• About the Event
• Workshop
• Location
• Costs and Tickets | Registration
• Cholpon Alamanova – Biography
• Image Gallery

In the LUNCH TALKS series, international artists, curators and other cultural professionals talk about their work, current challenges, and unconventional approaches to their exhibition and educational practice. After each talk, all guests are invited to a typical snacks and drinks from the respective countries presented.

Part of the festival programme 10 YEARS – 10 DAYS! to mark the 10th anniversary of Kunsthaus Dahlem

About the Event

Cholpon Alamanova, a textile artist from Kyrgyz Republic, will share her journey with kurak, a traditional Kyrgyz patchwork technique. Alongside this, she will lead a hands-on workshop on making brooches using fabric scraps.

The language of the event is English*.

Moderation: Yevheniia Havrylenko (Curator, Kunsthaus Dahlem)

* Selected sections of the conversation will be summarised in German.

Workshop

Workshop for young people and adults. The offer is aimed at English-speaking visitors; facilitated guidance in German can be provided upon request. Registration is requested.

In this hands-on workshop, participants will create unique brooches inspired by the traditional Kyrgyz use of safety pins (bulavkas) as protective objects. Led by an artist rooted in Kyrgyz heritage, the session offers a space for cultural exploration, inviting participants to discover the world of nomadic customs and their contemporary reappropriation through arts and crafts.

In Kyrgyz culture, shaped by nomadic life and pre-Islamic spiritual practices, objects such as amulets, charms, and tumar (protective pouches) have long played a role in everyday life. Mothers used to fasten safety pins to children’s clothing to guard them against the evil eye. Besides, because buttons were once considered a luxury, pins often doubled as fasteners, carrying both practical and symbolic weight. People would attach small personal or meaningful items to them – something they didn’t want to lose or something carrying emotional or spiritual significance. Sometimes, protective brooches contained hand-written messages or seeds sewn into fabric triangles, turning them into wearable vessels of intention.

During the workshop, you will learn to craft your own brooch-amulet from fabric. You will have the chance to enclose a personal message or object inside – just as traditional Kyrgyz charms did.

While working, we will reflect together on how different cultures express protection, care, and identity through handmade objects.

Location

Garden courtyard

Costs and Tickets | Registration

All anniversary events are free of charge for all visitors.

Registration is requested and can be completed HERE.

Cholpon Alamanova – Biography

Cholpon Alamanova is an internationally exhibited textile artist from Kyrgyzstan, working in the traditional technique of kurak – a patchwork art form where fabric scraps are crafted into functional and/or decorative pieces. She founded the School of Applied Arts in Bishkek and has been teaching the technique and philosophy behind Kyrgyz kurak since 2015. Since 2021, she has been developing EcoKurak – an initiative to turn fabric waste from sewing workshops into new textile compositions. Most recently, since 2023, she has been collaborating with the University of Central Asia on the Encyclopedia of Kyrgyz Kurak, travelling across the country to discover and document both traditional and contemporary examples of this unique art form.

Instagram: cholpon_kurak

IMAGE GALLERY