Beginning in the Middle was released and presented on December 2nd as part of Dwars Door het Stedelijk - After Six, an event to bring ode to Malevich. 

The publication, edited by Elsbeth Dekker and Robbie Schweiger, explores the works, lives and travels of artists coming from a (post-)Soviet context. The conversations delve deeper into questions of art and (de)colonization in countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia, most of which recently celebrated their 30th anniversary of independence.

The texts in the publication stem from conversations with the following artists: Umida Akhmedova, Babi Badalov, Saodat Ismailova, Gulnara Kasmalieva, Yerbossyn Meldibekov, Furqat Palvan-Zade, and Alexander Ugay.

In a slightly adapted version, the majority of the conversations have been published in Dutch first by the online art magazine Mister Motley. An adaption of the travelogues by Furqat Palvan-Zade has been published by the art platform e-flux.

Book presentation in Stedelijk Museum >>>