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Traditional and contemporary art of Kazakhstan

A Virtual Journey into the World of Kazakhstan’s Artistic Heritage

This Web Gallery presents the diversity of artistic practices in Kazakhstan, reflecting the continuity of cultural traditions and the dynamic development of contemporary creative processes. The virtual exhibition features works based on national images, symbols, and themes, as well as artworks by contemporary artists who reinterpret the country’s cultural heritage through contemporary artistic forms, expressive means, and modern technologies.

The selected works demonstrate the relationship between traditional and contemporary art, revealing the distinctive features of the national worldview, cultural identity, and cultural meanings. The presented materials allow viewers to trace how elements of historical and cultural heritage are reflected in contemporary artistic practice, while maintaining their significance and relevance in an increasingly globalized world.

The Web Gallery is aimed at promoting Kazakhstan’s artistic heritage, expanding public access to works of art, and fostering a lasting interest in national culture and art among a wide audience.

‘Roulette’, 2020

Saule Dusembina • Video animation. 0.12 mins

Сауле Дюсембина. «Рулетка», 2020

Saule Dusembina’s animated video is designed to be viewed in under a minute. Created in 2020 as an immediate social response from a socially conscious artist, the animation addresses the events of the ‘strange’ epidemic, the consequences of which humanity is still feeling today. In a brief description of the animation, the artist writes that the unfamiliar disease caused confusion in the city: treatment protocols were unclear, and the situation was frightening due to a shortage of medicines in the city’s pharmacies. Consequently, the population turned to traditional medicine, with its time-honoured methods of treatment. In the animation, the artist prominently features the central sacred symbol of Kazakh folk culture – the ram. The head of the sacrificial animal is depicted at the centre of a circle – a tondo. Around it, following the principle of the sectional divisions of a spinning roulette wheel – the wheel of fortune – the artist depicts human internal organs, evidently affected by the ‘spiky’ virus: the brain, blood vessels, kidneys and lungs, alternating with parts of the ram’s carcass, which have been recognised by the Kazakh people for many centuries as having healing properties. However, the similarity of these cultural and medicinal folk practices offers no guarantees: ‘Whoever is lucky will be lucky,’ the artist ironically sums up in her description of the project (https://www.sauledyussenbina.com/publications).

Source: https://www.sauledyussenbina.com/publications