Installations
Click on the name of the installation to find out more information about it and purchase a ticket.
Zhylyzhai
If you listen to the environment, it is constantly in sound. The wind is a real kuishi. Its waves make different physical forms sound. Each type of wind sets its own tone for a person's mood and emphasizes it. There is a reason that the wind has more than 30 names in the Kazakh language.
The botanical garden is like a city that, like plants and trees from other climatic areas, has historically gathered people from different regions and nomad camps.
The sound collected in the steppe, more precisely: the stalactite cave Korkyt Ata, the memorial complex "Korkyt ata", the Altyn Emel Singing Dune, and other sounds created by the wind, as well as electronic sounds. The combination of the collected sounds of the sacred places of Kazakhstan, which are created by the wind, these sounds through separate channels will create a special sound atmosphere, an image, a different perception of reality. Being in space, in the middle of the forest, where there is nothing from the world of civilization, the aerial sound taken from the distant steppes will create a separate unique experience for each listener.
I was born and raised in Akmola region, which is located in the steppe zone, Arka, Sary arka. Walk a little further from home and you find yourself in an open steppe, to the end of which you cannot reach with your eyes, where there is nothing but heaven and earth. In such a plane, the wind is felt very subtly, and you feel its character, which changes every time, it is like a living being. Therefore, it is interesting for me to find different manifestations of wind in the sound.
The botanical garden is like a city that, like plants and trees from other climatic areas, has historically gathered people from different regions and nomad camps.
The sound collected in the steppe, more precisely: the stalactite cave Korkyt Ata, the memorial complex "Korkyt ata", the Altyn Emel Singing Dune, and other sounds created by the wind, as well as electronic sounds. The combination of the collected sounds of the sacred places of Kazakhstan, which are created by the wind, these sounds through separate channels will create a special sound atmosphere, an image, a different perception of reality. Being in space, in the middle of the forest, where there is nothing from the world of civilization, the aerial sound taken from the distant steppes will create a separate unique experience for each listener.
I was born and raised in Akmola region, which is located in the steppe zone, Arka, Sary arka. Walk a little further from home and you find yourself in an open steppe, to the end of which you cannot reach with your eyes, where there is nothing but heaven and earth. In such a plane, the wind is felt very subtly, and you feel its character, which changes every time, it is like a living being. Therefore, it is interesting for me to find different manifestations of wind in the sound.
Kokonja
If you listen to the environment, it is constantly in sound. The wind is a real kuishi. Its waves make different physical forms sound. Each type of wind sets its own tone for a person's mood and emphasizes it. There is a reason that the wind has more than 30 names in the Kazakh language.
The botanical garden is like a city that, like plants and trees from other climatic areas, has historically gathered people from different regions and nomad camps.
The sound collected in the steppe, more precisely: the stalactite cave Korkyt Ata, the memorial complex "Korkyt ata", the Altyn Emel Singing Dune, and other sounds created by the wind, as well as electronic sounds. The combination of the collected sounds of the sacred places of Kazakhstan, which are created by the wind, these sounds through separate channels will create a special sound atmosphere, an image, a different perception of reality. Being in space, in the middle of the forest, where there is nothing from the world of civilization, the aerial sound taken from the distant steppes will create a separate unique experience for each listener.
I was born and raised in Akmola region, which is located in the steppe zone, Arka, Sary arka. Walk a little further from home and you find yourself in an open steppe, to the end of which you cannot reach with your eyes, where there is nothing but heaven and earth. In such a plane, the wind is felt very subtly, and you feel its character, which changes every time, it is like a living being. Therefore, it is interesting for me to find different manifestations of wind in the sound.
The botanical garden is like a city that, like plants and trees from other climatic areas, has historically gathered people from different regions and nomad camps.
