Maktab Khana (Miniature Painting Atelier)

During the Mughal empire, court painters worked collaboratively in workshops or ateliers to create the miniature paintings in book manuscript format. Given the highly complex process required to produce the miniature paintings and assemble them in a finished manuscript, artists specialized in facets of the production and worked together to complete their works. The Aga Khan Museum, The Aga Khan Trust for Culture-Pakistan, the National College of Arts (NCA), the Lahore Fort and the Walled City Authority have partnered together to recreate a workshop within the setting of the historic Mughal Lahore Fort. This is in tribute to the work done by the artists in the past. It also encourages artists today to work collaboratively in their creation of new works, which while based on traditional methods, address the contemporary and the present. Led by accomplished miniature painter Imran Qureshi, a group of young artists trained in the genre at the NCA, over the course of the Biennale, created miniature paintings in the setting of the Lahore Fort. The young artists deployed the centuries old miniature technique, and also expanded their formal and visual vocabulary to include digital media, videography, air brush techniques, and photography, forging a bridge between the traditional art form and contemporary practices.