gates of turan
an immersive polymedia installation, draped in semi-darkness and illuminated to embrace felt textiles, weaving a timeless realm that invites dreamlike exploration.
WALK THROUGH
‘The first Big Surprise of the 59th Biennale di Venezia is the Gates of Turan exhibition, a textile, pictorial, architectural and multi-sensory installation by Firouz FarmanFarmaian’
- Kosme de Barañano, Descubrir El Arte
In 2022 FarmanFarmaian was invited to Kyrgyzstan to be nominated cultural Ambassador by the Kyrgyz Ministry of Culture and be commissioned to develop and produce the country’s Pavilion in view of their first Venice Biennale participation - unveiling his first inception of the Gates of Turan installation curated by British contemporary art specialist Janet Rady The ensuing sourcing journeys took the artist up in the Tien Shan Range to research and state the condition of current day crafts practices. These deep immersions within the tribal and nomadic cultural fabrics resulted in a collaborative exchange with a groupment of independent craftswomen structured around an NGO : The Altyn Kol Women's Cooperative of KoshkorEffectively empowering and highlighting heritage through the creation of a textile based installation, FarmanFarmaian layered a multiplicity of locally sourced elements including felt, silk, raw yak wool, and yurt structures. The documenting of the process in the form of 4k video and sound resulted in the creation of PATH - a 180mn docufilm set to be released in 2026 ( We R The Nomads Agency).KAYAKALAK panels ( 59th VENICE BIENNALE COLLECTION ), 2022
-
170x140cm Handfelted, Hand embroidered Felt, Silk, Yak Wool.
Enq : salut@werthenomads.com
-
FarmanFarmaian’s KAYAKALAK Felt series investigate the immaterial substance of memory through the sourcing of
archaic cosmogonies across sacred material, derived semiology and spiritual realms.In the ten piece KAYAKALAK panel installation, nomadic tapestries are placed to hang as imaginary tribal banners - nomadic traditional felt making techniques are here reinvented to serve the idea of a lost mythical Unitarian mandala, traveling through hand sewn designs of the ‘Oïmo’, a mythical visual vocabulary revisited by the artist and produced in collaboration with the Kyrgyz craftswomen. These myths are closely connected to the Manas, and as such the banners symbolize the allied tribes of the warrior-hero Manas as he fought for freedom and independence.
The KAYAKALAK banners are placed as a deconstructed corridor around the TUNDUK centrepiece, highlighting the importance of the crossed shaft that figures as Kyrgyzstan’s national emblem.
-
170x140cm Handfelted, Hand embroidered Felt, Silk, Yak Wool.
Enq : salut@werthenomads.com
-
FarmanFarmaian’s KAYAKALAK Felt series investigate the immaterial substance of memory through the sourcing of archaic cosmogonies across sacred material, derived semiology and spiritual realms.
In the ten piece KAYAKALAK panel installation, nomadic tapestries are placed to hang as imaginary tribal banners - nomadic traditional felt making techniques are here reinvented to serve the idea of a lost mythical Unitarian mandala, traveling through hand sewn designs of the ‘Oïmo’, a mythical visual vocabulary revisited by the artist and produced in collaboration with the Kyrgyz craftswomen. These myths are closely connected to the Manas, and as such the banners symbolize the allied tribes of the warrior-hero Manas as he fought for freedom and independence.
The KAYAKALAK banners are placed as a deconstructed corridor around the TUNDUK centrepiece, highlighting the importance of the crossed shaft that figures as Kyrgyzstan’s national emblem.
-
170x140cm Handfelted, Hand embroidered Felt, Silk, Yak Wool.
Enq : salut@werthenomads.com
-
FarmanFarmaian’s KAYAKALAK Felt series investigate the immaterial substance of memory through the sourcing of archaic cosmogonies across sacred material, derived semiology and spiritual realms.
In the ten piece KAYAKALAK panel installation, nomadic tapestries are placed to hang as imaginary tribal banners - nomadic traditional felt making techniques are here reinvented to serve the idea of a lost mythical Unitarian mandala, traveling through hand sewn designs of the ‘Oïmo’, a mythical visual vocabulary revisited by the artist and produced in collaboration with the Kyrgyz craftswomen. These myths are closely connected to the Manas, and as such the banners symbolize the allied tribes of the warrior-hero Manas as he fought for freedom and independence.
The KAYAKALAK banners are placed as a deconstructed corridor around the TUNDUK centrepiece, highlighting the importance of the crossed shaft that figures as Kyrgyzstan’s national emblem
-
170x140cm Handfelted, Hand embroidered Felt, Silk, Yak Wool.
Enq : salut@werthenomads.com
-
FarmanFarmaian’s KAYAKALAK Felt series investigate the immaterial substance of memory through the sourcing of archaic cosmogonies across sacred material, derived semiology and spiritual realms.
