Alisa Oleva is a walking artist based in London who works within the spaces and streets of the city, exploring the politics of public space, how the city moves and how we move it, urban choreography and urban archaeology, traces and surfaces, borders and inventories, intervals and silences, passages and cracks. Her projects have taken the form of one-to-one and collective performances, walking scores, personal and intimate encounters, gatherings, parkour sessions, walkshops, soundwalks, and audiowalks.
Alisa holds a BA and MA from The Courtauld Institute of Art and an MA in Performance from Goldsmiths. She is currently doing a fully funded practice-based PhD at the University of East London.
Bursaries and awards:
Another Route, supported by Arts Council England, the British Council and the Jerwood Developing Artists Fund, 2022/2023
DYCP (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 Artist Bursaries, Arts Council England, 2020
Selected works:
WALK, series of monthly art walks in East London, commissioned by BUILDHOLLYWOOD, 2024/2025
Sounds like home, listening walks with livestreams, Compass Festival, Leeds, 2024
Walking from the palm of your hand, collective walk, Migrations Matter Festival, Sheffield, 2024
Walk me there, series of one-to-one walks, Compass Live Art, Leeds, 2023
Listening for change, urban soundwalk, TO)pot: sound walks festival, CONA, The Steklenik Gallery, Ljubljana, 2022
Listening in/Listening out, urban soundwalk, TO)pot: sound walks festival, CONA, The Steklenik Gallery, Ljubljana, 2022
Desire lines, audiowalk and a series of walkshops, part of Esch2022 European Capital of Culture, Esch-sur-Alzette/Dudelange/La Sauvage, 2022
Listening to where you are not, listening walk, Oscillation Festival, Q-O2, Brussels, 2022
walk – stop – listen – walk again, collective walking and listening score, Oscillation Festival, Q-O2, Brussels, 2022
Pink Coat, Yellow Coat, distant performance, London/Tel-Aviv, 2022
Port-to-Port, walking art commission, Pier Projects, Felixstowe, 2021
Skyline walking, collective video archive, commissioned by Urban Night Project, supported by Leverhulme Trust, Queen Mary University Of London, Royal College Of Art, Theatrum Mundi and the University of East Anglia, exhibited at Midnight Sun exhibition at Black Tower Project, London, 2021
City for her, shared collective walk at a distance, part of Femhouse week: Women \ Cities \ Arts, commissioned by House of Europe and Platform TU, Mariupol / London / Ontario / Leeds / Glasgow /UAE/ Glasgow / Kyiv / Siverskodonetsk / Maryport / Kryvyi Rih, 2021
Walking Home, a walking performance over distance, produced by Performistanbul and LADA, supported by British Council’s #WomenPowerinCulture Grant Scheme, London/Istanbul, 2020
Walk Collage, a collective audiowalk, commissioned by Casson & Friends, across the UK, 2020
Safe/Unsafe, two simultaneous distant walks, Woven Network, online art residency, 2020
Zoom walk, a simultaneous walk via a collective WhatsApp group, Work Hard! Play Hard!, 2020
Let me be your eyes on this walk, a one-to-one walk over a phone call, Work Hard! Play Hard!, 2020
Listening point, a one-to-one listening session via a phone call at locations chosen for each other, Work Hard! Play Hard!, 2020
Touching with your eyes, a simultaneous walking score via a collective WhatsApp group, Unlocked Walks series, The Residents Association, 2020
Tracing the inside, home performance and collective action, part of Stay LIVE at Home, commissioned by Performistanbul, in collaboration with British Council Turkey, online, 2020
View from the window, collective looking and sharing session via Zoom, online, commissioned by Artsvit Gallery, Dnipro, 2020
Imagined Manchester, guided audiowalk through an imagined city co-created by people who have never been to Manchester, Manchester, 2020
Shared sea walks, one-to-one walks over distance, IZOLYATSIA Residency Programme, hosted by TU Platform, Mariupol, 2019
Repeated walk, group walk performance, Work Hard! Play Hard!, Minsk, 2019
Spoon, one-to-one performance, Work Hard! Play Hard!, Minsk, 2019
Breadcrumbs, 24-hour performance, part of Making an EXIT, hosted by Chisenhale Dance Space, London, 2019
Reflections walk, one-to-one performance, Work Hard! Play Hard!, Minsk, 2018
