Gulnara Kasmalieva (born 1960) and Muratbek Djumaliev (born 1965), natives of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, are a visual arts couple working together as Kasmalieva & Djumaliev. The majority of their works are filmed and photographed social documentaries or multi-screen installation art. Based in Bishkek, they have exhibited their works since 1988 in venues around the world.
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Vision
In an interview the artists state:
Art in the Soviet system was a part of the ideological superstructure and was therefore quite generously supported by the government, which created dependency and conformism among “official” artists. And significantly, with the collapse of social support alongside the growth of certain freedoms, we did not overcome conformism in life or art. Rather, we witnessed its magnificent blossoming. Now “creative forces” do not serve ideological requirements but instead market demands. In these circumstances, contemporary art in Kyrgyzstan since the late 1990s has probably been the only alternative to the faceless and boring so-called “professional” arts. The main intention of contemporary art has become an a priori otherness, originality, and non-conformism and an atmosphere of creativity and unity. The transitional period, despite of all its difficulties, has become an ideal environment for the development of contemporary art.
Artistic career
Kasmalieva studied fine art at the Surikov Institute of Art in Moscow and Djumaliev at the Vera Mukhina Academy in Leningrad (now St Peterburg). Afterwards they worked in the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic, which gained independence as Kyrgyzstan after perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. In their first documentaries and photographs they show the transition of their homeland, often focusing on the effect the communist state had on the lives and the sense of identity of the Kyrgyz people.
An important work, A New Silk Road: Algorithm of Survival and Hope from 2006, described as “anthropology as cultural critique”, is about the influence of the growing globalization along the historical Silk Road that winds through central Asia, from China to Europe (see One Belt, One Road).
ArtEast
Both artists are curators for their cultural center ArtEast in Bishkek, having organized and curated the highly acclaimed Bishkek International Exhibition of Contemporary Art in 2005, 2007 and 2008. ArtEast has also schooled young Bishkek artists and serves as a forum for contemporary art. The curriculum has been sponsored by Arts Collaboratory and the Open Society Foundation. The prestigious Gwangju Biennale in South Korea invited the duo and their students to exhibit in the 2012 Round table edition. By mid 2014 however they refer to their art school in the past tense, citing economic hardships as the reason for its demise.
Acclaim
In 2010 Kasmalieva and Djumaliev were honored with the Dutch Prince Claus Award for outstanding achievements in culture and development. The jury acknowledged "their path-breaking art practice, their important contributions to contemporary culture in Central Asia, and the chances they offer young artists." Also in 2010 they were shortlisted for the Artes Mundi Prize.