In the period from 10 to 20 July 2015 for the first time in East Kazakhstan an international land art symposium “Nomad” took place in the unusual setting of the museum-reserve “Berel” in the beautiful central valley of the Katon Karagay National Park.
The place and leading theme of the event were not selected by coincidence. Berel area used to be important for the ancient inhabitants of Kazakhstan as evidenced by multitude of highly valued archeological artifacts found and about 100 funeral mounds (kurgans) discovered there, many dating back to early nomads (IV-III centuries BC) and the ancient Turkic time (VII-VIII centuries BC). Hence, the symposium gathered painters and sculptors to celebrate this unique heritage of nomadic culture in ancient Kazakhstan and to lay foundations for the establishment of a new exposition “Nomad”.
The artistic supervision was entrusted to Mikhail Beketov – an acclaimed Russian artist from Yaroslavl. In a record time of one week artists such as Alexey Sheboldaev (Russia), Dmitry Zaitsev (Belarus), Marina Gromova (Kyrgyzstan), Oleg and Margarita Jakubowich, Baygazhi Zhakiyarov, Alexander Meshcheryakov, Sergei Trykov and Olga Lovina (Kazakhstan) created 16 unique and diverse art objects, which are presented in this brochure together with glimpses at artists, volunteers and local residents at work. The week-long event was accompanied by rich cultural programme and allowed also orphan-children to contribute to art creation. All concluded that the event helped to boost efforts to improve tourist infrastructure and to spur local development.
The symposium was organized by Youth public association Environment and Tourist Centre “TEC” from Kazakhstan and Machaon International from Slovakia in close co-operation with the Regional History Museum and administration of the Museum-reserve “Berel”. It was supported by the European Union in the framework of the Project: “Golden Altai – wealth for local development” and by the Akimat of East Kazakhstan.