As part of the 43rd session of the UNESCO General Conference taking place in Samarkand, a number of side events are being organized to strengthen international cooperation in the field of culture. One of these events is the Fourth Meeting of the Advisory Bureau of the Living Heritage Network of the Silk Roads. The meeting is held with the financial support of the International Information and Networking Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region under the auspices of UNESCO (ICHCAP, Republic of Korea) and with the organizational support of the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS), based in Samarkand. The main objective of the meeting is to exchange experiences, best practices, and ideas for joint actions aimed at safeguarding and promoting the intangible cultural heritage of the countries that are part of the Living Heritage Network of the Silk Roads. The Director of the Aigine Cultural Research Center, Gulnara Aitpaeva, is participating in the meeting, presenting Kyrgyzstan’s experience in studying, documenting, and transmitting intangible cultural heritage.

The “Blessings of Seven Mothers” project team and a group of young female artists led by Aliya Alisherova have completed work on an animated film dedicated to women’s blessings. The visual foundation of the film is based on ornaments created by artisan Gulmira Kutueva, in which bata — words of blessing collected from women across different regions of Kyrgyzstan — are encoded. Through the poetic and editorial work of Kyial Tajieva, these texts have taken on an artistic form while preserving their living voice and the depth of women’s solidarity. Another important direction of the project is the documentation of koshok — traditional laments — dedicated to seven women and girls who lost their lives to femicide. As an act of solidarity against violence, the team releases one koshok each week to honor their memory and to sustain public dialogue on resisting gender-based violence. Alongside the completion of the animated film, the team is preparing to present the final project materials — the film and the documentation of the koshoks. The screening is scheduled for November.

Aigine CRC team is making the final preparations for the upcoming regional meeting organized within the framework of the project “Preserving Traditional Art through the Creation of a Unified Interactive Platform of Central Asian Petroglyphs.”” The meeting will bring together researchers, archaeologists, and ethnographers from across the region to exchange experiences and explore petroglyphs not only as archaeological monuments, but also as living cultural heritage that reflects the worldview, beliefs, and traditions of contemporary peoples. During the meeting, participants will discuss methods of documenting, describing, and interpreting rock carvings, as well as approaches to engaging local communities in the safeguarding of this heritage.