EXHIBIT- Tracing Roads through Central Asia, San Francisco, Apr 18-Jun 29, 2008
Posted by: Zhanara Nauruzbeyeva <zhanara@stanford.edu>
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Presents
Tracing Roads through Central Asia:
On Traders? Dilemmas and Travelers? Perspectives
Friday, April 18 through Sunday, June 29, 2008
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Terrace Galleries
Tickets: $7 regular, $5 students/teachers/seniors, FREE for YBCA Members
Opening Night Party: Thursday, April 17, 6-9 pm
Tickets: $8 in advance, $10 at the door/FREE for YBCA Members
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
701 Mission Street at Third, San Francisco
415.978.ARTS (2787), www.ybca.org
SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2008?Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)
announces a compelling new exhibition, titled Tracing Roads Through
Central Asia: On Traders' Dilemmas and Travelers' Perspectives, which
offers a rare look at works created by contemporary artists living and
working in Central Asia. The exhibition opens on Friday, April 18 and
runs through Sunday, June 29, 2008.
Tracing Roads Through Central Asia, guest curated by Elena Sorokina,
features works that explore the intricate relationship between travel
and trade in Central Asia and other post-Soviet territories as it has
developed since the 1990's. Artists comment on the modes, strategies
and effects of free trade in this region since its introduction. Some
toy with the stereotypes of "oriental bazaars" where everyday
commodities used to be sold alongside communist symbols. Other artists
deconstruct popular trade and travel myths, including the Silk Road
and the Trans-Siberian Railway, by comparing their complex symbolism
with its physical realities. Artists also capture the region's current
"normalization" as recent socioeconomic changes have led it to become
increasingly dependent on raw materials trade. Through the works'
emphatic or critical interpretations, the clichés of exotic travel and
exchange of luxury goods between East and West become seen as another
myth - that of "free trade."
Central Asia is a region in transition, remaking itself following the
disintegration of the Soviet Union, and struggling to define itself
amidst its influential neighbors including China, Russia and the
oil-rich nations of the Middle East. Artists from the region often
focus on social and geo-economics issues facing these countries and
their people. They analyze ethnic identities currently en vogue, the
representation of political power and the rise of ethno nationalist
heroes, showing how societies change and individuals survive.
Tracing Roads Through Central Asia is part of YBCA?s Identity Shifts
series, one of the three Big Ideas that guide this season?s
programming. The Identity Shifts series features artists who explore
the ideas of race, gender, nationality. Once concrete identifiers,
these terms are now, to some degree, open to interpretation. The rise
of religious extremism, the conflict between cultural identity and
national borders, the rejection by many of traditional gender roles
and labels, has plunged the world into a clash between embracing
strict boundaries or celebrating fluidity and complexity. By
disrupting the status quo and exploring deeply their sense of self,
the artists in this series ask us to rethink how we know who we are,
and what we think we can be.
The exhibition includes the following artists: Gulnara Kasmalieva and
Muratbek Djumaliev (Kyrgyzstan); Victor Vorobiev and Elena Vorobyeva
(Kazakhstan); Erbossyn Meldibekov (Kazakhstan); Said Atabekov
(Kazakhstan); Alexander Ugay (Kazakhstan); Alexander Nikolaev
(Uzbekistan); Vyacheslav Akhunov (Uzbekistan); and Oksana Shatalova
(Kasakhstan).
Elena Sorokina is an independent curator and writer currently based in
Paris. A former fellow of the Curatorial Studies Program of the
Whitney Museum of American Art, she has been working in New York and
recently has curated Petroliana at the Moscow Biennale 2007 and Laws
of Relativity at the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin. She
has written for Artforum, Moscow Art Magazine, Performance Art Journal
and other publications.
About YBCA
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is the Bay Area?s premier venue for
contemporary visual art, performance and film/video. Located in the
heart of downtown San Francisco, YBCA celebrates our area?s cultural
diversity with dynamic arts programs presented in world-class venues.
Local, national and international dance, theater and music
performances are scheduled year-round in the Forum and Theater as part
of our YBCA Performance series. Audiences are encouraged to subscribe
for four or more performances for discounts of up to 40%.
Overlapping contemporary art exhibitions are scheduled year-round in
our galleries and evening film/video screenings are programmed
throughout the year in our Screening Room. Public Programs explore
YBCA?s exciting range of exhibitions, performances and film/video
programs. For tickets and information, call 415.978.ARTS (2787) or
visit www.ybca.org.
FUNDING
YBCA's programs are made possible in part by:
The Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund; LEF Foundation; Novellus Systems,
Inc.; Citibank and Whole Foods Market
YBCA Exhibitions 07-08 is made possible in part by:
AT&T; Mike Wilkins and Sheila Duignan; Le Meridien and Members of
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Additional Funding for YBCA Exhibition 07-08:
Genentech Inc. and the Norwegian Consulate General
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