Elena Khurtova (born in Samara, RU), is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher, based in Amsterdam. Reflecting on the interplay of fragility and resilience of human and environmental conditions, her work explores the overlapping notions of care and control, preservation and destruction, memory and its inherent loss. She works across performative and sculptural installations, often in dialogue with image-based media such as drawings, artist books and videos, building poetic relationships with concrete and fluid materials and mapping the transience between human and nonhuman agencies. In her recent projects, she focuses on investigating human-soil relations and soil, as a physical archive, through research on soil displacement, pollution and remediation.
Khurtova studied at the University of Architecture of Samara, Russia and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. She was artist in residence at Atelier Holsboer, Paris (FR); 3bisF, Aix-en-Provence (FR) and EKWC - European Ceramic Workcentre,'s-Hertogenbosch (NL). Khurtova's work has been presented internationally at institutions such as: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (NL); Contemporary Art Centre 3bisF, Manifesta Biennial #13 (FR); Kunsthalle Lottozero, Prato (IT); Amsterdam Museum (NL); Musée Magnelli, Vallauris (FR); Zone2Source, Amsterdam (NL); Korean International Ceramic Biennale, Gyeonggi (KR); Looiersgracht 60, Amsterdam (NL); Spartanburg Art Museum, Spartanburg, SC (USA); Arti & Amicitiae, Amsterdam (NL) and Sonic Acts Biennial (NL).
Khurtova's practice combines individual and collaborative trajectories. She has been working with Marie Ilse Bourlanges within artist duo Khurtova & Bourlanges from 2009 to 2019.
She is currently participating in the research programme Third Cycle in Artistic Research at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, where she was awarded the artistic research fellowship. In conjunction with her artistic practice, she teaches at the Art and Research programme of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie / UvA and the Royal Academy of Arts of The Hague (NL).
Khurtova's practice is generously supported by the Mondriaan Fund.
Contact: info@elenakhurtova.com / Derde Wittenburgerdwarsstraat 1F, 1018 KR Amsterdam, NL