Elena Tutatchikova

Elena Tutatchikova


Elena Tutatchikova (b. 1984, Moscow, Russia) is an artist based in Kyoto, Japan, whose practice explores imagination and ways of perceiving the world—through seeing, listening, touch, and movement—and how these experiences take form in her work in ceramics, painting, drawing, and text.

After studying classical music and Japanese culture in Moscow, Tutatchikova moved to Japan in 2012, where she completed an MA (2015) and a Doctor of Arts (2020) in Fine Art at Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Intermedia Art. She was awarded the Special Photographer Award at the Higashikawa International Photo Festival (2022) and the VOCA Encouragement Prize (2023).

Recent exhibitions include the solo show Presence Takes Time (MtK Contemporary Art, Kyoto, 2025); and group exhibitions A Lake is a Place Where Swimming Electrons Leave Traces (MtK Contemporary Art, Kyoto, 2024), Does the Future Sleep Here? (National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2024), Art and New Ecology (The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts, Tokyo, 2022), and Flower of Life—20th Anniversary Exhibition (Vangi Sculpture Garden Museum, Shizuoka, 2022).

Her publications include the photobook After an Apple Falls From the Tree, There is a Sound (torch press, 2016) and the art book I Hear, Says the Wind (Ecrit, 2022).

Her works are held in public collections including Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art and Higashikawa Bunka Gallery.

Education

2020 D.F.A., Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Intermedia Art
2013-15  M.F.A., Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Intermedia Art
2012  Research Student, Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Intermedia Art
2005-2011  Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow), Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies
1992-2003  Central Music School of the Moscow State Conservatory

Awards