Uliana BYCHENKOVA , B.F.A. M.F.A

Nachgestellte(r) Titel: B.F.A. M.F.A

Tätigkeitsbereich: Universitätsassistentin für Klang und Intermedia mit Schwerpunkt Artistic Research

E-Mail: uliana.bychenkova@gmpu.ac.at

Künstlerisch-Pädagogisches Profil

Uliana Bychenkova (*1986, Kerch/Ukraine) is an interdisciplinary artist & designer, composer & performer, curator & researcher, member and initiator of numerous artistic associations. In Sonic Arts, Uliana Bychenkova is interested in exploring a variety of acoustic and electronic sound objects overcoming their hierarchies but is particularly fascinated by the voice as a tool in self-discovery as a composer and performer. With a background in noise performance, she studied at the school of Ukrainian composer Katarina Gryvul, where timbre and form were paid the most strong attention. Focusing on the intermedial dimensions of electroacoustics and employing feminist optics, she graduated from SeaM (Studio for Electroacoustic Music in Bauhaus University Weimar, M.F.A.), with an electroacoustic score for the short film-performance “Scales” directed by Anna Scherbyna (e-flux Film Award 2024). Her current interest lies in the intersection between Graphic Design and New Music in both directions: experimental forms of compositional notation as well as new graphical languages in Visual Communication in/for the New Music field. Studying these two sources of practices she is aiming to explore Type Design’s potential as an interface for the Timbral Vocal Notation.

ARTISTIC AND RESEARCH FOCUS

My artistic and research practice unfolds at the intersection of Sonic Arts, Feminist Theory, and Intermedial Composition. I approach sound not merely as a medium but as a site of epistemological and political resistance: it is intangible and invisible, yet deeply entangled with affect, embodiment, and process. Through this lens, I explore how sonic practices can challenge dominant visual and textual paradigms, creating alternative forms of knowledge and perception. My current research focuses on the voice as both a musical and philosophical object. Drawing on feminist theories of voice (Adriana Cavarero), feminist musicology and “New Vocality” (Hanna Bosma), the “New Aesthetics” in Typography (Charlotte Rhode), and critical sound studies (Salomé Voegelin), I investigate the voice as a tool for self-discovery, intersubjective relation, and intermedial expression. In particular, I am developing approaches to timbral notation that combine sonic, typographic, and poetic dimensions. Here, type design and concrete poetry serve not only as visual languages but as interfaces for new forms of vocal composition. This intermedial orientation extends into my broader interest in Feminist Artistic Research. I understand Intermediality not merely as a formal artistic method, but as a political practice of resisting normative disciplinary divisions and cultural binarities. Following Karen Barad’s material-discursive framework, I work to integrate theoretical reflection and artistic practice into a dense dialogue where embodiment and discourse are inseparable. Synthesizing my background in feminist theory, visual communication and electroacoustics, I develop artistic formats for working with the politics of voice and its modalities, considering Textuality as a broad framework of practices including typography and work with voice and sound. I am interested in the synthesis of both graphic and sonic “timbres”.

CV

Education: Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts, Kharkiv, Ukraine (B.A. 2009; Diploma 2011); High Academic School of Graphic Design (2014); Rodchenko Art School of Photography and Multimedia, Sound Art (2015); European Humanities University Summer School, Artistic Research, Vilnius (2014); Feminist Writing Workshop, Lviv (2020); Gryvul School, Music production (2022) / Katharina Gryvul; Concordia University, Electroacoustic Studies, Montréal, Canada (2023) / prof. Kevin Austin and Ricardo Dal Farra; SeaM—Studio for Electroacoustic Music, Electroacoustic Composition & Sound Art, Bauhaus University, Weimar, Germany (M.F.A. 2024) / prof. Maximilian Marcoll.

