I am becoming more and more aware of climate and environmental transformations. One of the concepts I articulate in this sound-plus-visual story (sound meditation) is how all the planet's elements interact through my awareness of myself as an organic part of it. Everything is a vibration that can move you, feel an experience, spark a conscious reflection on yourself and the environment. Everything is alive, everything changes, and at each point of change we influence the course of the future. The starting point for environmental sustainability and harmonization is healing our relationship with ourselves (inner ecology), which translates into our interactions with the reality we create, as everything is an extension of us.

Sound contemplation, meditation, movement, and dance are liberation. Sensing sound’s potential and recognizing ourselves in it as a kind of dense vibration is a starting point for environmentalism, for finding harmony in our relationship with the living planet and expressions of life.

Circulating sounds, waves, memories, and motions. Sound contemplation, meditation, movement, and dance are liberation. Sensing sound’s potential and recognizing ourselves in it as a kind of dense vibration is a starting point for environmentalism, for finding harmony in our relationship with the living planet and expressions of life.

In DJ storytelling, sound meditation is a way to stake a claim; an attempt to assemble myself and others from scraps of Central Asian sound memory; a manifestation of these vibrations of the earth; a subverting of global cultural hegemony with the sounds of my exoticized and often invisible home. A stringing of local beads strung onto the thread of a sonic necklace of global rhythm and tone; a gathering of a multitude of voices into a message.

This DJ performance was first presented at the international exhibition documenta15 (2022) as part of the DAVRA Collective's public program.

Curatorial Tour of the Exhibition and Program at Oak Park Gallery

with Bermet Borubaeva, Oxana Kapišnikova, Aimeerim Tursalieva, and Diana Ukhina

Moderated by Diana Ukhina

For this tour, the festival curators will share details about works on display at the exhibit and upcoming events there, public art projects near the gallery, and the festival's location in the Altyn Kazyk settlement, as well as answer audience questions.

Free admission 

The Shining Mountain Book Talk

Tazar and the Bishkek School of Contemporary Art

The children's fairy tale book The Shining Mountain tells the story of schoolchildren from the fictional Little Country, where humans live in harmony with nature and each other. One day, they discover a mountain of trash near their house, and start exploring the world of trash. The book discusses issues of trash and the environment and presents the lives of the inhabitants of the illegal settlements of Altyn Kazyk and Kalys Ordo. It aims to tell the true story of waste in Bishkek through the eyes of its main characters, the schoolgirl Altyn and schoolboy Kalys, as they earn lots of practical and useful objects, learn to recycle, and teach their relatives and friends. Illustrations from the book, brought to life by a sound installation featuring Kyrgyz actresses, will be appear at the exhibition.

Free admission 

Trash-4: Follow the River of Trash Zine Presentation and Collective Reflection on Interpreting the History of Pollution: Art Prospect & Trash-5 

Moderated by Diana Ukhina

Featuring Bermet Borubaeva, Oxana Kapišnikova, Aimeerim Tursalieva, and Diana Ukhina, curators; festival artists, volunteers, organizers, and attendees

On this date, we plan to discuss last year's festival using the zine TRASH-4 Eco-Festival: Follow the River of Trash, as well as collectively reflect on this year's festival over a cup of tea, sharing our experience creating it and thoughts on our process. The discussion is open to anyone who wants to ask questions, share ideas, and take part in reflecting.

Free admission

Adel Ismailkhanova

Gathering Collage Materials Workshop

For this hand-crafted collage workshop, I will discuss the techniques I use in my work and how and where to find collage materials. During the class, we will experiment with making collages from materials that could have ended up at the dump, but will become works of art instead.

Sign-up required (10–12 participants)

Vladislav Ushakov and Yaroslav Tartykov

Environmental Monitoring and Research Foundation (EcoMiR)

(Kyrgyzstan)

Birdwatching Trip to Mark Environmental Activist Day

The artists and registered participants will gather in the gallery for a 20-minute tour of The Ecology of Consciousness: Upcycling, to be followed by a birdwatching trip in honor of Environmental Activist Day.

Sign-up required (10–12 participants)

Alima Tokmergenova

(Kyrgyzstan)

A Day of Craftivism

We will spend all day creating, chatting, slowing down, and sharing our knowledge. Come if you've never touched a needle and thread before; come if you are an experienced crafter and want to teach others; come if you want to refresh a favorite piece of clothing by imbuing it with hand-made meaning.

Activities: craftivism history lesson, embroidery, collaging fabric on clothes, quilting techniques (kurak, boro, sashiko). Bring fabric scraps and old clothes to upcycle! We will take tea and meditation breaks from crafting, too.

Drop-in participation throughout the day; no sign-up needed.

Diana Ukhina

(Kyrgyzstan)

Clay therapy, breathwork, and tea

We will feel the clay in our hands, establish a relationship with it, relinquish our expectations, and let ourselves dissolve into this (very gentle) process.Through this interaction, we will end up discovering some sort of shape that flows out of ourselves. It's like feeling and telling ourselves the intimate story of our relationship with the Earth through our hands. Clay is one of the most ancient materials, used to everything from homes and utilitarian objects to works of art. Working with clay slows you down and allows you to make contact with the earth. The key is to let go of your expectations and not be afraid of the material.

Sign-up required (10–12 participants)

Art Jashoo multimedia theater 

Puppet performance ‘SPARKING MOUNTAIN’

Tazar Kyrgyzstan and Bishkek School of Contemporary Art will prepare a puppet performance based on the fairytale and present it in collaboration with ART JASHOO. 

Artistic director, director of production - Umsunai Musaeva

Director - Adel Alymkulova

Executive Manager - Akgүl Өmurakunova

Production designer - Janyshbek Botoy

Scenic  and Costume Designer - Aidai Musabekova

Idea and production: Aimeerim Tursalieva and Bermet Borubaeva

Alima Tokmergenova

(Kyrgyzstan)

Open-Air Sculpture Museum Tour (Oak Park)

On this stroll through Oak Park, we will learn the history of the Open-Air Sculpture Museum and look at select sculptures and displays. Afterward, lounging on the park's grass or in the gallery, we can meditate over a cup of tea and chat about the Trash-5 festival's themes.

Sign-up required (10–12 participants)

Alima Tokmergenova is a researcher, member of the art studio Synergy, and co-founder of the Bishkek School of Contemporary Art (BSCA). Interests include Kyrgyzstan’s art history and the history of Bishkek. Her art practice includes ceramics, linocut, craftivism, kurak quilting, writing, and tea performances.