LB04

Open call for poets: Conference of the Stray Birds invites contributions from across Eurasia

Conference of the Stray Birds will present its inaugural collection of poems at Lahore Biennale 04: The Shape of Coexistence, taking place in spring 2027. The collection reflects on the legacies and possible afterlives of twentieth-century internationalism across Eurasia. Of particular importance to us are the internationalist writers’ conferences that took place across Soviet Central Eurasia in the post–World War II period. At these gatherings, writers and poets from different countries came together to share ... More

Programs

Bagh-e-Jinnah (Lawrence Gardens) | Rooted/پیوستہ

Rooted/پیوستہ (Paivasta) is a public art project at Bagh-e-Jinnah (Lawrence Gardens), Lahore. Curated and commissioned by the Lahore Biennale Foundation (LBF) and British Council Pakistan, with generous support from the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) Lahore, the project is second in the Art in Public Spaces series. Lahore is historically known as the City of Gardens. From Mughal monuments such as Shalimar Gardens and Hazuri Bagh, to magnificent examples from the colonial era like Bagh-e-Jinnah (formerly Lawrence Gardens) that envelopes the present-day Quaid-e-Azam Library, and also Jilani Park (formerly Race Course Park), green spaces have always been a central feature of Lahore’s ... More

Public Outreach

Dekho Lahore

Launched in 2015, the web-based collaboration between the Lahore Biennale Foundation and the public, #DekhoLahore, was planned as a visual investigation of LBF’s home base. Creative individuals were encouraged to photograph the city’s many facets on a weekly basis, and the selected images were shared on our social media outlets regularly.

Research

LBF Research Grant

Announced in Summer 2018, the LBF 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.

Publications

Lahore Biennale Reader 01

Edited by Iftikhar Dadi Published by Skira, 2022 The Lahore Biennale 01 Reader assembles substantial scholarly and curatorial essays that engage with salient questions of cultural politics in the global South. The contributions are developed from the program of the first Lahore Biennale (LB01) in 2018, which included works by over 50 artists. LB01 was accompanied with a robust academic forum that brought together local and international scholars, curators, and artists to investigate issues of relevance to contemporary art and society, regionally and globally. The biennale program included a symposium, talks by participating artists, papers by scholars and curators, panel ... More

Programs

Zero Waste Initiative

The Lahore Biennale Foundation (LBF) is committed to fostering sustainable practices through its Zero Waste Initiative, aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of our projects and daily operations. As part of this commitment, we have implemented a comprehensive waste management system that emphasizes recycling, repurposing, and responsible disposal methods.

Programs

Virtual Museum | Manduva: Exploring What We Won’t Like to Call ‘Lollywood’

Manduva is an exploration of seven and a half decades of Pakistani cinema. An attempt to initiate archiving and reading of indigenous cinematic syntax. Pakistan has loved and owned it sometimes but also hated and abandoned it intermittently. It’s part of Pakistan’s heritage and this component attempts to reclaim it, inspect, dissect and interpret. As part of this component of the Virtual Museum, LBF issued two Open Calls, for Filmmakers and Pakistani cinema enthusiasts, and young contributors were selected by the curator, Sarmad Khoosat– a leading filmmaker with international acclaim, to make mini-films reinterpreting Pakistani Cinema. These young filmmakers were ... More

Public Outreach

artSPEAK | Public Engagement through Art

The Lahore-based Awami Art Collective, a group of cultural practitioners, were invited to speak about their aim of bringing art to public spaces and why they considered such interventions to be of importance. Their ethos of celebrating diversity and enabling peaceful co-existence in a pluralist society particularly aligns them with the Lahore Biennale Foundation’s (LBF) own mission. The conversation covered the history of the collective as well as their recent projects and concerns, in order to reflect upon the context in which art can meaningfully engage with public space. The event was held at The Last Word on August 10, ... More

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Publications

Kabootar Awaay Jawaay

A comprehensive glimpse into the enduring cultural practice spanning Punjab and the Emirates, allowing the reader to delve into the meticulous preparations undertaken by breeders as they select and prepare their pigeons for competitive matches, giving insights into the hierarchical structure of practitioners, from masters (ustads) to students (shagerds), showcasing the dedication and years of practice required to attain senior positions.

Publications

Lahore Biennale Reader 02

Between Jan 26 and Feb 29, 2020, the Lahore Biennale 02 was exhibited at multiple sites across Lahore, Pakistan. Hoor Al Qasimi curated the work of over eighty artists and collectives under the theme of Between The Sun And The Moon, emphasizing participation from the Global South and with a stress on artists and works from Africa, Central Asia, West Asia and their diasporas. The multifaceted Biennale program included exhibited works, performances, participatory settings, publications ... More