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RIYADH: “This whole exhibition is about showing the power of Islamic coins and explaining the message that they bring to society,” says Dr. Alain Baron, founder of Numismatica Genevensis SA. “They are the most complete source of information in history, as you can have, on some coins, the names of viziers, personalities, and historical figures that would never be known if it were not for the coins.” 

Baron is talking to Arab News about “Minted Narratives: ������Ƶ’s Legacy in Coins,” an exhibition running at Riyadh’s National Museum until Dec. 16.  

Baron co-curated the exhibition with Dr. Naif Al-Sharaan, an expert in Islamic numismatic history. Many of the pieces on display come from Baron’s extensive personal collection, alongside selections from the Ministry of Culture’s holdings. 

“This exhibition is very important because it (features) the largest collection of coins ever struck on Saudi ground — coins struck in Makkah and Madinah that have been collected in Europe and America for decades,” Baron explains. “And this is the first time that these coins have been unveiled to the public on this scale.” 

The show traces the evolution of coins from pre-Islamic times to the modern Saudi riyal, highlighting currency’s role in documenting artistic, economic, and political transformations. It includes scenography designed by Studio Ghaith&Jad and Farah Fayyad, with contributions from Al-Sharaan, and blends artistic and architectural elements to reflect different historical periods. 

“When we came up with the title ‘Minted Narratives,’ we realized we wouldn’t be displaying everything in chronological order — but dividing it into different stories,” Jad Melki, of Studio Ghaith&Jad tells Arab News. 

“Now we (barely) use coins anymore, so somehow when we look at these as historical objects and put them in such a contemporary space that we were trying to create, you start to focus more on what the coin is telling you,” he continues. “What is the narrative behind it? What was minted at that time? And how did people move these coins from one place to the other? It maps out an entire system of economies and cultures that are being minted on these coins, whether it is cultural emblems or different faces, or different typographies on them.” 

The exhibition contains seven sections. It begins with “Pre-Islamic Coins,” highlighting symbols and meanings related to trade and authority. It is followed by “The Birth of Islamic Coins and Coins in the Islamic Dynasties,” which illustrates the unity and diversity of Islamic civilization over the centuries. 

“One thing that we really wanted to emphasize in the scenography is to have those different experiences because we have a shift in narratives,” Melki said, sharing that the first section’s aesthetic is very “somber” with dark lighting and earthier tones, while the birth of the Islamic civilization is a brightly-lit space, suggesting the enlightenment of the time. 

The section “Women in Coins” showcases the presence of women in numismatics. “A lot of women’s names have been mentioned on coins,” says Baron. “I was relatively ignorant about that. I started to dig into the topic and found that lots of queens in Arab culture had been mentioned on coins, which obviously underlines their importance, and that brought me to Zubaidah (bint Ja’far) — one of the key figures in (Islam).” (Queen Zubaidah significantly financed Darb Zubayda, a pilgrimage route that offered those performing Hajj an easier journey to Makkah.) 

“Treasures and Coins of ������Ƶ,” meanwhile, tells the story of the Kingdom’s unification, and the building of the modern state. Melki describes this as “the most important section” of the exhibition. 

“There we wanted to create the typography of Makkah and to highlight that these coins were minted there, or in Madinah,” he says. “So there are different elements that reference geography or architecture.” 

“(Coins) are an incredible source of knowledge. The world should know that cities like Makkah and Madinah had a rich history,” says Baron. “Qur’ans and artworks from this period have almost all disappeared, or are awfully rare. So what you see here, basically, are the last remaining witnesses of the earliest stages of the history of Islam.” 

UZBEKISTAN: Uzbekistan launched its inaugural international art biennial this month. “Recipes for Broken Hearts” runs until Nov. 20 in Bukhara, and includes works from Saudi artists Ahmad Angawi and Dana Awartani. The theme is sustenance as healing — of both body and mind — connecting cultural memory, craft, community and art. 

