According to Central Asian legend, one day a young woman vanished and turned into the planet Venus, the bright morning star that continues to this day to make women’s wishes come true. In a breath-taking video installation, Saodat Ismailova knits together images, text, and sound into a polyphonic experience of time and matriarchal history. Where intimate personal recollections coincide with collective historical memory, ‘Zukhra’ touches on themes that include grief, the dissolution of boundaries and the history of women’s liberation in Central Asia. Resting on traditional Uzbek mattresses, we see a woman sleeping, hear her heartbeat and sounds from her past. This emblematic image of the sleeper, the dreamer, which gradually disappears opens a journey through the artistic dream worlds of the Incubation Pod.

On July 1 at 4:30 PM, artists Saodat Ismailova and Apichatpong Weerasethakul will meet in conversation at Museum Angewandte Kunst.

“Zukhra” is part of the curated art program “Incubation Pod. Dreaming worlds” at the Museum Angewandte Kunst, which gathers different artistic ideas, spaces and worlds in the form of interactive installations, virtual realities and performances. The whole program and tickets are available here.

Photo: © Carlos Casas