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Culture and Art
About Fund Forum
The Forum of Culture and Arts of Uzbekistan Foundation, established in February 2004, is a voluntary self-controlled nongovernmental association of citizens and public organizations pursuing the goal of supporting domestic science, culture, education and sports.
The Fund Forum was given the goal of reviving the spiritual legacy and the national traditions of the Uzbek nation, boosting the creative potential of prominent public figures and culture professionals, providing support for young talents and crafts dynasties. The Fund Forum works to disseminate objective information about Uzbekistan’s unique culture, rich historical legacy and diversity of its contemporary throughout the world. Similarly, it informs the Uzbek public of trends in world culture. The Fund accords significant attention to the uniting of efforts by diplomatic and public bodies to set up socio-humanitarian and universal ties among countries and diverse national entities.
Among the founders and trustees of the Fund are known figures of culture and arts from Uzbekistan and foreign countries: Gulnara Karimova, Doctor of political sciences (Chairperson of Board of Trustees); Nabi Abdurakhmanov, Artistic Director of the Youth Theater of Uzbekistan; Eduard Sagalaev, President of Russian National Association of Broadcasters; Masut Fatkulin, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the International Confederation of Unions of Artists, Russia; Tursunali Kuziev, Chairperson of the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan; Akmal Nur, famous painter, People`s Artist of Uzbekistan; Ortikali Kozokov, famous painter, Honored Artist of Uzbekistan; Eduard Rtveladze, a famous scientist, doctor of History, professor; Tigran Mkrtychev, Deputy Director of Scientific Work, State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Main directions of Fund’s activity include:
Activity of the Fund Forum is wide enough and various. Among the basic directions of its work are:
• International activity;
• Youth projects;
• Children`s creativity;
• Fashion and design;
• Producer projects;
• Sports;
• Grants;
• Festivals, exhibitions, concerts, joint projects;
• Conferences, forums, round tables;
• Charities and social projects.
The Foundations representative offices are opened in Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Paris, Vienna, Geneva, Madrid, New York and Berlin. The cultural contacts with partners in various cities of Great Britain, Switzerland, Spain, Russia, Egypt, China, Japan, France, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Belgium and other countries of the world have been obtained as well. The Fund Forum was the first among public organizations of Uzbekistan became the official partner of UNESCO. In March 2007 Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the two organizations. Also Memorandums of cooperation were signed with British Council, Swiss Cooperation Office in Uzbekistan, China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, Cristiano Ronaldo Foundation, Austrian Association of Retirees, China Association for the Advancement of International Friendship, National Museum of Korea, Nagoya State University, Moscow State Linguistic University, Cultural Development Fund of Egypt and Samuel Eto`o Foundation.
In 2010, the Fund Forum was granted Consultative Status with the ECOSOC to become the first public organization in Uzbekistan to receive such a status.
The Fund Forum has been granted Special Consultative Status by ECOSOC
The Fund Forum has been granted Special Consultative Status by the UN Economic and Social Council. The respective decision was made at a recent session of the ECOSOC in July 2010. The Fund Forum has thus become the first public organization in Uzbekistan to receive the status with the ECOSOC. Shortly afterwards, another partner organization of the Fund Forum, Mehr Nuri Charitable Foundation, was granted Special Consultative Status.
Once granted a Consultative Status, a nongovernmental organization gets an opportunity to contribute to the UN activities and particularly to the ECOSOC, its commissions and other subsidiary bodies. Representatives of NGOs with this status may participate in events and activities of the UN and its structures, express their viewpoints, swap experience and generate recommendations on issues under discussion, designate official representatives to the United Nations – to the UN Headquarters in New York and the UN offices in Geneva and Vienna.
The Special Consultative Status enables the Fund Forum participate in the activities of the UN and put forth recommendations regarding issues related to international cultural and humanitarian cooperation, development of a dialog among nations, education, science, culture and arts, healthy lifestyle and charity.
It is noteworthy that the granting of the Consultative Status points to the recognition of the effectiveness and international significance of the Fund Forum. Although the UN`s cooperation with nongovernmental organizations can be traced back to the times of the League of Nations, receiving a status allowing for more active participation in the UN`s activities is difficult task for public organizations.
In order to get a consultative status, an NGO must meet a series of requirements. More specifically, its activities must be in tune with the purposes of the UN, be engaged in issues that are under the ECOSOC competence, have a democratic inner structure and oversee international activities. According to practice, an NGO may be considered an international entity if it has offices in at least three countries.
