“Art-Dala: Dialogues through Space and Time” Exhibition as Part of EXPO—2017 World Fair in Astana: The Problem of National Art Preservation in the Context of Globalization

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the “Art-Dala: Dialogues through Space and Time” exhibition held in the National Museum of Astana as part of EXPO—2017 World Fair. The exhibition united 100 paintings by the artists from ten different countries, whose oeuvre became the sign of our times. The variety of themes, styles, trends, as well as the geography of participants, is wide and diverse. The most interesting contemporary Kazakh artists presented at the exhibition include names such as Gani Bayanov, Askar Esdauletov, Marat Bekeev, Shamil Guliev, Andrey Noda, Alexander Sorokin, Vladimir Grigoryan, Vyacheslav Lui-Ko, Aleksei Utkin, Evgeny Fridlin, Nurlan Bazhirov, Asemkul Beybit, Dauren Beknazarov, Tartyana Barinova, Zhanat Koshen, Nurjan Sautbekov, and Maryam Eralieva, the youngest participant of the exhibition. Nikita Fomin, Hamid Savkuev, Alexander Chuvin, Klim Lee, Ekaterina and Konstantin Grachev, Oleg Mikhailov, and Pavel Kovalev are the artists who represent Saint-Petersburg at the exhibition. The other artists whose works were displayed at the exhibition are Rose Alelashvilli (USA), Carmine Barbaro (Italy), Andrij Kopchak (Ukraine), Rusunad Khizanishvilli (Georgia), Sador Allabergenov and Anvar Behteev (Uzbekistan), Ovezmuhammet Mametnurov (Turkmenistan), Dzhyldyzbek Moldakhmatov (Kyrgyzstan), and Elena Hagverdiyeva (Azerbaijan).The main idea behind the exhibition is to expose the polyphony of voices on the contemporary art scene and to show the consent of discourses. The cosmos of national culture is limitless and full of energy. It preserves and develops cultural codes and the archetypes of national self-consciousness. The name ‘Art-Dala’ is not accidental: ‘Dala’ means ‘steppe’ in the Kazakh language. But it has to be understood not in natural, but in philosophical sense. ‘Dala’ is the universe, the oecumene, the sphere. As the vastness of Kazakh steppe is never homogenous and alike, the realm of contemporary art is extremely diverse.