Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- From 24 to 31 August, Venice will host a series of lectures, round tables and an open film screening organized by the Fund in the first National Pavilion of Uzbekistan at the International Architecture Biennale.
On 22 May, the National Pavilion of Uzbekistan at the 17th International Architecture Biennale in Venice opened its doors to its first visitors. Uzbekistan debuted with the project "Mahalla: Urban and Provincial Life". The pavilion’s commissioner was the Art and Culture Development Foundation under the Ministry of Culture. The main task of the project is to strengthen the national presence in the global cultural space. To date, the National Pavilion of Uzbekistan has been visited by about 20,000 people.
The exhibition curators were Emanuel Christ and Christoph Gantenbein, professors of architecture and design at the Higher Technical School in Zurich and founding partners of Christ & Gantenbein, artist and sound engineer Carlos Casas, and photographer and artist Bas Prinsen were also invited to participate. The exhibition, in its own way, answers the question that became the theme of the 17th International Architecture Biennale in Venice "How will we live together?"
The project is based on the idea of the need to comprehend and document the cultural heritage of the makhalla, which was carried out in cooperation with international experts in architecture and cultural specialists of Uzbekistan. Based on the study of various aspects of the architecture and life of the mahalla, the interdisciplinary project combined comprehensive academic research and expressive artistic expression aimed at creatively reflecting the cultural and architectural traditions of Uzbekistan.
Based on the collected data and a wide range of foreign experts involved, the organizers will host the Mahalla Stories series of events. Mahalla Stories is a series of educational and cultural events developed by the Foundation at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venice. only curators and artists of the project, but also invited lecturers.
On 24 August, in the pavilion of Uzbekistan, the program will be opened by the ensemble of Uzbek traditional music on karnays and surnays "Shodiona". The ensemble will be accompanied by the maqomist Khushnud Solidjonov. The musicians will perform classical Uzbek songs that were once performed at weddings and other celebrations in the mahalla.
In general, the sessions will be held on the following topics: Uzbekistan and mahallas as a source of inspiration for the creativity of the curators of the Uzbekistan pavilion Emanuel Christ Christoph Gantenbein, the context and historical prerequisites of the movement for sustainable sound, as well as the practice of sound landscape and field recording from the early 70s to the present days from the artist and sound engineer Carlos Casas et al.
One of the landmark events will be the Collective Day of Curators, which will be held in conjunction with the Israeli and Polish pavilions on 28 August and will bring together international experts to discuss the following topics: countryside, agriculture, food production and different lifestyles.
The pavilion of Uzbekistan is pleased to invite three of the most interesting musicians and sound technicians from Italy, Enrico Malatesta, Giovanni Lamy and Glauco Salvo, to an open session. Their practice blurs the boundaries of improvisation, ecology of sound, object resonance, and the practice of deep listening. There will be a special live improvisation session using percussion / objects, field recordings as well as samples and electronics. The session will give a new practice of sound to the pavilion.
A highlight will also be the open screening of the film "Mahallada duv-duv gap" (The whole mahalla speaks about it) in the Teatrino Palazzo Grassi cinema of an old palazzo in Venice and a conversation with Chloe Dryyu, historian, researcher at the National Center for Research (CNRS) / CETOBAC and Saodat Ismailova, artist and film director. Researcher Chloe Dryyu studied the earliest films in Central Asia, dating back to 1924, which marked a political renaissance, with ethnic and territorial delimitation of Uzbekistan, and also marked the beginning of a new stage in cinematography. All residents and guests of Venice will be able to learn about this and much more.