Lighter Than The Words We Share

Museum commission for Image and Power. Zooming into Zeppelin Photography at Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen, DE

06/06/2025 - 12/04/2026


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In Lighter than the Words We Share (2025), commissioned by the Zeppelin Museum, Aziza Kadyri reimagines the Zeppelin airship not as industrial machinery but as a mythical figure suspended between memory and invention. Drawing on Persianate fables and the storytelling structure of Kalila wa-Dimna, the work blends archival images from the museum with Central Asian stories, symbols, and textile motifs. Through AI-driven animations and speculative narration, Kadyri invites viewers into a layered, dreamlike landscape. The installation reflects on how the Zeppelin’s story might have been imagined by those who never saw it firsthand, crafting a counter-narrative through absence and interpretation. It also honours the overlooked labour of women who stitched airship envelopes, connecting their craft to Uzbek collaborative traditions. Sculptural and interactive, the piece evokes a suspended world – part skeleton, part dreamscape – charged with memory, silence, and the possibility of reimagining forgotten histories.

Collaborators:

Digital Development: Mathieu Bissonnette

Metal workshop: Andreas Hafen

Image Credit: Bild und Macht. Zeppelin-Fotografie im Fokus, 2025 // Image and Power. Zooming into Zeppelin Photography © Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen, Foto Markus Tretter