CIVIL SOCIETY
Deirdre Tynan
4/11/08
Works from Central Asia are making an impression in the New York art world. "I Dream of the Stans: New Central Asian Video" is an illuminating exhibition of seven media projects full of humor, historical analysis and eroticism.
Currently on display at the Winkleman Gallery in New York, these videos have their roots simultaneously planted in the steppes and minarets of Asia and the world of contemporary art and technology.
The Winkleman Gallery is a tiny white space in Chelsea, Manhattan, but curators Leeza Ahmady, Murat Orozobekov, and Edward Winkleman have compiled a mini retrospective of 21st century work from some of Central Asia’s leading artists. The common themes that emerge from the exhibition are spirituality and nomadism, identity and borders.
Leeza Ahmady, an independent curator who specializes in Central Asian art, says her aim was to assemble a representative collection that highlighted the adventurous spirit of regional artists. "We’re trying to use the best of what’s going on. Even though there is a lot of visibility [Central Asian artists] are not quite in the market yet. We want to be visual as well as conceptually strong," she said.
The largest projection, Said Atabekov’s grainy, black and white "Neon Paradise," features the artist complete with backpack kneeling and bowing before automatic sliding doors. As he bends the doors mechanically open and close. He cuts a scruffy, Sufi like figure before the stainless steel and glass. The mysterious Kazakh artist appears to be praying, perhaps mockingly, at some faceless shrine of modern design and enterprise.
The smaller projection, an ochre and sepia hued epic of sensuality, is the joint work of Rustam Khalfin, an Uzbek now living in Kazakhstan, and Kazakh artist Julia Tikhonova. The title "Northern Barbarians Part II: Love Races" is inspired by the Chinese collective name for nomads who roamed beyond the Great Wall, and two water colors from the book "Chinese Eros." The piece shows a young couple making love while on horseback riding through woodland. It panders neither to western notions of Oriental exoticism or prudishness, and is a painterly interpretation of an archetypal, dreamlike sequence.
"Jihad," by Kazakh artist Almagul Menlibayeva, explores "her primary concern with women and their role in pre-Soviet, pre-Islamic and even shamanistic and dervish origins," according to the Winkleman gallery. The artist is filmed on sunny day at the mausoleum of the 13th century poet Khoja Ahmet Yasawi, who is credited with converting the Kazakhs to Islam. She folds and wraps a wind-whipped piece of patterned silk around her head. Images of her spinning against the blue mosaic walls are cut with sounds and pictures of pilgrims in prayer. The video, which is at points manipulated to speed up or slow down her movements, captures a sort of religious ecstasy, as well as the architectural beauty of the backdrop.
Vyacheslav Akhunov’s "Cleaner" compulsively scrubs Victorian military monuments in London with a toothbrush. The Uzbek artist’s work is the least visually engaging of the exhibitions, but it is a wry commentary on colonialism and cultural superiority. To see the "Cleaner" in action reminds the viewer of the role colonized people play in maintaining the image of the colonizers as the purveyors of art and civilization.
Afghan artist and professor at Kabul University, Rahraw Omarzad, collaborated with students and members of the Center for Contemporary Art Afghanistan to produce "Opening." The audio begins with repeated loud bangs until a woman wearing a Chador opens her eyes. A piece of fabric is cut before her, but instead of using the scissors to cut open her veil she begins to re-sew it with embroidery thread. Her hands, decorated with exquisite jewelry and henna designs, work quickly to create a colorful floral pattern. She remains hidden, but it is a voluntary and artistic act. The video may seem counter-intuitive to democratization proponents, but it may also be viewed as a statement of cultural defiance and self-determination.
Kyrgyz art team Muratbek Djumaliev and Gulnara Kasmalieva present an ironic take on travel with "Something About Contemporary Nomadism." Their video observes airline passengers patiently waiting at customs control at an unidentified Central Asian airport. Lethargic adults and children are subjected to pat-downs, their belongings are examined by guards. The queues and searches are met with passive acceptance and the new rituals, routines and frustrations of travel exposed.
Jamshed Khalilov’s "Bus Stop" is a parade of Central Asia’s famed decorative bus stops, each one more remarkable that the next in the outlandishness of its design. Khalilov’s video uses still photos of the stops – one with a Soviet hammer and sickle motif, another shaped like a tall white felt cap. Some are decorated with blue mosaics, others are sculptural modernist affairs. The photos whisk to one side giving the viewer the feeling of movement as if traveling in bus. Behind these already nostalgic icons Central Asia’s mountains loom large and the bus stop images act like a tutorial in the history of 20th century public art.
Despite the aesthetic and conceptual strengths of the Winkleman exhibits the Central Asian art scene remains small and underground in its nature. Ahmady says the current institutional and administrative framework in the region is not likely to spawn a great surge in the contemporary arts.
However, there is a foundation to build on. Ahmady adds, "When these artists exhibit or perform locally, be it in cities or villages, people ‘get it.’ Central Asians have taken to the use of new media naturally because of their traditions of street and theatre performance, epic story telling and symbolism. Expressive actions are very much part of the culture."
"I Dream of the Stans: New Central Asian Video" runs until April 19 at the Winkleman Gallery, 637 West 27th Street, New York, NY 10001, T: 212.643.3152. Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 11 - 6 PM
Editor’s Note: Deidre Tynan is a freelance journalist specializing in Central Asia.