ART WEEK STYLE.UZ 2011
October 30, 2011
American celebrity stylist Kithe Brewster teaches master class at Art Week
Over 500 people came together at the Youth Creativity Palace to learn skills from Kithe Brewster, an American celebrity stylist, whose knack for capturing a subject’s unique character has earned him clients such as Halle Berry, Julianne Moore, Iman, Diane Lane, Usher and Heidi Klum.
Kithe Brewster told the audience about his career as a celebrity stylist. Then followed a video showing footage of his work at New York Fashion Week. He shared with the audience secrets related to how to act in a busy schedule. He also talked about how challenging working with famous actresses, singers and top models can be. The master class was a very interesting and useful question-and-answer session that brought together people who share interests in fashion and art.
As a celebrity stylist/fashion editor, Brewster has developed a fiercely loyal following among those who thirst for boldly creative designs and innovative thinking. Kithe’s varied experiences in Europe and America have shaped his unique sensibilities and provided a deep knowledge of what it takes to create and market cutting edge fashions.
Kithe Brewster styled over fifteen covers for Flaunt magazine with some of the hottest stars of then tomorrow, such as Adrien Brody, Cate Blanchett, Selma Hayek, Winona Ryder and many others, redefining celebrity editorial. Within the world of fashion, Kithe Brewster’s name has become synonymous with fearless creativity. He is continuously scaling new heights and whatever the challenge, Kithe’s independent vision and design sense drives him to succeed and sets him apart from the others.
“I’m always inspired by people, music, nature and all that is beautiful,” Brewster said. “One of the qualities crucial to my occupation is diligence which I can see in Art Week in Tashkent. I’m very happy to be here. Here I saw very beautiful fabrics which I can use in my collections.”
Vintage photos of Tashkent exhibited in Manhattan
April 6, 2011
New York City’s Nailya Alexander Gallery opened its doors on April 5 to welcome the public to the vernissage for the exhibition of a renowned photo artist, Max Penson, one of the most prominent representatives of Uzbek photography. The art show features around 50 vintage gelatin silver prints from the artist’s family estate and several private collections. Organized by the Fund Forum and Nailya Alexander Gallery, the exhibition will run through May 13, 2011.
Max Penson was born in 1893 in a family of bookbinders in the small town of Veliszh near Vitebsk (Russia). In 1915, his family moved to Kokand (Uzbekistan) where he helped found an art-production school. In addition to being the principal of the school, Penson taught draftsmanship and painting. In appreciation of his work in Kokand, the district of Ferghana honored him with a camera, a gift that led to his giving up a career in education to follow his new passion for photography. He moved to Tashkent in 1923 and was hired by Central Asia’s largest newspaper Pravda Vostoka (Truth of the East) in 1925.
Penson’s most famous work, “Uzbek Madonna”, a portrait of a young woman nursing her child, won the Grand Prix at the World Fair in Paris in 1937. All told, he created roughly 30,000 photos dedicated to Uzbekistan. His images show men digging vast irrigation canals, attending literacy classes as well as telephone operators and tractor drivers. He created a unique visual chronicle, an epic poem in photographic form of the radical transformation of life and colossal engineering projects in the region.
Nailya Alexander, Director of the Gallery (USA):
“We have done a great deal of work in an effort to bring the idea for organizing this show into reality. Serious work and attention went into selecting works by the master among collectors’ and his family’s archives. And we are happy to present them to the New York public in collaboration with the Fund Forum.”
Notably, despite limitations Penson faced in his career, his artistic endeavors were aimed at capturing moments from the lives of grassroots Uzbek people such as builders involved in the construction of the Grand Ferghana Canal as well as elderly people, laboring peasants, and laughing children in villages in Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan has given the world many talents and is home to unrivaled landscapes and vast natural endowments and is famed for its people’s hospitality and generosity. It is these riches, eternal values and human qualities that the great artist tried to capture and convey through his creations.
Miron Penson, photographer, cameraman, Max Penson’s son (USA):
“The very fact that downtown Manhattan is playing host to this exhibition is filling me with so much pride and joy, and it’s hard to express my feelings through words. My father couldn’t have seen himself exhibiting his art here even in his dreams. Documentation is an invaluable genre. Besides, the esthetics of the 20-30s is very attractive, it is very educational and informative. For some visitors this is an opportunity to immerse themselves in the past while for others it may be a pleasant introduction to something new.”
