In my practice, I explore themes of progress, memory, and identity—often rooted in the context of my homeland Kalmykia, a republic in the southwest of Russia. Shaped by my family archive and personal history, my work is frequently site-specific and spans a range of media, including sound, video, text, and hand embroidery. Drawing on multiple “in-between” standpoints—including my mixed background and ongoing migration journey—I re-call, re-cognize, trace, and unfold layered histories and inherited narratives.
Aside from my work as a solo artist, I am also a member of the Mu Collective, a group of artists from Kalmykia.
My current project explores the portrayal of Kalmyk (Oirat) people in late 19th to early 20th century European ethnological shows, or “human zoos.” I combine archival research, engagement with diaspora groups, and academic methods like Saidiya Hartman’s critical fabulation to recover stories erased from official narratives. The project begins as a lecture-performance and later evolves into a textile-based installation.
In parallel, I am completing an audio work titled The Best from The West, named after a 90-minute cassette compilation that accompanied my walks in mid-1990s Elista, Kalmykia. Unable to return home without risking political persecution, I reenact that route in Berlin’s Sonnenallee, where I currently live. As I walk, I record my voice alongside field sounds and cassette fragments, reflecting on the shifting realities of both locations.
PROCESS
CV
born in 1985 in Kalmykia, Russia
currently residing in Berlin, Germany
Mail: sarangova@gmail.com
EDUCATION
2016 – 2020 University of the Arts Berlin, MA Art in Context (Prof. Jörg Heiser)
2011 – 2014 Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, BA Hons in Performance Design & Practice
2010 – 2011 Camberwell College of Art and Design, Foundation Degree
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS/SCREENINGS
2025
Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt, Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin (upcoming)
2024
Dissolution: Performance | Ringtheater Berlin
Shuud Busaar | COROOTED Gallery Showcase |Paris, France
Let’s keep it, Let’s Skip it: Lecture - Performance | Ringtheater Berlin
Lenin Square. Elista | Artdocfest Online Selection
2023
Stim Toys Lab | Flutgraben, Berlin
Metamorph: Performance at In:visible Festival | Left Bank, Tbilisi, Georgia
SOUND/IMAGE 2023 | The Stephen Lawrence Gallery, London, UK
Decoloniality and Sound | Live-Performance, Aktionshaus Berlin
Motherland II: OME | Group show at Bethanien/Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin
2022
Supermarket | Charity Art Exhibition Art With Ukraine | Erika-Fuchs-Haus, Bayern
2021
Motherland I | Feminist Translocalities | Typographia Centre, Krasnodar, Russia
2020
Lenin Square. Elista: Screening | Red Square Festival, Berlin
Safeguard: Performance | Work Hard! Play Hard! Platform | Minsk, Belarus
2019
Eurospin: Sound Walk | Work Hard! Play Hard! Side Affects Program | Minsk, Belarus
Archaeology of Progress |CMR Project Space, Redruth, UK; Broadcast on Radiophrenia Radio at Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow
2018
Sinn | Fremd-Anamnesis Group show | Stillpoint Spaces Berlin
2017 -2014
Archaeology of Progress. Lviv | TETRAMATYKA Festival of Audiovisual Art, Lviv, Ukraine
Motherland I | 48 Stunden Neukölln | Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin
Motherland I: Screening | Whitechapel Gallery Open Screenings, London
COLLABORATIVE/CURATORIAL WORK
2024
Duo Premiere (Maximilian Schweizer und Victoria Sarangova) | Live Performance | Aktionhaus, Berlin
2023
MU Collective: Zine, Video (with Gerel Puteeva, Gerel Erendzhenova, Kristina Dobr ) | OME Group show at Bethanien/Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin
2022
Make Noise for Ukraine: participative performance (mit Maximilian Schweizer) | soundartradio, Cornwall, UK
Memory and War: Live-Sound design (with Jeanna Kolesova, Maximilian Schweizer) | Ballhaus Ost Theatre, Berlin
2021
MU Collective: Exhibition of contemporary art from Kalmykia, curated in collaboration with G. Puteeva, G. Erendzhenova and K. Dobr. | DDT, Elista
2018 - 2013
How To Feel Better? Investigative performance (with János Brückner, Xaver Hirsch, Astarte Posch) | Performing Arts Festival Berlin
Procession (with Anton Lapov)| Showcase of Ukrainian Media art | Electromuseum, Moscow, Russia
RESIDENCIES
2023
In:visible Residency, Untitled Gallery | Tbilisi, Georgia
2022
CMR Residency | Redruth, Cornwall, UK
2021
Feminist Translocalities | Bashkortostan
2019
Work Hard! Play Hard! Side Affects | Minsk, Belarus
Back Lane West | Cornwall, UK
ARTIST TALKS/WORKSHOPS
2024
Re-synthesizing Identities | Artist talk and listening session | CTM Discourse Program, Berlin
2023
SOUNDEAST - Sonic Inquiries Into Cultures from Central and Eastern Europe & Central Asia
GRANTS/PRIZES/STIPENDS
2024
Artdocfest Online Program Selection
2017
STEP Travel Grant for Engaged Partnership
DOWNLOADS
NEWSLETTER
In my practice, I explore themes of progress, memory, and identity—often rooted in the context of my homeland, a republic in the southwest of Russia, and shaped by my family archive and personal history. My work is frequently site-specific and spans a range of media, including sound, video, text, and hand embroidery. Drawing on multiple “in-between” standpoints—including, for example, my mixed background and ongoing migration journey—I re-call, re-cognize, trace, and unfold layered histories and inherited narratives.
