ALTER VISTA

surrealist functionalism
About
Meet the Artist
Olga Chekmazova (b. 1991) is a UK-based conceptual artist and researcher working across sculpture, light assemblage, and found objects.

She holds an honours degree in Radio Engineering (2013) and spent her early career in the space industry, developing docking systems for spacecraft. In 2020, she transitioned into historical lighting restoration as a practice of peaceful resistance against the erasure of historical memory and industrial overproduction. Since then, she has sourced, attributed, and reconstructed over 650 historic lighting fixtures from discarded components and loose fragments (Alter Vista Crafts).

Initially turning to Soviet-era functional artifacts as a tool to process the complex history of her native culture, Olga developed a research-led methodology centered on direct material analysis. Examining items from custom-cast brass to standardized hex nuts, she isolated how specific historical periods inscribed their priorities and flaws into functional design. In 2023, she launched Electricity as Art, an educational and research project that has trained over 120 practitioners globally in historical lighting methodology.

Now based in the UK, she extends this practice to local industrial and architectural remnants. Working at the intersection of functionalism and surrealism, Olga uses material assemblage and light to establish a dialogue with her new host culture — a practice recently exhibited in institutional settings including Standen House (National Trust), Hastings Contemporary, and Fabrica (Brighton) — while treating her personal lived experience as an analytical container to examine the friction, convergence, and dialogue between a displaced identity and a new environment.
LIGHT ASSEMBLAGE • SURREALIST FUNCTIONALISM • MATERIAL MEMORY • INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE • DISPLACED IDENTITY • CIRCULAR ART PRACTICE • FOUND OBJECTS
ALTER VISTA
Exhibitions
2026

Current Exhibition

Inspired by Standen: The Future of Arts and Crafts,
Standen House (National Trust) in partnership with Sussex Contemporary,
East Grinstead, UK (Selected Artist),
2 July – 30 September 2026

Institutional & Museum Group Exhibitions

The Open: Odyssey, Hastings Contemporary,
Hastings, UK (Selected Artist) | 2026

Resonance, Fabrica x Sussex Contemporary
Brighton, UK (Selected Artist) | 2026


Online / VR

36th Community Art Exhibition, Circular ArtSpace,
Bristol, UK | 2026

35th Community Art Exhibition, Circular ArtSpace,
Bristol, UK | 2026

Existentialism Art Contest Online Exhibit, The Dalí Museum
St. Petersburg, FL, USA
ALTER VISTA
Portfolio
2025-2026
Exhibition Catalogue
The Rustle of an Electric Bustle
An exploration of the memory of a place and its inhabitants through the medium of light, inspired by the works of W.A.S. Benson.
Inspired by Standen: The Future of Arts+Crafts
SITE-SPECIFIC PROJECT
Selected Light Assemblages
Adytum
This work functions as a physical metaphor for the innermost sanctuary of the psyche. Drawing from the architectural concept of an 'adytum' - a restricted, sacred space - the object shields its internal glow behind a veil of chainmail. It does not seek to communicate or escape; instead, it exists in a state of quiet subsistence.

Status: Artist’s Collection
The Rustle of an Electric Bustle
This work connects the early 1890s construction of Standen with a distinct shift in women's domestic agency.

Status: Artist’s Collection
Currently exhibiting at Standen House (National Trust) for Inspired by Standen | 2 July – 30 September 2026
More works

Foreign Waters

The project explores the personal experience of displacement
Explore Series
Information on Work Status
  • Available
    Work is ready for purchase. International shipping is available upon request.

  • Artist’s Collection
    These pieces are currently held by the artist for exhibition purposes and are not for sale at this time.
  • Private Collection
    These works have been acquired and are no longer for sale.
Selected Works 2020–2024
All works from this period are now held in private collections.
Find more of my work on the blog Alter Vista Crafts
What is a defect? An end or an opportunity?
Contacts:
Olga Chekmazova


Engineer and artist
(Cotswolds, England)
Email: alter.vista.olga@gmail.com

Instagram: @the_alter_vista

Telegram: https://t.me/alter_vista_Olga


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