record – LABS

Thesis Info

Thesis Title: Interactive Art Objects in New Media Art: Works of Olga Kisseleva from 1990s to 2010s

University: Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N.Yeltsin

Keywords: interactive art, communication, art history, globalisation, net art, digital art, installation, interactive sculpture

Abstract: 200-500 words: This thesis is an example of specific study of digital artist's works. It mainly represents oeuvres made by one of the most proficient media artists of last 30 years Olga Kisseleva. Simultaneously being an artist and researcher, her interactive installations and sculptures unfolds various themes: from identity to globalisation, from self-determination to universal communication. Kisseleva’s digital art emerges from an academical tradition. She got through soviet art educational system, for few years even working as a decorative artist. This nonresponsive experience forced her to seek new forms of self-expression and move to Europe in 1990s. This kind of transitional artist can be significant to understand an essence of media art, its relationship to general art history. That is why the author studies her art in the context of 20th-century art. The author analyzes several important properties of media art - Interactivity, tactility and feedback – which became the main features of Kisseleva’s works throughout 1990s and 2000s. Massive artist’s collaboration with scientists brings a complex interdisciplinary approach that challenges a scientific research. That is why the author thinks it is very important to keep a strong art historian approach and to study not only individual projects, but such phenomena as artist’s biography and evolution, style and technology. The following thesis is conducted to these explorations.