Please hold, audiowalk over a phone call, Assembly of Disturbance, Red Gallery, London, 2017
Group exercises, collective walking performance from scores, Work Hard! Play Hard!, Minsk, 2017
Deviations, collective walking score, Work Hard! Play Hard!, Minsk, 2017
You are here, audio guide, part of Under the Ground of Our Times, Pori Art Museum, Finland, 2017
A song for two, audio installation, Dotyk Queer Festival, Minsk, 2017
Shortcut, sound installation, PolArt Residency, Norilsk, 2017
40.8, audiowalk, commissioned by GRAD, London, 2016
I’ll show you Minsk, one-to-one performance, Work Hard! Play Hard!, Minsk, 2016
Eisenstein’s circle, audiowalk, commissioned by GRAD, London, 2016
Map of silences, soundmap installation, part of art residency at Artsvit, Dnipro, 2016
A silent guided tour, performance, exhibited at Periscope gallery, Salzburg, 2014
The Demolition Project – collaboration with Debbie Kent
Soundwalk series, London, 2021-ongoing
(Slightly) Relaxed Soundwalks, East London, 2020-2021
The Demolition Project: Dnipro, part of the exhibition ‘I was approaching the place which I didn’t know yet’, Artsvit, Dnipro, 2021
Meeting places: collective mapping workshop, part of LivingMaps Live festival, London, 2021
The Shadow, remote walking video performance, commissioned by Omnibus Theatre, London, 2021
The street: a user’s guide, audiowalk, part of Encounter Bow Festival, commissioned by Chisenhale Dance Space, London, 2019
A/drift, audiowalk, part of Secret Rivers exhibition, Museum of London Docklands, 2019
The Demolition Project: Leeds, Compass Festival, Leeds, 2018
Blueprint, for ShadowMemory App, Ural Industrial Biennial: New Literacy, Ekaterinburg, 2017
Walkinglab, score, online
Zazerkaly, 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 ofReveil 2021by 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
Arrival time unknown, A site-specific intimate audio journey with headphones, taking place on Tram no. 24 in Moscow,Vadim Sidur Museum, Moscow, 2019
Residencies
Summer Residencies 2021, Chisenhale Dance Space, 2021
Crossing, online residency, organized by Artsvit Gallery and PAErsche Aktionslabor e.V, 2020
Odnushka residency, a one week residency, Novo-Molokovo, 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 Vilniu, a one month residency in Vilnius, Lithuania with The Demolition Project, 2016
Map of silences, a two weeks residency, Artsvit, Dnipro, 2015
Curating:
Engagement Curator atPushkin Hou, London, 2021-present
Production assistant onUm of Waterby 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 and audio essays:
Woven Scores, online zine, Woven Network, virtual art-residence, 2020
A walk to the edge, audiowalk, Something other: On visions – Listening event, Ignota, 2021, online
Touching with your ey, a photo essay, Livingmaps Review, 2021
Port-to-Port postcard, 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: Vorkut, 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 ofI was approaching the place which I didn’t know yet,Artsvit, Dnirpo, 2021
LADA Screens: Walking Home, online screening of Walking Home, LADA, 2021
Down to the Earth, Saint Petersburg, 2021
WalkCreate Gallery, online, 2021
Un-boxing, traveling exhibition, The Arts Territory Exchange, 2020
Self-isolation scor, a series of scores, as part of the digital group exhibition Ways & Means, Skelf: a virtual project space, 2020
Instagram exhibition, Safe Distance Gallery, online, 2020
Expo: Walking from Scor, 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 Scor, book, edited by Elena Biserna, 2022
Desire Lin, 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 m, Bianet, 2020
#FriendsFriday 51 – Alisa Olev, 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 outskirt, The Moscow Times, 2019
Eisenstein’s Circle: Interview With Artist Alisa Olev, Grad, 2016
Artist talks:
Slow Salon with Alisa Olev, 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 Walksho, Oscillation Festival, Q-O2, Brussels, 2022
Walkshop for Desire Lin, 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 worksho, 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 , 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 artist,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