On August 15 and 16, Tselinny will host A Return to Form: Architectural Weekend, a public programme accompanying the exhibition A Return to Form.

The exhibition looks at the history of Almaty’s First Government House, designed by Moisei Ginzburg and built in 1929–1931. Through archival drawings, photographs, and graphic reconstructions, it restores the building’s original image and traces how architecture, the city, and attitudes towards heritage have changed over almost a century.

Architectural Weekend continues this conversation by looking at twentieth-century architecture as heritage that remains part of our lives today. Together with architects, researchers, and heritage specialists, we will discuss the value of modernist buildings, approaches to studying and preserving them, and the ways historic architecture continues to exist within the contemporary city.

The programme brings together specialists from Kazakhstan, Italy, Georgia, and Brazil. Their different perspectives offer an opportunity to consider Almaty’s architectural heritage within a broader international context.

The programme will begin with a walk through Constructivist Almaty led by exhibition curators Zhanna Spooner and Aiya Duiseyeva and conclude with their curatorial tour of A Return to Form.

Zhanna Spooner is an architect, curator of the exhibition A Return to Form, and a member of ICOMOS Kazakhstan.
Aiya Duiseyeva is an architect, curator of the exhibition A Return to Form, and a member of ICOMOS EPWG Kazakhstan.

Programme

Saturday, August 15

10:00–11:00 am
Tour “A Return to Form: A Walk Through Constructivist Almaty”
Zhanna Spooner and Aiya Duiseyeva
Language: Russian
Meeting point: ‘Afisha’ café, 83 Kabanbai Batyr Street. The tour will end in Tselinny.

2:00–4:00 pm
Lecture by Maurizio Meriggi “Moisei Ginzburg: Composer of Architectural Form and Creator of Almaty’s First Government House”
Language: Russian
Venue: Tselinny, Atelier educational space on the second floor of the center.

Sunday, August 16

12:00–1:30 pm
Lecture by Rusudan Mirzikashvili “World Heritage Nomination – the Start or the End of the Journey?”
Language: English
Venue: Tselinny, Atelier educational space on the second floor of the center.

2:00–4:00 pm
Lecture by Silvio Oksman “Modern Heritage in Brazil: From Recognition to the Present Day”
Language: English
Venue: Tselinny, Atelier educational space on the second floor of the center.

4:30–5:30 pm
Curatorial Tour of the Exhibition A Return to Form
Zhanna Spooner and Aiya Duiseyeva
Language: Russian
Venue: Tselinny, ORTA 1.

Admission to all events is free with registration. Tselinny is located at 59 Masanchi Street.

‍