Asia Art Archive (AAA) and the Bishkek School of Contemporary Art (BiSCA) announce Mobile Library: Kyrgyzstan, which will run from April 2025 to June 2026. 

Mobile Library is a periodic initiative organised in partnership with cultural collaborators in different countries throughout Asia to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas. By circulating printed matter in the form of a travelling library and co-organising programmes that activate and respond to the materials, this project builds new possibilities to engage with art as a form of knowledge.

This year, Mobile Library is co-organised with the Bishkek School of Contemporary Art (BiSCA) and held in Kyrgyzstan. Travelling across Bishkek and Osh, a series of activations spanning research, discursive programmes, workshops, and curricula-building accompanies a selection of books. The initiative facilitates intercultural dialogue and practical learning in topics spanning society, ecology, textile arts, archiving, and pedagogy, and is offered to students, arts workers, and educators interested in learning about building art histories in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia, and Asia more broadly.

A bibliography of art writing in Kyrgyzstan and a curriculum documenting the art histories of Kyrgyzstan will be developed alongside Mobile Library’s programmes. Resources developed over the course of Mobile Library’s duration will be integrated into BiSCA curriculum, while the library materials will continue to remain publicly accessible.

Mobile Library: Kyrgyzstan is developed by the Bishkek School of Contemporary Art and Asia Art Archive, building on past editions in Nepal, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar.

Bishkek School of Contemporary Art (BiSCA) is a self-organised collective supporting contemporary art culture in Kyrgyzstan through exhibitions, research, art expeditions, festivals, educational programmes, and publications. Through the principles of circulation, accumulation, formation of knowledge, and its dissemination, BiSCA reflects on art and life, and creates spaces for exchange, archives, and socially engaged activities.  

Project Team
AAA
Susanna Chung
Samira Bose

BiSCA
Bermet Borubaeva
Oksana Kapishnikova
Sergei Khegai
Kanaiym Kydyralieva
Ravshan Ta Jing
Alima Tokmergenova
Diana Ukhina
Syinat Zholdosheva

Acquisitions
AAA
Gabrielle Chan
Siu Wan Chi

Mobile Library: Krygyzstan is generously supported by Virginia & Wellington Yee.