LBF – AAN Research Grant – 2018

LBF – AAN Research Grant, 2018

Announced in Summer 2018, the LBF – AAN 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.

A public announcement of the award resulted in many submitted applications. The final selection was made by an independent jury consisting of Salima Hashmi, Naazish Ata-Ullah, and Naiza Khan. The team of artists and educators, Fatima Hussain, Abeerah Zahid and Ayesha Kamal Khan were the recipients. The total amount awarded for the 2018 cycle was Rs. 300,000.

The distinguished mentor for this grant was Naiza Khan, who worked with the three recipients during 2018-2019.

Emerging Audience for the contemporary arts in Pakistan

The research project of Fatima Hussain, Abeerah Zahid and Ayesha Kamal Khan considered and evaluated emerging audiences for contemporary arts in Pakistan. It also evaluated the modes and modes needed to generate larger audiences. The jury considered this project to be significant as it aimed to analyze this undocumented yet crucial area in the wake of public contemporary art projects and exhibits in Pakistan in recent years. A research objective was to understand the challenges and possibilities of ‘cultural citizenship’. The absence of such research constitutes a significant gap in the ‘cultural value’ debates currently taking place across academia, government and the spaces between, which the researchers sought to rectify.

Outcome

The award resulted in the research team producing a live archive of public art projects, their processes and impact on audiences in the city of Karachi. This archive is available online: Access Audience/Audience Access. The research process that consisted of notes, a field report, a survey report conducted with public in different parts of Karachi, as well as audio and transcribed interviews with pioneering proponents of public art in Karachi, including artists, educators, and planners such as Durriya Kazi and Arif Hasan, is archived at LBF.

Biography of Mentor

Naiza Khan is an established contemporary artist who lives and works between London and Karachi. She studied at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford and is currently an M.A. candidate at the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmith’s College, London. Her work has been widely exhibited and collected internationally. Her practice encompasses teaching, curation, research and writing and she was instrumental in establishing the Vasl Artists’ Collective.  In 2013, Naiza received the Prince Claus Award in recognition of her exceptional initiatives and activities in the fields of art and culture in Pakistan.

Biographies of the grant recipients

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