The following open letter was initiated by members of the Kazakhstani and international art community following the removal of Asel Kadyrkhanova’s work Machine (2013) from the Kazakhstan pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale. Beyond this specific incident, the letter addresses larger questions concerning artistic freedom, censorship, and the relationship between contemporary art and state institutions.
—Editors
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We, the undersigned, representatives of the international art community—professionals and enthusiasts of contemporary art—are outraged by the censorship case at the Kazakhstan pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art, which is currently taking place in Venice, Italy.
On May 5, 2026, on the eve of the pavilion’s opening, reportedly by order of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan or persons acting on behalf of the organizers of the pavilion, the artist Asel Kadyrhanova’ s mixed-media installation Machine (2013) was dismantled. Representatives of the organizers and/or authorized persons tried to negotiate a conceptual change to the artwork’s central parts with the artist and curator of the exhibition for some time before the installation and opening of the exhibition. The work consists of three parts: a vintage typewriter from the 1930s, copies of archived arrest warrants from the Stalinist terror era printed on stationery paper, and red threads stretched from the typewriter’s keyboard to the orders.
The tragedy of Stalin’s repression has always been an important topic in independent Kazakhstan and has been part of numerous research projects. Since 1997, May 31 has been marked in Kazakhstan as an annual Memorial Day for Victims of Political Repression and Famine. This tragic history became the national memory of the Kazakhstani people, as its territory held the largest branches of the Gulag concentration camps. Kazakhstan has several museums in memory of the victims of Stalinist repression. The most famous of them are Astana-adjacent ALZHIR (Akmola Camp for the Wives of the Motherland Traitors), and the museum of the memory of political repression, KARLAG, in the village of Dolinka, near Karaganda. This is the historical legacy of our country—every family in Kazakhstan lost loved ones during the course of the Red Terror. The memory of this tragedy must be kept alive to prevent similar events from happening again.
The work of Asel Kadyrkhanova is an artistic study of historical memory. Its focus is on archives and victim testimonies, on documenting and investigating past tragedies, so it should be viewed as a historically oriented work. The work does not comment on the current political situation or current ideological conflicts and does not carry destructive messages. No one has officially stated that the subject of remembrance of victims of repression should not be publicized or that it should be avoided. After a wave of public criticism, the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan stated that the reason for withdrawal had to do with restrictions on the Italian side. However, journalists at Vlast have received an official response from representatives of the Italian Ministry of Defense, which denies any involvement in the decision to dismantle the work and maintains the inadmissibility of the censorship of historical topics.
We believe that the dismantling of Kadyrkhanova’s work without a publicly stated legal basis and, according to the author, without her consent, not only caused moral damage to the feelings of Kazakhstani people who lost family members during the time of Stalin’s terror, but also, consequently, caused great reputational damage to the pavilion of Kazakhstan at the largest international art forum, the Venice Biennale. In the end, these actions have negatively affected the dynamics of Kazakhstani culture’s development, pushing the actual processes back to the times of Soviet censorship. Article 20 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and creativity, officially prohibiting censorship. In connection with this, we assume that any intervention in the approved artistic concept must have a legal basis and be documented. In addition, representatives of the pavilion’s organizing committee referred to an unverified assertion that Machine copies the work of Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota. This accusation, according to the consolidated opinion of experts and art historians, is unfounded, defamatory of the author’s professional reputation, and requires documentary evidence or public rebuttal and cannot serve as a professional judgment. It has also been found that Chiharu Shiota created her work in 2015, that is, two years after Asel Kadyrkhanova.
On this basis, we believe that actions were taken that are incompatible with the constitutional guarantees of freedom of creation and the prohibition against censorship, in connection with which we demand a correction of the current situation. The pavilion of Kazakhstan at the Biennale will operate for another half year, until November 2026. The situation can be rectified if the organizers apologize to the author and restore Asel Kadyrkhanova’s artwork Machine in the pavilion space. It is advisable to reinstall it by May 31, the affiliated Memorial Day. This will be a gesture of respect for the memory of the victims and for the feelings of Kazakhstanis.
In addition, we consider that the reputation of the pavilion’s curator, Syrlybek Bekbot, and the artists participating in the exhibition, who executed the installation’s dismantling, have been damaged as they, reportedly, could be subjected to administrative pressure. We hope that the team of pavilion creators will break the silence and explain the situation publicly.
Finally, the procedure of an open competition to curate Kazakhstan’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale, overseen by an international expert council of renowned curators, artists, and scientists, was damaged. The cultural community that initially perceived the open competition as progressive now questions its ethics amidst the censorship. Syrlybek Bekbota’s curatorial project “Qoñyr: Archive of Silence” was selected by the jury in a two-stage vote, and Asel Kadyrkhanova’s work was approved as an integral and important part of the pavilion. The selection of the expert commission was objective; no one exerted pressure or influence on the choice of the project. The idea of the winning curatorial project is a creative reflection on Kazakhstan’s centuries-long history, including the complex and rich events of the twentieth century. Some members of the expert council who signed this letter express their opposition to the withdrawal of Asel Kadyrkhanova’s Machine from the Kazakhstan pavilion at the Venice Biennale and are concerned about this censorship precedent, which they consider unacceptable.
This letter is a collective appeal of signatories, based on available public information, communications from participants in the process, and media materials. It is aimed at obtaining official explanations for the circumstances of what happened.
In summary, we demand:
1) An apology from the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the artist Asel Kadyrkhanova and the art public of Kazakhstan for acts that have the appearance of impermissible interference with freedom of creativity and censorship of artistic expression. The statement has to be made urgently, given that May 31, 2026 is a memorial day for victims of political repression and famine in Kazakhstan.
2) The restoration of the work of Asel Kadyrkhanova’s Machine in an originally approved and agreed form with the participation of the artist herself at Kazakhstan’s Venice Biennale pavilion. Covering the artist’s expenses for the trip to reassemble the work. We remind you that the Biennale will last until November 22.
3) Public coverage of the situation by the organizers and participants in the Kazakh pavilion “Qoñyr: Archive of Silence,” supported by convincing documentary evidence and testimonies about who made the decision to dismantle Kadyrkhanova’s work.
Separately, we consider it necessary to raise the issue of financial responsibility. Preparations for the Biennale have been carried out since February 2026; all funds for artists’ participation were allocated and spent. On the evening of May 5, the work was dismantled, reportedly by order of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan, or persons acting on behalf of the organizers of the pavilion, which obliged participants in the contest to provide transparent cost estimates. Please clarify who is administratively and financially responsible for the decision.
We also kindly ask the MIC to clarify how the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan plans to work with the Venice pavilion of Kazakhstan in the future and whether a special provision will be developed, outlining the rights and functions of all interested parties: ministries, artists, juries, art communities, as well as quasi-sector functions, i.e., companies that act as intermediaries in organizing such events.
Please be informed that this open letter has been translated into Kazakh and English and sent to Kazakhstani and international media to publicize the problem more widely.
See the list of signatories here. To add you own name, go here.
