Upcoming Biennale to offer variety of art projects

August 18, 2011

A press conference at the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan on August 18 focused on the upcoming 6th Tashkent International Biennale of Contemporary Art to be held on October 23-29 as part of the annual “Style.Uz” Art Week. The organizers – the Fund Forum, the Academy of Arts and the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Uzbekistan – have dubbed the upcoming event “Contemporary Art: Artist’s Space and Society”.

The conference panel included the Minister of Culture and Sports, Tursunali Kuziyev, the Chairman of the Academy of Arts, Jalolitdin Mirtojiyev, academician and doctor of arts Akbar Hakimov, and the Director of Goethe-Institut in Tashkent, Dr. Johannes Dahl.

The upcoming Biennale promises to be a spectacular and memorable event as it will abound with interesting projects by prominent artists and art critics from many countries, including Austria, Brazil, the UK, the Netherlands, Greece, South Korea, Lebanon, Russia, the USA, Turkey, Japan, Saudi Arabia, China, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, Latvia, Israel, Argentina, Vietnam and Ukraine.

In keeping with tradition, the Biennale will take place as part of the annual “Style.Uz” Art Week. This, the press conference organizers have noted, will be a big advantage and provide more opportunities for the participants of and visitors to the Tashkent Biennale. As previous occasions have shown, it fits in perfectly with the Art Week and serves as a crossroads for diverse types of contemporary art.

The organization of such important and large-scale exhibitions has become a tradition associated with Tashkent and transformed the city into a major center for contemporary art. As Uzbekistan is poised to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its independence, the upcoming art forum has profound symbolic implications. By gaining its independence, Uzbekistan drastically changed its image and the contents of its national art as well as shedding previous ideological taboos and giving impetus to the free creative self-expression of art professionals.

The press conference panel noted that one particular feature of the preparations for the Biennale is that the board of directors includes young but promising artists and art critics who have come up with serious projects.

The Biennale events will be hosted by several venues in Tashkent such as the Youth Creativity Palace, the Gallery of Fine Arts of Uzbekistan, the Central Showroom of the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan, International Caravanserai, Tashkent House of Photography, the Museum of Applied Art and the State Museum of Arts.

According to the organizers, the experimental exhibition “Central Asian Region 2011”, curated by Sarah Reza (UK), will draw particular interest from visitors.

The tentative agenda of the Biennale includes the following events:

• Project “Aesthetics of Hedonism: Food, Body, Soul”;
• “The World of Fabergé” art show, with support from the House of Fabergé (London).
• Solo exhibition of world-famous artist and photographer Igor Vishnyakov (Russia);
• “Central Asian Region 2011. Exhibition curator: Sarah Reza (UK);
• Retrospective project “The harsh style of Otto Dix”, with support from Goethe-Institut Tashkent;
• Project “The Jug as a Form of Spatial Thought”;
• Project “Uzbek fabrics: Graphic artist and retromodern graphics”;
• Photo exhibition of staged plays based on works by German classical writers”

The events which will present works by world-famous photographers, artists and sculptors are open to everyone. Admission is free.

The Biennale will also include a scientific conference titled “The End or Transformation of Multiculturalism: the Biennale Space”.