About the Artists
Galim Madanov (1958–2025) and Zauresh Terekbay (b. 1964) worked together as a collaborative duo from 1995 until 2025. Based in Almaty, their collaborative practice moved across multiple media and formats and was exhibited widely across Central Asia, Europe, and the United States.
Galim Madanov (1958–2025)
Born in Alma-Ata, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. Lived and worked in Almaty, Kazakhstan
Galim Madanov trained at the Almaty Art College named after N.V. Gogol, graduating in 1977. In 1985, he completed his studies in art and costume design at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), Moscow, and in 2004 received a master’s degree in Cultural Studies from Al-Farabi Kazakh National University.
From 1977 onward, he worked in animation and later as a costume and set designer on a number of film productions at Kazakhfilm Studio, including Sultan Beibars (dir. B. Mansurov, 1987–90), among others. In his early paintings, he incorporated unconventional materials—including earth, sand, bronze, and cellophane—to explore enduring metaphysical questions within both traditional and contemporary culture. Shaped in part by his background in cinema, his work brought together material experimentation, visual structure, and spatial thinking, gradually extending into installation and large-scale spatial projects.
Among his awards and grants were the prize for graphic art at the Zhiger Arts Festival (1989); laureate of the UNESCO world competition Achievements in the Arts (Paris, 1994); laureate of the UN-Habitat art competition marking the organization’s 50th anniversary (1995); the Award for Achievement in the Arts from the Union of Youth of Kazakhstan (1996); scholarships from the Union of Artists of the USSR (Moscow, 1989–91) and a joint scholarship from the Henry Luce Foundation and the French Ministry of Culture (1993); and a diploma for contributions to world culture from the International Federation of Artists (Russia). From 1990, he was a member of the Union of Artists and the Union of Cinematographers of Kazakhstan.
Madanov belonged to the generation of artists who, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, developed new artistic forms and practices in Kazakhstan at a time when contemporary art had not yet acquired stable institutional support. Over more than four decades, his work was shown in Kazakhstan and internationally.
Zauresh Terekbay (1964)
Born in Alma-Ata, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. Lives and works in Almaty, Kazakhstan
Zauresh Terekbay studied at the Alma-Ata Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages from 1982 to 1989, and later continued her education in scriptwriting and arts management. She began working in film production at Kazakhfilm Studio from 1985-1987. Since 1992, she has been engaged in curatorial and organizational work, coordinating cultural initiatives and organizing exhibitions and art projects.
Collaboration
From 1995 until 2025, Galim Madanov and Zauresh Terekbay worked in collaboration. Their shared work focused on post-Soviet social and cultural reality, as well as changes in the visual environment, language, and collective experience. Their artistic process was grounded in sustained dialogue and in the gradual development of works through exchange and mutual continuation. Working across drawing, painting, collage, photography, video, and installation, they did not remain within a single medium.
Between 1995 and 2025, they participated in more than one hundred group exhibitions. Notable presentations include the 54th and 55th Venice Biennale (Central Asian Pavilion, 2011; Kazakhstan Independent Pavilion, 2013), Pera Museum (Istanbul), Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Strasbourg), Maraya Art Centre (Sharjah), Calvert 22 Foundation (London), Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), Centre d’Art Contemporain (Geneva), and the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), among others.
Works by Galim Madanov and Zauresh Terekbay are held in public and private collections in Kazakhstan and abroad.