Between Ritual, Precarity and Resistance
Working primarily with video, Shaarbek Amankul explores social transformation, political uncertainty, and shifting identities in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, at a moment when video art is only beginning to emerge. His films engage with everyday realities—migration, labor, power structures, and informal belief systems—alongside ritual practices, transforming them into poetic, time-based works. Situated within contemporary art, these videos reveal the tensions between personal experience, social fracture, and cultural memory, opening a space where tradition, ritual, and social change intersect.
Look What I Am Taking a Hand In
Manifest for an endopterygote cine-video-poetry by Marc Mercier
The article weaves together the poetic and political visions of Pier Paolo Pasolini and Shaarbek Amankul to explore art as a space of cultural mixing, temporal fracture, and transformation. Through Amankul’s sensory, shamanic video practice rooted in Kyrgyz heritage and contemporary reality, the text argues that images do not represent the world but exist as living presences that carry memory, rupture, and possibility. Art becomes both a site of confinement and a continual act of escape toward freedom.
“His images have no vocation to represent anything whatsoever; they confirm their presence like a light which lights nothing else but itself.”
- Marc Mercier, Artistic Director of the Festival Les Instants Vidéo in Marseille
The Representation of Shamanism in Contemporary Video Art from Kyrgyzstan
Shaarbek Amankul is one of the key figures of contemporary art in Kyrgyzstan, where video art is only beginning to emerge. Working with video, he explores social transformation, uncertainty, migration, poverty, and informal belief systems—topics often overlooked in official discourse.
In his works Sham and Duba (2007), Amankul engages with shamanic healing rituals re-emerging in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan as a response to social instability and eroded public trust. Rather than ethnographic documentation, these videos function as artistic portraits, merging ancient spiritual practices with contemporary media to convey vulnerability, inner states, and collective anxiety.
EASA Conference, Nanterre, 12 July 2012
Drinking the Wind (2012)
For centuries, nomadic cultures have moved in rhythm with the animals that sustain them, especially horses. In the video, the steady hands of a drummer strike a purposeful beat, echoed in the gallop of horses and the motion of passing cars. Sound, movement, and human gesture merge into a living, tangible rhythm — a heartbeat of living memory carrying tradition through the body rather than through words. The nomad is not a figure frozen in time but a presence expressed through continuous motion. Each strike, each hoofbeat, and each low rumble of an engine becomes a form of language, memory, and reflection. Past and present converge in this intricate cadence, where humans, animals, and machines share the same pulse. This work meditates on continuity, resilience, and the quiet endurance of identity and culture. It invites viewers to feel the rhythm of nomadic life and to sense how ancestral heritage is preserved, transformed, and carried forward, shaping our understanding of both the world that was and the world we inhabit today.
(original 5:35 min)
Dancing in the Clouds (2012)
High in the mountains, three nomads move freely across the slopes. Their bodies sway, spin, and leap, carried by the rhythm of the drums, as if the wind itself guides them. With each step, each gesture, they slip into a trance, connecting deeply with the earth beneath, the sky above, and unseen forces around them. This is more than a dance — it is an ancient shamanic ritual. For generations, people believed that through free, unrestrained movement, they could call upon the spirits of the sky, awaken the clouds, and bring life-giving water to the land. As the drums echo through the valleys, the ritual intensifies. Hands reach to the sky, feet pound the ground, and energy flows between dancers and elements, merging body and nature. Then the clouds respond — first a gentle drizzle, then rain falling in time with their movements. In this moment, rhythm and dance flow as one with the self, pulsing with the heartbeat of the mountains and the whisper of the sky. Nature’s forces answer with rising winds, and within, the quiet wisdom to listen to one’s inner knowledge awakens, guiding every step, every breath
(original 5:20 min)
Others (2012)
This work explores the boundaries between life and death and how instincts and inner knowledge guide behavior more strongly than reason. The turkeys stop in front of motionless figures — the stuffed hens, ducks, and other domestic birds. In their hesitation, we see fear of the unknown, curiosity, and cautious exploration of the world. These figures are like shadows of life, yet the turkeys do not dare to cross the invisible line. They make their characteristic sounds, listen, glance at one another, expressing both curiosity and caution, trusting their ancient instincts and sense of danger rather than rational understanding. Their reaction is a moment where instinct meets consciousness. The mind may understand that these are just decoys, but inner knowledge whispers that something is not quite right. This moment reminds us that even the simplest forms of life perceive the world deeply and subtly, and that our reality is full of mysteries we do not always see but feel in our hearts.
