About
Irina Merkulova
Was born in 27 February 1984
Gryfino, Poland
Lives and works in
St. Petersburg, Russia
Was born in 27 February 1984
Gryfino, Poland
Lives and works in
St. Petersburg, Russia
Artist's statement
The Aesthetics of Indeterminacy
The trajectory of my artistic practice unfolds across such disciplines as visual art, literature, philosophy, psychoanalysis, programming, sound engineering, and video art, forming a field in which indeterminacy—being irreducible to the realm of objects, time, or space—exists as a state wherein something may persist without being fixed as a concrete entity. This effect is achieved through work in which the object is treated as a construct, thereby enabling various transformations—visual, semantic, and material—oriented toward the actualization of the theme under investigation.
Indeterminacy is also linked to the aesthetics of the uncanny—das Unheimliche, a term introduced by Freud. The uncanny is that whose presence is distinctly sensed, yet the object itself remains entirely unrecognizable; although certain of its features and characteristics evoke a sense of familiarity, it nonetheless resists identification.
Indeterminacy manifests in the works across multiple dimensions: form, meaning, color palette, ornamentation, and their combinations. As a result, it is impossible to state with certainty what is depicted; only a few elements may be regarded as recognizable, yet they do not so much answer the question of what the viewer sees as sustain the effect of encountering a semantic dimension at the level of its very inaccessibility. Techniques based on the removal of one of the elements necessary for the comprehension of the depicted provoke a strong response in the form of rapidly emerging associative chains in the viewer, inadvertently initiating a process of self-analysis.
Chance, as a philosophical category—expressed in the absence of direct regularities—constitutes a rich source for the creation of new logical connections.
My engagement with literature occurs both through its material carrier—the book—and through texts, in the creation of which the central concept of my practice is maintained: it remains impossible to determine what the text is about, to whom it is addressed, or who writes it.
Significant discoveries in my practice—arising either from chance or from sustained work with the object through authorial methods, which generate semantic and visual effects of perception that expose indeterminacy, ambiguity, and the paradoxicality of a logic without foundation—are boldly presented to the viewer, already stirring the imagination on their side.
Indeterminacy is also linked to the aesthetics of the uncanny—das Unheimliche, a term introduced by Freud. The uncanny is that whose presence is distinctly sensed, yet the object itself remains entirely unrecognizable; although certain of its features and characteristics evoke a sense of familiarity, it nonetheless resists identification.
Indeterminacy manifests in the works across multiple dimensions: form, meaning, color palette, ornamentation, and their combinations. As a result, it is impossible to state with certainty what is depicted; only a few elements may be regarded as recognizable, yet they do not so much answer the question of what the viewer sees as sustain the effect of encountering a semantic dimension at the level of its very inaccessibility. Techniques based on the removal of one of the elements necessary for the comprehension of the depicted provoke a strong response in the form of rapidly emerging associative chains in the viewer, inadvertently initiating a process of self-analysis.
Chance, as a philosophical category—expressed in the absence of direct regularities—constitutes a rich source for the creation of new logical connections.
My engagement with literature occurs both through its material carrier—the book—and through texts, in the creation of which the central concept of my practice is maintained: it remains impossible to determine what the text is about, to whom it is addressed, or who writes it.
Significant discoveries in my practice—arising either from chance or from sustained work with the object through authorial methods, which generate semantic and visual effects of perception that expose indeterminacy, ambiguity, and the paradoxicality of a logic without foundation—are boldly presented to the viewer, already stirring the imagination on their side.
Education
Courses
2023 — Stasis Centre for Practical Philosophy, European Institute, Master of Philosophy Department, "Analysis of Aesthetic Experience"
2022 — Eastern European Institute of Psychoanalysis, Freud-Lacanian Psychoanalysis
2021 — International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, Salzburg, Austria, class "Dictionaries and Aporias" Ho - Tzu Nyen / Jan Gerber / Sebastian Luetgert
2020 — Python programmer
Universities
2014 — Moscow Institute of Humanities and Economics - Bachelor of Psychology. The topic of the graduation thesis is "The psychological portrait of the artist."
2008 — Institute of Fashion, Design and Technology, costume designer, specialist
The topic of the graduation thesis is synthesis of Rococo and military styles in the pret-a-porter de luxe women's clothing collection; collection: "Madame Pompadour participates in military operations", eclecticism
Finalist of the «Admiralteyskaya Igla - 2010» International Competition for Young Designers, St. Petersburg. Pret-a-porter de luxe women's clothing collection "Awakening", deconstructivism
School
1999 — Children's Art School.
