AZIZA KADYRI
Multidisciplinary Artist
I am a London-based Uzbek multidisciplinary artist working across textiles, sculpture, new technologies, experimental costume and performance practices.
My artistic approach is characterised by a fusion of collaboration and interdisciplinary methodologies that drive the creation of both physical and digital immersive experiences. Central to my practice is a deep-seated interest in participatory practices within local communities. This interest has led me to co-found Qizlar, a self-organised grassroots collective firmly grounded in principles of interdisciplinarity and intersectionality, as well as enacting social change.
In my projects, I explore a diverse array of themes, including migration, displacement, social invisibility, identity, decolonisation, feminism, and loss of language. These themes serve as focal points for my work, each offering a lens through which I examine societal dynamics and experiences of women within Central Asia and diaspora.
I am intrigued by the potential of XR/AR/VR and AI technologies to enrich artistic research, edutainment, and socially engaged practices. I seek to understand and harness the capabilities of these tools to facilitate deeper engagement and interaction within artistic, activist and cultural contexts.
In parallel, I dedicate myself to researching and experimenting with innovative ways of interacting with cultural heritage, particularly textiles and costume – media that have been traditionally labelled as ‘feminine’. Leveraging the latest technological advancements to reimagine traditional narratives and practices, I transform them to be more relevant to our contemporary experiences, and engage in a process of alternative mythmaking.
gallery enquiries: agnieszka @ east-contemporary.org
artist and portfolio enquiries: aziza @ azizakadyri.com
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS & PROJECTS
2025
(upcoming) Stories We Carry, Associazione Barriera, Turin, IT
(upcoming) Solo exhibition, Somerset House, London, UK
(upcoming) Making Kin, Asian Art Museum, Humboldt Forum, Berlin, DE
Recipes for Broken Hearts, Bukhara Biennial, Bukhara, UZ
Re-Constellations, 5th Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, CN
Spectral Drift, Audra Festival, National M. K. Čiurlionis Art Museum, Kaunas, LT
Subject to Change, Gazelli Art House, London, UK
Bild und Macht. Zeppelinfotografie im Fokus (commission), Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen, DE
Genius Loci: Notes on Places by Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, consisting of:
Beauty and Ugliness, Industriehof Speyer, Speyer, DE
Big Screen Film Programme, Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea, UK
2024
Don’t Miss the Cue, Uzbekistan National Pavilion, 60th Venice Biennale, Venice, IT
Soft Data (solo), eastcontemporary, Milan, IT
Swaying the Current, Zilberman, Berlin, DE
You are here. Central Asia, Fondazione Elpis, Milan, IT (As part of Qizlar)
Spinning Tales (solo), Pushkin House, London, UK
ECHO, The Lab at Oaklands Rise, London, UK
2023
Her Stage (I), Stihia Festival, Navoi Region, UZ
9 Moons, Өmə, nGbK & Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, DE
9 Moons: imagined archives, TAEX platform, London, UK
Ciné Moon Mobile, D’EST/District * School without Center, Berlin, DE
2022
Museum of Moscow’s Subconscious, Athens Digital Arts Festival, Athens, GR
2021
De-canon, Sevkabel port, Saint Petersburg, RU
Android walks into a bar, Centre of Theater Mastership, Nizhny Novgorod, RU
Augmenting the shopping centre. Experiencing the Museum, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, RU
De-canon, New Skin: The Myth of a Technological Body, Sevkabel port, Saint Petersburg, RU
Body-Gap-Garment-Gap-Room, DECODING THE HABITUAL Symposium, 6th Tallinn Photomonth Biennial, Tallinn, EE
Urban.XYZ, MTS.Live Augmented reality theatre, various locations, RU
Over there, Praktika Theatre, Moscow, RU
OUTSIDE, Ermolova Theatre, Moscow, RU
Beyond the wind, Petr Fomenko Workshop theatre, Moscow, RU
Homeward, Evripideio Theatro Rematias, Athens, GR
RESIDENCIES & AWARDS
2024-2025
Gold Medal at the 18th International Triennial of Textile, PL
Bow Arts Soho Connections Residency, UK
Creative Technologies Fellowship Recipient and Resident at Somerset House Studios in partnership with UAL Creative Computing Institute (CCI), UK
Delfina Foundation UK Associate, UK
2022
Auggie Award for Best Campaign, AWE USA
1st Place, Workshops Category, Athens Digital Arts Festival
2021
Winner, NOVA ART 8 Contest, Anna Nova Gallery
Feminist Translocalities Residency, RU
2020
IZOLYATSIA. Platform for Cultural Initiatives, Landscape as a Monument Residency, UA
Artigit'l Residency, UK
Inteatro - Villa Nappi Polverigi, IT
2019
Stiftung Reinbeckhallen, DE
TALKS & WORKSHOPS
2025
Getting Under My Skin: Stelarc, Mónica Rikić, Aziza Kadyri, CIFRA, UAE
Proposals, Prompts and Speculations Symposium, UAL: Chelsea College of Arts, UK
Formations: In Conversation with Aziza Kadyri and Francesca Stocco, Bonington Gallery, UK
Grounding Practice: Louis Morlæ & Aziza Kadyri, Somerset House, UK
Stitching Luck: Talisman Crafting, Croydon Council, UK
Systems Overhaul: Disrupting the System, Architectural Association, UK
Gallery and Exhibition Design, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
Break Down and Stitch Up, Toneelacademie Maastricht, NL
Soft Techne: Crafting Futures. A conversation with Dr Vivek Gupta, Delfina Foundation, UK
Don’t Miss the Spin: Tales of Transcultural Geography, Women’s Agency and Intermedia Patterns. A conversation with Alyce Mahon, Pushkin House, UK
2024
Digital Activism in Grassroots Action, UAL: London College of Communication, UK
Suzani Reimagined, Victoria & Albert Museum, UK
Ha’m-neshini hosted by Morehshin Allahyari, Victoria & Albert Museum, UK
Break Down and Stitch Up, Critical Infrastructures and Image Politics (CIIP), UK
Monuments, Digital Activism, AR and Photogrammetry, Winchester School of Art, UK
Storyboarding for Costume Design, UAL: London College of Fashion, UK
Detours on Memory Lane Workshop, Pushkin House, UK
Confronting Mediocracy: Creative Agencies Pushing the Boundaries, 4th World Conference on Creative Economy, UZ
Re-practice Laboratory, Tselinny Center, KZ
Reimagining suzani with AI and AR, La Biennale, IT
2023
Digital Activism in XR, FemAgora Central Asia, KZ
Performative spaces of extended reality, Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, Prague, CZ
2022
AR in Activism, 139 Documentary Center, UZ
Digital and AR fashion, 139 Documentary Center, UZ
2021
AR as a Medium for Social Commentary, Athens Digital Arts Festival, GR
AR for Cyberfeminism, FemAgora Central Asia, KZ
PUBLICATIONS
2024
Don’t Miss The Cue, Exhibition catalogue
RARE Visions of Performance Design and Scenography, Theatralia: Journal of Theatre Studies, vol. 27, no. 1 (Guest editor)
COLLECTIONS
Friedrichshafen City / Zeppelin Museum
Private Collections
EDUCATION
2018-2020 MA Performance Design & Practice, Central Saint Martins, London, UK
2013-2017 BA Fashion Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing, CN