Those attending the April 5 opening reception included Susan Goodman, Curator at large of the Jewish Museum of Art; Jon Mason of Pace Gallery, N. Zaretskaya of TV Gallery; Grace Kennan Warnecke, Trustee of National Committee on American Foreign Policy as well as private collectors of artworks, heads of diplomatic missions of Japan, Australia, Lichtenstein, San Marino, Hungary, Slovakia, Macedonia, Russia, Israel, New Zealand, Croatia, Turkey, Pakistan and other countries.
Visitors to the opening reception said the art show that has given them impressions of a land an ocean away enriches the art palette of cultural life in New York City.
400 Projects of Diverse Formats
30/12/2010, Uzbekistan Today
The Forum of Culture and Arts of Uzbekistan Foundation has held an online conference revisiting the year 2010. It gathered over 300 representatives of arts, culture, science, sports, education, those of public and international organizations, winners and participants of the Foundation’s projects and its partners. Panel discussions within the conference were held in various directions.
Online conference is one of the most technological projects, a kind of the foundation’s know-how, and a modern and effective way of summing up a year’s activity. The foundation annually reports on implemented activities through a direct Internet dialogue with the community in www.on-line.uz. It’s the fifth online conference of the foundation.
One of the halls of the Youth Creativity Palace hosted more than 40 computers for 3 or 4 participants answering questions of the users. The participants changed computers all the time since everybody took interest in participating in the Internet discussions. Some 3,000 questions were received from all regions of the republic and from foreign partners.
Representatives of the Forum Foundation and partner organizations, figures of culture and art, winners of projects and programs of the foundation, all those who had contributed into the organization by any means, answered the questions.
“The year 2010 was fruitful for the Forum Foundation. This year the foundation became the first among the public organizations of Uzbekistan to receive the consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (UNESC). The UN Information Center in Uzbekistan (UNIC) and UN Population Fund (UNFPA) recognized the republican contest for talented youth Kelajak Ovozi as the top youth project. The film by the Youth TV Studio about sports projects of the Forum Foundation won the prize of the Milan Sports Films and Programs Festival in the nomination Sports through Culture. The International Olympic Committee awarded the foundation the prize Sports is Inspiring Force of Youth for the active activity in sports, cultural and educational projects for young people.
Speaking about the international cooperation of the Forum Foundation, its press secretary Bobur Komilov noted:
“This year was remarkable with the opening of three more Fund Forum country offices in Germany, Spain and the US. They will promote the broader popularization of our culture and heritage abroad. Over 90 projects were implemented with the support of international organizations. The majority of them are annual and traditional. Many our projects are quite popular today, which is proved by the scale and the number of participants growing year by year. Speaking about the online conference, we find it essential and effective. The figures evidence of the public interest in all spheres involved in the foundation’s projects. They cover all population strata. This conference can open something new for any visitor: anyone can ask a question or propose an idea. This opportunity reveals the whole significance of the project.”
The Fund Foundation opened two new organizations in 2010: Abu Ali Ibn Sino (Avicenna) International Traditional Medicine Association and National Breast Cancer Association For the Sake of Life!
The Traditional Medicine Association aims at revival, preservation and promotion of oriental medicine’s principles and development of international cooperation in this sphere.
National Breast Cancer Association’s objective is to expand the opportunities for the early prevention, diagnostics and treatment of breast cancer and other oncological female diseases, and improve the medical, social and psychological support of women through the synergies of specialists and the public. The association has already held some significant events this year. Approximately five thousand people took part in a charitable Forum-marathon in May to forward all collected funds to purchasing medicines and conduction of events on early diagnostics of diseases. 132 women diagnosed with breast cancer were provided with medicines worth 778 million soums within the projects carried out by the national association For the Sake of Life. 8.5 thousand women were examined in all regions of Uzbekistan during diagnostic actions of the association.
Fund Foundation implemented a total of 400 projects in 2010 together with its partners.
“There are eight projects by Fund Foundation here with the involvement of the National Arts Center,” said Elmira Ahmedova, director. They are Bazaar-art, Asrlar Sadosi, Navqiron O’zbekiston, Signs of the Time, and other events in cooperation with Fund Foundation. The year 2010 was very eventful for us. Today we look forward to 2011 intending to continue the major projects of the Fund and start some new ones we have already mapped out. Our key objective is to preserve, develop and revive cultural values of Uzbekistan including all forms of traditional cultures of the Uzbek people. Unfortunately, some kinds and forms disappear, therefore our task is to preserve, and sometimes revive them to pass them on to the posterity.
The Fund published the books “Ulughbek Epoch Architecture by Galina Pugachenkova, Horazm Tambour Notation, catalogue-book Applied Art of Uzbekistan. Gradation of Values, and shot a film Ibn Sino with the support of the Yoshlar TV channel.
