Aspen: Literary Prize Winner Mohsin Hamid in conversation with Dan Porterfield

Don't miss the emcee's introduction of Mohsin.

It is a fantastic reminder for all of us of how accomplished he is and how proud as Pakistanis we all should be because of him!

Enjoy the video!

Your 'very proud' Artwallaa


Aspen Words Presents: Literary Prize Winner Mohsin Hamid in conversation with Dan Porterfield

Source: The Aspen Institute

See related article: Another accolade for Mohsin, another accolade for Pakistan!

Pakistan’s unexpectedly rich English literary evolution

Huma Kirmani

 

August 17, 2018

 

 

The development of English literature in Pakistan evolved its own identity and has become the socio-cultural document of an era of aspirations and austerity for the past seventy years. Authors have a third eye which venerates curiosity, inspiration, imagination, where seeing is a synecdoche and synesthetic gerund. The disbandment of the British throne in the Subcontinent in 1947, and the accompanying mass migration across the new borders between the newly independent states of India and Pakistan, stands out as one of the momentous developments in socio-cultural history.

 

It subsequently categorized issues of class, community formation, ideological fissures and cultural separatism, however with the absence of women and ordinary people playing any role. In the post-1947 inception of Pakistani English literature, authors tried to hold their ground for the leftist and liberal issues of class and people, in a discourse which simply portrayed a pivotal and exclusive role in the literary backdrop for novels of partition horrors. However, these historical accounts never acquired the discipline of art and no literature based on hate and prejudice can be great.

Kiran Nadir Museum is exhibiting the breathtaking Parallax by Shahzia Sikander

For Artwallaa, Parallax is one of the most powerful works of art coming out of Pakistan in the recent past. It is being shown in Delhi at the Kiran Nadir Art Museum.

Go experience it!


Source: Honolulu Museum

Shahzia Sikander
"Pakistani-American contemporary artist Shahzia Sikander’s Parallax is an experience in itself.  Originally created for the 2013 Sharjah Biennale, and borne out of her road trip through UAE, this large video installation consists of  hundreds of watercolor, gouache and ink paintings, with traditional Indo-Persian miniatures, all interwoven with drawing and animation into a three-channel immersive artwork. The haunting music score is specially done by Chinese composer Du Yun who mixes new poetic compositions in classical and colloquial Arabic by three contemporary Sharjah poets. The result is a tense, eerie slow-burn sound art which features many ant-like creatures on video.  The power tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important transit chokepoint for crude oil exports in the Middle East, is the more immediate inspiration behind the breathtaking Parallax".

Source: The Week

Delirium in a techno-dystopic maze: Kiran Nadar Museum's latest exhibit

 By Sneha Bhura August 21, 2018 21:14 IST

  

A scene from Nalini Malani's 1973 Taboo, at Kiran Nadar Museum of Art

When you enter Kiran Nadar Museum of Art's latest exhibition, Delirium/Equilibrium, on video, film and kinetic artworks from the museum’s collection, prepare to be besieged by a sense of uncertainty and displacement. Bukowski's book title Tales of Ordinary Madness might flash through your mind's eye—not because the show recreates wild and weird stories from a city's dark underbelly, but because it feels like an apt description to simplify a group of bewildering works which play on light, sound, shadow, noise and speech/moving objects, images and gibberish. The result is a strange, funny, complex techno-dystopic maze stretching into the inner reaches of a dark and semi-dark gallery. The experience can only be equated to wandering lost and confused in a cavernous hideout, but persisting all the same for the many fascinating finds its many nooks and crevices hold.

As curator Roobina Karode explains in her note, "The world today is disenchanting and distraught, yet alluring and demanding, desiring poise and equilibrium." The show wants to respond to our collective drive towards "mechanisation, technology and and scientific knowledge", and the need to construct new architectonic forms in a “rewiring of the world”. But could this assemblage of disconcerting animation works, mechanised objects, echoing speeches of leaders and quiet, determined acts of resistance as performance, also speak to the dizzying political and social climate of absurd priorities and cacophonous disinformation? Or is this the future trajectory of art, when new media will more prominently collaborate, intervene and upstage in an age of post-human development? With another mainstream gallery (Nature Morte) in Delhi already hosting a show on art and artificial intelligence, this merits some contemplation.

