This is a chum, not a yurt
three-channel video installation
2025
The title refers to a common mistake— calling the Nenets dwelling a yurt, though the term applies only to Turkic and Mongolic portable homes. This confusion stems from a colonial gaze that erases distinctions and ignores the voices of those represented. It is part of a broader system of depicting the Other, from museum displays to ethnographic narratives that define entire groups as uniform entities through static, pre-set frameworks. Bereketova and Okotetto engage critically with these conventions: their installation combines a neutral, museum-like aesthetic with the artists’ own presence—alive and in motion. For Albert, running is a key form of expression. In 2024 he ran over 1,000 kilometers across Yamal—treating the act as a gesture highlighting the Nenets’ relationship with space and the fragility of their culture today. His bond with the land is both real and imagined: he envisions a reindeer running ahead to keep his rhythm. Zhanar’s part shows a contrasting, mechanized movement—symbolizing industrial ways of navigating space through roads and pipelines. The installation’s soundtrack features Albert’s recording of Nenets speech, presented without translation, leaving most viewers to confront meaning through sound alone—an invitation to experience the unease of encountering
Exhibited here, here & here
Shiqy/Raw
performative film
2025, 7'
Raw egg moves through natural and urban landscapes—rolling, cracking, disappearing. The environment and the human merely guide it, accompanying the fragile body along its temporal trajectory. Simple actions come together in a rhythmic observation of fragility and temporality.
The gesture arises from curiosity rather than symbolism. Yet the context of place and tim remains inevitably present: the landscapes, human interventions, and passing moments shape the unfolding of the event.
Exhibited here, here & here
Hoope
performance
2023, 42'
I am spinning a hoop, and the sun is rising. At first two unconnected events, they happen at the same time and visually rhyme. So, I question whether is it the sun that makes me spin a hoop or is it me who affects the sunrise?
Exhibited here, here & here
