Polina Bakhtina is an interdisciplinary artist, scenographer & costume designer, book's illustrator and tutor known for an integral approach to the visual and performing arts. She has focus in experimental and cross media project including children's ones, contemporary plays, complex narratives, sound art, genre synthesis and non-standard theater technologies.
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Graduated as a Master of Arts in 2003 from Printing Art’s MSU, she was involved in postgraduate research in visual dramaturgy first
in the book, then in three-dimensional stage space and cinema, performance and exhibition art. In 2014 she won ProHelvetia Grant
and became a participant of Avignon Festival seminar in France.
She has an extensive experience in book design and illustrations. In her opinion, book space is similar to theater space, and a book should not be designed, but directed from the first to the last page. Her books were published by Pink Giraffe, Trimag, AST etc.
Mainly works in theatre on projects which focus on performances of experimental forms such The Nutcracker, choreographed by Yury Posokhov; You must be thankful directed by Volker Schmidt; Sugar project by Ivan Vyrypaev and Cas Liske, Zanos by Vladimir Sorokin directed by Yury Kvyatkovsky, In rings (Moscow Unhappy) directed by Marina Brusnikina, hip-hopera Cops on Fire. She is visual author
of site-specific and interdisciplinary multimedia projects like It Seemed That You Imagined It with Tatiana Chizhikova for V-A-C Foundation.
Creator of the State pavilion at the XIII International Exhibition Prague Quadrennial 2015 with Yan Kalnberzin.
Gold medal of the Prague Quadrennial 2015 for the comic book Meyerhold's Dream as The Best PQ 2015 Publication.
Golden Mask Awards winner as The best theatrical artist of dramatic theater, 2021
Breakthrough awards winner in the nomination The best young artist of dramatic theater, 2014
BookILL fest’s Special Prize for illustrating book «Invisible-Visible», 2016
International CJ Book Festival’s winner, 2011
Sergei Kuryokhin Grand Prize, 2009
Since 2014 she is engaged in art education for professionals, teenagers and children.
Сurator of Scenography course in British Higher School of Design , author of the Сreative Space Practices course for V-A-C Foundation's educational project «Unusual Sections».
Regularly holds workshops and lectures on contemporary scenography, art and book's design.
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