This basement became a kind of focal point for various communities of the city, serving as a refuge, a place of experimentation, a place of freedom, a center of marginal, protest culture, almost unnoticed within the context of the courtyard of a typical residential building, in the very center of the old city, amidst the cultural life.

As part of the project, interviews were conducted with witnesses of all key events, and the main stages were recorded, which the [non] Museum of Architecture Almaty team compiled into a chronological timeline and transformed into an installation – "Prism of Memory", a kind of monument to the basement on Kunaev Street.


The history of one place - the basement in the old city center - vividly reflects the spirit of that time, the processes that took place in the country and in the city, the development of cultural trends, and the formation of archetypes of local independent musical, theatrical, artistic units, many of which are now important players shaping the city's cultural scene.

The presentation of the study was held on the stage, in the scenery of one of the performances of the ARTiSHOK theater, and was accompanied by the unveiling of the monument "Prism of Memory" and a tour around the house and the basement space.

"The Prism of Memory" is our rethinking of the monument. We exercise our right to memory by independently creating a monument to the place. We want to talk about how every courtyard, every house has its own unique memory, and we have the opportunity to tell about it, involving the city's residents, thereby giving this story public significance, public value.