As part of a prize quiz, held at the end of the year all around Uzbekistan, the Fund Forum awarded the grand prize 3 Matiz cars, as well as laptops, televisions, DVD players, watches, flash cards and much more.
As reported by the press service of the Forum Foundation, 563 grants worth about 710 million soums were awarded in 2010 within the Fund’s projects and by partner organizations. They also rendered sponsor aid valued at 5.4 billion soums. About one million people took part in the projects.
The Tashkent International New Cinema Festival to be held in spring is on the agenda of 2011.
“It will be a big holiday both for cinematographers and movie amateurs,” noted Murod Rajabov, director of Mukimi Theater, actor. “Besides, the festival is a good school for young Uzbek actors, directors, scriptwriters. The country releases about 50 movies a year at the average. This means we have many talented young people with promising potential and fresh ideas. So the future of the Uzbek cinema is in safe hands.”
The next year’s agenda includes the traditional actions that have become a Fund’s brand: a fair-exhibition of decorative and applied art Bazaar-art, Festival of Traditional Culture Asrlar Sadosi in one of historical areas of our country, the core art week Art Week Style.Uz, the contest Woman of the Year, sports competitions, foreign presentations and many other events.
The activity of the Forum Foundation aims at revival of spiritual and cultural values, support of youth, science, culture and sports. The foundation assigns a big part to consolidation of synergies of diplomatic and public structures in order to establish social, educational and universal relations between countries. All projects implemented by Forum Foundation in 2010 is a bright evidence of that.
Uzbekistan inspires California
04/12/2010, Fund Forum
A series of events about Uzbekistan were held in Monterey, California, on December 3. Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) hosted a workshop, a cultural presentation and a reception during which the attendees could sample Uzbek national meal pilaf. Organized by the Fund Forum and the Permanent Mission of Uzbekistan to the UN, the event was attended by around 100 people, including MIIS staff, students, scholars as well as members of Monterey City Council.
The workshop focusing on Uzbekistan’s contemporary development was organized for young specialists studying international relations and provided information about Uzbekistan’s role in maintaining security and stability in Central Asia as well as the country’s achievements over independence years. The information provided piqued the participants’ interest, which was seen in the many questions they asked toward the end of the event.
The workshop was given the goal of providing detailed information about Uzbekistan’s unique cultural legacy and modern trends in Uzbek arts. Several video were shown during the presentation about Uzbekistan’s contribution to world civilization as well as its ancient cities and architectural monuments. Those gathered also had the opportunity to watch a film about the Fund Forum’s broad activities, its major projects and initiatives to support culture and art, children’s artistic endeavors, talented youngsters, education, sports, science and charity. They also showed a keen interest in the Foundation’s activities in promoting Uzbek culture and art abroad.
The participants were also provided with Fund Forum magazines and brochures about student initiatives, fashion and design, applied art, youth tourism, etc.
At the end of the event Monterey Institute was presented with the book “Tashkent – the History of One City”, published by the Fund Forum in collaboration with UNESCO in celebration of Tashkent’s 2200th anniversary.
The reception offered an informal atmosphere where the guests of the event had the opportunity to converse and discuss their impressions of what they had seen and learned. The guests particularly enjoyed the oriental hospitality show along with a table with meals decorated with Uzbek traditional fabrics. Most importantly, each guest had the opportunity to sample pilaf, Uzbeks’ primary culinary delights, with many saying they would remember the cultural event in years to come.
Note: The Monterey Institute of International Studies is a private school founded in 1955 in the city of Monterey, California. It provides international professional education in areas of critical importance to a rapidly changing global community, including international policy and management, translation and interpretation, language teaching, sustainable development, and non-proliferation. The Institute offers graduate programs that prepare innovative professionals to provide leadership in cross-cultural, multilingual environments. Practical skills, collaborative processes, and innovative approaches are defining features of a Monterey Institute education. The Center for Nonproliferation Studies at MIIS provided significant assistance in creating a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia (CANWFZ).
Art Week Style.Uz
Art Week Style.Uz is the most high profile fashion and art event in Central Asia, which is truly recognized as one of the best events showcasing the entire versatility of traditional and contemporary Central Asian art, culture, music and fashion.
Style.Uz project is a crossroads of arts, traditions and modernity. For four years now the Week impresses with its scale and dynamics, variety of its events and attracts more and more attention of the world’s most famous figures. The concept of the Art Week is completely different from that of fashion-week, because it compiles painting and antique exhibitions, auctions, presentations, National Dress Festival, fashion shows by Uzbek and foreign designers, master classes by experts from different fields of arts, charity concerts.