In the ten piece KAYAKALAK panel installation, nomadic tapestries are placed to hang as imaginary tribal banners - nomadic traditional felt making techniques are here reinvented to serve the idea of a lost mythical Unitarian mandala, traveling through hand sewn designs of the ‘Oïmo’, a mythical visual vocabulary revisited by the artist and produced in collaboration with the Kyrgyz craftswomen. These myths are closely connected to the Manas, and as such the banners symbolize the allied tribes of the warrior-hero Manas as he fought for freedom and independence.
The KAYAKALAK banners are placed as a deconstructed corridor around the TUNDUK centrepiece, highlighting the importance of the crossed shaft that figures as Kyrgyzstan’s national emblem
-
170x140cm Handfelted, Hand embroidered Felt, Silk, Yak Wool.
Enq : salut@werthenomads.com
-
FarmanFarmaian’s KAYAKALAK Felt series investigate the immaterial substance of memory through the sourcing of
archaic cosmogonies across sacred material, derived semiology and spiritual realms.
-
170x140cm Handfelted, Hand embroidered Felt, Silk, Yak Wool.
Enq : salut@werthenomads.com
-
FarmanFarmaian’s KAYAKALAK Felt series investigate the immaterial substance of memory through the sourcing of archaic cosmogonies across sacred material, derived semiology and spiritual realms.
In the ten piece KAYAKALAK panel installation, nomadic tapestries are placed to hang as imaginary tribal banners - nomadic traditional felt making techniques are here reinvented to serve the idea of a lost mythical Unitarian mandala, traveling through hand sewn designs of the ‘Oïmo’, a mythical visual vocabulary revisited by the artist and produced in collaboration with the Kyrgyz craftswomen. These myths are closely connected to the Manas, and as such the banners symbolize the allied tribes of the warrior-hero Manas as he fought for freedom and independence.
The KAYAKALAK banners are placed as a deconstructed corridor around the TUNDUK centrepiece, highlighting the importance of the crossed shaft that figures as Kyrgyzstan’s national emblem
-
170x140cm Handfelted, Hand embroidered Felt, Silk, Yak Wool.
Enq : salut@werthenomads.com
-
FarmanFarmaian’s KAYAKALAK Felt series investigate the immaterial substance of memory through the sourcing of archaic cosmogonies across sacred material, derived semiology and spiritual realms.
In the ten piece KAYAKALAK panel installation, nomadic tapestries are placed to hang as imaginary tribal banners - nomadic traditional felt making techniques are here reinvented to serve the idea of a lost mythical Unitarian mandala, traveling through hand sewn designs of the ‘Oïmo’, a mythical visual vocabulary revisited by the artist and produced in collaboration with the Kyrgyz craftswomen. These myths are closely connected to the Manas, and as such the banners symbolize the allied tribes of the warrior-hero Manas as he fought for freedom and independence.
The KAYAKALAK banners are placed as a deconstructed corridor around the TUNDUK centrepiece, highlighting the importance of the crossed shaft that figures as Kyrgyzstan’s national emblem.
-
170x140cm Handfelted, Hand embroidered Felt, Silk, Yak Wool.
Enq : salut@werthenomads.com
-
FarmanFarmaian’s KAYAKALAK Felt series investigate the immaterial substance of memory through the sourcing of archaic cosmogonies across sacred material, derived semiology and spiritual realms.
In the ten piece KAYAKALAK panel installation, nomadic tapestries are placed to hang as imaginary tribal banners - nomadic traditional felt making techniques are here reinvented to serve the idea of a lost mythical Unitarian mandala, traveling through hand sewn designs of the ‘Oïmo’, a mythical visual vocabulary revisited by the artist and produced in collaboration with the Kyrgyz craftswomen. These myths are closely connected to the Manas, and as such the banners symbolize the allied tribes of the warrior-hero Manas as he fought for freedom and independence.
The KAYAKALAK banners are placed as a deconstructed corridor around the TUNDUK centrepiece, highlighting the importance of the crossed shaft that figures as Kyrgyzstan’s national emblem
TUNDUK
-
400x400cm Birch Wood, Yak Wool
Enq : salut@werthenomads.com
-
In the ten piece KAYAKALAK panel installation, nomadic tapestries are placed to hang as imaginary tribal
banners - nomadic traditional felt making techniques are here reinvented to serve the idea of a lost mythical Unitarian mandala, traveling through hand sewn designs of the ‘Oïmo’, a mythical visual vocabulary revisited by the artist and produced in collaboration with the Kyrgyz craftswomen. These myths are closely connected to the Manas, and as such the banners symbolize the allied tribes of the warrior-hero Manas as he fought for freedom and independence.The KAYAKALAK banners are placed as a deconstructed corridor around the TUNDUK centrepiece, highlighting the importance of the crossed shaft that figures as Kyrgyzstan’s national emblem.
ALTYN KOL NGO & BIENNALE DI VENEZIA 2022
-
Through 2021 and 2022 FarmanFarmaian Ventured into the remote highland regions of YSSIK KOL
and NARYN, his immersions within the tribal and nomadic cultures resulted in a collaboration with the local craftswomen of the women Led Altyn Kol Association of Koskhor NGO and the creation of the GATES OF TURAN installation.