She participated in many regional and All-Russian exhibitions.
Winner of the Talented Children Award -1997
Graduation thesis "The image of Russian folk dance - round dance in the forest"
2023 — Stasis Centre for Practical Philosophy, European Institute, Master of Philosophy Department, "Analysis of Aesthetic Experience"
2022 — Eastern European Institute of Psychoanalysis, Freud-Lacanian Psychoanalysis
2021 — International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, Salzburg, Austria, class "Dictionaries and Aporias" Ho - Tzu Nyen / Jan Gerber / Sebastian Luetgert
2020 — Python programmer
Universities
2014 — Moscow Institute of Humanities and Economics - Bachelor of Psychology. The topic of the graduation thesis is "The psychological portrait of the artist."
2008 — Institute of Fashion, Design and Technology, costume designer, specialist
The topic of the graduation thesis is synthesis of Rococo and military styles in the pret-a-porter de luxe women's clothing collection; collection: "Madame Pompadour participates in military operations", eclecticism
Finalist of the «Admiralteyskaya Igla - 2010» International Competition for Young Designers, St. Petersburg. Pret-a-porter de luxe women's clothing collection "Awakening", deconstructivism
School
1999 — Children's Art School.
She participated in many regional and All-Russian exhibitions.
Winner of the Talented Children Award -1997
Graduation thesis "The image of Russian folk dance - round dance in the forest"
Exhibitions
2025 — Floartfest, Bagratuni Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2024/25 — "The book is not for reading", Mikhail Shemyakin Center, St. Petersburg, Russia
2024 — "The Heart of the Flying Fish", online exhibition, personal website
2024 — "In the arms of a Bacchante", online exhibition, personal website
2023 — Gallery A3, Moscow Exhibition Halls, "Fair 3.0", Moscow, Russia
2023 — Elokhovsky Gallery, "Labyrinths of Consciousness", Moscow, Russia
2023 — Beriozka Gallery, "Revelation of Nature", Saint Petersburg, Russia
2022 — Art Square Gallery, "Two Zero Two Three", St. Petersburg, Russia
2022 — Yolka Art Gallery, Solo exhibition "Relative Reality", painting, Moscow, Russia
2022 — Molbert Gallery, "Reflexion", St. Petersburg, Russia
2022 — "Object Number 0", online exhibition, personal website
2022 — "Window to Nowhere", Freud's Museum of Dreams, St. Petersburg, Russia
2021 — "Activation", Arton Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia
2021 — "Dreams. In the Embrace of Morpheus", Molbert Gallery, St. Petersburg, Russia
2021 — Gallery W@P, St. Petersburg, Russia
2021 — "Psychosis", online exhibition, personal website
2021 — "System of Coordinates", Yolka Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2021 — "Preparing for Bohemia", ArtHub, Ivanovo, Russia
2021 — ''Ada's Space'', online exhibition, personal website
2020 — ''Under the Sky'', FangArte Gallery, Turin, Italy
2020 — ''Curves 'n' Forms,'' Haze Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2020 — ''Weather Forecast'', Art Community "Village", Moscow, Russia
2020 — ''Caught Light'', online exhibition, personal website
2020 — ''Self-Portrait — Adult Children'', Loft Project Etazhi, St Petersburg, Russia
2020 — ''Lonely Body'', Boomer Gallery, London, UK
2020 — ''Over the Structures'', CICA Museum, South Korea
2019 — ''Entre Dos Orillas,'' Gaudi Gallery, Madrid, Spain
2019 — ''Affordable Art Fair — 2019'', International Contemporary Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden
2019 — "Concept 2019," Federation of Canadian Artists, Vancouver, Canada
2019 — "Anatomica", Calvaria Gallery and Studio, Millville, New Jersey, USA
2019 — "International Mail-in Art Exhibition," Federation of Canadian Artists, Vancouver, Canada
2019 — "Under Hypnosis", Mars Centre for Contemporary Art, Moscow
2019 — "Art = everything", Proun Gallery, Moscow
2018 — "LA Ventanta del Arte Gallery," Gaudi Gallery, Madrid, Spain
2018 — "The Great Exhibition of Contemporary Art", Hyde Park Room, Athenaeum Hotel, London, UK
2018 — "La Magia de Luxemburgo", Gaudi Gallery, Madrid, Spain
2018 — Art3f, Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
2017 — "Chrome-art" International exhibition of contemporary art, London, UK
2002 — "Inspiration", College of Light Industry, Solo exhibition of graphics, Samara, Russia
Contacts