Ayatgali Tuleubek

The artist Ayatgali Tuleubek walks with the camera directed at the ground. He stops at regular intervals, points at the ground in front of him, and utters a sentence. The phrases are recognizable from national constitutions, political party platforms and fictive utopias. They promise a society with fair wages, freedom from poverty, and various rights for all regardless of gender or origin. These ideas are fundamental to the way today’s Western democracies talk about themselves, but how do they correspond to reality? As the video progresses, the distance between the simple formulations and their feasibility in the real world becomes increasingly insurmountable.

Ayatgali Tuleubek (b.1985 in Zhambyl, Kazakhstan) lives and works in Oslo. His participation in group shows include What if an image is shown next to a historical fact? at Tenthaus, Oslo (2019), Sparebankstiftelsen DNBs stipendutstilling at Oslo Kunstforening (2018-2019), The Oslo Museum of Contemporary Art at Kunsthall Oslo (2017-2018), and the 3rd Moscow International Biennale for Young Art (2012). Tuleubek is a graduate of Oslo Academy of Fine Arts.

Supported by OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway.

Artwork

Declarations
2014
Video
8 min 30 sec
Courtesy the artist

Venue

Göteborgs Konsthall

 

Image: Ayatgali Tuleubek, Declarations, 2014. Photo: Hendrik Zeitler