About 100 guests from among the world known designers, public figures, specialists in the sphere of fashion and arts, chief-editors of international vogue magazines, famous stars, as well as fashion brands visit and participate each year in Style.Uz Weeks. Inès de la Fressange, Guy Laroche, Revillon, Smalto, Féraud, Valentino, DSQUARED2, Oscar de la Renta, Sonia Rykiel, Chopard, as well as London College of Fashion were among the fashion houses and brands presenting their collections. Also Takada Kenzo, Vyacheslav Zaytsev, Valentin Yudashkin, Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele (CHOPARD), Fawaz Gruosi (de Grisogono), Pascal Morabito, David and Cathy Guetta, Rod Stewart, Julio Iglesias, Sting, Montserrat Caballe and others have visited the Week in a course of the last four years. In general the events of the Art Week are attended by more than 10 000 visitors.
Such a high rank international participation and support more than anything else have inspired young talents for future growth and success. This is the core of the Week, its ultimate goal – to motivate and inspire. The Art Week is a great opportunity for the Week’s young participants and all who works in the project – photographers, musicians, producers and many others, to show off themselves. It is an opportunity to create and to be seen, an opportunity for them to become a personality they want to be tomorrow - today. Providing a platform for young fashion and art professionals as well as our traditional craftsmen the Week gives them the possibility for further development within the fashion world. Young talents support, providing grants for textile and weaving masters, who build their activities on reviving of ancient professional techniques – is what Style.Uz is making its main efforts in. And, what is probably the most important, young participants, grant holders, designers of the national dress and other participants, who have the possibility to attend all events in frames of the Week, have a chance to exchange ideas and learn from world known and established specialists.
The event is covered annually by more than 200 local and international mass-media organizations including BBC, CNN, Euronews, Fashion TV, TV-5 Monde, Paris Mode TV, TV France 3 (France), RTR, Informational Channel “Vesti” (Russia), Society-TV and Society Magazine, PULS4 TV (Austria), TRT (Turkey), LTV-7 (Latvia), high profile magazines as Time (US), L’Officiel (France, Russia, Latvia), Fashion, IO Donna (Italy), Diplomatic News, Diva International (Switzerland), Les Echos Serie-limitee, Gala (France), Capital, El Mundo (Spain), Citizen K, Harpers Bazaar, Menu Magazine, Eurasia, Za Rubejom, Hello!, Hello! ICONS, Week-end (Russia), Shashati (Egypt), newspapers as Kronenzeitung (Austria), Women's Wear Daily (Japan), information agencies France Press (France), Reuters (Great Britain) and also internet resources such as Fashion Wire Daily, Wireimage, Getty Images, TheFashionTime.com, StyleDigest.ru etc.
Being also directed to international cooperation in different arts spheres development and creative personalities support, the Style.Uz Art Week is organized with the support from significant local and international institutions, public organizations.
Art Week Style.uz October 9 - 14, 2010
EXHIBITIONS
Traditional Art, Design and Fashion Exhibition
This major exhibition brings together unique works by leading masters of traditional art and season hits of modern fashion brands: the modern art of craftsmen, on the one hand, and fashion masterpieces by designers, on the other. Fashion and arts have never been known to conflict with each other. Rather, they are in harmonious coexistence, thereby representing a segment of contemporary culture. The exhibits include works by members of Uzbekistan’s IJOD Association of Artists, Art Historians and Craftsmen as well as modern clothes, footwear, and accessories created by eminent and budding designers, interior and web design developments, jewellery showrooms as well as new collections by top fashion brands. The exhibition will start on the second day and conclude on the last day of the Week.
Solo exhibition of the French artist Catherine Metais
Born in 1950 in Ivry (northern France), Catherine Metais lives and works in Saint-Martin-de-Ré, a commune on an island off the west coast of France. She spent a long time in Berlin, where she participated in a host of exhibitions along with other artists. Her solo exhibitions have also been housed in showrooms in France, UK, Ukraine, South Korea and Turkmenistan.
Solo exhibition of the Italian artist Marco Perego
Marco Perego, born in 1978 in Brescia (Italy), now lives and works in New York. A graduate of IULM University (Milan), Perego was a soccer player but suffered a leg injury at the age of 21 and went to Brazil for a year to try to recuperate and continue playing there. In the fall of 2002, he abandoned soccer and moved to New York to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. Perego is known for his controversial and iconoclastic paintings. He has had solo shows in Italy, US, and UK.
