Natalia Pershina-Yakimanskaya (artist name Gluklya) b. 1969 Leningrad, USSR; lives and works in Amsterdam, NL
Gluklya is widely recognised as a pioneer of feminist performance art in the post-Soviet era. Emerging in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, she has consistently used performative approach toward the exploration of subconscious and it is connection with the political as a foundational method in her work, which spans diverse media including installation, text, video, watercolour, participatory workshops, political interventions and conceptual clothing.
Gluklya’s artistic language often employs playful yet poignant strategies to resist injustice and empower individuals, particularly those marginalised by systems of power. Her work deeply engages with socio-political realities, intertwining personal narratives with collective struggles.
A pivotal moment in her career came at the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, when she exhibited ‘Clothes for Demonstration Against the Rigging of the 2011–2012 Russian Presidential Election’ as part of Okwui Enwezor’s landmark exhibition All the World’s Futures. This installation comprised forty-three garments, each symbolising the dreams, fears and defiance of protesters in St Petersburg and Moscow. The work serves as both documentation and poetic protest against political repression.
Since 2019, Gluklya has conducted extensive research for her project ‘Two Natures of Colonialism: Russian and European: Lives and Work of Oppressed Women’, travelling to Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan. These encounters have had a significant impact on her subsequent practice, deepening her engagement with transnational feminist dialogues and decolonial critique.
In 2025, Gluklya was awarded a UK Research and Innovation Network Plus Art Fellowship as part of the ‘Shifting Global Polarities: Russia, China and Eurasia in Transition’, which allowed her to continue the research in Kyrgyzstan.
Solo Shows (selection):
2026 -Shadow of Care, gallery AKINCI,Amsterdam,NL
2025 – Threading the Needle, Vestiges of Colonialism and Femininity, Weiser International Gallery, University of Michigan, US
2022/23 – To those who have no time to play, multimedia installation, curated by Charles Esche, FRAMER FRAMED, Amsterdam, NL
2022 – Garden of Trust, Installation, GALLLERIAPIU, Bologna, IT
2018 – Behind the Carnival, Installation, AKINCI Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2017 – Utopian Unemployment Union, Installation/Performance, GALLLERIAPIU, Bologna, IT
2017 – Carnival of the Oppressed Feelings, Performance in the streets of Amsterdam, curated by TAAK/ based on the research in the former Bijlmer Bajes, NL
2015 – Garden of Vigilant Clothes, installation and interactive performance, AKINCI Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2013 – Utopian Unions, Multimedia installation, curated by Karina Karaeva, ММОМА Moscow, RU
2012 – Wings of Migrants, Installation, AKINCI Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
2010 – Utopian Unemployment Union, Performance at GALERIE BLUE SQUARE, Paris, FR
Interactive Performance Debates of Division:When the Private Becomes Public, curated by Anna Bitkina (TOK)
2019 – Debates on Division issue#5, PERFORMATIC festival, BOZAR and streets of Brussels, BE
2017 – Debates on Division issue#4, Deichmanske Bibliotek in Grünerløkka, RAM Gallery, Oslo, NOR
2016 – Debates on Division issue#3, Interactive performance, Creative Time Summit, Lincoln Theater, Washington D.C., US
2016 – Debates on Division issue #2, Buro Stedelijk, Amsterdam, NL
2014 – Debates on Division issue #1, the European Biennale of Contemporary Art, MANIFESTA10, St. Petersburg, RU
Collaborations:
2025 – Dialogues, in collaboration with mother :Natalia Pershina-Kalliopina, Space A, St-Petersburg, Ru
2025 – Archival video and Installations (1995-2006) FFC project, Open Storage, Garage Museum of Art, Moscow, Ru
2024 – Research in the Amsterdam area Marineterrein and resulting performance, in collaboration with Robert Steijn, BAU, Amsterdam, NL
2022 – Two Diaries: Gluklya & Murad, the book, collaboration with Kurdish activist Murad Zorava, publisher: Walther & Franz König, editors: Charles Esche & Ashley Maum, producers: Framer Framed & VanAbbe museum, NL
2022/23 – To those who have no time to play, performance, curated by Charles Esche, in collaboration with Matras Platform, FRAMER FRAMED, Amsterdam, NL
Group Shows/Screenings/Festivals (selection):
2025 – Film Screening and Discussion, Gulmira’s FairyTales, University of Michigan Museum of Art
2025 – UNCERTAIN DOMESTICITIES, Two Diaries Yurt, (2nd Edition) House of Arts, Brno, CZ
2025 – STATES OF UNCERTAIN DOMESTICITIES, AntigoneUpdate/Chorus1, fragment, silent version, House of Culture Mitte, DE
