In 2000, Zitta and Ablikim formed their personal and creative union under the name ZITABL (ZIT for Zitta, ABL for Ablikim).

The artistic duo ZITABL curated the multi-stage international educational project "Pass It On" (2007).

The duo has worked in various media and art forms: painting, graphics, objects, installations, performances, video art, scrolls, poetry, staged photographs, and written texts.

Zitta as a graphic artist works with etching, collage, and monotype techniques. Her favorite graphic method is silk printing (a series of scrolls).

The artists do not adhere to a single stylistic approach. Their works contain elements of surrealism, irony, self-irony, humor, and play, as well as commentaries on global cultural narratives.

A recurring theme throughout their artistic practice is the figure of the “little man”, the set against the backdrop of a new social order, in which the shift from socialism to capitalism has turned the country into, on the one hand, a vast consumer market, and on the other, a territory for ruthless resource extraction. This has led to an enormous gap between wealth and poverty.

ZITABL’s artistic language incorporates stylistic elements of abstractionism, expressionism, naïve art, underground-hippie culture, and psychedelia (particularly in Ablikim’s painting and graphic works).

Some of their most emblematic pieces are artistic responses to major socio-political events in the post-Soviet space and around the world. Zitta’s series “From the Life of Dill and Cotton Wool” (2016–2018) responds to the war that broke out across social media platforms following 2014. Ablikim’s “Red Love for Tubeteikas,” created in 2018, was a direct response to the dramatic events unfolding in Xinjiang.

At times, the artists make use of classical tools of art activism: their well-known “Miss Asia” performance at the House of World Cultures in Berlin (2002); Ablikim’s Fluxus action “Milk” (the inaugural annual exhibition of the CCSC, Almaty, 1998); the “Unswaddling” performance at the opening of CCSC-Almaty; and the collective performance “Spontaneous Cinema” (as part of the Group of Four, at the Eurasia Film Festival, 1999).

Their body of work also includes projects that critically examine the most dramatic episodes of the Soviet past and the tragic #neocolonial present: “Eggheads on the Conveyor Belt of Time from a Collective Past to an Individualistic Present” (2008); and “The Silence of the Lambs” (2007), an artistic response to the assassination of politician Altynbek Sarsenbayev.

The art duo ZITABL has made a significant contribution to the development of video art in Kazakhstan. Their first three-channel video installation "Asian Route" (2000) won 1st place at the II International Annual Contemporary Art Exhibition of the CSCCA-Almaty. Other video works "Media-Aitys" (2001), "Prisoner / Pushkin-remix" (2003), "Message of the Moon" (2002), "The Blind / Breigel-remix" (2007), "On the Swings" (2006), "Dream of a Standing Sock" (2005), "Tyrant" (2007), and others represented Kazakhstan at various international exhibitions, festivals, and biennials.

In many of their works, the artists call on contemporary society to open its eyes to the Society of the SPECTACLE, SIMULACRA, AND MANIPULATION.

ZITABL convey their messages and ideas through dialogue with the viewer in their landmark installations such as "Simply in a Cage" (2002), "The Clairvoyant" (2006), Ablikim’s objects "Suitcase of Love" and "The Wall" (2018), Zitta’s staged photo series "Ahyr-Zaman" (2016), and the work "BREAD, SUGAR, SALT".

The creative peak of the ZITABL art duo came in the 2000s. The artists created bright art-events both in their homeland and near and far abroad.
The artists initiated vibrant art events both in their homeland and abroad:
– “Parade of Galleries” (Almaty, 1999) – “Haus der Kulturen der Welt” (Berlin, 2001)
– “New Acquisitions from Central Asia” (New Jersey, 2001)
– “Politik-Um / New Engagement” (Prague, 2002)
– “Paris — Berlin” (Berlin and Paris, 2001–2002)
– “Seidenstraße / The Silk Road” (Berlin and Bonn)
– “New Kazakh Art” (Mexico City, 2002)
– “Transforma” (Geneva, 2002)
– “From Red Stars to Blue Domes” and “Dancing on the Volcano” (IFA-Gallery, Berlin, 2004 and 2006)
– 52nd Venice Biennale (Venice, 2007)
– “Imagine the Future,” ARTISTERIUM-3 (Tbilisi, 2011)
– “The Bride’s Face” (Perm, 2012)
– “Life-Legend” (Strasbourg, 2014)
– “Post-Nomadic Horizons” (London, 2018)
– Tashkent Biennale (2018)
– “Between the Sun and the Moon,” Lahore Biennale (2020)

Photographs of ZITABL’s works and their documentation are preserved in the archive of the Documentation project in the Center for Contemporary Art of the Soros Foundation–Almaty (CCA).

Works by the ZITABL duo are held in:
– the Norton Dodge collection of nonconformist art (Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA)
– the Marjani Foundation collection (Moscow, Russia)
– the A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts (Almaty, Kazakhstan)

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Solo and Collaborative ZitAbl Exhibitions

2000 — “Like Day and Night,” Tribuna Gallery
2002 — “Gods and Marionettes,” ARK Gallery
2007 — “Eggheads on the Conveyor of Time,” Tengri-Umai Gallery
2014 — “Ahyr-Zaman,” White Piano Gallery
2018 — “From Hatred to Love…,” A. Kasteyev State Museum of Arts, Central Exhibition Hall (ZitAbl & Aura)

AWARDS
1989
– Diploma to members of the “Green Triangle” group for non-traditional artistic exploration (Ablikim Akmullaev)
– Finalists of the IX International Arts Festival “Master Class” in Saint Petersburg (ZITABL)
– Diploma following the Republican “Zhiger” Exhibition (Zitta Sultanbayeva)

2000
– 1st Prize from the International Jury at the II Annual Exhibition of the CSCCA “Communication. Interaction Practices,” Almaty (ZITABL)

2001
– 1st Prize for the article “Fertilization” in the CSCCA competition for best article on contemporary art (Zitta Sultanbayeva)
– 2nd Prize in the documentary film competition “Art Against Poverty” (nomination: social PSA), “Media-Aitys” project (ZITABL)
– 3rd Prize for the article “Faces of Asia” in a collaboration competition initiated by the CSCCA (Zitta Sultanbayeva)
– 3rd Prize in a competition for best article organized by the British Council based on the British video art exhibition at the Central Exhibition Hall (Zitta Sultanbayeva)

2005
– 1st Prize at the Bishkek April Fool’s “Standing Socks” Competition (ZITABL)

2007– 3rd Prize in the essay competition “Kazakhstan is My Destiny”

2015– International “Golden Asyk” Award in the category “For Contribution to the Development of Contemporary Art in Kazakhstan”

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The author of the text is Zitta Sultanbaeva.

Photograph taken by Oleg Gogolev and provided by Zitta Sultanbayeva.