Kazakh Art - The Times Of Central Asia

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Almaty Museum of Arts

Kazakhstan’s Cultural Reawakening: Almaty Opens Its New Museum of Arts

First, a young Kazakh schoolgirl in a black dress with a starched collar, her hair tousled by the wind of the Aral Sea, clutches a large Russian book tightly to her chest as she stands before a lonely school building in the middle of nowhere. Then, a camel speaks: “Give me back the sea!” “No!” cries a woman, her face hidden beneath a military hat. She stands before an abandoned edifice, her head wrapped in fur, her body strangely adorned with eggs. [caption id="attachment_36257" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Image: Almagul Menlibayeva[/caption] This series of surreal images is from the video Transoxiana Dream, by one of Central Asia’s pioneering contemporary artists, Almagul Menlibayeva. The Times of Central Asia attended her major solo show, I Understand Everything, curated by Thai curator Gritiya Gaweewong, a powerful exploration of memory, trauma, and identity, which provides the “treble clef” for the opening of the Almaty Museum of Arts. The show brings together works spanning decades, from Menlibayeva’s early paintings and collages in the 1980s, to her recent internationally recognized video and photography works. Through a variety of mediums, she charts the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ecological devastation of Kazakhstan, and suppressed cultural memory. [caption id="attachment_36258" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Almagul Menlibayeva, People Talking against a Blue Background, 1988; image: Almaty Museum of Arts[/caption] As always in her practice, the feminine and feminist narratives are at the forefront. Menlibayeva’s women are at times bound with nature or with military rule, alternately merciful or merciless. Her works tackle ecological concerns, tying them directly to the destruction of patriarchy. “For us, opening our program with Menlibayeva’s show was highly significant,” says Meruyert Kaliyeva, the museum’s artistic director. “She is a pioneering Central Asian artist who is known internationally but at the same time has always dealt with topics and themes that are important locally.” A New Museum in Almaty The inauguration of the Almaty Museum of Arts represents a decisive step in shaping Kazakhstan’s creative future. As the country’s first large-scale contemporary art museum, it houses over 700 works collected across three decades, offering a panoramic view of modern Kazakh art while opening pathways to Central Asian and international dialogues. [caption id="attachment_36265" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Almaty Museum of Arts; image: Alexey Poptsov[/caption] Its mission extends beyond exhibitions: the institution positions itself as a center for education, research, and collaboration, aiming to nurture local artists and connect them to global networks. For Kazakhstan, long without a dedicated contemporary art museum, this moment signals a new era, one in which cultural identity is asserted with confidence, and the arts are recognized as a vital force for national memory as well as international visibility. Kaliyeva emphasizes how essential it is that Kazakh artists now have a platform where voices once peripheral to national culture can take center stage. She also stresses the urgency of the moment: in a world reshaped by geopolitical fractures, climate crises, and cultural decolonization, this opening is necessary: “It’s a moment for Kazakhstan to assert its own narratives, to host...

Central Asian Art

Central Asian Perspectives Take Center Stage in Milan

A pale Milanese dawn draped the city in shifting greys, as visitors crossed the threshold into the space of Fondazione Elpis, a foundation created to promote dialogue with emerging geographies and young artists. This time, it was Central Asian artists who were in the spotlight, claiming a shared history fractured by Soviet rule and global currents. The show YOU ARE HERE: Central Asia redraws a regional map, allowing artists to redraw the borders of their belonging beyond nation-states. At the same time, it invites each visitor to relate to the works by locating its place within these stitched, erased, and reconfigured narratives. Curators Dilda Ramazan and Aida Sulova orchestrated twenty-seven artists into a living constellation: from Munara Abdukakharova’s rolled patchwork, its golden hammer-and-sickle motifs softened by the hand-stitched curves of Kyrgyz kurak korpe, to Vyacheslav Akhunov’s furious erasures of scraped notes, the show reassembled in unexpected patterns stories of resilience, resistance, and reimagined belonging. YOU ARE HERE not only reframed Central Asia for a European audience but asserted that the region’s histories are neither static nor singular, they are stitched, erased, reconfigured, and claimed anew by the very people who live them. The Times of Central Asia spoke with Kazakh curator, Dilda Ramazan. [caption id="attachment_31541" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] "YOU ARE HERE. Central Asia", installation view, primo piano, Fondazione Elpis, Milano © Fabrizio Vatieri Studio[/caption] TCA: Can you tell us about the genesis of the show? The show emerged after the invitation of the Fondazione Elpis, whose founder, Marina Nissim, became interested in the region and its artists after seeing one of the Central Asian pavilions at the Venice Biennale. By presenting the complex Central Asian landscape to a European public who might not know it very well, we wanted to give artists the platform for free expression without framing the region from the stereotypical perspective, as is often the case in the Western context. We wanted the artists to reflect on the idea of space and belonging through the idea of locating oneself. TCA: Do you feel there is a growing awareness of Central Asia in Europe? Yes, I can feel and see it, but it is a natural process one should expect within the logic of globalization. The exhibition addressed the impact of Soviet and post-Soviet transitions on the cultural identities of Central Asian nations by showcasing artists of several generations. Some of them had a direct experience of living under the Soviet regime, so again the artists spoke for themselves and the region’s past through their works. [caption id="attachment_31542" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Emil Tilekov, Traces and Shadows, 2024 © Fabrizio Vatieri Studio[/caption] TCA: How is the theme of migration explored in the exhibition, particularly concerning its economic and emotional implications for Central Asian communities? Migration was one of the key aspects evoked in the show because it is still an experience lived by the artists and/or their relatives and families. Two Kyrgyz artists, for example, raised this issue in their projects. This was the case in the video by Chingiz...

