Artwork: Blue Room, by Abdulvahid Bukhoriy in collaboration with Jurabek Siddikov, Bukhara Biennial, 2025
Something magical has been created in Uzbekistan in the city of Bukhara, a former Silk Road trade destination and one of Central Asia’s cultural crossroads. The inaugural Bukhara Biennial titled, Recipes for a Broken Heart features the work of 70 artists, pairing international contemporary artists with Uzbekistan artists to create artworks that speak to the location, architecture, the local art traditions, and to wider cultural traditions such as food, music, stories and spiritual beliefs. The Artistic Director, Diana Campbell, commented on the choice of Bukhara saying: “For centuries, religious and cultural traditions from all corners of the world have commingled in Bukhara, resulting in a rich atmosphere of learning, craft and artistic production. It has always been a place where people came together to find togetherness in the quest for a more meaningful life through a search for spiritual, intellectual, and worldly knowledge.”
The title and theme of the Biennial is inspired by the story of the creation of a local culinary dish, plov, that was invented by the father of modern medicine, Ibn Sina. Plov is a rice and meat dish and was made to heal a young prince who was lovesick after being banned from marrying a craftsman’s daughter. The overriding theme is one of healing, as well as the blending of food, love and medicine. Healing not simply in terms of bodily wounds, but that of the heart, mind, soul, as well as wounds relating to the state of the world and events such as wars that tear the fabric of lives, cultures and nations apart.
One of the key installations is Blue Room by Abdulvahid Bukhoriy in collaboration with Jurabek Siddikov. Bukhoriy is a ceramic artist and he and Siddikov created a gorgeous, immersive ceramic installation in the former prayer room of Gavkushon Madrasa. The room is covered in handcrafted blue tiles; the blue glaze made from materials extracted from local plants, and the tiles featuring Uzbek textile motifs and the patterns of algae, fish and flowing water. The overall effect is one of being submerged underwater. The large chandelier sculpture suspended from the ceiling is made from brass and copper, created in collaboration with Siddikov who is a master coppersmith, and inspired by fish forms found in Central Asian ceramic traditions. The installation drew on ancient healing rituals for inspiration, where fish become vessels for absorbing human illness.
In her curatorial statement, Campbell elaborates on the Biennial’s theme, stating: “In many mystical traditions, the heart is the key to connecting with the higher frequency of the divine. Perhaps even more so than the brain, the heart contains an ‘imaginative intelligence that is so powerful that it can change the world in what it manifests through the combination of knowing and loving… Art facilitates insights into how humans participate in worldmaking—how our words, thoughts, and actions impact us, as well as how we shape and are shaped by our environments.’”
Bukhara Biennial is on show until November 20th 2025.