Focus Kazakhstan–Thinking Collections: Telling Tales explores the concept of “artists as the first collectors” with an unprecedented survey exhibition of Kazakhstan’s most celebrated art collective, Kyzyl Tractor. Noted for their feverish experimentations in the mid 1990’s and early 2000’s, their work continues to chronicle Kazakhstan’s seismic socio-economic, ecological and political shifts in juxtaposition with their signature conceptual and aesthetic appropriations of the region’s nomadic, Sufi, and Shamanistic philosophical traditions. The exhibition will highlight founding member Moldakul Narymbetov, in addition to staging a monumental new work and live performances by collective members: Said Atabekov, Smail Bayaliyev, Vitaliy Simakov, and Arystanbek Shalbayev.

Focus Kazakhstan is implemented by the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan in association with the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan within the framework of the program, Ruhani Zhangyru. Head of the project – Leonid Kochetov, deputy director of the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the curator of Focus Kazakhstan is Roza Abenova, Head of Centre of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Caption: Moldakul Narymbetov, The Aral Sea, 1989, 83×105 cm, oil on canvas