The British Council teams in Uzbekistan and Wider Europe have collaborated with the Art Gallery of Uzbekistan and British Council Visual Arts in the UK to present the first ever exhibition of contemporary British art in Uzbekistan.
Entitled New Past - Contemporary Art from the UK, the exhibition features artworks from the British Council Collection by 19 contemporary British artists and is a key part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the British Council in Uzbekistan. New Past is co-curated by Uzbek curator Gayane Umerova and Fay Blanchard, one of the curators from the British Council Visual Arts team based in London.
Emma Dexter, Director of Visual Arts for the British Council, travelled to Tashkent, Uzbekistan for the opening of the exhibition on 27 October, which was attended by an impressive 250 people. The opening night was animated by a live performance of students reading Shakespeare’s sonnets. John Tucker, a voice coach from Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance in Kent, has been working with the students of the Institute of Culture and Art of Uzbekistan from December to teach them how to read monologues and sonnets by Shakespeare as part of the Shakespeare Lives global programme.
Through lectures and presentations following the opening, Emma Dexter also engaged with 100 art teachers from all over Uzbekistan at the National In-Service Training Institute and with 70 arts students at the National Institute of Art and Design to talk about key trends and developments in contemporary art in the UK.
A panel discussion on UK-Uzbekistan on 28 October brought together 60 key arts professionals in Uzbekistan to discuss the potential for international partnerships involving arts and education institutions in the UK and Uzbekistan.
New Past’s accompanying professional development programme includes a series of events:
- A modern graphics master class ran by a British expert Chris Christadoulou for students and teachers of the National Institute of Arts and Design around the themes of the exhibition, such as memory, place and home. The resulting works are presented into a simultaneous exhibition, also presented at The Gallery of Art of Uzbekistan.
- A bespoke workshop for museum and gallery curators in December on 'How to set up a world class exhibition', conceived in partnership with British Council’s Cultural Skills Unit.
Find out more about the works in New Past - Contemporary Art from the UK
Read about Gayane Umerova, Senior Curator, Art Gallery of Uzbekistan
