Wednesday, June 6, 2007

LECTURE- TOSCCA Lecture, Visualising the Oriental: Soviet & Post-Soviet Views, June 12

Distrib. by: Central-Eurasia-L - Announcement List for Central Eurasian Studies


LECTURE- TOSCCA: Visualising the Oriental: Soviet & Post-Soviet Views, June 12

Posted by: Alexander Morrison <alexander.morrison@all-souls.oxford.ac.uk>

The Oxford Society for the Caspian and Central Asia

Visualising the Oriental: Soviet and Post-Soviet Views (Double Presentation)

1. "A Daughter of the Soviet East: One Gaze Too Far [Semion Chuikov's
prize winning painting and other re-presentations of the Soviet East
in 1930s-50s]" Aliya Abykayeva-Tiesenhausen, Courtauld Institute of Art

2. "Glamorous and Disoriented: The Oriental Theme in Khamdamov's Vocal
Parallels (2003)" Nariman Skakov, University College, Oxford

Convener: Jane Hiddleston, Exeter College, Oxford

Hovenden Room

All Souls College

5.00pm, Tuesday, Week 8 (12th June)

N.B. Vocal Parallels (65 mins.) will be screened before the seminar at
3.30pm for those who are interested. The film is in Kazakh with
Russian voice-over.

Semion Chuikov is arguably the most celebrated Central Asian painter
of the Stalinist period. Russian by descent, Chuikov was born in
Pishpek (Kyrgyzia) in 1902; he studied at various periods of time in
Verny, Tashkent and Moscow. The artist's works were exhibited at
several All-Union Art Exhibitions, and he additionally served as
Chairman of the Kyrgyz Artist's Union (1934-37). Chuikov received the
prestigious Stalin Prize (1948-9) for his painting A Daughter of
Soviet Kyrgyzia. The painting is currently in the collection of the
State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), although there were other variants
made later. Chuikov remains one of the most famous artists of the
period: depicting the smallest of the Central Asian nations made him
the greatest of Soviet 'Orientalists'.

Rustam Khamdamov is one of the most enigmatic and extravagant
filmmakers to emerge from Central Asia. Championed by Fellini and
Visconti, he has made only three films over his lifetime. His latest
venture revives a genre highly popular in Stalin's time - the
'film-concert'. Vocal Parallels casts three Kazakh opera stars (one of
them a trans-gendered counter-tenor) and an Armenian singer. They
perform celebrated opera arias by Puccini, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, et al.
in unexpected locations ranging from an abandoned factory to a nomad's
yurt. The concert is mediated by one of the most glamorous actresses
in the contemporary Russian cinema - Renata Litvinova.

Alexander Morrison
All Souls College
Oxford
OX1 4AL
U.K.

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