Uzbekistan to Launch Its Own Art Biennial in 2025

Uzbekistan typically isn’t the first destination on art radars, but the Central Asian country will soon play host to its own biennial in 2025, drawing in a number of local and world-renowned artists, including Sir Antony Gormley and Himali Singh Soin to Aziza Azim and Behzod Boltaev.

Los Angeles-based curator Diana Campbell will organize the inaugural edition of the Bukhara Biennial, who brings over a decade of experience — having helmed the role of artistic director of the Dhaka Art Summit since 2013, as well as working on exhibitions across Europe, Asia and the Americas. “For centuries, religious and cultural traditions from all corners of the world have commingled in Bukhara, resulting in a rich atmosphere of learning, craft and artistic production,” Campbell said in a statement. “It has always been a place where people came together to find togetherness in the quest for a more meaningful life through a search for spiritual, intellectual and worldly knowledge.”

Entitled Recipes for Broken Hearts, the first edition of the Bukhara Biennial will be centered around the theme of healing and spotlight Uzbekistan’s rich culinary, architectural and craftsmanship history. Moreover, the event seeks to revitalize many of Uzbekistan’s cultural sites for a modern audience, “bringing them back into the pulse of life of the city through an interdisciplinary event which goes beyond the traditional notions of an art biennial,” Campbell added.

The first Bukhara Biennial will launch in 2025.