“Aristotle’s Mystery” Exhibition of Young Artists
The project draws on Greek philosopher Aristotle’s teachings on mimesis, which he defined as the perfection and imitation of nature. It is this teaching that has come as a groundwork for the development of realistic art. The project is aimed at fostering in young artists (aged 25-45) a nonstandard vision of the world and interpretation of reality as well as giving them the skills to come up with original solutions to artistic problems. The target art categories include painting, video art, installations and fashion design.
“Signs of Time” International Exhibition of Contemporary Art
The theme of the exhibition is linked with historical experience and cultural events and seeks to sharpen thinking about the present as well as emotional, intellectual and thought-provoking occurrences. The show will contain works by artists from Uzbekistan, Russia, France, Kazakstan, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan, who represent different age groups and various artistic categories and policies. This said, they are all united by a shared principle of methodological vision of reality and thinking about the past relevant to the present and the future.
Archeological Exhibition
The archeological stratum is one of the most ancient strata of Uzbek culture. In 2009-2010, with assistance from Uzbekistan’s MEROS Association of Antiques and the Fund Forum, archeological excavations were carried out in Kanka ancient settlement (11th – early 12th c.) in Tashkent region. The results of this work are on display at the said exhibition. The purpose of the exhibition is to tell the broad public about Kanka settlement and showcase the archeological findings as an example of carrying out archeological activity and interpreting ancient cultural strata in preserving the historical and cultural legacy of Uzbekistan. The exhibition will be composed of images of Kanka settlement and objects unearthed during the excavations (fragments of rooms, ceramics, coins, metalwork, etc.) as well as stands with information about the settlement and the exhibits.
INTERNATIONAL PHOTO BIENNALE “TashkentAle-2010”
The International Photo Biennale will be held as part of the Art Week and will bring together professional photographers working in various genres and styles from a number of countries. To participate in the Biennale, the artists submitted works on the following themes: a) “Man, tradition, environment”. As the name suggests, these will include works of a documentary genre demonstrating traditions of nations of the world, architectural, climatic and nature features of these nations’ environments as well as genre and psychological portraits of people of a particular society; b) “Wings of experiment”. The theme calls for innovative and unconventional methods in artistic photography: computer experiments, extraordinary ways of filming and print, and works that are avant-garde in form and content; c) “The Young and the Bright”. These include works reflecting efforts by societies to contribute to the comprehensive harmonious development of the youth, depicting extraordinary young people, prominent personalities, young talents and their endeavors and bold aspirations, as well as highlights in the lives of young people. The Organizing Committee received 1,799 works from 151 photographers from 38 countries. Photos by 140 artists – 50 from Uzbekistan and 90 from abroad – have been put on display at “TashkentAle-2010”.
THEATRE FESTIVAL “THEATRE.UZ”
The Theatre Festival “THEATRE.UZ”, organised by the Youth Theatre of Uzbekistan and the Fund Forum, is being held in Uzbekistan for the first time. From October 2 to October 11, Tashkent theatrical stages are hosting plays from theatres worldwide. The Festival is given the goal of bringing together and blending various theatre cultures, expanding friendly and artistic contacts, enriching theatre life in Uzbekistan by advocating the achievements of local and foreign theatres as well as assisting theatre professionals with their creative endeavours and the development of theatrical art in Uzbekistan.
‘CAMPAIGN14’ DEDICATED TO BREAST CANCER FIGHT
“In the Name of Life” National Breast Cancer Association and the Women’s Council have organised a series of campaigns for breast cancer early diagnostics across the country and selected 14 women in need of urgent treatment from each region, Tashkent city and the Republic of Karakalpakstan. Proceeds from the charitable auction, which will be held as part of ‘Campaign 14’, will go towards the medical treatment of these women.
FASHION SHOWS BY UZBEK DESIGNERS
‘Underground’ Young Designers Show
This youth défilé is an opportunity for young talents and budding designers to showcase their creations on a glittering catwalk. ‘Underground’ is growing stronger as the ideas embodied in models demonstrated have drawn plaudits from the public. As practice has shown, designers whose works are judged to be the most interesting can become participants at the General Défilé of Style.Uz the next year.
The Festival of National Dress
The Festival of National Dress, one of the pivotal events within Style.Uz, centres around oriental themes, which are gaining increasing popularity in the world of fashion. The Festival promises to demonstrate the ‘Central Asian Orient’ in all its splendour, featuring silk and brocade, intricate embroidery patterns and jewellery pieces with original twists and curves. From the viewpoint of a professional show, it is a truly colourful and amazing spectacle offering original Uzbek costumes in a modern vision. Works will come from designers from all regions of Uzbekistan, a condition that will ensure that the attendees will see the entire aesthetic picture of Uzbek costumes. The Festival also serves to discover new names, provide further support for designers and encourage a blend of styles and traditions in national collections. Notably, the Festival makes available grants for textile and weaving masters.
