The Aleph Review is delighted to continue our partnership with the Karachi Biennale Trust for the upcoming Karachi Biennale’s fourth iteration. Curated by Waheeda Baloch along the theme of ‘Rizq|Rizk: Food, Futures & Fair Practices’, the KB24 will take place from 27th October till 10th November, 2024.
Over the next month, we will be sharing insights into the curatorial process, highlighting sites and artists involved and taking you on a virtual journey of the biennale via our digital platforms. We encourage you to follow our Instagram and that of KB24 for updates. You can also head to their website to explore in more detail.
To begin with, we would like to share the curatorial vision with you, along with a bit about the organisation that has been working painstakingly to bring the event to you.
Curatorial Note:
Rizq|Risk, the title of the fourth edition of the Karachi Biennale 2024 represents a perpetual paradox; it aims to spark the critical conversations about intricate relationships between food security, environmental sustainability, social justice, and cultural heritage.
Through a diverse range of artistic practices and perspectives, the vision of KB24 will provide the audience with a chance to delve into the complex web of factors that are influencing the global food systems, from the impact of colonialism and globalisation to the effects of climate change and consequences of carbon emissions.
The theme of food security will provide a platform for under represented voices and perspectives. It will showcase innovative solutions and alternatives to the current food systems. A celebration of food heritage, memory archives, and oral histories will underline its contemporary relevance as artists uncover the lost narratives of food cultures across the world.
The impact of the Green Revolution and neo-Oriental practices connected to global food systems, issues of land ownership, gender, and social justice in the context of food security are part of the wider ground that the theme covers.
Also highlighted is the crucial role of waterways in sustaining crops and communities, and the struggles and triumphs of communities dependent on food production for their livelihood. This includes natural disasters and their effects on food systems and, the impact of carbon emissions on food production, its distribution, and consumption.
The celebration of the pleasures of food and the importance of preserving culinary traditions go hand in hand with the consequences of globalisation on local food cultures and the pressure it puts on the ecosystems.
The theme Rizq|Risk aims to not only raise awareness among local and international art enthusiasts but to also sensitise public audiences walking through the exhibitions; where artists take on the role of social rights activists, environmentalists, and sustainability advocates.
Venues:
KB24 will take place at five venues in Karachi:
Cluster A:
Mahvash & Jahangir Siddiqui Art Gallery, Alliance Francaise
Bagh Ibn Qasim
Cluster B:
Frere Hall
NED University of Engineering & Technology (City Campus)
Cluster C:
- Sambara Art Gallery
About the Karachi Biennale Trust (KBT):
KBT is a registered Trust, founded in 2016 and its trustees are visual art professionals and educators. KBT operates as a non-profit organisation and a platform to promote creativity, innovation, and critical thinking in the visual arts. Its flagship project, the Karachi Biennale, is Pakistan’s largest international contemporary art platform. KBT has already organised three successful biennales in Karachi; in 2017 (KB17) the theme was ‘Witness’ focused on bearing witness to our times and ourselves, both in the present and the past; in 2019 (KB19) the theme was ‘Flight Interrupted: Eco-leaks from the Invasion Desk’ encompassing a leitmotif at the heart of Karachi; the third event was in 2022 (KB22) and was titled ‘Collective Imagination: Now and the Next’. KB22’s theme was different from the previous two iterations and focused on the intersection of art and technology to reflect the importance of IT in sustaining businesses and human connectivity against the backdrop of COVID-19.
The fourth iteration of Karachi Biennale (KB24) the theme ‘Rizq|Risk’ invites artists to explore the contemporary foodscape, highlighting food security, climate change, as well as colonial and neo-liberal policies that impact the production and movement of food.
With the support of the national and international art community and international cultural and educational organisations, the Karachi Biennale Trust has been generously supported by the corporate sector and foreign missions.
The Karachi Biennale, with each iteration, is committed to enhancing capacity building by focusing on various aspects such as biennale infrastructure development, effective use of technology and digital tools, upliftment of society, empowerment for women, education and youth training, health initiatives, environmental protection, and livelihood programs. Through a friendly approach, the biennale strives to create a platform where local communities are empowered and equipped with the necessary skills and resources to thrive. By investing in these key areas, the event aims to not only celebrate art and culture but also drive positive and sustainable changes that benefit the city and its people.
KBT has contributed to the further development of the art infrastructure through vitalizing new public art spaces across Karachi, creating a massive art exhibition akin to a pop-up museum of Contemporary Art with works using technology as a medium. Supporting the exhibition with extensive public programming aimed to enhance the experience of art and its understanding.
To provide some background, Karachi, after Delhi and Mumbai, has the largest and most diverse art scene in South Asia which is driven both by creativity and commerce. This growth can be traced to 1947 when early Modernists made the city their home. The city’s large collector base was nurtured by Ali Imam from the time he opened the doors of the Indus Gallery in 1970.
Today Karachi is the art commerce hub of the country. The art scene is mature, dynamic, and experimental. Art galleries offer opportunities to artists from all over Pakistan and the Diaspora.
Karachi is home to three major art schools (Karachi School of Art, Karachi University, Visual Studies Department, and IVS) and several smaller institutions that are spread across the city. Karachi produces several hundred visual art graduates every year, which adds to the increasing number of artists. Karachi also has the largest number of art galleries that exhibit art from all over Pakistan and the diaspora. Institutional and commercial art galleries were established in the 80s and 90s in the Clifton and Defense areas, as well as PECHS and KDA areas, where the wealthier socio-economic groups are concentrated.
Despite this entrepreneurial spirit, the art landscape remains fragmented as the city of 20 million has no public spaces for art and a wide part of the city’s population is under-exposed to contemporary art. The shrinking space in newspapers for art reviews and discourse also demands attention to this aspect for a better understanding of art. The marginalisation of art due to extremist ideological policies since the 1980s has also created an alienation of culture and under-funding of public institutions. This has put the onus on art professionals and the private sector to reconnect art to the people by extending the art infrastructure, particularly for public audiences.
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