Alena Tereshko
Artist / Helsinki, Finland



Alena Tereshko (b. 1986, Siberia) works in her art practice with autobiography and humour, blending personal narratives with social critique. Grounded in feminist studies, her performance-based work spans diverse forms of expression, including painting, video and installations. Alena is particularly interested in how contemporary phenomena and tradition (folklore or traditional art) are intertwined in the arts.




Education

2024-2026 The Academy of Fine Arts (Uniarts, Helsinki), Time and Space department
2011-2013 Pro Arte School for young artists, St. Petersburg
2007-2013 Stieglitz St.Petersburg State Academy of Art & Industry, St. Petersburg


Selected solo Exhibitions

2024 – Garden of Hands, gallery Myymälä2, Helsinki
2022 – Home Odyssey, gallery YÖ, Helsinki
2022 – Snow and Sun (with Ilkka Pitkanen), Albatross cultural space, Helsinki
2020 – Why F, Borey Gallery, St. Petersburg
2019 – SuperPosition, NAMEGALLERY, St.Petersburg
2019 – This Apple, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow


Selected Group Exhibitions

2025 – Kuvan Kevät (MFA degree show), Kuva Tila, Helsinki
2025 – In/Visible: The Changing Shape of Womanhood, Gallery De L’Est, Compiegne (France)
2023 – The Beginning — A New Abyss, Huuto gallery, Helsinki
2023 – Organic, Gallery Longa & Fönari, Helsinki
2023 – Out of Office, Asbestos art space, Helsinki
2022 – Communication, Borey Galley, St. Petersburg / Studio 44, Stockholm
2021 – ART VEHICLES Art Bus, association MUU (Finland, Sweden)
2021 – Yö-Fest vol. 1.4, Yö Gallery, Helsinki
2021 – performance Crime of Passion within Unusual Companionship, Museum of Impossible Forms, Helsinki
2021 – Millennials in Contemporary Russian Art, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
2020 – NEMOSKVA (MORE THAN MOSCOW), The Manege Central Exhibition Hall, St. Petersburg
2019 – Negotiator,s XIII Krasnoyarsk Museum Biennale, Krasnoyarsk (Russia)
2018 – Om Jag Bara Kunde, Köttinspektionen, Uppsala (Sweden)
2017 – Art Fair Suomi, Helsinki
2016 – Wave Theory, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
2016 – My Self. Self-portrait in the Collection of the Russian Museum, The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
2015 – Soft#Norm, Artplay, Moscow
2015 – A — art, F — feminism, State Research Institute "DAR", Moscow
2015 – Sub Observationem, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow
2014 – Other Capital, Museum of Moscow, Moscow
2014 – The black envy, Parallel program of Manifesta 10, Borey gallery, St.Petersburg
2014 – Other Capital, Museum of Moscow, Moscow 
2013 – Lost in translation, Special project of the 55th Venice Biennial, Venice
2012 – Saturnalia, V. Smirnov & K. Sorokin Foundation, Tbilisi, Batumi, Giorgia


Selected Festivals

2023 – Gyumri Art Week, Gyumri (Armenia)
2023 – Aletheia festival, Raseborg (Finland)
2021 – The VIDEOFORMES festival, Clermon-Feran (France)
2022, 2021, 2016 – The 14-th, 13th, 9th CYBERFEST, Yerevan, Armenia /
Dartington, UK /St. Petersburg, Russia
2016, 2015 – 62-th and 61-st Internationale Kurzfilmtage, Oberhausen, Germany
2016 – Bang Boom III festival, Northampton, UK
2013 – Contemporary Art in the Traditional Museum, festival; Museum of Urban Electrical Transport, St. Petersburg


Residencies / Awards

2025 – Johanna Ehrnrooth prize. The University of Arts Helsinki Foundation
2024 – Cite des Arts residency, programm 2-12, Paris
2024 – scholarship BGF (bourse du gouvernement français) for Cite residency
2024 – grant Taike (for the exhibition in Myymälä2, 2 months work)
2019 – IASPIS international programme for Visual and Applied Artists, Umea, Sweden
2017 – Sergei Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Prize (nomination "Best Media Object")
2015 – Residence Nordland Kulturesenter, Bodø, Norway Selected Group Exhibitions


Memberships

Yö ry, MUU ry, AV-ARKKI, Finnish Painters Union, Catalysti ry, Globe Art Point


Collections 

Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow
NationalCentre for Contemporary Arts, Moscow
V. Smirnov & K. Sorokin Foundation, Moscow, Russia
Video archive Internationale Kurzfilmtage, Oberhausen
Private collections


In the media 

2025 Cora №8182 interview with Alena Tereshko by Marina Pugina (in Swedesh)
2025 Helsingin Sanomat. Poimimme Kuvataide­ akatemian lopputyö­ näyttelystä viisi taiteilijaa, joita kannattaa seurata (in Finnish)
2025 Long Play. Kuvan Keväässä ei erotu yksittäistä trendiä mutta se tarjoaa koskettavia ja omaehtoisia teoksia sille, joka ei kiirehdi ohi (in Finnish)
2023 Garage archive, interview (in Russian)
2021 Artkommunalka (artist residency in Kolomna, Moscow region) Toy-like Kolomna (in Russian).
2019 IASPIS (the Swedish Arts Grants Committee's international programme for Visual and Applied Artists) website. Alena Tereshko tells about her practice (in English).
2019 Artuzel Journal. Interview with Alena Tereshko on the opening of her exhibition in Moscow Museum of Modern Art (in Russian).
2018 Masters Journal. Alena Tereshko tells about her practice (in Russian).
2019 AroundArt Journal. Article about Alena Tereshko and her exhibition in Moscow Museum of Modern Art (in Russian).
2016 The Calvert Journal. Troubled Youth. Russia video artists address the problems of a generation (in English)
2014 The Calvert Journal. Curated selection Your definitive who's who in the new generation of Russian visual artists (in English)
The CYLAND Video Archive, composed of video works of the artists who participated in Cyfest festivals that had been held by CYLAND Media Art Lab since 2007 (in English). Presentation Alena Tereshko
Blinkvideo, a platform for research of video art, performance and multimedia installations. Artists' presentations (in English).