Bukhara Biennial
Recipes for Broken Hearts

[En Anglais]

In a region renowned for its exuberant arts-and-crafts tradition and yet home to few contemporary art scenes, the inaugural Bukhara Biennial in Uzbekistan aimed to bridge the gap between these two worlds. For the over seventy newly commissioned works in the exhibition, international and regional artists were tasked with collaborating with Uzbek artisans to realize their works; materials and techniques were also sourced in the region. In this way, the biennial skilfully grafted a globally sourced spectrum of concepts onto the local system of craft making, suggesting a new model for developing and commissioning art in the region.

Having long been an intellectual and economic nexus along the Silk Roads, Bukhara was once a point of confluence for myriad cultural and religious influences. The biennial was embedded within the rich architecture of Bukhara’s historic centre, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. To the east of the Toqi Sarrofon trading dome, away from the touristy area of Lyabi Khauz Square, gradually unfolding along the canal are ancient mosques, traveller’s lodges, madrasas, and markets, which now hosted contemporary art within their original domes, porches, courtyards, and niches. Although it offered complex and rich topics, the Bukhara Biennial, organized by Los Angeles and Dhaka-based curator Diana Campbell, lightheartedly drew on themes from everyday life: food, gatherings, and healing. Its title, Recipes for Broken Hearts, comesfrom a local tale in which the polymath Ibn Sina cured a desperate lover’s heartbreak by inventing plov, now an Uzbek national dish. Made of rice, a blend of meat, root vegetables, animal fat, and spices, plov is traditionally cooked in large quantities to serve hungry guests at community gatherings. It has become a symbol of the region’s hospitality and abundant food resources.