholarship of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung for gifted foreign students
2017 The European Exchange Academy Amsterdam, Gerswalde, Germany
2014 Artist in Residence Stipendium, Kalbe (Milde), Germany
2013 Award, mobile film competition „The city from within“, Photo agency „Ostkreuz“ & Goethe-Institut, St. Petersburg, RU
2012 “Design.pl” International Artistic Summer, “Krzyżowa” Foundation, Poland
2011 Award (1.place), Festival „Bravo Turku“, Turku, Finland
2009 Award and exhibition „Tarn“, Castres, France
screenings | festivals
2022
Screening-Programm, Haubrok-Stiftung, Berlin, Deutschland
5th Balkan Can Kino Film Symposium, STATES vs MINORITIES, Athens, Greece
Tender Reels: GOING PLACES, Filmrauschpalast Moabit, Berlin
𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙩, short film program with works by Stefania Smolkina and Sophie Hilbert, Karnak, Kassel, Germany
2021
18.KURZSUECHTIG Filmfestival, Best Camera Award, Leipzig, Germany
Cinémathèque Leipzig e.V., BLICKE, RISSE, GESCHICHTE, Germany
2020
PROYECTOR´20 / Festival de Videoarte, Madrid, Spain
„Meeting time“, Screening-Programm, Taipei Contemporary Art Center, Taiwan
Semi-Finalist, Story? - International Student Documentary Festival, Munster Technological University, Cork City, Ireland
2019
Film screening at „Border Lines“, Photo House Arles, part of the Festival Vlies Off, Arles, Frankreich
professional appointment
teaching | lectures
2022 - 2023 Online course "From artistic research to production" ("Von der künstlerischen Recherche bis zur Produktion")
2021 - 2022 Scientific / artistic assistant at the evening Academy (Abendakademie), Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany
2021 Lecture for newartschool.online, St. Petersburg, Russia
film director | cinematographer | editor | sound recording
2022 video projection for the performance “On Living” with music and improvisation by Neasa Ní Bhriain, Damian Ibn Salem and Konstantin Heuer, GfZK Leipzig, Germany
2021 sound assistant: THE INVISIBLE CLOTH, Film by Paula Abalos, 30 minutes / 2K, Germany
2019-2021 Film Video Editor CONVELA GmbH and Funeral Marketplace, Halle (Saale), Germany
2016 editor: trailer for GEGENkino international film festival, Leipzig, Germany
dramaturgy
2022 RHEINREFLEXE, documentary, site-specific video performance project by Maíra Wiener, Germany
2021-22 я пришла [ja prischla] - Ich bin angekommen, documentary film by Lea & Anna Hardock, Germany
publications | artist books
2022 subtleties, publication created during Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt, graphic design: Sibel Beyer
2021 Was das Gespenst nicht kennt, Specters of the Afternoon, Expanded Cinema Class as a guest in the Villa Esche, Chemnitz, Germany
2021 When The Atmosphere Is Less Than Perfect, Tina Bara Class, Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany
2021 magazine VIERZEHN 13: REQUIEM FOR A FAILED STATE, HALLE 14 – Centre for Contemporary Art, Leipzig, Germany
2020 PROYECTOR´20 / Festival de Videoarte, Catalog (online), Madrid, Spain
2020 VirtualSPAR Catalogue-Zine, St. Petersburg Art Residency, Russia
2019 Not here, not Now. Infected Memories, Expanded Cinema Class, Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany
Stefania Smolkina (*St.Petersburg) is an artist, filmmaker, and researcher. Trained as a textile and media artist, she predominantly works with moving images at the junction of documentary and fiction.
Her research-based films and installations examine the texture of memory. Each of her projects grows out of ongoing research and interest in the political drama of unmentioned, overseen, and overshadowed side stories. She is interested in how subjective fragments can convey the experience of time and era outside of officially recorded history or ideology. The study of unknown biographies, alienated names or language often takes a detective turn. Considering documented knowledge as evidence of someone's power over the narrative, she does not seek to patch up a hole in history, but on the contrary, makes gaps visible, thereby highlighting the process itself. This strategy results in works that function as an archeology of one person, a careful re-creation of the past, an embodied memory, a film in still images.
