Almagul Menlibayeva is a video artist, photographer, and curator. Menlibayeva, holds an MFA from the Art and Theatre University of Almaty. Working primarily in multi-channel video, photography and mixed media installation, Menlibayeva’s practice addresses such critical issues of post-Soviet modernity as: the social, economic, and political transformations in Central Asia; de-colonial re-imaginings of gender; environmental degradation; and Eurasian nomadic and indigenous cosmologies and mythologies. In 2018, she was co-curator, together with David Elliott and Rachel Rits-Volloch, of the groundbreaking exhibition Bread & Roses: Four Generations of Kazakh Women Artists, which took place at MOMENTUM in Berlin’s Kunstquartier Bethanien in partnership with the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In conjunction with her solo exhibition ‘Transformation’ at the Grand Palais in Paris (France, 2016-17), she was awarded the prestigious Chevalier Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture in 2017. Among other notable awards, she was the Winner of the Main Prize of the International Film Festival Kino Der Kunst (2013) in Munich, Germany, and shortlisted for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize, Hong Kong (2020). Previous awards include the ‘Daryn’ State Prize of Kazakhstan (1996), and the ‘Tarlan’ National Award of the Club of Maecenas of Kazakhstan (2003). She was also the Winner of the Grand Prix Asia Art at the II Biennial of Central Asia, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (1995).

Menlibayeva participated in numerous international Biennales, including: Mardin Biennale, Turkey (2022); Asian Arts Biennale, Taiwan (2021-22); the Asia Pacific Triennale of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia (2020, 2012); the Lahore Biennale, Pakistan (2020); Channels Festival, International Biennial of Video Art, Melbourne, Australia (2019); Cairo Biennial, Egypt (2019); the Gangwon International Biennale, South Korea (2018); the Daegu Photo Biennale (2016); the Venice Biennale, Italy (2005, 2007, 2009, 2015); the Moscow Biennale, Russia (2011, 2015); the Kiev Biennial, Ukraine (2013); Sydney Biennale, Australia (2006, 2012); the Sharjah Biennial, UAE (2010); the Mediterranean Biennale, Israel (2010); amongst many others.

Tokamak (depicted above on the left) depicts the KTM Tokamak, the experimental materials-testing thermonuclear fusion reactor that started operation at the National Nuclear Center in Kurchatov, Kazakhstan in June 2017. As well as being a celebration of the triumph of new technology, this work also evokes memories of the nuclear arms race during the Cold War, in particular Kurchatov’s central role in the Soviet-era nuclear weapons tests. It is seen here alongside post-independence Kazakhstan’s ambitious plans for the development of nuclear power.

The image Altar of the East (in the center), depicts the Soviet-era control panel in Kurchatov for detonating nuclear weapons. The iconic ‘Button’ of Cold War dread is pictured in this triptych of images as a relic of a past era giving way to a future of science and technology where women play the central roles, as depicted in The Constructor (on the right), a photo-collage superimposing a woman’s face onto images of the construction of Kazakhstan’s new capital Astana.