The sound collected in the steppe, more precisely: the stalactite cave Korkyt Ata, the memorial complex "Korkyt ata", the Altyn Emel Singing Dune, and other sounds created by the wind, as well as electronic sounds. The combination of the collected sounds of the sacred places of Kazakhstan, which are created by the wind, these sounds through separate channels will create a special sound atmosphere, an image, a different perception of reality. Being in space, in the middle of the forest, where there is nothing from the world of civilization, the aerial sound taken from the distant steppes will create a separate unique experience for each listener.
I was born and raised in Akmola region, which is located in the steppe zone, Arka, Sary arka. Walk a little further from home and you find yourself in an open steppe, to the end of which you cannot reach with your eyes, where there is nothing but heaven and earth. In such a plane, the wind is felt very subtly, and you feel its character, which changes every time, it is like a living being. Therefore, it is interesting for me to find different manifestations of wind in the sound.
Kokonja
Kokonja Kokonja (Daria Nurtaza) is a visual and sound artist and DJ from Akmola region, Zhalgyzkaragai, now lives in Almaty. A student of the artist Bakhyt Bubikanova, the successor of the school of the pioneer of Kazakh contemporary art Moldakul Narymbetov. In her work, she refers to her memory, recorded in a sensual and tactile way in her childhood in the village. Daria reflects in sound practice her impression of being in the steppe, memories from childhood where the wind and its various manifestations become the main actor. She represented the Almaty electronic scene at the Boiler Room in 2021, as part of the Davra collective participated in documenta fifteen in Kassel, in residencies in Almaty and Zurich, in group exhibitions at the Museum of Art named after A. Kasteev, House 36, Esentai Gallery (Almaty), YEMAA art space (Atyrau), Novotel (Bishkek) and Topos Projects Gallery (London). |
Silver River
An audiovisual installation consisting of a multi-channel recording, collected from the sounds of the Zhaiyk River, and a video.
It takes all the sadness with it and instead gives you a ray of light back. This ray shows you the route on the way. It heals you and gives you the strength to heal others. It doesn't judge anyone, no matter who is standing in front of it. It’s caring, it talks to you, it's alive. Sometimes it is calm, sometimes angry, but always forgives and presents gifts. It knows your fate. It comes to you in dreams.
“I went to my hometown Oral for three days to record the sounds of Zhaiyk underwater. When I was planning this trip, I thought that I would hear music, I thought I would hear kui, but it was a dialogue. Between me and Zhaiyk. I felt the same as when I was a child: Zhaiyk can always listen to you. That's why this project has become so personal. On this river you can connect with the past, the future and the present.
I plunged the microphone into the water and tried to repeat the riverbed with the movements of my hand. In addition, I recorded the sounds of the shore, wind, birds and children playing. All this makes it possible to enhance the feeling of presence during listening. The visual part of the installation is a video of Zhaiyk underwater."
It takes all the sadness with it and instead gives you a ray of light back. This ray shows you the route on the way. It heals you and gives you the strength to heal others. It doesn't judge anyone, no matter who is standing in front of it. It’s caring, it talks to you, it's alive. Sometimes it is calm, sometimes angry, but always forgives and presents gifts. It knows your fate. It comes to you in dreams.
“I went to my hometown Oral for three days to record the sounds of Zhaiyk underwater. When I was planning this trip, I thought that I would hear music, I thought I would hear kui, but it was a dialogue. Between me and Zhaiyk. I felt the same as when I was a child: Zhaiyk can always listen to you. That's why this project has become so personal. On this river you can connect with the past, the future and the present.
I plunged the microphone into the water and tried to repeat the riverbed with the movements of my hand. In addition, I recorded the sounds of the shore, wind, birds and children playing. All this makes it possible to enhance the feeling of presence during listening. The visual part of the installation is a video of Zhaiyk underwater."
Dariya Temirkhan
An audiovisual installation consisting of a multi-channel recording, collected from the sounds of the Zhaiyk River, and a video.
It takes all the sadness with it and instead gives you a ray of light back. This ray shows you the route on the way. It heals you and gives you the strength to heal others. It doesn't judge anyone, no matter who is standing in front of it. It’s caring, it talks to you, it's alive. Sometimes it is calm, sometimes angry, but always forgives and presents gifts. It knows your fate. It comes to you in dreams.
