Said Atabekov, Bakhyt Bubikanova, Natalya Dyu, Kanat Ibragimov, Rustam Khalfin, Gaisha Madanova, Galim Madanov & Zauresh Terekbay, Sergey Maslov, Yerbossyn Meldibekov, Almagul Menlibayeva, Moldakul Narymbetov, Rashid Nurekeyev, Nurbossyn Oris, Arystanbek Shalbaev, Oksana Shatalova, Alexei Shindin, Georgy Tryakin-Bukharov, Alexander Ugay, Yelena & Viktor Vorobyev, and ZITABL

For twenty years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, our ideas of Kazakhstan have been shaped by the official informational policy of both of our countries – Russia and Kazakhstan. Face of the Bride is the first "assemblage" of Kazakhstani contemporary art in two decades and it has considerably changed our perception of the brotherly republic. I compare displaying, opening, and representing Kazakhstani contemporary art, previously unknown to the general public, to a very moving moment of a Kazakh wedding, the ceremony of betashar – the unveiling of a bride's face. Taking off the "veil" transforms the ideal image of the previously unknown "bride". A collection of stereotypes is replaced by its true reflection, imbued with contradictions. Conceiving the Face of the Bride exposition, I intended to overcome the commonplace opinion of Kazakhstani art as determined by nomadism, the culture of the wanderers. The exhibition explicates a more complex organization of the "Kazakh cultural code", which develops along the differently directed vectors.