Islamabad : Pakistani art has got representation at the Venice Biennale 2019, a mega international art event, as Director General of the Pakistan National Council of the Arts Jamal Shah was made commissioner from Pakistan for the show by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
This is Pakistan’s first official entry to Venice biennale.
Eminent artist Naiza Khan will be the exhibitor through the collection curated by Zahra Khan.
Naiza Khan’s work captures the experience of living and working in Karachi, where everyday life is affected by natural disaster, urban migration and political struggle. Her practice includes paintings, sculptures, wall drawings, performance, and video.
The Venice Biennale is an arts organisation based in Venice and the name of the original and principal biennial exhibition the organisation presents.
The organisation changed its name to the Art Biennale Foundation in 2009, while the exhibition is now called the Art Biennale to distinguish it from the organization and other exhibitions the Foundation organises.
The art biennale is a contemporary visual art exhibition as it is held biennially (in odd-numbered years), is the original biennale on which others in the world have been modeled.
The Biennale Foundation has a continuous existence supporting arts as well as organising separate events.
The Venice biennale has been for over 120 years one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in the world. Established in 1895, the Biennale has an attendance today of over 500, 00 visitors at the Art Exhibition. The history of the La Biennale di Venezia dates back from 1985, when the first International Art Exhibition was organised.
In the 1930s new festivals were born: Music, Cinema, and Theatre (the Venice Film Festival in 1932 was the first film festival in history). In 1980, the first International Architecture Exhibition took place, and in 1999 Dance made its debut at La Biennale. La Biennale di Venezia will launch the 58th International Art Exhibition through an international press conferences tour, scheduled during the first two weeks of March 2019 i.e. March 7 in Venice, March 8 in London, March 11 in Paris, March 12 in Berlin and March 15 in New York.
Jamal Shah said the event was not only an opportunity to display Pakistani art on such a big platform of international level, but it was also an attempt to project a soft image of the country across the world.
“Art has a universal language that leaves a deep impact on minds of people through soft expressions of visual and performing art. Such opportunities must be utilised to tell the world about the artistic expressions being practiced in this region which are contrary to extremism and terrorism," he said.