Poet, artist, performer, art theorist, one of the leading figures of the neo-avant-garde. Born in 1942 in Yeysk. Graduated from the Sverdlovsk Music College as a pianist, later studied at the Leningrad Institute of Theater, Music, and Cinematography. From 1965 to 1974, as part of the unofficial group "Uktus School," she published the samizdat magazine Nomer (together with Sergei Sigei). From 1979 to 1986, she edited the magazine Transponans. From 1991 to 2001, she published the international magazine of visual and vacuum poetry Double. In 1998, she moved to Germany. Author of the poetry collections Yu (2001), Planed Log of Poetry (2002), Glav-stikh-lek-syre (2003), and the prose works Songs of the Prince Who Holds the Keys and Student Jesus (2001). She worked in drama and became a key figure in the artist's book genre. Laureate of the Andrei Bely Prize in the category "For Special Contributions to the Development of Russian Literature" (1998, jointly with Sergei Sigei). Died in 2014 in Kiel. In 2025, the Moscow publishing house Nosorog published Ry Nikonova's book Songs of the Prince Who Holds the Keys.