Artistic Director of Bukhara Biennial’s first edition, Recipes for Broken Hearts

Artistic Director Diana Campbell, who is also the Artistic Director of the Dhaka-based Samdani Art Foundation and is the Chief Curator of the Dhaka Art Summit, comments: ‘For centuries, religious and cultural traditions from all corners of the world have commingled in Bukhara, resulting in a rich atmosphere of learning, craft and artistic production.

‘It has always been a place where people came together to find togetherness in the quest for a more meaningful life through a search for spiritual, intellectual, and worldly knowledge. Recipes for Broken Hearts will emphasise this legacy by revitalising some of the extraordinary sites that were essential to developing the culture that we celebrate today, bringing them back into the pulse of life of the city through an interdisciplinary event which goes beyond the traditional notions of an art biennial.’

Diana Campbell is a Los Angeles-born curator and writer whose practice focuses on institution building and creating forums for interdisciplinary cultural convenings globally.

She is the Artistic Director of the inaugural edition of the Bukhara Biennial, Recipes for Broken Hearts, launching in September 2025.

She has been recognised as one of the most influential figures in the art world by the ArtReview Power100 list (2019–2023).

Creative Director of Architecture

Wael Al Awar is an architect and founding partner of Dubai- and Tokyo-based firm waiwai. He founded waiwai (formerly ibda design) after returning to the Middle East from Tokyo. Wael layers his interests in natural phenomena into an architecture of light, time, structure, and landscape. He seeks to create an architecture that is more than fabrication, that remains open to adaptation. His site-specific designs encourage unexpected experiences. Wael curated the UAE National Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2021, which was awarded the Golden Lion.

‘It has always been a place where people came together to find togetherness in the quest for a more meaningful life through a search for spiritual, intellectual, and worldly knowledge. Recipes for Broken Hearts will emphasise this legacy by revitalising some of the extraordinary sites that were essential to developing the culture that we celebrate today, bringing them back into the pulse of life of the city through an interdisciplinary event which goes beyond the traditional notions of an art biennial.’

Diana Campbell is a Los Angeles-born curator and writer whose practice focuses on institution building and creating forums for interdisciplinary cultural convenings globally.

She is the Artistic Director of the inaugural edition of the Bukhara Biennial, Recipes for Broken Hearts, launching in September 2025.

She has been recognised as one of the most influential figures in the art world by the ArtReview Power100 list (2019–2023).