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ABSTRACT
This article examines artistic intervention into local conventions as a means of eliciting social awareness within the current cultural space of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in which self-censorship is commonplace. As is to be expected, the art receiving the greatest support is sponsored by the authoritarian regime, who use it as a soft tool to construct a desired or prescribed form of national identity and to project state symbols into the global arena. In contrast, artworks which are contentious in their subject matter are mainly supported through international agencies. I explore the agency and autonomy of contemporary art, notwithstanding continuing state efforts at controlling, co-opting and incorporating art into a nationalist and legitimizing narrative. By focusing on selected artworks shown in Dushanbe within the last decade, where there are only a handful of artists work in this genre, I investigate how they unpack current societal issues of women’s rights, shifting ideologies, Islamization and civic duty.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my main point of contact for fieldwork in Dushanbe, Lolisanam Ulugova, then programme coordinator for arts and social activism at the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation – Tajikistan. Thanks also to artists Alla Rumyanceya, Murodjin Sharifov and Surayo Tuychieva for their time and effort sharing information about their work, as well as Sergey Chutkov of the Bactria Cultural Centre and Daler Mihtojov of the local Artists' Union for meeting with me. Finally, thanks to the organizers of the Seventh Annual Doctoral Research Workshop on Central Asia, where I presented my initial thoughts for this article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Contemporary art will be defined as the art of today which concerns itself with content and ideas over aesthetics. Illustrating the ideas can manifest in many ways, such as visual or audible forms, as well as tangible or time-based. The contemporary artworks mentioned in this article help ask questions of the local context.
2 These include curator- and artist-led workshops, the use of documentary and archival materials, pop-up exhibitions, regional and international collaborations, competitions, and community-based projects.
3 Press freedom and freedom of information rankings: Tajikistan is 161st, Uzbekistan 160th, and Kazakhstan 158th; Kyrgyzstan is the highest, at 83rd out of 180. The last five years have seen Tajikistan’s rating plummet to 161st from 115th in 2014, compounded by elements including an economic crunch, and self-censorship and self-imposed exile by journalists (and theatre director Barzu Abdurazakov), to avoid harassment by intelligence services (RSF Citation2019).
4 Currently it is also supported by the British Embassy in Dushanbe, the Swiss Confederation, the German Embassy, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and UNESCO from ‘Культурный Центр Бактрия’ (Bactria Cultural Centre Citationn.d.).
5 ‘Since its inception, the centre has not only facilitated the general public’s access to culture, information and vocational training in Tajikistan, it has also supported members of the artistic community who were marginalized during the social and political upheaval following the civil war. … The Bactria Cultural Centre has built a network of artists, curators, music producers, managers, students and other members of the Central Asian cultural community and connected them with audiences in the region.’ (Bactria Cultural Centre Citationn.d.).
6 Interview with Sergey Chutkov, director of the Bactria Cultural Centre.
7 ‘Art spaces for discussion of social issues and public engagement, public presentations on contemporary arts and social theories and movements, exhibitions, artists’ talks, performances based on social issues, regular film screenings, and open lectures for underrepresented communities, young intellectuals, artists, cultural activists’ (Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation - Tajikistan. Citationn.d).
8 DAG has organized exhibitions and participatory projects such as Reimagining the New Man: Practicing Civic Duties through Social and Visual Media (2014) and Spaces on the Run (2014–2015). They have presented the film series In Between: Video and Film from Tajikistan, curated by Olga Stefan and Stefan Rusu, supported by Open Society, and shown in Zurich. In 2018, DAG and the CEC ArtsLink Art Prospect Residency Program hosted an international residency at the Dushanbe space. This relationship is ongoing, as Kholikov himself was a resident in New York as part of the CEC ArtsLink Visual Arts Exchange in 2008.
9 Maiden Tower: To Be a Woman, organized by the European Union Delegation and curated by Sabina Shikhlinskaya. For further information see Farkhan (Citation2019).
10 Furthermore, there have been several one-off exhibitions curated by local organizations with the help of external bodies such as the Swiss Cooperation Office, who have been active in Tajikistan for almost two decades and funding exhibitions since 2006. One example of a number of exhibitions that have taken place in Tajikistan took place on 12 May 2006 in the Olimov State College by the name of Parallel. This was the result of Starter Project (2005–2007), initially backed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), which developed a series of workshops and public programmes in Dushanbe and Khujand. The project was led by Sabzali Sharipov, Larisa Dodkhudoeva (director of curricula), Valimad Odinaev (executive director), and Manzura UIdjabaeva, Jamshed Kholikov and Gafurjon Juraev (managers).
11 In 2009 two artists, Kendal Henry (USA) and Evgenii Makshakov (KG), came together to conduct workshops with local artists, supported by CEC ArtsLink and organized by the Bactria Cultural Centre. In 2012 Henry returned to Dushanbe to host another public art workshop. Display of the works produced was not granted permission by the mayor (there was no response to the request), so they were placed in the Design Institute’s courtyard. A creative way of displaying work in public was a video still from Alla and Aleksey Rumyantsev’s Kara Bolo, displayed on the wall of the famous teahouse, Kohi Navruz. The still was from a video work which captured the cyclicality of life through traditional objects of Central Asian daily life, such as bread, rugs and domes. On another occasion Rumyantsev was not given permission to place his Living Bench project (a root, branch and leaf-covered bench) among those already on Dushanbe’s main boulevard and instead showed the artwork at the courtyard of the Design Institute.
12 Project contributors: Victor Dubovitskiy (TJ), Madina Junussova and Elena Tyo (KZ), Natalia Andrianova (KG), Abdumannop Ziyaev (UZ), Gafur Shermatov (TJ), Vladimir Us (MD), [Stealth.Unlimited] – Ana Dzokic and Marc Neelen (SRB/NL), Gamal Bokonbaev (KG), Yuliya Sorokina (KG), Nelya Korzhova (RU) and Stefan Rusu (MD). Art projects and interventions in public space by Ewa Rudnicka (PL), Alexander Nikolaev (UZ), Jamshed Kholikov (TJ), Aleksei Rumyantsev (TJ), Surayo Tuychieva (TJ), Bakhytzhan Salikhov (KG), Murodjon Sharifov (TJ), Suleiman Sharifi (TJ), Gulbara Omorova (KG), Sitora Tursunova (TJ) and Bahtier Rakhimov (TJ) (Rusu, ‘Curatorial Projects’).
13 Project team: Surayo Tuichieva, John Davis, Mark Boswell, Jamshed Kholikov and Stefan Rusu; invited researchers: Zebiniso Iskandarova, Kuntuvdy Natalia and Faizulloev Muhidinjon; project participants: Marifat Davlatova, Aytegin Muratbek uulu, Syrlybek Bekbotayev, Alexandr Nicolaev, Murodzhon Sharipov, Alla Rumyantseva and Sulaymon Sharifi.
14 For example, during my visit to the studios of the Artists' Union of Tajikistan, a mosaic artist, Juraev Jamshed, and his studio staff were producing a private commission for President Rahmon.
15 Rumi͡ant͡seva, ‘Itogi masterskoĭ ėksperimentalʹnogo kino ili Nostalʹgii͡a po-nastoi͡ashchemu | Kulʹtura | Dialog.’
16 For further reading on Pasha Cas, see Tsay (Citation2018).
17 Videos of Akhmedova’s and Karpov’s (2008) The Burden of Virginity (Part 1 & 2) are available at (Part 1): https://vimeo.com/33585694; (Part 2): https://vimeo.com/33585978