Alisa Oleva holds a BA and MA from The Courtauld Institute of Art and an MA in Performance from Goldsmiths. She is based in London.
Alisa Oleva treats the city as her studio and urban life as material, considering issues of urban choreography and urban archeology, traces and surfaces, borders and inventories, intervals and silences, passages and cracks. Her projects have manifested as a series of interactive situations, performances, movements scores, personal and intimate encounters, parkour, walkshops, and audio walks.
Bursaries:
Another Route, supported by Arts Council England, the British Council and Jerwood Arts, 2022-2023
DYOP (Developing Your Creative Practice), Arts Council England, 2021
London Creative Network, Artist Development, Project Part-Funded by the European Union, 2021
Arts Council England Emergency Fund, 2020
1927 Bursaries, Arts Council England, 2020
Chisenhale Dance Space Board of Trustees, since 2021
Chisenhale Dance Space member, since 2018
Selected works:
Listening for Change, TO)pot: sound walks festival, CONA, The Steklenik Gallery, Ljubljana, 2022
Listening in/Listening out, TO)pot: sound walks festival, CONA, The Steklenik Gallery, Ljubljana, 2022
Desire Lines, audiowalks and live performance, Luxembourg, part of Esch2022 European Capital of Culture, 2022
Listening to where you are not, Oscillation Festival, Q-O2, Brussels, 2022
walk - stop - listen - walk again, Oscillation Festival, Q-O2, Brussels, 2022
Port-to-Port, Pier Projects Commission, Felixstowe, 2021
Skyline Walking, Midnight Sun exhibition, collective video collage, Black Tower Projects, London, 2021
City for her, a walk-action on the International Women's Day across cities, 2021
WalkCreate Gallery, online, 2021
LADA Screens: Walking Home, online screening of Walking Home, LADA, 2021
Aimless sessions Stefanie Knobel, initiated by League of Tenderness, supported by Pro Helvetica, 2021
A walk to the edge, an audiowalk, Something other: On visions - Listening event, Ignota, 2021, online
Walking Home, a walking performance over distance, with Performistanbul and LADA, supported by British Council’s #WomenPowerinCulture Grant Scheme, London/Istanbul, 2020
Walk Collage, a collective walking project, commissioned by Casson & Friends, 2020
Woven Scores, online zine, Woven Network, virtual art-residence, 2020
Safe/Unsafe, a series of two walks with a shared online discussion, Woven Network, virtual art-residence, 2020
Self-isolation scores, a series of scores, as part of the digital group exhibition Ways & Means, Skelf: a virtual project space, 2020
Zoom walk, a collective simultaneous walk via shared Whatsapp chat, Work Hard! Play Hard! 2020
Let me be your eyes on this walk, a one-to-one walk with a phone call, Work Hard! Play Hard!, 2020
Listening points, a one-to-one listening session over a phone at specific locations, Work Hard! Play Hard!, 2020
Touching with your eyes, a simultaneous walking score, Unlocked Walks series, The Residents Association, 2020
Instagram exhibition, Safe Distance Gallery, online, 2020
Tracing the inside, a home performance, Stay LIVE, Performistanbul, online, 2020
View from the window, a session of collective looking and sharing, online, organised by Artsvit gallery, Dnipro, 2020
Imagined Manchester, a guided walk through an imagined city, New Russias festival, Manchester, 2020
Repeated walk, a collective walk, Work Hard! Play Hard!, Minsk, 2019
Lozhechka, one-to-one action, Work Hard! Play Hard!, Minsk, 2019
Shared sea walks, one-to-one walks, Izolyatsia art residency, Mariupol, 2019
Breadcrumbs, a 24 hours durational performance, Making the EXIT, Chisenhale Dance Space, London, 2019
Reflections walk, performance, Work Hard! Play Hard!, Minsk, 2018
Please hold, audiowalk, Assembly of Disturbance, Red Gallery, London, 2017
A visit, walking score, Denial as the Leading Principle, Dordrecht, 2017
Simultaneous walk, a psychogeographic collective performance, State Centre for Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2017
Ringback tone, audio installation, Belyaevo Gallery, Moscow, 2017
Group exercises, performance, Work Hard! Play Hard!, Minsk, 2017
You are here, audio guide, Under the Ground of Our Times, Museum of Contemporary Art, Pori, 2017
A song for two, audio installation, Dotyk queer festival, Minsk, 2017
Shortcut, sound installation, Norilsk, 2017
I will show you Minsk, performance, Work Hard! Play Hard!, Minsk, 2016
40.8, audio walk, GRAD Gallery, London, 2016
Eisenstein's circle, audio walk,GRAD Gallery, London, 2016
Private, in collaboration with photographer Bulat Badamshin, audio walk, Miras Gallery, Ufa, 2015
Map of silences, a soundmap, Dnepropetrovsk, 2015