“I went to my hometown Oral for three days to record the sounds of Zhaiyk underwater. When I was planning this trip, I thought that I would hear music, I thought I would hear kui, but it was a dialogue. Between me and Zhaiyk. I felt the same as when I was a child: Zhaiyk can always listen to you. That's why this project has become so personal. On this river you can connect with the past, the future and the present.
I plunged the microphone into the water and tried to repeat the riverbed with the movements of my hand. In addition, I recorded the sounds of the shore, wind, birds and children playing. All this makes it possible to enhance the feeling of presence during listening. The visual part of the installation is a video of Zhaiyk underwater."
It takes all the sadness with it and instead gives you a ray of light back. This ray shows you the route on the way. It heals you and gives you the strength to heal others. It doesn't judge anyone, no matter who is standing in front of it. It’s caring, it talks to you, it's alive. Sometimes it is calm, sometimes angry, but always forgives and presents gifts. It knows your fate. It comes to you in dreams.
“I went to my hometown Oral for three days to record the sounds of Zhaiyk underwater. When I was planning this trip, I thought that I would hear music, I thought I would hear kui, but it was a dialogue. Between me and Zhaiyk. I felt the same as when I was a child: Zhaiyk can always listen to you. That's why this project has become so personal. On this river you can connect with the past, the future and the present.
I plunged the microphone into the water and tried to repeat the riverbed with the movements of my hand. In addition, I recorded the sounds of the shore, wind, birds and children playing. All this makes it possible to enhance the feeling of presence during listening. The visual part of the installation is a video of Zhaiyk underwater."
Dariya Temirkhan
Dariya Temirkhan Daria Temirkhan is an artist from Uralsk and Almaty. The main directions of her work are artistic, digital and physical collages, sound art and video art. In her works, Daria touches on the themes of urban life and puts it in contrast to the regularity of villages and regional cities. Another important idea in her work is the decentralization of culture and art in Kazakhstan. Daria's collages immerse you into the world of fragments, where open memory, framing what you see, collects new ideas. She explores the Kazakh language as a means of creating new archetypes among the younger generation, enriching the exposures with antique plasticity. Participated in the group exhibitions "Oilap Tabu" in YEMAA gallery (Atyrau), BLVD ART BALL X, 8 1/2 and Food for thought (all held in Almaty). |
a presence
generative sound space for voice, max/msp (8 channels, ambisonics)
Premise: The project builds on the vocal traditions of indigenous groups of Inner Asia, who practiced throat singing–one of the world's oldest forms of music that originated among Turko-Mongol tribes. During the communist era, throat singing has become almost extinct and has only recently seen revival. Throat singing techniques are classified under the ethnomusicological approach as a context-specific cultural aspect associated with local rituals and storytelling. Therefore, this technique can be read as a dynamic force constructed at the nexus of multiple interconnected tensions and cultural politics. Despite limited research on the subject in the context of Kazakhstan, throat-singing accounts in Inner Asia demonstrate how nomadic and seminomadic peoples employed this technique to communicate with the natural and supernatural worlds. Specifically, these vocal techniques were used to imitate the sounds of harsh winds of the steppe, natural flora, and fauna, and to communicate with spirits. Such "sonic snapshot" or "sonic holography" becomes a synaesthetic walk down the cultural memory lane. In other words, "musical intuitions within the animistic universe" were embedded in sensing the environment. Its parts' intrinsic interconnectedness was then reflected through the "feedback" system of the body and expressed as a multi-sensory experience. The core was that embodied presence and unity were an attempt at connecting with the world on the level of the body and cosmology.
