The most important feature that distinguishes the 3rd edition of Lahore Biennale is not only the works displayed in its various (a total of 10) s
The most important feature that distinguishes the 3rd edition of Lahore Biennale is not only the works displayed in its various (a total of 10) sites, but what happens around it. Around, a term both in its literal and physical meanings. A total number of 21 exhibitions have been planned in several art spaces, and parallel locations. Curated by individuals, or collectives, these bring to the scene a larger view of what is being thought, imagined, and produced by artists active in this time and space. In their executions, scale, and concepts, most of these shows compliment the theme of Lahore Biennale (LB03).
Like the Biennale, the collateral events are arranged in a range of spaces, some regular art galleries, like Zahoor ul Akhlaq Gallery at Tollington Market NCA; ‘O’ Art Space; Ejaz Galleries; White Wall Gallery; Haam Gallery; Kaleido Kontemporary; Rohtas Gallery; Art Soch Gallery; and Anna Molka Ahmed Gallery at Punjab University; besides a few artists collective spaces, like Articulate Studios; Roadside Collective at Qazi Grammar School; Deivy Art Foundation at Barkat Hall; along with a number of historic or residential and abandoned places, such as Shahi Hamam (Art Soch’s display); and Fatima Shah’s ancestral residence at Temple Road.
Not comparing all of them, not in terms of their nature of display, quality of works, or level of curation – a task almost impossible – their number, their variety, and their vibrancy, so different from other exhibitions held in connection with past biennales (of Lahore and Karachi) present a new and emerging fact. That in recent years, artists are not relying on established art galleries, nor on official institutions, they are no more dependent upon the mercy of recognized organization, a regular locations, an art foundation, or an experienced curator, because a number of artists have expanded both the standard, and function of art, as well as its geography.
I do not know what triggered this phenomenon, but I can envisage how this new trend will transform the notion of art, its making, its perception, its meaning, and its usage. One of the most important and urgent observations is the shift in the understanding of art objects as a permanent, formal, grand entity – elevated once put at a familiar venue. But the majority of these collateral events confirm that art is more about experience, communication, reflection and commenting on one’s physical and contextual surroundings.
Some of the collateral exhibitions are in cahoots with the theme of Lahore Biennale 03, Of Mountains and Seas, but several offer a wider and broader visions/versions of our reality. Recognizing that the climate upheavals is not the only issue, or for that sense, the issue, because as Oliver Jeffers in his New York Times essay observes; “Those of us worried about climate change are too often guilty of belittling the other side because we’re preoccupied with being right about the existential threat we face. We don’t see that losing your livelihood to, say, a fracking ban or a shuttered coal plant is a kind of existential threat as well.”
We are also exposed to ethnic and religious violence, political instability, immense and insurmountable divide among classes, economic crisis, existential conflicts, and security concerns. Notwithstanding the question of identity. Addressed by artists participating in some of these exhibitions. Aroosa Rana, in her solo show ‘Im-Probable’, has displayed photography based works and video projections that deal with the presence, importance and unforgettable role of chance, in every façade of our being. In one of her large video projections, Rana constructs layers of spectacles and spectators, fabricating a passage of visuals, woven like stories within stories of Thousand and One Nights.
Nausheen Saeed has curated a group show ‘Unusual Aspects’ at the Kleido Kontemporary, which includes sculptors of different practices, concerns and vocabularies. From a minimal and sophisticated approach of Ayesha Zulfiqar to deeply disturbing imagery of Maryam Zia, the exhibition shares how material and space can become vehicles to denote ideas that are personal and societal, formal and brutal, and of fate and about the environment. In Sarwat Rana’s leafless tree, with its split shadows on the walls, one is able to foresee the approaching years, with dried up resources, scarcity of water. The work unfolds other levels of meanings if seen next to Maryam Zia’s installation of bones of small animals and birds. Cleaned, and neatly arranged, these residues of once living beings, appear to be words of an unknown – but not unexpected scripture. The exhibition is remarkable due to Nausheen Saeed’s curatorial strategies, from her choice of artists as well as her scheme of display.
At the White Wall Gallery, one comes across a familiar reality. Fences, barriers, barricades, boundary walls, all transformed into desirable artifacts by Seema Nusrat, since the artist recognizes the frailty – almost uselessness of these security contraptions. It has been observed that the more these measures increase, thicken, and fortify, the more they become vulnerable, and invite threats. However our society is now so accustomed to these shields that when Nusrat in her immaculately produced sculptures – resembling human proportions and postures, clad them in grey metal, we still spot them as humans.
Humans are made of many ingredients, mainly of past and present. Risham Syed in her multi-screen video installation (at Barkat Ali Islamia Hall) combines footage from her personal history. Syed has displayed the recording of her late mother singing with her Ustad. The installation invokes memories – of a bygone past, of a person not there anymore, yet still alive within other human beings.
Art in a sense is a device to prolong the past, to resurrect it, and to access it through diverse keys, doors, clues; till it ends up into a living entity, like (and ) us. The range of collateral exhibitions reaffirms the fact that we do not live in one time, recollect another, or envisage an unseen epoch; but exist in all three phases of time simultaneously. Like the Lahore Biennale 03 is not limited to one set of venues, but breathes in each one of its collateral events.
