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

Intersections : Where the Bus Stops

Where the Bus Stops is a project that carries in it the ethos of what LBF is truly about. The approach to all of our programs conducted within the public realm is to bring together diverse thinkers, practitioners and partners in such a way that outputs and outcomes generate new synergy that is collectively more effective than any isolated effort. By working with, and mobilising its partners, LBF has been able to champion this goal, as well as look out for the interests of all parties involved including those of the public. Winning proposals now mark vital spaces within Lahore’s ... 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

Research

LBF Research Fellowship: Building A National Film Archive

Announced in Summer 2018, the Lahore Biennale Foundation Research Fellowship was open to any individual or collective interested in researching any aspect of modern or contemporary art and visual culture of Pakistan. Award selection was based on the clear identification of the research methodology and archives used, and the relevance of the topic in contributing new knowledge and insight. A public announcement of the award resulted in many submitted applications. The final selection was made by an independent jury. Artist Hira Nabi was the recipient. The total amount awarded for the 2018 cycle was Rs. 300,000. The distinguished mentor for this ... More

Publications

Everything is Embedded in History

A singular feature of our lives has become collecting and the ensuing dissemination of personal narratives in an already pluralistic, diverse world. New media and personal outpost satellite services seem to have overridden the exclusive and insular rights of established media groups and publications. Media hierarchies seem to be fading away rapidly. Copyrights, ownership, authorship of information are open to discussion. The ever-elusive question of the reliability and validity of empirical truth has been outstretched beyond the realm of the present, into inquiring past history and subsequently the future concerns. The collection and documentation of information, data, images, text and ... 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

LBF Virtual Museum | 75 Years of Cultural Histories of Pakistan

The LBF Virtual Museum is a platform that investigates the cultural heritage of Pakistan and the legacies of creative practice that have emerged from it, with ‘place’ being a significant contextual frame. The museum will produce knowledge that will be rooted in the local domain and function as an online repository of data and research generated by itself and the project at large.

Research

LBF – AAN Research Grant – 2018

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. Therefore, this call invited research proposals that address arts that arise from or are significant to Pakistan.

Publications

Gleaners Notebook

Gleaners Notebook, an A5 format notebook specially produced for LB03, takes as its point of departure the small-scale workshops that produce the bulk of exercise books for the city’s many students. The printers employ older paper ruling machines that use inked thread to line the sheets, and require some degree of manual labor. As part of the process, accidents or off-registered paper are generated during warm up and slow down. Made from these castoffs, the Gleaners Notebook emerges out of Yang’s longstanding practice of transforming school exercise books, diaries, and other such vernacular printed matter into artist publications. In doing ... More

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