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

Urbanities

The Lahore Biennale Foundation (LBF) and the Goethe-Institut, in further collaboration with Vasl, Pakistan, launched an open call in May 2016, for an eight-week artist residency, seeking two Germany-based artists and/or researchers interested in cross-disciplinary theory and practice related to cities and urban phenomena. Karachi and Lahore were chosen to house the winning artists. The objective of this residency, in both cities, is to encourage and facilitate a critical exploration of the urban and its peculiarities coupled with the myriad artistic possibilities within the wider frame of each individual’s practice and research approach.

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.

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Publications

The Viewing, The Viewer and The Viewed

A publication outlining a component of My East is Your West – an installation by Rashid Rana, entitled Shuhuud-o-shaahid-o-mashhuud (The Viewing, The Viewer and The Viewed). This project was a multi-site video installation with a live camera that created two simultaneous mirrored spaces, connecting audiences in Venice, Italy with audiences in Liberty Market Horse Shoe, Lahore via a live feed. In doing so, it blurred the lines between the East and West, and between the audience and art. The audience was as much a part of the artwork as they were witness to it. The room built in Liberty Market, ... 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

Project | Stories We Tell – آو سنائیں کہانی

The project aims to bridge gaps between communities and individuals by cultivating an exchange of ideas and experiences. An intercultural dialogue is being initiated and fostered using site-specific community projects that serve as a point for the generation and collection of multiple narratives. It would further encourage the citizenry of Lahore to both reflect upon and share their personal experiences, and also expand public discourse.

Public Outreach

Community Meetings

The objective of these meetings is to engage the art community, or public communities, in a conversation that enables them and the Lahore Biennale Foundation (LBF) to critically reflect upon their practices and related concerns. The LBF is cognizant of the fact that it cannot function in a vacuum and relies on the community to ascertain areas of need, so it may deliver accordingly in the most effective manner possible. Opportunities for such discussions are few and far apart in the artistic spaces at present; to counter that, the focus is on encouraging their frequency and enabling productive dialogue.

Research

LBF Research Grant

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.

Publications

Gleaners Notebook

Gleaners Notebook, an A5 format notebook specially produced for LB03, takes as its point of departure the small-scale workshops that produce the bulk of exercise books for the city’s many students. The printers employ older paper ruling machines that use inked thread to line the sheets, and require some degree of manual labor. As part of the process, accidents or off-registered paper are generated during warm up and slow down. Made from these castoffs, the Gleaners Notebook emerges out of Yang’s longstanding practice of transforming school exercise books, diaries, and other such vernacular printed matter into artist publications. In doing ... 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