Dixit Algorizmi - The Garden of Knowledge is an ongoing exhibition and research project curated by Space Caviar and Sheida Ghomashchi, commissioned by ACDF, Art and Culture Development Foundation under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Initiated in 2019, it has been presented at CCA Tashkent (2021) and at the 59th International Architecture Exhibition, la Biennale di Venezia (2022). The catalog; Dixit Algorizmi - The Garden of Knowledge - published to coincide with the opening of the exhibition in Venice, presents a series of essays by international authors reflecting on origin myths and narratives surrounding modern technologies, using the lens of contemporary artistic practices to explore their forgotten roots and overlooked resonances with distant places, times, and cultures. The essays were directly commissioned or submitted by authors following an open call published in 2020. The book presents a reflection on the seminal work of Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwārizmī, a scientist and polymath born and raised in the city of Khiva (present-day Uzbekistan). Al-Khwārizmī’s treatise On the Calculation with Hindu Numerals (الجمع والتفريق بحساب الهندي), written around 825 CE, was responsible for the introduction of Hindu-Arabic numerals to Europe, and it was the Latin transliteration of al-Khwārizmī’s name to Algorizmi that gave us the modern word algorithm. Dixit Algorizmi - The Garden of Knowledge engages divergent interpretations of technology as a medium, acknowledging the depth and complexity of its history.

Dixit Algorizmi - The Garden of Knowledge is a research reflecting on the history of technology and its relationship with contemporary artistic production.

The five cover illustrations were created by Studio Folder using Virtual Laboratory / L-studio, a software environment for the modelling, simulation and visualisation of the biology of plants. The suite was developed by the Algorithmic Botany Lab at the University of Calgary, Canada, and first distributed in 1999.

Dixit Algorizmi – The Garden of Knowledge
National Pavilion of Uzbekistan 20/04/2022 - 27/11/2022
Arsenale, La Biennale di Venezia

Exhibition Catalogue

Organisation: Art and Culture Development Foundation of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Special support: Saida Mirziyoyeva - Deputy Chairwoman of the Council of the Art and Culture Development Foundation of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Commissioner: Gayane Umerova - Executive Director of Art and Culture Development Foundation of the Republic of Uzbekistan
Curators: Space Caviar (Joseph Grima, Sofia Pia Belenky, Camilo Oliveira, Francesco Lupia) and Sheida Ghomashchi
Visual identity and catalogue design: Studio Folder (Marco Ferrari, Elisa Pasqual, Molly Davies, Serena Gramaglia, Nunzio Mazzaferro)
Catalogue authors and contributors: Eddie Blake, Vera van der Burg, Amanulla Buriev, Christopher Burman, Alessandro Celli, Maya Christodoulaki, Fabiano Cocozza, Camilla Colombo, Amandine David, Shady Elbassuoni, Ali Ghomashchi, Michel Kessler, Ibrahim Kombarji, Maxwell Neely-Cohen, Outpost Office (Ashley Bigham, Erik Herrmann), Dámaso Randulfe, Sara Raza, Ayesha Saldanha, Roo Shamim, Noam Youngrak Son, Ilaria Speri
Editing: Maxime Benvenuto
Translations and editing in Russian: Denis Stolyarov
Translations and editing in Uzbek: Nigora Umarova
Typefaces: MAD Sans, Dries Wiewauters, 2018 - Laica, Alessio D’Ellena, 2020
Printer: Longo AG
Publisher: Humboldt Books
ISBN 978-88-99385-94-1
© 2022 Humboldt Books
© texts: the authors
© images: the authors