Local folklore goes that plov — the signature rice-and-meat medley — was created to mend the broken heart of an emir’s son who fell for a lowly craftsman’s daughter he was forbidden from marrying. To restore him, the court healer ordered rice, meat, carrots and onions to be simmered together in a large pot. From heartbreak was born plov, a dish nourishing both body and spirit and intended to be consumed communally, even if only one person is actually brokenhearted.  

It’s a legend that has spread to ������Ƶ, too. If you’re heartbroken in Jeddah, then “Bukhari rice” is said to cure you, highlighting the centuries-old culinary and cultural ties between the two cities. 

“Bukhara is a city that has always captured the human imagination. For over two millennia, its streets, monuments, and stories have shaped — and been shaped by — the movement of people, ideas, and cultures,” said Gayane Umerova, chairperson of the Art and Culture Development Foundation (ACDF) of Uzbekistan, founded in 2017. “Choosing Bukhara as the host city for Uzbekistan’s first international art biennial was not a gesture of nostalgia, it was an act of conviction; a belief that this remarkable city could once again stand as a global center of creativity, dialogue and exchange.” 

Umerova, 40, has long championed extending Uzbekistan’s cultural vision beyond its borders. The ACDF participated at the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah in 2023, and the Diriyah Biennale Foundation brought its 2025 AlMusalla Prize winner to Bukhara — underlining a growing link between the Saudi and Central Asian contemporary art scenes. 

“Recipes for Broken Hearts,” according to artistic director Diana Campbell, “invites practitioners from the visual arts, craft, culinary arts, sound, design and fashion, as well as visitors, to metaphorically bring something to the table—creating a collection of heart-mending recipes born in Bukhara. 

“(The heart is) more than a physical organ, it functions as a locus of identity and loss, connecting the mind, soul, and body, and bridging material and spiritual worlds,” Campbell continued. “It also plays a core role in art.” 

For each of the 70 commissioned projects included in the biennial, an artist was paired with an Uzbek artisan. 

Angawi, for example — who described Bukhara as his “second home” and told Arab News that it “reminds me of old Jeddah” — worked with Uzbek woodcarver, Ilyor Jumaev to create the outdoor installation “Al-Jabr & Al-Jazr: The Algorithm of Healing.” Al-Jabr means ‘restoration’ while Al-Jazr means ‘root extraction.’  

The installation features a wooden panjara screen crafted by Jumaev. Layered colors move in an algorithmic rhythm inspired by Islamic Golden Age mathematician Al-Khawarizmi, while evoking the color therapy of the Persian philosopher and physician Ibn Sina: red for vitality, yellow for clarity, blue for calm. At night, light seeps through the wooden screen, inviting passersby to witness the city as a living act of restoration. 

“The human heart can be rebalanced through knowledge,” Angawi said. “I offer a gesture of restoration — craft becomes code, and the city, like the heart, begins to remember how to heal.”  

Saudi-Palestinian artist Awartani, meanwhile, collaborated with Uzbek master artisan Behzod Turdiyev on “Standing by the Ruins IV,” situated in the Rashid Madrasa courtyard. It utilizes architectural fragments from sites endangered by conflict. Awartani drew inspiration from Gaza’s historic Hamam al-Sammara, destroyed in 2023, and used Palestinian clay to reconstruct its lost geometric motifs — bringing fragments of her homeland into the project. She wrote in her artist statement: “Every project is, in essence, a process of mending a broken heart. The heartbreak is embedded in the material itself — in the earth, in the soil — which those of us living in exile and diaspora can never fully process.” 

Assistant curator Timur Zolotoev, originally from Buryatia, told Arab News the biennial is a transformative experience.  

“It’s a feast that brings together everyone around one table, in a conversation, equally, where food is shared, where conversation is shared, where people open their hearts.” He cited immersive installations, puppet theaters, and kiosks selling local goods overlooking ruins as highlights of the event. “I wasn’t sure what was going to come out of it, because no one has done it before; neither the artist nor the artisan,” he said. 

“Bukhara, with its intact historic core and living traditions is the perfect place to stage an event like this,” he continued. “It opens your heart not just to the art, but to the city itself, to the people and their stories. It shows that art can truly discover something new when it collaborates with craft, history, and the local community.”