The Aural Sea
09 May – 22 November 2026
Uzbekistan National Pavilion • 61st Venice Biennale
A group exhibition with Jahongir Bobokulov, Zi Kakhramonova, Aygul Sarsen, Zulfiya Spowart, Xin Liu, A.A.Murakami, and Nguyen Phuong Linh
Curated by Sophie Mayuko Arni, Aziza Izamova, Kamila Mukhitdinova, Nico Sun, and Thái Hà
09 May – 22 November 2026
Uzbekistan National Pavilion • 61st Venice Biennale
A group exhibition with Jahongir Bobokulov, Zi Kakhramonova, Aygul Sarsen, Zulfiya Spowart, Xin Liu, A.A.Murakami, and Nguyen Phuong Linh
Curated by Sophie Mayuko Arni, Aziza Izamova, Kamila Mukhitdinova, Nico Sun, and Thái Hà
Tushingni suvga ayt, "tell your dream to the water", so goes the Uzbek saying. Closing your eyes, you picture waves rolling towards your feet, the sensation distantly familiar, like hearing an echo or smelling a scent you can't quite place. The wind brushes sand against your shins, but wait, they are your grandfather's shins, poking out from his salt-worn shorts: you are dreaming his memories.
You open your eyes to waves receding to saltcrust. How do you tell the water your dream, if when you dream it is of water?
*
Once the world's fourth-largest inland body of water, the Aral Sea has lost over 90% of its volume since the 1960s due to Soviet-era irrigation schemes. The ecological consequences have been severe – desertification, loss of biodiversity, public health crises resulting from toxic dust storms. Amid the loss of the Aral Sea, Allayar Darmenov, the then 18-year-old Karakalpak writer, turned to an ancient human tool to make sense of the environmental changes happening around him: he invented mythologies. In his stories, schools of fish visit the remnants of saxaul forests, race each other in the water, remember the days when the desert prevailed. His descriptions of life in the replenished Aral inhabit a space where fairy tales correspond to real life, where fantasy is agency.
Inspired by his approach, the Uzbekistan National Pavilion constructs a new myth of the Aral Sea, underscored by a new commission of Darmenov's writing. Working across installation, painting, textile, and participatory artworks, the artists Jahongir Bobokulov, Zi Kakhramonova, Aygul Sarsen, Zulfiya Spowart, A.A.Murakami, Xin Liu, and Nguyen Phuong Linh engage their imaginations to learn with and from the Aral. Darmenov's story The Labyrinth writes their artworks into his mythical world, not as objects but as deities, monsters, and natural phenomena. As such, the artworks are living, dreaming, searching for forms of climate resilience that affirm the Aral as an enduring site of creation.
The Aural Sea is a story told from the perspectives of sand, salt, sun, water, spirits, seashells, and enzymes. Its temporality extends beyond a single human lifespan, traveling between inherited and personal memories. In various explorations of the Aral's materiality, its metabolic circulations, and the transmission of generational knowledge, the artists attune to the Aral's history as a cycle: of becoming, decay, and transformation.
Selected press
ArtReview: “Venice Biennale 2026 Highlights: Arsenale & Giardini”
Observer: “The Venice Biennale’s Most Powerful Pavilions Tune into Shared Consciousness”
The Art Journal: “A Historic Crossroads for Uzbekistan’s Art Scene”
Artnews: “Drained, Drowning, and Decay: The Best National Pavilions at the Venice Biennale”
Jahongir Bobokulov
Zi Kakhramonova
Aygul Sarsen
Zulfiya Spowart
A.A.Murakami
Xin Liu
Nguyen Phuong Linh
Curators
Sophie Mayuko Arni
Aziza Izamova
Kamila Mukhitdinova
Nico Sun
Thái Hà
(The curatorial team was formed through the Bukhara Biennial Curatorial School, an ACDF initiative commissioned by Gayane Umerova and led by the inaugural Bukhara Biennial Artistic Director Diana Campbell and in partnership with Delfina Foundation Director Aaron Cezar.)
Special thanks to
Bukhara Biennial Curatorial School Faculty
Diana Campbell
Aaron Cezar
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev
Övül Ö. Durmuşoğlu
Reem Fadda
Katya García-Antón
Gridthiya Gaweewong
Eungie Joo
Lucia Pietroiusti
Paula Nascimento
Victoria Noorthoorn
Sofía Olascoaga
Marie-Hélène Pereira
Sharmini Pereira
Akansha Rastogi
Dieter Roelstraete
Beatrix Ruf
Paula Toppila
Wei Wei Wang
Kathryn Weir
Jahongir Bobokulov, Aura, 2025
Zi Kakhramonova, Archive of Lost Forms, 2026
Ceramic production assistance
Bunyodbek Yunusov
Aygul Sarsen, Sketches from the Brown, Salt, Aral, Amudarya, Muńlı Aral, and Úmitlengen Aral series; Tús (Dream); Kutiw (Waiting); Úmitlengen Aral, 2026
Zulfiya Spowart, Beshik (The Cradle), 2026
Woodwork production assistance
Camilla Dilshat, Joshhua Roberts, Elizaveta Berkutova
Textile production assistance
Ayzada Joldasbaeva
Xin Liu, The Permanent and the Insatiable: Born to Sea, 2026
Project management
Sórcha Bradford
Design
Shijia Huang, Irene Hsu, Andrew Friedenberg
Fabrication
Kirsty Liang, Chris Istance, Yingtong Lin, Barbie Kim, Adina Seitkazina, Yerkezhan Seiitkazina, Elanka Jiang, Ellie McKnight
Biology consultant
Erika Erickson
With thanks
Nicole Kaiser
A.A.Murakami, The Sun Sets in a Shell, 2026
Produced with the support of
Mandarin Knitting Technology and Zegna Baruffa Lane Borgosesia
Nguyen Phuong Linh, Qi, 2026
Vietnam art handling and production team
Studio ARTiculate
Technician
Nguyen Nhu Bach
Production and Installation
WeExhibit
CitySize
Head of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Saida Mirziyoyeva
Commissioner
Head of the Department of Creative Economy and Tourism of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Chairperson of the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation
Gayane Umerova
Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF)
First Deputy Chairperson
Azizbek Mannopov
Advisor
Cyril Zammit
Venice Programme Lead
Anastasia Sinitsyna
Head of Project Implementation Department
Salokhiddinkhuja Suratkhodjaev
Lead Project Manager
Sherdor Nasimov
Project Managers
Musharrafkhon Gofurjonova, Maftuna Malikova
Producers
Polina Filimonova, Asilbek Akhmedov, Tatiana Basso
Press office
Tuychimurod Tukhtapulatov, Sofiya Irismetova, Zarif Kulmatov
Translations
Giulia Morucchio
Sceneography and Architecture
GRACE (Ekaterina Golovatyuk, Giacomo Cantoni, Ksenia Bisti, Lorenzo Bondavalli, Paulina Górecka)
Shokhrukhbek Dilmurodov, Khayitali Gofurov, Makhil Mavlyanova, Shakhruza Uktamova
(The scenography and architectural design of the Pavilion is developed by a selected group of architecture students and emerging architects from Tashkent Institute of Architecture and Civil Engineering and Ajou University. The project is advised by GRACE Studio.)
Graphic Design
Studio Pupilla