Q: Ludmila Kodzaeva, we are your guests at the Board of Arts Exhibition, please tell us something about its history?
A: This year, we celebrate the building's 70th anniversary. Originally built as the first exhibition hall in the Republic of Uzbekistan, it possesses a fund of over 15'000 pieces of arts, among which feature key works of the most prominent and finest artists that came out of Central Asia together with masterpieces of applied arts. Volkov, Tansikbayev and others were first exhibited here and on that occasion discovered by the world, receiving invitations from Moscow, Paris, Philadelphia, where they were a great success.
The building was re-opened after a make-over in 2001 and it is from here that many museum collections within Uzbekistan are being replenished

Q: What are the different venues and what is the focus of each?
A: 4 big, well lit halls, 2 smaller rooms, a venue for concerts, the House of Photography is also located here as is the office of the Friends of Nukus Museum; our aim is to offer a broad spectrum of art, to combine fine arts with music, lectures, theater, master classes, films, video performances. We want this building to be alive, with daytime exhibitions and evening entertainment. The BAE is not a museum perse, with permanent exhibitions, we're more of an arts center, a distribution center. We prepare state exhibitions for other venues both here and abroad, the large Uzbekistan exhibition at the Linden museum in Stuttgart for example Oder Hannover world exhibition was organized by us here in this building.

Q: How is your relationships with Museums abroad and the international community here in Tashkent?
A: Through our history, we have excellent relations with museums in Central Asia, Moscow, St. Petersburg, the CIS states, whose collections comprise many fine pieces of arts from Uzbekistan. We are fortunate to have ties with many prestigious art institutions in the world through foreign embassies here in Tashkent, through the marvelous support of ambassadors and cultural attaches, through cultural institutions such as the Goethe Institute, British Council, the Swiss Culture Fund and others. Highlights from our funds have been shown in the US, Japan, Korea, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Benelux, Scandinavia to name but a few and in return some very fine arts institutions have made their special exhibitions available to a wider audience here in Tashkent.

Q: Would you name a few of your favorite pieces of art in the world?
A: I love the avant guard, realism, I am fond of Japanese art and their culture, of course the 20th century French Impressionists, Constable. I am also very interested in Conceptualism, our recent exhibition of miniature classic chairs from the Vitra Design Museum together with the chair workshop is the type of event I'd like to see more often, art in a broader, socio-cultural context is what we try to achieve. Or we may show a geographic area from many different angles and perspectives.

Q: This Spring issue covers the next hree months, what is in store at the Museum between now and June?
A: Throughout the year we hold 50 to 60 events, these could be exhibitions or happenings like the Jazz Day in February. Three important anchorage points are Navruz, International Museum Day on May 18 and Mustakillik. 30 to 40% of our fund is constantly on display, in major or mini exhibitions and we are forced to plan short term. It's a tremendous organizational effort on the part of our team and we are extremely committed to quality, we try to show the best of its kind and within our possibilities, we (have quality partners and thus have been able to build a reputation. Over Navruz we'll will showcase selected pieces of contemporary applied arts from Bukhara and Kashkadarya. Soon we'll hold a personal exhibition by Akmal Nurwith installations on the theme women and love, group exhibitions by newcomers under the headline "new names", retrospectives, we plan a memorial exhibition to celebrate a certaom artist's anniversary, we'll definitely hold a Jewelry exhibition.

Q: With such a dynamic schedule, where do you advertise?
A: TV and Radio are our prime media, we have regular segments with television stations and give a large number of interviews, other museums advertise us. Only for mayor exhibitions are we able to print posters. We do have an extensive mailing list and send out flyers. Our events are also advertised through embassy e-mailing list in German and English, which we are extremely grateful for.

Q: What is your greatest wish for 2004?
A: It's our jubilee I dream of a large exhibition featuring all the best works from Uzbekistan that are now incorporated in collections elsewhere. But that is a dream with a long term perspective. Ludmila Kodzaeva, Deputy General Manager, Board of Arts Exhibitions Tashkent was interviewed prior to the official opening of an exhibit showcasing ceramics from Denau and embroidery from Nurata - a grant by the Swiss Culture Fund.