A musical lecture-performance for three troubadours and projection.

‘The Tale of Deeds’ is a lecture and musical recitation representing a selection of public actions from recent Kazakhstani history. Performers sit between the audience and the slideshow projected on the wall behind them. One by another, they recite “The Tale of Deeds”, reading the text and singing it in a chanting manner. The narrative is composed a list of short descriptions of various public actions which have taken place in Kazakhstan (mostly in Almaty) over the past few decades. This list combines artistic performances with political actions undertaken by individuals as well as collectives. Each action from the list is illustrated by a slide or a short video clip. Part of these actions belong to the history of Kazakhstani performance art, part of them constitute a recent history of civil resistance and political protest against authoritarian rule. Presented in this way, these short descriptions of actions become a quasi-poetic recitation eulogizing various forms of civic consciousness, which have been emerging in Kazakhstan in the form of public performances and contributing to the ongoing transformations of Kazakh identity.
Troubadours: Katalin Erdődi, Maria Vilkovisky, Ruthie Jenrbekova.
Commissioned by VBKÖ.
Photos by Marisel Bongola.