The historic Silk Road city of Bukhara has launched the Bukhara Biennial 2025. Commissioned by Gayane Umerova, Chairperson, Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation. This new international event will showcase Architecture, heritage and contemporary art. The Biennial event transformed the UNESCO-listed city into a living exhibition, with restoring landmarks and public spaces. The event will be from 5th September 2025 to 20th November 2025.
Architecture as the main lead
The Bukhara Biennial 2025 places architecture at its core, unlike the usual practice in biennials, which are often confined to galleries. As per the information available, more than 70 commissioned works are installed all over the city’s madrasas, mosques, caravanserais and squares, including the popular spots such as Mir-I-Arab Madrasa, Magoki Attori Mosque, Fayzulla Khodjaev House Museum and the Kalyan Minaret complex.
The idea is to situate art within these spaces, which emphasises heritage not in the backdrop but as an active participant in the event. The theme of the event is “Recipes for Broken Hearts”, the inspiration is drawn from a local legend, physician Avicenna. The idea is to reframe architecture as a vessel of healing, to repair the historic fabric but also its cultural value.
Need for conservation in modern times
The creative director of the Bukhara Biennial 2025, Architect Wael Al Awar, has created a heritage-oriented master plan of the old city for the event with Diana Campbell. He also co-curated the UAE pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021, which was awarded the golden lion for the best national participation. His portfolio is extensive, including staging art, long-term restorations, and the adaptive reuse of Bukhara’s built environment.
Key Architectural updates:
- Restoring architectural details of the soviet era
- Reconnecting the district routes through pedestrian-friendly routes, showing the local culture
- Rehabilitating the public spaces, like courtyards and walls, to support the community and its artistic activities
- Reimagining landmarks as the civic infrastructure rather than just static buildings
This intervention reflects the architectural global trend and positions the historic cities as a hub of cultural renewal in this modern age, where, through conservation, it supports its modern relevance.
Spatial dialogues through Architectural installations by various artists
- Antony Gormley rejuvenates the courtyard of the popular Kalyan Mosque with an interconnecting installation exploring the body and space in context with the existing minaret.
- Delcy Morelos converted a heritage caravanserai – a centre of wholesale trade of the city into a sensory architecture of smell and memory.
- hylozoic/desires (Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tappeser) have explored the themes of nature and colonial history. Shown through large textile-based structures, which are suspended on the historic arches and sound installation, Mur-Mur.
- Full moon performance animates the public squares, which reconnects architecture as a historic stage for collective rituals, a music performance about water and cosmic remembrance.
These installations placed on historic sites interpret their geometry, light and material, showing that architecture can be used as an active medium of expression.
Local Culture as an Architectural Style
The event integrates Uzbekistan’s traditional arts and crafts into its architectural schedule. A collaborative approach with international and local artists working in woodcarving, ceramic mosaic, embroidery and ikat weaving. Working with the regional techniques in the contemporary installations. This collaboration of materials and methods bridges the art, architectural and traditional knowledge.
Urban renewal through an art event
The Bukhara Biennial 2025 is more than a cultural art showcase; it acts as a catalyst for urban regeneration through restoration and adaptive reuse. This strategy assists in having wider heritage support for future cultural projects like the New Museum of Bukhara and preserving the existing heritage districts.
The critics are raising architectural questions for the Biennial event, such as:
- Can there be a balance between the authenticity of a large-scale restoration and the tourism demands?
- How can heritage preservation be a living architecture and not just an aesthetic monument?
- Will the residents and the community be able to manage the spaces restored?
With time, the Bukhara Biennial’s legacy will answer all the questions beyond its first edition.
Relevance on the global architecture stage
The Bukhara Biennial 2025 is a cultural festival that has heritage cities, an open-air museum and civic stages. The cultural significance of Bukhara’s Silk Road history and its Soviet transformation make the event relevant and symbolic.
The takeaway for architects is the precedent that this event is setting through conservation, cultural aspects and adaptive reuse on a city scale, which is aligned to shape the future of these heritage cities. Through preservation and reimagining, the structures are not just relics from the past but a living architecture of the future, which sets a framework for open dialogue in modern lifestyles.
The Bukhara Biennial 2025 marks a cultural milestone in Uzbekistan. Making the city a new cultural global hub. It is positioned as architecture as the medium of healing and renewal. Activating public spaces, merging craft with contemporary style, restoring landmarks, thus making it a unique biennial model. It reinforces the cultural fabric for the future generation.
References:
- Bukhara Biennial (no date) , Home page. Available at: https://www.bukharabiennial.uz/ (Accessed: 19 September 2025).
- (No date) Will Uzbekistan’s big bet on culture pay off? inside its bold overhaul. Available at: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/uzbekistan-bukhara-2688015 (Accessed: 20 September 2025).
- ACDF (no date) Home. Available at: https://acdf.uz/ (Accessed: 21 September 2025).
- Editors, T. (2024) New Biennale to open in Uzbekistan in 2025, ArtAsiaPacific. Available at: https://www.artasiapacific.com/news/new-biennale-to-open-in-uzbekistan-in-2025/ (Accessed: 21 September 2025).
- Hylozoic/Desires (no date) david soin tappeser. Available at: https://www.davidsointappeser.com/hylozoic-desires (Accessed: 21 September 2025).
- (No date a) Antony Gormley. Available at: https://www.antonygormley.com/ (Accessed: 21 September 2025).
- Delcy morelos (no date) Marian Goodman. Available at: https://www.mariangoodman.com/artists/394-delcy-morelos/ (Accessed: 21 September 2025).
- Ga-young, P. (2025) With bold ambitions, Uzbekistan’s contemporary art scene opens to the world, The Korea Herald. Available at: https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10576977 (Accessed: 20 September 2025).
- Editor, N. (2025) Recipes for broken hearts – inaugural Bukhara Biennial, Biennial Foundation. Available at: https://biennialfoundation.org/2025/01/recipes-for-broken-hearts-inaugural-bukhara-biennial/ (Accessed: 20 September 2025).
