Alexandra Tsay

Based in Almaty, Kazakhstan and elsewhere, Alexandra Tsay is an independent curator and researcher interested in the conjunction between contemporary art and critical theory. Her research interests focus on the politics and aesthetics of contemporary art in transitional societies of Central Asia. Tsay has curated exhibitions and programmed festivals in Almaty.

Tsay is also a co-editor of the collective volume Stalinism in Kazakhstan: History, Memory, and Representation  (Lexington Books, 2021). During her Spring 2017 fellowship at George Washington University, Tsay explored contemporary art as a cultural public sphere and space for alternative narratives in Kazakhstan, and her paper ‘Contemporary Art as a Public Forum in Kazakhstan’ was published in The Nazarbayev Generation: Youth in Kazakhstan  (Lexington Books, 2019).

During her residency at CHAT and in Hong Kong in 2021, Tsay researched both traditional and contemporary ornaments and representational fabrics from Central Asia and Hong Kong to explore the connections and similarities between distant geographic locales of Asia, and reflect on life forces that guide and shape the complex structures and social fabrics in both areas.