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On May 19, the grand opening of the first National Pavilion of the Republic of Uzbekistan at the Venice Architecture Biennale took place.

The Republic of Uzbekistan for the first time takes part in the Venice Architecture Biennale, which will be held from May 22 to November 21, 2021, presenting its National Pavilion on the theme "Mahalla: Urban and Provincial Life".

The opening of the debut project of the National Pavilion of Uzbekistan at the Venice Biennale was attended by the President of the Venice Biennale Roberto Chicutto, UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the National Pavilion of Uzbekistan Aziz Abdukhakimov, Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Foundation for the Development of Culture and Art Saida Mirziyoyev, executive Director of the Foundation for the Development of Culture and Art and Commissioner of the exhibition project Gayane Umerova, as well as participants in the design work.

Roberto Cicutto: “I congratulate Uzbekistan on the opening of the first national pavilion. This is a very significant and important project for the whole country. It seems to me that the curators managed to convey the atmosphere of the mahalla and convey their idea to the general public. For visitors to the Biennale, it will undoubtedly be an interesting experience to see the pavilion of Uzbekistan and get imbued with Uzbek traditions and culture. "

Aziz Abdukhakimov, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the National Pavilion of Uzbekistan: “We are pleased to present the first project of the National Pavilion of the Republic of Uzbekistan at the International Architecture Biennale“ La Biennale Di Venezia ”. The rich architectural heritage of our country and modern cultural, academic, and professional achievements allow us to be full-fledged participants in the international dialogue, initiate a fruitful cultural exchange and invite foreign experts to discuss pressing regional and global tasks "

Audrey Azoulay: “This is an incredible experience for Uzbekistan. It is interesting for me to watch the opening of their first National Pavilion. The country is famous for its rich culture, history, and all this was reflected in their project. Undoubtedly, this is a good start".

In Uzbekistan, where tradition occurs mainly as a truly rural space embedded in an urban context, this indigenous cultural institution takes on special significance: “We are faced with the task of preserving our heritage - and at the same time adapting it to the requirements of a dynamically changing world. The National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale is an ideal platform for such academic and artistic research, dialogue with the world's best experts and demonstration of the results of joint work to the general public, ”said Saida Mirziyoyeva, Deputy Chair of the Council of the Foundation for the Development of Culture and Arts.

The most important part of the research took place in Tashkent, as explained by Gayane Umerova, project commissioner and executive director of the Foundation for the Development of Culture and Arts: “... We are actively engaging the CCA Lab, which is an interdisciplinary experimental laboratory of the Center for Contemporary Art in Tashkent, for young and emerging artists and architects. The laboratory participants took an active part in local research within the framework of the project. In addition to the Laboratory and various international scientists, we work a lot with local scientists who have devoted many years to studying the architectural and social formation of makhallas, such as professors Abdumannop Ziyaev, Shukur Askarov, Mavlyuda Abbasova - Yusupova, Alexey Ulko, Boris Chukhovich and others "

The pavilion's commissioner is the Foundation for the Development of Culture and Arts under the Ministry of Culture. The main task of the project is to strengthen the national presence in the global cultural space.
The exhibition was curated by Emanuel Christ and Christoph Gantenbein, professors of architecture and design at the Higher Technical School in Zurich and the founding partners of Christ & Gantenbein, Spanish artist and sound engineer Carlos Casas and Dutch photographer and artist Bas Prinsen. The exhibition focuses on the theme of the 17th Venice International Architecture Biennale "How will we live together?", Exploring an important aspect of the cultural heritage that will be reproduced inside the Quarta Tesa.

The starting point for the project is the research and documentation of this cultural heritage, led by Emanuel Christ and Christoph Gantenbein, together with Associate Curator and Research Director Victoria Easton. The ETH Zurich team worked closely with local consultants, students and laboratory members of the Center for Contemporary Art.
Building on this research, the exhibition offers a scientific research and artistic statement that seeks critical reading and exploratory research.

The conceptual framework of the installation was given by the temporary occupation of the space of Kvart Tesa by a makhalla house from Tashkent. This recreated object allows interaction with the scale, quality and beauty of the interior spaces. Thanks to the atmospheric soundscapes created by Carlos Casas, the viewer will be able to experience many different living environments, from room to room. Some of the sound blocks are dynamic, so the sound atmosphere will change throughout the day.

Bass Prinsen's images show the invisible spaciousness of houses and are suggestive as they depict the details of some of the interior spaces of the mahalla or street landscapes as slightly surreal on this journey, led by the experience of sound. In addition, a mobile application will be developed based on cloud models of real houses. The mobile application will allow the visitor to experience the structure of the house suggested by the soundscapes.

Source: uzbektourism.uz