LB04

Open call for poets: Conference of the Stray Birds invites contributions from across Eurasia

Conference of the Stray Birds will present its inaugural collection of poems at Lahore Biennale 04: The Shape of Coexistence, taking place in spring 2027. The collection reflects on the legacies and possible afterlives of twentieth-century internationalism across Eurasia. Of particular importance to us are the internationalist writers’ conferences that took place across Soviet Central Eurasia in the post–World War II period. At these gatherings, writers and poets from different countries came together to share ... More

Programs

My East is Your West (The Viewing, The Viewer and The Viewed)

My East is Your West* was an official collateral event of the 56th International Art Exhibition – Venice Biennale, which united for the first time the historically conflicting nations of India and Pakistan in a collaborative exhibition by artists from both countries, namely Shilpa Gupta (Mumbai) and Rashid Rana (Lahore). My East is Your West was conceived by Feroz Gujral, Director and Founder of the Gujral Foundation. One of the components of My East is Your West was an installation by Rashid Rana, entitled Shuhuud-o-shaahid-o-mashhuud (The Viewing, The Viewer and The Viewed). This work was a collaborative effort between Rashid Rana and the Lahore Biennale ... More

Public Outreach

artSPEAK | The Artist-in-Residence

Books n Beans - November 5, 2015 For the third artSPEAK, Saba Khan, Basir Mahmood and Dr. Razia Sadik ruminated upon the role of the artist-in-residence within the context of Pakistan and the future possibilities available therein.

Publications

Lahore Biennale Reader 01

Edited by Iftikhar Dadi Published by Skira, 2022 The Lahore Biennale 01 Reader assembles substantial scholarly and curatorial essays that engage with salient questions of cultural politics in the global South. The contributions are developed from the program of the first Lahore Biennale (LB01) in 2018, which included works by over 50 artists. LB01 was accompanied with a robust academic forum that brought together local and international scholars, curators, and artists to investigate issues of relevance to contemporary art and society, regionally and globally. The biennale program included a symposium, talks by participating artists, papers by scholars and curators, panel ... More

Programs

Zero Waste Initiative

The Lahore Biennale Foundation (LBF) is committed to fostering sustainable practices through its Zero Waste Initiative, aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of our projects and daily operations. As part of this commitment, we have implemented a comprehensive waste management system that emphasizes recycling, repurposing, and responsible disposal methods.

Programs

Bagh-e-Jinnah (Lawrence Gardens) | Rooted/پیوستہ

Rooted/پیوستہ (Paivasta) is a public art project at Bagh-e-Jinnah (Lawrence Gardens), Lahore. Curated and commissioned by the Lahore Biennale Foundation (LBF) and British Council Pakistan, with generous support from the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) Lahore, the project is second in the Art in Public Spaces series. Lahore is historically known as the City of Gardens. From Mughal monuments such as Shalimar Gardens and Hazuri Bagh, to magnificent examples from the colonial era like Bagh-e-Jinnah (formerly Lawrence Gardens) that envelopes the present-day Quaid-e-Azam Library, and also Jilani Park (formerly Race Course Park), green spaces have always been a central feature of Lahore’s ... More

Research

LBF – AAN Research Grant – 2018

Announced in Summer 2018, the LBF – Research Grant was intended for an individual or collective whose research focuses on movements and shifts in modern and contemporary art practice in Pakistan or its diaspora. Therefore, this call invited research proposals that address arts that arise from or are significant to Pakistan.

Publications

LB02 Guidebook

The 200 page Guidebook provides extensive information on the sites, artists, and themes of the Lahore Biennale 02: between the sun and the moon. Works exploring human entanglement with nature revisit traditional understandings of self and their cosmological underpinnings. The latter derives, in part, from astronomy, a discipline that made important strides amidst cultural and intellectual exchange between South and West Asia. For centuries, inhabitants of these regions oriented themselves with reference to the sun, the moon, the constellations. between the sun and the moon 12 How might we reflect on our place within the cosmos today, at this conjuncture ... More

Publications

Lahore Biennale Reader 02

Between Jan 26 and Feb 29, 2020, the Lahore Biennale 02 was exhibited at multiple sites across Lahore, Pakistan. Hoor Al Qasimi curated the work of over eighty artists and collectives under the theme of Between The Sun And The Moon, emphasizing participation from the Global South and with a stress on artists and works from Africa, Central Asia, West Asia and their diasporas. The multifaceted Biennale program included exhibited works, performances, participatory settings, publications ... More