September 5–November 20, 2025
Curated by Diana Campbell, with Creative Director of Architecture Wael Al Awar. Commissioned by Gayane Umerova, Chairperson, Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation.
The Bukhara Biennial reveals over 70 participants to date all developing new projects for the debut edition, Recipes for Broken Hearts. The site-specific, interdisciplinary gathering will take the form of an expanded multi-sensory feast, marking one of Central Asia’s largest and most diverse cultural initiatives to date.
Recipes for Broken Hearts departs from a local legend in which polymath and father of modern medicine Ibn Sina invented the recipe of the staple Uzbek dish, palov, to cure a prince’s sickness caused by an impossible love for the daughter of a craftsman. Referencing this story of healing and recovery, Campbell’s curatorial vision imagines the biennial as a body which is fed physically, emotionally, and spiritually, encouraging communal participation and experiential response.
The event will showcase collaborations between artists and artisans. Connecting both internationally acclaimed and emerging artists, several of whom will be making their institutional debut, with some of Uzbekistan’s most masterful craftspeople, the biennial references Uzbekistan as a locus for transregional cultural practices, and reflects on Bukhara’s history as an intellectual and economic centre along the Silk Roads.
The biennial will unfold thematically as a participatory journey across walkable historic landmarks illustrative of the city’s heritage, including four caravanserais (presenting heartbreak as part of a journey of life), Gavkushon Madrasa (a space to learn from feelings), the former mosque Khoja Kalon (a space to transcend hardships), and Rashid Madrasa (a place to memorialise, mourn, and move on). The biennial inaugurates a permanent project for the city of Bukhara. The sites have been restored by Wael Al Awar of the Dubai and Tokyo-based design firm waiwai, and will be unveiled to the public as part of the biennial and a long-term revitalisation and conservation plan designed to reactivate Bukhara’s historic craft trade, preserve its architecture, and reconnect its heritage with the rest of the world.
Providing a platform for future generations, the biennial’s inaugural edition will stage educational initiatives including poetry, performance, and artisan-led workshops, a programme for students, and a symposium on the cross-cultural heritage of Uzbekistan. Building on ongoing and urgent conversations about the preservation of cultural heritage in Uzbekistan—both material (related to architecture and museum collections) and immaterial (exemplified by traditional recipes, performance, and craft), a three-day academic symposium, The Craft of Mending, will explore practices of handmaking, craft, repair, and maintenance.
Artists and curators participating are supported by an expanding interdisciplinary advisory group, to date consisting of scholars specialising in Central Asia and working across Uzbekistan and internationally: religious historian Aziza Shanazarova (Columbia University), historian James Pickett (University of Pittsburgh), cultural historian Anna Pronina (Central European University), archaeologist Jangar Ilyasov (Institute of Art Studies, Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan), conservation expert Ajmal Maiwandi (Aga Khan Trust for Culture), and art historian Aziza Izamova (Harvard University).
Building on Bukhara’s role in the history of the global spice trade and exploring food as a means of building togetherness, participants will frame food as an emotional medium, weaving stories of grief and healing into performative culinary rituals with a programme of chef activations. Artist Carsten Höller and Brutalisten’s head chef Coen Dieleman will stage a residency exchange with Uzbek chefs Bahriddin Chustiy and Pavel Georganov to create a dining experience focused on the distinct tastes of Uzbek ingredients. Both the biennial’s theme of Recipes for Broken Hearts and their project challenge normative approaches to dining and emotions, using the act of eating to bridge human vulnerability with conceptual experimentation. Korean Buddhist monk and chef Jeong Kwan will share her food-centered spiritual practice at the biennial, while also exploring the history of the Korean-Uzbek community in Uzbekistan. Further chefs participating will be announced in advance of the biennial.
Recipes for Broken Hearts will take place from September 5–November 20, 2025 in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.
The current and expanding list of participants includes to date: Ighshaan Adams; Khadim Ali; Majid Al-Remaihi; Ahmad Angawi; Tarek Atoui; Dana Awartani; Aziza Azim; Louis Barthélemy; Jahongir Bobokulov; Bakhtiyor Bobomurodov; Behzod Boltaev; Abdulvahid Bukhoriy; Sabina Burkhanova; Hera Büyüktaşcıyan; Gabriel Chaile; Yun Choi; Liu Chuang; Bahriddin Chustiy; Denis Davydov; Hylozoic/Desires (Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tappeser); Binta Diaw; Bekhbaatar Enkhtur; Antony Gormley; Laila Gohar; Pavеl Georganov; Subodh Gupta; Heenat Salma Farm; Samah Hijawi; Carsten Höller; Kei Imazu; Gulnoza Irgasheva; Eva Jospin; Bakhshillo Jumaev and Mukkadas Jumaeva; Shonazar Jumaev; Aziza Kadyri; Zi Kakhramonova; Zokhir Kamalov; Madina Kasymbaeva; Oyjon Khayrullaeva; Munisa Kholkhujaeva; Islom Khudoyberdiev; Daria Kim; Jenya Kim; Shakuntala Kulkarni; Hassan Kurbanbaev; Jeong Kwan; Akmal Mihiddinov; Hana Miletić; Delcy Morelos; Gulnur Mukazhanova; Yulduz Mukhiddinova; Abdullo Narzullaev; Pakui Hardware; Alisher Rakhimov; Shokhrukh Rakhimov; Suchi Reddy; Slavs and Tatars; Ruben Saakyan; Zilola Saidova; Aisultan Seitov; Aziza Shadenova; Kamruzzaman Shadhin; Jurabek Siddikov; Marina Perez Simão; Tavares Strachan; Saule Suleimenova; Davlat Toshev; Erika Verzutti; Nomin Zezegmaa.