(original 5:00 min)
Circumcision (2011)
Modernization became essential for access to qualified healthcare, especially for practices such as traditional circumcision. Once prohibited and performed in secrecy, these ceremonies were often carried out by inexperienced individuals in unsanitary conditions with inadequate tools. Risk and concealment defined the ritual for decades. Yet deeply rooted religious and cultural traditions endured. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, these practices re-emerged on a large scale, shifting from hidden acts into socially recognized ceremonies. Over time, they evolved, balancing symbolic and spiritual meaning with increasing regulation and medical oversight. Today, traditional circumcision is part of contemporary life across Central Asia, a visible intersection of heritage, belief, and modern health systems. The ceremony embodies the tension between past and present, secrecy and openness, risk and care. It reveals how societies negotiate identity, preserve cultural memory, and reconcile faith with the demands of social change.
(original 4:10 min)
The Signs (2009)
The video features deaf and mute children from a children’s home performing a traditional dance. The viewer is captivated by their precision and rhythm, achieved through their teacher's careful guidance. Without hearing the music, the children respond to visual cues, translating signs into coordinated, expressive movement. Sign language becomes both a powerful means of communication and a form of choreography, turning instruction into dance. The children perform Carnival in Venice with joy and dedication, momentarily forgetting their own hardships. Each gesture expresses vitality, presence, and emotion, allowing them to move beyond isolation. The dance reveals cooperation, attentiveness, and shared rhythm. Through this interplay of signs and movement, the work becomes a meditation on expression, creativity, and human dignity, showing how imagination can emerge beyond conventional senses and transform limitation into collective joy.
(original 2:25 min)
Zindan (2007)
The video is filmed in an abandoned uranium factory on the southern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul, where two women, their faces veiled by flowing hair, move through the desolate, sandy basement. Their bodies penetrate the walls, symbolizing the possibility of new life emerging after the devastation of World War III. Though they come from different worlds, they share an unspoken bond of sorrow and isolation. Their embrace is not a connection but a profound expression of loneliness, representing the universal human desire for communication, both something we seek and something that often remains out of reach. The abandoned factory, once a site of Soviet industrial ambition, becomes a central figure in the narrative. It reflects the decay and emptiness left behind by the relentless pursuit of progress. This deteriorating space amplifies the theme of existential isolation, offering a haunting commentary on the cost of human ambition and the disillusionment that follows our search for meaning in a fractured world.
(original 6:20 min)
Duba (2007)
The screen focuses on a close-up of a face, immersing the viewer in the mesmerizing physiognomy of a trance. An herbalist and natural healer conducts rituals, “cleaning the soul,” designed to cure illness and awaken dormant forces within the human psyche. Emotions of surprise and fear trigger a journey into the subconscious mind, calling upon its power to confront affliction. In states of vulnerability and confusion, individuals turn to shamans, seeking remedies for ailments that modern medicine cannot always explain. The seemingly irrational practices become a path to restoring a fractured identity, offering healing and solace in the mystical realms of the unknown. Each gesture, sound, and sudden movement resonates beyond the physical, bridging the visible and the invisible, the conscious and the unconscious. The ritual unfolds as a dialogue between human fragility and unseen forces, where surrender becomes a form of strength, and trust transforms fear into renewal. In this space, the ordinary dissolves, and the soul finds a moment of clarity, connection, and profound, quiet transformation.
(original 6:56 min)
Sham (2007)
In this space, belief in miracles moves like a tangible force. Individuals surrender to their senses, immersed in prayer, releasing both bodily and emotional burdens—yawning, crying, screaming, thrashing, scratching, even smacking one another in a strange rhythm of transformation. Afterwards, many remember nothing, attributing it all to higher powers, to a will beyond human grasp. Faith and hope converge. The trance is neither taught nor imposed; it is felt, shared, enacted in the pulse of collective devotion. No hierarchy, no manuals, no authority dictates the form—only empathy, reciprocity, and solidarity guide the cleansing. The unconventional thrives, born from exhaustion with institutional failures and the desire to craft a personal, living paradigm. A solitary candle flickers in a twilight house on the outskirts—a symbol of calm, hope, and self-purification. The scene embodies resilience and surrender, the delicate interweaving of human frailty and devotion, and the quiet, tender, uncanny beauty of ordinary souls seeking grace in their own way.
