I KARACHI BIENNALE

22 October - 5 November 2017

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Paolo De Grandis as International Curator will preside over the first Karachi Biennial which will be held from 22 October to 5 November 2017 in 12 locations in Karachi.

Yoko Ono, with the memorable ONOCHORD video made for OPEN ASIA 2004, Michelangelo Pistoletto, with the Terzo Paradis, who continues his journey to become the recycling material of Pakistani industry, Sarah Revoltella, Max Papeschi, Marco Nereo Rotelli, Elisabetta di Sopra, and Federico Nero are the artists selected by Paolo De Grandis. In terms of video artists of Hybrid Suite - MIH Made In Heaven, Candy Candy / Patrizia Chianese, Laura Federici - are chosen by Claudio Crescentini for this first edition of the Karachi Biennale directed by Amin Gulgee.

The Karachi Biennial will host over 150 artists from Pakistan and around the world. Their works will be exhibited in numerous venues in the city, including the monumental Narayan Jagannath Vidyala Hight School (NJV). Through the architecture of exhibitions, symposia, performances, and numerous visitor programs, the Karachi Biennial will combine creative energies and new sparks in the local and international art scene.

The theme chosen for this first edition is "Witness": artists as witnesses. Art as a testimony of its time has always had great importance and significance, especially in times when memory is deeply contested if, as Kundera affirms, "The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against oblivion".

The goal of the Karachi Biennale is to bring art to public spaces by generating awareness, commitment, and public involvement through projects that interact with the viewer to create a democratic and accessible platform.

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