Description: In this project, we explore the ephemerality of the voice as sound, as well as the intrinsic relationship between sound waves, and body. Regardless of the culture, a voice holds a special significance amongst the myriads of different sonic manifestations. It indicates human presence and connection with the environment. While strongly associated with a body, a disembodied voice doesn’t lose its significance but rather gains a different kind of power, and even a more profound meaning. This was noticed by the film theorist and composer Michel Chion, who coined the term ‘acousmétre’—a ghostly sonic presence of a narrator in a film devoid of attachment to a physical body. Here the acousmeter is represented a hybrid entity that almost ceremonially encircles the listener. The recordings of a throat singer’s growling drones are dynamically stretched, retuned, and blended with synthetic sonic occurrences. In such a way, we construct a sounding environment that is in a state of constant flux where familiar concepts like time and space, rhythm and tone, tradition and technology, human and animal are not juxtaposed to one another but exist as a single continuum with a range of individually-identified threshold states.
Premise: The project builds on the vocal traditions of indigenous groups of Inner Asia, who practiced throat singing–one of the world's oldest forms of music that originated among Turko-Mongol tribes. During the communist era, throat singing has become almost extinct and has only recently seen revival. Throat singing techniques are classified under the ethnomusicological approach as a context-specific cultural aspect associated with local rituals and storytelling. Therefore, this technique can be read as a dynamic force constructed at the nexus of multiple interconnected tensions and cultural politics. Despite limited research on the subject in the context of Kazakhstan, throat-singing accounts in Inner Asia demonstrate how nomadic and seminomadic peoples employed this technique to communicate with the natural and supernatural worlds. Specifically, these vocal techniques were used to imitate the sounds of harsh winds of the steppe, natural flora, and fauna, and to communicate with spirits. Such "sonic snapshot" or "sonic holography" becomes a synaesthetic walk down the cultural memory lane. In other words, "musical intuitions within the animistic universe" were embedded in sensing the environment. Its parts' intrinsic interconnectedness was then reflected through the "feedback" system of the body and expressed as a multi-sensory experience. The core was that embodied presence and unity were an attempt at connecting with the world on the level of the body and cosmology.
Description: In this project, we explore the ephemerality of the voice as sound, as well as the intrinsic relationship between sound waves, and body. Regardless of the culture, a voice holds a special significance amongst the myriads of different sonic manifestations. It indicates human presence and connection with the environment. While strongly associated with a body, a disembodied voice doesn’t lose its significance but rather gains a different kind of power, and even a more profound meaning. This was noticed by the film theorist and composer Michel Chion, who coined the term ‘acousmétre’—a ghostly sonic presence of a narrator in a film devoid of attachment to a physical body. Here the acousmeter is represented a hybrid entity that almost ceremonially encircles the listener. The recordings of a throat singer’s growling drones are dynamically stretched, retuned, and blended with synthetic sonic occurrences. In such a way, we construct a sounding environment that is in a state of constant flux where familiar concepts like time and space, rhythm and tone, tradition and technology, human and animal are not juxtaposed to one another but exist as a single continuum with a range of individually-identified threshold states.
generative sound space for voice, max/msp (8 channels, ambisonics)
Premise: The project builds on the vocal traditions of indigenous groups of Inner Asia, who practiced throat singing–one of the world's oldest forms of music that originated among Turko-Mongol tribes. During the communist era, throat singing has become almost extinct and has only recently seen revival. Throat singing techniques are classified under the ethnomusicological approach as a context-specific cultural aspect associated with local rituals and storytelling. Therefore, this technique can be read as a dynamic force constructed at the nexus of multiple interconnected tensions and cultural politics. Despite limited research on the subject in the context of Kazakhstan, throat-singing accounts in Inner Asia demonstrate how nomadic and seminomadic peoples employed this technique to communicate with the natural and supernatural worlds. Specifically, these vocal techniques were used to imitate the sounds of harsh winds of the steppe, natural flora, and fauna, and to communicate with spirits. Such "sonic snapshot" or "sonic holography" becomes a synaesthetic walk down the cultural memory lane. In other words, "musical intuitions within the animistic universe" were embedded in sensing the environment. Its parts' intrinsic interconnectedness was then reflected through the "feedback" system of the body and expressed as a multi-sensory experience. The core was that embodied presence and unity were an attempt at connecting with the world on the level of the body and cosmology.
