Gayane Umerova

Gayane Umerova is dedicated to developing the culture sector in Uzbekistan.

As deputy head of the Department of Social Development of the Presidential Administration and chairperson of the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation, Ms. Umerova is at the helm of building Uzbekistan’s cultural infrastructure. Her efforts are bringing the nation’s art, artists and cultural heritage into the global spotlight. She is currently overseeing the restoration and development of the Center for Contemporary Art in the nation’s capital Tashkent, which is poised to become a new cultural hub for the region, and is the commissioner of the inaugural Bukhara Biennial taking place from September to November 2025. She is also driving the construction of the new State Museum of Arts designed by Tadao Ando. She has served as commissioner for the Uzbekistan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale Arte and Architettura since 2021 and is commissioner for Uzbekistan’s participation in Expo 2025 Osaka. In addition, she is spearheading the inaugural Aral Culture Summit in early April among other significant projects. 

Committed to boosting Uzbekistan’s prominence on the international culture scene, Ms. Umerova serves as the  chairperson of the National Commission of Uzbekistan on Unesco Affairs under the Cabinet of Ministers. Her public service commitment is evident in her dedication to creating opportunities for young people in Uzbekistan’s cultural sector and fostering a cultural economy that unites communities and generations.

Throughout her career, she has worked tirelessly to elevate Uzbekistan’s art on the global stage. She has been instrumental in bringing pioneering exhibitions of Uzbek art and culture to prestigious institutions worldwide and showcasing the works of major international artists in Uzbekistan. 

Under her leadership, Uzbekistan’s cultural heritage was first showcased at the Louvre and the Arab World Institute in 2022. She also organized an exhibition of archaeological artifacts at the James Simon Gallery in Berlin in 2023, led two exhibitions in China and brought the Crafting Uzbekistan: Traditions in Threads” exhibition to the Design Doha biennale in 2024. For the first time, the “Light and Colour” and “Form and Symbol” sections of  the “Uzbekistan: Avant-Garde in the Desert‚” exhibition were on display in Italy in 2024 in a dual-venue show at the Palazzo Pitti, part of the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. A groundbreaking exhibition on Uzbekistan’s culture and heritage entitled “Silk Roads” also opened at the British Museum last autumn. In addition, she hosted the World Conference on Creative Economy for the first time in Uzbekistan in October 2024. In 2019, while launching “Tashkent Modernism XX/XXI”, an ongoing research project documenting and protecting the city's modernist architecture, she also commissioned two significant publications in collaboration with Rizzoli New York and Lars Müller Publishers.

Ms. Umerova played a pivotal role in bringing the exhibitions “Henry Moore: Master of Graphics” (2015) and “New Past: Contemporary Art from Britain” (2016) to Uzbekistan. She oversaw the first Uzbek contemporary art auction in partnership with Christie’s in 2012, held at the Savitsky Museum in Nukus. Previously, she served as senior curator at the Art Gallery of Uzbekistan and worked with leading global auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s. She also curated the 6th Tashkent International Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2011.