Opening

The inaugural exhibition, Hikmah, brings together new commissions and recent works by ten Uzbek and international artists across the Centre’s restored spaces.

The Centre for Contemporary Arts Tashkent (CCA Tashkent), a flagship initiative of the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF), is now open to the public. Led by ACDF Chairperson Gayane Umerova, the Centre is the first institution of its kind in Central Asia, providing a permanent home for contemporary art, research and public engagement in Uzbekistan while positioning the country within global contemporary art discourse.

Originally built in 1912 as a diesel station and depot for Tashkent's first tramway line, the Centre occupies one of the city's most significant industrial heritage buildings. Designed by Wilhelm Heinzelmann, the architect behind landmarks including the Palace of Grand Duke Romanov and the Treasury Chamber, the site remained part of Tashkent's electricity network for more than a century before being entrusted to ACDF in 2019 as part of its long-term cultural development strategy. Under the direction of ACDF Chairperson Gayane Umerova, the building has been transformed by acclaimed French architects Studio KO into a permanent home for contemporary art, carrying its industrial heritage forward while creating a new cultural landmark for Tashkent. The architects followed a careful and deliberate philosophy of intervention, respecting the utilitarian yet ornate beauty of the existing site while adding layers that speak to contemporary needs. 

The Centre opens with Hikmah, the inaugural exhibition curated by Chief Curator Dr Sara Raza which runs until January 31, 2027. Across the Centre's restored industrial spaces, Hikmah brings together newly commissioned works and recent installations by ten contemporary Uzbek and international artists that explore the concept of hikmah (wisdom) and respond to the architecture of the building and the wider cultural histories of Uzbekistan: Ali Cherri, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Kimsooja, Tarik Kiswanson, Muhannad Shono, Nari Ward, Shokhrukh Rakhimov, Vladimir Pan, Bakhtiyar Saipov and Daribay Saipov.

Tashkent-based, seventh-generation ceramicist Shokhrukh Rakhimov (b. 2002, Uzbekistan) bridges Uzbek ancestral craft and contemporary expression through The Colour of Silence, In Search of Truth, comprising seven large-scale ceramic orbs enriched with locally sourced minerals and pigments.

Muhannad Shono (b. 1977, Saudi Arabia) unveils a major new commission developed during his residency at CCA Tashkent. Tower for a Single Breath, a monumental sculptural installation made from black compressed composite tiles, draws on the Sufi traditions of Bukhara and Samarkand. Kimsooja's (b. 1957, South Korea) participatory installation Archive of Mind invites visitors to hand-roll spheres of local clay, gradually forming a collective archive through shared gestures. Nadia Kaabi-Linke's (b. 1978, Tunisia) Flying Carpets (2011), on loan from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, reflects on migration, labour and invisible histories through a suspended steel sculpture based on the dimensions of the woven mats used by migrant street vendors in Venice.

Elsewhere, artists engage with ideas of memory and transformation through distinct responses to the exhibition's central theme. Ali Cherri's (b. 1976, Lebanon) A Mouth, A Wound, a patinated bronze sculpture inspired by Jean Cocteau's The Blood of a Poet, considers how knowledge emerges through moments of fracture. Tarik Kiswanson (b. 1986, Sweden) presents Nest, a newly commissioned work reflecting on rootlessness, metamorphosis and renewal, while New York-based, Jamaica-born artist Nari Ward's (b. 1963) site-specific installation Tashkent Groundin, created in dialogue with local craft traditions, draws on found materials and copper patina to echo the building's industrial past. Building on these themes, an atmospheric soundscape titled Oraliq (Interval) designed by CCA Tashkent Music Curator Sabina Inoyatova accompanies the exhibition.

Historic works from the collection of the State Museum of Arts of Karakalpakstan form an integral part of Hikmah, placing contemporary commissions in dialogue with one of Central Asia's most significant artistic collections. Presented in collaboration with the museum, works by Vladimir Pan (b. 1956), Bakhtiyar Saipov (b. 1956) and Daribay Saipov (b. 1961) reflect the richness and diversity of Karakalpak artistic traditions. Pan's Untitled (1981), a contemplative gypsum portrait, explores cultural and material memory; Bakhtiyar Saipov's Meditation (1989) is an intimate study of introspection in clay; while Daribay Saipov's carved wooden column (1978–79) and door (1983–84) celebrate the enduring traditions of Karakalpak and Uzbek woodcarving.

Beyond its inaugural exhibition programme, CCA Tashkent will continue to expand its activities through residencies, research initiatives and international collaborations. Since October 2024, the CCA Tashkent Artist Residency programme has offered artists and creatives the opportunity to research, develop and present new work in Tashkent, with access to workshops, specialist facilities and curatorial support. Dutch-Moroccan couturier and artist Mohamed Benchellal, a former Residency participant, will present MONUMENTAL | “Sculpting Past Tomorrow” at the State National Museum of Uzbekistan in Tashkent. 

This expanded presence in Samarkand will also be reflected in the launch of the AA Visiting School: Climate Cartographies in Samarkand (September 4–14), a new collaboration between CCA Tashkent and the Architectural Association (AA), London. Combining public lectures, site visits and hands-on design workshops, the programme will bring together architecture and urban studies students, early-career architects, artists and curators to explore new approaches to mapping and interpreting environmental change.