John Tain, Curator of Lahore Biennale 03, most recently served as Head of Research at Asia Art Archive (AAA, 2017-2023). His projects included AAA’s contribution to documenta fifteen (2022); the Art Schools of Asia seminar and symposium (2021-22); the exhibition Crafting Communities (2020), devoted to Thailand-based Womanifesto; and MAHASSA (Modern Art Histories in and across Africa, and South and Southeast Asia, 2019-2020). He has served as a series editor for Afterall’s Exhibition Histories, and is a co-editor for the Intersecting Modernisms project. He also serves as an advisor for Asia Forum, an ongoing collateral event at the Venice Biennale.
New’s Mebuyan installations grow out of the native Mindanawon’s abiding interest in indigenous Filipino mythology, fantasy, and science, mixed with a dash of old-fashioned stagecraft. First realized for Burning Man and at Art in the Park in Makati, the Philippines, in 2021, each incarnation re-imagines Mebuyan, the Bagobo goddess of death and fertility, as a being from outer space, descending in a mothership made of steel, bamboo, salvaged plastic water bottles, and household elements. The cycles of life and death that the indigenous deity represents are given a contemporary take, with the colony’s many globes woven together from organic bamboo and discarded plastics. As the artist notes, the project accommodates “questions about sustainable production, circular economy, the life cycle of ... More
The Shalimar Gardens (Punjabi, Urdu: شالیمار باغ) are a vast Mughal garden complex. The Gardens were designed as a Persian paradise garden with the aim of creating an earthly utopia–a representation of paradise on earth–where humans and nature harmoniously coexist. The name "Shalimar" comes from the Arabic expression Shah al-‘imarat (Master of Buildings). Construction of the gardens commenced in 1641 during the rule of Emperor Shah Jahan and was completed in 1642. In 1981, the Shalimar Gardens were recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for representing the pinnacle of Mughal garden design.
Water Bodies, an ensemble of high-key blue and orange works made especially for Of Mountains and Seas, responds to the particular hydrology of Lahore, which generally schedules water delivery to residents only at certain times of day, making backup water tanks a necessary part of everyday life. Taking some of these ubiquitous blue tanks out of circulation, Qureshi painted them in his signature mix of abstract splatters and floral patterns, which he then transformed into designs for a permanent tile frieze lining the underground pedestrian pathway from the GPO Building to the nearby station, as well as a translucent window installation that glows during the day at Shalimar Gardens Station. Complementing these two public art projects is a rooftop tableau ... More
Spring Sailors – Six Synecologies Aloft responds to both experiences in the city by installing six sets of paper sculptures inspired by Lahori kite designs in the Aiwan or grand hall at the Shalimar Gardens. The kites’ geometry and arrangement harmonize with the Gardens’ precise symmetries, while their sails flutter to the breeze of the air current wafting through the hall’s open architecture, which overlooks hundreds of fountains and the grounds, which originally hosted an ... More
The Fortress presents, then slowly takes apart, supposedly archetypal “Man,” the universal Enlightenment subject that justified Western colonialism, and continues to justify the exploitation of natural resources. As first encountered at Alfalah Theatre, the subject, as embodied by the character Wai King, rehearses and performatively constructs his position of superiority and othering. Transported to Lahore Fort, the subject meets his own ghost and the remnants of his own past narratives, layered one atop the other. There, he witnesses the shifting paradigms of history and realizes the entanglement and inseparability of being with the world around him. The video explores themes ... More
In The Sound of Silence (#2), Alavi engages with the histories of Australia’s cameleers, laborers whose lives were intertwined with those of the animals they were hired to handle, and who immigrated from South and West Asia to help colonize the arid outback. Though they played a vital role in transporting supplies and building infrastructure, and their music has resonated across the deserts for generations, these laborers and their descendants continue to face discrimination. Through The Sound of Silence, Alavi honors the cameleers’ music and stories, as captured in oral histories with their descendants, and preserve their forgotten legacy. The ... More
For Phoenix, a newly commissioned work for LB03, Zheng Bo collaborated with seven Pakistani farmers living and working on a date palm farm outside Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to make a dance. The work celebrates the beauty of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) and the skill of these stewards, highlighting intimate relations cultivated over millennia, vital to the economy and culture of the region. At the same time, in working with immigrant laborers on the piece, Zheng also draws attention to the contribution of diasporic farmers to the agriculture of the region, as well as the phenomenon of climate-induced migration, ... More
The YMCA Lahore, established in 1879, emerged during a time of significant social and political change in the region. Under British colonial rule, it, along with other Christian missionary organisations, played a pivotal role in introducing Western education and social reforms. In its early years, the YMCA’s presence was closely tied to British colonial interests, aiming to provide educational and recreational facilities for the growing European community, and to a lesser extent, for native inhabitants. Its primary focus was on providing English education, vocational training, and literacy classes, which were viewed as tools to "modernize" the local population. Alongside education, ... More