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Bukhara Biennial

Bukhara Biennial Sets 2027 Dates and Names New Artistic Director

Organizers of the Bukhara Biennial have announced key details of its second edition: the event will run from September 3 to November 21, 2027, with architect and designer Kulapat Yantrasast appointed artistic director. The announcement was made at the Fondation Beyeler during Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland, placing the Uzbek cultural project before an international art and museum audience. What Is Known About the 2027 Concept Yantrasast will succeed Diana Campbell, who curated the first edition in 2025. The biennial’s organizer remains Gayane Umerova, chairwoman of the Art and Culture Development Foundation of Uzbekistan (ACDF). In 2025, artists were paired with Uzbek master craftsmen. The 2027 format will expand that model by involving local ecologists, scientists, and economists. The central theme will be the connection between art, urban space, and sustainable development. Bukhara as Venue Biennial projects will be housed in restored caravanserais, madrasas, hammams, city squares, and other historic sites, some of which are expected to open to the public for the first time. The aim is to place contemporary art within Bukhara’s historic urban fabric. The city holds UNESCO Creative City status in crafts and folk art, giving the biennial a venue with international cultural recognition. [caption id="attachment_51635" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Image: bukharabiennial.uz[/caption] Who the New Artistic Director Is Kulapat Yantrasast studied architecture under Tadao Ando and founded the studio WHY Architecture in 2004. His recent projects include the reconstruction of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the ILMI Science and Innovation Center in Riyadh, and the Dib art museum in Bangkok. His studio is also working on the Department of Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art at the Louvre in Paris and the National Museum of India, which is expected to become the largest museum in the world. Yantrasast has previously worked with ACDF on When Apricots Blossom, shown at Milan Design Week in 2026. The First Edition The first Bukhara Biennial ran from September 5 to November 23, 2025, under the theme Recipes for Broken Hearts, curated by Diana Campbell. It drew 1.8 million visitors, more than half of them from Bukhara and other regions of Uzbekistan. Participating artists included Antony Gormley, Marina Perez Simão, Erika Verzutti, Subodh Gupta, Delcy Morelos, and Dana Awartani. [caption id="attachment_51636" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Image: bukharabiennial.uz[/caption] Part of a Wider Cultural Strategy The Bukhara Biennial forms part of a wider ACDF program to expand Uzbekistan’s cultural infrastructure. The foundation is overseeing the Center for Contemporary Art in Tashkent, due to open on September 6, 2026, and the National Museum of Uzbekistan, designed by Tadao Ando. ACDF has also formed an international advisory board for the biennial, with members including Chris Dercon and Michael Govan. [caption id="attachment_51637" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Image: bukharabiennial.uz[/caption] The Art Basel announcement suggests that Uzbekistan is positioning the biennial as a recurring international platform, while keeping Bukhara’s historic sites and local audiences at its center. In 2025, nearly two million people attended the event in the city’s restored historic spaces. For the 2027 edition, the challenge...

