International Artists’ Residency
Karachi
August 2004
with Clio Lloyd Jacob, Farah Jamaluddin, Lou Yongjin, Munawar Ali Syed, Riyas Komu, Simone Wille
The Second International Artists Residency held in August 2004 with six artists; Munawar Ali Syed and Farah Jamaluddin from Pakistan and international artists Simone Wille (Austria), Clio Lloyd Jacob(U.K), Lou Yongjin(China) and Riyas Komu (India). This residency was formulated with a special focus on educational outreach programs by selecting artists interested in facilitating dialogue and exchange through flexible academic programs.
As part of the educational outreach program in the residency, art historian and researcher Simone Wille conducted a series of audio-visual lectures at the V.M. Art Gallery in the Rangoonwala Community Center. She also initiated an Art Writers’ Forum, in which a group of young writers were invited to discuss ways of critiquing and writing about issues in contemporary art. During her lecture series, Wille introduced the works of trans-national artists such as Jananne Al-Ani, Ghada Amer and Mona Hatoum to the participants as well as her own studies on the Iranian contemporary art exhibition in Berlin at the House of the World Cultures. Simone Wille has since acquired a Ph.D from the University of Vienna with a focus on contemporary art from Pakistan.
Clio Lloyd-Jacob, from the U.K, initiated a two–day workshop titled Íntercultural Transformations with 12 young artists from various art colleges in Karachi. The idea behind the workshop consisted of a drawn animation, to be presented as a video and then to be printed as a flipbook. A group of artists in Karachi were asked to bring or choose an object, which had some personal or cultural meaning to them, reflecting their identity. The artists explored the possibilities of transformations through 60-80 small drawings.
Each partnership’s work was made into a short animated digital video by Clio in the U.K. The artists communicated by email to choose a title for their joint work and discuss the works they made with each other. Clio also gave an Art Therapy workshop with students from Psychology, Sociology and Visual Studies Departments of Karachi University.
Clio Lloyd Jacob
Social relations and local contexts of interaction inform this body of work. The artist turns the transitional character of this affair into her strategy: to experience the city and to portray it in pictures both fleeting and lasting.
Farah Jamaluddin
Lou Yongjin
Considering Luo’s shift to architectural photography in 1997 it is interesting to note, that the people of Karachi aroused his interest and became again the protagonists of his images. There are the many faces and activities of the citizens of Karachi while adorning their vehicles, houses, shanty homes, shops, wall, and themselves with national flags and the national colours to celebrate Independence day.
Munawar Ali Syed
Riyas Komu
Making use of two walls in the gallery, Komu’s “Mubarak Mubarak” presented English & Arabic script, iron and bronze sculptures, and some multicultural signs and allegories. He collaborated with local crafts-men and a professional calligrapher.
Simone conducted a series of slide lectures at the VM Art Gallery. She also initiated an Art writers’ Forum, in which a group of young writers were invited to discuss ways of critiquing and writing about art issues.
LECTURE SERIES
1. Beyond East and West
Works by trans-national artists from Egypt to Pakistan: Gananne al Ani, Ghada Amer, Mona Hatoum, Y.Z. Kami, Walid Raad, Michal Rovner.
2. Near Distances
Exhibition of Iranian Contemporary Art in Berlin at the House of the World Cultures.
3. Works by artists from the Saatchi Collection
4. Yinka Shonibare – The use of textile in the works of Nigerian –born artist.
5. A Drawing Now
Contemporary Artists and Drawing.
Simone Willes is currently doing her PhD from the University of Vienna, her subject is Contemporary Art from Pakistan. Development and Change: a Regional Outlook.
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