Serge Atamanov
– – · – – – – – ·–· –·– –
Video, 2:31
"Memories sweep through my head like a high-speed train. Wagons of recollections, filled with occasional flashes of recognition. Looking through the window, TV screen, or viewfinder of the camera - a piece of cardboard on the subjective and reflective inner world. A message consisting of the chaos of pictures and stories united by a system of sign coding."
Sergey Atamanov took photographs through a cardboard cutout on the journey between Zurich an Almaty. This video pieces these fleeting moments together.
Denys Shantar
photographs by Tamina Ospanova
СОЮЗ (SOJUS - UNION)
Embroidered clothes, printed photographs
"Can you buy the Soviet Union in a souvenir shop or on the flea market? And who told people in Europe about the USSR? So many questions. And a post-soviet boy, caught between two worlds, trying to get answers. This is my reflection on post-soviet times."
Denys Shantar purchased second-hand clothes from flea-markets and used-clothing shops in Moscow and Kiew. He embroidered them with the word "Sojus", which translates to Union in Russian. The clothes are reflective of a common history, bringing it to the present whilst questioning associations with kitsch, naiveté and an innocence lost somewhere along the way. The editorial photoshoot accompanying the "collection" is set in a blissful scenery, where roses and beads abund and frame the faces of a young couple.
Jiajia Zhang
Aida Issakhankyzy
Someone with a big nose who knows
Photographs on plastic foil
Photographs of ephemeral sculptural findings are combined with a dialogue between Jijia Zhang and Aida Issakhankyzy by text messages throughout the journey. The sequences suggest moments of density and pause, reflecting on communal spaces, migration, departure and arrival. Each ephemeral sculpture contains diary-like elements, which accompany the text and give shapes to formless ideas.
Suinbike
Aurelio Ghirardelli
Manoj Patrik Rajakumar
ZHOLAUSHYLAR (qaz. - passengers)
Video loop (10:03), pillows, Tv-screen
Recorded with a damaged VHS-recorder found along the way, the images of workers on and around the train overlap with abstract sequences. The scenes move to the rhythm of the happenings around them; slipping impressions in permanent movement, reduced space and socialization.
Benjamin Frey
What I remember...
Sound-installation, fabric, chairs, curtain 3 x 2 m
Recent researches in science show that most of our sleep is actually covered by dreams. This project shows the few remaining fragments from these nights, once full of stories and experiences. Guided by the train’s sounds and movements, and our tight time together.
Aida Issakhankyzy
Ataysyz posterlar
3 posters 84 x 119 cm
A series of posters manipulating the aesthetics of virtual media and social networks, these artworks criticise a Western perspective on the Global East.
Shamiran Istifan
Apa
Silk, human hair, video (1`30); 2.5 x 3m
"The fragility of linguistic existence: As single political handshakes can lead to deculturalization, the longevity of one's mother and grandmother's origins strive against these impacts. Cultural identity is fluid and can be forgotten and renewed by force - while genetics, inherited from one's grandmother, are everlasting." - Shamiran Istifan
Tamina Ospanova
Voice of the train
Installation (paper, ink, LED-lights) 0,21*3 m
"A small compartment. A notebook in my hands, some ideas in my mind, wine and nostalgic feelings. An attempt towards reflection, a wild desire to document our trip, surrounding objects, people and an always changing landscape. I was drawing a line, and the train was shaking, as if it wanted to say something. So I relaxed my hand, since I wanted to hear his story. Moscow – Karaganda" - Tamina Ospanova
Victoria Bayeleva
Anthropomorphism
framed photograph and zine, 9 x 13 cm
It is a fundamental human need to secure and sustain a sense of social belonging. A scientific research by the Department of Psychology at McGill University has shown that lonely individuals are more likely to attribute humanlike traits to nonhuman agents than people who are not, presumably in an attempt to fulfill unmet needs for belonging. With her work, Victoria Bayeleva wants to speculate on our relationships with objects. Since anthropomorphism is a motivated process reflecting the active search for potential sources of connection, our relationship with society will possibly become clearer.
