A captivating installation has recently made its debut, featuring a blend of video and textile art that highlights significant historical sites in Kazakhstan. Titled Posthuman Matter: The Map of Nomadizing Reimaginings #3, this large-scale project by photographer and multimedia artist Almagul Menlibayeva showcases looping footage of salt lakes, steppe villages, and neglected nuclear testing grounds. Above, a handwoven textile map, created by Kazakh artisans, depicts twelve critical locations, each aligned with the corresponding videos displayed below.
Unveiled at the VRHAM! Digital & Immersive Art Biennale held in Hamburg, Germany, this work is part of Menlibayeva’s ongoing exploration of “cyber textiles.” This compelling combination of craftsmanship and digital technology reimagines the cartography of Central Asia, revitalizing locations with histories and traditions that have been largely forgotten. The tapestry is hand-crafted, while the videos they portray are a mix of authentic and replicated footage, enhanced using AI to reflect feminist rituals, nomadic narratives, and echoes of endangered languages.
Menlibayeva’s engagement with artificial intelligence stems from a broader investigation into history, loss, and the various systems that dictate how narratives are preserved or overlooked. Rather than viewing AI simply as a tool, she perceives it as a domain filled with power dynamics and opportunities for change. “My interest in artificial intelligence is perhaps influenced by the traumatic experiences of Kazakh nomads,” she reflects, highlighting the impact of Soviet-era collectivization on her ancestors’ traditional ways of living, disguised as technological advancement.
With her roots in Kazakhstan and training within the Soviet art system, Menlibayeva draws upon her education in folk textiles and Russian futurism. This foundation is evident in her multifaceted works, which have traditionally revolved around photography and multichannel video installations. Since 2022, she has integrated AI into her practice, marking a significant shift in her long-standing focus on themes related to cultural survival, historical erasure, and ecological trauma. Through her work, Menlibayeva interrogates the lasting effects of Soviet rule in Central Asia, resurrecting Indigenous and nomadic narratives long obscured by imperialism.
AI Realism: Qantar 2022 marked Menlibayeva’s initial venture into using AI, showcasing her ability to construct counter-narratives. This project arose in response to the January protests in Kazakhstan, where mass demonstrations were met with violent state repression and subsequent censorship from the national media. It creates a synthetic memory landscape anchored in shared trauma. The implementation of an internet blackout during the protests left a significant information void across the nation.
In the face of this information blockade, Menlibayeva collected personal narratives from social media and friends, pulling out key phrases in Kazakh and Russian, alongside voice messages captured through landlines and mobile networks. These fragments became the foundation for AI Realism: Qantar 2022. “The political events compelled me to explore this theme, especially as communication was severely restricted at the time,” she explains. “Using audio messages provided crucial words to visualize this work.”
Utilizing text-to-image and voice-to-image technologies via Google Colab, Menlibayeva curated a series of AI-generated visuals from those community-sourced stories. The output, which consists of a 24-minute video and a collection of evocative still images, presents a nonlinear narrative that powerfully addresses the suppression of these events. “I knew those events would fade from public memory, either through neglect or intentional erasure,” she remarks. “The spoken words of the people formed the backbone of this project, hence the title AI Realism.”
The image titled Search and Seizure. History of Kairat Sultanbek. Kazakh January (2022) presents a chaotic tableau of bloodied landscapes and fragmented figures, resisting conventional interpretation. “AI can have limitations, but errors in the system can lead to unique outcomes,” Menlibayeva observes. In AI Realism: Qantar 2022, these anomalies represent fractures in historical narratives, revealing the silences imposed by state violence and algorithmic biases.
Menlibayeva often begins her creative process with analog materials, such as her own photography or inherited textile designs. These elements undergo transformation with the aid of platforms like Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and Perplexity. For works involving video, tools such as Deforum, Runway, and Kaiber AI are incorporated, albeit with challenges. “My initial step is selecting effective prompts. Then, I choose the most appropriate platform tailored to the specific artistic vision. Each tool has distinct strengths, limitations, and inherent biases,” she explains.
Though some advocate for the democratizing aspects of AI technology, Menlibayeva approaches it with caution. “AI is a multifaceted tool that can both democratize and reinforce existing hierarchies,” she cautions, noting the influence of major corporations in controlling AI systems, which can dictate who holds power and access.
So, what motivates her use of these technologies? Menlibayeva suggests that AI does not genuinely create something original; it merely reflects what the available data allows. However, by incorporating her own imagery, legends, and archives, she perceives a potential to foster dialogue between algorithms and human history. “AI serves as both a tool and a distorted mirror, revealing the underlying codes, biases, and limitations of its creators,” she elaborates. “I engage with these biases deliberately, weaving my personal narratives throughout.”
For Menlibayeva, “humanizing AI” transcends the idea of teaching machines to replicate empathy. It entails embedding human experiences, memories, and resistance within their framework. In her artwork, AI becomes a conduit for reclaiming narratives often excluded from state archives and mainstream histories. “As an artist, my aim is to subvert this logic, shaping it to reflect human experiences. The task of humanizing AI falls to creators, not just programmers,” she asserts.
