Architectural Memory of the Steppe: Gulnur Mukazhanova and the Giant Felt Installation at The Whitworth
The Whitworth, Manchester • November 20, 2026 – May 2, 2027 (Upcoming Exhibition)
Is it possible to construct the spatial memory of an entire nomadic geography by drawing from a tiny piece of fabric in a textile archive? The Whitworth gallery in Manchester pursues this very question with its inaugural Bagri Commission exhibition titled “The Manifold of Memory: Detail Within Detail,” set to open its doors next autumn. Kazakhstan-born artist Gulnur Mukazhanova prepares to pull the audience out of the conventional gallery layout and submerge them into an immersive environmental installation that focuses on the nomadic culture of the Central Asian steppes and the political history of the material.
More Than Craft: Felt as Shelter and Cosmology
At the center of Mukazhanova’s first museum exhibition in the United Kingdom stands a massive felt installation produced with inspiration from the Whitworth archive. For nomadic communities, felt is not merely a textile material or a craft product; it is simultaneously a home, armor against nature, and a cosmological symbol. This material—which sheltered families, protected belongings, and drifted across landscapes for centuries—transforms in Mukazhanova’s hands into a soft, sculptural, living organism whose form shifts as the viewer moves through the space.
Upon stepping inside the installation, the undulation of textures and the transition of colors offer the viewer a tactile spatial experience that transcends the boundaries of sight. Giving the sensation that forms grow organically from the past into the future, this work stands as the first fruit of a new partnership between the Whitworth and the Bagri Foundation, which aims to bring powerful international voices to Manchester. While demonstrating how textiles and traditional materials can transform into radical narrative tools in contemporary sculpture, Mukazhanova reinterprets the medium through its own cultural and philosophical roots.
Cultivating the Living Archive
The Bagri Commission 2026 proves how traditional crafts and cultural heritage can cease to be nostalgic elements within modern art practices, functioning instead as live instruments of interrogation. Mukazhanova’s monumental world of felt invites the viewer to notice the details on the surfaces of objects and to directly confront the historical layers carried by the material. Set to be experienced in Manchester next autumn, this exhibition will demonstrate once again how deep a social memory the textures and objects we pass by every day actually harbor.
Exhibition Details:
- Venue: The Whitworth, Manchester
- Artist: Gulnur Mukazhanova
- Exhibition Title: The Manifold of Memory: Detail Within Detail (The Inaugural Bagri Commission)
- Dates: November 20, 2026 – May 2, 2027 (Upcoming Exhibition)
- Institutional Partner: Bagri Foundation