Publications: “Znak. Ukrainian Trademarks of the 1960–1980s”, IST Publishing, Kharkiv, 2018; “Clara, Josephine, Fraktura, Futura”, Creating Ruin, Kyiv, 2021; “Silence féminin”, Block Magazine, Warsaw, 2022; “Perlamutter”, Künstlerhof Frohnau, Berlin, 2023; “ZNAK. Les logotypes en Ukraine de 1910 à 2019. Des archives réactivées.“, Problemata, Paris, 2022; “Value Resembles a Dance Not a Statue. Sergei Eisenstein’s Capital Project”, in “Film Undone. Elements of a Latent Cinema”, Archive Books Berlin, 2023 (with Elena Vogman); “Who Sailes Between The Scales? (Mermaid Lullabies Manifesto)”, Bauhaus-Uni, Weimar, 2024.

Residencies, awards: Grand Prix of the competition “Best Book Design”, project “Znak. Ukrainian Trademarks of the 1960–1980s” (U,N,A collective), Book Arsenal, Kyiv, 2020; “Dreams of Sisterhood”, Feminist Research Residence, LIA, Spinnerei, Leipzig, 2021; Akademie Schloss Solitude, Art Residence, Stuttgart, 2022; Künstlerhof Frohnau, Art Residence, Berlin, 2022; Donumenta, Artistic Research Residence, Regensburg, 2022; e-flux Film Award, “Scales”, directed by Anna Scherbyna, New York, 2024.

Educational projects: Seminar “INTERMEDIATION”, Bauhaus University Weimar / Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar, Germany, SoSe 2024; “Feminist Self-Publishing. How do we overcome the patriarchal dichotomy of Content and Form?”, 29. Leipziger Typotage, Museum für Druckkunst Leipzig, Germany, 2024; “U,N,A collective”, The Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, USA, 2024 (as a part of U,N,A collective); “Feminist Musicologie Reading Group”, Bauhaus University Weimar / Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar, Germany, 2022–2023; “The Workshop of Caring & Passionate Construction”, European Humanities University, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2021; Educational Project “Chytanka” (Reading), Artspace Kryla, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2020–2021 (with Anna Scherbyna).

Curatorial projects: Design research exhibition project “ZNAK. Ukrainian trademarks of the 1960s–1980s”, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, 2017 (as part of the U,N,A collective); International feminist art project “Cave of the Golden Rose”, Closer Art Center, Kyiv, 2019 (with Anna Scherbyna, Zhanna Dolgova, and Valentina Petrova), “Vystavka-Chytanka” (Exhibition-Reading), Artspace Kryla, Kyiv, 2020 (with Anna Scherbyna); “How Do We Turn Salt Into Sugar?”, Museum Reinickendorf, Berlin, 2023 (with Anna Scherbyna); Festival “Sonopticum­—Sunday of Sonic Arts” HfM Franz Liszt, Weimar, 2024 (with Jasper Seibert); Concert “THINGS that COULD happen”, HfM Franz Liszt, Weimar, 2025 (with Jasper Seibert).

Selected events: Performance “Feminist (Art) Criticism”, TSEKH space, Minsk, 2014 (with Pripoy!); Performance LadiyfestLeipzig, Leipzig, 2017 (with Pripoy!); Performance “Armed and Dangerous”, IZOLYATSIA. Platform for Cultural Initiatives, Kyiv, 2019 (with Anna Scherbyna); DJ set “Work Hard! Play Hard!”, Berlin, 2022; “Variable cloudnes”, Live on the Cashmere Radio, Berlin, 2024; DJ set “Fluesterzimmer N6”, Notenbank, Weimar, 2024; Radio show “SeaM Archive” (Studio for Electroacoustic Music), BAUHAUS-FM (with Jasper Seibert); Festival “Sonopticum­—Sunday of Sonic Arts” HfM Franz Liszt, Weimar, 2024 (with Leonard Friese); Concert “THINGS that COULD happen”, HfM Franz Liszt, Weimar, 2025 (with Marco Shevchenko & Marius Machill).

Collaborations: ︎Girls noise band “Pripoy!” (2013–2017); Design research trio “U,N,A collective” (with Nika Kudinova and Aliona Solomadina, since 2017), “Flying Cooperation” (2015–2017); Feminist art duo “Welcome To The Doll House!” (with Zhanna Dolgova, 2016–2021); Anna Scherbyna (since 2018); Lucy Ivanova (2021); Leonard Friese (2024); Jasper Seibert (since 2024); Marco Shevchenko & Marius Machill (since 2024).