Day: August 29, 2025

This autumn, the ancient Silk Road city of Bukhara is poised to reemerge as a global cultural destination, hosting its first-ever international art biennale, Recipes for Broken Hearts.

Running from September 5 to November 20, the ten-week festival will transform Bukhara, a UNESCO Creative City, into a vibrant arena for contemporary art, community rituals, and culinary experiences. The initiative is spearheaded by Gayane Umerova, chair of the Uzbekistan Arts and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF), with renowned curator Diana Campbell at the helm.

More than 70 new works, created in Uzbekistan, will be displayed in historic madrasas and caravanserais, reimagined as immersive exhibition spaces. The event promises to be among the region’s largest cultural gatherings, aiming to reclaim Bukhara’s place on the global cultural map.

Not Just an Exhibition, A Sensory Ritual

Recipes for Broken Hearts is not a traditional exhibition. Designed as a “ritual for the senses,” it invites audiences to engage with art not just visually but through touch, scent, sound, and taste. Sculptures, textiles, music, and food converge into an experimental space for “emotional healing.”

Visitors become participants rather than spectators. At the opening ceremony, instead of a red carpet, guests will be welcomed by the scent of fermentation. Korean Buddhist nun and chef Jeon Kwan will prepare kimchi, place it in a clay pot, and bury it. Ten weeks later, the fermented dish will be unearthed and shared with the public, symbolizing transformation and healing through time.

A Dialogue Between Cultures

The biennale’s installations span a wide geographic and cultural range. Egyptian-American artist Laila Gohar will craft navata, a crystal made from grape juice and saffron. Colombian artist Delcy Morelos will construct a dome of clay, sand, and spices to symbolize human connection to the earth. Uzbek artist Oizhon Khairullaeva and ceramist Abdurauf Tahirov will create “organs of the city,” including a beating ceramic heart and a “stomach” integrated into historic architecture. Indian sculptor Subodh Gupta will build a giant dome from enamel teapots and bowls, shaped like a yurt, where guests will be served fusion cuisine.

Central to the project is the in situ approach: every piece is created in Bukhara with the support of local artisans, potters, weavers, and carpet makers, infusing contemporary works with traditional skills. “This isn’t an art fair,” explain the curators. “Each piece speaks from this land, even if the whole world sees it.”

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Bukhara as a Living Gallery

Festival venues are dispersed throughout Bukhara’s historic core, effectively turning the city into an open-air gallery. Four restored caravanserais symbolize the emotional journey from grief to hope. The 16th-century Gavkushon madrasa, repurposed as the “House of Softness,” will host workshops, public readings, and a symposium titled The Craft of Mending. There, artists and scholars will explore the “culture of repair”, from object restoration to the preservation of historical memory.

“Erasing history is also a form of pain. Restoration is resistance to oblivion,” notes Harvard-based art historian Aziza Izamova. Concurrently, Bukhara will host a curatorial workshop for emerging professionals from across Asia, focused on creating new, future-forward art projects.

Music, Food, and Collective Healing

Music will serve as a thread connecting the biennale’s events. At every full moon, the city will resonate with the sounds of the karnaim, a traditional Uzbek horn believed to summon water in the desert. These performances, blending local ritual with environmental commentary, are led by the duo Himali Singh Soyin and David Soyin Tappezier. They will be joined by the Bukhara Philharmonic Orchestra and experimental musicians like Lebanese sound artist Tarek Atoui, who fuses Arabic and Central Asian motifs.

In the final week, the Rice Culture Festival will take place outdoors, showcasing global rice-based dishes: Uzbek plov, Spanish paella, Indian pulao, and West African jollof. These meals will be cooked live and accompanied by stories and songs. “This isn’t about haute cuisine,” explains curator Saodat Umerova. “It’s about gathering, healing, and preserving memory through food.”

A Cultural Breakthrough for Central Asia

More than a local event, the Bukhara Biennale is being hailed as a milestone for Central Asia. Kazakh art historian Raushan Kazbaeva told The Times of Central Asia: “We’ve long awaited a cultural initiative of this scale in our region. That it begins in Bukhara, a historic bridge between East and West, is fitting. This biennale shows that contemporary art is deeply rooted in everyday culture and offers a new language for Central Asia to engage with the world.”

Kazbaeva added that the project helps shift international perceptions of the region, historically seen only through geopolitical or economic lenses. “Now we’re proving that world-class art is being made here, and our artists can shape global conversations.”

She believes Uzbekistan’s lead may inspire neighboring countries to develop similar platforms, art forums, festivals, and residencies that strengthen cultural identity and promote regional collaboration. “The more such initiatives emerge, the stronger Central Asia’s cultural authority will become,” she concluded.

A City Ready to Welcome the World

Bukhara is preparing for an influx of international visitors. The city is accessible by high-speed train from Tashkent and Samarkand, and its UNESCO-listed old town offers boutique hotels and guesthouses nestled among historic streets.