non museum of Architecture in Almaty is a participatory independent museum in the building of the former NKVD, whose objectives included: Engaging citizens in the theme of "The Right to Memory and the Right to Heritage", critically reflecting on the theme of collective memory, engaging the community in a dialogue about parallel historical narratives, publicly highlighting the uneasy memory of the former NKVD building through engaging the community of architects, artists, illustrators, videographers, sound designers in creating collective interdisciplinary exhibitions that somehow resonate with the historical context of the building.
The original concept of the project was conceived as a community space and public platform that would engage visitors in creating their own projects and telling their personal stories through discussions, lectures, exhibitions, historical displays and book clubs.
The location for the public space was not chosen by chance - it was the former NKVD building where victims of the repressive regime were held and shot, and where the Museum of the Memory of Victims of Political Repression was subsequently located and moved to the village of Zhanalyk, the site of the mass grave of victims of mass shootings. The [non] museum format implied complicity, a collective rethinking of shared historical memory through the prism of the fate of a specific building with a traumatic past.
In the process of implementation, the project evolved into an informal civic education residency programme that brought together artists, architects, illustrators, local historians, curators and historians around the theme of rethinking collective memory through the creation of joint interdisciplinary exhibitions and events in the space of the [not] Museum of Architecture.
As a result, the project realised 5 interdisciplinary exhibitions in different teams (find the figures of the events from the reports).
The original concept of the project was conceived as a community space and public platform that would engage visitors in creating their own projects and telling their personal stories through discussions, lectures, exhibitions, historical displays and book clubs.
The location for the public space was not chosen by chance - it was the former NKVD building where victims of the repressive regime were held and shot, and where the Museum of the Memory of Victims of Political Repression was subsequently located and moved to the village of Zhanalyk, the site of the mass grave of victims of mass shootings. The [non] museum format implied complicity, a collective rethinking of shared historical memory through the prism of the fate of a specific building with a traumatic past.
In the process of implementation, the project evolved into an informal civic education residency programme that brought together artists, architects, illustrators, local historians, curators and historians around the theme of rethinking collective memory through the creation of joint interdisciplinary exhibitions and events in the space of the [not] Museum of Architecture.
As a result, the project realised 5 interdisciplinary exhibitions in different teams (find the figures of the events from the reports).