Fund Forum projects fetch Top Art 2011 Award

January 30, 2012

The Fund Forum, whose activities are aimed at developing Uzbek fine art and supporting young talented people, has been honored with a Top Art 2011 Award that singles out leading art specialists and major cultural events in the outgoing year. Fund Forum projects and those who have contributed to them have been recognized as the best in various categories.

Two major projects overseen by the Fund Forum – Style.Uz Art Week 2011 and the 6th Tashkent International Biennale of Contemporary Art – have been recognized as the best art projects. These two projects have been given the goal of boosting international cultural exchange and supporting young artists. Thus, the Biennale Director, Sardor Babayev, a young art historian and member of Kelajak ovozi (Voice of the future) YIC, has been chosen as the winner of Top Art 2011 in the category “Curator of the Year”.

The list of leading art and photo exhibition in Uzbekistan includes: “Tokyo at 100” Photo Exhibition held at Tashkent House of Photography as part of Style.Uz Art Week 2011 and “Dedication to Holy Bukhara”, an exhibition of works by Japanese calligrapher Fuad Kouichi Honda held as part of Asrlar sadosi (Echo of centuries) Festival of Traditional Culture in Bukhara in April 2011.

Among the best artistic exhibitions organized abroad is the 15th International Art Salon 2011 “Artist. City” held in March last year in Moscow. The participation by Uzbek artists in the said exhibition was organized by the Fund Forum, the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Russia, the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan and the International Confederation of Artist Unions.

Among the award-winning solo exhibitions is the art show dedicated to the 90th anniversary of late artist Rahim Akhmedov, a People’s Artist of Uzbekistan, held at Tashkent’s Gallery of Fine Art in December last year. On display were over 200 works: portraits, landscapes, still-lifes, etudes and sketches.

Photo album “Fund Forum presents Uzbekistan” published in 2011 has been judged as one of the best editions about Uzbek art. The international publishing project, which involved photographers, ethnographers and designers from France, Italy and Uzbekistan, features colorful photos that reflect the history, culture, ethnography and traditions of Uzbekistan.

The Top Art Award has been bestowed annually by the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan since 2007. Top Art is a sort of a forum of media workers and art specialists who engage in a constructive dialog. Annually, a series of Fund Forum projects are recognized as leading in various categories.