Premise: The project builds on the vocal traditions of indigenous groups of Inner Asia, who practiced throat singing–one of the world's oldest forms of music that originated among Turko-Mongol tribes. During the communist era, throat singing has become almost extinct and has only recently seen revival. Throat singing techniques are classified under the ethnomusicological approach as a context-specific cultural aspect associated with local rituals and storytelling. Therefore, this technique can be read as a dynamic force constructed at the nexus of multiple interconnected tensions and cultural politics. Despite limited research on the subject in the context of Kazakhstan, throat-singing accounts in Inner Asia demonstrate how nomadic and seminomadic peoples employed this technique to communicate with the natural and supernatural worlds. Specifically, these vocal techniques were used to imitate the sounds of harsh winds of the steppe, natural flora, and fauna, and to communicate with spirits. Such "sonic snapshot" or "sonic holography" becomes a synaesthetic walk down the cultural memory lane. In other words, "musical intuitions within the animistic universe" were embedded in sensing the environment. Its parts' intrinsic interconnectedness was then reflected through the "feedback" system of the body and expressed as a multi-sensory experience. The core was that embodied presence and unity were an attempt at connecting with the world on the level of the body and cosmology.
Description: In this project, we explore the ephemerality of the voice as sound, as well as the intrinsic relationship between sound waves, and body. Regardless of the culture, a voice holds a special significance amongst the myriads of different sonic manifestations. It indicates human presence and connection with the environment. While strongly associated with a body, a disembodied voice doesn’t lose its significance but rather gains a different kind of power, and even a more profound meaning. This was noticed by the film theorist and composer Michel Chion, who coined the term ‘acousmétre’—a ghostly sonic presence of a narrator in a film devoid of attachment to a physical body. Here the acousmeter is represented a hybrid entity that almost ceremonially encircles the listener. The recordings of a throat singer’s growling drones are dynamically stretched, retuned, and blended with synthetic sonic occurrences. In such a way, we construct a sounding environment that is in a state of constant flux where familiar concepts like time and space, rhythm and tone, tradition and technology, human and animal are not juxtaposed to one another but exist as a single continuum with a range of individually-identified threshold states.
the2vvo the2vvo (thezwo) — a transdisciplinary artistic duo consisting of musician/sound artist Eldar Tagi and Lena Pozdnyakova, whose practice combines elements of sculpture and architecture, as well as visual and conceptual arts. Since its formation, the collective has acquired a nomadic character and closely integrates with the cultural landscapes of cities such as Los Angeles, Almaty, and Berlin. In their practice, the team explores the multilayered dynamics of interaction between spaces, materials and individual physiological processes of perception through sound, improvisation, sculpture and composition. the2vvo's works have been presented all over the world, including the famous festivals Ars Electronica, Unsound, CTM, Bauhausfest and Soundpedro. The duo took part in the residences of Kuona Trust (Nairobi, Kenya), and CEC Artslink (Los Angeles, California). The sculptures of the artists were also exhibited at the Los Angeles Municipal Gallery and the CICA Czong Institute of Contemporary Art. |
Curupira, Creature of the Woods
Video installation
Deep in the heart of the Amazon, Tauary inhabitants invite us to listen to the sounds of the jungle, the birds, and animals. However, some weird sounds appear: a creature prowling around the trees. Some of them have heard her, very few have ever seen her, and those who did find her never came back. She charms, she enchants — she leads people to get lost: each one of them tells a story in their own way and tries to decipher her sounds. Curupira, creature of the woods… takes us in search of this being: a reflection about myths and their place in the contemporary world. It’s a sound thriller in the midst of the jungle.
