Abstract
This article provides an analysis of tricksterism as both an ideological strategy and an aesthetic principle within the art practices of notable contemporary Kazakh artists of the late twentieth century, namely, Ziyakhan Shaigyldinov (Shay Ziya, 1950–2000), Sergey Maslov (1952–2002), and Vadim Ganzha (b. 1956). The author observes that post-Soviet tricksterism, which is still evident in the cultural landscape of the former Soviet republics, emerged as a natural response to the prevailing social conditions of the time. The article describes the distinctiveness of the emergence and evolution of tricksterism in Kazakhstan. It discusses how this phenomenon manifested in the post-Soviet era through contemporary art forms, which combined social commentary with the text-centric aesthetics typical of Soviet protest practices. This topic has not yet been the focus of any cultural anthropological analysis. The author delineates the fundamental characteristics of art tricksterism, encompassing protest ideology and the centrality of text and literature in the aesthetic structuring of artistic actions. In numerous respects, the artistic practices of the representatives of the movement chronologically align with the development of the post-avant-garde period and, most significantly, echo the aesthetics of postmodernism. For the first time, Kazakh artists employed a novel language to discuss time and their identity within the sociocultural practice of the country. In this language, the rhetoric of social expression gained prominence alongside the innovative and aesthetically sophisticated deconstruction of the Soviet linguistic framework. A notable aspect of the Kazakh tricksters’ art practice involved the parody of “state” texts, including party manifestos, official statements, and instructions. According to the author, among the various local manifestations of tricksterism in the post-Soviet realm, the contributions of Kazakh artists are the most distinguished by their originality, intermediality in their execution, and discernible predictive implications.