Building B
Tashkent
Uzbekistan
The Centre for Contemporary Arts Tashkent (CCA) announces its first-year programme ahead of its public opening on March 21, 2026. Led by the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF) and its Chairperson Gayane Umerova, the CCA is the first institution of its kind in Uzbekistan: a permanent centre for contemporary art, research, and community engagement in the heart of Tashkent. The CCA will be housed in a 1912 industrial building carefully transformed by acclaimed French architects Studio KO.
Through this year-round programme led by Artistic Director and Chief Curator of the CCA, Dr Sara Raza, the CCA will play an active role in preserving and supporting Uzbek art and artists, bringing international exhibitions to Tashkent and showcasing Uzbek artists around the world.
Open to all and with free access, the CCA will be a cultural meeting point for the region and a community space for the city—featuring a library, workshop areas and a café to bring cultures and generations together. Alongside a dynamic programme of exhibitions, public programming will extend the CCA beyond the gallery. With an ongoing artist residency programme, internship, fellowship and traineeship opportunities and a collaboration with London’s Architectural Association, the CCA will continue its role as a centre for artistic research and experimentation.
Spearheaded by Gayane Umerova, the Centre for Contemporary Arts forms part of ACDF’s long-term investment in cultural infrastructure across Uzbekistan, building a creative economy to support opportunities in the creative industries for future generations.
Gayane Umerova, Chairperson of the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, says: “The Centre for Contemporary Arts Tashkent is the realisation of a long-term vision to firmly position Uzbekistan at the heart of global cultural dialogue. When we first envisioned the CCA, I knew I wanted it to be open to all, a place for inspiration, dialogue, opportunity and a hub for the community. Through sustained investment in cultural infrastructure and programming, we are – for the first time – building a creative economy across Uzbekistan and I’m so proud of the opportunities for future generations being created through the dynamic programming at the CCA.”
Highlights from the CCA’s first year programme
Hikmah (March 21–June 30, 2026), curated by Dr Sara Raza
Uzbek for “wisdom,” Hikmah will mark the first exhibition in the CCA’s new space with site-specific works responding to the building and its architecture. Exploring ideas around insight, intelligence, and divine wisdom, the exhibition features new commissions by Muhannad Shono, Nari Ward, Shokhrukh Rakhimov and Tarik Kiswanson. The exhibition will also include a loaned work by Nadia Kaabi-Linke from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, works by Kimsooja and Ali Cherri, and loaned works from the Savitsky Museum in Nukus by Vladimir Pan, Daribay Saipov, and Bakhtiyar Saipov.
Vyacheslav Akhunov: Instruments of the Mind at The Palazzo Franchetti in Venice (May–November 2026), curated by Dr Sara Raza
The CCA will present a landmark exhibition of the Uzbek contemporary artist, Vyacheslav Akhunov, as a collateral project at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Through painting, drawing, video and installation, Akhunov’s work offers moments of introspection, transcendence, absurdity, and humour. Highlighting a unique practice spanning the last five decades, the exhibition will present several unrealised, and previously unexhibited, works from the 1970s for the first time in Venice.
Kabakov: The Centre for Cosmic Energy (opening September 2026) guest curated by Zelfira Tregulova
The solo, site-specific exhibition will transform the CCA into a living laboratory for art and speculative para-fictions. Reframing the Kabakovs’s profound body of work within the context of CCA’s former industrial architecture, the exhibition envisions the space as an imagined institution for receiving and transmitting energy and hope.
Public programming and education
Navruz Gala and Festival (March 21–23, 2026)
Open to the public and coinciding with the CCA’s opening weekend, activations will take place at the CCA across performance, music, food, film, poetry and storytelling.
Architectural Association Visiting School Uzbekistan (first cohort begins April 2026)
CCA Tashkent and the Architectural Association (AA), London, will present a joint three-year Visiting School initiative (2026–2028) that will unite architecture and urban studies students, early-career architects, spatial thinkers, artists, and curators.
Tashkent Summer Days (June 21–August 9, 2026)
During chilla (the peak of the Uzbek summer), the CCA will present its inaugural 7-week public art festival, Tashkent Summer Days, guest curated with Invisible Island Studio. Spanning all districts of Tashkent, the festival draws inspiration from the city’s historic festivals and cinema programmes.
Tashkent Film Encounters (December 2026)
This film programme led by the CCA celebrates and reimagines the historic Tashkent International Film Festival (1968–1988), a pioneering platform for global cinema and meeting point for filmmakers, artists, and writers.
Dr Sara Raza, Artistic Director and Chief Curator of the CCA, says: “Uniting art, culture and community is the central mandate of CCA’s first year programme. At its core, the Centre is a space for dialogue between artists and intergenerational local, global, and digital audiences to participate in art and ideas. Rooted in site-specific and landmark art historical exhibitions we are hosting this year, in Tashkent and abroad, to the multitiered educational and professional development opportunities and partnerships catered to developing the next generation of arts and cultural practitioners, and public programming such as the Navruz, and Public Art Festival at the CCA and Film Encounters – I’m excited to invite audiences in Tashkent and beyond to participate in a vibrant year of dialogue, learning, and celebration.”