A silent guided tour, performance, exhibited at Periscope gallery, Salzburg, 2014
The Demolition Project (collaboration with Debbie Kent)
Soundwalk series 2 | private-public spaces, 2021-2022
(Slightly) Relaxed Soundwalks, a series of monthly soundwalks in East London, 2020-2021
The Demolition Project: Dnipro, I was approaching the place which I didn’t know yet, Artsvit, Dnipro, 2021
Meeting places: collective mapping workshop, part of LivingMaps Live, London, 2021
The Shadows, remote performance, Omnibus Theatre, London, 2021
The street: a user's guide, audio walk, Encounter Bow Festival, Chisenhale Dance Space, London, 2019
A/drift, soundwalk, Secret Rivers exhibition, Museum of London, 2019
The Demolition Project: Leeds, Compass Festival, Leeds, 2018
Blueprint, for ShadowMemory App, Ural Industrial Biennial: New Literacy, Ekaterinburg, 2017
Walkinglab, score, online
Zazerkalye, score for a performance, Artist Borderpanic Compendium, London, 2017
IN/VISIBLE, performance, Camden People's Theatre, London, 2016
Invisible walking, walkshop, Power and Architecture season, Calvert22, London, 2016
The Demolition Project: London, durational performance, Power and Architecture season, Calvert22, London, 2016
Shadow, participatory performance, B_Tour Festival, Berlin, 2015
The Demolition Project: Moscow, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2014
I'm a stranger, participatory performance, B_Tour Festival, Berlin and Belgrade, 2014
ATOM (collaboration with Timothy Maxymenko):
Radio with Ukraine, fundraiser event at Iklectik, London, 2022
Crossing residency, organized by Artsvit Gallery and PAErsche Aktionslabor e.V., Dnipro, 2021
FAR AWAY DANCE, site-specific audio performance, part of Reveil 2021 by Soundcamp, 2021
Walking next to each other, audio performance for two strangers over the phone, Work Hard! Play Hard!, online, 2020
Left/Right, performance, Crossing, online residency, 2020
Paper town, a psychogeographic map-making, arebyte gallery, London, 2018
24 ДВАДЦАТЬЧЕТЫРЕ, 24-hour phone call service, Murmansk, 2018
A walk through, a parkour session, Work Hard! Play Hard! Minsk, 2018
Horror Vacui (collaboration with Rotem Volk):
Pink Coat, Yellow Coat, distant performance, London/Tel-Aviv, 2022
Arrival time unknown, A site-specific intimate audio journey with headphones, taking place on Tram no. 24 in Moscow, Vadim Sidur Museum, Moscow, 2019
Tate Keepers, film, Screened at Tate Modern as part of Staff Biennale, Tate Exchange, 2019
Private view, performance, London, 2013
Residencies:
Summer Residencies 2021, Chisenhale Dance Space, 2021
League of Tenderness, Anapa, 2021
Crossing, online residency, organized by Artsvit Gallery and PAErsche Aktionslabor e.V, 2020
Odnushka residency, a one week residency, Novo-Molokovo, Russia, 2019
Place and memory, a one month residency, Mariupol, 2019
24/7, a one week residency exploring the polar day, Murmansk, 2018
Short cut, a one month residency, Norilsk, 2017
Under the ground of our times: (de)construction of collectivity in and through collection, a one week residency, Pori Art Museum, Finland, 2017
B-tour Vilnius, a one month residency in Vilnius, Lithuania with The Demolition Project, 2016
Map of silences, a two weeks residency, Artsvit, Dnepropetrovsk, 2015
Curating:
Engagement Curator at Pushkin House, London, 2021-present
Production assistant on Um of Water by Amy Sharrocks at Luminato Festival, Toronto
Encounter Bow, a day of outdoor performances and experiences for all ages, Chisenhale Dance Space, London, 2019
ShadowMemory, a digital app for art routes around London, ArtNight 2018
Writing:
Touching with your eyes, a photo essay, Livingmaps Review, 2021
Port-to-Port postcards, commissioned by Pier Projects, 2021
Score #5, for Blake Morris, online, 2021
Traveling in time and space, staying still, Lorenza Peragine, V&A Blog, online, 2021
Letter from: Vorkuta, decaying coal town in the Russian Arctic, Calvert Journal, 2016
Exhibitions:
Port-to-Port, exhibition at 113Research, OCAD University, Toronto, 2021
The Under Ground, performative walk, part of I was approaching the place which I didn’t know yet, Artsvit, Dnirpo, 2021
Down to the Earth, Saint Petersburg, 2021
Un-boxing, traveling exhibition, The Arts Territory Exchange, 2020
Expo: Walking from Scores, CIVA, Brussels, 2021
Shared Sea Walks and other works from Mariupol, EMERGENCE: Living Heritage / Reframing Memory, Prague Quadrennial, 2020
Selected Press:
Round Table with Alisa Oleva, Bill Dietz, RYBN and David Helbich, moderated by Elena Biserna, Q-O2, Oscillation Public Address, Brussels, 2021
Walking, as part of Paths of (least) resistance, interview for Radio Art Zone, Luxembourg, 2022