Smolkina thinks of her films and installations as moving paintings, with documentary backgrounds, yet composed and arranged as fictive scenes. Viewing the found materials through the prism of cinema, she creates poetic works that aim to unarchive the past. She currently lives and works in Berlin.
Member of Initiative Kino in Bewegung
Paticipant of the Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt 2022
education
2022 Post-graduate program, Photography and Moving Image Class, Prof. Tina Bara, Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany
2018-2019 Werkleitz Professional MediaMaster Class, Halle (Saale), Germany
2016 Iceland Academy of the Arts, Prof. Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir, Reykjavík, Iceland
2019 Diplom Media Art, Expanded Cinema Class, Prof. Clemens von Wedemeyer, Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany
2013 Diplom Art Textiles, The State Art and Industry Academy, Saint Petersburg, Russia
exhibitions
group (selection)
2023
DÉAD (a set of teeth), the Goethe-Institut Return Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
FALLENDE HELDEN. Künstlerische Strategien des Erinnerns und Gedenkens, DOCK 20, Lustenau, Austria
When The Atmosphere Is Less Than Perfect, MZIN, Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig, Germany
2022
Going Places, ACUD Galerie, Berlin, Germany
DÉAD (a set of teeth), The Creative Pathways programme, transmediale studio, silent green Kulturquartier, Berlin, Germany
Tender Hooks – Goldrausch 2022, Kommunale Galerie Berlin, Germany
RIZOMA, Photography and Moving Image Class, Prof. Tina Bara, art gluchowe Gallery, Glauchau, Germany
2021
CONDITIONS OF A NECESSITY, The exhibition, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany
Dritte Berlin Britzenale, Berlin, Germany
Was das Gespenst nicht kennt – Specters of the Afternoon,
Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz - Henry van de Velde Museum, Germany
2020
Anybody out there?! 100 Jahre Radio in Deutschland, radio broadcast, D21, Leipzig, Germany
ATELIER No.64, PACT Zollverein, Essen, Germany
Virtual exhibition Uncertainties, Leipzig, Germany
2018
REQUIEM FOR A FAILED STATE, AEG, Nürnberg, Germany
REQUIEM FOR A FAILED STATE, Baumwollspinnerei, Halle 14, Leipzig, Germany
D O N U T D I S T U R B, Rietveld pavilion
, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2016
ROUNDABOUT, Algera Studio, Reykjavík, Iceland
NARRATIV 89, SHOWBOX, Leipzig, Germany
fremd, Grassi Museum, Leipzig, Germany
2015
B_Tour International Festival of Urban Tours, Berlin-Leipzig, German
JUBELJAHRE
, Tapetenwerk, Leipzig, Germany
civilization, Galerie KUB, Leipzig, Germany
2014
Bienalle Manifesta 10 (Parallel Program), Magnetic Field, St. Petersburg, Russia
Exhibition es ist Frühling, Galerie KUB, Leipzig, Germany
solo and duo
2020 Landing Day, Kunstraum Praline, Leipzig, Germany
2016 Camera Causalis together with Lisa Kuznetsova, 2.04 gallery, Art center ‘Pushkinskaya-10’, St. Petersburg, Russia
2014 Hinterland Wand, Kuhturm, Leipzig, Germany
2014 Stenography, 2.04 gallery, Art center ‘Pushkinskaya-10’, St. Petersburg, Russia
2011 "Berlin", Deutsch-russischen Begegnungszentrum an der Petrikirche, St. Petersburg, Russia
scholarships | residency
2023 BK 2023 Research Fellowship from the Berlin Senate Department for Culture, Berlin, Germany
2023 Artists in Residence: DOCK 20, S-MAK, Druckwerk Lustenau and the Jewish Museum Hohenems, Austria
2022 Creative Pathways, Ireland-Germany
2022 Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt, Berlin, Germany
2021 IMPACT21, PACT Zollverein Essen, Germany
2021 Junctions21 PACT Zollverein Essen, Germany
