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From November 5 to 20, 2025 in this creative city of UNESCO will receive an inaugural Binale Bukhara, Ten days of travel of contemporary art, communal rituals and gastronomic narratives. The named “recipes of cracked hearts”, Biennale turns the city of legends into a live stage, where sadness, memory and joy are redesigned with the help of food, music, poetry and crafts.
The curator of the international artistic personality of Diana Campbell and, on behalf of the Geans of Umarov, the president of the art and culture of Uzbekistan (ACDF), Biennale includes more than 70 orders created in Uzbekistan, activating Madresads and Madrasah.
“Bukhara in the past formed the world: thanks to knowledge, crafts and exchanges,” says Umarova. “This Biennale is a way to give her tools to do it again, through creativity and dialogue.”
This is not just a report. Touch ritual.
Instead of opening the red carpet or wall of the gallery, Biennale begins with the smell of fermentation. In the cafe, the Oshkozon, the Buddhist monk and the chef – the head of Zzhong Kwan will prepare Kimchi on the first day – just to break it again in ten weeks to get the last food, matured time and silence.
This is a metaphor for the event itself. “Recipes for cracked hearts” explores how time, delivery and care can be cured. Each element – from food to sculpture, fabrics and sound – is part of a wider experiment of emotional rehabilitation.
Diana Campbell, known for her work at the top of Dacca, calls it “a multi -speaking holiday, which has its roots in the spirit of hospitality and intellectual depth of Bukhara.” And he adds: “You do not just look at art. You feel it, you taste, you feel it in your hands and bones. ”
Salt and sugar in clay and code
Work covers various disciplines and geography. The Egyptian food artist Lyle Gohar creates memories through Navat, a traditional sugar crystal of saffron and grape juice. The Colombian artist Delcy Morelos produces a dome of soil, sand and spices. The Uzbek artist Ojjon Khairullaev, in cooperation with the ceramist Abduraf Takrov, produces mosaic organs – the stomach above the entrance to the cafeteria, lungs and hearts located throughout the city, which connect the spaces as part of the collective body.
And then there is Subodh Gupta, which re -uses enamel from traditional kitchens in a high dome in which guests eat dishes that connect India and Uzbekistan. “This is the collapse of the distance between countries, between branches, between people,” he says.
All projects are carried out in Uzbekistan, many in cooperation with local craftsmen. “It was not subject to reporting,” said Umarova. “We did not want an art exhibition. We wanted to talk about anything, even when it comes to the world. ”
In the center of Biennale lies the house of softness, the appeal of the 16th century Madras Gavkushon in public programs, children’s workshops and fairy tales. The artist and architect of the Cuti Reddi designed a protective roof inspired by the Uzbek Ikata, which throws motives in the yard.
Here, a three -day symposium entitled “The Art of Manufacturing” collects thinkers, historians and artists to explore the repair as a natural and political act. “Removing is a form of stupidity,” says Aziza Izamova, a scientist from the Uzbek in Harvard, who leads the event. “So, repairs, to remember, is an act of resistance.”
Young curators from all over Asia are also gathering in Bukhara for a seminar on how to appoint projects that do not yet exist. This is a suitable lesson for the city that will redo its future.
Music also flows into the Biennale veins. Each full moon will be marked by the ritual of the Karny ritual – a long Uzbek horn used at weddings to symbolically cause water in the desert. These performances under the leadership of Himali Singh Soin and David Sun Tapser are united by local traditions with a global environmental consciousness.
In another place, the Philharmonic Bukhara will cooperate with artists such as the Tares of Atua, combining the Arab and musical traditions of Central Asia. The weekly processions on the streets and spontaneous performances will revive the city with rhythm and memory.
Food is not a parallel program, it is the soul of Biennale. From the rituals of fermentation to nomadic grains, eating are designed to study losses, durability and affiliation. Uzbek chefs, such as Bahriddin of Superior and Pavel Georganov, will share dishes from memory, while invited chefs, such as Fatmata Binta from Sierra -Leon and Zuri Camille de Sawz from India, will connect Uzbeks of Goa.
Last week, a rice cultural festival with PLOV, Paella, Pulao and Jollof, prepared in rural areas, surrounded by stories and songs, is held. “This is not a high gastronomy,” says Umarova. “This is about how we are going, how we treat, as we recall – through food.”
Why a bouquet?
“Bukhara is not a scene,” says Umarova. “He is the main character.” For more than two millennia, the city was the center of spiritual, scientific and artistic exchanges. However, in the modern world of art, he still remained marginal.
Biennale is part of a wider national strategy for reintegriting of Uzbekistan in world cultural networks. With the support of the president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev ACDF launched rehabilitation projects, museums and creative platforms throughout the country and at the international level, including Kiosk in the Venice Biennale and EXPO 2025 in Osaka.
“This is not a soft power,” Umarova insists. “This is a structural force. Culture creates jobs. She forms the future. It creates an identity that is not reactive or nostalgic – but bright, generous and oriented to the future. ”
Bukhara is available by train at high speed from Tashkent and Samarkand, with boutiques of hotels and hostels between her architecture, which was described as UNESCO. Biennale is completely free and open to the public.
Foreign visitors can expect an exciting program in Uzbek, Russian and English, as well as a gastronomic scene where history is presented with each dish.
Advised additional information in the address Bukharabiennial.uz/en and on Instagram in @bukhara.biennialField