BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 24. From October 30
to November 1, 2026 the “Fly to Baku. Art Weekend. Sense the Future
NOW” festival, taking place in Baku for the second time, will
present a diverse programme of international and Azerbaijani
contemporary art projects at venues across the city.
Presented under the leadership of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation
and IDEA Public Union, the three-day Art Weekend exhibition
programme will bring together diverse artistic practices,
generations and geographies, inviting audiences to engage with
themes including memory, cultural heritage, nature, biodiversity,
identity and the future.
The idea behind the festival was initiated by Leyla Aliyeva,
Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and founder and head
of the IDEA Public Union.
One of the central themes of the exhibition programme is the
“Big Five of the Caucasus.” Across projects exploring the nature
and biodiversity of the Caucasus, animals are presented not only as
part of the natural world, but also as carriers of cultural memory,
mythology, and collective identity.
One of the programme’s key projects is a solo exhibition by
Chinese artist Zhang Ji, presented at the Heydar Aliyev Center. In
his The Skin of Truth series, Zhang Ji approaches religious
architecture as a trace of an ancient truth that continues to
resonate in the contemporary scientific and technological age.
Drawing inspiration from architectural patterns found in mosques,
synagogues, and cathedrals, the artist reinterprets them through
the language of contemporary painting. The process of creating the
works is exceptionally time-consuming and demands great precision
and patience. Zhang Ji applies paint to the canvas using a syringe,
building each composition with meticulous delicacy. Some works
require as many as 120 tubes of paint, each containing 170
millilitres. The resulting complex, repetitive patterns sometimes
take on the appearance of bas-relief sculpture. The technique
creates a compelling visual tension between solidity and
transience, structure and disintegration.
Another international project in the programme is Mirror of
Eternity by Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto. Presented at
the Heydar Aliyev Center, the project continues the artist’s
longstanding exploration of the mirror as both a material and
conceptual device. Throughout more than six decades of artistic
practice, Pistoletto has used mirrors to make the viewer an
integral part of the artwork. In his Mirror Paintings series, begun
in the 1960s, the viewer’s reflection becomes incorporated directly
into the work, making each encounter distinct and unrepeatable. In
Mirror of Eternity, Pistoletto extends this idea into the digital
age. The project employs artificial intelligence to combine human
portraits, generating new faces that have never existed before.
Participants upload their portraits to the system, which then
merges them with another person’s portrait to create a new image.
Each portrait thus exists not as a fixed record of memory, but as
an evolving digital entity transformed through successive
encounters. The project explores the relationship between humanity,
memory, technology and the ever-changing nature of life.
Another exhibition to be presented at the Heydar Aliyev Center
is What If Women Ruled the World by the internationally renowned
American artist Judy Chicago. The work will be presented in Baku
and in the region for the first time. Created in collaboration with
DMINTI, this interactive and continuously evolving project invites
audiences to respond to questions posed by Chicago and contribute
to the creation of a physical and digital quilt based on responses
gathered from countries around the world. Since 2022, the project
has developed a global archive encompassing the United States,
Mexico, Argentina, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the
Netherlands, India and Türkiye. In Baku, visitors will be able to
respond to the questions in an interactive recording booth,
becoming part of the next stage of the artwork. The project invites
audiences to imagine alternative futures grounded in empathy,
collaboration and responsibility.
“Fly to Baku. Art Weekend. Sense the Future NOW” will also bring
together leading representatives of contemporary Azerbaijani
art.
One of the programme’s highly anticipated projects is the
immersive exhibition When Nature Speaks. Heirs. Presented on the
first floor of the Heydar Aliyev Center, the project explores the
relationship between humans and nature through contemporary art,
architecture, technology, sound, and performance. Inspired by the
“Big Five” of the Caucasus, the exhibition comprises five sections
and addresses themes including memory, biodiversity and
responsibility for the future. At its heart are works by Leyla
Aliyeva, reflecting empathy, compassion and a profound sensitivity
towards the living world.
One of the artistic interpretations of the festival’s central
theme - the “Big Five” - and its journey from nature into art is
the “Var Yox” platform’s Legendary Creatures – An Azerbaijani
Bestiary project. Presented in the park space of the Heydar Aliyev
Center, the project connects mythological creatures from
Azerbaijani folklore with the country’s “Big Five.” Here, animals
emerge as carriers of local knowledge, folklore and collective
memory, while underscoring the importance of preserving them for
future generations.
