Tselinny center of contemporary culture (Almaty, Kazakhstan) is looking for a Curator to form a programme of Second Triennale of Sound Art and New Music in 2025.
Background
About Tselinny Center
Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture is a regional institution that aims to empower the local general public and enhances an intellectual community by building a dialogue within Kazakhstani latitude and therewith the wider central Asian perspective. Tselinny center unites contemporary artists, emerging theorists and scholars for open reflection and critical debate on its platform.
Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture was founded in 2018 by a Kazakh businessman and entrepreneur Kairat Boranbayev as the country’s first private cultural institution. The center has been operating since 2018 and will move in 2025 to its permanent venue at a former cinema building after which it was named.
The Tselinny cinema was built in 1964 to the standard USSR design for large panoramic cinemas and immediately became one of the most popular recreation venues of the inhabitants of Soviet Alma-Ata. The building has been reworked several times since 2000 changing the appearance and functional layout of the building. Reconstruction of the cinema began in late 2019 under the direction of the British architect Asif Khan, who aims to transform the building into a multifunctional space.
Tselinny’s artistic strategy is based on the symbiosis between two motifs of Here and Now, a combination of performative and research programme.
Here is about Tselinny’s physical space where various formats of events are happening such as art projects, films programme, contemporary theatre, music and other experimental forms. Now is based on the research projects that are occuring in the moment and continuously in the future to create an intellectual space enhanced by engagements with artists, theorists and public intellectuals from various disciplinary, cultural, social and ideological perspectives. There are four main lines of activities which are Horizon research platform (online ontology and Documentation dataset), educational platform, Scholar-In-Residence programme and Tselinny Publishing. The work is focused on research projects aimed at studying current processes in the social and humanitarian spheres.
About Triennale of Sound Art and New Music
The history of the development of musical culture in Kazakhstan begins in ancient times, when sound was perceived as a guide to other worlds and states of mind. Various instrumental and oral practices served as a form of initiation in battles and rituals, music was also given healing properties.
One of the fundamental myths found in many Turkic cultures is the legend of Korkyt-ata, the patron saint of musicians, who, in escape from death, created the first stringed instrument kobyz, and through its sound overcame the boundary of the material world.
The main leitmotif of the program is the search for a different sensitivity of the world. In an attempt to re-enchant reality, sound artists collaborate with the elements of nature, algorithms and other non-human agents, blurring the boundaries of reality and inviting transcendental experiences through deep immersion in sound environments.
The first edition of the triennial originally started off as the Korkut biennale of Sound Art and New Music in 2022. A biennial set out to combine sound art with a decolonial paradigm. Programme of the first edition named Korkut included 6 locations, 1 exhibition, 5 site specific installations, 3 concerts and an educational programme with local and international participants such as Kokonja, 2vvo, Eegeru ensemble, Felix Blume, Hongshuo Fan, Vtol, Kyzyl Tractor, Saodat Ismailova and more.
Responsibilities
Tselinny center is looking for a curator who can lead the second edition of Triennale of Sound art and New music which is due to open in October of 2025. The curator implements the conceptual ambition of the triennial and sets the programming of the festival. Our expectation about the current job title is for a curator to do research, development and presentation of the second edition of triennale, where projects of the artists respond to the Kazakhstani oral culture, local discourses, as well as curation of works of new and/or emerging artists. Curator should aim to involve new maps of decolonial geographies and new media in developments in contemporary art. Curator should develop a curatorial vision which includes all related texts to the exhibition ranging from essays to brochures and wall texts.
Desired Experience and Skills:
● Interest in sound art, new media, music
● Graduate or postgraduate degree in contemporary art, Master’s degree in art history,
new media, curatorial studies, or comparable degree.
● Experience working in sound art, noise, contemporary music and installation.
Social media handle:
http://korkut.tselinny.org
Instagram: @korkut.tselinny Application process
Interested candidates are invited to contact info@tselinny.org and alima.kairat@tselinny.org
Application deadline: April 30, 2024
