Kazakhstan Life & Culture - The Times Of Central Asia

Viewing results 25 - 30 of 755

Guiness World Records

Kazakhstan Guinness World Record Logged for Longest Hair Extension

Nearly half a kilometer of artificial hair, 35 hours of work, and a model who had to stuff the growing braid into a bag whenever he needed to move. A team from Kazakhstan has officially entered Guinness World Records after creating the world’s longest hair extension created by a team. The record was set in Almaty on December 7, 2024, although the verification and confirmation process took considerably longer. Guinness World Records now officially lists the result at 490 meters, or 1,607 feet 7.3 inches. The team consisted of braiding specialist Yelena Gorbatova, her husband Viktor Gorbatov, as well as Julia Beloborodova, Anastasia Kugukova, and Anara Arykova. Gorbatova told The Times of Central Asia that the team had initially hoped to reach the 500-meter mark. Viktor Gorbatov served as the model. The task proved no less demanding for him than for the braiders: the work continued for almost two days, and as the braid grew longer, it had to be folded into a bag. “My husband was the model. Who else would sit there for two days and understand how important this was? When the braid became large, we had to put it in a bag, and Viktor carried it with him everywhere. We took turns braiding,” said Gorbatova. The finished extension weighed 7.8 kilograms. The entire process was filmed, and the final measurement was conducted in the presence of witnesses. The documentation was then submitted to Guinness World Records for verification. For Gorbatova, the record was less about making the longest possible braid than about drawing attention to braiding as a profession in its own right. “Many people know about hairdressers and colorists, but braiding has not yet gained the recognition it deserves. I wanted to introduce it to as wide an audience as possible. I wanted people to simply say, ‘Wow,’” she said. Kazakhstan has been the site of a number of unusual Guinness World Records. In 2003, a total of 4,845,098 people across the country took part simultaneously in the same exercise routine. Guinness still lists the achievement as the largest exercise demonstration or class held across multiple venues. In 2014, 856 kilograms of baursaks were prepared in Almaty. Guinness registered the achievement as the largest serving of doughnuts, with the traditional Kazakh food prepared by a team of 35 people. Another Kazakh record belongs to the Shymbulak Mountain Resort near Almaty. In 2023, its night skiing slope, at an altitude of 3,200 meters, was recognized as the highest night skiing slope in the world. In 2025, meanwhile, 252 one-humped camels took part in a record-setting parade in the Almaty region. The camels completed a one-kilometer course, exceeding Guinness’s minimum requirement of 200 animals and setting the record for the largest parade of one-humped camels.

Kyrgyz Film

Kyrgyz Film Opens Central Asian Cultural Series in Argentina

A screening of the Kyrgyz historical drama Kurmanjan Datka: Queen of the Mountains in Buenos Aires on August 7 has opened a new series aimed at introducing Central Asian cinema and literature to audiences in Latin America. The event was organized by the Eurasian Creative Guild with support from the Yunus Emre Institute in Buenos Aires. The organizers told The Times of Central Asia that the screening was the first official presentation of a Kyrgyz feature film in Argentina. The event also launched an international series of Central Asian film screenings and book presentations in Argentina and elsewhere in Latin America. Directed by Sadyk Sher-Niyaz, Kurmanjan Datka: Queen of the Mountains tells the story of the 19th-century Kyrgyz leader Kurmanjan Datka. The film was Kyrgyzstan’s submission for the Foreign Language Film category at the 87th Academy Awards. The Buenos Aires event also included a presentation of the English-language book Queen Kurmanjan of the Mountains by Kyrgyz author Bubaysha Arstanbekova, published by Hertfordshire Press. The series is being organized in the run-up to the 15th Open Eurasian Literary Festival & Book Forum, which is scheduled to take place in Buenos Aires in October 2027. Kazakhstan will be the focus of the next screening in September, with the historical drama The Crying Steppe, directed by Marina Kunarova. The film, set against the Soviet-era famine in Kazakhstan, was Kazakhstan’s submission for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards. The organizers said further film screenings and literary presentations are planned as part of efforts to expand cultural links between Central Asia and Latin America.

Artificial Intelligence

From Walking Robots to AI Errors: A Kazakh Researcher’s Path to Intelligent Systems

