Peacetech exchange II

10 to 12 June, Habib University

by Amna Zafar

After identifying core problematic issues related to their projects, participants were asked to synthesize the challenges into a statement and find a solution to them. Pitches were made by ten teams on the last day  by incorporating selected technologies like a mobile app or a web based app, into their projects to make them able to promote peace. The ideas were generated after being exposed to a diverse range of technologies through the experts present at the event itself. 

The Karachi Biennale Team launched its initiative of peace building by bringing art into public space through involvement from the artist community. The idea involved the use of 100 original Pakistan Cables reels from the urban environment worked on by artists and involved with communities all over Karachi. A large scale city wide project titled Reel on Hai is to be created. An open call has gone out on this website www.karachibiennale.org.pk A web platform that maps the reels, narrates community stories, archives data and encourages civic engagement in one space was needed to create a birds eye view of the project. The webplatform would use open source content management systems like story maps, google maps, storifi etc. in a fun manner to make the project far reaching.

The Karachi Biennale Team comprising of Atteqa Malik, Ruqayya Rizwan, Nasheed Imran and Bina Ali won one of the three prizes that supported peace building in Karachi. The prizes were awarded after a rigorous pitching session from all teams in front of a panel of 5 judges.

The other two winners were Peache Niche, who pitched the creation of an app that connects many players of civic related activities to each other remotely and MentHub that was aiming to create an online space connecting youths to mentors within the city.

Speakers at this event included activist Jibran M Nasir, musician Ali Gul Pir and comedian Faiza Saleem. Technologist Jehan Ara from PASHA gave the closing remarks.

There seemed to be a consensus amongst most speakers that there are very restricted spaces in the city where people can really speak their minds. Such spaces are now becoming available online. The pros and cons of having such spaces available were shared with participants of the workshop thus giving them a very holistic experience to go home with after the three days of peace tech exchange PTXKarachi.

Amna is a multimedia journalist. She takes her coffee very seriously. And loves reading, technology and the outdoors

Public Art in the Global Context by Zehra Hamdani Mirza

When an artwork lives on a pavement or intersection, should it merge or provoke? Who should it speak to? The woman on the street who never ordered it?

At the T2F on Saturday, speaker Niilofur Farrukh, and panelists Gulraiz Khan and Masuma Halai Khwaja analyzed “Public Art in the Global Context” and unveiled an exciting prospect for Karachi’s art community.

Farrukh showed examples of the power of Public Art around the world. Children in one of Venezuela’s strife ridden neighborhoods were given a creative sanctuary thanks to community Public Art. In Caracas, artists, designers and architects created a whimsical space with books, creativity and learning.

Pakistan’s public space is contested real estate—with the state, extremists and civil society clamoring for a piece. Monuments “informed by state ideology, martial imagery and aggressive religious symbolism” are served to a public that didn’t ask for them. There were exceptions, Sadequain’s state sponsored murals made him an artist for the everyman.

Lecturer at Habib University, Gulraiz Khan, discussed some of the disturbances Public Art can create, and how its architects need to pre-empt the ruckus. Beginning with Richard Serra’s notorious “Tilted Arc” in the 80’s—its 120 foot long, government funded, steel body halving the Federal Plaza grounds of New York City—public art has tricky waters. The sculpture was dismantled following a bitter debate and trial, raising questions on government funding’s role, an artists’ right to his work, and the role of the public in determining the value of a work of art¹. The case opened the debate on some of the challenges a designer faces when their work comes in contact with a bystander—a different entity to a gallery visitor. Khan also discussed the importance of designers chatting with the community that will interact with their pieces.

Masuma Halai Khwaja presented how Pakistan views its art—figures are frowned upon, but army friezes work. Pockets of Karachi find varying relevance in wall art—only certain images are defaced. She also revealed Karachi Biennale’s public art project: the ubiquitous cable reel will form the subject for The 100 art objects in the city project. She announced an open call to convert the reel, that spreads its arteries around Karachi, into a vibrant, interactive piece of art by visual artists, designers and architects. Celebrating the ethos of sustainability and eco-friendliness, and the 1960s Italian art movement Art Provera, the Karachi Biennial will recycle waste, and elevate the everyday. The works will be placed around the city, based on their relevance to that community.

The conversation heated when the Biennial’s mandate was to not engage in political or religious controversies, raising the question, should artists censor themselves? In a landscape of communal and sectarian violence, and the Shanakht festival dispute, the audience was divided whether artists should tread with caution or fight fire with fire.

1 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/tiltedarc_a.html

Karachi Biennale at KLF Sunday 7th Feb 2016 11.15am

A Karachi Biennale Panel will be present at the Karachi Literature Festival this year
Speakers will be Masuma Halai Khwaja, Camilla Hadi  Chaudry, Asma Ibrahim and Niilofur Farrukh
Moderated by Aquila Ismail
Title: Art as Witness to Memory and Erasure
Beach Luxury Hotel
11.15am on Sunday 7 Feb 2016

After the launch!

Karachi Biennale

Jan 25 – Feb 25, 2017

…creating a monument of collective memories to re-imagine the future

After its launch in March 2015 at the prestigious Art Dubai , the Karachi Biennale team has been busy putting down the foundation of its curatorial and organizational infrastructure to realize its vision in 2017. In Dubai, where the large audience of Pakistani and international artists, collectors and curators received the news enthusiastically voicing high expectations from a Biennale in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city. Karachi, a city of over 20 million which is home to a very ethnically diverse population has grown in size from a small harbor town to a mega city. Today it is a cultural microcosm of the country, as historically it has opened its arms to all who are attracted by the opportunities it offers.

The Karachi art scene which has attracted artists from all over the country since the 1950s has always offered an environment unburdened by an established canon that has inspired the creative individual to responded to the personal and the political with greater freedom.

The Karachi Biennale is a visionary platform that will bring together innovation, excellence and criticality through a multiplicity of curatorial strategies to showcase artists from Pakistan to the world as well as strengthen a global art exchange.

The curatorial team of the KB are presently engaged in developing concept in response to our theme Witness. The theme WITNESS that evokes issues of misrepresentation and erasure. Art as a testament of its time has always held significance, particularly in times when memory is heavily contested. According to Kundera ‘The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memories against forgetting’ this puts the onus on eye witnesses and documenters to create testimonies. The artists’ narratives will have centrality at the Biennale.

 

The Biennale aims to showcase art in a multi-tiered exhibition program with curated shows in major exhibition spaces of the city. This will have a component with regional and global artists. Artists are also invited to create interventions at off- site locations to reclaim places of historical and social importance. Vibrant public art at widespread locations throughout the city will penetrate deep into cultural fabric of Karachi and engage new audience

A milestone for KB in the four months has been the official registration of the Karachi Foundation For the Arts, the organization which is holding the KB. This valuable endorsement will help us to accelerate the fundraising efforts.

The Friends of the KB in Dubai has taken the lead in this respect and pledged funding support for the Public Art Programs, an important initiative to install off site art and work with communities all over Karachi. Their fund raising activities will commence shortly after the summer break in Dubai.

KB has begun to forge partnerships with institutions and organizations to make it possible to showcase ambitious art projects from Pakistan, the region and the global.