Kazakh Art

Future Nostalgia: Alexander Ugay’s Parisian Debut at NIKA Project Space

Have you ever had that feeling of “Future Nostalgia” - as Dua Lipa would put it – when looking at old sci-fi movies that imagined a future that never came to pass? The fact that this future didn’t materialise might be as might be seen as both a blessing and a disappointment, as artist Alexander Ugay has us reflecting upon with his Parisian debut. Born in Kazakhstan to a Korean family deported under Stalin’s regime, Ugay’s work is heavily inspired by his own experience and is layered with echoes of ancestral trauma, the faded promise of Soviet modernity, and the flickering ghost of a future once imagined but that never fully came to fruition. A child of engineers and inventors, Ugay grew up among circuits and cyanotypes, and in his art, he uses materials such as 8mm film and VHS tape. With this vintage spirit, his body of work looks at the past to speak of the present, and posits a critique of the techno-utopianism of the Soviet 1970s, as much as today's AI-driven image culture. In his new show, More than Dreams, Less than Things, at NIKA Project Space Paris, Ugay looks at the origins of image-making both literally and philosophically. Inspired by Ibn al-Haytham’s Book of Optics, the artist reanimates the ancient camera obscura, letting light seep through the book’s pages to birth abstract images: faded records of a presence. The exhibition, which opened on March 16, explores the tension between technological progress and the way this can be disrupted by the power of imagination and poetry - eminently human things - by looking at the intersection of photography, technology, and diasporic memory. His show, curated by Elena Sorokina, situates an emergence of Central Asian narratives coming more and more to the forefront of the international art and cultural world of Europe. Through the lens of Soviet futurism, Ugay explores a broader vision of seeing in an age where so much remains invisible. TCA spoke with Ugay about the way he approaches his art, his sources, and how he conceives images not as finished objects but as processes — mutable, unstable, and deeply human. [caption id="attachment_30561" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] 03_Alexander Ugay, More than Dreams, Less than Things. Courtesy of the artist[/caption] TCA: Where does the title for your new show, More than Dreams, Less than Things, come from? The title came about after reading Henri Bergson's book, Matter and Memory. I really liked the idea that an image is not only the relationship between absence and presence but also intensity and density. This idea made up for my dissatisfaction with the notion of resolution in photography. The title, in this case, is not just a definition of the image but a key to understanding its substantive basis. The image is the surface of the ‘grand contract’ between necessity and freedom, memory and matter, entropy and being. TCA: In More than Dreams, Less than Things, you use the camera obscura technique. How does this historical process relate to your exploration...

Art and Culture

Kazakh Theatrical Performance Breaks Annual Record

The play Gauhartas, directed by Kazakhstani theater artist Askhat Maemirov, has been staged over 250 times within a year, marking a record achievement in Kazakhstan’s theater industry. This widely acclaimed production is an adaptation of a work by esteemed Kazakh writer, Dulat Isabekov. His story depicts the life of a Kazakh family during the Soviet period, shedding light on the struggles of ethnic minorities under an authoritarian regime. In 1975, the Kazakhfilm studio produced a movie based on this work. With every show selling out, the play has already drawn nearly 75,000 spectators. It has been performed in several major cities across Kazakhstan, including Aktau, Atyrau, Oral, Taldykorgan, and Almaty. Plans are now in place to present the production on an international stage. “In this production, we emphasize the significance of family and cultural values in Kazakh society,” said the director of the musical drama. “We examine the roles of mothers and fathers, questioning their responsibilities and influence. By portraying the life of an ordinary Kazakh family, we aim to reflect deeper human emotions. At its core, the play conveys the importance of safeguarding love and happiness within the home.” Though Gauhartas was first introduced to readers fifty years ago, its themes remain highly relevant today. The dynamics of family life and the bond between parents and children continue to be timeless subjects in literature and theater, and currently, many young people in Kazakhstan are coming to watch this play. [caption id="attachment_29683" align="aligncenter" width="1023"] Image: TCA, Duisenali Alimakyn[/caption] This work was written by the recently deceased Kazakh writer, Dulat Isabekov, when he was 25 years old while serving in the military near Moscow. Depicting Kazakh society, including one family’s internal resistance to the system and the impact of Soviet society on people, this work became one of the author’s timeless creations. The play offers a fresh perspective to Kazakh audiences by addressing the issue of women’s equality. It delves into the fractured relationship between society, a father, and a son, highlighting their inability to connect and understand one another, ultimately leading to tragedy. In essence, this work looks back at the past, aligns with the present, and paves the way for a hopeful future.

