A contemporary Kazakhstani artist and curator, co-author of the SCCA website design (now published on ariadna.media). His works include video art, media art, and installations. Key methods in R. Arefiev's work cover observation, participation, and experimentation. Key ideas are communication, interaction, and the perception of time.
R. Arefiev was educated at the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Al-Farabi KazNU, Faculty of Mathematics, 1990–1995). He also participated in collective projects and new media laboratories at the Soros Center for Contemporary Art (SCCA). In 2000, he received his first art award for a group project — the second prize from the international jury of the Second Annual SCCA Exhibition “Communications: Experiences of Interaction” (Atakent Exhibition Complex, Almaty).
In his practice, R. Arefiev analyzes contemporary art. He adapts the familiar ready-made form to the current context (“Duchamp-2004,” 2004) and views the works of his colleagues from the position of an observer, turning a selection of artworks into a “cabinet of curiosities” (in collaboration with Veronika Nikonova, “History of Art in Kazakhstan,” 2003). The artist multiplies the outside view and tries to adapt several points of view at once, literally using a system of mirrors (in collaboration with Viktor Vasilyev, Evgeniya Filatova, Vyacheslav Kachanov, “Slow Mirror,” 2004).
R. Arefiev curated such exhibition projects as “Feast of the Spirit” (SCCA, Almaty, 2001), “Lenin’s Soviet Internet” (SCCA, Almaty, 2001), “D-Generation” (SCCA and Ular Gallery, Almaty, 2003), “Kunstkamera” (SCCA, Almaty, 2003), “C14-5B18/7M” (SCCA, Almaty, 2004), and “AntipartyЯ” (SCCA, Almaty, 2004). His artworks have been exhibited in Kazakhstan and abroad: “Line of Beauty” (Asia Art+ Public Foundation, Almaty, 1999), the Second Annual Exhibition of the SCCA “Communications: Experiences of Interaction” (Atakent Exhibition Complex, Almaty, 2000), “Art Against Poverty” (Central Exhibition Hall, Almaty, 2002), “Trans-forma” (CCA, Geneva, 2002), and “El arte contemporáneo de Asia Central como estrategia política” (CANAIA Gallery, Mexico City, 2004).
Information about R. Arefiev is stored in the Documentation project collection — the archive of the Soros Center for Contemporary Art – Almaty (SCCA).
Photograph provided by Roman Arefiev