Redefining Cultural Heritage, from "The Cradle to the Pavilion"

Taking The Aural Sea, the 2026 exhibition at the Uzbekistan National Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, and Zulfiya Spowart’s presented work Beshik (The Cradle) as a starting point, this conversation will explore Spowart’s experience and practice as a participating artist – the exhibitions, conversations and knowledge systems which shaped her work. Drawing on research into the Central Asian Pavilion (2005–2013) – which brought together artists from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and, from 2009, Tajikistan – Maria Redaelli will bring a longer institutional history alongside Spowart’s account, tracing how the region has staged itself at Venice over time, and how transitioning towards separate National Pavilions has reconfigured how Uzbekistan’s cultural heritage is presented on the global exhibition stage. Together, Redaelli and Spowart will reflect on the experience of presenting work within the institutional and symbolic framework of a National Pavilion in Venice: how this context shapes the making, display and reception of an artwork; how questions of cultural heritage and national representation emerge around an artist’s practice; and how artistic work can engage with, complicate or move beyond the narratives that such frameworks may produce. The event is organised in collaboration with Vlad Strukov who is Professor of Film and Visual Cultures, University of Leeds, and Visiting Professor of Contemporary Art and Curating, Ca-Foscari University, Venice. It is part of his research projects on arts and curating in global contexts.