Shalazine is a self-published journal on contemporary art, activism, and paracultures from post- Soviet space (and beyond). It attempts to outline a loose network of underinstitutionalized artistic activities from various localities, framing them under the concept of translocality. Shalazine suggests to rethink the paradigm of territory and free it from the obsolete implications referring to authenticity and identity. The journal is published by krёlex zentr, a conceptual artistic parainstitution based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Following the krёlex theoretical approach and political stance, Shalazine is concerned with queer*feminist and decolonial revision of androcentric and Eurocentric presumptions in today’s cultural work, questioning the boundaries between the human and inhuman, culture and nature, the imaginary and the real.

Our logo plays with the famous definition of Creoleness: “The world diffracted but recomposed” (Edouard Glissant).
There are several things here to think about.

1. By diffraction we can understand the history of forced mass migration in times of Imperial rule, or, in our case, Sovetization. It is about the first trauma of breaking apart, of losing the substantial unity of traditional society.  The subsequent process of recomposition of Self is nothing else but the birth of new subjectivity, emerging on both individual and societal levels.

2. This picture talks about light distribution in space. It illustrates rays’ behavior when they cross border between two different environments. It refers to the Science of Light, following the winding path of good old Enlightenment project.

3. This picture expresses the idea that every unity consists of inner heterogeneity and every wholeness can be decomposed and recomposed again. It promotes the necessity of recomposing our small not-so-human World once again.

For the soviet intelligentsia dacha is a traditional place for cultural creation and existential recreation. Architectural features of dacha houses can tell a lot about owner’s social status. Belonged to the rich as well as to the poor, dachas played significant role in intellectual life of soviet cities.

An open air art-gallery in the city center of Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) demonstrates two major tendencies in today’s commercial paintings:
1. Ethnic/Local/National exoticism of the “wild” and
2. Pop icons of the western-driven globalized entertainment. This particular icon happens to have some Asian traits though.

Ruth and Maria performing at poetry festival in Almaty, August 5 2015

We went to Moscow for a month to study at summer curatorial school curated by V. Misiano. Ruth was played in the main cast, and I was an extern. A lot of theory, practice and new acquaintances. That was my vacation, and after returning home we got right into the organisational turmoil of our first summer school for contemporary arts in Almaty.

На месяц отправились в Москву учиться в летней кураторской школе В. Мизиано. Руфь играла в основном составе, я была вольнослушательницей. Много теории, практики и новых знакомств. Это был мой отпуск, а вернувшись домой мы немедленно попали в суматоху организации нашей первой алматинской летней школы современного искусства.

Photo by Oksana Kapishnikova

With our musical lecture “Phonation” we got invited to Baku (thanks to Yarat! art-institution) to perform in a small – but luxurious by our standards – city theater. We were able to walk around the city, mainly in the center, and Baku at that spring was incredibly beautiful, lovely and hospitable. After our return to Almaty it was hard to get rid of the feeling that different sides of the Caspian have different attitudes to oil money, and that not all autocracies are alike.

С нашей музыкальной лекцией “Голосообразование” нас пригласили в Баку (спасибо Yarat!), выступить в зале маленького но роскошного по нашим меркам театра. Нам удалось немного погулять по городу, в основном в центре, и Баку той весной был невероятно красив и мил и гостеприимен. Вернувшись в Алматы  было сложно отделаться от ощущения, что по разные стороны Каспия разное отношение к нефтяным деньгам, и что автократия автократии рознь.

Bishkek. Once again we went  to “1st of April Contest”, this time with a satirical puppet show “Winnie the Pooh and all the others,” telling a story of routine everyday life of the local artistic community – us and our friends and colleagues.

Бишкек. Снова отправились на Первоапрельский конкурс, на этот раз с сатирическим кукольным шоу “Винни Пух и все остальные”, где рассказывается о рутине артистического существования нас и наших друзей-коллег из Алматы и Бишкека.

From 5 to 26 November we did our first artists residence in STAB (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan). There we completed a big project – two-hours long musical lecture “Phonation”, dedicated to the emancipatory potential of popular music in 20 Century.
It was nice to get a warm feedback from the organizers of the residence and the audience. During that residency we somehow believed in ourselves. And in Bishkek we walked a lot, talked to a lot of people discussing arts and politics. We even showed up in the morning TV-program, trying to talk about the idea of creolization in Central Asia.

С 5 по 26 ноября состоялась наша первая арт-резиденция в Штабе (Бишкек, Кыргызстан) Благодаря этой резиденции мы сделали большой проект – двухчасовую музыкальную лекцию “Голосообразование”, посвященную эмансипаторному потенциалу поп-музыки в 20 веке.
Было приятно получить теплые отзывы от организаторов резиденции и тех, кто пришел на наше выступление. В тот момент мы как-то поверили в свои силы. А еще в Бишкеке мы много гуляли, общались, трындели про политику и искусство и даже появились на утренней телевизионной программе, где пытались говорить про креолизацию в Центральной Азии.