The Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF) is proud to announce the first ever Bukhara Biennial Advisory Board. The board’s inaugural members are Aya Al-Bakree, Alia Al-Senussi, Dilyara Allakhverdova, Alberto Cavalli, Aaron Cezar, Chris Dercon, and Michael Govan.
The Bukhara Biennial Advisory Board brings together an international group of cultural leaders, curators, and thinkers to support the development of the biennial for 2027. Working in close dialogue with the biennial’s evolving programme, the Advisory Board offers strategic guidance on curatorial concept, artistic direction, institutional partnerships, and public engagement, ensuring the biennial remains rooted in Bukhara’s long history as a home for culture, knowledge and craftsmanship.
“The Advisory Board has been conceived as a space for meaningful exchange - one that reflects and helps shape the biennial’s commitment to dialogue across disciplines, geographies, and generations. Through this collective of voices, it plays a central role in sustaining the biennial as an initiative grounded in Uzbekistan, while evolving as an international platform where artists are paired with local craftspeople to create new commissions, exclusively in Uzbekistan. It also helps safeguard the biennial’s open and accessible format, ensuring it remains free to all to attend. Through this ongoing exchange we aim to build a sustainable and intellectually vibrant foundation for the biennial’s future.” Gayane Umerova, Chairperson of ACDF and Founder of the Bukhara Biennial
Aya Al-Bakree
Aya Al-Bakree is a cultural leader and advocate for the arts, driving creative transformation across Saudi Arabia. Since becoming CEO of the Diriyah Biennale Foundation (DBF) in 2021, chaired by HH Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, she oversees two alternating international biennales: the Diriyah Contemporary Art Biennale in the JAX District of historic Diriyah, and the Islamic Arts Biennale at the Western Hajj Terminal in Jeddah. DBF’s initiatives include JAX District, a creative hub in a repurposed industrial heritage site; Al Madar, which fosters global dialogue among institutions with major Islamic art collections; and the AlMusalla Prize, an international architecture competition reimagining modular, sustainable prayer spaces.
Alia Al-Senussi
Alia Al-Senussi, PhD, is a curator, academic and arts advisor, with a special emphasis on visual arts and culture in the Middle East. She holds a doctorate in politics from SOAS. She is a founding member of Tate's MENA Acquisitions Committee, the Board of 1:54 The African Art Fair, and the Middle East Circle of the Guggenheim. She is Founding Co-Chair of the LACMA Global Ambassadors, Chair of the K11 International Council, and a member of Tate Modern Advisory Council, the ICA London board, Serpentine Future Contemporaries, and the Strategic Advisory Council of Delfina Foundation. She is Senior Advisor for Art Basel and to the Saudi Ministry of Culture, focusing on the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, and a visiting professor at VCU Qatar.
Dilyara Allakhverdova
Dilyara Allakhverdova is an arts patron and board member. She graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in 1995 with a master's degree in international law, beginning her career at Credit Suisse First Boston in Moscow. Allakhverdova has held numerous leadership roles in the arts, including Co-Chair of Tate’s Russia and Eastern Europe Acquisitions Committee (2012–2022), Chairwoman of Art Night London (2018–2020), and Board Member of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London (2017–2022). She currently serves as a Board Member of the Institute for Human Activities (Netherlands) and Vice Chair and Council Member of Georgetown University Art Galleries (United States).
Alberto Cavalli
Alberto Cavalli has been Executive Director of the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship and General Director of its Homo Faber Biennial since 2016, and General Director of Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d'Arte since 2007. Through both foundations he works to celebrate and preserve master craftsmanship globally, across apprenticeships, exhibitions, and publications. He has co-curated several publications, taught at Milan's Creative Academy and Politecnico University, and began his career in fashion and communications, becoming a professional journalist in 2000. In 2023 he was named Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito of the Italian Republic.
Aaron Cezar
Aaron Cezar is the founding Director of Delfina Foundation, where he oversees its interrelated programme of residencies, exhibitions, and public events. Under his tenure, Delfina has hosted nearly 600 residencies, across discursive programmes from Politics of Food to Collecting as Practice. Cezar has also curated external exhibitions and performances at Hayward Gallery Project Space, SongEun Artspace, and as part of the official public programme of the 58th Venice Art Biennale, among other places. Independently and through Delfina Foundation, he sits on numerous boards, committees, and advisory groups.
Chris Dercon
Chris Dercon is a Belgian art historian, curator, and museum director. He has led major institutions including PS1 New York, the Witte de With in Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Haus der Kunst in Munich, and Tate Modern. He served as General Director of the Volksbühne Berlin and as President of the Association of French National Museums-Grand Palais, overseeing the renovation of the Grand Palais. Since June 2023 he has been Director of the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain. He has collaborated widely with architects, industrial designers, and textile artists.
Michael Govan
Michael Govan is the Chief Executive Officer and Wallis Annenberg Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). During his two-decade tenure, LACMA has doubled gallery space, programs, and annual attendance. In 2026, LACMA will open a state-of-the-art permanent collection building designed by Pritzker Prize–winner Peter Zumthor.
Gayane Umerova
Head of Creative Economy and Tourism in Uzbekistan and chairperson of ACDF, Umerova leads cultural infrastructure development in Uzbekistan, overseeing the restoration of the CCA Tashkent and the Tadao Ando–designed National Museum of Uzbekistan launch. She commissioned the Bukhara Biennial (2025), drawing over a million visitors, and spearheaded the Aral Culture Summit (2025). She was central to UNESCO hosting its 43rd session in Samarkand, and has been the commissioner of the Uzbekistan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale Arte and Architettura since 2021, alongside commissioning projects including a landmark Vyacheslav Akhunov exhibition at Palazzo Franchetti in Venice, and an exhibition at Milan Design Week 2026. Umerova chairs Uzbekistan’s UNESCO Affairs and received France’s Order of Arts and Literature in April 2025.
About the Bukhara Biennial
Founded and commissioned by Gayane Umerova, the Bukhara Biennial reflects a wider vision spearheaded by the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation: to revitalise heritage not as a static memory, but as a foundation for creative futures. At the heart of the Bukhara Biennial is a belief in the enduring power of local craft and collaboration. In commitment to this ethos, each biennial will see master Uzbek artisans paired with regional and international artists, with all commissions existing as site-specific works, made in Uzbekistan and produced by ACDF. Running from 5th September to 23rd November 2025, the inaugural edition of the Bukhara Biennial convened 1.8 million visitors, with local residents living in Bukhara and regional visitors from across Uzbekistan accounting for over half of the total visitor count. The curator and dates of the 2027 edition will be announced in 2026.
