Why Are We Here?

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, artists in Central Asia have had limited opportunities to exchange information and even fewer to work together on collaborative art projects. Artists in these countries are eager to renew dialogue with their colleagues with whom they share a long history. This workshop aims to provide them the opportunity to exchange information and ideas, and work together to create exciting public art works. This project also aims to address problems of racial prejudice in the CIS by showing the creativity and benefit of artists from different countries working together.
The artists are from Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey and they vary in age, contemporary art styles, media and experience. Arseny Sergeyev and I will be overseeing the projects and guiding the artists through design, fabrication and installation. Arseny is co-director, with his wife Nilya Allakhverdieva of the Russian non-profit organization Artpolitika in Yekaterinburg. The organization, which was founded in 1999, has conducted numerous innovative public art projects with artists from around the world demonstrating the value of both contemporary art and multi-culturalism. I am a public art and urban design consultant who’s worked in the field of public art for about 18 years. For the past three years, I’ve been working with CEC ArtsLink on creating public art projects throughout Russia and Bishkek. Check out the other blog links to the left.