2024 – No future, but poems, video Installation, SKALA gallery, Poznan, PL
2024 – Body Implied, Multimedia Installation, Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University, NJ, US
2024 – States of Fagility, Triumph of Fragility, (archive FFC), screening, KINDL, Berlin, DE
2024 – Chorus of Sewing Machines, watercolors, Gallery Phoebes, Rotterdam, NL
2024 – Gulmira’s Fairy Tales, video screening, Cittadellarte Pistoletto, Biella, IT
2024 – Gulmira ‘sFairy Tales, video screening, University of Chicago, School of Art, US
2023 – Resilient Rebels, Against the War, Installation/video, Museum Helmond, NL
2023 – Art Prospect &Trash–5 festival, Sanatorium for Seamstresses, Bishkek, KG
2023 – Field Wives, Textile Biennale: Images of Power, curated by Diana Wind, Museum Rijswijk, NL
2022 – Agents of communication,PORTAL BISHKEKASSEL artist talk within the program of GUDSCKUL Bishkek School of Contemporary Art (BiSCA) at DOCUMENTA 15 (Bishkek – Kassel)
2022 – Fashion show, Clothes for Demonstration Against False Election of Vladimir Putin, GLUCKSMAN, IR
2022 – Denanziation, They are among Us, Multimedia Installation, ACC Galerie, Weimar, DE
2021 – Is it possible to be a revolutionary and like flowers? Propaganda Flowers, NEST, Den Hague, NL
2021 – Crystal Clear, Care about the Sun, PERA museum, Istanbul, TR
2021 – Disturbance Witch, Monument to Modern Slavery, ZAK Center for Contemporary Art, Berlin, DE
2019 – Family Fictions, Laungauge of Fragility, Installation, Extra City, Antwerp, BE
2019 – May My Voice Now, Pushkin House, Bloomsbury Square, London, UK
2019 – Circus of Truth, Outcome of the Conversations, Installation, Bozar, Brussels, BE
2019 – Carnival of the Oppressed Feelings joining KARNEVALET, Oslo, NO
2019 – Women in Three Acts, Triumph of Fragility, Oslo, NO
2018 – Positions-4, Carnival is trying to overcome suffering, curated by Charles Esche and Diana Fransen, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL
2017 – dis/order, Art and Activism in Russia since 2000, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, DE
2017 – Manifesten, Collection Display, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, NL
2017 – What’s New, Collection display of work, Donated by private collectors, Museum Arnhem, NL
2016 – Museum on/off, Centre Pompidou, performance, Paris, FR
2016 – Feminism is Politics, Installation, Pratt NY, US
2016 – UNIDOC, Video screening, NY, US
2016 – Untitled (two takes on crisis), Psychoanalytical Cabinet of Colored, DE APPEL, Amsterdam,NL
2016 – Hero Mother, Contemporary Art by Post-Communist Women Rethinking Heroism, Momentum, Berlin, DE
2015 – Festival of Participatory Art curated by TOK, Garden of vigilant Clothes, interactive multimedia performance, St-Petersburg
2015 – Clothes for Demonstration Against False Election of Vladimir Putin, ALL THE WORLDS FUTURES, curated by Okwui Enwezor, 56th Venice Biennale, IT
2013 – Sheep and Dreams, video, and performance together with Susan Morland, Pushkin House/Adventures of seeing, London, UK
2013 – Dump Dreams Artists and migrants unite, Installation, Performance, Shedhalle, Zurich
2012 – Dedication to Pussy Riot, Installation at Revolution in the Net, curated by Anna Bitkina, HIAP Cable Factory, Helsinki, FI
2011 – Strangers Never Give Up, Art Amsterdam, NL
2011 – Last Resistance, performance in collaboration with Thomas Kasebacher, Music here – music there, curated by Oleg Suleimenko & Tomas Frank, Kunsthalle & Theatre Company Brut, Vienna, AT
2010 – Scarlet Sails, video, “Etats de l-artifice”, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, curated by Elena Sorokina, FR
2009 – The Greatest Idiot in New Zealand, curated by Marcus Williams, MIC Gallery/Snow White Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2008 – 54th International Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, DE
2007 – 53rd International Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, DE
2006 – Scarlet Sails, XL Gallery, Moscow, RU
2005 – Speaking Dresses, installation at Human Project (special project of the 1st Moscow Biennale), Central House of Artists, Moscow, RU
2004 – Gluklya & Tsaplya: Shop of Utopian Clothing, White Space Gallery, London, UK
2003 – White’s Psychoanalytical Room, XL Gallery, Moscow, RU
2003 – Cofounding of “Chto delat” platform
2003 – Horizons of reality, curated by Bart de Baere, MuHKA, Antwerp, BE
2002 – Creation of the FFC MANIFESTO1997 – Diverse movements of gymnasium girl, performance, Old Boys Network/Cyber–Femin–Block, Hybrid Workspace, Documenta X, Kassel, DE
2002 – 107 fears, performance and installation, Hermitage St. Petersburg, RU
1997 – Illegal Crossing the Border between Czech Republic and Germany, action in a forest between CZ and DE
1995 – Female Comrades (Podrugi), Gallery 21, Pushkinskaya–10 Art Centre, St. Petersburg, RU