General Défilé by Dom Stilya
The event piques the interest of those interested in the latest trends in Uzbekistan’s contemporary fashion. Held annually as part of Style.Uz, the General Défilé demonstrates the collections created by prominent and up-and-coming designers of Dom Stilya (House of Style), which has given a multitude of Uzbek fashion designers an opportunity to work at a professional level and narrow the gap between in working conditions between fashion designers from Tashkent and those in Uzbek regions and small towns.
FASHION SHOWS BY INTERNATIONAL DESIGNERS
Exposition of dresses made of Uzbek fabrics by BASSO & BROOKE (UK)
CHISATO TSUMORI fashion show (Japan)
AGATHA RUIZ DE LA PRADA and LEMONIEZ fashion shows (Spain)
MAX MARA fashion show (Italy)
IGOR CHAPURIN fashion show (Russia)
BALMAIN fashion show (France)
DOMENICO VACCA fashion show (Italy)
BRIONI fashion show (Italy)
AUCTION BY “MEROS” ASSOCIATION OF ANTIQUES OF UZBEKISTAN AND DUKE’S AUCTIONEERS (UK)
The auction titled “Textile, the Guardian of Tradition” will be held on October 11 at 8 p.m. at Tashkent Clock Tower. The purpose of the auction is to draw public attention to problems in preserving and collecting artifacts of cultural and historical legacy; advocate national cultural values; develop auctions in Uzbekistan; and make an impact on the antiques pricing policy. Duke’s Auctioneers were established in 1823 in Dorchester, Dorset County (UK) and oversees fine art and applied art auctions and sales.
“L’OFFICIEL CENTRAL ASIA” PRESENTATION
L’Officiel is a French fashion magazine published since 1921 in Paris. In 1938, it became the world’s first fashion magazine to publish colour photos. It introduced to its readers fashion designers Jacques Fath and Christian Dior, who were only starting to make waves in fashion then. Presently, L’Officiel is published in France, Russia, China, India, Turkey, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Greece and Ukraine. For over 80 years it has followed the times and defined French taste in elegance, design talents, venues, exhibitions, decoration, and architecture. On October 10, L’Art de la Cuisine Restaurant in Tashkent will host L`OFFICIEL CENTRAL ASIA Presentation.
CLASSIC FM RADIO PRESENTATION
Classic FM radio started broadcasting in 2008 at the frequency of 104,4. It airs tranquil music and soft music compositions by local and international performers. On the fourth day of the Art Week (October 12), Hotel Intercontinental will host Classic FM radio presentation which will feature Montefiori Cocktail, an Italian music group formed in 1997 by brothers Francesco Montefiori and Federico Montefiori. The duo is famous for their jazz and lounge music.
CONFERENCES
International Conference “Preservation of Historical and Cultural Legacy: Theory, Practice and Collecting”
The conference, another in the series of Style.Uz events, will highlight the comprehensive study of historical and cultural legacy and collecting historical and cultural artifacts. The conference will be attended by archeologists, art specialists, museologists, historians, philosophers, cultural studies experts and ethnographers from France, Japan, Spain, Egypt, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Round-table “Dialogue: Education and Business”
Participants in the round-table will swap opinions and ideas in narrowing the gap between the private sector/business and educational institutions for fashion and design. The session will also highlight issues in training personnel for the sector in question and will include a discussion on the organization of quality education in Uzbekistan. The round-table will be attended by representatives of Uzbek higher education institutions; colleges; employers and sponsors.
MASTER CLASSES
Master classes, an integral part of the Art Week, are delivered by eminent guests and arts professionals who share their trade secrets and techniques with the participants. This year the Art Week offers master classes almost every day of the Week. Specifically, these include master classes by representatives of Italy’s stellar SALVATORE FERRAGAMO on October 14; Russia’s talented artist and designer Alexander Ishenko on October 9; a master class on the use of new computer design methods in carpet making, by specialists from Tashkent Institute of Textile Industry, on October 13; and a master class by guests from London College of Fashion on October 11.
Presentation "Japan's Quest for Harmonious Society: Making Fashion Universal" by Professor Oda Akira of Tokyo College of Fashion and Designer Naoshi Sawayanagi
Universal fashion is a new trend in fashion that brings opportunities to create comfortable and trendy clothes which are in demand with all segments of the population, irrespective of age, gender, social status as well as clothes for disabled people.
