Lahore Biennale: art will take people to new places in City

LAHORE: This time art will take people to new places in Lahore. The Lahore Biennale (LB03) that is due to open on February 9, 2024, will display art on The Mall apart from other historic places. The point of installing art at public places is to bring people together.

John Tain, the Lahore Biennale (LB03) curator, who has come from Hong Kong, Qudsia Rahim, Lahore Biennale Foundation (LBF) executive director, and Kamran Lashari, DG Walled City Authority, spoke to a hall packed with artists, art students and media at Alhamra here on Monday.

Kamran Lashari said he has got opened Shahi Bawarchi Khana that remained closed for 30-40 years and asked the audience if they ever heard of one or the British Bunkers. “Summer Palace beneath the Sheesh Mahal is a huge space lying shut down for 150 years. The Walled City Authority has opened only a portion of the Shahi Hamam for tourists. Now there are funds. We are going to open a buffer zone,” he said. He praised Agha Khan Foundation for doing a great job at the Shahi Hamam that got the Unesco Award. Lahore Fort has been permanently lit up and is open to public on weekends, he said.

Asked what are the places on The Mall where art will be installed, he said they are ‘Pak Tea House Front’ and Wazir Khan Baradari on The Mall next to National College of Arts, a place that is not common knowledge--to name a few. Lahore Biennale will bring these places to the fore. “Wrong things have happened on The Mall. We are empowered to do a more authentic thing,” the DG said.

“We have to fight off the ‘Bund Culture’ and explained when something is not working, those in power find it easy to shut that activity down instead of finding a solution to the problem. Cultural activities have been most hit by this attitude. People need to assert themselves,” he said.

Qudsia Rahim said nobody had worked in public spaces before and thanked the government for trusting LBF. The foundation has created an afforestation project that aims to work with the artists as prime catalysts of the plantation drive. Under this project LBF has planted 2.5 million trees in Lahore in two years. “We saw the city come together, planting trees head-on. We have introduced climate education in schools and aim to have this in all the schools,” she said.

John Tain said Lahore has doubled in size. He pointed out the benefits of having houses very close to each other in the Walled City for they are warm in winter and cool in summer, he said. John Tain’s appointment highlights the foundation’s commitment to promoting cultural exchange, inclusivity, and accessibility through the arts.

LB03 will focus on ecology and sustainable development. Emerging and established artists, scholars and researchers will creatively highlight these issues which cannot be ignored anymore.