The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane has a strong Pakistan presence

Works of five artists will be representing Pakistan in the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane (Australia) starting from 24 November. In total, works of 80 artists from 30 countries across Asia Pacific will be shown. Pakistan is represented by Naiza Khan, Aisha Khalid, Waqas Khan, Ali Kazim and Rasheed Araeen.

Looking forward to its opening



Spine,  2008,  Galvanized steel and suede leather,  H. 26 x W. 12 5/8 x D. 6 3/8 in. (66 x 32 x 16 cm)
Source: Asia Society

The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT9)

24 Nov 2018 – 28 Apr 2019
QAGOMA

Stretching from Iraq to Hawai'i, 'The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art' (APT9) will bring new and significant art from across the region to Brisbane. QAGOMA's flagship contemporary art series draws visitors with its unique mix of visual spectacle and cross-cultural insight.

Highlights will be a substantial number of newly commissioned works, as well as works by emerging, mid-career and senior artists and influential works that continue to shape contemporary art in the region. The exhibition will feature over 80 artists and groups whose work is notable for making an impact in contemporary art in its local context, including a large representation of Australian artists. Their works will reveal a number of preoccupations, such as the use of innovative approaches to indigenous traditions and modern thought, the re-imagining of histories or poetic narratives and the ability to show our universal yet diverse relations to nature and culture.

APT9 Kids will include interactive artworks, hands-on making, and multimedia activities developed in collaboration with exhibiting artists, especially for children and families. APT9 Kids on Tour will provide children and families throughout Queensland with the opportunity to enjoy a selection of adapted projects at their local venue.
APT9 will also include a symposium and extensive public programs, as well as an APT9 Cinema program.

The artists participating in the ninth Asia Pacific Triennial are:
Jananne al-Ani
Zico Albaiquni
Sadik Kwaish Alfraji
Monira Al Qadiri
Rasheed Araeen
Martha Atienza
Kushana Bush
Cao Fei
Gary Carsley
Roberto Chabet
Chen Zhe
Kawayan De Guia
Enkhbold Togmidshiirev
Erub/Lifou Project
Nona Garcia
Simon Gende
Lola Greeno
Gunantuna (Tolai people), led by Gideon Kakabin
Shilpa Gupta
Tada Hengsapkul
Gavin Hipkins
Joyce Ho
Hou I-Ting
Htein Lin
Images of the Crisis
Zahra Imani
Mao Ishikawa
Jaki-Ed Project
Jeong Geumhyung
Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner
Jonathan Jones
Karrabing Film Collective
Ali Kazim
Aisha Khalid
Naiza Khan
Waqas Khan
Kim Beom
Meiro Koizumi
Kapulani Landgraf
Idas Losin
Ly Hoàng Ly
Gregory Dausi Moah
Mochu
Yuko Mohri
Vincent Namatjira
Nguyễn Trinh Thi
Anne Noble
Aditya Novali
Elia Nurvista
Shinro Ohtake
Donna Ong and Robert Zhao Renhui
Alair Pambegan
Pangrok Sulap
Bona Park
Bounpaul Phothyzan
Souliya Phoumivong
Qiu Zhijie
Iman Raad
Margaret Rarru and Helen Ganalmirriwuy
Lisa Reihana
Peter Robinson
Handiwirman Saputra
Mithu Sen
Hassan Sharif
Tcheu Siong
Jakkai Siributr
Soe Yu Nwe
Herman Somuk
Harit Srikhao
Ayesha Sultana
Latai Taumoepeau
Tungaru: The Kiribati Project, led by Chris Charteris
James Tylor
Vuth Lyno
Munem Wasif
Boedi Widjaja
Areta Wilkinson
Women’s Wealth
Sawangwongse Yawnghwe
Pannaphan Yodmanee
Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries

Zheng Guogu

 

Source: QAGOMA