History

Amre Kashaubaev and the Mystery of an Old Photograph

In Kazakhstan, the musical talent of Amre Kashaubaev is well known. Thanks to him, European audiences were introduced to the live melodies of Kazakh music when Kashaubaev performed Kazakh songs at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts of 1925 in Paris. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, the first recordings of Kazakh music were made between 1903 and 1909 during the travels of the German explorer Richard Karutz in Turkestan. His book, Among the Kirghiz and Turkmens in Mangyshlak, published in 1911 in Russia, was edited by Vasily Radlov, a renowned ethnographer, archaeologist, and educator of German origin, who was also a pioneer in Turkology. However, it was only in 1925, thanks to Kashaubaev’s talent, that Europeans could hear Kazakh folk songs performed live. The fate of this man is very similar to the destinies of thousands of talented individuals in the early years of the Soviet Union, whose creative works could not fit into the "Procrustean bed" of communist ideology. [caption id="attachment_27972" align="aligncenter" width="1279"] Amre Kashaubaev and his wife Orazke, Kzyl-Orda, 1926.[/caption] Amre Kashaubaev was born in 1888 in the Abraly district of the Semipalatinsk region. His first professional attempt to become a singer was a public performance at a fair near the village of Koyandy, not far from the modern city of Petropavlovsk, at a festival of Kazakh oral art. Through his songs, Kashaubaev’s art became famous throughout Kazakhstan. Anatoly Lunacharsky, then the People’s Commissar for Education, personally invited him to participate in concerts at the International Exhibition in Paris. Kashaubaev also actively participated in the creation of the first Kazakh professional theater. In April 1927, he gave a concert in Moscow, followed by a performance in Frankfurt. He frequently performed on the radio, singing Kazakh folk songs and enchanting listeners with the beauty and depth of his voice. His theatrical performances also garnered great interest. Today, archival institutions and museums in Kazakhstan hold only a few photographs and documents depicting Kashaubaev. This is because many documents were destroyed by his colleagues and relatives due to his political persecution by the Bolsheviks. His trip to Paris proved to be fatal for the singer since it drew the attention of the Soviet state security agencies. During the Paris exhibition, the talented singer met Kazakh political dissident Mustafa Shokay, who in 1917 had been the Chairman of the Kokand Autonomy — a state entity that lasted for six months in the Turkestan region of the Russian Empire. Moreover, Shokay was an active member of the Alash Party, which the Soviets deemed bourgeois and whose members were subjected to repression. Although Kashaubaev was not imprisoned for his ties with political opponents of the Bolsheviks, he faced significant pressure from the authorities. On December 6, 1934, he was found dead on the streets of Alma-Ata. The cause of his death remains unknown. Within the archival fonds of The Central State Archive of Film, Photo Documents, and Sound Recordings of the Republic of Kazakhstan, we believe there...

Art and Culture

Art and Inspiration: Capturing the Essence of Almaty

With colorful illustrations of landmarks, natural monuments, and city-life moments, Aidana Niyazalieva’s postcards of Almaty stand out. TCA spoke with the artist to learn more about her inspiration, creative process, and challenges behind her postcards and the Almaty arts scene. TCA: What inspired you to start making postcards of Almaty? I've been drawing since I can remember; everything surrounding me – my room, the streets, and the buildings – inspires me. This led me to study architecture. However, after working as an architect, I realized that my passion for drawing was stronger. I decided to try it, eventually devoting myself to illustration and turning this hobby into a profession. I started with the city I grew up in, Almaty, and created a few postcards of the views I walked past the most. This became a way to combine everything I love - art, architecture, and my love for the city. TCA: How do you decide which landmarks, views, or themes to feature in your postcards? I choose places and themes close to me that evoke an emotional connection in people. Usually, the ideas come from my walks around the city. During my walks, I take many photos for possible drawings. Sometimes, a few buildings of the same type could grow into a series of illustrations, as in the “Houses“ postcard set that was united by the old houses of the Soviet period located in a Golden Square area. Also, I might get requests from people about places they would like to see, as happened with the Kazakhstan Hotel or Esentai River illustrations. TCA: What is your favorite spot in Almaty to capture in your art, and why? My favorite place in Almaty is the old city center. Its unique architecture, with characteristic features from different periods from neoclassical to modernist buildings, and its streets with cafes and terraces have always attracted my attention. Those buildings keep their history, whether these are old houses with sophisticated details or monumental facades of theaters and institutes. When I'm there, I always look closely at small elements like the carved balconies, window frames, mosaics, and patterns on the facades – I try to capture them in every illustration. TCA: Are there specific stories or personal memories behind some of your postcard designs? As a local, I have a personal connection to almost every location I illustrate. Capturing a place authentically requires more than just visual reference - it also needs an emotional connection. That’s why I barely draw locations I’ve never visited. Behind almost every illustration is a moment tied to the place. For example, the Kasteyev Museum holds a special place in my heart. My grandma used to take me there often when I was little, and it’s where I first took art lessons. So, I decided to create this illustration to capture the architecture of the museum and the memories connected to the place. TCA: Can you walk us through the creative process behind designing a postcard? Firstly, after the location is...