Gulzat Baialieva, Dinara Kanybek kyzy, Oksana Kapishnikova, Aidar Zhumabaev, Deniz Nazarova
Installation, collage
“In the flow” is a cyclic structure, illustrating the various flows circulating between Shamaldy-Sai and Moscow. These two distant places were once linked by ambitious projects of modernization.
The settlement of Shamaldy-Sai was established in 1956 as part of the construction of the Uch-Kurgan Hydroelectric Power Station – the “firstborn” on the Naryn River. Since 1914 this area has attracted hydrologists and engineers. From 1956 Moscow in particular regulated the first flow of labourers who were directed to build the town, plants and Uch-Kurgan hydroelectric station.
The next flow was the so-called “moskovskoe obespechenie” (Moscow provision) – supply of scarce and imported goods. The 1970s were the town’s golden era. With the collapse of the Soviet system, the local economy was disrupted. The factories, the flagships of the glorious past, were closed down.
Local inhabitants tried different ways of adapting to the economic crisis: market trade, agriculture and labor migration, mainly to Moscow. Moscow continues to be present in the new order. A flow of migrant workers send their earnings home to Shamaldy-Sai from Moscow.
Periodicals:National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic: Soviet Kyrgyzstan, April 1, 1962 #78 (10158); Soviet Kyrgyzstan, November 1, 1962 #259 (10339); “Lenin Jolu”, 09.01.1962
Contemporary photos: Author’s pictures, photos from the author’s online platform on the website “Odnoklassniki” – “NarynGES – Shamaldy-Sai”; photos of the active user of ABVG ABVG from the site “Odnoklassniki” – “NarynGES – Shamaldy-Sai”
