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 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 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 and The Emerging Eye Network, Berlin

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
2007 Polytechnical school, Graphic Design Faculty, Obninsk, Russia

exhibitions

group (selection)

2025
Vino Video Vici, pars Restaurant Berlin, Germany
POETICS OF TOGETHERNESS, Künstlerhaus Lauenburg, Germany
ANONYMOUS DRAWINGS &
 LINES FICTION, Kunsthaus Erfurt
, Germany
LINES FICTION, FILM REEL 2024, Kunstraum Kreuzberg Berlin, Germany
Teleconnections Exhibition, D21, Leipzig, Germany

2024
LINES FICTION, FILM REEL 2024, Kunstraum Kreuzberg Berlin, Germany
Teleconnections Exhibition, D21, Leipzig, Germany
Die Geschichte macht Augen zu, aber kann nicht schlafen, sehsaal, Wien, Austria
Shifting Pleasures: Love&Autonomy, Klub Solitaer e.V., Chemnitz, Germany

2023
Geister, Methfesselstraße, Berlin, Germany
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

Cairotronica, Cairo, Egypt
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
The Infinite Author, Pushkinskaya-10 Art Centre, Gallery 2.04, St. Petersburg, Russia
es ist Frühling, Galerie KUB, Leipzig, Germany
Video installations "Surfaces: 1-5", Museum Night, Art center ‘Pushkinskaya-10’, St. Petersburg, Russia

2013
Video for performance, Gallery Borey, St. Petersburg, Russia
Whispers and Cries art festival, Art center ‘Pushkinskaya-10’, St. Petersburg, Russia

2012
Portrait competition "My contemporary", 1st place, Obninsk, Russia

2011
Exhibition as part of the "Bravo Turku" festival, Turku, Finland

2010
International Ecological Festival "Kronfest", 1st place, Kronstadt, Russia

2009
Hand weaving festival «Kirjavat langat», Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, Russia

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 | awards

2024 KUNSTFONDS_Scholarship, Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn
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
2021/22 Studienpreis des HGB-Freundeskreises und der Sparkasse Leipzig (Study Prize of the HGB Circle of Friends and Sparkasse Leipzig)
2021 IMPACT21 – Urgent Translations: On Codes, Images and Realities, 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
2020-2022 Scholarship of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung for gifted foreign students
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
2017 The European Exchange Academy Amsterdam, Gerswalde, Germany
2016 Erasmus+ Scholarship
2015-2018 Scholarship of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung for gifted foreign students
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 16. Internationalen Sommerakademie Wismar, Germany
2011 Award (1.place), Festival „Bravo Turku“, Turku, Finland
2009 Award and exhibition „Tarn“, Castres, France

screenings | festivals

2025
80th anniversary of the end of the war, film and discussion: Avec la 4e Division Marocaine de Montagne (2024), In cooperation with the Rheticus Society, Feldkirch, Austria
RPM Festival, the Goethe Institute, Boston US
All that Glitters, The Emerging Eye Network, Regenbogen Fabrik Kino Berlin, Germany

2024
Lines Fiction screening, 21.November, Kunstraum Kreuzberg Berlin, Germany
48. Duisburger Filmwoche, Duisburg, Germany
Paadmaan Video Event, ROZENSTRAAT – a rose is a rose is a rose, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Short film programme „Archive is a verb, it sees, it is silent“ curated by Martina Genetti, 10th edition of the f/stop Festival for Photography Leipzig, Germany
Die Geschichte macht Augen zu, aber kann nicht schlafen, Admiralkino, Wien, Austria
70th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Germany
Paadmaan Video Event, Supermarket Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden
Diagonale'24, Graz, Austria

2023
Kinder der Befreiung. Der Marokkanerstern in Feldkirch, DOCK 20 – Kunstraum und Sammlung Hollenstein Lustenau, Austria

2022
Screening-Programm, Haubrok-Stiftung, Berlin, Deutschland
Going Places, ACUD Galerie, Berlin, Germany
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
Kino in Bewegung, 20 August 2021: Chemnitz, ‘Specters of the afternoon’ by the Expanded Cinema class at Villa Esche, Chemnitz
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 | artist talks
2024 Artist talk, Experimental Filmmaking class, Prof. Chi-Jang Yin,
DePaul University, Chicago, US
2024 Artist talk, The Third Room, Leipzig, Germany
2023 Kinder der Befreiung. Der Marokkanerstern in Feldkirch, DOCK 20 – Kunstraum und Sammlung Hollenstein Lustenau, Austria
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

dramaturgy
2021-23 я пришла [ja prischla] - Ich bin angekommen, documentary film by Lea & Anna Hardock, Germany; Jury prize at the 2025 Kurzsuechtig Film Festival, Leipzig, Germany
2022 RHEINREFLEXE, documentary, site-specific video performance project by Maíra Wiener, Germany

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 video documentation, Leipzig Summer Academy (Sommerakademie Leipzig), Germany
2016 editor: trailer for GEGENkino international film festival, Leipzig, Germany

illustrator
2012-2014 Art center ‘Pushkinskaya-10’, St. Petersburg, Russia
2011 Magazine "ADDRESSES of St. Petersburg", St. Petersburg, Russia
2010 - 2012 Student city newspaper "Para", St. Petersburg, Russia
2010 "The ABCs of a Beginning Petersburger", published by the St. Petersburg Committee for Culture, St. Petersburg, Russia

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