KARACHI: The fourth edition of Karachi Biennale (KB24) will begin on Sunday and continue till Nov 10, organisers of the mega event announced on Wednesday evening.

Speaking at a press conference at the Sambara Art Gallery, Managing Trustee of the Karachi Biennale Trust (KBT) Niilofur Farrukh said over 40 artists have arrived from 10 countries to take part in the event who will touch upon the theme.

“This year we have two public parks — Frere Hall and Bagh Ibne Qasim. The other three venues for KB24 are the Sambara Art Gallery, Alliance Francaise and NED University,” she said.

She said the biennale will be on for two weeks from 10am to 6pm and on weekends from 10am to 7pm.

The mega event will begin from Sunday

She recalled that the first biennale was held in 2017 when Karachi’s situation was not good as there were security issues.

“But we did a big biennale in the middle of the city. We had eight venues on M. A. Jinnah Road. The public appreciated it a lot which meant how much they’re interested in art,” she said, adding: “That encouraged us. That’s what we wanted when we started the KBT, that is, art should be brought into public spaces. People asked us why we were doing that since art is usually seen at a gallery. We answered that the reason for bringing it into public spaces was we wanted everyone to see it. This is the reason we do it at public parks.”

Talking about the theme of the event — Rizq/Risk — Ms Farrukh said when in 2022 the region was hit by massive floods, the biennale was happening at the time and Covid had just ended.

“We had said that we would definitely do something on floods. We will try and do something that could enable people to understand what caused floods to wreak havoc in our country and the rest of the world. Then we chose a theme Rizq/Risk. The former is an Urdu word. It means food but it means more than that and relates to things such as livelihood, art etc. And risk is to do with food security,” she said.

KBT chairperson Almas Bana said the KBT is a not for profit trust. He also mentioned those who are supporting the biennale; the Sindh government being their biggest supporter.

The curator of KB24, Waheeda Baloch, elaborated on the theme of KB24, saying she’s always been interested in public art. She said when she was first given the subject of food security, she thought it was dry. So she worked on it. Since she had worked with flood victims she came with other themes, too, such as poverty, water and livelihood under the umbrella of the main theme.

Artistic Director KBT Bushra Hussain informed the media on the awards which will be given on the occasion: the emerging artist prize, the jury prize, the performance art prize and a special prize related to the Gaza project.

Atteqa Malik delivered the vote of thanks and Shanaz Ramzi moderated the event.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2024