ACTOR-NETWORK THEATRE: QUEER LIFE & CONSTRUCTIONS OF ARTEFACTS. A STUDY OF SUB-VISIBLE ARTISTIC AGENCIES IN KAZAKHSTAN AND BEYOND

Abstract

The PhD project is an autoethnographic study of a para-institutional enterprise called Kreolex zentre, which was co-founded by the author in 2012 in Kazakhstan. The autoethnography is based on the Kreolex archive and pays close attention to other similar actors and networks active in the post-soviet cultural space. Addressing actual mechanisms of ‘becoming an artist’ outside established art worlds and conventional careers, the study at hand brings to light otherwise invisible aspects of queer artistic lives in post-soviet spaces. Methodologically the study is based on the modification of the Actor-Network Theory called Actor-Network Theatre. More theatrical than theoretical, more phenomenological than empirical, it is sensitive to the ghostly social forces and imaginary actors, which is especially suited to exploring the sites of art and knowledge production. The project aims at finding new ways to understand post-soviet queer art and community life that often remains hidden from the public eye. In this respect, the project represents an attempt to develop a new artistic approach to social research that combines material semiotics with the anthropology of art, highlighting the role of artefacts in building communities.

 Short biography

Ruthia Jenrbekova is an artist and researcher from Almaty, Kazakhstan. She holds MA in ecology and works as an intermedia cultural organizer. Co-founder of Kreolex zentre (together with Maria Vilkovisky). Fields of interest: queer ecology, material semiotics, arts-based methodologies, transfeminism. Lives and works in Almaty and Vienna.