DTP Alum Lena Pozdnyakova Shows Work in 2024 Venice Biennale

SCI-Arc is pleased to share the inclusion of work by alum Lena Pozdnyakova (MS Design Theory and Pedagogy ’19) of the2vvo, formed with Eldar Tagi, in the 2024 Venice Biennale. A project created by Pozdnyakova and Tagi, originally from Almaty, Kazakhstan—now a nomadic art duo based in Berlin—was curated into the Kazakhstan pavilion at this year’s biennale.

This year, the Republic of Kazakhstan presents its second-ever pavilion with an exhibition entitled Jerūiyq: Journey Beyond the Horizon at the 60th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and Information of Kazakhstan, and curated by Danagul Tolepbay with co-curator Anvar Musrepov, the exhibition reflects the country’s commitment to cultural heritage and artistic innovation.

The work of Pozdnyakova and Tagi, featured in the pavilion, aligns with the main theme of the 2024 Biennale: “Foreigners Everywhere,” curated by Adriano Pedrosa, which focuses on diverse cultural narratives. Kazakhstan’s pavilion presents a transformative exhibition spanning concepts of art from the 1970s to the contemporary.

The exhibition, staged at the Naval Historical Museum’s historic building, offers an interpretation of the ancient legend of Jerūiyq, inspired by Kazakh legends and the visionary journey of 15th-century philosopher Asan Kaigy. The word ‘kaigy’ translates from Kazakh as ‘pain.’ Common expressions such as “falling into Asan’s kaigy" use this name as a synonym for pain. The pain reflects traumatic encounters with the dark side of modernity: the tragic famine of the 1930s, the craters dug by nuclear test sites in Semey, the drying up of the Aral Sea, and the scars on the body of the Kazakh land.

Jerūiyq is a chronology of key works from the period of the emergence of contemporary art in Kazakhstan, to the present day, reflecting the utopian imagination of Kazakh artists. The artists project their vision of ideal worlds where spirits and mystical rituals meet, where nomadism is transformed into space stations, and where portals to look beyond the event horizon are revealed. Jerūiyq: Journey Beyond the Horizonpresents a visionary future where human and nonhuman entities converge in a re-imagined utopia. The exhibition invites visitors to explore portals into imaginary worlds, space flights, futuristic rituals, and the intersection of topology and algorithms. The exhibition, featuring works by Kazakh artists since 1979, thus reflects the evolution of utopian thought, decolonial futurism, spirituality, Modernism, and Cosmism.

With work that integrates sound, visual arts, and performance, artists Eldar Tagi and Lena Pozdnyakova merge their desire to understand a number of issues, such as the complexity of personal roots and the urgency of rethinking traditions in the context of a global ecological crisis, the changing environments under the relentless pressure of human activities, and exploration of complex dynamics of the nature-culture dichotomy and the notion of the Anthropocene.

“Our participation in the Biennale was an exciting and rather unexpected experience,” explain Pozdnyakova and Tagi. “Dealing with sound as one of the central mediums in our works, it was a pleasant realization for us that sound has become a prominent element in the art world. It is also a bit surreal to know that the generative sound piece we have been developing in our apartment is going to be heard by more than a million people somehow.”

Jerūiyq: Journey Beyond the Horizon will be on view at the 60th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, held from April 20 to November 24, 2024.

Eldar Tagi is a Kazakhstan-born multi-instrumentalist and composer. A predominant feature of Tagi’s practice is live improvised performances which can incorporate anything from computers and field recordings to analog modular synthesizers, and electro-acoustic instruments such as daxophone, guitars, and other stringed instruments, as well as found objects and self-made sound-makers.

​Lena Pozdnyakova is an artist, curator, and researcher from Almaty, Kazakhstan. The scope of her work in collaborative projects and research involves questions related to intergenerational and transgenerational trauma, breaking the boundary between the duality– blurring the boundary between life and art, and playful engagement in complex discourses such as those surrounding the discourse on the Anthropocene.

Tagi, specializing in sound, and Pozdnyakova, focusing on visual art, have been collaborating since 2010. Their work includes compelling audio-visual live performances, music production and releases, and creating spatial installations. Their art delves into the intricate relationship between objects, spaces, and sound, encompassing recordings, acoustic sculptures, and live performances. Their creations have been featured in group exhibitions such as ARCHIVE MACHINES at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG), Sature: Reimagining Ornament at CHAT Hong Kong, and the CICA Art Institute in Korea. Recently, they contributed to the Miss Read x Lumbung radio program in Berlin.

​The duo's nomadic lifestyle has led them to participate in numerous festivals worldwide, including Unsound Festival (Krakow/Almaty), CTM Festival (Berlin), Bauhausfest Festival (Dessau), Echo Park Rising Festival (LA), Perpetual Dune Festival (CA), Soundedro Sound Art Festival (CA), Ars Electronica (Linz), Urvakan (Yerevan), Artbatfest, and the Korkut Biennial of Sound Art and New Music (Almaty). Their installations have been featured in venues such as the Kuona Trust gallery in Nairobi, Kenya, Studio106LA in California, and Vorbrenner in Innsbruck, Austria.

​Their music has been released by labels including Aetherial Records, Klammklang, Shalash, Fort Evil Fruit, and Motto Editions. They have also released several live sets and sound pieces through platforms like MixMag, Cashmere Radio, Frequency Asia, Radio Fantasia, Silhouette Tapes, and Radar Radio.

​Additionally, Lena's and Eldar's work and publications have been highlighted in academic circles, featuring in UCLA's "POOL.LA" journal, RICE University's "Plat" publication, SCI-Arc’s "Offramp" journal, and "ISSUES" by the Zurich University of Arts (School of Commons publication).