The Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture will open at a new permanent home in the 1964 Tselinny cinema, formerly the largest Soviet cinema in Central Asia, in a project overseen by British architect Asif Khan.
Work on the development started in 2018, with the space now able to accommodate local and international exhibitions, stage performances and other public events.
The original building’s structure was found to be unsafe, but many parts of the concrete frame and massing could be strengthened.
The same goes for the original large sgraffito, which was discovered hidden behind plasterboard, depicting idealised versions of traditional Kazakh life by Russian-born artist Evgeny Sidorkin and has been preserved and will now act as a backdrop in the entrance foyer.
The foyer has a new concrete envelope which also reimagines Sidorkin’s imagery, but points to Kazakhstan’s future.
An auditorium with an 18m-high ceiling will be at the centre of the building with its reconstructed wings containing a capsule gallery, learning studio, library, bookshop and offices.
A glass “ribbon” of windows wrap the auditorium at ground level, also connecting to Nikolsky Park.
A terrace and a rooftop restaurant will be built at the crown.
The glass entrance façade is described in a press release sent to GCR as a “porous cloud-like form meeting the ground”, which references the meeting of spirits of Teng (sky) and Umai (earth) in nomadic cosmology.
Asif Khan, said: “Over seven years of work, I’ve reflected on how we confront the legacy of past ideologies that shaped our cities. My goal isn’t to simply renovate Soviet remnants but to uncover a Tselinny that never was, enabling a future defined by the next generation of artists and audiences.”
Kairat Boranbayev, Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture’s founder, said: “Tselinny is an experimental institution, whose flexibility allows the exploration of different, multidisciplinary directions and which provides programme both for the public and a professional audience.
“We look forward to Tselinny making significant and positive contributions to the development of contemporary culture in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.”
The Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture is due to open to the public in April 2025.
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