Dixit Algorizmi. The Garden of Knowledge sets out to question the 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 (catalogue of the Uzbekistan's pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale, 2022).
The book presents a reflection on the seminal work of Muhammad ibn Mūsā 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, 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 to be explored. Dixit Algorizmi is an ongoing series of exhibitions, conversations and workshops initiated in 2019; it was presented in 2021 at CCA Tashkent and in 2022 at the Pavilion of the Republic of Uzbekistan, 59th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale.
Space Caviar is an architecture and research studio based in Genoa, Italy, operating at the intersection between design, technology, politics and the public realm. Founded in 2013 by architects Joseph Grima and Tamar Shafrir, the office uses built works, exhibitions, publishing, writing and film to investigate and document contemporary modes of habitation and the spatialisation of social and political practices. Space Caviar's work has been shown at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Biennale Interieur, Vitra Design Museum and Nilufar Gallery Milan, among others.
Sheida Ghomashchi (born in 1980 and raised in Tehran) works as an independent curator in Milan, Italy. She has been part of various projects including: cocurator of the "Dixit Algorizmi" Exhibition, CCA, Tashkent, Uzbekistan; fellow at Floating University, Forensic Architecture Group, Berlin, Germany; curator of "Archive Alive!," the exhibition featuring Ramak Fazel, Kandovan, Pejman Foundation, Tehran, Iran; foreign editor for Tarikh Irani Magazine, Tehran, Iran; fellow of IdeasCity – Detroit, New Museum of New York, USA; researcher on the Urban Research programme, Bauhaus, Dessau, Germany; artist in residence in Group Affinity, Slavs and Tatars project, Kunstverein Munchen, Munich, Germany.
Texts by Eddie Blake, Vera van der Burg, Amanulla Buriev, Christopher Burman, Alessandro Celli, Maya Christodoulaki, Fabiano Cocozza, Camilla Colombo, Amandine David, Shady Elbassuoni, Ali Ghomashchi, Michael Kessler, Ibrahim Kombarji, Maxwell Neely-Cohen, Outpost Office, Dámaso Randulfe, Sara Raza, Ayesha Saldanha, Roo Shamim, Noam Youngrak Son, Ilaria Speri.
