Residency as a Method, a lecture and discussion about international artist residencies and cultural exchange

Almaty Museum of Arts will host an event dedicated to international artist residencies and cultural exchange, organized with the support of the French Embassy in Kazakhstan. Cité internationale des arts in Paris - the world’s largest artist residency center - will be presented by its Director, Bénédicte Alliot, who will introduce the residency programmes and opportunities for artists and curators from Kazakhstan. In dialogue with this framework, Jama Nurkalieva and Alima Kairat will present the Scholar in Residency programme, organized at the Tselinny Centre for Contemporary Culture. Offering a more focused, research-based perspective, artist Aïda Adilbek will share insights from her recent residency at the Cité.

In 2023, during a sound art residency at Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, Aïda encountered a dombyra - a Kazakh musical instrument - in the collection of the museum. It carried a label indicating that it was made in a factory in the 1960s in the Karaganda region. In autumn 2025, during her residency at the Cité, she continued her research on this object, tracing its origins, its arrival in France, and broader histories of cultural production in Central Asia during the Soviet period. During the event, Aïda will present an excerpt from her sound installation Ton dernier repos sera bercé par des chants (2024), made during the residency at Musée du Quai Branly, alongside the current state of her research on the history of dombyra.

The event is aimed at artists, curators, and cultural practitioners interested in international mobility, research, and professional development. The residency model will be introduced as a platform for artistic research, where new ideas can be tested, while opening a conversation about future collaborations between Kazakhstan and the Cité internationale des arts. The discussion will also address practical questions: How can one apply for a residency? How does it shape an artist’s career? What new possibilities emerge through residencies that may not be accessible within one’s own context?