1995 – Memory of Poor Lisa, performance, Winter Kanavka, St. Petersburg, RU
Teaching activities, supported research and workshops (selection):
2026 – Roundtable Discussion, with Renzo Martens, Anna Bitkina, Knut Birkholz, Eszter Szakacs and Christel Vesters, on The Shadow of Care, AKINCI, Amsterdam, NL
Performative tour of The Shadow of Care, AKINCI, Amsterdam, NL
2025 – Artist in Residence – Gluklya, Bulbul Art-Residence, Bishkek, KG
2025 – Artist Talk at CREES Noon lecture, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan, US
2024 – Artist talk, Gallery SKALA, Poznan, PL
2024 – Fragility and Resistance workshops, Gluklya Studio, Amsterdam, NL
2024 – mARTadero residence, Artist talk, Cochabamba, BO
2024 – Tet-a -Tet conversations with students, University of Chicago, School of Art, US
2023 – Invited artist, Drawing in Social Space, Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London, UK
2022 – Artist talk, Post–Soviet Studies Workshop, Indiana University, US
2022 – Artist talk, the program of GUDSCKUL: Bishkek School of Contemporary Art (BiSCA) at documenta fifteen, Kassel, DE
2021 – Post Soviet Colonial Research Laboratory 1520, GARAGE, Moscow, RU – Bishkek,
2021 – Artist talk The Place of the Artist is on the Side of the Weak: A Manifesto for the 21st Century, Penny Stamp Speaker Series, University of Michigan, US
2019 – Royal Academy of Art Den Haag, NL
2019 – ARTEZ Institute Master Programme, NL
2019 – Artist Talks: Indonesia research, Jakarta, (GUDSKUL)Yogyakarta, Jatiwangi art Factory, ID
2018 – Dialogical Interventions in the EU Parliament, Brussels, BE
2018 – Workshop around the topic of Carnival of the Oppressed Feelings, Manifesta, Palermo, IT
2016 – Artist talk, MoMA’s C–MAP (Central and Eastern European Research) meeting, New York, US
2016 – Artist talk: Russian Protest Art and Vulnerability in the Putin Era, Harvard University, Cambridge, US
2016 – Artist Talk, Museum on/off, Centre Pompidou, performance, Paris, FR
2016 – Artist Talk, Yale University, US
2011 – FFC Screening, Artist talk, Museum Reina Sofia, Madrid, ES
Grants, publications, fellowships ,residences and awards (selection):
2026 – Feature in book ‘The Radical Unpresent: Cultural Resistance in a Fractured World’, written by Gregory Sholette, The MIT Press, US
2025 – Art Fellowship UKRI Network Plus ‘Shifting Global Polarities: Russia, China, and Eurasia in Transition’
2024 – 2028 Mondriaan Fund, Stipendium for Basis Artists, NL
2023 – MartAdero residence ,Cochabamba,Bo
2022 – Grants from Doen and Prince Bernhardt foundations, Amsterdam, NL
2022 – Two Diaries: Gluklya & Murad, the book, collaboration with Kurdish activist Murad Zorava, publisher: Walther & Franz König, editors: Charles Esche & Ashley Maum, producers: Framer Framed & VanAbbe museum, NL
2018 – 2022 Mondriaan Fund, Stipendium for Established Artists, NL
2017 – Grants from Mondriaan Fund, Amsterdamse Fonds voor de Kunsten and Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, NL
2015 – Zarya residence, Vladivostok, RU
2014 – Joseph Brodsky Memorial Fund Fellowship, Rome, IT
2013 – Philipp Otto Runge Foundation Grant, DE *
2011 – Sergei Kuryokhin Award, St. Petersburg, RU
2007 – Cite International des Arts residency program, Paris, FR
2007 – Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto Residency Program, Bella, IT
2006 – Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art (NIFCA) residency program
2004 – Residency at Office for Contemporary Art, Oslo, NO
2002 – Rave Stipendium at Neue Berlinische Kunstverein, Berlin, DE
2002 – IASPIS residence ,Umea,SE
2001 – KulturKontact residency program, Vienna, AT
2000 – Grant from ProArte Institute, St. Petersburg, RU
2000 – Grant from Mama Cash Foundation, Amsterdam, NL
1995–97 – Grants from Soros Center of Contemporary Art, St. Petersburg, RU
Works at the collections and archives (selection):
Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, NL; Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi,Gemeentemuseum Arnhem, NL; Victoria and Albert Museum London UK; Moscow House of Photography, RU; Oslo Contemporary Art Museum, NO; Zimmerly Collection, USA; Mark Suchek, Ljubljana, SL; Archive of the Contemporary Conflict, Londen, UK; MMOMA, Moskou, RU; Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, IT; Museum Reina Sophia, Madrid, ES*; Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrado, RS*; The Library of Museum of Modern Art New York, USA, Centraal Museum Utrecht, NL; Sanders Collectie. Centraal museum ,Utrecht ,NL ,/ Oslo Contemporary Art Museum / Zimmerly Art Museum, Rutgers University ,US,Pitsburg University ,US/ Tony Podesta collection ,USMark Suchek, Lublyana / Archive of the Contemporary Conflict, London / MMOMA, Moscow /Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato,Dianne Beal collection
(marked with * with “Chto delat” collective)