Art and Culture

Kanybek Kalmatov Interview: Kyrgyz Director Takes on Chinghiz Aitmatov

At 25, Kanybek Kalmatov is taking on a subject many older directors might have avoided: Chinghiz Aitmatov, Kyrgyzstan’s most internationally recognized writer and a figure deeply embedded in the country’s cultural identity. Kalmatov, a cinematographer and graduate of VGIK, the prestigious Moscow film school, is making his directorial debut with Aitmatov, billed as Kyrgyzstan’s first full-length feature film about the writer’s life and career. The project has already drawn attention beyond Kyrgyzstan, not least because Russian actor Sergey Bezrukov has joined the cast. For Kalmatov, the film is also personal. He first encountered Aitmatov as a schoolboy through The Little Soldier, and later found that even at film school in Moscow, Kyrgyzstan was often viewed through the writer’s name. Now, after months of research and nearly a year spent developing the screenplay, he says he is ready to take on a life that one film can only partly contain. The Times of Central Asia spoke with Kalmatov about why he chose a biopic rather than an adaptation, how he approached Aitmatov’s life at such a young age, and why he hopes the film will send younger viewers back to the writer’s books. TCA: You have chosen an ambitious project for your directorial debut. How did the film come about? Kanybek Kalmatov: Since childhood, there have been two stories I always dreamed of filming. The first is about my parents, because they have an incredible love story. The second is about Aitmatov. It wasn’t only his works that fascinated me. It was the scale of his personality, how determined he was and how many different things he managed to do at the same time. I fell in love with Aitmatov when I was about 12, after reading The Little Soldier. It’s about a boy whose father died in the war. Since then, Aitmatov’s works have always stayed with me. Even at VGIK, where I studied, people often saw me through that lens: “You’re from Kyrgyzstan? The homeland of Aitmatov?” For us, he’s not just a writer; he’s part of our cultural code. So I felt that, sooner or later, this film was bound to enter my life. TCA: Were you afraid the project might not work? Kanybek Kalmatov: No. Probably because I believe strongly in intention. Any big undertaking starts with that. If your motivation is right and you understand why you’re doing it, things begin to fall into place. From the start, my intention was pure. I never saw this film as a way to gain fame or prove something to anyone. I wanted to tell the story honestly of someone who means so much to our culture. TCA: Don’t you think one has to “grow into” Aitmatov first? Kanybek Kalmatov: There are topics you need to mature into. But if you wait for the perfect moment, you may never make anything at all. Maybe if I waited another 15 years, I would approach this story differently. Or maybe I’d never dare. Personally, I respect people who aren’t afraid...

Contemporary Ballet

Kazakhstan’s Astana Ballet Stages a Dance of Gold and Steppe Wind

The Astana Ballet hosted the premiere of Altyn Gul - The Secret of the Golden Tulip, a production that has drawn attention in the art community. In the new performance, archaeology and national mythology meet contemporary choreography in a single stage narrative. The theater’s chief choreographer, Abubakhrieva Mukaram Saidakimovna, known professionally as Mukaram Avakhri, an Honored Worker of Kazakhstan, turned to one of the most recognizable symbols of the Kazakh steppe, the wild tulip, transforming it into a metaphor for memory, continuity, and the search for identity. From the first minutes, the audience was captivated by the beauty of the music, costumes, and dance. A spectacle unfolded on stage, with warriors in red and gold armor marching into battle, followed by beautiful beings of the steppe whose forms seemed to shift between nymphs and flowers. The starting point for the performance was a real archaeological artifact, a gold plaque from the 3rd-2nd centuries BCE depicting a tulip, found in the Tenlik burial mounds. This small object of ancient jewelry became more than a museum discovery. It offered a way to reflect on how natural symbols survive through the ages and remain preserved in a people’s cultural memory. At the center of the story is a master jeweler, a young man named Zerger, who is inspired by the beauty of the steppe flower. The image of the tulip he creates gradually becomes a symbol of beauty, harmony, and the creative power of nature. Yet Altyn Gul is less a historical reconstruction than a philosophical parable. The protagonist’s path unfolds as an inner journey filled with symbolic trials and discoveries, while the tulip accompanying him gradually reveals itself as a sign of renewal, continuity, and the bond between human beings and the world around them. For Avakhri, turning to nature and historical memory was a logical continuation of her artistic direction. In her previous productions, Jusan, Ot Qyz, and The Silk Road, the choreographer had already explored the relationship between cultural heritage and contemporary movement language. Avakhri has said the central image of the steppe tulip symbolizes the fragility and strength of life. She also said the combination of national traditions with classical ballet and contemporary dance was intended to make the performance accessible and meaningful to today’s audience. According to theater director Tair Karatayev, the new production has taken a special place in the Astana Ballet repertoire. Altyn Gul has become an example of how national artistic images can receive a contemporary stage interpretation while preserving their connection to history and cultural heritage. The music for the production was written by Renat Gaissin, Honored Worker of Kazakhstan and one of the country’s leading contemporary composers. The libretto was created by Bakhyt Kairbekov, also an Honored Worker of Kazakhstan, and the costumes were designed by Aigerim Altybasarova. The premiere performances were accompanied by the theater’s symphony orchestra under chief conductor Arman Urazgaliyev. Altyn Gul closed the Astana Ballet theater season with an attempt to reinterpret one of the oldest cultural images of...