My current project explores the portrayal of Kalmyk (Oirat) people in late 19th to early 20th century European ethnological shows, or “human zoos.” I combine archival research, engagement with diaspora groups, and academic methods like, for example, Saidiya Hartman’s critical fabulation to recover stories erased from official narratives. The project begins as a lecture-performance and later evolves into a textile-based installation.
In parallel, I am completing an audio work titled The Best from The West, named after a 90-minute cassette compilation that accompanied my walks in mid-1990s Elista, Kalmykia. Unable to return home without risking political persecution, I reenact that route in Berlin’s Sonnenallee, where I currently live. As I walk, I record my voice alongside field sounds and cassette fragments, reflecting on the shifting realities of both locations.
Aside of my work as a solo artist, I am also a member of the Mu Collective, a group of artists from Kalmykia.
Process
Curriculum Vitae (CV):
born in 1985 in Kalmykia, Russia
currently residing in Berlin, Germany
Mail: sarangova@gmail.com
EDUCATION
2016 – 2020 University of the Arts Berlin, MA Art in Context (Prof. Jörg Heiser)
2011 – 2014 Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, BA Hons in Performance Design & Practice
2010-2011 Camberwell College of Art and Design, Foundation Degree
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS/SCREENINGS
2025
Goldrausch Künstlerinnen Projekt, Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin (upcoming)
2024
Dissolution: Performance | Ringtheater Berlin
Shuud Busaar | COROOTED Gallery Showcase |Paris, France
Let’s keep it, Let’s Skip it: Lecture - Performance | Ringtheater Berlin
Lenin Square. Elista | Artdocfest Online Selection
2023
Stim Toys Lab | Flutgraben, Berlin
Metamorph: Performance at In:visible Festival | Left Bank, Tbilisi, Georgia
SOUND/IMAGE 2023 | The Stephen Lawrence Gallery, London, UK
Decoloniality and Sound | Live-Performance, Aktionshaus Berlin
Motherland II: OME | Group show at Bethanien/Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin
2022
Supermarket | Charity Art Exhibition Art With Ukraine | Erika-Fuchs-Haus, Bayern
2021
Motherland I | Feminist Translocalities | Typographia Centre, Krasnodar, Russia
2020
Lenin Square. Elista: Screening | Red Square Festival, Berlin
Safeguard: Performance | Work Hard! Play Hard! Platform | Minsk, Belarus
2019
Eurospin: Sound Walk | Work Hard! Play Hard! Side Affects Program | Minsk, Belarus
Archaeology of Progress |CMR Project Space, Redruth, UK; Broadcast on Radiophrenia Radio at Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow
2018
Sinn | Fremd-Anamnesis Group show | Stillpoint Spaces Berlin
2017 -2014
Archaeology of Progress. Lviv | TETRAMATYKA Festival of Audiovisual Art, Lviv, Ukraine
Motherland I | 48 Stunden Neukölln | Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin
Motherland I: Screening | Whitechapel Gallery Open Screenings, London
COLLABORATIVE/CURATORIAL WORK
2024
Duo Premiere (Maximilian Schweizer und Victoria Sarangova) | Live Performance | Aktionhaus, Berlin
2023
MU Collective: Zine, Video (with Gerel Puteeva, Gerel Erendzhenova, Kristina Dobr ) | OME Group show at Bethanien/Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin
2022
Make Noise for Ukraine: participative performance (mit Maximilian Schweizer) | soundartradio, Cornwall, UK
Memory and War: Live-Sound design (with Jeanna Kolesova, Maximilian Schweizer) | Ballhaus Ost Theatre, Berlin
2021
MU Collective: Exhibition of contemporary art from Kalmykia, curated in collaboration with G. Puteeva, G. Erendzhenova and K. Dobr. | DDT, Elista
2018 - 2013
How To Feel Better?: Investigative performance (with János Brückner, Xaver Hirsch, Astarte Posch) | Performing Arts Festival Berlin
Procession (with Anton Lapov)| Showcase of Ukrainian Media art | Electromuseum, Moscow, Russia
RESIDENCIES
2023
In:visible Residency, Untitled Gallery | Tbilisi, Georgia
2022
CMR Residency | Redruth, Cornwall, UK
2021
Feminist Translocalities | Bashkortostan
2019
Work Hard! Play Hard! Side Affects | Minsk, Belarus
Back Lane West | Cornwall, UK
ARTIST TALKS/WORKSHOPS
2024
Re-synthesizing Identities | Artist talk and listening session | CTM Discourse Program, Berlin
2023
SOUNDEAST - Sonic Inquiries Into Cultures from Central and Eastern Europe & Central Asia
GRANTS/PRIZES/STIPENDS
2025
Goldrausch Künstlerinnen Projekt, Berlin
2024
Artdocfest Online Program Selection
2017
STEP Travel Grant for Engaged Partnership
DOWNLOADS
NEWSLETTER