What should a robot do after making a mistake? The answer becomes more complicated when the person nearby does not explicitly say something has gone wrong, but merely hesitates, looks confused, or begins to lose trust in the machine. This is one of the problems currently being studied by Kazakh researcher Arman Ibrayeva. Over several years, her scientific interests have developed from mechanics and walking robots to autonomous navigation, medical robotics, and human interaction with intelligent systems. In June 2026, Ibrayeva was among the authors of REPAIR-Bench, a new research benchmark for studying how people respond to robot errors and how interaction can be restored after a failure. The researchers conducted 214 interaction trials involving 41 participants, recording speech, facial expressions, head movements, and users’ preferred responses to different robot failures. The task goes beyond simply detecting a failure. A robot working alongside people needs to understand how its mistake has changed a person’s behavior. One user may become irritated, another confused, while a third may try to repeat the action. The robot’s response should depend on that reaction. For Ibrayeva, this is a continuation of a scientific career that began not with generative AI, but with mechanics. She studied mechanics at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 2018 and master’s degree in 2020. She then continued her studies at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, where she conducted research in mechanical engineering. Her official KAUST profile lists robotics, mechanical engineering, and machine learning among her research interests. One of the early areas of her work was walking machines. Ibrayeva studied how their design could be simplified and the number of actuators reduced without losing the required range of movement. Such an approach can reduce energy consumption and simplify robot control. At a robotics conference at KAUST in 2022, she presented a walking robot design with decoupled limb motion. Agriculture was cited as one possible application because heavy wheeled machinery compacts soil and can damage plants. The walking mechanism was designed to move over uneven terrain while placing less load on its actuators. This work later developed into research combining classical mechanics, numerical optimization, and machine learning. A 2025 paper co-authored by Ibrayeva describes several physical prototypes of walking robots, tests on uneven surfaces, and the use of LiDAR for autonomous navigation. Another area was medical robotics. Ibrayeva took part in research on a lower-limb exoskeleton. The authors sought a design capable of reproducing the movements of the human leg with less mechanical complexity and more efficient force transmission. She also worked on autonomous navigation for service robots in rehabilitation medicine. A 2024 study examined a system using 3D LiDAR that allows a robot to map its surroundings, determine its position, and avoid obstacles while moving through a medical facility. At first glance, a walking machine for agriculture, a rehabilitation exoskeleton, and a robot interacting with a person belong to different fields. Yet all these projects involve the same practical problem: a...

ComicCon Astana

Comic Con Astana 2026 Draws Game of Thrones and One Piece Stars

Comic Con Astana returned to Kazakhstan’s capital from August 6 to 9, with stars from Game of Thrones and Netflix’s One Piece among the headline guests. The event followed a record year in 2025, when the festival attracted more than 75,000 visitors, including over 10,000 from abroad. Held at Barys Arena and the Alau Ice Palace, the fifth edition of the festival drew fans of film, television, games, comics, and anime for autograph sessions, actor meetings, cosplay competitions, and gaming. [video width="360" height="640" mp4="https://timesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/7641361931360792851.mp4"][/video] Among the biggest names at this year’s festival was Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who played Jaime Lannister throughout all eight seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones. The series has a history at Comic Con Astana. Pilou Asbæk, who played Euron Greyjoy, was the main international guest at the inaugural event in 2019, when demand for information briefly crashed the festival website. Other international guests in 2026 included Iñaki Godoy and Taz Skylar from Netflix’s One Piece. South Korean K-pop group Kandis also appeared after gaining recognition among Kazakh audiences through Silk Way Star. The group attracted further attention by performing Orda’s Kesh Meni in Korean and took the Comic Con stage on August 9. Cosplay was another major part of the program, with KZT 20 million, around $40,000, offered in prize money for the international competition. Guests included German duo Kamui Cosplay, known for their elaborate costumes and props. Comic-Con began in San Diego in 1970 as a gathering of around 300 comic book and science-fiction fans. It has since developed into a major international pop-culture convention, inspiring events around the world, including Astana’s edition. Comic Con arrived in Kazakhstan in 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted its early development. After a four-year hiatus, the festival returned in 2023. Attendance passed 50,000 the following year, when Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen was the main international guest. The festival’s growth has also brought an economic return for the capital. Astana authorities estimated its impact in 2025 at around KZT 3.5 billion, approximately $6.5 million, including spending by visitors outside the event itself. Comic Con is one of a growing number of international events being held in Astana. In the first half of 2025, the city hosted more than 25 such events involving over 120,000 participants from 40 countries. During the same period, Astana received 735,700 tourists, including 177,100 from abroad, according to the city’s Department of Investment and Entrepreneurship Development. For international visitors, Comic Con also presents a side of Kazakhstan far removed from the country’s more familiar association with Silk Road history. Its focus is contemporary pop culture and the global fan communities surrounding it. Final attendance figures for Comic Con Astana 2026 had not been released at the time of publication.

