GLOBAL ART LAB

CEC ArtsLink’s newest initiative in Central Asia, Global ArtLab, is an international exchange of ideas and perspectives between artists and arts professionals from the US, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Artists from the US and cultural leaders from Central Asia, together, develop and implement activities that serve both as a vehicle and structure for the circulation of ideas around contemporary art practice and to expand global cultural dialogue by engaging with previously marginalized communities. Global ArtLab is a collaborative initiative, drawing upon the expertise of the two core partner organizations, CEC ArtsLink and Gordon Knox of the Stanford Humanities Lab at Stanford University.

2009

In March 2009, CEC ArtsLink’s Central Asian partners – Shaarbek Amankulov, Tamara Kadyrbaeva, Georgy Mamedov, and Naim Hakimov – visited New York and San Francisco Bay area alternative arts spaces where they reviewed US artists’ applications for social practice art projects.

As a result of this visit, in September 2009, US artists Amanda Eicher, Daniel Gallegos and Jerome Wagg, Kendal Henry, and Marisa Jahn will conduct public programs and art projects in Bishkek and Osh (Kyrgyzstan) and Dushanbe and Khujand (Tajikistan). These projects will encourage and enliven engagement and accountability between the audience and the artists.
  • Amanda Eicher will be hosted by Shaarbek Amankulov, Director of B’Art: Bishkek Art Center (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan)
  • Daniel Gallegos and Jerome Wagg will be hosted by Tamara Kadyrbaeva, art historian at Osh University and regional advisor to the Kyrgyz Minister of Culture (Osh, Kyrgyzstan).
  • Kendal Henry will be hosted by Georgy Mamedov, Program Director of Bactria Cultural Center (Dushanbe, Tajikistan).
  • Marisa Jahn will be hosted by Naim Hakimov, Director of Scientific Research at Institute of Art Knowledge, Sogdiana Cultural Center (Khujand, Tajikistan).
Funding for the Global ArtLab has been provided by the Christensen Foundation and the Kettering Family Foundation.