Formation of National Identity in Modern Kyrgyzstan as Seen through the Visual Art of the Soviet and Post-Soviet Period

• In Event: Museums as the Locus of Identity Discourse in the Countries of the Former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc

Abstract

This paper puts into perspective the historical significance of museums in Central Asia and their enduring legacy in the contemporary nation-states that emerged following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It argues that despite the colonially-imposed modes of knowledge and artistic production, Kyrgyz artists and cultural actors have sought to express their national identity within these structures. On the other hand, certain aspects of the Soviet bureaucracy and the inherent power dynamics (embedded in the language and connection to the Russian academia) are inevitably preserved in the current institutional practice and pose a problem of decolonial disentanglement to a generation of artists, activist and curators that seek to critically engage with the past. Following independence, the work of the state museums in Kyrgyzstan continued to rely on the Soviet model only becoming more nationalistic in the content and lacking reflexivity on their institutional context. With this realization, the question of what represents the best national art and history is gaining prominence in the social discourse. Therefore, this paper puts into a conversation the 'static' museum spaces and independent cultural actors, tracing the dynamic interaction of the latter with the former, and exploring the historically contingent roles that museums have played in formation of the national identity.

Author

• Mariia Pankova, Bard College