Oda Akira is a fashion journalist, a professor at Sugino Fashion College, Director of the Association of Universal Fashion, and a lecturer at Kuwasawa Design School. He has authored “Paris Collection 20” and “Declaration of Universal Fashion”.
Naoshi Sawayanagi is a Japanese designer, who set up his own brand “Naoshi Sawayanagi” in 2008. A year later, his collection debuted at WHOLEGARMENT TOKYO 2009. The same year, he went into collaboration with DENIM, creating works under the brand name Naoshi+Denim. In 2010, he presented his collection in New York City.
CONTEMPORARY CHOREOGRAPHY AND SPORTING DANCE INTERNATIONAL CONTEST
This contest – a sports project launched by the Fund Forum – helps youngsters, both amateurs and professionals (aged 5 to 20), to hone their dancing and sporting skills. The Fund Forum awards winners diplomas and prizes, and provides development grants. The project co-organisers include: the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Uzbekistan, the Ministry of National Education, the Children’s Sports Development Fund and the National Dance and Choreography School. The final gala concert of the Contest, which will be held as part of Style.Uz, will demonstrate multifaceted talents of the youth and their dedication to a healthy lifestyle.
“Discover Uzbekistan”: Charm of Uzbek culture in Big Apple
10/06/2010, Fund Forum
On June 10, the Ana Tzarev Gallery in New York City hosted “Discover Uzbekistan”, a reception in honor of Uzbek culture. This is the first time the prestigious American gallery hosted an event dedicated to Uzbekistan’s cultural legacy and tourism potential. The event was organized by the Fund Forum, IJOD Association of Artists, Art Historians and Craftsmen in conjunction with the Uzbek Initiative and Silk Road Treasure Tours with support from the Representative Office of Uzbekistan at the UN and the Consulate General of Uzbekistan in New York.
Among those invited to the reception were officials, businessmen and academic circles in the US as well as public and international organization and the UN diplomatic corps. As many as 150 guests attended the reception, Laura Cansicio of New York City Mayor’s Office; Nancy Posternak of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Dr. Yuka Kadoi, Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow at the Art Institute of Chicago; Gloria Starr Kins, editor-in-chief of Society & Diplomatic review; Andranik Migranyan, head of the New York office of the Institute for Democracy; and Rafael Nektal, editor-in-chief of The Bukharian Times.
Among prominent Uzbek guests were Alisher Mirzo, an academic and artists; Dilmurod Ergashev, an actor and director of Clinic “Doctor-D”; Vladimir Shiffman, a film director; and Maksim Penson, a famous photographer, among others.
Imbued with an atmosphere of oriental hospitality, the reception gave the guests an opportunity to sample authentic Uzbek cuisine and refreshments, while enjoying featured presentations, performances and an exhibition of Uzbek modern and applied artworks.
The exhibition “Uzbek Land”, held as part of the culture evening, showcased works by Alisher Mirzo, a People’s Artist of Uzbekistan, an academic and a member of IJOD Association, enabling the guests to learn about Uzbek traditions, daily life, culture and to feel the atmosphere of Uzbek cities, lifestyles and scenery.
The exhibition was first organized in Tashkent by the Fund Forum and IJOD Association. It then went on a tour in Moscow, Oslo, Vilnius and other capitals of the world. While in the US, the Uzbek artist created several pictures and added them to the exhibition in New York.
Alisher Mirzo is one of the most unique artists in Uzbekistan’s contemporary art. Due to his creative endeavors along with his teaching and public activities, he has become famous not only in Uzbekistan but also in many countries of the world.
Many participants opined that the Uzbek culture evening has been a big success and expressed their admiration with the colorful culture of the Uzbek people, with many saying they would love to visit this mysterious country that has rightfully earned itself the title of the “Pearl of the Silk Road”.
CONTACTS
The Forum of Culture and Arts of Uzbekistan Foundation:
Address: 80, Uzbekistan str, Tashkent, 100027, Uzbekistan
Tel.: (+998 71) 239-27-74, 239-27-69
Fax: (+998 71) 239-27-71
http://www.fundforum.uz
e-mail: info@fondforum.uz ; fonduz@mail.ru
Representative Office in New York, USA
Address: 801, 2nd Avenue, 20th Floor New York, NY 10017
Tel.: 1 (212) 486 4242 (ext. 103)
Fax: 1 (212) 486 7998
E-mail: ashraf.uny@gmail.com
Contact person: Mr. Ashraf Khodjaev