2020 The Assembly, Conditions of a Necessity, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany
2020 VirtualSPAR, St. Petersburg Art Residency, Russia
2019 ›IMPACT19 – Weaving Traces‹ transdisciplinary symposium, Pact Zollverein, Essen, Germany
2019 Travel Grant, „Culture in Motion: Regional Mobility Fund ADC „ Goethe-Institut, Moscow, Russia
2019 3-month scholarship grant from the funds of the Free State of Saxony, Germany
2015-2018, 2020-2022 Scholarship of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung for gifted foreign students
2017 The European Exchange Academy Amsterdam, Gerswalde, Germany
2014 Artist in Residence Stipendium, Kalbe (Milde), Germany
2013 Award, mobile film competition „The city from within“, Photo agency „Ostkreuz“ and Goethe-Institut, St. Petersburg, Russia
2012 “Design.pl” International Artistic Summer, “Krzyżowa” Foundation, Poland
2011 Award (1.place), Festival „Bravo Turku“, Turku, Finland
2009 Award and exhibition „Tarn“, Castres, France
screenings | festivals
2022
Screening-Programm, Haubrok-Stiftung, Berlin, Deutschland
5th Balkan Can Kino Film Symposium, STATES vs MINORITIES, Athens, Greece
Tender Reels: GOING PLACES, Filmrauschpalast Moabit, Berlin
𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙩, short film programm with works by Stefania Smolkina and Sophie Hilbert, Karnak, Kassel, Germany
2021
18.KURZSUECHTIG Filmfestival, Best Camera Award, Leipzig, Germany
Cinémathèque Leipzig e.V., BLICKE, RISSE, GESCHICHTE, Germany
2020
PROYECTOR´20 / Festival de Videoarte, Madrid, Spain
„Meeting time“, Screening-Programm, Taipei Contemporary Art Center, Taiwan
Semi-Finalist, Story? - International Student Documentary Festival, Munster Technological University, Cork City, Ireland
2019
Film screening at „Border Lines“, Photo House Arles, part of the Festival Vlies Off, Arles, Frankreich
professional appointment
teaching | lectures
2022 - 2023 Online course "From artistic research to production" ("Von der künstlerischen Recherche bis zur Produktion")
2021 - 2022 Scientific / artistic assistant at the evening Academy (Abendakademie), Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany
2021 Lecture for newartschool.online, St. Petersburg, Russia
film director | cinematographer | editor | sound recording
2022 video projection for the performance “On Living” with music and improvisation by Neasa Ní Bhriain, Damian Ibn Salem and Konstantin Heuer, GfZK Leipzig, Germany
2021 sound assistant: THE INVISIBLE CLOTH, Film by Paula Abalos, 30 minutes / 2K, Germany
2019-2021 Film Video Editor CONVELA GmbH and Funeral Marketplace, Halle (Saale), Germany
2016 editor: trailer for GEGENkino international film festival, Leipzig, Germany
dramaturgy
2022 RHEINREFLEXE, documentary, site-specific video performance project by Maíra Wiener, Germany
2021-22 я пришла [ja prischla] - Ich bin angekomme, documentary film by Lea & Anna Hardock, Germany
publications | artist books
2022 subtleties, publication created during Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt, graphic design: Sibel Beyer
2021 Was das Gespenst nicht kennt, Specters of the Afternoon, Expanded Cinema Class as a guest in the Villa Esche, Chemnitz, Germany
2021 When The Atmosphere Is Less Than Perfect, Tina Bara Class, Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany
2021 magazine VIERZEHN 13: REQUIEM FOR A FAILED STATE, HALLE 14 – Centre for Contemporary Art, Leipzig, Germany
2020 PROYECTOR´20 / Festival de Videoarte, Catalog (online), Madrid, Spain
2020 VirtualSPAR Catalogue-Zine, St. Petersburg Art Residency, Russia
2019 Not here, not Now. Infected Memories, Expanded Cinema Class, Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, Germany