With the launch of the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan now has its first permanent center for contemporary art, research, and community engagement. Developed by the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, the CCA is housed in a 1912 industrial building in Old Tashkent, originally built as a diesel station and depot for the city’s first tram line, and reworked by Studio KO into a new home for exhibitions, public programming, and artistic research.
As a former Soviet republic, Uzbekistan has spent the decades since independence shaping how it wants to present itself, both domestically and internationally, and culture has become an increasingly important part of that process. For all of its cultural depth, Uzbekistan has not always had much visibility in the international contemporary art world. The CCA hopes to change that.
The inaugural exhibition, “Hikmah,” curated by Artistic Director and Chief Curator Dr. Sara Raza, brings together site-specific works developed in response to the CCA’s building and architecture. New commissions by Muhannad Shono, Nari Ward, Shokhrukh Rakhimov, and Tarik Kiswanson appear alongside works by Kimsooja and Ali Cherri, as well as loans from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Savitsky Museum in Nukus. The first year also includes “Kabakov: The Centre for Cosmic Energy,” opening in September, a three-year Visiting School initiative with London’s Architectural Association, the public art festival Tashkent Summer Days, and Tashkent Film Encounters, a new program that revisits the legacy of the historic Tashkent International Film Festival.
The international side of that effort has already been visible this year. In Venice, the CCA presented Vyacheslav Akhunov: Instruments of the Mind at Palazzo Franchetti as an official collateral event of the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Uzbekistan also established a presence through When Apricots Blossom, presented during Milan Design Week 2026. Together, those projects show a country using culture to build a stronger international presence while also investing in the institutions needed to support that work at home.
The CCA also shows how international visibility is tied to local infrastructure. Open to all and free to access, the center will include a library, workshop areas, and a café, alongside artist residencies, internships, fellowships, traineeships, and other professional development opportunities. Early initiatives have already included youth programs and CCA radio, with the 2026 calendar marking its first full exhibition-led year. At its core, the CCA is creating something lasting in Uzbekistan: a permanent institution for exhibitions, research, and exchange.
