Aida Adilbek
Aïda Adilbek is a multidisciplinary artist and curator based between Akjar and Duman (Almaty, Kazakhstan). She graduated her BA in Art History at Kazakh National Art Academy in 2016 in Almaty and her MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2020 in London. After returning to Kazakhstan she and her colleagues co-founded Almaty-based artist collective MATA in December of 2020, in 2021 she became a part of a research group initiated by Saodat Ismailova DAVRA for her project “Chilltan” at documenta fifteen.
Aida’s works and films were presented at festivals like documenta fifteen (2022), goEast23 Film Festival (2023), Qara Film Festival (2023). In 2023 she became a laureate of Sound Art Residency at Musée du Quai Branly in Paris and won the Prince Claus Fund’s Seed Award. Her main mediums are performance, photography and film. She currently combines curatorial, artistic and research practices.
website: sepkil.com
contact: aida.adilbekova@gmail.com
instagram: @aida_ae
Related Projects
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Whose Voice Is This – Archival Findings from Central Asia
March 28-29, 2025 | Goethe-Institut Tashkent, Arsenal on Location
Arsenal's film archive holds around 50 films from Central Asia dating back to the second half of the 20th century and offering a vivid portrayal of the region’s evolving political, cultural, and artistic landscapes. While Soviet-era cinema adhered to dominant ideological narratives, a closer look reveals an undercurrent of loss, resilience, and subtle resistance.
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Her Gaze: Moving Image from Central Asia
May 24, 2024 | Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Art
Her Gaze: Moving Image from Central Asia is part of the International Nomadic Program 2024-2025 Repetition is a Form of Changing organized by League of Tenders. This is the first event of the First Season of this program, Her Right, devoted to decolonial approaches to feminism and questioning it from non-Western perspectives.
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DAVRA and Beyond: Videos of Central Asian Artists
March 21-30, 2024 | JOAN, Los Angeles
This program is part of the exhibition, Saodat Ismailova: Other Time and DAVRA research collective on view at JOAN through March 30. On the occasion of this exhibition, DAVRA invited Sorokina to curate a selection of films by young Central Asian artists working with moving image, which will be screened from March 21-30 within the installation space.
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DAVRA Suhbat
13 August 2023 | Almaty, Dom 36
DAVRA Suhbat’s goal is to set up a transgenerational and multidisciplinary bridge amongst experts in culture and arts of Central Asia. Through dialogue and conversation we would like to empower the bonds between our countries, art scene and practitioners of different disciplines.
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DAVRA texts
February, April, June 2023 | Eye Museum Magazine
Within the framework of Saodat Ismailova’s solo show ‘18,000 worlds’ at Eye Filmmuseum, DAVRA has prepared a series of texts specifically for the institution’s website.
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Central Asian Moving Image
April 26 - May 5, 2023 | goEast Film Festival 23, Wiesbaden
For the 23rd goEast Film Festival in Wiesbaden, Germany DAVRA’s short films screening from Central Asia was presented in Mumau cinema. Screening was followed by Q&A with artists Aïda Adilbek and Zumrad Mirzalieva and the discussion “Post-, neo- and de-colonial Central Asia: human rights activism and collective filmmaking”.
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Chilltan | Winter Chilla
December 25, 2022 - February 5, 2023
On the 19th of December, 2022, we started our Winter Chilla mirroring public programme with a group show in Tashkent.
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Fridzine
2022 | documenta fifteen
fridzine - derived from Fridericianum zine - is a small publication that attempts to find answers to a simple and yet important question: what can we do in a museum?
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Chilltan | Summer Chilla
June 25 - August 5, 2022 | documenta fifteen, Kassel
During the 100 days of documenta fifteen the forty chilltans were introduced to the public via DAVRA collective‘s ongoing research.
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Chilltan: Shapeshifting Eternal Spirits from Central Asia
2022 | documenta fifteen
Chilltans are shape-shifters, fluid sacred spirits that have essentially been present in spiritual traditions in Central Asia. In this publication by DAVRA Collective, research on Chilltans is presented through academic texts, prose, poetry, photographs, illustrations and collages.