Born in Grozny in the midst of military conflict and political crisis, Aslan Gaisumov’s attempts to work with history, reconsider ambiguous events, document traumas, and develop a unique critical approach make him a rare and subtle observer of the destiny of the Chechen people. He aims not only to study his national context, but also to pose questions of a supranational and universal nature. Gaisumov’s Numbers (2015) is made up of house numbers of the type which existed in Grozny before the war. In bringing them together and arranging them on the wall, the artist does not try to dramatize the past or expressly criticize the present. The missing numbers and gaps speak for themselves, making it clear what history has taken away.

Aslan Gaisumov (b. 1991, Grozny, Russia) lives and works in Grozny. He graduated from the Institute of Contemporary Art, Moscow in 2012. Solo exhibitions include: People of No Consequence, M HKA, Antwerp, (2016); Memory Belongs to the Stones, Kromus + Zink, Berlin (2015); When You Ride in a Chechen Cart, Sing a Chechen Song, Contemporary Art Center, Grozny (2015); and Untitled (War), Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow (2011). Group exhibitions include: Uncertain States, Academy of Arts, Berlin (2016); Lines of Tangency, Museum of Fine Arts MSK, Ghent (2015–2016); Glasstress Gotika 56th Venice Biennale, Venice (2015); Austeria, BWA SOKOL Gallery of Contemporary Art, Nowy Sącz (2015); The World in 2015, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2015); Burning News: Recent Art from Russia, Hayward Gallery, London (2014); 5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow (2013); I Am Who I Am, Kunst im Tunnel, Dusseldorf (2012); and 3rd Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Moscow (2012). He has been awarded the Innovation Prize (Russia, 2016) and the Future Generation Art Prize (Ukraine, 2014).