Alexander Burenkov

Alexander Burenkov (b. 1987, St Petersburg, Russia) is a Moscow-based independent curator of contemporary art and educational projects, researcher, art critic, writer and lecturer at the Sreda Obucheniya School, the British Higher School of Art and Design and the RMA Business School. He was awarded the Innovation Prize in the Curator of the Year category in 2017 for his project titled Planned Obsolescence as part of the 5th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art. Burenkov graduated from the St Petersburg State University, the Institute for Contemporary Arts Moscow and RMA Business School.

Burenkov has curated more than 20 exhibitions spanning Russia and Europe.

Selected shows:
20:20. Time has stopped – Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Russia, 2020.
Artificial View – the Collector's Eye nonprofit sector of the Cosmoscow Fair, Gostiny Dvor, Moscow, Russia, 2019.
Going Unconscious / Trembling / With Eyes Open / I See You / Surrender – HSE Art Gallery, the Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, 2018.
CITIZENSFIVE – the nonprofit sector of the Art Athina fair, Athens, Greece, 2017.
Shiryaevo Biennale. Central Russian Zen (alongside Roman and Nelya Korzhov) – National Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia, 2017.

Burenkov's curatorial interests lie in the realms of art history and visual culture, philosophy, education, ecology, youth culture, technoculture, post-humanitarianism, and scientific and technological research with an emphasis on the impact of new technologies and post-Internet environment on human perception and interaction, as well as the world in the Anthropocene epoch. In 2019 he became the curator and developed the original concept, mission, exhibition plan and educational programs of the updated Khodynka municipal gallery, and organised Animal Internet, an international group show dedicated to the artistic practices that redefine the place of humans in the modern anthropocentric world and build new connections with nature, animals, plants and other creatures through technologies.

In June 2020, Burenkov launched the Blizhe platform, a laboratory for exploring distance learning opportunities in contemporary art and supporting experimental forms of online education (webinars, podcasts, online workshops, virtual conferences, and performative lectures). The platform was created by leading young Russian artists who explore the issues of the social role of art and use methods of critical, experimental and feminist pedagogy in their practices.

Member of the Board of Experts of the 6th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art (2018) and the Garage Museum's grant programme in support of emerging artists working in the field of contemporary art (2018). He has contributed publications to Artforum, The Calvert Journal, East East, Kommersant Art, Spectate, Aroundart, Colta, the Art Journal, Dialogue of Arts, Afisha, Strelka magazine and others. Burenkov participated in residencies at the Futura Gallery (Prague, Czech Republic, 2018) and the Luciano Benetton Foundation / Gallerie delle Prigioni (Treviso, Italy, 2019). He has become a project curator for the Porto Design Biennale (2021).

In the course of his residency at the Golubitskoe Art Foundation Burenkov has been working on an art history essay, which examines the shifting connections between nature and humans in the Anthropocene era, as well as the indirect role of technologies in this conversation, – and how they are reflected in contemporary art. He plans to bring to the fore the experiences of Russian and international artists, ranging from deep media practices to sound walks. The research will focus on the evolution of public art, land art and performative dance practices that reinterpret the landscape and can be applied for productive and multidirectional interaction with the landscape of the Golubitskoe Art Foundation and the surrounding areas in the future.