The solo exhibition Maiden Tower by renowned contemporary
Azerbaijani artist Aidan Salakhova will be presented at the
Azerbaijan National Museum of Art. Drawing on the artist’s
childhood memories and emotions, the project revisits one of the
region’s oldest and best-known legends surrounding the Maiden Tower
through a poetic artistic language. Sculpture, painting, graphics,
video works and a handmade carpet come together to form a cohesive
artistic whole, creating an immersive experience for visitors.
Memory, mythology, female power and imagination are among the
project’s central themes.
The joint exhibition Beyond Memory by artists Faig Ahmed and
Farid Rasulov will be presented during the festival at QGallery in
Icherisheher (Old City). The exhibition explores how cultural
memory is preserved and transformed over time through works created
by Ahmed and Rasulov in collaboration with Azerkhalcha OJSC. Beyond
Memory approaches tradition not as a fixed legacy belonging to the
past, but as a living process that is continually renewed and
endowed with new meanings.
Faig Ahmed reinterprets traditional carpet patterns through
distortion, fragmentation and digital intervention. In his
practice, familiar ornaments retain their essential characteristics
while entering a contemporary and continually evolving visual
language.
Farid Rasulov, meanwhile, approaches memory through the lens of
everyday life. Through domestic interiors, architectural elements
and familiar objects, he explores the ways in which the past leaves
traces in the spaces we inhabit and in the objects that surround
us. Together, the artists’ approaches demonstrate how culture is
formed, preserved and transmitted from one generation to the next.
The exhibition offers a fresh perspective on the continuing
dialogue between tradition and innovation.
The group exhibition Shimmering Symbols by the Atesh Hub
platform will take place at the Palace of the Shirvanshahs. The
exhibition explores the place of animal imagery in ancient Turkic
mythology and Azerbaijani culture. At its centre is the “Big Five”
of the Caucasus - the Caucasian leopard, goitered gazelle, grey
wolf, brown bear, and imperial eagle. These animals are presented
both as rare representatives of regional biodiversity and as
symbolic figures shaped by collective memory.
The exhibition traces the transformation of animal imagery from
ancient totemic beliefs to contemporary visual culture. Through new
media and multidisciplinary artistic practices, these symbols are
reinterpreted in the context of contemporary ecological, cultural
and technological realities. Shimmering Symbols forms part of the
Heirs art project. The exhibition features Sabir Abdullazade, Ramil
Aliyev, Ilgar Aydin, Sabina Jafar, Riyad Huseynov, Emin Mathers,
Maria Mozgovaya, Aliya The Mushroom, Tim Zaripov, and Alina
Yusupova.
The exhibition Isolated Realities by Elnara Nasirli, presented
at Fluxus Space, explores the interaction between a living organism
and its surrounding environment. An organism not only adapts to its
environment but also transforms it, leaving a range of physical and
biological traces in the process. The exhibition examines how this
interaction unfolds through space, repetition and biological
traces, while also considering how local changes can influence
broader ecological processes. Nasirli’s works combine scientific
observation with an artistic and poetic approach. Physical traces
and visual materials become a form of memory of the environments in
which living beings exist. Isolated Realities invites viewers to
perceive humans and nature not as separate entities, but as a
unified system in which they continuously transform and reshape one
another.
Rashid Al Khalifa’s installation Crate Maze – White, presented
at Baku Khans’ Garden in Icherisheher, uses industrially painted
storage crates as a metaphor for trade. On the one hand, the crates
symbolise wealth; on the other, they resemble cage-like structures
that protect valuable goods, ideas and cultural exchange while
simultaneously imposing restrictions. Through its geometric
arrangement, shifting light and shadows, and visually engaging
structure, Crate Maze – White explores the dual nature of trade as
both a limiting and connecting force. The work preserves heritage
and historical memory while, at the same time, creating
possibilities for movement and interaction across borders.
In addition, during the festival, visitors will be able to see
Elnara Nasirli’s Isolated Realities, QUALIA: TRACE / CODE by
Azerbaijani contemporary artist Nazrin Mammadova at Artefact
Gallery, the group exhibition Everything Folds, Unfolds, Folds
Again at Gazelli Art House, bringing together works by Manal
AlDowayan, Sophia Al-Maria, Raya Kassissieh, Almаgul Menlibayeva,
Elnara Nasirli, and Aziza Gadir, as well as Land of Carpets, an
exhibition dedicated to the legacy of the founder of the Azerbaijan
National Carpet Museum, prominent scholar and People’s Artist Latif
Karimov, and the creative work of multidisciplinary artist
Medina.
