On the 17th of February the Winkleman Gallery in New York opens a one-month exhibition “Brooklyn Bridge”, the third solo exhibition by Kyrgyzstan-based artists and 2010 Prince Claus laureates Gulnara Kasmalieva and Muratbek Djumaliev.

With a new 6-channel video installation and a series of photographs, Kasmalieva and Djumaliev bring their signature poetic documentary-style focus to the issue of illegal immigration into Brooklyn’s large Russian-speaking neighborhoods from Central Asia’s former Soviet republics .

Gulnara Kasmalieva (1960, Bishkek) and Muratbek Djumaliev (1965, Bishkek) are cultural catalysts in the Central Asian region, which is in many respects a Zone of Silence. Their practice embodies the transition from a deeply rooted tradition of art making towards the use of contemporary languages. Kasmalieva and Djumaliev were awarded for their groundbreaking art practices, for their significant contribution to contemporary culture in Central Asia, for establishing a space of freedom and opportunity for young artists, and for creating original representations of the intersections of different realities.