A contemporary Kazakhstani artist, member of the ORTA art group (since 2017) and co-founder of TheMountBird Studio (since 2014). His works include graphics, video, animation, installations, performances, and artistic productions. Key methods include metaphor, naïvety, irony, and narrative. Key ideas are memory, collective identity, language, myth, everyday life, death, and the sacred.
A. Bakanov studied at the Kazakh Leading Academy of Architecture and Civil Engineering (KazGASA, Design Department, Almaty, 1997–2002). After graduating, he participated in master classes at the academy and provided technical support for the master class on contemporary art “New Mythology” (Karaganda, 2004). In 2002, he received first prize from the international jury of the SCCA video and media art festival “Inventory” (together with A. Petukhova), and as part of ORTA, he was twice nominated for the Kuryokhin Grand Prix (2016, 2018).
A. Bakanov creates music videos (Mujuice, “Snow,” 2009) and video animations for electronic tracks by contemporary performers (for Konstantin Timoshenko / Help Me Jones, “People Are Just Meat,” 2009). His graphics consist of laconic genre scenes in the style of naïve art (“At the Notary,” 2019), built around phrases and expressions reminiscent of the comic book format (“Alexander Does Not Recognize Himself in the Mirror,” 2019). In the ORTA art group, he participates as an engineer-artist in scenography, costumes, and lighting. He creates total installations reminiscent of theatrical scenography and dedicated to the legacy of artist Sergey Kalmykov and the theme of mental health (“The End of the World Sergey Kalmykov,” Vsevolod Meyerhold Centre, Moscow, 2018). Another performative installation by ORTA acts as a parody of a scientific, artistic, spiritual, and research centre (“LAI-PI-CHU-PLI-LAPA” Centre for New Genius, Spazio Arco, 59th Venice Biennale, 2022).
A. Bakanov’s works have been shown in projects in Kazakhstan and abroad: “Almaty Kitsch” (“Look” Gallery, Almaty, 2000), the video art festival “Inventory” (German Theatre, Almaty, 2002), “El arte contemporáneo de Asia Central como estrategia política” (CANAIA Gallery, Mexico City, 2004), the presentation “Video Art of Kazakhstan” (Bockenheimer Depot, Frankfurt, 2004), the “Pop-mechanical performance ‘Medea. Material’” (NET Festival, Moscow, 2016), “New Drama” (Vsevolod Meyerhold Centre, Moscow, 2018), and the 59th Venice Biennale (Venice, 2022).
Information about A. Bakanov is stored in the Documentation project collection — the archive of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art – Almaty (SCCA).
Photograph provided by Alexander Bakanov