The exhibition Lingua Franca/Франк тили of the Central Asia Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011 will be presented for the first time in Central Asia. Works of 10 artists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan will be exhibited in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan at the National Fine Arts Museum. The exhibition is organized by a grantee of the Open Society Arts and Culture Program, the School of Theory and Activism, Bishkek.

While keeping the structure of the exhibition as presented at the 54th Venice Biennale, the focus of the current exhibition is language, history, and politics rooted in the actualities of the region. The exhibition will be accompanied by a broad program including a concert, conference, guided tours, and a press-conference with the curators of the next Central Asia Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013.

The original exhibition Lingua Franca addressed the issue of universality, while within the framework of the current exhibition in Bishkek, language as an issue will be addressed in a broader sense, such as the role of Russian language in Central Asia, the language of protest as a native language of contemporary art, etc.

The exhibition will open at the National Fine Arts Museum at 5 p.m. on October 18, 2012. Lingua Franca/Франк тили will be open to the public from October 19 until November 1.