My East is Your West (The Viewing, The Viewer and The Viewed)
Collateral event : 56th Venice BiennaleMy East is Your West
My East is Your West* was an official collateral event of the 56th International Art Exhibition – Venice Biennale (2015), 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 project was a multi-site video installation with 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, Lahore was made in collaboration with the Lahore Biennale Foundation.
Ancestors: Architecture of Memory, a three day symposium by Natasha Ginwala.
The event was covered by local and international media (PDF-Press-Coverage-MEYW)
Rashid Rana was born in Lahore, Pakistan, where he lives and works. He trained as a painter at the National College of Arts in Lahore and the Massachusetts College of Fine Arts, Boston. He is the founding faculty member and the dean of the School of Visual Arts and Design at the Beaconhouse National University in Lahore.
*The title for this project was drawn from an ongoing work by the artist Shilpa Gupta.
Partners
Habib Bank Limited
Government of the Punjab
Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), Lahore
The Gujral Foundation
Venice Biennale
Nayyar Ali Dada and Associates