LYON (euronews) — “How will we live together?” That is the main theme of the 2021 edition of the International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Uzbekistan, a first time participant, answers it with “Mahalla: Urban Rural Living”.

This the first national participation of Uzbekistan in the Venice Biennale. Commissioned by the Art and Culture Development Foundation under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan, it aims to enhance the country’s presence on the global cultural scene and to create a platform for long-term international discussion.

Open to the public from Saturday 22 May through Sunday 21 November 2021 at the Giardini, the Arsenale, and Forte Marghera, the 17^th International Architecture Exhibition titled “How will we live together?” is curated by Hashim Sarkis and organized by La Biennale di Venezia.

The project “Mahalla: Urban Rural Living” is a cross-disciplinary exhibition and research project about the urban neighbourhoods in Uzbekistan known as mahallas. The mahalla is a unit within an urban system, typical of Central Asia as well as of some other parts of the world. It is a form of community life, structured through rituals and traditions. The traditional mahalla layout is based on the original type of courtyard house, the open space at the heart of which is a symbolic as well as a productive backdrop to a specific way of life. In the exhibition, architects, artists, local students and researchers reflect in collaboration on the innovative potential of this traditional Uzbek institution, a mode of communal urban life.

The project explores potential answers to the question raised by the Venice Biennale itself: “How will we live together?” Can we reconcile working and living in a single environment? Are we in need of a higher sense of community? In which density are we able to live? Should we be able to feed ourselves from our own gardens? At a time when the ecosystem of the anonymous mega-city is literally reaching its limits, the need for alternatives is greater than ever. Can the social organisation of these neighbourhoods and their variable architectural configuration as low-rise/high-density structures offer urban society a sustainable model? The project aims for a critical reading and a tentative exploration.