Traditional and contemporary art of Kazakhstan

The development of contemporary sculpture in Kazakhstan during the period of independence represents a multi-layered artistic process in which national cultural memory, the transformation of post-Soviet artistic consciousness and integration into global contemporary art practices interact organically. After 1991, sculpture ceased to function exclusively within the framework of an ideologically determined system of monumental realism and acquired a qualitatively new significance as a space for the visual interpretation of identity, history and the present.

In this context, the reinterpretation of cultural heritage takes on particular significance, allowing us to speak of the formation of a distinctive ‘sculpture of memory’. Researchers emphasise that the monumental sculpture of independent Kazakhstan is shaping a new visual model of historical consciousness, in which the images of khans, batyrs, Scythian and Turkic archetypes, as well as symbols of steppe civilisation, play a key role (Abisheva, 2018). Sculptural works in the urban environment are becoming not only artistic objects but also tools for constructing collective identity, capturing the most important cultural and historical narratives.

Alongside the development of the monumental style, there is an active emergence of easel and chamber sculpture, focused on more complex plastic and philosophical challenges. In these works, artists move away from narrative and turn to the expressiveness of form, material and texture. Sculpture begins to function as an autonomous artistic system in which meaning is formed through the interplay of volume, space and the viewer’s perception. This approach corresponds to the concept of the ‘visual turn’ developed by W. J. T. Mitchell, according to which contemporary culture interprets reality primarily through visual images (Mitchell, 1994).

The semiotic aspect of contemporary sculpture allows it to be viewed as a distinct ‘cultural text’, rich in signs and symbols. In this regard, Roland Barthes’s position is illustrative; he argued that any visual object contains a system of hidden meanings and cultural codes (Barthes, 1977). In Kazakh sculpture, such codes are represented by the archetypal images of the horse, the warrior, the shanyraq, the kulpytas, and the sacrificial animal, which are interpreted by artists not as ethnographic details, but as universal symbols of memory, time and existence.

The process of cultural hybridisation plays a particular role in the development of contemporary sculpture. According to Homi K. Bhabha’s theory, contemporary culture is formed in the space where the local and the global interact (Bhabha, 1994). In Kazakhstani art, this manifests itself in the synthesis of traditional forms of nomadic culture with the aesthetics of contemporary art, and the use of new materials, technologies and formats. Sculpture transcends the classical understanding and transforms into installations, art objects and spatial constructions that interact with the viewer and the surrounding environment.

An important trend is the treatment of space as an active participant in artistic expression. Sculpture ceases to be a static object and begins to function as a medium of interaction, drawing the viewer into the process of interpretation. This is particularly evident in works that employ the principles of fragmentation, deformation of form and abstraction, bringing Kazakhstani sculpture closer to global artistic practices.

Thus, contemporary sculpture in Kazakhstan constitutes a complex artistic system in which monumental tradition, intimate sculpture and the conceptual forms of contemporary art coexist. Through the language of volume, material and space, artists create new models of visual thinking in which national identity is understood as a dynamic and open-ended process, linking cultural heritage with contemporary artistic practices.