//
ღ*
Research-driven project. Radical proposals for worlds in
transition. Language enthusiasm. Re-inventing future.
New Media. Sonic Art.
Almaty-based artist Anna Kin’s latest video art project "ღ" presents the state of different ethno-linguistic groups following imperial collapse and political transition. For this artwork, people from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia are asked to recite their alphabets. By doing so, Kin aims to showcase languages that have suffered forced assimilation by their former political regimes. Now, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, these languages are either rejuvenating or fading. "ღ" is an invitation to explore individuality, diversity, and the power of language. The project is a work in progress, and Kin plans to keep extending this video art collection as a lifelong project.
ALPHABETS:
Türk alfabesi;
Azərbaycan əlifbası;
Vukovica;
Abetka;
Abeceda;
Mkhedruli alphabet;
Alfabeti shqip;
Makedonska azbuka;
lakːu maz;
Lezgi alphabet;
Tifinagh;
Nogai alphabet;
Mari alphabet;
Balkar alphabet.
*Anna Kin’s project is called “ღ”, which takes its title from the Georgian letter ghan whose form playfully echoes the heart symbol, poignantly places a conversation about anticolonial language politics in dialogue with affect. Her work asks not only what languages sound like, but how they animate our sensuous and emotional experiences of the world, that is, how they articulate our lived attachments to political and social worlds in transition. In her film we see not only a crucial effort to catalog the sonic and gestural worlds of languages in crisis and transition, but an artwork that challenges how we think about our affective and somatic embodiment of language more broadly”. – Leah Feldman, project’s supervisor.
credits:
Photographer: Zhanar Shaki @shaki_ranazh, Liza Kin
@lizakin_photo
Cameraman: Danilo Ceković @danilocekovic
Cameraman & editor: Bahtiyar Khelis @toomuchsnp
Participants: Ilmirat Mukhamedzhanovich Vafin, Tatar
diaspora representative;
Arash Jafari Sarouei (@arash604) Persian diaspora representative,
Yakub;
Hatiye Garip (@hatiyegarip) Turkiye;
Elchin Jafarov (@jafarovelchin) Azerbaijan;
Sonila Abdalli, Albania; Luka Lebanidze, Sakartvelo;
Ana Dragić (ena_dredzik) Serbia;
Tane Laketić (@wennduanwunderglaubst) Serbia;
Tetiana Kryvenko (@tataproducer) Ukraine;
Andrea Markoska (@markoskaandrea), Macedonia
Supervisor: Leah Feldman (@lost_intheether)
Sites: @tselinnycenter @cultura.kz Almaty, Kazakhstan
Site manager: Shakarov Amir @mynameisamirplombir
The project is supported by Chevron Kazakhstan, U.S.
Diplomatic Mission and the Eurasian Cultural Alliance