Art and Culture

Japanese Spring Festival Celebrates Central Asia Through Manga

A new cultural bridge between Japan and Kazakhstan was celebrated at the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, where internationally acclaimed Japanese manga artist Kaoru Mori opened her exhibition, Central Asian Cuisine, as part of the international “Japanese Spring” arts festival. The project was organized by the Degdar Humanitarian Foundation with the support of JTI Kazakhstan. The exhibition introduces visitors to the culinary traditions and cultural heritage of the five Central Asian countries through the visual storytelling style of Japanese manga. The Central Asian Cuisine manga project was originally created to mark the 10th anniversary of the “Japan + Central Asia” dialogue, established in 2004 between the Government of Japan and the five Central Asian nations. According to Akmaral Ibrayeva, deputy director of the National Museum, the exhibition is one of the most distinctive cultural projects combining culinary art with national customs and traditions, while also reflecting the unique aesthetics of each country. [caption id="attachment_49172" align="aligncenter" width="624"] Photo: National Museum of Kazakhstan[/caption] Speaking at the opening ceremony, Yasumasa Iijima, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Kazakhstan, emphasized that the “Japanese Spring” festival represents “diplomacy through art,” strengthening friendship and mutual understanding between nations. The ambassador also noted that this is the second exhibition in Astana featuring Kaoru Mori’s manga works at the National Museum. “Manga is read throughout Japan from schoolchildren to the Prime Minister,” the ambassador said. “It has become one of the symbols of modern Japanese culture, and today this genre has conquered the world.” The manga tells the story of young women from the countries participating in the dialogue who introduce their Japanese friend to their national cuisines and traditional dishes. Through vivid illustrations and detailed depictions of cooking methods, the manga serves not only as an artistic work but also as a culinary guide to Central Asian food culture. According to Timur Kurmanchiyev, artistic director of the festival, a renowned musician and Honored Worker of Kazakhstan, the “Japanese Spring” festivals have become the largest and longest-running events dedicated to Japanese culture in Kazakhstan and across Central Asia. [caption id="attachment_49173" align="aligncenter" width="624"] Photo: National Museum of Kazakhstan[/caption] Guests attending the opening ceremony also enjoyed performances featuring traditional dance and choral music, adding a festive atmosphere to the exhibition. The exhibition highlights how art, cuisine, and cultural dialogue can bring nations closer together, offering visitors a unique opportunity to explore Central Asian traditions through the lens of Japanese manga artistry.

