Program description

The goal of the Re-Practice: Memory in Action program is to offer participants memory as a theme for creative expression and personal and collective reflection. We will work with how memory is formed through the body, language, images, family histories, and cultural practices.

The logic behind the course structure is the principle of “from the personal to the collective.” We will start with individual experiences, family stories, and everyday forms of memory, and then move on to how memory becomes public: how collective narratives emerge, what is recorded in history and what is suppressed, who makes these decisions and why.

The program pays special attention to gendered memory. We will discuss how gender and power influence which stories remain visible and where the boundary between public and private lies. We are interested in forms of memory related to everyday life, care, labor, home, physicality, and kinship, as well as ways of translating these themes into artistic language.

Program format

The program combines theory and practice. The course will include lectures, artist talks, screenings, and discussions, as well as practical exercises. Participants will try out different approaches to working with archives: family archives, found archives, and archives as institutions and systems that shape and regulate memory. We will talk about where to look for material, how to read documents and images, how to ask precise questions of the source, and how to work with memory through writing and family ethnography, role-playing and performative methods, translation and language, film analysis, and textile practices.

The program includes horizontal discussions—a space for collective reflection and conversation on topics raised in class. These are necessary to connect the course material with personal experience, create a space for joint reflection on the course, connect theory with personal experience, and find like-minded people and collaborations.

The course does not require the completion of a final project. The program focuses on the development of artistic practice through a focus on the process rather than the result.

Open Call

We invite artists, researchers, curators, activists, and anyone who wants to work with the theme of memory in practice, regardless of their level of training, to participate. Participants must be 18 years of age or older. Participation in the lab is completely free of charge, and participants will be selected based on the applications submitted on the website.

Application deadline: February 28, 23:59 (Almaty time).

On March 1–2, all applicants will receive a letter with the results.

Schedule (2-3 meetings per week)

• Thursday 7:00–8:30 p.m. — class

• Saturday 11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. — class

• Sunday 2:30–4:00 p.m. — horizontal discussion (once every two weeks).

Program start date:

March 5, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. (GMT+5)

The course will be conducted in Russian.

If you have any questions, please email us at learning@tselinny.org