Deep in the heart of the Amazon, Tauary inhabitants invite us to listen to the sounds of the jungle, the birds, and animals. However, some weird sounds appear: a creature prowling around the trees. Some of them have heard her, very few have ever seen her, and those who did find her never came back. She charms, she enchants — she leads people to get lost: each one of them tells a story in their own way and tries to decipher her sounds. Curupira, creature of the woods… takes us in search of this being: a reflection about myths and their place in the contemporary world. It’s a sound thriller in the midst of the jungle.
Video installation
Deep in the heart of the Amazon, Tauary inhabitants invite us to listen to the sounds of the jungle, the birds, and animals. However, some weird sounds appear: a creature prowling around the trees. Some of them have heard her, very few have ever seen her, and those who did find her never came back. She charms, she enchants — she leads people to get lost: each one of them tells a story in their own way and tries to decipher her sounds. Curupira, creature of the woods… takes us in search of this being: a reflection about myths and their place in the contemporary world. It’s a sound thriller in the midst of the jungle.
Felix Blume Felix Blume is a sound artist and sound engineer working between Mexico, Brazil and France. He uses sound as a starting point for his sound and video works, promotions and installations. Listening for him is an incentive to realize the invisible and the act of meeting with others. His works include sounds from the natural and urban environment, he is interested in myths and their modern interpretation, what the voice can tell beyond words. Winner of the soundscape Award (2018) and the. Pierre Schaeffer (2015) at the Phonurgia Nova Awards ceremony. He participated in the CTM Festival (Berlin), the Rotterdam Film Festival, the Sonic Acts Biennale (Amsterdam), his works were exhibited at the Pompidou Center (Paris) and other international institutions.and the CICA Czong Institute of Contemporary Art. |
Two Horizons
The mystical two-channel film is dedicated to the Turkic epic about the poet Korkyt-ata, who was hiding from death, haunting him in the image of a seven-year-old boy. Korkyt, the first shaman of the Great Eurasian Steppe, tried hard to avoid Death all his life. He believed that the only way to gain immortality was to overcome gravity. According to legend, the shaman became immortal in the south of the Great Steppe. Since then, the locals have worshipped this place because they believed that Korkut managed to open the navel of the earth. Later, in the middle of the 20th century, this place became world famous as Baikonur, the Soviet space station. There, the First Man defied gravity by starting a journey into space on the Vostok-1 spacecraft in search of eternal life. The film was shot at the grave of Korkyt near Baikonur, in collaboration with kobyzshy and composer Tokzhan Karatai.
The mystical two-channel film is dedicated to the Turkic epic about the poet Korkyt-ata, who was hiding from death, haunting him in the image of a seven-year-old boy. Korkyt, the first shaman of the Great Eurasian Steppe, tried hard to avoid Death all his life. He believed that the only way to gain immortality was to overcome gravity. According to legend, the shaman became immortal in the south of the Great Steppe. Since then, the locals have worshipped this place because they believed that Korkut managed to open the navel of the earth. Later, in the middle of the 20th century, this place became world famous as Baikonur, the Soviet space station. There, the First Man defied gravity by starting a journey into space on the Vostok-1 spacecraft in search of eternal life. The film was shot at the grave of Korkyt near Baikonur, in collaboration with kobyzshy and composer Tokzhan Karatai.
Saodat Ismailova Saodat Ismailova is an Uzbek film director, video artist and researcher. Creates films, film essays, video art and installations. In her practice, she is engaged in the search for disappearing knowledge, emotional and sensory reflection, and the study of the phenomenon of collective memory of the Central Asian region. Among the films: The Haunted, Hero Five Lives, Aral. Fishing In An Visible Sea, "40 days of silence". Her films and video installations have been presented at the Venice Biennale and documenta 15 in Kassel, film festivals in Berlin, Rotterdam, as well as at the Pompidou Center (Paris). At documenta 15, she also initiated the creation of the DAVRA collective — 19 artists from Central Asia. Together they organized a 41-day public program dedicated to the art and culture of Central Asia. |
Program
