TOVA
TOVA (she/her) is a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Finance, artist, poet, singer, performer, and founder of TOVA Gallery. Born in Kazakhstan, she has lived in five countries (Kazakhstan, Russia, the UAE, Israel, and the UK) and is currently based in London.
She is an artist-mediator with a sharp sensory awareness and a rigorous conceptual vision. Her work translates scientific research, multicultural experience, the often unseen challenges of the twenty-first century, and human emotional states into unified, multidimensional visual forms. TOVA’s practice unfolds through two key authorial concepts: TOVA NUTS, which take the form of sculptural artworks, and TOVA WORLDS, immersive environments where visual art, text, sound, video, poetry, and other media come together as cohesive artistic systems.
TOVA’s visual language is shaped by more than a decade of applied research in financial markets, including market microstructure, trading strategies, financial modelling, forecasting, market surveillance, and machine learning in finance. Her academic background brings clarity, precision, and conceptual depth to her work. Each TOVA NUT emerges from an extensive process of hypothesis formation, analytical investigation, and model construction. Holding a TOVA NUT means holding knowledge in visual form.
TOVA CONCEPTS
“My mission is to offer viewers a new way of understanding contemporary reality—one that remains meaningful beyond scientific texts or professional contexts. Through TOVA NUTS™ and TOVA WORLDS™, I bring logic and emotion into dialogue, inviting people to embrace themselves as whole. TOVA NUTS™ embody accumulated knowledge in an aesthetic form, while TOVA WORLDS™ invite audiences into my artistic universe. Together, they allow fragmented experiences to be recognised as interconnected parts of a greater whole.”— TOVA
Challenges TOVA Responds To:
TOVA explores:Acceleration of time: how the increasing pace of the 21st century reshapes perception, attention, and inner experience.Multicultural experience: how diverse cultural triggers, reactions, and events to reshape collective behavior and individual perception, drawing on her rich experiences in the East and West.Data overload and interpretation: a condition in which the volume of information no longer clarifies reality.Value in unstable systems: how value is recognized in shifting, unstable systems, where artistic form serves to reveal what remains significant.
TOVA questions: Structure and depth: the underlying structures of systems shape how we perceive and experience the world, raising the question of what depth is and where meaning truly resides.Shrinking time horizon: difficulty in maintaining a long-term orientation as the sense of time contracts and continuity weakens.Blurring boundaries: TOVA’s work emerges where inner and outer realities converge, with transitions experienced as both internal processes and external forces.
TOVA CV
Education:
2024 — PhD in Finance, Bayes Business School (City, University of London), UK
2009 — MSc in Accounting and Finance, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
2008 — BSc, Financial Management, Saint-Petersburg State University, Russia
Galleries / Platforms:
Since 2024 — TOVA Gallery (Founder), Dubai, UAE (operating globally)
Since 2012 — Gallery heritage: Moris Bigo, developed into TOVA Gallery, Saint-Petersburg
Selected Exhibitions:
2026 — London Contemporary art fair&exhibition, 18-th edition, Elements contemporary art space, London, UK
2026 — “Body landscapes”, TOVA NUTS premiere in Berlin, Zimmer48, Berlin, Germany
2025 — “The eye of happiness”, solo exhibition and artistic performance in PAS art space, Berlin, Germany
2025 — “Body&Emotions”, international group exhibition, TAPIR Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2024 — “I’m a Woman”, international group exhibition, Phoenix Art Space (Project Space), Brighton, UK
2023 — “What is coming next”, multidisciplinary artistic project, 21 Windows Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2022 — World Art Dubai (art fair), exhibitor listing: Tatiana Franus, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai, UAE
Art Fairs:
2024 — Frieze London (off-site digital showcase), London, UK — works presented by Plogix Gallery on six digital screens during Frieze London period
2022 — World Art Dubai, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai, UAE — art fair participation
Awards:
2026 — Bronze Selection, Berlin Music Video Awards, Berlin, Germany
2026 — British Academy Award
