Climate Congress

As the closing programme of Lahore Biennale LB03, the Climate Congress extends the histories and research developed as part of the main exhibition (Of Mountains and Seas) by convening a mix of leading and emerging researchers, artists, curators, and other practitioners. Developed under the direction of Iftikhar Dadi and John Tain, the Climate Congress offers an occasion for South-South conversations around the role of the arts and humanities to contribute towards wider efforts to generate awareness and support for imagining sustainable futures.

Complementing Of Mountains and Seas, which addresses the subject of ecologies and sustainable futures from the perspectives of Asia and the Global South, the Congress foregrounds the central role art and culture have to play in reshaping societies. The Congress makes space for transregional discussions on how climate‐based and ecological art, art history, and humanities, by serving as stewards of cultural heritage and practices, can generate alternative ideas and social change, both of which are necessary components for the building of sustainable societies.  

A transnational forum sensitive to local and indigenous perspectives, the Congress aims to model the decentred, international, and interdisciplinary cooperation and collaboration that will be critical to building just and sustainable societies in the face of the climate crisis, a phenomenon that will affect the world regardless of borders or origins. Researchers and artists from Pakistan and over 20 countries, and numerous institutions will participate in the Climate Congress.