KLEINE ORANGERIE: Family Resemblance
photo by Steffi Weissman
In the multimedia performance FAMILY RESEMBLANCE, Alexey reflects on two journeys
to Uzbekistan, taken more than 30 years apart. The first, a childhood trip in 1991 with his family
to the Soviet Tashkent, occurred during the final summer of the Soviet Union and also marked
the end of his childhood. The ensuing economic crisis deeply affected his family. A personal
tragedy — the loss of both his mother and father — unfolded in parallel with turbulent political
events. On the second trip in 2024, Alexey attempts to trace the roots of that catastrophe in his
memory, reconstructing emotions such as anxiety, longing for his mother, fear, and love for his
father.
In FAMILY RESEMBLANCE, Alexey maps the emotional landscape of his 1991 childhood
journey to Uzbekistan. Video projections of Uzbek landscapes and landmarks, along with
processed field recordings from the trip, serve as the framework for his vocal performance. He
combines original compositions, diary excerpts, and interpretations of songs to create an
autoethnographic space of memory. FAMILY RESEMBLANCE acknowledges that personal
remembrance is inseparable from the political. The work reveals how the comfort and security
promised by empire are ultimately illusory.
