9th THAAP Conference: Conference on tolerance, democracy starts

Lahore: The two-day THAAP’s 9th international conference started in the City on November 2. The conference is organised by THAAP in collaboration with the Institute of Art and Culture (IAC). IAC is a newly built, trilingual liberal arts Institute based in Lahore. The multi-purpose institute started operating in the month of September 2018 with its pioneer batch.

With the objective of progressing into a more evolved state of society, THAAP conferences provide a platform to people from around the world to have a healthy discussion on the papers presented by professionals, scholars and students. The theme for the year 2018 is, “Art, Tolerance and Democracy.”

The conference was well attended by professionals from different fields and delegates from Austria, Australia, Indonesia, UK and Pakistan. The conference was broken down into four sessions. Prof. Sajida H. Vandal gave the welcome address.

The first session was chaired by Dr Muhammad Waseem, professor of political science at Department of Social Sciences, Lahore University of Management Sciences. The first paper was presented by Sadia Pasha Kamran, titled “Intellectual Diversity and Acceptance of Thought in Pre-Modern India: the Case of Akbar’s Atelier.” The second paper was presented by Prof Dr Tariq Rehman, titled “Views on Art, Tolerance and Democracy.”

The second session was chaired by Prof Dr Tariq Rehman, a Pakistani academic scholar, columnist and a writer. The third paper was presented by Dr Ofita Purwani, titled “Arts and Democratic Spaces in the City of Surakarta 2008, 2018 and their Role in Turning the City of Riots into the City of Tolerance.” The fourth paper was presented by Ar Samman Qayyum. The paper was titled, Local Interventions in Different Contexts of Cairo and Karachi.” After the Friday prayer break, the third session began. The session was chaired by Prof Dr Gulzar Haider, dean, Razia Hassan School of Architecture, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore. The fifth paper was presented by Varda Nisar titled, Laying the Foundations: A Case Study of the Karachi Biennale 2017 Educational Programme.”

The sixth paper was presented by Gudrun Wallenböck titled, “Cultural Formats for Intercultural Opportunities: Can Curators be Peace Workers?” The fourth session was chaired by Prof Shahid Nadeem Mahmood, School of Digital and Cinematic Arts, Institute for Art and Culture, Lahore, The 7th paper was presented by Naintara Abulfazal titled,“Hence, a Protagonist Searching Traits that Define It”. The eighth paper was presented by AR Mehreen Mustafa titled, “The Indifferent A (4)rt.” The ninth paper, the last paper of the day, was presented by Siddharth Pandey. The paper was titled,” Cinematic Subtleties and Visual Veracities: The Politics of Aesthetics in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat.”

After the discussion and dialogue that was generated through the paper readings, it could be seen that a successful step was taken towards creating a more unified and tolerant society.