The Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan has announced the results of the curatorial proposal competition for the National Pavilion of Kazakhstan at the 61st Venice Biennale (2026), DKNews.kz reports.
Following the jury’s vote, the winning proposal is “QOÑYR: An Archive of Silence”, curated by artist and researcher Syrlybek Bekbotayev.
The 61st Venice Biennale will take place from 9 May to 22 November 2026. During this period, the National Pavilion of Kazakhstan will be presented as part of the Biennale’s official programme.
The competition was conceived as part of a broader effort to establish a transparent and sustainable framework for the preparation of Kazakhstan’s national pavilion. The open call was launched in November 2025, with submissions accepted over the course of one month. The selection process consisted of two stages: an expert review of the submitted proposals followed by online interviews with the shortlisted finalists.
Projects were evaluated across three main criteria:
- Conceptual integrity (up to 25 points)
- Management and implementation (up to 20 points)
- Experience, ethics, and sustainability (up to 20 points)
Each criterion was scored on a scale from 1 to 5, with the final ranking determined by the total score.
Three projects advanced to the second stage. During the final round, jury members conducted online interviews with each finalist and completed final voting forms based on collective discussion.
The selection committee was formed according to the principle of interdisciplinary expertise and included local and international professionals in contemporary art, art history, independent theatre and music, as well as representatives of academic institutions and state museums.
The aim of the competition was to select a conceptually and artistically coherent project that resonates with the overarching theme of the Venice Biennale 2026, “In Minor Keys,” while presenting contemporary art from Kazakhstan on the international stage.
The open call was addressed to individual curators and curatorial collectives who are citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan and have professional curatorial experience. Priority was given to candidates living and working in Kazakhstan.
Syrlybek Bekbotayev is an artist and curator based in Astana. His practice focuses on questions of memory and cultural heritage. In 2025, he graduated from the L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University with a degree in Cultural Studies.
