Installation Capital City,
exhibition Realitiesⁿ - Shifting Dimensions of the Built World, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam

An investigation into the architectural and ideological ambitions behind the new Kazakh capital, that was built from scratch in the middle of the steppe by former president Nursultan Nazarbayev. Conceived as a model for a united Eurasia, the city is both a nationalist monument and a utopian project of geopolitical unity. Nazarbayev’s vision for the “Heart of Eurasia” would anchor Kazakhstan on the world stage, and place it at the center of a regional economic and political union meant to leverage the growing economies of Europe and East Asia. With a hypnotic vertical format and slow, looping visuals, this installation weaves together Nazarbayev’s dream with earlier Eurasian thought, formulated after the Russian Revolution, as well as current Eurasian thought in Russian ideology.

Image © Sander van Wettum and AFFR