The Fourth Karachi Biennale KB24 will open its doors to visitors on October 27 for two weeks and showcase art in five public spaces across Karachi.
This theme Rizq/ Risk will connect visitors to the foodscape of our time. Combining the Urdu work Rizq that encompasses livelihood , sustenance and food, in relationship to the English word Risk, creates a sense of urgency as the world faces concerns regarding food security. The theme is in response to Pakistan’s recent flood and heatwaves that has impacted food security and calls for us to pause for a moment, and reflect. Over 40 artists from 10 countries through their art, will start conversations on colonial and Neo-liberal polices of food production and trade that privilege capital gain over hunger and ecology. Works will offer insights into indigenous wisdom as a key to healing the land and environment, and make visible the central role of women as keepers of traditional knowledge and food cultures. The KB24 curator, Waheeda Baloch is a professor at University of Sindh, Jamshoro. She holds a master’s degree in Curating Art from Stockholm University, Sweden. Prior to this, she earned a master’s in Fine Arts from Sindh University and is now pursuing her PhD in Contemporary Art History at the Department of Asian and Islamic Art History at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn, Germany.
The Karachi Biennale is the flagship project of Karachi Biennale Trust (KBT). KBT is a registered Trust, founded in 2016 and operates as a non-profit organization and a platform to promote creativity, innovation, and critical thinking in the visual arts. KBT has organized three successful iterations of Karachi Biennales from 2017 to 2022 . This has contributed to the further development of the art infrastructure through vitalizing new public art spaces across Karachi. All its exhibitions are supported by an extensive public programming to help enhance the experience of art and its understanding. Its mandate is to connect art, the city and its people.
Niilofur Farrukh , the Chair of the AICA CFEC is the Founding Managing Trustee of KBT and CEO of KB.