‘We are all mad here’ – a group show of art pieces based on the collection of artists, art students and local artisans continued at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) to promote non-traditional art in Pakistan till June 14, 2015.
The show explores the agency of experimentation with traditional material and medium while the works highlight the process and proximity of body to space and time activating and engaging with the viewer.
The show is an initiative taken by Pakistan U.S. Alumni Network and PNCA to bring together art community on one platform under one roof breaking all pre-disposed standards of art, invoking an inter-disciplinary discourse.
The artists of the show include Hurmat ul Ain, Rabbya Naseer, Jeremy G Bell, Aleem Dad, Rabeya Jalil, Natasha Jozi, Amina Rizwan, Nida Ramzan and Ghufrana Naqvi while the art institutions include Fatima Jinnah Women University, NCA- RWP, NUST and Comsats.
According to the curators of the show, artists ranging from professionals, students and artisans have created a world that survives on a momentary basis but due to the complexity of concerns and issues important to our situation and surroundings, their art like memory is stored for a longer period and within a deeper section of our soul.
Works of artists such as Natasha Jozi, Aleem Dad, Nida Ramzan and Ghufrana Naqvi signify how the established and conventional notions of art making can be revised and revisited by reinterpreting the roles of maker, spectator and material. In many cases the distance between artist and audience diminishes as the public also participates in completing, contacting and controlling the work of art. Similarly the distinction between idea, object and location is subject to change in their art.
“Pakistani art and its discourse has set up debates on the relationship between art and craft, and the relationship between the artists and artisan. The exhibition initiates the cross discipline dialogue where artisan is invited to participate in the exhibition. The truck artist paints a mural at the site of the exhibit, however not as an act of creating a commodity, rather as an encore of unravelling the process. Viewers get to testify the painter’s process, technique and relationship to paint as a medium,” says Natasha Jozi, curator of the show.
Director Visual Art, PNCA, Mussarrat Nahid Imam says the show is an endeavour to promote young talent struggling in their pursuit of excellence. The bunch of nine young participants of the show aims to provoke a dialogue between the local art scene and international world aggressively engaged in experimentation and exploration with contemporary idiom.
The exhibition comprising of hanging sculptural installations, paintings, photographic prints, wearable objects, video installations/environments and floor installation is expected to address issues related to identity, censorship, gender politics plaguing our society and frequent intersection of these realms.
