Pakistan’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale is a great breakthrough for the designers. It’s also a great feat in reclaiming the identity of Pakistan as a melting pot of art and culture.
Tucked away in a public park of Venice is a four-yard-square cage of irregularly spaced steel bars. Once you step inside the narrow opening, you find four wooden swings and two benches.This isn’t a regular playhouse. It’s Pakistan’s proud installation for the 2018 Venice architectural biennale, also known as the “Olympics for designers”.
For the first time, Pakistan has a pavilion at the prestigious festival. It has been sponsored by a local lifestyle brand Khaadi, and designed by Coalesce Design Studio.Not only is this is a great breakthrough for the designers of Pakistan, but it’s a great feat in reclaiming the identity of the nation as a melting pot of art and culture.
The installation is called ‘The Fold’ and is representative of the city of Karachi – this year’s theme is ‘Freespace’.
When you step inside ‘The Fold’, every aspect of it is making a political statement. The four swings are placed in such a way that they would collide if the sitters don’t coordinate the swing. This is representative of the constant clashes and negotiations in the biggest and the most populated city of Pakistan.
The two rocker-benches are also placed in a way that for two people to sit without falling, they have to huddle in together at an angle. This reflects the crowded, cramped up environment of Karachi, but also leaves room for camaraderie.
The presence of ‘The Fold’ echoes the voice of a nation that gets drowned amid labels such as “terrorist state” or “failing state.” It’s an opportunity for Pakistan to shift the narrative and re-design its image through art.
It has been a while since Pakistan’s cities have been seen through an artistic lens, beyond the news headlines on violence and protests. It is especially relevant for Karachi, which picked up as a hub for contemporary art through the 1960s, and has been seeing art as a channel for activism by the city youth. In the conservative yet politically charged fabric of the city, it is art that has given Karachi a platform to stage its voice.
It’s unfortunate that India, which has an equally potent potential for art and culture, hasn’t had a pavilion set up in Venice biennale since 2011, and the enthusiasm around it has been dwindling. For Pakistan, however, the Venice biennale is a way to say “we have arrived”.
Super power India, champion of of democracy, so called largest democracy in the world, a peaceful nation can also show the world their side of brutality in Kashmir. Biennale has been waiting since 2011.