Elena Kovylina is a Russian artist and curator.
She has graduated from the 1905 Moscow Art School; received a degree in Painting from the Moscow State Academic Art Institute; studied the Installation, Performance, Video, Object course at the F+F School of Art and Design Zurich; studied the New Art Strategies course at the ICA and Soros Centers for Contemporary Art (SCCA) in Moscow. In 2001–2003, Kovylina studied at the Berlin University of the Arts (Class of Prof. Rebecca Horn) and participated in residencies in Germany, Switzerland, France and the USA.
At the start of her career, Elena examined the discourse on gender and feminism, explored the boundaries of her own body and social communication by being repeatedly exposed to physical and social danger. Since 2012, she has been conducting science-art research alongside the scientist Inna Yakovleva. She has a keen interest in transhuman, esoteric, scientific and philosophical concepts of civilization and human development. In recent years, she has been testing the potential of noonetworks in art, and put together a programme of teaching performance art, which laid out the basics of practical work in this genre for her students.
Recipient of the Innovation Prize (2006) and the Russian Academy of Arts Awards (2014).