Writer, performer,
playwright
playwright
Sveta Lukyanova
Accomodation: Kazan, Russia
Accomodation: Kazan, Russia
Her debut autofiction novel "I Do Nothing Wrong" about growing up as a queer girl in the 90's in a small town in Russia and a later-in-life lesbian coming-out will be published in 2023.
Parts of the book were published and showcased at the solo exhibition "Autofiction is temporarily cancelled" at the "Metenkov's House" photography museum in Ekaterinburg in 2022. Some of the chapters were also published at various literary magazines, zines and short story collections.
Sasha Shadrina, founder of the independent publishing house
No Kidding Press, by which the book will be published:
"Our goal was to publish books that portray the experiences of women and queer people — something that’s underrepresented in Russian literature. It is important to me to publish authors who do something new in terms of language and form, and don’t pay attention to genre conventions".
Publications of short stories in English
I Do Nothing Wrong — at the Oranges Journal (2023)
The day my grandfather died — at the zine VOIDSPACE_ (2023)
The day my grandfather died — at the zine VOIDSPACE_ (2023)
Autofiction is temporarily cancelled (2022)
The result of two and a half week-long writing residency at the Metenkov's House museum of photography.
The central piece — the book of the same name which is an unfinished autofiction novel.
Curator Anastasia Elizarieva.
Ran from July until November 2022
The central piece — the book of the same name which is an unfinished autofiction novel.
Curator Anastasia Elizarieva.
Ran from July until November 2022
"To get naked here is not scary. I can enjoy my own nudity as a performer and as a spectator at the same time. Because all of this is just text.
My textual nudity still takes place within boundaries that are set not by me. It's hard to know these days where the forbidden waters begin. Perhaps, despite the precautions, we take risks. Or perhaps, on the contrary, we over-insure".
My textual nudity still takes place within boundaries that are set not by me. It's hard to know these days where the forbidden waters begin. Perhaps, despite the precautions, we take risks. Or perhaps, on the contrary, we over-insure".
Press about the exhibition
"I already have texts written — it's autobiographical prose, I'm working with my own life material. I came with a set idea of what I could write. In the end, these will be texts written before and new ones, and everything will be united by the theme of childhood, growing up and not fitting into existing frames, being different from others, not being able to find my place in the world. This is a very important theme for me, the way I really felt as a child.
When I was a kid, I always thought I was okay, I was normal, I had friends. And then I grew up, looked at how other people lived, how they lived all that time, and realized that no, it turns out I'm different! This perspective, of course, reveals a lot about my own childhood and how it influenced the present."
Interviewer Anna Filosyan
IT'S MY CITY
When I was a kid, I always thought I was okay, I was normal, I had friends. And then I grew up, looked at how other people lived, how they lived all that time, and realized that no, it turns out I'm different! This perspective, of course, reveals a lot about my own childhood and how it influenced the present."
Interviewer Anna Filosyan
IT'S MY CITY
"Even though this is not quite a standard exhibition, its format is quite consistent with the cross-genre and somewhat experimental line of the autofiction genre that the writer is playing with."
"Sveta ventures into brave literary exposure: the texts on display are devoted to childhood and adulthood, periods of our lives full, on the one hand, of the most traumatic events, and on the other, of the warmest memories. There is much of Sveta herself in these lines, but her truth will easily resonate in the heart of every man (and especially every woman!)."
Katya Zudova
E-katarsis
"Sveta ventures into brave literary exposure: the texts on display are devoted to childhood and adulthood, periods of our lives full, on the one hand, of the most traumatic events, and on the other, of the warmest memories. There is much of Sveta herself in these lines, but her truth will easily resonate in the heart of every man (and especially every woman!)."
Katya Zudova
E-katarsis
Publications in Russian
The word that starts with an "S" — at the short story collection "Accomplices" by Samokat (2022)
Hobbies — at the "Friendship: stories of women and non-binary people" by WLAG&No Kidding Press (2020)
The day my grandfather died — at the short story collection "A Little Book of Stories about Women's Sexuality" by WLAG&No Kidding Press (2019)
Boobs — at the collection “Without Permission” by WLAG&No Kidding Press (2017) and at internet media site Inde.