Suinbike
An arm’s length
Print, variable dimensions
"An arm’s length is a way of measuring. We are moving at the speed of data transfer. All we leave after us along the way is shit. This is an environmental project for the sake of awareness. Our idealistic outlook on life beats against the iron rails of a crude anthropocentric sunset. How much plastic should you buy in order to remain a happy tourist? How wasted do you need to get in the Yellow Arrow to get someplace? How many pirozhki and samsa does it take to make apashki (old ladies) on empty stations leave this keen travail of the pirozhki business? How many kilometers of arm lengths does it take to reach your love?" - Suinbike
Suinbike
TIME TO GO HOME - ПОРА ДОМОЙ - УЙГО БАРЫШ КЕРЕК
Intervention, mixed media
Instead of explaining the reasons for the series of vandalistic acts committed on the territory of several countries, the purification of the consequences of which is being done more by the addressees of this appeal, I consider a disarmingly exact passage from an interview about the situation of approximately half a million Kyrgyz migrants in Moscow. This is a commentary of the expert Igor Beloborodov, Head of the Sector for Demography, Migration and Ethno-Religious Problems of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of Russia:
“On the one hand, due to budget concerns, we are expelling illegal migrants by millions, and at the same time we are copying the negative experience of Europe with migratory indulgences. Let's be frank: the inhabitants of this small country will not go to work in Yakutia, the Altai, or the Northern Caucasus. They will come to earn money in Moscow, its surroundings, or St. Petersburg. This ethno-cultural growth will be superimposed on the extinction of local residents. It’s important to note that we will not deal with Ukrainian refugees who are culturally close. With Kirghiz youth, aggressive phenomena are growing in their environment: they organize fighting clubs and cafes in Moscow, where they do not speak Russian. Let's remember how it was in Europe. First migrant workers came, then they were joined by their parents and children, who claimed medical supplies, kindergartens and schools. Then rallies took place, on which migrants demanded some kind of exclusive rights. At the same time, the most educated migrants will receive Russian citizenship, go into business and politics, serving the interests primarily of their national community. Now it is important to act very circumspectly. Otherwise, hasty decisions can cause a surge of nationalism in the youth environment. Before accepting guests, it’s necessary to find out whether the local population has problems with providing medical care, considering if there are places in kindergartens, which are recorded in the capital's region since birth, and whether the schools are overcrowded.”
Victoria Bayeleva
Reflections
Acrylic, 2.1 x 1.2m
"Outside the window stretches a strip of endless scenery. The traveling companions often change their stories. In a carved glass holder, with a spoon tinkling against the glass, the tea cools. Life sweeps by like a high-speed train of pictures and impressions. At some point you begin to realize that the journey through life is like a reflexive taping of a tape in Instagram, which pulls like a whirlpool.Sometimes I think, as we do not go insane standing in this cold infopotok with a wooden tray in our hands, how we can filter the visual sand, maybe we, as a prospector, are interested in our own reflection in the golden crumbs on the bottom of the tray." - Victoria Bayeleva
Suinbike
Aida Issakhankyzy
Пачка сигарет
pack of cigarettes, mounted on wall
"In Moscow, we mainly traveled by metro. On my next trip, I saw a pack of cigarettes near the escalator, similar to the ones that Suinbike smokes (with a tobacco heating system that is not harmful at all, as they say in the advertisement). Immediately deciding that this pack of cigarettes belonged to Suinbike, I ran and picked it up. But when I gave it to Suinbike herself, we realized that this was not her pack. Certainly not her pack of cigarettes." - Aida Issakhankyzy
© 2021 QWAS
Contacts
Zurich University of the Arts
Pfingstweidstrasse 96
CH-8005 Zürich
E-Mail: contact[at]qwas.ch
Contacts
Zurich University of the Arts
Pfingstweidstrasse 96
CH-8005 Zürich
E-Mail: contact[at]qwas.ch
© 2021 QWAS