Cultural and Side Events

KYRGYZ FOLK MUSIC: USTATSHAKIRT

June 29, 18:00

Venue: AUCA Forum

The Ustatshakirt music ensemble was established under the Ustatshakirt Traditional Music Center, with the support of the Musical Initiative Program of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Founded in 2005, the Center is dedicated to the preservation, development, and promotion of traditional Kyrgyz music. The musicians of Ustatshakirt have performed in North America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and won various national and international music competitions.

WALKING HISTORY WORKSHOP

June 30, 19:00

July 1, 06:00

Duration: 2 hours

There is no fee for this tour

Description: Walking, or wandering, being aware of landscape and the land, is a well-established methodology for understanding or critiquing life. Walking allows to unearth obscured spaces, to pursue experiences both physical and metaphysical, and to uncover pleasure, freedom and meaning. Walking has also shaped the city.

This two-hour walking workshop will be led by Yuri Boyarin. It will encourage the participants to open their senses and to see, hear, smell and feel things: things previously unnoticed. Let’s see how much of Bishkek’s past can be uncovered by walking down only one of its (key) streets: Chuy avenue. We will take photographs, sound recordings and notes about things that seem oddly out of place, or about things that fit right in their place.

Then we will discuss about what we saw, experienced and felt during our physical walk at a panel on “Walking History” on July 1, right after the second walking history tour.

Please register by June 20, 2017 at https://goo.gl/B0mdzQ

Guided Tour 1: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (by STAB)

June 30, 19:00

July 1, 19:00

July 2, 15:00

Price: 500 som per person

Duration: 2 hours (please, consider wearing comfortable footwear)

Description: The tour explores the Soviet productive utopia and its physical reminisces, buildings and structures that have shaped the city. "Science and Technology" is one of the most influential utopias of the last century, the formula of development of the Soviet society to a triumphant overcoming of alienation, suffering, diseases and even death. The tour presents urban facilities in Frunze/Bishkek that furthered the idea of science as a total organizing power – the building of the Academy of Sciences, experimental "Albanski" house, factory "llbirs," Planetarium, Society "Znanie" (Knowledge).

Read more at www.art-initiatives.org

Please register by June 20, 2017 at https://goo.gl/U0cg1d

GUIDED TOUR 2: FRAGMENTED DREAM: MONUMENTAL MOSAIC 1960-1980 (by STAB)

June 30, 19:00

July 1, 19:00

July 2, 15:00

Price: 500 som per person (+ free map)
Duration: 1 hour 30 min (please, consider wearing comfortable footwear)

Description: A map of the Soviet mosaics in Bishkek was published as the result of a two-year (2012-2014) project of STAB, «Fragmented Dream». In those two years STAB carried out a research, which included the attribution and interpretation of Soviet monumental art. The map of mosaics includes virtually every major mosaic in Bishkek, located both in the city center and in suburban areas (microrayons). The map includes seventeen mosaics, six of which are connected into a walking route. The map is accompanied by cultural commentaries and details about the mosaics, which makes it a full-fledged tool for self-guided exploration of these pieces of monumental art. Additionally, STAB offers the guided tour. The purpose of the tour and the map is to draw attention of the residents and visitors of the city to the artistic heritage of the socialist modernization project of the 60-80’s. It also offers new forms of urban activism – urban exploration, — as well as helps to preserve these mosaics in Bishkek, since many of them, despite being under the state's protection status, are in poor condition.

Read more at www.art-initiatives.org

Please register by June 20, 2017 at https://goo.gl/ir3OoM

OPEN WORKSHOP – COOPERATION BETWEEN SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, PRACTICE AND ACADEMIA

June 30, 18:30

The work of academic researchers, social activists and practitioners has many commonalities, ranging from the motivation to bring about social change to questions about the best ways to engage with people and to understand contemporary social dynamics and challenges. Still, despite good examples across disciplines and geographic contexts, it appears that the potentials and limitations of cooperation between academia and social movements have not been subjected to sufficient, let alone systematic consideration, especially in the case of Central Eurasia. This workshop will serve as a dialogue platform between social researchers and representatives of NGOs and social movements from Kyrgyzstan and other countries, who will share their experiences, observations, expectations and ideas about cooperation with one another. The event will facilitate community outreach by providing an open space accessible to both conference participants and external visitors.

In order to make the event as productive as possible, we would like to ask those interested in participation to register beforehand and to limit participation to two or three representatives per organization as a maximum.

For registration please contact Philipp Lottholz and Tobias Marschall (lottholz_ph@auca.kg; tobiasmarschall25@gmail.com)

The working language of the event is Russian, but we will aim to provide English translation to a limited number of participants.

Photo/Multimedia Exhibition: A journey into Central Asia’s biocultural diversity

Photographer: Nicolas Villaume

June 29 – July 2

Venue: AUCA, 4th floor

The exhibition is part of Villaume's project on "People and plants" which aims at the preservation of the knowledge, unique connection to the land and traditional respect for the surrounding ecosystems that local farmers and traditional healers in Central Asia have acquired and passed down over many generations.

ATA-BEYIT NATIONAL HISTORICAL AND MEMORIAL COMPLEX

July 2, 15:00

Price: 500 som per person (transport included)
Duration: 3 hours

Description: Ata Beyit, Kyrgyz for "Grave of Our Fathers," is a memorial complex located in Chong-Tash, a village in the Chui Province about 15 miles south of Bishkek. The site honors two dark episodes in Kyrgyzstan’s history: the mass murders that occurred in 1938 at the hands of the NKVD during Stalin’s purges, and the deaths of those who fought in the Kyrgyzstan’s 2010 Revolution.

Read more at http://students.sras.org/ata-beyit-memorial-complex-in-chong-tash/

Please register by June 20, 2017 at https://goo.gl/QCqQ8X

ONE-DAY TOUR TO ALA-ARCHA GORGE

July 2, 2017

Ala-Archa is the most visited gorge and national park in Kyrgyzstan located 35 km away from Bishkek. 200 square kilometers are covered by coniferous forests and crystal river framed with mighty mountains. The gorge is flanked by tall, snow-covered peaks with steep-sided, forested, mountain slopes.

Transfer to the Ala-Archa National Park after breakfast.

Hiking in the gorge.

Return back to the alpine camp.

Transfer to Bishkek.

Prices for 2017:

Standard tour price includes:

1. Transportation throughout the whole trip.
2. English speaking guide;
3. Entrance fee to the national park. Camera/video fees are not included and paid separately;

Tour price does not include personal insurance, meals and items not mentioned above.

Read more at http://www.advantour.com/kyrgyzstan/tours/one-day.htm

Please register by June 20, 2017 at https://goo.gl/txw0zQ