Abai Qunanbaiuly

Abai Day in Kazakhstan: The Enduring Legacy of a National Poet

Nearly two centuries after his birth, Abai Qunanbaiuly remains a symbol of Kazakh identity, with his poetry and music still familiar across Kazakhstan. Often described as the founder of modern Kazakh written literature, he has been compared in Kazakhstan to Alexander Pushkin in Russia and William Shakespeare in England. On August 10, the country marks the 181st anniversary of his birth and the seventh official Abai Day. Abai wrote about 170 poems and 56 translations. His best-known prose work, Kara Sozder (Words of Edification), consists of 45 short pieces of philosophical and moral reflection. He was also a composer, and his song Közimniñ Qarasy (The Apple of My Eye) remains among his best-known works. Poet and Public Figure Born Ibrahim Qunanbaiuly on August 10, 1845, at the foot of the Shyngystau Mountains near Semipalatinsk, Abai came from the Tobykty clan of the Argyn tribe. His grandfather Oskenbai and great-grandfather Yrgyzbay were prominent biys, or judges. His father, Qunanbai Oskenbaiuly, was a powerful local leader. His grandmother Zere gave him the nickname Abai, commonly translated as “attentive” or “cautious.” At age 10, Abai was sent to the Ahmad Riza Madrasah in Semipalatinsk, where he studied religious subjects in Arabic and Persian and read Eastern literature. During his final year there, he also briefly attended a Russian parish school. His father brought him home at 13 and involved him in administrative and judicial affairs. Abai later deepened his study of Russian and European literature and formed close ties with political exiles in Semipalatinsk. He died in 1904 and was buried at Zhidebai. Abai’s Views Abai read Nizami Ganjavi and Alisher Navoi, among other Eastern classics. His translations into Kazakh included work by Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov. He also translated Ivan Krylov and Lord Byron. A poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe reached Kazakh through Abai’s rendering of Lermontov’s Russian version. Education and productive work recur throughout Abai’s writing. He criticized corruption and abuses of power, including bribery and sycophancy. He also opposed polygamy and bride price and argued for greater equality for women. His ideas influenced the emerging Kazakh intelligentsia. Leaders of the Alash movement regarded Abai as an intellectual predecessor. His engagement with Russian culture later became a subject of debate over how his work had been interpreted during the Soviet period. International Recognition and New Translations In 1995, Abai’s 150th anniversary was commemorated under UNESCO’s auspices. TURKSOY declared 2020 the Year of Abai to mark the 175th anniversary of his birth. His works have been translated into numerous languages, and monuments to him stand in Kazakhstan and abroad. In Almaty, his statue stands at the beginning of Abai Avenue, with the mountains behind it. His name also reached readers in the United States in the late 19th century through American journalist George Kennan, who referred to Abai after visiting Semipalatinsk in 1885. Debate over how Abai should be translated has continued in the post-Soviet period. In 2021, Kazakh poet and translator Yerbol Zhumagul presented a new Russian translation of...

TCA Interviews

Memory Is a Living Matter: An Interview with Artist Gauhar Bisengaliyeva

On July 24, Almaty's Kasteyev Museum of Arts hosted the opening of Gauhar Bisengalieva’s solo exhibition, Matter of Memory. The artist, who works under the name Arukhan, recently returned from Italy, where her solo exhibition, The Spirit of the Steppe, was presented at the historic Palazzo Marchesale, in Italy’s southern Apulia region. Her new project at the Kasteyev Museum continues her exploration of memory. Working with felt, steppe grasses, and other organic materials, Arukhan's work explores the processes of time and the transformation of matter. In an interview with The Times of Central Asia, Gauhar Bisengaliyeva discusses her artistic practice and the ideas behind Matter of Memory. TCA: The title of the exhibition is Matter of Memory. What does the idea of memory as matter mean to you? At what point did memory cease to be an abstract concept for you and become an artistic medium? Gauhar Bisengaliyeva: For me, Matter of Memory is a space that I create, a space for reflection. Felt is the foundation of my artistic language. For me, felt is a material that preserves the memory of the steppe. It embodies the energy of the earth, the wisdom of generations, and humanity’s connection to nature. Through it, I feel my roots. For me, the steppe is not an image of the past, but a living force that nourishes me, allows me to grow, and determines the direction of my creativity. That is why my works are neither a return to the past nor an attempt to preserve it. I am interested in memory as a living substance that continues to act in the present and becomes a source of the future. That is why Matter of Memory is not an exhibition about the past. It is a space where memory becomes a living matter, capable of nourishing a person, bringing them back to their roots, and revealing new meanings. [caption id="attachment_53543" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Photo: Theo Frost[/caption] TCA: In your works, you use felt, steppe grasses, and other organic materials. Why have these particular materials become your primary means of expression? Gauhar Bisengaliyeva: I work with natural materials, each of which goes through its own life cycle and therefore possesses its own memory. Felt, steppe grasses, wool, plants – they have already lived their lives, absorbing time, light, wind, and earth. Working with time holds a special place in my practice. Using my own innovative methods of processing wool, I explore how time can manifest itself in the material. For me, time cannot be seen directly, but it can be felt through changes in texture, light, structure, and the very state of the felt. [caption id="attachment_53544" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Photo: Theo Frost[/caption] TCA: You have been collaborating with the State Archive of Film, Photo, and Audio Documents of Kazakhstan for many years. How does working with archives influence your art? Gauhar Bisengaliyeva: It all began with my family archive. Later, this personal story led me to collaborate with the State Archive of Film, Photographic, and Audio Documents...