yourfriendkas
Asphalt Garden ¦ 2023
Batyr Lab residency
Asphalt Garden is an audiovisual experience exploring informal everyday interaction in the urban space of Almaty. The visual side documents easily forgettable simple moments, not considered important enough for official archiving or romantic enough for social media, and therefore easily lost, when the everyday becomes the no longer practiced through processes of formalization and transactionalization of economic and interpersonal interactions, driven by state interest, neoliberal expansion, and shifts in public perception. The musical side of the piece is a more personal reflection on such moments, exploring the different emotional landscapes evoked by participating or witnessing interactions, changes in the everyday, and processes behind them. Mixed by Rustem Myrzakhmetov. Cover art by Paritet Buro. Made with the support of Batyrkhan Shukenov Foundation in the 2023 Batyr Lab residency, under the mentorship of Akmaral Mergen.