Art and Culture

Central Asia Steps Out of the Post-Soviet Shadow

Central Asia is rarely presented on its own terms. It is more often viewed through exterior lenses like Russian imperial memory, Chinese reach, Silk Road romance, or great-power rivalry. The result is a region made to look secondary to the forces around it, even as its five countries carry deep histories, distinct languages, and identities that cannot be reduced to a backdrop. That old frame is starting to crack. Central Asia is finding new ways to tell its own story. The shift goes beyond tourism or national branding. It is about who gets to define the region, which is still too often seen through the things done to it or extracted from it. Culture depicts the other side of that narrative, a place that has shaped history, not merely endured it, with traditions and ideas that have long carried influence far beyond its borders. [caption id="attachment_49147" align="aligncenter" width="2048"] Sky above Almaty: Qandy Qantar; image courtesy of Saule Suleimenova[/caption] Kazakhstan offers one visible example. The Almaty Museum of Arts opened on September 12, 2025, adding a major institution for modern and contemporary art. Its arrival builds on a broader shift in which private galleries, international platforms, and artists such as Aigerim Karibayeva and Saule Suleimenova are moving Kazakh art beyond folkloric shorthand toward identity, postcolonial memory, and urban life. The reopening of the Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture, in a former Soviet-era cinema, adds a sharper symbolic layer. A building once tied to Soviet public culture has become a platform for modern Central Asian voices, reflecting a scene increasingly rethinking nomadism rather than simply reproducing it. [caption id="attachment_49148" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Image: The Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture[/caption] Uzbekistan has made culture central to its international reemergence. The inaugural Bukhara Biennial brought contemporary art into a city more often seen through its monuments, turning madrasas and caravanserais into exhibition spaces for Uzbek and world artists. The same push is visible in the Tashkent Centre for Contemporary Art, Uzbekistan’s presence at the Venice Architecture Biennale, and design projects such as When Apricots Blossom, which link heritage, craft, and the environmental disaster of the Aral Sea. Artists such as Oyjon Khayrullaeva show a younger generation reworking Islamic ornament, textiles, and public space into new visual languages. At the same time, the State Museum of Karakalpakstan in Nukus, with its Soviet-era censored works, gives the country’s art history deeper heft. In Tashkent, the Islamic Civilization Center is working on a different scale. Recognized by Guinness World Records in 2026 as the largest museum of Islamic civilization, it gives Uzbekistan a stronger role in shaping how that legacy is understood today. [caption id="attachment_49146" align="aligncenter" width="2048"] Image courtesy of Oyjon Khayrullaeva[/caption] Kyrgyzstan’s confidence rests on different ground. The sixth World Nomad Games are scheduled for August 31 to September 6, 2026, with events in Bishkek and around Issyk-Kul. That gives Kyrgyzstan a stage for living nomadic traditions, not a static museum display of them. Its contemporary art scene adds a more intimate layer, with artists such as...

TCA Interviews

Kazakh Writer Aigul Klinovskaya on Memory, Identity, and the Rise of Contemporary Literature

In recent years, interest in contemporary literature has grown noticeably in Kazakhstan. Authors are increasingly reaching readers directly, taking part in public events, promoting their books through social media, and speaking about local experiences as part of a broader cultural landscape. The Times of Central Asia spoke with Kazakhstani writer Aigul Klinovskaya about her path into literature, the role of memory and place in her prose, and what contemporary authors need today to gain greater visibility both within the country and abroad. TCA: To begin with, please tell us a little about yourself. How did you become a writer? Aigul: I came to literature from IT, that is a well-known fact, and something I often mention in interviews. I worked at a large telecommunications company and headed a department, but at a certain point, I completely changed my field of activity. Now I write my own books and also help other authors shape their manuscripts as a literary editor and mentor. People work with me to finish and refine their manuscripts, increasing their chances of publication or success in literary competitions. TCA: When did you first feel that writing was not just an interest for you, but an important part of your life? Aigul: I tried writing as a child. I had a science fiction novella with an interesting story behind it: I sent it to a children’s magazine, and they replied that the work was good but still needed improvement. I was offended and, in the heat of the moment, destroyed the manuscript. I regret that now because it would have been interesting to reread it. As a child, I wrote poems and short stories; many people go through that stage. But I began writing prose seriously about five years ago. At that time, I took part in a writing marathon, wrote a short story, and it was immediately included in an anthology. That inspired me: I realized that I could and wanted to write fiction. The transition from short stories to longer forms was not easy. I wondered whether I could do it and whether I would manage. But now two of my books have already been published, and a third is coming out in June, so something must be working. Many people are surprised to learn that, for most of my life, I was not involved in literature professionally but worked in a completely different field. Now, however, I feel that I am in the right place. TCA: Your texts often pay close attention to a person’s inner life, to memory, and to the warmth of everyday relationships. Why are these themes close to you? Aigul: I am interested in people in general, their relationships and emotions. As an author, I want readers, when they immerse themselves in my books, to feel something: to cry at some moments, laugh at others, smile, and reflect. I believe that every person’s fate is worthy of a book because many remarkable things happen in life. If they are described well,...