Hobbies — at the "Friendship: stories of women and non-binary people" by WLAG&No Kidding Press (2020)
The day my grandfather died — at the short story collection "A Little Book of Stories about Women's Sexuality" by WLAG&No Kidding Press (2019)
Boobs — at the collection “Without Permission” by WLAG&No Kidding Press (2017) and at internet media site Inde.
Homo Digitalis (2021)
Eight-hour-long performance about post-work.
Sveta participated as a performer playwrite. Every hour Sveta had to finish a part of the play about the future of the work, artificial inteligence and humanity. She was not able to take a break or walk from her workplace.
Directors Angelina Migranova and Rodion Sabirof from Akt Theater (Kazan), performance took place at the MOÑ Theater (Kazan).
Sveta participated as a performer playwrite. Every hour Sveta had to finish a part of the play about the future of the work, artificial inteligence and humanity. She was not able to take a break or walk from her workplace.
Directors Angelina Migranova and Rodion Sabirof from Akt Theater (Kazan), performance took place at the MOÑ Theater (Kazan).
Press about the performance
"Homo Digitalis gives mixed impressions. On the one hand, it is as if the play is not ready for the audience's presence. It does not aspire to tell something or engage in a dialogue. For the authors, the exploration of themes is more important than the public form in which it is presented. At the same time, productions about the digital proletariat are rare, and it is interesting how and what they want to talk to us about.
Kamil Gimazdtinov
Inde
"Every hour, playwright Lukyanova heard a signal tone reminding her of the deadline. One hour was one chapter of the play. It wasn't just broadcast on the screen in real time, it was instantly printed on a printer standing on the forecourt."
"Homo digitalis on the stage were leisurely doing their work, homo digitalis in the audience did not understand what was going on. People were seated in front of a mirror, which also started asking uncomfortable questions. Do you feel optimistic about your future? What about our planet? Can you influence its future? If you didn't have to work, what would you do?"
Ivetta Nevinnaya
Business Online
"Homo digitalis on the stage were leisurely doing their work, homo digitalis in the audience did not understand what was going on. People were seated in front of a mirror, which also started asking uncomfortable questions. Do you feel optimistic about your future? What about our planet? Can you influence its future? If you didn't have to work, what would you do?"
Ivetta Nevinnaya
Business Online
I'm a Buffalo (2021)
A play that was written during Sveta's participation at the online Narrative Theater Factory "Discipline".
The play is a comedy about musicians from the small town who want to get to the international showcase MENT in Slovenia and hit it big.
The play is fictional, but based on documentary material. Sveta relied on her own experience of playing in a band and the experience of her musician friends.
The play was read in Moscow by Theater group "Julyansamble" (director Artiom Dubra) and in Kazan by indie musicians (director Ksenia Shachneva)
The text is available online.
The play is a comedy about musicians from the small town who want to get to the international showcase MENT in Slovenia and hit it big.
The play is fictional, but based on documentary material. Sveta relied on her own experience of playing in a band and the experience of her musician friends.
The play was read in Moscow by Theater group "Julyansamble" (director Artiom Dubra) and in Kazan by indie musicians (director Ksenia Shachneva)
The text is available online.
I'm a Buffalo
Press about the reading
"It sounds fascinating, lively, with a couple of lyrical and unnecessary moments, but logical and fast-paced. One sympathizes with the heroine, one gradually begins to hate the hero. As the play is described on the Discipline website, it is "about thirty-somethings, about the choice between well-being and dreams, it is a story of co-dependence, service and separation."
"Listening to the text spoken by the people in the window boxes is not at all like studying at a craft bar, when the story is also followed by musicians whose fates one willy-nilly catches similar lines."
Radif Kashapov,
Realnoye Vremya
Huge Woman (2021)
The collection of poems "Huge Woman" that was published online by F-writing (2021).
"These poems were written between fall 2019 and summer 2020 - when the author suffered from an eating disorder and began treatment for it. The author is now in remission."
F-writing is a poetry collective of feminist and LGBTQ poets founded in 2017 in order to use language as a form of political protest.
Illustrations by Lisa Parshina.
"These poems were written between fall 2019 and summer 2020 - when the author suffered from an eating disorder and began treatment for it. The author is now in remission."
F-writing is a poetry collective of feminist and LGBTQ poets founded in 2017 in order to use language as a form of political protest.
Illustrations by Lisa Parshina.
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