KARACHI: The Karachi Biennale Discursive Committee on Saturday announced at the Alliance Francaise de Karachi the names of 10 artists who will deliver PechaKucha presentations during the first Karachi Biennale in October.

They were selected after a countrywide call to artists under the age of 35 working across Pakistan. The chosen individuals are: Abeerah Zahid, Ayesha Khaliq, Bahrera Basit, Batool Zehra, Haya Zaidi, Shabir Baloch, Sana Burney, Shameen Arshad, Kiran Saleem and Shakir Ali. PechaKucha is an international presentation format in which artists are required to show 20 slides (of 20-second duration).

Speaking on the occasion French consul general Francois Dall’Orso said the PechaKucha intensive would give the young artists, from small and big towns of Pakistan, an opportunity to develop their skills and talk about their work with confidence. They would present their artworks at the Karachi Biennale to a very large audience and have a special mention in the KB 17 special catalogue to be distributed at national and international levels.

‘Karachi is a city of dreams and nightmares’

Mr Dall’Orso appreciated the vision of the organisers of the biennale and their effort to bring Pakistani artists to the people of Karachi. Art would be made accessible to the people on the street and create an understanding of contemporary art and culture in Pakistan. French artists would also take part in the event, he said. The CG said he was sure that there would be a ‘fruitful’ dialogue between the artists and the people of Karachi.

Earlier, KB CEO Niilofur Farrukh welcomed the guests. She said the evening was dedicated to the young artists of the country who would participate in the PechaKucha intensive at the Karachi Biennale. The focus of the biennale was to give an enriching experience to a large population of the city. Since its first interface in March 2016, many public artworks had been explored, she said.

Ms Farrukh added that the 2017 PechaKucha intensive was a project of the Karachi Biennale Discursive Committee that helped the young artists reflect on their practice and learn new skills to coherently talk about it. The committee received 80 entries from the country; the short-listed participants were invited to Karachi; on July 28 they took part in a workshop with mentors; and on Saturday their presentations were juried. They would get an opportunity to present their presentations at a special evening at the Biennale in October.

Chair of the marketing and design committee Zehra Hamdani said the biennale would be the largest international public art event that the city had ever experienced. The theme of the event was ‘witness’, chosen for its relevance to politics of representation, erasure and documentation. The goal was inclusivity, to take art out of the gallery space and into the public, and the main venue for the biennale was NJV School on M. A. Jinnah Road. (In total, there are 12 venues.)

Head of the curatorial team of the event Amin Gulgee gave a presentation on the different projects of the biennale and the national and international artists who will be taking part in it. He began his talk by saying Karachi was a city of dreams and nightmares.

The three jurors — Aziz Sohail, Nusrat Khawaja and Naila Mahmood — who selected the 10 artists, briefly spoke on the process of selection.

Renowned artist Rabia Zuberi also addressed the audience. Unlike the rest of the speakers, she spoke in Urdu. The speeches were followed by a very short panel discussion, moderated by Aziz Sohail, with the young artists.

Annie Shehzad anchored the programme.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2017