Olga Tobreluts and Andrei Khaas Archive

A large part of the archive relates to the art and life of Olga Tobreluts, one of the first artists in Russia to work with video and computer graphics. From 1988 to 1993 she made abstract works on paper, canvas, and the walls of buildings, and she was also interested in the art of ornament. The lack of success with her debut film Violet Birds (1989–1990), made in collaboration with Ivetta Pomerantseva, encouraged her to explore new technical possibilities at ART+COM Studio in Berlin. The high point of her creative career coincided with Timur Novikov’s New Academy experiments. From 2004, she increasingly turned to abstract painting, sculpture, and book illustration.

The archive contains scripts and storyboards for the films Violet Birds, Woe from Wit (1993), and Party (1997), texts and budget estimates for exhibitions, articles and poems, as well as mail art by Dmitry Sokolenko. Visual materials include digital collages, preparatory and original footage for most of Olga Tobreluts’ projects, including Empire Reflections (1993), Secret Shapes (1997–1998), Emperor and Galilean (2000–2003), and others. It also contains a selection of portraits of the artist and her circle (Timur Novikov, Vladislav Mamyshev‑Monroe, Georgy Guryanov, Andrey Khlobystin, Valery Katsuba, Bella Matveeva, Konstantin Goncharov, and others), and photographs from previews and of artists’ studios. Other artworks in the collection include early abstract drawings on paper (1990–1992), the diptych Adam and Eve (2004), book illustrations, preparatory materials for the project The Fight of the Naked (2008–2012), and set designs for Fеdor Kurеkhin’s theater project Abstraction and Fragments (2019). Digital materials form an important part of the archive: sketches, digital collages, photographs, texts, and videos (features and shorts by Olga Tobreluts, excerpts from Pirate Television and other TV programs of the 1990s and 2000s recorded on CD and VHS).

The second part of the archive relates to the activities of Andrei Khaas and the development of club culture in St. Petersburg. It includes a selection of documents on the organization and activities of the city’s first underground clubs Tantspol (1989–1991) and Tonnel (1993–2011), as well as photographs and videos documenting Russia’s first large raves, including Gagarin Party at VDNKh Space Pavilion (Moscow, 1991) and Fort at Alexander I Fort (Kronstadt, 2000). An early 1990s series of black‑and‑white photographs by Igor Shakunov includes shots taken in clubs and portraits of the artists of the New Academy of Fine Arts. The selection of ephemera includes flyers, invitations, and posters for raves and parties of the 1990s–early 2000s (at Tanstpol, Tonnel, Planetary, Port, Griboyedov, and Mama in St. Petersburg, Ptyuch in Moscow, events at the St. Petersburg Youth Theater, Baltic House Theater, Leningrad Palace of Youth, and other venues).

About the Archivists: Olga Tobreluts (Komarova; b. 1970, Leningrad) is a pioneer of Russian video art, a digital and graphic artist, painter, set designer, and curator. She graduated in architecture from the Industrial College of Construction (Leningrad, 1989), studied at Leningrad Institute of Engineering and Construction (1989–1991), and completed a course in computer graphics and animation at ART+COM Studio in Berlin (1990–1992). She was the founder of the Laboratory for the Studies of Ornament at A‑Ya Society in Leningrad (1991–1999) and the head of the Photography Center at Mama Club (1996–1999). She became a professor at the New Academy of Fine Arts in 1994 and an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts in 2016. She lives and works in St. Petersburg and Pacsa (Hungary).

Andrei Khaas (Nearonov; b. 1969, Krivoi Rog) is a writer and one of the pioneers of Russian club culture. He was involved in the opening of the clubs Tantspol, Tonnel, and Mama (all in St. Petersburg) and the organization of several big raves of the early 1990s. He is the author of Happiness Corporation: The History of Russian Rave (2006), Fury (2009), and Now I Am Your Father (2024). He lives and works in St. Petersburg and Pacsa (Hungary).