A Matter of Radiance opens

The Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF) presents A Matter of Radiance, a newly-commissioned exhibition that premieres at the Uzbekistan National Pavilion in the Arsenale at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition—The Venice Biennale. Commissioned by Gayane Umerova, chairperson of the ACDF, and curated by GRACE studio of architecture, design and urbanism (Ekaterina Golovatyuk and Giacomo Cantoni), the pavilion looks to the scientific and cultural relevance of The Sun Institute of Material Science, built in 1987 near Tashkent. The pavilion explores the dual narratives of the site; its role in Uzbekistan’s recent modernist architectural legacy, and its future potential as an international scientific hub, contributing to the country’s broader commitment to a sustainable future.  

One of the last major scientific projects of the USSR, The Sun Institute of Material Science—originally called the Sun Heliocomplex—is still one of only two large solar furnaces existing worldwide to study material behaviours at extreme temperatures. While the furnace only performed its original purpose for less than five years, the pavilion reflects on the rest of the site’s nearly forty-year-long lifespan that has been dedicated to reinventing its broader meaning and scope. Rather than declaring the furnace’s ambivalence a flaw, the pavilion and the catalogue explore its potential, its meanings and relevance for science, sustainability, and culture, asking what lessons it could provide for today.

Gayane Umerova, chairperson of the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, says: “This pavilion holds great significance for us, as it marks not only Uzbekistan’s third participation in the International Architecture Exhibition—The Venice Biennale but also aligns with our country’s broader commitment to a sustainable and forward-looking future. In 2025, Uzbekistan officially marks the Year of Environmental Protection and the Green Economy, underscoring our dedication to ecological resilience and innovation. Building upon a series of exhibitions in Milan, Sharjah, and Tashkent, we hope that A Matter of Radiance will foster global engagement with Uzbekistan’s architectural and scientific heritage—an enduring crossroads of ideas and civilizations.”

A series of fragments from the Sun Institute will be on display at the pavilion—a heliostat, control room table, façade sunscreen, chandelier, painting and bench—either reconstructed with modifications or brought from Uzbekistan and adapted. These fragments reveal and exacerbate the Sun Institute’s ambivalent character, highlighting the array of its latent functionalities. They also enable the development of narratives concerning the scientific, social, and cultural impact of technology and its capacity to change or adapt its meaning over time.

Six images by photographer Armin Linke commissioned for this project are placed on two tripods for mirror testing. Brought from the Sun Institute, these images expose key elements of the complex, described in the pavilion. Linke’s anthropological gaze highlights human presence in architecture even in the absence of people, placing any ambitious scientific endeavour into a social perspective: of experiments and failures, of immense collective and individual efforts, of utopian dreams on the transformative potential of sun’s energy. 

The pavilion builds on the large-scale research project Tashkent Modernism XX/XXI which started in 2021 to respond to the urgent need to protect the modernist architectural sites of Tashkent. Envisioned by Gayane Umerova, chairperson of ACDF, and coordinated by GRACE, the project brought together an extensive team of international experts to, for the first time, document, reinterpret and preserve the legacy of 24 key modernist sites across the capital. Over the course of several years, the project demonstrated the significance of Tashkent’s modernist buildings to the city’s identity, ultimately securing national heritage site status for 21 of them.

A diverse and interdisciplinary group of Uzbekistan artists, designers, scientists, writers, and a theatre group have been invited to participate in the pavilion exhibition and catalogue.  Writer Suhbat Aflatuni, the Ilkhom Theater team, and emerging Tashkent artists Ester Sheynfeld, Mukhiddin Riskiyev and film director Azamat Abbasov have contributed with projects exploring intersections of art, architecture, and science. 

Azamat Abbasov presents Palace of the Sun, an experimental video installation using point cloud technology to explore the spatial and symbolic dimensions of the Sun Institute. The film moves from the Pavilion’s interior, where exhibits appear as luminous 3D fragments, to the Parkent landscape, gradually revealing the Institute as light reshapes the terrain. The artwork offers viewers a distant, atmospheric perspective on the architecture and its legacy, inviting reflection through image and movement.

Ester Sheynfeld contributes Place of Power and Radiance of the Axis of Time, site-specific installations reflecting the everyday life and ideological aspect of the Institute. Recreating a scientist’s workspace, with lab coats casually draped over chairs and a table scattered with material tags, protective goggles, and keys, the installations evoke a sense of recent human presence. Objects are arranged in semicircles to mirror planetary orbits around the Sun, with a central beam of light flashing every few seconds onto Petri dishes laid out in the shape of an ancient solar symbol. These dishes hold key artifacts from the Sun Institute, symbolising both its scientific legacy and the endless pursuit of discovery.

Mukhiddin Riskiyev’s project Nur (meaning “ray” or “light” in Uzbek) is a ceramic installation created through a controlled solar burning process at the Institute of the Sun, symbolizing the intersection of solar energy and human consciousness. The 40 cm ceramic disk is marked by a single central point and scorched by a concentrated solar beam. Disks of the same diameter are used in the Institute’s experiments. The ceramic object of the artwork becomes both a physical and symbolic artefact, inviting contemplation and meditation, embodying the fusion of cosmic light and focused thought, where energy transforms matter and abstraction takes form.

The exhibition will also serve as the stage design for a theatrical performance by Ilkhom Theatre, imagining a secret project of humanity recreating the sun. Founded in 1976 in Tashkent, the Ilkhom Theatre is a unique cultural phenomenon in Uzbekistan. It was the first independent theatre in the Soviet Union and preserves its autonomy today, providing a platform for creative experimentation and new forms of theatrical art.

A Matter of Radiance will be accompanied by a catalogue, distributed by Marsilio Editori. As the construction and launch of the Institute was led by the Uzbek physicist and academician Sadyk Azimov, the exhibition catalogue will feature dialogues with his son Rustam as well as with physicists Odilkhuja Parpiev and Sultan Suleymanov illuminating Azimov’s legacy and his life-long dedication to the Heliocomplex.

A solar cooker, brought from Parkent, will be activated in front of the pavilion, directly engaging visitors with practical applications of solar technology. A public programme will take place at Palazzo Van Axel in May, featuring a series of talks, conferences, and workshops led by renowned scientists and architects.

Ekaterina Golovatyuk and Giacomo Cantoni of GRACE studio, co-curators of the Uzbekistan Pavilion, say: “We are enthusiastic to be sharing A Matter of Radiance with the world, an important milestone in our work the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF) to draw attention towards this important and lesser-known icon of Tashkent Modernism. We have been working with the ACDF since 2021 to realise the Tashkent Modernism XX/ XXI project, proving the relevance of this architecture to the global cultural scene and developing a plan for conservation and adaptation of this architectural heritage that resonates on a global scale.”

Azamat Abbasov, film director and participating artist in the Uzbekistan Pavilion says: “It is such an honour to participate in the Uzbekistan Pavilion exhibition this year. This is an exciting time for my country as we are presenting our culture and creativity on a global stage and inviting the world to visit Uzbekistan. In my artwork for the pavilion, I use point cloud technology to offer a different perspective on the Sun Institute. I would like the visitors to reflect on its space, purpose, and future.”