Screening and discussion
Saodat Ismailova
In conversation with Marcella Lista
23 Mar 2022
23 Mar 2022
The event is over
Saodat Ismailova’s work has inherited the legacy of the Soviet cinematographic tradition, from both documentaries and narrative films, while opening up a meditative space to examine what remains of the vernacular cultures of Central Asia.
Her view of history is shaped by her reflection on magical practices, the role of women in society and a divided memory in which ancestral beliefs and the impact of Russian and then Soviet domination are superimposed.
From 22 March 2022, the Musée National d’Art Moderne will be presenting a series of her works that recently entered its collection: The Haunted (2017) and Letters (2013-2017), accompanied by a previously unseen collection of archives. For the occasion, her video Zukhra (2013) will be screened followed by a discussion between the artist and Marcella Lista, curator of the Video and New Media collection.
Saodat Ismailova, Zukhra, 2013, video (extract), colour, sound, 32’
Saodat Ismailova studied in the Film and Television Production department at the National Institute of Arts in Tashkent. After her film studies, she completed a residency at La Fabrica (Veneto) in 2002 and her documentary Aral: Fishing in an Invisible Sea (2004) won the Best Film award at the Turin Film Festival. Ismailova then began one of her biggest research projects, as part of the Aga Khan Music Initiative, which led her to produce ten documentaries in six years on Central Asian music, produced and broadcast by the Smithsonian Institution in 2010. In 2013, she represented Central Asia at the Venice Biennale with a video installation and a publication titled Zukhra, which once again reflected the results of extensive fieldwork: an investigation on shamanic spirits as perceived in tales, ritual practices and women's lifestyles in Central Asia. During a residency at Fresnoy Studio des Arts Contemporains (Tourcoing) between 2015 and 2017, she made another video installation called Two Horizons which was dedicated to Baikonur, the first Soviet space station located in the great Eurasian steppe, near the birthplace of the first shaman; thinker and composer Korkyt Ata / Dede Korkud.
Where
Cinema 2, level –1
When
23 Mar 2022
Saodat Ismailova, Zukhra, 2013, vidéo (extrait)
© D.R.