"The Big Wash" in Ashgabat, or How AI Got on a Clothesline
The spring edition of the global creative flash mob "The Big Wash" became a vibrant event in the capital's cultural life, bringing together students from the French school MLF, course participants, and guests of the French Institute in Turkmenistan. The event transformed into a celebration of co-creation, where each participant had the opportunity to contribute to the creation of a large-scale outdoor art installation. Despite the vagaries of weather and rain, the organizers managed not only to hold the event, but also to create a truly warm, inspiring atmosphere in which personal expression harmoniously merged with collective creative impulse.
The "Big Wash" (La Grande Lessive) campaign was born in 2006 in France on the initiative of artist Joëlle Gontier. The project's main idea is to transform the mundane ritual of hanging laundry into an act of collective art. Twice a year, thousands of cities around the world hang A4-sized drawings on clotheslines using ordinary clothespins. This blurs the boundaries between professional and amateur artists, creating a unified cultural space.
This tradition has already taken root in Ashgabat. While the first events in the capital were intimate and took place primarily within the French school, the geography of the participants has expanded each year. In previous editions, the Ashgabat flash mob themes also inspired participants to reflect deeply: for example, while the 2022 project, "The Color of My Dreams," was remembered for its vibrant, almost surreal imagery, the autumn 2025 edition, themed "Day and Night," became a space where daytime worries met nighttime dreams.
This season, the central theme was the philosophical balancing act of words: "The Me-We Game." The original French phrase is "Le jeu de je-nous," which sounds similar to the word "genoux" (knees). This French pun became a source of inspiration: it allowed the authors to look at the familiar concepts of “I” and “we” from unexpected angles – through the metaphor of the knee joint as a symbol of flexibility, support, and a person’s ability to move towards another.
Many artists took the theme literally, dedicating their works to friendship, solidarity, and the search for a common "we." Other participants took the path of language deconstruction: using artificial intelligence, they created comical phrases beginning with "I" and "We," which were then transformed into ironic illustrations.
Due to the rainy spring weather, the traditional clotheslines on which the works are "dried" had to be stretched under awnings on the grounds of the MLF school and the French Institute. However, this only added to the coziness of the event. The exhibition vividly demonstrated the remarkable imagination and talent of the young artists, imbuing each drawing with sincerity and vivid imagery. By combining history, wordplay, and modern technology, the Ashgabat "Big Wash" once again proved that true creativity knows no boundaries, and art can warm even the gloomiest and rainiest day.
Ayna SHIROVA