(original 4:20 min)
Vatan (2007)
Eastern markets, pedestrians, beggars, dancing girls, frontier posts, demonstrations, and riots coexist, weaving dark and bright sides of life into a living, vibrant tapestry. Weekdays and holidays, chaos and order, tragedy and joy intermingle, forming a meditation on human experience. A soft, lullaby-like melody, sung by a woman, flows through the scenes, uniting fleeting moments with quiet emotion. Split screens reveal continuous parallels: children affected by war and those playing carefree, rope walkers’ skill alongside beggars’ struggle, acts of generosity, and crowd indifference. These juxtapositions highlight the fragility, resilience, and beauty of life, where human actions can appear absurd yet profoundly meaningful. Rural teenagers bathe at the start, and the film closes with a woman spilling bottled water—life-giving yet tragically wasted. Games, songs, and movement intertwine, transforming apparent chaos into symbols of vitality, hope, and human dignity. Every scene becomes a meditation on existence, endurance, and the subtle balance of joy and sorrow, where tragedy and delight, care and chance coexist in the flowing rhythm of everyday life.
(original 4:30 min)
We Need to Live (2007)
The film opens with a title spanning two screens, immediately setting a tone of dramatic tension. It unfolds through contrasts, collisions, and unexpected juxtapositions: the close-up of a cow’s eyes meets a blind musician; street clashes between demonstrators and police echo the rhythm of industrial machinery; the cutting of an animal carcass mirrors the movement and anatomy of a bustling East market. Human vulnerability, internal organs, and social disorder intertwine, creating a visceral, sometimes unsettling, yet mesmerizing experience. The work draws no conclusions and offers no comfort. It invites reflection, comparison, and debate, compelling viewers to confront reality in its raw, unfiltered form. The imagery can feel chaotic, even frightening, but it is necessary—urging attention, awareness, and critical thought over complacency. Set against a backdrop of unrest, shifting powers, and societal decay, the film illuminates a fundamental human impulse: the will to live. Amid violence, disappointment, and fleeting hope, life emerges as fragile, persistent, and luminous, tracing a delicate, poetic rhythm that forms the emotional and philosophical heart of the work.
(original 4:33 min)
A girl dances on the shore in Eastern attire, her movements guided by the rhythm of ornaments and bracelets. The sea's mirrored surface doubles her figure, creating a dialogue between body and reflection. Two figures traverse the sand, approaching, embracing, dissolving, and re-emerging from a shared, almost mystical pattern. Through digital collage and mirror reflection, a single body performs gestures typically requiring two, generating a twin and suggesting that the dance itself is a conversation of doubles. The work functions as a meditation on solitude, introspection, and the search for connection. Symmetry and doubling unfold as Shadow Geometry, revealing the hidden architecture of reflection and movement. Within this structure, the dancer engages with the Other Within, a silent counterpart that evokes inner dialogue and hidden selves. Moments of meeting and merging emerge as Silent Convergence, where presence and reflection, body and shadow, intersect in fleeting, poetic harmony. Through these intertwined layers, work becomes a contemplative exploration of being, multiplicity, and the delicate interplay between isolation and communion.
(original 5:24 min)
Message (2007)
New Society (2006)
The video explores the search for social identity among residents of Bishkek’s suburban “circle of self-builders.” It focuses on a generation that left their villages after the collapse of the Soviet Union, navigating the in-between spaces of urban life and facing the precarity of a transforming city. Marked by poverty and unemployment, they are nevertheless drawn to culture, creativity, and self-expression. Daily routines reveal resilience, improvisation, and the quiet absurdities of life: villagers carry water from distant sources, only to pour it out of bottled aid packages and collect the plastic for recycling. This ironic cycle reflects the tension between immediate survival, economic necessity, and long-term needs, showing how human behavior, scarcity, and social systems collide. New Society becomes a meditation on adaptation, identity, and belonging, portraying a generation forging its own path amid contradictions. Through resilience, creativity, and the subtle absurdities of daily life, the work captures the vitality, complexity, and fragile beauty of urban and suburban existence in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan.
(original 2:37 min)