Most visitors to Uzbekistan stick to the Silk Road tourist trail, exploring the mosques and madrasas of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, and perhaps the intriguing mix of Islamic and Soviet modernist architecture of the capital, Tashkent.
Amid the remote, arid landscapes of northern Uzbekistan, however, artists, architects, ecologists, and activists are gathering in a city less frequented by international visitors.
