In 2025, we presented the history of the G. Aitiev Kyrgyz National Museum of Fine Arts in a multimedia exhibition called ‘Museal-90: History Within’. In this new chapter, we offer a different perspective, asserting that the history of our museum is, above all, the history of women throughout history. It is the daily, often invisible labour, emotional engagement and professional resilience of women that formed the foundation of one of the country’s most important art institutions.

A View from Within

This time, it is the museum employees who act as both the subjects and the objects of the research. As active participants, we observe and contribute to the process of history-making every day. We approach the word ‘muse’, so popular in the art world, with irony: not a passive source of inspiration, but an active, vibrant and creative custodian of art.

amused / bemused / confused – a play on words reflecting the ambivalence of the museum experience and the states that accompany us over time:

• amused as the joy of encountering art, inspiration and humor of everyday work;
• bemused as reflects the bewilderment of navigating bureaucratic complexities, internal motivations, and external communications;
• confused as the difficulties of survival during periods of crisis and transformation, the experience of discrimination based on gender, age and social class, and the systemic undervaluation of women’s work.

The MUSEUM MUSES (Museal-91) exhibition consists of data art based on statistical data on staff, directors’ salaries, employees’ residential addresses, etc. The chronological framework ranges from 1935 to 2026. The archival section explores the “little man” within a large institution. Through handwritten autobiographies, applications for children’s kindergarten placements, and the personal files of technical staff, we see how the country’s vast history was refracted through the everyday needs of women. The central part of the exhibition, “Ookat, Ookat, Oh My God”, explores the sacralization of everyday objects belonging to female employees, as well as the microecology and microclimate of the museum.

The exhibition MUSEUM MUSES (Museale-91) is a subjective reflection on the museum environment, where we bring women out of the shadows of collections and exhibitions and onto the main stage, making their voice, everyday life, and resistance to circumstances the central subject of art.

The exhibition features artworks from the Museal-90 exhibition by Adel Ismailkhanova and Sergey Khegay.

The exhibition features documents and photographs from the archives of the G. Aitiev Kyrgyz National Museum of Fine Arts, Central State Archive, Central State Archive of Film, Photo, and Sound Documents.

The exhibition was created as part of the MAJIC project with the support of the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme.