so many rising birdies

The Rising Tide – New Direction in Art from Pakistan 1990-2010

There are times that I want enough money that I can easily buy a ticket and whizz off to any show or opening or workshop. And I’m not even being overly ambitious – I’m only talking Lahore to Karachi and back. I would have actually liked to be there for the Rising Tide show at the Mohatta Palace.

and I would have MOST DEFINITELY gate crashed the panel discussion which I believe was invitations only. Bah! I would’ve seen who would’ve kept me out.

(Pictures can be seen here -> Mohatta Palace Risign Tide facebook album)

Now the interesting thing about missing an event is the diverse range of feedback one gets. While some wax lyrical others are whining. Some cry “too many artists!” (42 artists!) others complain “why the hell was xyz not included“.

One such version had me believing that Hameed Haroon had a go at Naiza Khan over curation issues at the discussion panel, while another version completely denied it. Sigh*. When can I see the video of the discussion already.

Apparently it was also said that Hameed Haroon was openly apologetic to Shahid Sajjad for not being included in the show. verifications anyone?

Whatever the case was/is this was a hugely MAMMOTH task that Nazia took on and I believe that no matter what path she took she would still have had the same amount of lovers and haters. However, if the show stands to represent Pakistan’s finest (or all that was available in the shop) is something that is, and should be, openly debatable.

It does at one end address one concern of mine – that many of our bigger artists who don’t show so often in Pakistan were part of this show…everyone’s favourite boy-toy, Rashid Rana, included.

I’m just putting here some of the interesting views I heard that I’m sure will never make the press:

• So they never gave a crap about Asim Butt when he was alive and now when he’s dead and gone suddenly he is this big thing…exploitation?
• Ayesha Khalid’s installation (which I really liked in the pictures) apparently works much better on this site than it did in the Venice Biennale.
• Why did Huma Mulji bring in that plane?!
• Not all of the work in the show deserved to be there (eeps!).
• etc. etc.

Do you have a view? did you attend the show? Did you miss it? What have you heard?

Please leave a comment below and feel free to use a fake name to air your views! if you need any help with words, why don’t you try the CRAP critique for dummies.

Meanwhile I’ll leave you with some standard fare reviews…yawn*

• Marjorie Hasain for Dawn

interesting quote from her article (sp error incl.):

“Among the Karachi artists included were Mansur Saleem and Abdul Jabbar Gul who, while finding much of interest in the show, were surprised they had not been directly approached for their work coming from private collections. “I would have chosen something else,” both remarked, though personally I felt Salim’s ‘Old Ilaco House’ which portrays the early architecture and hence the history of the city, contrived an interesting and illuminating contrast to other work sharing the gallery space with him.”

• Express Tribune write-up