Uzbekistan (Republic of) 2026

Title: The Aural Sea
Commissioner: Gayane Umerova, Chairperson of the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation
Curators: Sophie Mayuko Arni, Aziza Izamova, Kamila Mukhitdinova, Nico Sun, Thái Hà
Exhibitors: Jahongir Bobokulov, Zi Kakhramonova, Aygul Sarsen, Zulfiya Spowart, Xin Liu, A.A.Murakami, Nguyen Phuong Linh

The exhibition addresses the environmental transformation of the Aral Sea region in Karakalpakstan. Since the 1960s, agricultural irrigation has caused the inland lake to lose over 90 per cent of its volume. Against this backdrop, the exhibition considers the site as a space for climate resilience and alternative futures.

The Pavilion features artists Jahongir Bobokulov, Zi Kakhramonova, Aygul Sarsen, Zulfiya Spowart, Xin Liu, A. Murakami, and Nguyen Phuong Linh. Working across installation, interactive work, and painting, the participants engage ecological imaginations to learn from the Aral Sea. The exhibition draws inspiration from the writings of Allayar Darmenov, who used fiction to imagine a replenished region.

The project focuses on the act of listening to a landscape that has undergone dramatic change. It proposes mythmaking and storytelling as tools for navigating loss and exercising agency.