Walking from Scores, book, edited by Elena Biserna, 2022
Desire Lines, interview for ARA City Radio, Luxembourg, 2022
Walk With Me: A Performance Artist Adapts to the Pandemic, by Jennifer Hattam, Hyperallergic, 2021
Художница перформанса Алиса Олева — об учебе в Goldsmiths и жанре Walking Art, ZIMA Magazine, 2021 [in Russian]
Walking artist Alisa Oleva: Walk ‘home’ with me, Bianet, 2020
#FriendsFriday 51 - Alisa Oleva, Casson & Friends, 2020
Нестандартные перформансы Алисы Олевой, Mariupol News, 2019
Увеличительное стекло для восприятия города, Your Art, 2019
'I follow a different person every day': using strangers to explore the city, Guardian, 2018
Contemporary Art Moves Out of Moscow The NA RAjONE project brings brings arts to the outskirts, The Moscow Times, 2019
Eisenstein's Circle: Interview With Artist Alisa Oleva, Grad, 2016
Artist talks:
Slow Salon with Alisa Oleva, Pier Projects, online, 2021
Woven session #6 Care and Comfort | Alisa Oleva | Alice Máselníková | ts Beall, online, 2020
Woven Session #2, Alisa Oleva (London, UK), Maria Pronina (Mariupol, Ukraine) and t.s. Beall (Glasgow & Dumfries, Scotland), online, 2020
Sound Pecha Kucha with The Demolition Project, The Bartlett School of Architecture, 2018
Artist talk, Artsvit, Dnipro, 2019
Artist talk, PolArt residency space, Norilsk, 2017
Artist talk: Walk as an Art Strategy, platform for cultural initiatives Izolyatsia, Kyiv, 2016
Artist talk, Artsvit, Dnipro, 2015
Teaching:
Soft parkour & site sensing workshop by Alisa Oleva, Filet, London, 2022
Moving with the City, Walkshop for Chisenhale Summer of Art, London, 2022
Second marker on Creative Social Media Course, Goldsmiths College, London, 2018-present
Walkshop for Desire Lines, Esch-sur-Alzette, part of Esch 2022 European Capital of Culture, 2022
'Spacialised Storytelling', video module, 2022
A Listening Walkshop, Oscillation Festival, Q-O2, Brussels, 2022
Walkshop for Desire Lines, Lasauvage, part of Esch 2022 European Capital of Culture, 2022
Online lecture on Walking Art, Syracuse University, NY, 2022
Online walk/talk, DPS Tutor Platform talks, Central Saint Martins, 2022
Queer maze: interactive workshop, together with Bahdan Khmialnitski, Pushkin House, London, 2022
Contribution to COVID 19 Responses, OCAD U Library, OCAD University, online, 2021
A deep-listening workshop, Port-to-Port, commissioned by Pier Projects, 2021
Walkshop for Desire Lines, Dudelange, part of Esch 2022 European Capital of Culture, 2021
Moving with the City, Open City London, 2021
Sudbury Walking Arts Project, walkshop, Sudbury, 2021
Alisa Oleva: Tracing and Viewing: Walkshops and Urban Geography, Materials and the Anthropocene series, OCAD University, Toronto, online, 2021
Visiting lecturer at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, MA/MFA Advanced Theatre Practice students , workshop ‘Can we listen with collective ears - together apart’, 2021
Online workshop to MA/MFA Advanced Theatre Practice at RCSSD, London, 2021
Tracing and Viewing: COVID-19 Isolation and Urban Geography, COVID-19 and the Anthropocene: OCAD U Speaker’s Series, OCAD University, Toronto, online, 2020
Technologies of a walk and the politics of space, online discussion, Assembly, 2020 [in russian]
Walking as a performative medium, online lecture + workshop, part of open call Tools without Rules, RAUM SPACE Festival, Kaliningrad/Berlin, 2020
Movement and parkour workshop, Trinity Laban, Sabotage series, 2020
Mentoring two-week art residency for young artists, Artsvit, Dnipro, 2019 Three walkshops in Novo-Molokovo, art residency near Moscow, 2019
Lecture on audio walks, Middlesex University, London, 2019 Parkour and urban movement workshop at Summer Dance School, Dubna, 2018
Module for BA students at Architectural School MARSH, Moscow, 2018
Lecture ‘Why walk: walking as an art practice’, State Centre for Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2017
Walkshop ‘City and sound’, State Centre for Contemporary Art, Moscow, 2017
presenting case study on ‘How to run social media campaigns’, Goldsmiths, University of London, 2017
Trainings/Schools:
The Listening Academy, Iklectik, London, 2022
Theatrum Mundi Cohort, 2022
Sunday Skool, VSSL Studio, online, 2021
Artists for Artists (AfA), Politics of Sharing, online, 2021
School of co-existence, TOK, online
Neo-Futuristic Walks, walking lab, Nine Elms, London, 2021
Anti-Racism Training Webinars with Season Butler, online, organised by Chisenhale Dance Space, 2021
Coaching Bursary with Lexi Stevens, 2021
The School of Broadcasting, Arts Catalyst, online, 2021
Salzburg Summer Academy, class of Olga Chernysheva, bursary, 2014