LAHORE: The Lahore Biennale Foundation (LBF) is scheduled to make its first public release with the opening of Rashid Rana’s project, My East is Your West, at Liberty Market on May 5.

“My East is Your West,” Lahore/Venice project, is a collaborative effort of Rashid Rana, Gujral Foundation and the Lahore Biennale Foundation.

Rana is one of Pakistan’s leading contemporary artists who would work on the first public project of its kind in the region and create a communication link between Lahore and Venice.

Rashid Rana’s works are featured in this year’s Venice Biennale, one of the world’s prestigious art events. Part of these works in Venice will feature a room with a video projection of live feed from the Liberty Market. Audiences in Venice will be able to see and interact with public in Lahore. The artist’s room in Lahore, an exactly replicated space, will similarly allow viewers to witness the Venice audience through another live feed. The project will thus break barriers between these people of Lahore and Venice.

The LBF, a non-profit organisation, seeks to engage with the arts through discursive dialogue, critical thinking and public engagement in order to reclaim a place for the arts in Pakistan’s national discourse and establish a conversation that spans across nations. It is providing support to Rana’s project in Pakistan by offering a window into Venice for the audience in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2015

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